Scripture Reading: Jer. 2:13; Psa. 36:8-9; John 4:10, 14; 7:37-39; 1 Cor. 10:4; 12:13

DAY 1 & DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 3　DAY 1　»

　　Jer. 2:13 For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which hold no water.

　　Exo. 17:6 I will be standing before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink. And Moses did so…

　　The entire Bible, including the book of Jeremiah, was written for God’s economy. My burden in this life-study of Jeremiah is that you would see what the Lord has shown me from the Word concerning God’s economy. If you see this vision, your life will be affected, and the Lord’s recovery will be enriched. In Jeremiah 2:13 we have God’s word to Israel, the elect of Jehovah, concerning two evils which they have committed. God’s intention in His economy is to be the fountain, the source, of living waters to satisfy His chosen people for their enjoyment. (Life-study of Jeremiah, p. 17)

　　God’s economy is to dispense Himself as the living water to produce His increase, His enlargement, to be His expression.

　　This thought is strengthened by Paul’s writings. For example, 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body…and were all given to drink one Spirit.” To be baptized in the Spirit is to get into the Spirit and to be lost in Him; to drink the Spirit is to take the Spirit in and to have our being saturated with Him. In 1 Corinthians 10:3 and 4 Paul, using the Old Testament types, speaks not only of drinking but also of eating. “All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” The spiritual food refers to manna (Exo. 16:14-18), typifying Christ as our daily life supply; the spiritual drink refers to the living water that flowed out of the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6), typifying the Spirit, who flowed out of the crucified and resurrected Christ as our all-inclusive drink. Our drinking of God as the living water is for the church as His increase; our drinking is for the producing of His enlargement, His fullness, for His expression. (Life-study of Jeremiah, p. 18)

　　The water flowing out of the smitten rock typifies the Spirit (John 7:37-39). Through incarnation Christ came to the earth as a rock. On the cross He was smitten by the authority of God’s righteous law to accomplish God’s redemption. His side was pierced, and living water flowed out for God’s people to drink (John 19:34 and footnote). This living water is the water of life in resurrection, the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit as the ultimate issue of the Triune God (1 Cor. 15:45; see footnote 1 on John 7:39). The source of the water of life is the throne of God and of the Lamb—the redeeming God (Rev. 22:1). Hence, the water of life is the Triune God flowing out to be our life. The flow of the living water began from the throne in eternity, continued through the incarnation, human living, and crucifixion of Christ (John 4:10, 14; 19:34), and now flows on in resurrection to supply God’s people with all the riches of the divine life (Rev. 22:1-2). When we identify ourselves with the smitten Christ, the divine life as the living water flows out of us (John 7:38). The flowing of the water of life in resurrection is for the building up of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13) and the preparation of the bride of Christ (Rev. 19:7), both of which will consummate in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:9-10; cf. Eph. 5:23, 28-30).

　　To drink of the water of life, we first need to be positioned to drink (1 Cor. 12:13), and we also need to be thirsty (John 7:37; Rev. 21:6). Then we need to come to the Lord (John 7:37; Rev. 22:17), to ask of the Lord (John 4:10), to believe in the Lord (John 7:38), and to call on the name of the Lord (Isa. 12:3-4; Acts 2:21). (Exo. 17:6, footnote 3)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 40

«　WEEK 3　DAY 2　»

　　Rev. 22:1 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.

　　17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely.

　　The water which came out of the rock [in Exodus 17:6] is the water of life in resurrection. Resurrection denotes something which has been put to death and which is alive again. It also denotes life which springs forth out of something that has passed through death. Because the water of life is in resurrection, it is victorious and triumphant. It transcends every negative thing. When we drink this water, we become people in resurrection and of resurrection.

　　Let us now look at three pictures portrayed in the Scriptures: the smitten rock with water flowing out of it, Christ on the cross with blood and water flowing from His pierced side, and God on the throne, out of which flows the river of water of life. These pictures do not signify three different kinds of waters, one flowing out of the rock, another flowing out of the body of Jesus, and still another flowing out of the throne of God. No, the water in these pictures refers to the one water. The flowing of the living water began from the throne. Before the rock was smitten and before Christ was crucified, the living water was already flowing from the throne. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 488, 491-492)

　　The life-giving Spirit as the water of life flows out of God on the throne (Rev. 22:1). On the one hand, the One sitting on the throne is God; on the other hand, the water of life proceeding out of the throne is also God. The water which flows from God on the throne brings God’s authority. When we drink of this water, we receive authority as well as power. We are subdued by the living water flowing within us.

