The Wells of Salvation
The Wells of Salvation
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)
In my last essay, Righteousness; Faith; Obedience , I spoke of God's need for a house, a resting place, and a throne.
I mentioned that we are experiencing a paradigm shift in our Christian thinking. Our goal no longer is to go to Heaven to sing and shout all the day long. Rather, it is to meet God's need.
In order to meet God's need we will have to come to maturity in righteous behavior, in true faith (faith that looks to God for our needs and desires), and in total obedience to Christ. This is the spiritual perfection that characterizes the firstfruits of the heavenly Zion.
I suggested also that the members of the "great cloud of witnesses" and we the living are growing together toward spiritual perfection and will finally be made perfect together at the coming of the Lord. At that time, those whom Christ brings with Him and we the living, having been brought to spiritual maturity together, will receive our incorruptible, resurrection body.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (I Thessalonians 4:16,17)
I believe "the dead in Christ will rise" is referring to the cloud of witnesses who return with Jesus, reclaiming their sleeping bodies and clothing them with eternal, incorruptible resurrection life.
Since the passage goes on to say we will be "caught up together with them," the implication is that we the living also will have donned our incorruptible bodies. Thus we all will have been made perfect together.
In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (I Corinthians 15:52)
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39,40)
God's needs have been met. All of us, the members of the RoyalPriesthood, have become the eternal Tabernacle of God, His place of untroubled rest, and His Throne. God is moving His Throne from Heaven to the hearts of the members of the Royal Priesthood.
God now is satisfied. But what about the spiritually dead of mankind? Will they benefit from the maturing of the Royal Priesthood?
What is the only Life that can revive the spiritually dead of mankind? You are correct. It is the Spirit of God.
What is the source of the Spirit of God? You are correct again. The only source of the Spirit of God is the Throne of God.
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. (Revelation 22:3)
The "city" is the new Jerusalem, the glorified Christian Church, the Royal Priesthood.
Are you beginning to see the picture? It is the members of the Royal Priesthood who will revive the spiritually dead of mankind. God has placed His Throne in them for this purpose.
Then the angel showed me the river of water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21)
God has baptized us with His Spirit. But He desires much more than this. God wants us filled with His Fullness. But to be candidates for the Fullness of God we must come to maturity in righteous behavior, true faith, and perfect obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)
The only manner in which we can come to such maturity is by setting aside our own life and learning to think, speak, and behave by the Life of Jesus. This we do by referring to Him continually through the day and night.
When we are living by the Life of the Lord Jesus we have perfect righteousness, perfect faith, and perfect obedience to God.
During the feast of Tabernacles, the Jews were gathered in Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus was there. This is what Jesus said:
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." (John 7:37,38)
The "rivers of living water" that are to flow from those who believe in Jesus has as its purpose the awakening of dead mankind. This is what will take place when the members of the Royal Priesthood enter the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles.
The reference is to the twelfth chapter of the Book of Isaiah, which was chanted during the feast of Tabernacles. This passage is one of the most significant of the entire Bible. It speaks of the believer becoming one with God.
In that day you will say: "I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation." With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: "Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you." (Isaiah 12:1-6)
In that day is the moment you decide that the Lord Jesus alone shall be exalted in your life.
Your anger has turned away and you have comforted me is referring to the fact that every child of God is chastened for a season, and then comforted.
God is my salvation . Not God has saved me, but rather God Himself—He Himself—has become our salvation. Christ is living in place of us, as Paul said.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
I will trust and not be afraid . Those who have been through difficult places with the Lord know exactly what is meant here. The pressure is so great we no longer can hold God's hand. He must hold our hand. Trust holds on when faith begins to fail.
The Lord himself, is my strength and my defense . God saves and preserves me by Himself being my salvation and preservation. This indicates we are pressing on toward maturity in Christ.
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation . What is the "wells of salvation"? It is Christ Himself whose Throne has been formed in us. We experience the greatest joy as we are able to minister eternal Life to the dead of mankind.
We invite everyone to come and drink freely of the Life of Christ that is in us.
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let the one who hears say, "Come!" Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. (Revelation 22:17)
In that day , the day we have turned over our life to Christ. No longer are we just a member of the Christian religion. We now have become an eternally inseparable part of God through Christ. God Himself through Christ has become our Life.
Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. How often is a denomination or a church exalted! Do you know why that is? It is because we are serving Christ in our own strength. We are not acting as part of Christ but as a human being who is trying to do what he thinks God wants.
