Shabbat Shalom family, יהוה bless you all; it is so good for us to come together and be immersed in the wonderful presence of our Master and Saviour, יהושע Messiah.
Ḥazon/Revelation 22:17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And he who hears, let him say, “Come!” And he who thirsts, come! And he who desires it, take the water of life without paying!”
In a very much needed time for all to hear this vital call to come and take of the water of life, we all have a huge responsibility in proclaiming this call to a thirsty people!
Yeshayahu/Isaiah 55:1 “Oh everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no silver, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without price.”
Yoḥanan/John 7:37-38 “And on the last day, the great day of the festival, יהושע stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me, and let him who believes in Me drink. 38 “As the Scripture said, out of His innermost shall flow rivers of living water.”
Come to the waters and drink – it is free!!! A call that we as a preparing Bride must hear, and be earnestly shouting and proclaiming. As I was ‘drinking’ of the Word this week, I kept coming back to the phrase that we see being mentioned in Scripture, ‘Fountain of Life’ and the more I started cross referencing the various passages I wanted to dig more and more into just what this means for us, and so tonight in a message called, ‘THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE – ARE YOU DRINKING?’, I would like to share with you various Scriptures regarding this and flow from the passages I have already mentioned. So in order to do this and hopefully join the dots so to speak of various Scriptures that are revealed through His Life Giving Words, please let us begin by starting at the account where יהושע speaks to the woman at the well. Turn with me to Yoḥanan/John 4:5-14 (Read).
A very well-known passage I am sure to all of us, yet as we look a little deeper into Scripture we begin to understand the very clear message being brought by Messiah and recognise what He was alluding to by His words of invitation to drink!
This was not just a random meeting at a well, but rather it carried a great declaration of promise and hope that is in the sure Covenants of Promise, that not only looked back at events that foreshadowed this day but also looks forward to the promise of a Husband to His Bride being fulfilled in every way.
As we look at this encounter at the well we can see some key insights that point us back to events in the Torah that carry the promise of the oaths that יהוה made with Aḇraham, Yitsḥaq and Ya’aqoḇ, as well as the powerful picture we see of Messiah through the life of Mosheh!
In verse 6 יהושע comes to Ya’aqoḇ’s fountain in Sheḵem and sits down at about the 6th hour when it was time for the women to come and draw water. Sheḵem was the first place where Ya’aqoḇ settled when he returned to the Land, and the place Yehoshua took the whole congregation of Yisra’ĕl before they settled down in their various tribal territories after conquering Kenaʽan and it is a very powerful picture of a gathering of the harvest being called for at these end times before the final settlement will take place; and now is the time for the Spirit and the Bride to say Come!
With יהושע Messiah coming and sitting at this well we can compare Mosheh’s experience when he fled Mitsrayim and came to a well in Miḏyan as recorded in:
Shemoth/Exodus 2:15-17 “And Pharaoh heard of this matter, and he sought to kill Mosheh. But Mosheh fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Miḏyan. And he sat down by a well. 16 And the priest of Miḏyan had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock, 17 but the shepherds came and drove them away. Then Mosheh stood up and came to their rescue, and watered their flock.”
Mosheh came and sat down by a well in the land of Miḏyan:
Miḏyan – מִדְיָן – Strong’s H4080 – Miḏyan was a region which is located in the north of the Arabian Peninsula and was the territory where the son of Aḇraham and Qeturah settled and means, ‘strife’. Now we see here a wonderful life lesson in this play on words being used here; and that is the best thing a ‘Hebrew’ can do – come and sit at the well so to speak! And here is why: the Hebrew word for ‘well’ is בְּאֵר be‘er – Strong’s H875 and means, ‘well, pit’ which comes from the primitive root word בָּאַר ba‘ar – Strong’s H874 which means, ‘to make distinction, to make plain, expound on, inscribe’ and by analogy it means ‘to engrave’ and figuratively it carries the understanding, ‘to explain, make clear, declare’. Now as we have come out of Mitsrayim, so to speak, and sojourn and dwell in a foreign land where there is much strife and confusion, we need to be able to make the necessary distinction between the set-apart and profane, and distinguish between the clean and the unclean; and to do that we need to come to the well/place where we get insight, understanding and clarity of vision and purpose.
