What are the wells of salvation?

Here we have a song of praise and thanksgiving for their deliverance. "Thou shalt say," etc. (v. 1) means unequivocally Israel. God's anger has not only turned away and ceased, but He is their salvation (v. 2). For all Israel in that day shall be saved. Therefore with joy they draw water out of those exhaustless wells and say Hallelujah (v. 3, 4). But it is Jah Jehovah, not the Father as we know Him now through the Lord Jesus. The effect of their deliverance is that His glory as the Eternal is known in all the earth (v. 5). The Father is known in His family, not in all the earth as such, though by His children everywhere. But here it is the kingdom, and He is known as the Holy One of Israel in Zion. Jehovah reigns, and by Israel He makes Himself known in all the earth.

Salvation known and enjoyed is the prominent theme of the chapter - the keynote of the song; and God Himself is that salvation. With the heart salvation is sought, appropriated, and learned; and for satisfaction therein, a person, not a thing, must be the object. The salvation here spoken of is obviously cast in a Jewish mould; it is that of Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, who is in the midst of the inhabitants of Zion, etc. They will with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation, and utter the shout of triumph - blessed exercises of long-looked-for rest. We may see a foreshadowing of all this in the refreshment afforded by Elim's twelve wells, and threescore and ten palm trees.

Fruits of grace which await, in such abundance, Israel in a future day are, though in higher measure, and in a more blessed way, offered to faith now. "Things which God hath prepared for them that love Him" are revealed and ministered to us by His Spirit for our comfort and sustenance; whereas Isaiah could only speak of these things as, in fact, hidden. (Isaiah 64:4. Compare 1 Cor. 2:9-10.) It is plain therefore that drawing "water out of the wells of salvation" may be with us a present joyous exercise.

If verses 1 and 2 remind us of Exodus 14 and 15, verse 3 is reminiscent of Elim, which is mentioned in the last verse of chapter 15. The Elim wells were very welcome and refreshing but here is something far more wonderful, of which Elim was only a faint type, since the salvation that Israel will then receive will be not only of a temporal sort but also spiritual and eternal.

None need wonder that the prince of prophets is pre-eminently rich in speaking of salvation so divine. In Isa. 12 which closes the first section of his prophecies, Isaiah predicts that Israel shall say, "Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid; for Jah, Jehovah, is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation. And with joy ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation." This follows beyond doubt the introduction of Messiah and His future reign in Isa. 11. In Isa. 25:9 he says when drawing to the end of the next section with various and prolonged thanksgiving, "Behold, this is our God: we have waited for him, and he will save us. This is Jehovah, we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation." So in Isa. 26:1, "We have a strong city: salvation doth he appoint for walls and bulwarks." In his third section, where the final troubler of Israel is revealed with a "woe" to him, Isa. 33, we have in ver. 2, "Jehovah be gracious to us; we have waited for thee. Be their arm every morning, yea, our salvation in the time of trouble;" then in ver. 22, "Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah our lawgiver, Jehovah our king; he will save us." Again in Isa. 35:4, "Be strong, fear not; behold, your God: vengeance cometh, the recompence of God! He will come himself, and save you." In the middle or fourth section of history we could not look for more than such a typical reference as Isa. 38:20. But in the fifth where "My servant" appears, we have ample testimony and in forms of great variety beyond the words "save" or "salvation." He restores, redeems, forms for Himself, pours water and His Spirit upon them, as His witnesses and His servants as He is the God of Israel, the Saviour, "a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" (Isa. 45:21-22; see also Isa. 8:17; Isa. 46:13). In the sixth division, where Messiah comes out fully and His rejection, salvation is still more conspicuous, as in Isa. 49:6, 8, 25; Isa. 51:5-6, 8; Isa. 52:7. Who can be surprised that discerns the Saviour suffering, and exalted, in Isa. 53 where we have the fullest and clearest witness to Him and His work, though the expression of "save" or salvation there occurs not? But many other words point to that truth and the meritorious and efficacious cause, as in vers. Isa. 53:5-6, 8, 10-12. In the seventh or last part we have its express and abundant mention, as in Isa. 59:1, 11, 16-17; Isa. 60:18; Isa. 61:10; Isa. 62:1; Isa. 63:1, 5; Isa. 64:5.

We notice the word, "Therefore with joy shall ye draw," which presupposes a certain condition of soul. This condition may be inferred from the first two verses of our chapter. Thus: (1) God is the soul's object; (2) His wrath is turned away; (3) He acts as comforter, and as a shield. (4) He is the soul's strength and its song; (5) and is become its salvation.