　　The living water flowing from God’s throne [also] conveys to us the riches of the divine life. This is indicated by the fact that the tree of life grows in the water of life (Rev. 22:2). Because the riches of the divine life are carried in the flow of the living water, we receive these riches whenever we drink this water.

　　The Spirit flows through the smitten Christ, through the Christ typified by the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4). This flowing includes Christ’s humanity, human living, and death. We cannot taste, experience, or enjoy the Lord’s humanity except by the flowing of the living water within us. The more we drink this water, the more we experience and enjoy Christ’s humanity, human living, and death.

　　The Spirit as the water of life flows in resurrection with the power of Christ’s resurrection (Phil. 3:10), with Christ’s ascension, and with Christ’s enthronement, comprising glorification, lordship, and headship. Although it is difficult to explain, all this becomes our experience by drinking of the living water. We can testify that we have tasted Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and enthronement.

　　The flowing of the water of life in resurrection is for the formation of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). Because we all drink of the same Spirit, we can be one Body. Drinking of the one Spirit in resurrection makes us members of the Body and builds us up as the Body.

　　The flowing of the living water in resurrection is also for the preparation of the bride of Christ. According to Revelation 22:17, the Spirit and the bride sound forth the call to come and drink of the water of life. The bride is prepared by drinking. The water which the bride drinks is the Spirit. By drinking the Spirit, the bride becomes one with the Spirit….If we drink of the living water day by day, the Body of Christ will be built up, and the bride of Christ will be prepared. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 495-497)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 42

«　WEEK 3　DAY 3　»

　　John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.

　　In Jeremiah 2:13 we see not only something positive—the fountain of living waters—but also something negative—the children of Israel’s forsaking this fountain to hew out for themselves broken cisterns, which hold no water. This negative thing indicates that Israel, like Adam in Genesis 3, had become fallen. Adam fell by forsaking the tree of life and turning to another tree—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Israel fell by forsaking God as the fountain of living waters and turning to a source other than God.

　　God was burdened that Israel would drink Him to become His increase as His fullness that they might express Him. Israel should have drunk of God as the fountain of living waters, but instead they committed two evils. The first evil was to forsake God; the second evil was to hew out cisterns as another source. Those cisterns, however, were broken and could hold no water. This indicates that apart from God as the fountain of living waters, nothing can quench our thirst, nothing can satisfy us. Nothing apart from God Himself dispensed into us as living water can make us His increase for His expression. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 18-19)

　　The first evil of Israel was to forsake Jehovah, the fountain of living waters….In the book of Jeremiah, Jehovah God considers Himself a husband to His beloved elect, Israel, and Israel a wife to Him. Jeremiah 2:1—3:5 may thus be regarded as a conversation between a husband and wife. “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah: / I remember concerning you the kindness of your youth, / The love of your bridal days, / When you followed after Me in the wilderness, / In a land that was not sown” (2:2). There was a bridal day, a wedding day, for Jehovah and Israel, and Jehovah, the Husband, still remembered that day of love.

　　“Thus says Jehovah: / What iniquity did your fathers find in Me / That they went far away from Me / And walked after vanity / And became vain?” (v. 5). The word vanity in this verse refers to idols. Israel walked after vanity, and they themselves became vain; they worshipped idols and as a result they made themselves nothing. Israel also forgot Jehovah, who brought them up from Egypt through the wilderness of deserts and the shadow of death and brought them into the land of the fruited field (vv. 6-7). In forsaking Jehovah, the fountain of living waters, God’s people were like Jehovah’s wife committing fornication with many lovers (3:1). Israel realized that Jehovah was her Husband, but she continued to commit fornication with many lovers, with many idols. Such was the sinful condition of Israel.

　　Israel’s second evil was to hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which hold no water. The word in 2:13 about cisterns is, of course, a figure of speech portraying Israel’s toil in making something to replace God as the fountain of living waters. To hew out a cistern from rock is very hard labor. Then the cistern may become broken. Once a cistern is broken, the water in it leaks out. This is a picture of human labor and enterprise. We may labor to get something for ourselves, but then our “cistern” develops a crack, and we lose whatever we have gained.

　　Israel chose many idols, which are of no benefit, to replace the unique God, who is their glory (2:11). This is very similar to what is described in Romans 1:23, where Paul speaks of those who “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and reptiles.” (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 39-42)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msgs. 3, 32

«　WEEK 3　DAY 4　»

　　Isa. 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the evildoer, his thoughts; and let him return to Jehovah, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God, for He will pardon abundantly.

