" 1 John i. 6,7. * 1 John ii. 9 — 11.
y 1 Johnii. 8. , ' iThess.v. 5 — S.lJohnii.8.
" Rev. ii. 28.
Rev. xxii. 17. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come : and let him that heareth say. Come : and let him that is athirst, come : and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.
RICH beyond expression are the blessings held forth to us in the Word of Life : and as free as light are the invitations given us to partake of them. Not only in the epistles to the Seven Churches, and in the other parts of this prophetic book, but throughout the whole Scriptures, is every possible encouragement afforded to the sinners of mankind, to repent of sin, and to " lay hold upon the hope that is set before them" in the Gospel. And here, in the close of the Inspired Volume, are invitations to us
reiterated
reiterated from every quarter, that we may be pre- vailed upon to accept of mercy, ere the door of mercy be for ever closed.
Let us consider,
I. The blessings to which we are invited —
They are here designated by " the water of life." "We will notice them,
1. Generally —
[The source from whence this water flows, is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. In the very chapter before us, " the pure river of the water of life" is said to " proceed out of the throne of God and of the Lamb %" As in the Wilderness, the water gushing from the rock that had been smitten supplied the necessities of all Israel; so the Lord Jesus Christ, when smitten with the rod of the Law, poured forth the waters of salvation for the benefit of the whole world ^. He is " the fountain of living waters "^ ;" and whosoever cometh to him, may drink and live for ever. In the chapter before our text, the Lord Jesus Christ declared this to the apostle John : " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely "." In the days of his flesh, he spoke repeatedly to this effect. To the Samaritan woman, of whom he had asked a draught of water, he said, *' If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee. Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water ^" On another occasion, when the people had, according to custom, drawn water from the pool of Siloam, he stood in the place of public concourse, and cried, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink : and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." This latter expression is then explained by the Evangehst, who adds, " This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on him shoidd receive ^" Now here we have, in a general view, the import of the expression in my text. The Holy Spirit is that water of life which Christ is empow- ered to bestow : and wherever that blessed Spirit is imparted, there is within the person's own bosom a principle of life, seeking for vent in all suitable expressions of duty to God ; or, as our Lord elsewhere expresses it, " there is within him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life ^ ;" to which the Holy Spirit, in all his tendencies and operations, leads us to aspire,]
'■^^Jfr,^ 2. More
* John iv. 10. 'John vii. 3/— 3p. " .Tohii iv. 14.