It is indeed lamentable when saints derive neither pleasure nor profit from the word of God, which lays open to us the wells of salvation. When we lack joy in drawing water therefrom something evidently is astray, and it behoves one to consider. (Psalm 45:10.) Waiting upon God is the secret of strength; and the same, in a self-judged spirit, is the secret for discovering the cause of weakness. Generally the cause is not far to seek. But, without dwelling further upon what is certainly of much importance, the case is infinitely worse when the soul is altogether unacquainted with the condition, above described. Naturally, man has no heart for God. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." He stood amongst us, as John the Baptist declared, but we knew Him not. He would even sit with us, and, finding us pre-occupied, would become our debtor, that He might have opportunity to assure us of the unsatisfying character of natural resources. Yes, though these should even be the very mould in which man's life is cast, the elements by which, so far as he sees it, life is estimated, sustained, and characterized. And, together with assuring us of this, He would reveal to us the true source of lasting satisfaction - the unfathomable love of a giving God. "He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again" is aptly expressive of the former, whatever the resource may be. "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst" as aptly indicates the latter, and the manner in which the source of blessing becomes available to the thirsty. Well it is when the soul is led to the simple and wholesome enquiry, "Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well?" Yes, this blessed One - the author and giver of all we possess - is superior alike to the possessions which charm and pre-occupy us, and to the channel through whom they may have become ours. He can show Himself to be so. But to do this we must be laid bare, that we may see ourselves as He sees us, and recognize our need. He puts forth His hand in love, and touches the tender point of our consciences, which then yield to Him, and we apprehend Him as One capable of telling us "all things that ever we did." He speaks to us of the Father seeking worshippers, of worship too, but according to the exigencies of God's nature. This the contrite can yield Him, and only they. But now the void is formed, which only Christ can fill, and He fills the void. "I that speak unto thee am He." Satisfaction is tasted; the well is filled, and overflows,* sending forth a stream of living water (John 7:38) in communion with the divine source. The valley of Baca is made a well; the rain also filleth the pools. The heavenly fount itself sends forth showers of blessing, graciously supplementing the channels, as well as causing them to flow. (John 4:39-42.)

Their feast is come and well nigh gone. How ineffectual had been all their celebration.! how empty their drawing up water in golden vessels and pouring it out with the words of the prophet foretelling Israel's millennial blessing, "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Alas, they had no salvation, no water, no joy worthy of the name. It is here, in the face of an empty ritual, that our Lord cries aloud in those words which have found an echo in how many hearts: "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." And here we have not merely the satisfaction of thirst, as in the promise to the woman of Samaria, but rivers of living water flowing out from the once empty heart of man — now so full that it overflows with joy and carries refreshment to others. We are told what this fulness is, not merely the life which our Lord imparts, but that life as energized and controlled by the Holy Spirit: "This spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive." All looks forward, therefore, to the gift of the Spirit after redemption had been accomplished.

We come next to the seventh chapter, — still opposition. Here is poor Israel with its wretched little feast of tabernacles. What a wretched thing it is without the living reality! The Lord does not even go up to the feast, but in the midst of it He goes up as you might say as a private individual, and He begins to teach. Then comes out the opposition, which is the keynote of this whole portion. Then it is that the Lord reveals Himself as the giver of the true feast of tabernacles, as the One in whom, if they believed, that prophecy would be fulfilled: "With joy shall they draw water out of the wells of salvation." "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive."

Thus it is — thus it has been since the day of Pentecost, and thus it must continue to be during the entire period of the present dispensation — the Christian has to do directly with Christ in the glory. He thirsts — he feels his need — it is an individual thing — Christ in glory, revealed to his soul by the Holy Ghost, is the perfect answer to all his need. Thus, we say, it must be, until the church is caught up — the judgments executed — the millennium restored, and all Israel saved. Then shall the living waters have another source and other channels, according to the dispensational ways of God. The river of life shall then flow forth from the sanctuary in Zion for the refreshment of Jerusalem and the whole earth; and then the ancient prophecy shall be fulfilled, "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Isaiah 12:3; Ezekiel 47.

This goes beyond being simply saved from something, just as we read also of His priests being “clothed with salvation” (2 Chr. 6:41), and of the walls of the Lord’s city being called “Salvation” (Isa. 60:18). As he contemplates the mercy and goodness of God, Isaiah joyfully breaks forth with singing, “Behold, God is my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song: He also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation”! (12:2-3). All is found in a glorious Person—in El Jah Jehovah!—in God, everlasting and sublime, “which is and which was and which is to come!”

There are several Hebrew words for the wells that were in Palestine. Some may have been dug in connection with springs of water and others have been principally supplied by water from the surrounding land. The word ayin differs from either of the above: it signifies literally 'an eye,' and was like an eye in the ground from which the waters sprang up, and is not said to be dug, and yet is called 'a well' in the A.V. It occurs in Gen. 24:13-45; Gen. 49:22; Ex. 15:27; Neh. 2:13, and the same word is often translated 'fountain.' From the same is mayan. Ps. 84:6; Isa. 12:3; etc. The words beer, bor refer to any well, cistern, or pit. Gen. 16:14; Gen. 24:11, 20; Deut. 6:11; etc.