To ‘sit’ in Hebrew is the word – יָשַׁב yashab – Strong’s H3427 meaning, ‘sit, dwell, remain, abide, inhabit, sitting still’ and a modern word derived from this word which is translated as school is ‘yeshiva’. And ‘sitting’ in the Hebraic min-set is an idiom for learning; and it is at the Master’s Feet that we come and sit and drink of His Pure and Clear Living Water and get great clarity and insight and strength to sojourn with joy! The idea of sitting in the Hebrew mind-set here is to learn, and not to simply sit and vegetate but rather sit and pay attention to the instructions of their teacher. We come each Shabbat to ‘sit and learn’ while ‘resting’ from our weekly work and in doing so pay close attention to hear and guard what we hear so that we can ‘do’ that which we are required to and are well equipped to ‘work’ the other 6 days and be able to become a fountain of living waters for other thirsty travellers to drink!
Here in this account of Mosheh we see that 7 daughters of the priest of Miḏyan came to draw water, and as we all know that “7” in Hebrew carries the significance of completion as well as oath. Seven in Hebrew is the primitive root word – שֶׁבַע sheḇa – Strong’s H7651 and from this word we get the denominative verb – שָׁבַע shaḇa – Strong’s H7650 which means, ‘to swear, exchange oaths, take an oath, vow’. Now when we put the word for ‘seven/oath’ with ‘well’ we get – בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע Be’ĕrsheḇa – Strong’s H884 meaning, ‘The well of the oath or the well of the seven’ as we see in Berěshith/Genesis 21: 25-31 where Aḇraham gave 7 ewe lambs to Aḇimeleḵ as a witness that the well was dug by Abraham after a dispute arose when Aḇimeleḵ’s servants seized a well of water that was Aḇraham’s, and they made an oath there that day.
It is also at Be’ĕrsheḇa that:
1 – Aḇraham called upon the Name of יהוה, the Everlasting Ěl – אֵל עוֹלָם – Ěl Olam! Berěshith/Genesis 21:33
2 – Yitsḥaq built an alter and called upon the Name of יהוה, after יהוה appeared to him – Berěshith/Genesis 26:23-25
3 – Ya’aqoḇ brought offerings to יהוה and יהוה spoke to him and confirmed the Covenant – Berěshith/Genesis 46:1-3
What we see in Scripture is that ‘wells’ play a very important role; and while Mosheh was not at Be’ĕrsheḇa, the picture of this oath is carried through with their being “7” daughters, one of which would become his wife (Tsipporah); and in Sheḵem at the well, יהושע is in essence the “7th”man in this woman’s life – she already had 5 husbands before her and the one she was currently with (6th man) was not her husband – yet standing in front of her at the well is The Husband of The Bride of Yisra’ĕl of which she was a part of!!!! What we are seeing right through Scripture is a clear picture of a place where we drink pure and undefiled water as being the place where His Name and character is revealed! And where a bride is met by her husband.
In Yoḥanan/John 4:7 when יהושע said to the woman, “Give Me a drink” we see a similar picture of when Yitsḥaq’s servant asked Riḇqah for a drink, as test of which woman would become his bride (Berěshith/Genesis 24:13-19). And here in Sheḵem יהושע is most certainly alluding to these events, as we know that He Himself declares that to us that He was sent only for His Bride – the lost sheep of Yisra’ĕl – and this woman may have been the among the first of the many, who would in turn call the rest of the Bride in!
Mattithyahu/Matthew 15:24 “And He answering, said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Yisra’ĕl.”
And commanding His 12, He said:
Mattithyahu/Matthew 10:6 “but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Yisra’ĕl.”
