Jeremiah 2:13, commentary and pictures

God's people commit two evils when they abandon Him as the fountain of living water and carve out for themselves cracked reservoirs that cannot hold water or quench thirst. The fountain is God Himself, revealed in Christ, in His Word and truth, and in the saving influence of the Holy Spirit, an inexhaustible source of life, strength, joy and salvation freely opened to the thirsty. The broken cisterns are human teachings and worldly wisdom, trust in human help and sympathy, worldly pleasure and amusement, wealth and achievement, and self-made righteousness and forms without Christ, all shallow and unable to give peace, life or salvation. Forsaking the fountain leaves hunger and thirst, spiritual darkness and emptiness, decline of piety into strife and formalism, and self-brought ruin and bondage with no rest outside Christ. To all who have drunk from broken cisterns God calls the thirsty to come to Christ and drink freely, turning back in repentance and faith to receive His word and Spirit, and those who drink deeply themselves become unfailing streams to lead others from broken cisterns back to the fountain.

Words and Setting

The two evils are forsaking the Lord as the fountain of living water and hewing out broken cisterns that can hold no water. To forsake the fountain is to abandon God as the source of life, to lay aside and disrespect His Word which gives life to those who receive it as spirit and life, and to exchange glory for what does not profit by turning to worthless human substitutes. The broken cisterns are cracked vessels that cannot retain what is put in them, picturing human teachings, productions and books that cannot give truth or life, false religious allegiance including the spurious Sabbath that brings spiritual loss and can lead to subjection to Rome, loss of vital connection with God through conformity to the world, using His resources for show, and reliance on unsanctified human ability. This word is to be read before those who need it, especially men not walking in the light who make no response when messages come or who in pride and determination to walk in their own chosen way resist appeal.

In its history Israel, though God's chosen people with great advantages to be the light of the world, forsook God and turned to Egypt and Assyria for help. Having changed its glory for that which does not profit, its ruin was self-brought, with its own wickedness and backsliding to correct and reprove it, a condemnation applying also to a publishing institution that does not stoutly maintain its pure principles. It is a horrible thing at which the heavens are called to be astonished and very desolate. The Lord has a controversy with those who abandon Him and reject messages sent to correct them, who persist proudly in their chosen course and are left to their own perverted imaginations, and He cannot prosper them or the church while such principles remain the rule of action.

The prophecy belongs to God's people in the present time and in the last days, when they lay aside God's Word, absorb false ideas, depart from the faith, and seek the answer to thirst from broken cisterns. Those who try to quench thirst there proclaim a misleading message and speak smooth things instead of doing genuine gospel work as men who acknowledge Christ as Master, the way, the truth and the life, holding their commission from God and accountable to Him for their talents like Elijah and Jeremiah. Instead they fail to speak intelligently of the sacredness and importance of truth, to point to the needs of the present hour, to bear an inspiring message against perverted principle, to watch for souls as those who must give an account, and to point souls to God's standard of righteousness. The image at the same time calls all who claim to belong to God to turn back from backsliding to the living God.

A broken cistern is a cracked container that cannot keep its water or satisfy thirst, like a heart that loses the treasure put into it as a pool evaporates. Hewing such cisterns means distrusting God as Counsellor infinite in wisdom, failing to acknowledge Him in councils and believe His promises, turning aside from His chosen ones and from Christ the true altar and the Holy Spirit the true fire to inquire of strange gods, seeking advice from men who do not make God their trust nor love and fear Him and obey His commandments, depending on the wisdom of this world which God calls foolishness, and opening perplexities to those connected with His enemy who cannot give wise judgment on matters of great result and through whom Satan leads into false paths and difficult places, so that those who do this are answered according to their works. By contrast the gospel is not such a cistern but a lasting treasure of knowledge and living refreshment, and the heart that receives God's word retains its treasure, continually supplied by unfailing springs. Such a heart is like a mountain stream fed by unfailing springs whose cool sparkling waters leap from rock to rock refreshing the weary, thirsty and burdened and the heavy-laden, and like a constantly flowing river growing deeper and wider as it advances until its life-giving waters spread over all the earth leaving verdure and fruitfulness behind with fresher grass, richer trees and more abundant flowers even when earth lies bare and brown under summer heat, so that the true child of God in whom Christ's religion is a vitalizing, pervading, living, working, spiritual energy, with heart opened to the heavenly influence of truth and love, flows forth again like streams in the desert causing fruitfulness where there is barrenness and dearth, and a believer's life sustained by God becomes a living spring refreshing the weary, thirsty and burdened.

