I’ve had my dog for almost four years now and know him intimately. But I don’t know him as well as I thought. I had his DNA done because so many people ask me what kind of dog he is. I have an answer, although it’s not the one I expected. It turns out that among his 12 breeds, he is as much a companion dog as a terrier. This insight helps me to understand why, the older he gets, he acts more like a cuddly companion, although he hasn’t lost his terrier traits. We can be surprised when we think we know someone intimately and learn something new about them. This knowledge gives us new insight into their character or history. That’s what I want to happen with the gospel of Jesus Christ—to understand it more, to know it better, to live it out—for joy in Christ. I want to enjoy the filling of the Holy Spirit, who supplies us with rivers of living water for ourselves and extends the gospel invitation to others. We know the gospel from the New Testament record, but the gospel didn’t begin with Jesus’ incarnation. It was revealed in the Old Testament in many ways. Yet those in Jesus’s time and ours think that the gospel is either something brand new or, on the other hand, that we understand it completely. Perhaps this is why the apostle Mark writes: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”’” (Mark 1:1-3) Jesus’s gospel was foreshadowed in the Old Testament as the only way to have complete, satiating, eternal, satisfying drink, food, and blessing from God.
The Gospel Invitation Offered Long Ago
“By placing this citation of the OT here, Mark shows the organic progress of revelation under the divine Lord of history. If the OT is the gospel’s beginning and source, the gospel revealed through Jesus Christ is the final and inspired interpretation and completion of the OT message. The citation is a chain of texts concerning messengers that God sent before John the Baptist and Christ by way of preparation, with Isaiah mentioned specifically because most of the citation is drawn from his prediction. Words drawn from the other OT passages turn the citation into a promise by God the Father to His Son to send ‘my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way’; this Son is then identified as ‘the Lord’ whose way is being prepared.” (1) Isaiah wrote: “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’” [40:3-5] Sometimes, the Holy Spirit seems to assert himself suddenly, as He frequently does when bringing a sinner to faith in Chirst. At other times, his presence is a gentle yet discernible influence over us, and it may have been for OT believers. In either case, as believers, when we need his help, he will make it known. Christ seemed to suddenly show up to some who weren’t aware of his birth. “And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1b) But, a few family members and neighbors had his physical presence with them from the time he was a baby, and perhaps had his influence subtly. If you haven’t been spending time with Christ’s Spirit, now may be the day to draw closer to him.
The Living, Flowing Gospel
In John 4:14, the apostle records Jesus words: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” “The “‘living water’ [is] identified in [John] 7:37–39 as the Holy Spirit dwelling within believers. [who will] never be thirsty again…A person’s deepest spiritual longing to know God personally will, amazingly, be satisfied forever. The phrase ‘will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life’ is reminiscent of Isa. 12:3. [“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”]…In [Isaiah] chapter 55 [the prophet] declares, ‘Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!’ (v. 1). Several times in the writings of Ezekiel and Zechariah, there is a picture of a river of life flowing out from God’s presence in Jerusalem… “David said, ‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God’ (Ps. 42:1)…Much of the Old Testament is filled with this pictorial religious language revealing the thirst of the soul, a thirst that can be satisfied only by God. Jesus was claiming to be the One who alone can satisfy human longing…[since] the things of this world—money, fame, power, activity…will satisfy for a time, [but] they will not do so permanently. I have often said that they are like a Chinese dinner. They will fill you up well, but two or three hours later you will be hungry again. Only Jesus Christ is able to satisfy you fully…In [John 4] verse 14 he says, ‘…the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ No one has ever seen a well of water springing up. Only the water in a spring springs up. The water in a well just lies there. So Jesus is not talking about a well. The [Samaritan] woman had come to a well. [Yet] Jesus has invited her to a spring…[that] will never cease but will continue to bubble away forever…A well can be covered. A spring seeps through anything you may place over it. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying. He is promising to place a spring within the life of anyone who will come to him. This spring will be eternal, free, joyous [because]…God…is determined to perfect the image of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, within you…until you come to the point where you will let him perfect that work in you he began when you first tasted of the Lord Jesus.” (2)
“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 2:1) “Christ has grace without measure in Himself, but He doesn’t retain it for Himself. As the reservoir empties itself into the pipes, so has Christ emptied out His grace for His people. ‘Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.’ He seems to have it only in order to dispense to us. He stands like the fountain, always flowing, but only running in order to supply the empty pitchers and the thirsty lips which draw nigh unto it. Like a tree, He bears sweet fruit, not to hang on boughs, but to be gathered by those who need. Grace, whether its work be to pardon, to cleanse, to preserve, to strengthen, to enlighten, to quicken, or to restore, is ever to be had from Him freely and without price; nor is there one form of the work of grace which He has not bestowed upon His people. As the blood of the body, though flowing from the heart, belongs equally to every member, so the influences of grace are the inheritance of every saint united to the Lamb…[So,] Let us make daily use of our riches, and ever repair to Him as to our own Lord in covenant, taking from Him the supply of all we need with as much boldness as men take money from their own purse.“ (3) Will you strive to know Jesus and his gospel more intimately, to live more fully, more joyfully, through his grace? “Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am’…the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” (Isaiah 58:9-11)
Related Scripture: Numbers 20:1-8; Psalm 23:2; Isaiah 40:9-11; 44:1-5; 49:10; 52:7; 55:1-3; Ezekiel 36:25-29; Revelation 21:4; 22:1.
Notes:
1. The Reformation Study Bible, Mark 1:2, Reformation Trust Publishing (Ligonier Ministries), Sanford, Fl., 2015.
2. Boice, James, Boice Expositional Commentary Series, John 4:14, Baker Books, Software version, 1998.
3. Spurgeon, Charles, Morning and Evening Devotions, March 15– Morning, Barbour Books, 2018.
March 21, 2024
Divine Wisdom for Daily Living by Joanne Colvin 