He is a religious, well-meaning individual. We now in America are approaching spiritual conflict in which the Christian who merely is a human being attempting to be true to his religion no longer will be able to continue standing.
All of us must ask Christ to help us set aside our own life that He may take over our thinking, speaking, and behaving. Otherwise we are not going to be able to serve Christ ourselves or help those who are looking to us for spiritual strength.
Only those whose life has become that of Christ will be able to proclaim the name of Christ among the nations and tell what He has done. The coming spiritual darkness will be stronger than the churches realize at this time, I believe.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you. No matter how oppressive the spiritual atmosphere becomes, if we are living by the Life of Christ we will be able to rejoice. When Satan's prisoners hear us praising the Lord during the darkest of hours, their chains will be broken.
The Apostle Paul taught us that we are to be trees of life.
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. (I Corinthians 15:45)
Christ, the last Adam, is a life-giving Spirit.
How about the brothers of the last Adam? Are they also to be life-giving spirits, do you think?
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:29)
Do you think if the brothers of the Lord are conformed to His image they also may become life-giving spirits? I believe it is highly probable.
Let's turn now to the Book of Ezekiel to see the result of the brothers of Christ being conformed to His image, and the impact on the nations of the earth made by those who have met God's needs.
First of all, we observe the judgments and the waters of the Spirit of God that those whose destiny is to be a life-giving spirit must experience.
As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. (Ezekiel 47:3)
This passage in Ezekiel is such a perfect description of the Christian who is pressing forward in Christ. He begins with the Spirit to his "ankles," so to speak. Also, he or she is being judged.
If the believer continues pressing forward in Christ the water of the Spirit will increase in him until it is "water to swim in." He is filled with the Fulness of God. Also, every aspect of his or her personality has passed through the Judgment Seat of Christ.
I wish to emphasize that the Pentecostal experience of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is "water to the knees." Today God is inviting us to press forward until we are filled with all the Fulness of God.
And to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)
It is well that we are filled with the fullness of God's Spirit. It is necessary also that we are filled with God's Word. The Word apart from the Spirit brings death. If we are to derive Life from the Word of God, the Spirit of God must make the Word alive to us. The Spirit of God always acts in harmony with the Word. Any attempt to enter the Spirit of God apart from the Word of God will result in confusion.
This is why the man who is moving eastward, toward the coming of the Lord, has a "measuring line" in his hand. He is judging us by the Word of the Lord.
Now we are filled with the Fullness of the Spirit and have been measured by the Word of God. What is next?
He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river. (Ezekiel 47:6)
Now we are going to find out why God has made us a tree of life growing out from the Tree of Life, the Lord Jesus.
When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh." (Ezekiel 47:7,8)
Compare:
Down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2)
The scene is this: The new Jerusalem is the Royal Priesthood. God is dwelling in them. The Throne of God is in them. The Spirit of God flows from the Throne as a River of eternal Life.
Along the banks of the River of Life are positioned Christ and those who are an inseparable part of Him.
On the new earth are living the nations of people who have been saved to life on the new earth. If they have confessed and turned away from their sins they can enter the holy city, the glorified Christian Church, and partake of the fruit and leaves of the Tree of Life. They will receive eternal life in their personality and be healed of any affliction.
The new Jerusalem is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom that will grow forever. The members of the Royal Priesthood will serve to bring the Presence, will, and blessing of God to all saved people. Such is the meaning of the twelfth chapter of the Book of Isaiah.
The Jews wanted to know when the Lord Jesus was going to restore the Kingdom of David to Israel.
Then they gathered around him and asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6)
Those few people had no idea of the enormity of Christ's answer. We of today also have no idea of the enormity of the significance of what is taking place in our midst right now.
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
There is much turbulence in our world of today. All the massive problems facing the political leaders seem to have great importance, but they do not. All that truly is of importance is that Christ is preparing to return and govern the nations with His saints.
The present hour is to be devoted to our personal growth in righteous behavior, faith, and obedience. Then we will be prepared when the trumpet blows to join the cloud of witnesses and be made perfect in Christ together with them.
The nations are waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. They really have no other hope. All that is facing them is more war, more famine, more sickness. The promises of the leaders will come to nothing. Only the blessings of Christ can help any of us, and His blessings come only as we turn away from sin.
The Lord Jesus has kept the best wine until now. Let us press into the present aspect of redemption so that we may know Him in a greater way.
Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:7)