When Mosheh was at the well and the 7 daughters of the priest of Miḏyan came, shepherds came and drove them away, and Mosheh stood up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. This is a classic picture of the many false shepherds who come to ‘muddy the clear waters’, taking the best for themselves and leave a muddied mix behind! Mosheh rose up and rescued the 7 daughters of Miḏyan and ensured that they had fresh clear, running water from the well.
In verse 10 of Yoḥanan/John 4 יהושע tells the Shomeroni woman that if she knew who He was, she would have asked and He would have given ‘LIVING WATER’! Living Water is a Hebrew idiom for running water or any water with fresh water running into it, so that it is not stagnant and it is therefore pure. Immersion in ‘living/running’ water is a picture of rebirth and this is what He was alluding to – the very thing that she did not catch at first!
In verse 12 she asks if He was greater than Ya’aqoḇ and here it could also be rendered as asking if He was ‘stronger’ than Ya’aqoḇ and she may have been pointing back to the incident at a well where Ya’aqoḇ rolled the stone away when he saw Raḥĕl, who would become his wife, coming with her flocks:
Berěshith/Genesis 29:8-11 “But they said, “We are not allowed until all the flocks are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, then we shall water the sheep.” 9 While he was still speaking with them, Raḥĕl came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. 10 And it came to be, when Ya’aqoḇ saw Raḥĕl the daughter of Laḇan his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laḇan his mother’s brother, that Ya’aqoḇ went near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laḇan his mother’s brother. 11 And Ya’aqoḇ kissed Raḥĕl, and lifted up his voice and wept.”
In verse 8 we see that that they said to Ya’aqoḇ that they were not allowed to water and feed the sheep until all the flocks were gathered together – only then could the stone be rolled away. There was no one strong enough to roll the stone away and here Ya’aqoḇ is a picture of the Might of Messiah who, for His Bride, rolls away the stone!
So the wonderful shadow picture we see being portrayed through all of these combined events that takes place at wells are of יהושע coming to rescue His Bride; and as we know the picture of Ya’aqoḇ rolling the stone away is a clear pointing to the resurrection of Messiah – The Fountain of Life!
The word for ‘flocks’ in the Hebrew is – עֵדֶר eder – Strong’s H5739 which means, ‘an arrangement/muster of animals – a flock, herd, drove’ and comes from the root word – עָדַר adar – Strong’s H5737 which can carry the meaning, ‘to arrange, keep rank, to help, cultivate’ as well as ‘to fight as a military unit or fight as one as a figurative extension of a flock acting together’. In other words the picture we see of flocks is all about getting in line and being in order and keeping rank!
It is when the flocks – the whole House of Yisra’ĕl – are gathered in the true order of The Living Torah – that is to be humbled and willing to sit and learn and have the LIVING WATER explained and made plain at the APPOINTED TIMES of gathering in order to be ‘immersed’ in the Fresh and Clear water of the Word, that the Bride would be well equipped to have the LIVING WATER spring forth from within in order to call along with the Spirit to the lost sheep – ‘Come!’. Keeping rank and gathering on Shabbat and His feasts is critical for us to drink fresh and clear water together!
Well, in Messiah – The Rock – we have the Living Water available to us, as He ‘rolled the stone away’:
Marqos/Mark 16:4 “And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was extremely large.”
Ya’aqoḇ rolled away the stone at the well and Mosheh rescued His bride at the well from the shepherds who would muddy the waters and in this we see the work and ministry of Messiah in coming to rescue us from the muddied waters of man driven doctrines and traditions that run contrary to the pure Truth of the Torah, and open up for us the pure delight of continual access to the FOUNTAIN OF LIFE!
I want to now take a look at a few other Scriptures that speak of the FOUNTAIN OF LIFE and the waters that we are to be drinking as opposed to that which we must not.
Yeḥezqěl/Ezekiel 34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Yisra’ĕl, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus said the Master יהוה to the shepherds, “Woe to the shepherds1 of Yisra’ĕl who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?”
The Shepherds are supposed to feed the flock, yet as we see by the shepherds that Mosheh rescued the 7 daughters from, they were only interested in themselves and if He had not stepped in to the rescue the waters would have been muddied and spoiled for the flocks.
