In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the
house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
(Zech 13:1)
32 Then came the soldiers,
and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
33 But when they came to Jesus, and
saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side,
and forthwith came there out blood and water. (John
19:32-34)
Praise
be to God for His Wholesome Word!
Have you ever considered Christ as a Fountain Opened?
He certainly is just that to us who know and believe upon His Name unto
salvation. A fountain is not of any benefit unless we have tasted its
refreshing waters. There are even fountains in the desert, hidden in rocks and
crevices of the high desert, within sight of which men perish of thirst because
their eyes did not discern the fountain hidden. Lack of knowledge is the cause
of many not to be able to find the fountain in the desert places. My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. (Hosea
4:6) Knowledge of the Lord is found in the pages of a Book called
the Bible. Do we study that Book diligently? Another reason is that the hand of
man has withheld the waters of the fountain by force or cunning from those who
need them most. Referring to the religious leaders of His day, the Lord says: “For
they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's
shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” (Matt 23:4)
Yet another reason that the waters are not made of
benefit to those in need of them is that the enemy has poisoned the fountain. 2 For men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, 3 Without
natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,
despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors,
heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For
of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women
laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever
learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
(2 Tim 3:2-7) Perhaps these are our
modern seminarians? False preachers, lusting for filthy lucre – or other
immoral desires – twist the Word to mean something totally different from that
which God had spoken. Higher Critics claim to know more of God’s Will than God
knows, and they arrogantly translate new versions of the Bible to satisfy the
itching ears of the masses of their fellow sinners.
But let us not drift too far afield of the Fountain
Opened. What is that fountain, and how came it to be? That Opened Fountain is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He has been the Fountain of Living Waters from before
the foundation of the world. But men could not see and understand that Fountain
in clear vision until He came down in the body of a little child at Bethlehem,
led a sinless life of doing good to all men, was falsely accused, willingly
went to the cross to pay for our sins, had his side opened by a lance from
which flowed the living waters and blood of salvation for you and me, was
buried, and rose on the third day.
Abraham (a Christian by definition) and his Seed of
Promise saw and believed in that Opened Fountain by eyes of faith, but the
greater part of mankind could not, or would not, see. He came down to us as the
Word Incarnate. Even so, many have averted their eyes and see not the Fountain.
How is this possible, you may ask? There are a number of reasons, but let us
consider the means by which faith comes: So then faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans
10:17) The world is full of a class of people called the ‘ostrich
people.’ The church, itself, has a plentiful provision of this class of people.
They bury their heads in the sand and ignore all of the Word of God that
displeases THEM. If faith comes by the Word of God, would not that faith grow
with a greater feast of that Word daily?
Others fail to see because the Lord has not opened
their eyes to the Fountain Opened. Do you require an example? Please observe
the Egyptian maiden, Hagar, who was servant to Sarah and whom Sarah treated
unkindly. Hagar fled on two occasions into the Wilderness. The first instant,
God found Hagar by the Well of Beerlahairoi – she called that meeting place
with the Lord the Lord that seeth me.
(Gen
16:14) Here is a significant point: Even if we do not see the Lord,
the Lord ALWAYS sees us! The next time Hagar flees into the wilderness, she is
sent there by Abraham at the counsel of God. Read the account from God’s Word:
14 And
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water,
and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her
away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water was spent in the
bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went, and sat her down
over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not
see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her
voice, and wept. (Gen 21:14-16)
Remember, the Lord sees Hagar just as He sees us in our distresses. Hagar weeps
bitter tears out of sorrow and dread for her child, Ishmael. Consider the
magnitude of sorrow that sweeps over a mother’s heart to contemplate such a
death of her only child. But God sees Hagar, and He sees Ishmael there nearby
in the shrubs of the Wilderness. In our own lives, we may encounter sorrows so
great that we wonder, “If God knows my plight, why does He not relieve me?”
Perhaps He has already provided the answer for your misery, but you have
overlooked it as does Hagar.
17
And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of
heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath
heard the voice of the lad where he is. (Gen 21:17) Amazingly, the Lord hears the
voice of the innocent before the older sinner. He hears the voice of her son
and comes to comfort both the mother and child. God not only sees us in our
Wilderness areas of despair, but He hears our prayers as well. And
God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the
bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. (Gen
21:19) The fountain was there all along, so why did Hagar not see it?
Perhaps she was blinded by tears of faithlessness. When we are too obstinate to
see, the Lord sometimes chooses to open our eyes to His Fountain Opened.
The Lord Jesus Christ is that Fountain Opened. He has
been that Fountain from the beginning, only men’s eyes were closed at the Tree
of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In order to open our eyes to that Fountain,
God sent His only Begotten Son to be incarnated and to live among us. We saw
Him and beheld His glory as the only Begotten Son of the Living God! And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) How much more visible could God
have made Himself than in the Incarnation of His Son! No
man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of
the Father, he hath declared him. (John
1:18)
. . if ye had
known me, ye should have known my Father also.” (John 8:19)
Truly, God sent His prophets to open our eyes, but faith did not come by
hearing because our ears were stopped. Finally, He sent His only Begotten Son,
and many still will not believe because their eyes are closed in blindness.
The prophet Jeremiah (I like that name) warns, For my people have committed two evils; they
have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jer
2:13) Not only have the people of God (weakly professing church)
abandoned the Fountain of Living Waters (the Lord Jesus Christ), but they have
carved out other gods of mammon and humanistic natures. . . . all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from
me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the
fountain of living waters. (Jer 17:13)
Perhaps your heart has received Christ in a close and
personal way, yet your sorrow at the evils of the world have blinded your eyes
to His Presence. Did not the same happen to the beloved Mary Magdalene at the
Garden Tomb? 11 But Mary stood without at the
sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the
sepulchre, 12 And
seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the
feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. (John 20:11-12) Mary was not blinded by a lack
of faith, but by a lack of knowledge. Her tears were blinding her to the
greatest moment in the history of the world! Her tears of uncontrollable grief
would soon be changed into tears of immeasurable joy! 13 And
they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they
have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 14 And when she had thus said, she
turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest
thou? She, supposing him to be
the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where
thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. 16 Jesus
saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith
unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. (John
20:13-16) I love Mary for the kind of heart she had for Christ,
and I love the object of that heart (our Lord) far more. Her eyes were blinded
by tears, but her ears were open, and no one EVER called her name like Jesus
did that first Easter morning. Praise be to God!
