In their murmuring for water the people had said, “Is the Lord among us, or not?” The Lord answered that question in a most practical way. He stood upon the rock in Horeb, and gave them water that they might drink and live. He was really there in person. It was His Real Presence. He was there none the less because they could not see Him. And as He was giving them evidence that He was not far from every one of them, so, if they had felt after Him by faith they would have found and received Him, and His Real Presence would have been in them by means of the water which they drank, as well as by the food that they ate.
God a Real Being
God is not a myth. The Holy Spirit is not a myth. His presence is just as real as He Himself. When Christ says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him,” (Revelation 3:20) He means it for an actual fact; and when He says, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love Him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him,” (John 14:23) He does not intend to deceive us with a phantom. He comes in the flesh to-day as really as He did in Judea. His appearance then was simply to show to all men the possibility and the perfection of it. And just as He comes in the flesh now, to all who receive Him, so He did in the days of old, when Israel was in the wilderness; yea, even in the days of Abraham and Abel. We may weary ourselves in speculations as to how it is possible, and die of spiritual starvation while we hesitate, or we may “taste and see that the Lord is good,” and find in His presence satisfaction and “fulness of joy.”
Recognizing God
Men became degraded heathen simply through not acknowledging God as He is revealed in “the things that are made.” For the gross darkness into which they fell there is no excuse, “because that when they knew God they glorified Him, not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind [a mind void of judgment], to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness,” etc. (Romans 1:21-23,28,29)
Even so it was with the Israelites, who were in a most wonderful manner permitted to see some of God’s wonderful works, but who did not acknowledge Him in them. “They made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.” (Acts 7:40) “Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. They forgot God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea.” (Psalms 106:20-22)
But this need not have been; it need not be now. God was bringing the children of Israel to plant them in the mountain of His own inheritance, in the place which He had made for Himself to dwell in, the Sanctuary, which His hands had established; and while they were on the way He would have them partake of the delights of that place. So he gave them water direct from Himself, to show them that by faith they could even then approach His throne, and drink the water of life that flows from it.
Dwelling in God’s House
The same lesson is for us. God does not wish us to wait until immortality is bestowed upon us before we can share the joys of the heavenly city. By the blood of Christ we have boldness to enter even into the Most Holy place of His Sanctuary. We are invited to come boldly to His throne of grace to find mercy. His grace, or favour, is life, and it flows in a living stream. Surely since we are permitted to come to the throne of God, whence the river of life flows, there is nothing to hinder our drinking of it, especially when He offers it freely. (Revelation 22:17)
“Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee.” (Psalms 84:4) If in the things that we see we learn of the things that are unseen; if we behold and acknowledge God in all His works and in all our ways, we shall indeed, even on this earth, be dwelling in God’s immediate presence, and will be continually praising Him, even as do the angels in heaven.
“Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; to show that the Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” (Psalms 92:13-15) “How excellent is Thy loving kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see light.” (Psalms 36:7-9)
Eden here Below
Mark that expression, “Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.” The Hebrew word rendered “pleasure” is Eden. Eden means pleasure, or delight. The garden of Eden is the garden of delight. So the text really says that those who dwell in the secret place of God, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty, shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of His house, and shall drink of the river of Eden, which is the river of the life of God.
This is the portion of believers even now; and we may know it as surely as the Israelites drank water from the rock, or we live day by day from the bounties of His hand. Even now by faith we may refresh our souls by drinking from the river of the water of life, and eating of “the hidden manna.” We may eat and drink righteousness by eating and drinking the flesh and blood of the Son of God.
“River of God, I greet thee,
Not now afar, but near;
My soul to thy still waters
Hastes in its thirstings here; Holy River, Let me ever Drink of only thee” Multiplying the Stream of Life.
But God blesses men only that they may in turn be a blessing to others. To Abraham God said, “I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing;” and even so it is to be with all his seed. So we read again the words of Christ, which may be fulfilled to us to-day, and every day if we but believe them:—
“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 He spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.” (John 7:37-39)
As Christ was the temple of God, and His heart God’s throne, so we are the temples of God, that He should dwell in us. But God cannot be confined. The Holy Spirit cannot be hermetically sealed up in the heart. If He is there His glory will shine forth. If the water of life is in the soul it will flow out to others. As God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, so He takes up His abode in His true believers, putting into them the word of reconciliation, making them His representatives in Christ’s stead to reconcile men to Himself. To His adopted sons is the wonderful privilege given of sharing the work of His only begotten Son. Like Him they may also become ministers of the Spirit; not merely ministers sent forth by the Spirit, but those who shall minister the Spirit. Thus as we become the dwelling-places of God, to reproduce Christ again before the world, and living streams flow from us to refresh the faint and weary, heaven is revealed on earth.
This is the lesson that God wished the Israelites to learn at the waters of Meribah, and it is what He is still patiently endeavoring to teach us, even though we like them have murmured and rebelled. Shall we not learn it now? “Happy is the people that is in such a case; yea, happy is the people whose God is the Lord.”