Yeḥezqěl/Ezekiel 34:19 “And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have muddied with your feet.”
Muddied water is not LIVING WATER and here with the terminology of trampling with the feet we can see how Christianity and Rabbinical Judaism has done the same thing in having muddied the water of the Word with their feet; as we see in Scripture that the word for ‘feet’ is – רֶגֶל ‘regel’ Strong’s H7272 – which means ‘a foot/feet or to walk’ and is also translated as ‘times’ in:
Shemoth/Exodus 23:14 “Three times in the year you are to observe a festival to Me.”
In Hebrew foot or feet is also used as a reference in one’s walk of obedience in referring to the 3 pilgrimage feasts of יהוה that each man was required to go up to Yerushalayim every year for – Pěsaḥ, Shavuot and Sukkot.
So as I said – one’s obedience and submission to the Truth is seen in one’s walk – the question is simply whether our walk is straight, healthy and in loving obedience to the Torah or is it diseased and crooked through the drinking of muddied waters as the false shepherds have caused the feet/walk of many to follow the wrong appointed times, feasts and seasons and have fed sadly the flocks with a muddied concoction of mixed man-made doctrines!
Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have done two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns, which do not hold water.”
Cisterns that cannot hold water – why – because they are cracked and are unable to hold water! A picture of those who are unable to ‘guard’ the commands simply because there are too many ‘cracks’ in their belief system – cracks that reveal a clear deviation from the plumb line of the Torah and are not permeated with the Water of the Word, revealing that they do not have the Spirit of יהוה!
Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 17:13 “O יהוה, the expectation of Yisra’ĕl, all who forsake You are put to shame. “Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken יהוה, the fountain of living waters.”
These are very serious Scriptures that are speaking loud and clear in our day as many have neglected the True FOUNTAIN OF LIFE and have opted to drink a polluted and muddied water and we are to be on our guard that we are sitting and learning at the right well and at the right times, and not giving way to compromise in any way:
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 25:6 “A righteous man who gives way before the wrong, Is like a muddied spring and a ruined fountain.”
When a righteous man gives in to any form of compromise, they dry up and are a ruined fountain that is unable to give of the True Living Water. How sad we see this happen all too often today, when there are those who are claiming to walk in Messiah, yet there ability to witness and share of the Living Water is lacking, and when they need to give an answer for the boldness they ought to have they find it hard to answer and stumble at their witness, struggling to find the right words to say and are like a fish on dry ground without water! If you give way before the wrong in any way the fountain of His Word becomes ruined and that which you give out becomes nothing more than muddied water!
In Tehillim/Psalm 36 Dawiḏ gives a very clear contrast between the wicked and the righteous and he declares to Elohim:
Tehillim/Psalm 36:9 “For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.”
The Hebrew word for fountain is – מָקוֹר maqor – Strong’s H4726 meaning, ‘a spring, fountain’ and comes from the root – קוּר qur – Strong’s H6979 which means, ‘to dig’ and we know we are to dig and seek out His kingdom and His righteousness – the question is whether people have found the True well of LIFE and are sitting and learning at it or is it a muddied counterfeit?
The word for life is – חַי ḥay – Strong’s H2416 and means, ‘life, alive, living, flowing, fresh, running’.
With יהוה is the FOUNTAIN OF LIFE!!!
Tehillim/Psalm 68:6 “Bless Elohim in the assemblies, יהוה, from the fountain of Yisra’ĕl.”
When we come to the FOUNTAIN OF LIFE and gather when we should, as an obedient flock who know His voice, then that Water of Life becomes a fountain in us as our lives are changed and our speech is renewed enabling us to bring life and healing to the nations!
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 10:11 “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wrong.”
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 13:14 “The Torah of the wise is a fountain of life, turning one away from the snares of death.”
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 14:27 “The fear of יהוה is a fountain of life, to turn away from the snares of death.”
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 16:22 “Understanding is a fountain of life to him who has it, But the disciplining of fools is folly.”
