What is a cistern?
A cistern is a reservoir that holds water, that can be consumed in times of dryness. A cistern is a place where rain water is collected and channeled to a cistern for the times of drought. In Israel, it did not rain regularly, sometimes for months at a time. The water supply in the cistern was what sustained the people during the drought. A typical cistern was mostly or completely underground with a roof to prevent evaporation. Many times it was a natural ROCK cavity or man-made with cement or plaster, creating a holding area. The cistern could not have any cracks of broken cement or plaster areas, as this would allow the water to seep out and be lost. The people of Jeremiah`s time were having problems because the cisterns that they dug for themselves were broken and the water was lost in a spiritual sense.
It says Jeremiah 2:13,
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.
Yeshua(even pre-incarnate Messiah) was/is the ROCK where the water was/is held. In Hebrews it states that Yeshua was the ROCK that followed the Israelites in the desert and the Rock from which the water flowed when they had NO water. It was the ROCK that Moses hit and water gushed out of. (Wow, do you think Moses symbolically hit Yeshua in disobedience, and was included in the reason Moses was prevented from entering the Promised Land?) In Yeshua, the water will not drain out and will always be available if we keep our priority in Him. If we create idols(other priorities above Yeshua), that is called a cistern that we hew/form for ourselves. Of course it will not hold living water as it is human-made and will leak out.
Yeshua said to the woman at the well, “I will give you living water so that you will never thirst.”
Here is the account from John 4;
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Interesting historical Fact. This very well in Sychar or Shechem was the Well that Jacob dug when he needed fresh, pure water. God does nothing by chance. There were 20 other springs, around this area, but they were not good water. So Jacob dug this very well for fresh, pure water. This was also the place Sychar or Shechem where Jacob had made his family and business partners bury their idols under the oak trees. It was at this very place earlier in history where a reconsecration and recommitment had been made to follow the One true God and Father.
So today; do we have 20 other springs gushing around us with water that is not the Living water? What idols am I bowing down to? What are we worshiping? Are we consecrated and committed, (at the well with living water or the cistern that is not broken), to the ONE(Yeshua) who gives Living Water so that we will never thirst? Are we drinking daily of His fountain so we will not be thirsty? He says also, “all my fountains are in you.” Jeremiah 17:13 that disaster has come upon the land because they forsook the Lord, the Fountain of Living waters.
Just as in Jacob`s life, there may be many springs that are gushing around you, but they do not taste so good. Please, do not settle for these springs that taste bad, but dig deep till you find the ONE spring of LIVING WATER so that you will never thirst. Are you dry because you have been satisfied with water that is just OK? So the desire for water just is not there? Ask Yeshua now to restore the desire for Living Water.
Jeremiah 17
8For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.
A cistern is a reservoir that holds water, that can be consumed in times of dryness. A cistern is a place where rain water is collected and channeled to a cistern for the times of drought. In Israel, it did not rain regularly, sometimes for months at a time. The water supply in the cistern was what sustained the people during the drought. A typical cistern was mostly or completely underground with a roof to prevent evaporation. Many times it was a natural ROCK cavity or man-made with cement or plaster, creating a holding area. The cistern could not have any cracks of broken cement or plaster areas, as this would allow the water to seep out and be lost. The people of Jeremiah`s time were having problems because the cisterns that they dug for themselves were broken and the water was lost in a spiritual sense.
It says Jeremiah 2:13,
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.
Yeshua(even pre-incarnate Messiah) was/is the ROCK where the water was/is held. In Hebrews it states that Yeshua was the ROCK that followed the Israelites in the desert and the Rock from which the water flowed when they had NO water. It was the ROCK that Moses hit and water gushed out of. (Wow, do you think Moses symbolically hit Yeshua in disobedience, and was included in the reason Moses was prevented from entering the Promised Land?) In Yeshua, the water will not drain out and will always be available if we keep our priority in Him. If we create idols(other priorities above Yeshua), that is called a cistern that we hew/form for ourselves. Of course it will not hold living water as it is human-made and will leak out.
Yeshua said to the woman at the well, “I will give you living water so that you will never thirst.”
Here is the account from John 4;
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Interesting historical Fact. This very well in Sychar or Shechem was the Well that Jacob dug when he needed fresh, pure water. God does nothing by chance. There were 20 other springs, around this area, but they were not good water. So Jacob dug this very well for fresh, pure water. This was also the place Sychar or Shechem where Jacob had made his family and business partners bury their idols under the oak trees. It was at this very place earlier in history where a reconsecration and recommitment had been made to follow the One true God and Father.
So today; do we have 20 other springs gushing around us with water that is not the Living water? What idols am I bowing down to? What are we worshiping? Are we consecrated and committed, (at the well with living water or the cistern that is not broken), to the ONE(Yeshua) who gives Living Water so that we will never thirst? Are we drinking daily of His fountain so we will not be thirsty? He says also, “all my fountains are in you.” Jeremiah 17:13 that disaster has come upon the land because they forsook the Lord, the Fountain of Living waters.
Just as in Jacob`s life, there may be many springs that are gushing around you, but they do not taste so good. Please, do not settle for these springs that taste bad, but dig deep till you find the ONE spring of LIVING WATER so that you will never thirst. Are you dry because you have been satisfied with water that is just OK? So the desire for water just is not there? Ask Yeshua now to restore the desire for Living Water.
Jeremiah 17
8For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.
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