　　Ezek. 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts…

　　5 …The house of Israel…have become estranged from Me because of all their idols.

　　The evil condition of the wicked is that they do not come to the Lord to eat and enjoy the Lord. They do many things, but they do not come to contact Him, to take Him, to receive Him, to taste Him, and to enjoy Him. In the sight of God, nothing is more evil than this. Today, we may have a morning revival, come to the meetings, sing hymns, and even pray without contacting the Lord. To do this is to be a hypocrite. (Life-study of Isaiah, p. 200)

　　An idol in our heart is anything within us that we love more than the Lord and that replaces the Lord in our life (1 John 5:21 and footnote 3, par. 1). Those who set up idols in their hearts are estranged from the Lord through their idols (Ezek. 14:5). All who have idols within them yet seek God in an outward way cannot find Him (v. 3; cf. Jer. 29:13). (Ezek. 14:3, footnote 1)

　　God intended to dispense Himself into man as man’s satisfaction that God might be enlarged, but man became unfaithful and unchaste and forsook God for idols. This forsaking of God began in the garden of Eden. Eve, the wife of Adam, was not faithful to God but was seduced by the serpent to turn from God to Satan, symbolized by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Through Eve, Adam also was seduced and ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. In this way man turned away from God to idols. Every branch of the tree of knowledge is an idol. Whatever we possess, and even whatever we are, can be an idol. Israel was evil and unfaithful to God in forsaking God for idols. In the matter of such unfaithfulness to God, we are the same as Israel.

　　Israel exchanged the reality of God for the falsehood, the vanity, of idols (Jer. 2:5). They “exchanged the truth of God for the lie” (Rom. 1:25a). All idols are vanity; thus, to pursue an idol is to pursue vanity. Israel worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25b). They worshipped and served not only the things of God’s creation but also the things of their own creation—idols of wood, stone, and metal.

　　Israel sought the Egyptians’ and Assyrians’ help (man’s help) instead of seeking God’s blessing (Jer. 2:17-18, 36; Isa. 31:3). They did not trust in God’s blessing but in man’s help. As the wife of Jehovah, Israel forsook her chastity to commit fornication, having a harlot’s forehead and refusing to be ashamed (Jer. 2:20, 23-25; 3:1-3). Israel practiced apostasies rather than keeping her faithfulness (2:19). Apostasy is a matter of leaving the way of God and taking another way to follow things other than God. Israel increased the number of their gods (idols) according to the number of their cities (vv. 27-28). Wherever there was a city, there was an idol.

　　[According to verse 32], Israel had forgotten Jehovah “for days without number,” for so many days that they could not be counted. This means that they had forgotten Him for a very long time. In this matter, they were different from the virgin, who could not forget her ornaments, or the bride, who could not forget her attire. This word concerning ornaments and attire indicates that God is our ornament and attire; that is, God is our beautification.

　　In punishing them Jehovah did not even give them the showers or the spring rain [3:3a]. He caused the heavens above to be as brass, not giving them any supply. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 27, 42-43)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msg. 6

«　WEEK 3　DAY 5　»

　　Lam. 3:22-23 It is Jehovah’s lovingkindness that we are not consumed, for His compassions do not fail; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

　　1 Cor. 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

　　Although we are unfaithful, God is faithful [Lam. 3:23]….The chorus of a well-known hymn on God’s faithfulness (Hymns, #19) says, “Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! / Morning by morning new mercies I see….” We may understand what the Bible says and what this hymn says about God’s faithfulness either in a natural way or in a spiritual way….If you understand God’s faithfulness in a natural way, you may think that He is faithful primarily in the matter of material provisions or physical blessings….However, in 1 Corinthians 1:9 Paul says, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” God is faithful in this matter, but He may not be faithful to provide you a large house or a well-paying job. I would not deny the fact that God is faithful in caring for our welfare. My point is that God’s faithfulness is not according to our natural understanding. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 27-28)

　　Consider the sufferings of the apostle Paul. He was called, commissioned, burdened, and sent by God, but wherever he went he had troubles. For example, as soon as he began to preach Christ, he began to suffer persecution….Does this mean that God was not faithful to Paul? No, it means that God’s faithfulness is not according to our natural understanding.

　　When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we might have expected to have peace and blessing. But instead we might have had many troubles and might have lost our security, our health, or our possessions. When some Christians experience such things, they may question God’s faithfulness and ask why He did not prevent hardships from happening to them. We need to realize that in allowing us to have troubles, God is faithful in His purpose to turn us from idols and bring us back to Himself. Our peace, safety, health, and possessions may become idols to us, and God is faithful to take these things away so that we may drink of Him as the fountain of living waters. If our house or our possessions become idols to us, we drink of them and not of God. God’s faithfulness is a matter of dealing with these idols and causing us to drink of Him.