יהושע is The Living Torah and our source of Life and when we drink of Him – the FOUNTAIN OF LIFE begins to flow out of us as we gain understanding, walk in the fear of יהוה by walking in the Torah and our speech becomes a flowing source of life!!!
Ḥazon/Revelation 21:6 “And He said to me, “It is done! I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts I shall give of the fountain of the water of life without payment.”
When we remain in Him as continually drink of His Living Water as we keep rank and gather at the Appointed Times and are nourished and refreshed by the Living Water of His Word we too become a deep source of His wisdom as His Word becomes an everlasting stream:
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 18:4 “The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a flowing stream.”
If we forsake Him and allow His water to become muddied then He will dry up the fountain; and we see this clear prophetic warning given in Hoshěa when the crookedness of Ephrayim is being rebuked:
Hoshěa/Hosea 13:15 “Though he bears fruit among his brothers, an east wind comes, a wind from יהוה comes up from the wilderness, and it dries up his fountain, and his spring becomes dry – it plunders a treasure of all desirable objects. 16 “Shomeron is held guilty, for she has rebelled against her Elohim – they fall by the sword, their infants are dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.”
A dried up fountain for rebellion – and that was what Shomeron was guilty of, and at Sheḵem יהושע comes to bring a call of restoration restore a lost Bride at Shomeron and in effect He ‘opened the fountain’ so to speak as a prophetic shadow picture of what was to come!
Zeḵaryah/Zechariah 13:1 “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of Dawiḏ and for the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, for sin and for uncleanness.”
This ‘fountain’ being spoken of here is a reference to a flow of blood in a woman during her monthly cycle or after childbirth, but also it is speaking of a wellspring that gushes out when opened up. And in the context of the previous chapter it relates to the piercing of יהושע (Zeḵaryah/Zechariah 12:10 – where they will look on Him whom they have pierced!), after which blood and water flowed from His side (Yoḥanan/John 19:34), as it relates to the purification and cleansing of Yisra’ĕl from her uncleanness, as the FOUNTAIN OF LIFE brings forth the LIVING WATERS that heal, restore and cleanse a lost and broken Bride!
This woman at the well responded with great zeal and caused a great many to believe by her testimony of יהושע – the Great I AM! This encounter with the Messiah changed her life and she had great Living Waters flow from within as she drank from the FOUNTAIN OF LIFE! Here standing before her was the Husband of Yisra’ĕl, which at first she did not recognise, until He revealed who He was and she responded the way we ought to be – she went and caused many to believe in Him!
The harvest is ripe – we cannot say ‘still another 4 months’ – the harvest is ripe and we are to be like this woman who, by drinking of the True FOUNTAIN OF LIFE let others taste of the LIVING WATER that flowed from within her as she held to the testimony of Messiah, firmly believing His Word and guarding it in action:
Ḥazon/Revelation 14:12 “Here is the endurance of the set-apart ones, here are those guarding the commands of Elohim and the belief of יהושע.”
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE – ARE YOU DRINKING? Then be as this Shomeroni woman – guard the commands and the belief of Messiah and proclaim as a bride to a lost and thirsty sheep – “COME!!!”
Are you drinking and therefore flowing with life or have you allowed the waters to become muddied through vain traditions and compromise and allowed false shepherds to lead you astray and find yourself all dried up and thirsty – if so, then come back to the “well” where the stone has been removed and drink; for He is the Rock that was beaten and split for us while we were in the Wilderness in order to satisfy our thirst. Therefore do not neglect to gather faithfully when required and come and drink as you sit and learn and gain understanding and wisdom in the Torah and clearly recognise whose feet you are coming to sit at as He reveals to you the wonder of His Great Name and His character – in order that you can faithfully and boldly proclaim to a lost Bride, “COME!” and in so doing, being a vessel unto value and not a cracked cistern!
Let us draw water with joy from the fountain of deliverance – for with יהוה is THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE – ARE YOU DRINKING!!!
יהוה bless you and guard you; יהוה make His face shine upon you and show favour to you; יהוה lift up His face to you and give you shalom!
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