The Fountain of Life

The fountain of living waters is God Himself, the source of life and satisfaction far better than anything people seek for themselves, as shown when Jesus offered the Samaritan woman this greater gift in contrast to the water of Jacob's well. He is the source of refreshment and life, and to turn from Him to other sources is to seek water from broken cisterns that cannot hold it, so trust must rest in God and Christ alone who can be safely relied on and who can save. Coming to Him supplies every want and satisfies soul-hunger, yet when His people are not led to this source the renewing, sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is not given highest importance. That work brings peace and hope to a troubled conscience and restores health and happiness to the soul, and making the turning of the church to God central restores that influence to its rightful place.

Not discerning that true Fountain, the Source of strength and joy and salvation, leaves a professed believer without real religious experience and without fruit to God's glory, following selfish pleasure and inclination while neglecting duty and seeking happiness in serving self and gratifying desire. Such seeking ends only in a barren, desolate, unsatisfied mind, while discerning the Fountain and the way of true happiness brings thorough conversion as great as a change from death to life. That conversion shows in a marked change of spirit and deportment and motives and affections, where self is no longer consulted and indulged, the things once loved are now hated and the things once hated are now loved, and happiness is found in the path of duty in doing good to others in forgetfulness of self. To turn from God the source of life and wisdom to seek understanding apart from Him is folly, for substitutes cannot provide what He gives, any more than broken cisterns can hold water.

The fountain is Christ, the living Fountain and rock of salvation, carrying the same beautiful figure of living water of grace through the Bible. He is the source of life and satisfaction for the soul, and frivolous, sensual, exciting amusements cannot satisfy spiritual hunger or cure weariness, loneliness, and dissatisfaction, so those who seek satisfaction in them continue to hunger and thirst. Drinking the living water brings satisfying joy, strengthens the mind, and removes desire for such pleasures, for happiness drawn from Christ is constant and cannot fail, unlike happiness drawn from earthly sources which changes with circumstances. The things of the world and the praise of others cannot satisfy the soul, and seeking them is like trying to quench thirst from a broken cistern, while Jesus welcomes all who are spiritually thirsty and offers the gift of salvation which brings hope and meets the soul's need. He has been the living spring since the fall of Adam, an inexhaustible fountain of living water in contrast to earthly sources that run dry, from whom every soul may continually draw spiritual refreshment and grace without exhausting the supply.

The fountain is also God's Word, truth, sure prophecy, and law, which gives life to those who receive it as Spirit and life, while human teachings and books that replace it are broken cisterns that cannot provide truth or life. Forsaking the Lord in present time means laying aside and disrespecting His Word and relying instead on human productions and absorbing false ideas, which is abandoning the source of life for human sources that cannot sustain or satisfy. The sure Word of prophecy is the fountain of living waters, and turning from it to broken cisterns is seeking spiritual guidance from unreliable human agents and substitutes that turn people away from Scripture and leave them without needed truth and life. Leaving God is leaving the pure snow-water of Lebanon to drink at low, turbid streams of the valley, leaving truth and the word of God for borrowed human opinions. Those who do this suppose the laws of nature control the God of nature, do not know the truth, and cannot understand or receive the lessons of heavenly wisdom and eternal truth taught by mountains, rivers, and stones when the Lord bids nature speak. The Waldensian shepherds and the church of the Alps led people to Scripture as this source of truth and spiritual life, teaching them the Scriptures and bringing them to the fountain from which to receive truth and life.