　　God is faithful in leading us into His economy, and His economy is for us to drink Christ, to eat Christ, to enjoy Christ, to absorb Christ, and to assimilate Christ that God may have His increase with us to fulfill His economy. Instead of drinking of God as the fountain of living waters, Israel drank of their idols. Therefore, God used the Babylonians to deal with these idols and also to destroy Jerusalem and even the temple, which had become an idol to them. We need to see that we are not better than Israel. Anything can become an idol to us. But God is faithful in fulfilling His economy. In His faithfulness He deals with our idols that we may drink of Him. We all need to drink of God as the fountain of living waters, receiving Christ into us and assimilating Him, so that He may increase for the fulfillment of God’s economy to have His expression through His counterpart.

　　Whereas God is faithful, we are neither faithful nor chaste but go to many other husbands. After failing God, we may receive some mercy and grace and therefore repent and weep….While we are repenting and weeping, God is rejoicing….After repenting, we should begin to drink of the living waters, praising God, giving thanks to Him for everything, and enjoying Him. This is what God wants. God is not interested in anything other than our enjoyment of Christ. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 28-29)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msg. 4

«　WEEK 3　DAY 6　»

　　Lam. 3:22-25 …His compassions do not fail; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Jehovah is my portion, says my soul; therefore I hope in Him. Jehovah is good to those who wait on Him, to the soul that seeks Him.

　　We may think that because of our failure, we are hopeless. Thus, it is profitable to consider Lamentations 3:22-25….These words were written after the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple, and carried away many into captivity….Surely, the people of Israel must have felt that God had given them up and that they were finished. On the one hand, Jeremiah was weeping; on the other hand, he was writing. In his writing he could say that it was of Jehovah’s lovingkindness that they were not consumed. He could say that they were still there and that God had not given them up. The princes, the prophets, and the priests had failed, but God’s compassions do not fail; rather, they are new every morning. Jeremiah could even declare that Jehovah was his portion and that he hoped in Him, for He is good to those who wait on Him. Why is there hope in Him? There is hope in God because with God there is no disappointment. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 29-30)

　　At this point we need to see that Israel’s failure opened the way for Christ to come in to be their righteousness. The situation is the same with us today. Our failure opens the way for Christ to come in.

　　Jeremiah 23:5-6 speaks of Christ’s coming in. “Indeed, days are coming, / Declares Jehovah, / When I will raise up to David a righteous Shoot; / And He will reign as King and act prudently / And will execute justice and righteousness in the land. / …And this is His name by which He will be called, / Jehovah our righteousness.” This righteous Shoot is Christ as the descendant of David. The day is coming when all Israel will receive Christ as their righteousness. They forsook Him, but their forsaking of Him has opened the door for Him to come in to be their righteousness. Then they may say, “Lord, we do not have anything that God can recognize as righteousness, but You have come to be our righteousness.”

　　According to the prophecy of Jeremiah, no matter how evil and wicked Israel may be and no matter how often they have forsaken God to hew out broken cisterns for themselves, Israel will be restored. In the restoration of Israel, Christ will be their righteousness, redemption, and life (31:33-34), and Christ will be exalted to be their centrality and universality. God will come in to dispense Himself into His elect as the divine life to be their life and life law with its capacity to know God and to live God. Eventually, they, like Paul and the believers in Christ today, will be a new creation.

　　If we fail God today, we should not be disappointed. God has a way to deal with us. He has a way to cause us to mature and then to bring us into the New Jerusalem. If we are overcomers, we will enjoy the reward in the millennium. If we are defeated, we will suffer punishment in the millennium, but eventually we will be matured and enter into the New Jerusalem. Some Christians may love the world today, but sooner or later God will come in to take away the “toy” of the world, and they will repent. Then He may say, “Child, you don’t need to repent anymore. Simply take Christ in and rejoice with Me.”

　　There is no need for us to worry about our situation. God is patient, sympathetic, and compassionate, and He will take the time to make us mature. Every believer, whether presently weak or strong, will be in the New Jerusalem, and everyone there will be mature. Whether we seek God diligently or only a little, God has a way to make Christ our righteousness, our redemption, our life, our life law, and our life capacity so that we can be matured. Every real believer in Christ will reach maturity and be in the New Jerusalem. Thus, we should not be dismayed or discouraged. Rather, we should be encouraged. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 30-31)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msg. 4