The living waters are the saving influence and divine illumination of the Holy Spirit, freely offered in repeated showers of divine influence as streams of salvation. Rejecting God the fountain and seeking instead what cannot satisfy, turning from those streams to human science to satisfy spiritual thirst, is like trying to quench thirst with polluted water from broken cisterns. The result is parched hearts in school and church, souls left thirsty and spiritually barren, with the Spirit's influence treated as deception. The fountain itself is living and inexhaustible, opened to the thirsty soul at great cost, in contrast to earth's cisterns that may run dry. Those who draw from Christ can keep receiving and sharing without exhausting the supply, for the water of life truly satisfies while human ambition and human invention as empty substitutes cannot meet the soul's thirst. The heavenly fountain offers a source of power without limit opened before every soul who believes, so thirsty souls need not wait for grace to come through any living mortal but may come themselves to the living waters and drink and drink again and be refreshed. Those who earnestly seek light and gladly accept each ray of divine illumination from God's word receive further light, and through them God makes His light and power known until it fills the earth with His glory. Extolling, praising, and leaning on a man to draw a congregation and move feelings by human influence is forsaking the fountain for broken cisterns and leaning on a broken reed, for no man is the fountain or wellspring of life, so each must seek God for himself while He may be found.

The Broken Cisterns

Broken cisterns are human teachings, theories, books, worldly learning, vain philosophy and polluted human science sought apart from Christ, set against God's Word which is spirit and life to those who receive it. Ministers who preach tangled, confused human theories instead of the clear practical lessons of Christ put the crib too high for the flock to reach, leave no more light than the traditions and commandments of men, and bring only discouragement and despair, for without Christ nothing can be done to save the soul. Neglect of God's law and its revelation of His holy character empties the church of living piety, and return to those sacred precepts is necessary for revival. Those who lose spiritual perception become themselves like broken cisterns, spiritually empty because their deceptive substitutes cannot give the life and help found in God.

Broken cisterns are also seeking help, counsel, sympathy, refreshment and wisdom from human beings as weak and dependent as ourselves instead of fleeing to God the mighty Counsellor. To look to fellow mortals who are wholly dependent on God, rather than to Him who has all power in heaven and earth, is always present to the end of the world, invites confidence and longs to give, is to fall below privilege and expect too little. This includes distrusting God as Counsellor infinite in wisdom, failing to acknowledge Him in councils and believe His promises, turning from His chosen ones and from Christ the true altar and the Holy Spirit the true fire to inquire of strange gods, and opening perplexities to those connected with God's enemy. Such disloyal advisers, who do not make God their trust nor love and fear Him and obey His commandments, depend on the wisdom of this world which God calls foolishness, cannot give wise judgment on matters with great results, and become channels through whom Satan leads into false paths and difficult places, so that those who consult them will be answered according to their works. Constant reaching for human sympathy and approval and propping up by human aids, including putting a favorite minister in God's place, dishonors God and leaves the soul barren, weak, disappointed and misled, molding the seeker to unbelievers rather than uplifting them.

Broken cisterns are worldly pleasure, frivolous sensual exciting amusements, low amusement, perverted appetite, drink, dancing, smoking and excitement mistaken for happiness. They promise enjoyment but cannot satisfy spiritual hunger nor cure weariness, loneliness and dissatisfaction, so those who seek satisfaction in them continue to hunger and thirst. When the excitement and mirth end they leave hunger, thirst, despondency, despair, disease and premature death, for mistaking excitement for happiness is folly. Drinking the living water brings satisfying joy, strengthens the mind, removes the taste and craving for such pleasures, and destroys desire for them through ennobling religious principle.

Broken cisterns are human achievement, money, position, buildings, applause, fine surroundings, splendid palaces, worldly success, honor and praise. They may hold a little water of life but are shallow and cannot satisfy in time of drought, and cannot give happiness, peace, love, life or salvation without Jesus. Fine surroundings and splendid palaces cannot give happiness and perfect peace if Jesus is not there, and without Him there is only iniquity and sin, while even when riches, honor and human praise are gained they leave the soul thirsty. Christ alone is the fountain of life who freely offers the water of life and the cup of salvation to whoever will take it, giving peace, love, life and salvation, comfort and hope to the burdened, sorrowing and despondent, with His love in the heart rising to everlasting life and flowing out to others through good works, right example and Christian counsel, and what is needed is harmony with Him.

Broken cisterns are self-made righteousness, endless forms and ceremonies disconnected from Christ, idols, heathen altars, false religious allegiance including the spurious Sabbath, worldly associations and principles, and alliances with Egypt and Assyria. Relying on one's own works and righteousness for spiritual success cannot provide what is needed, and turning from God to idols that cannot satisfy or save must be exchanged for coming directly to God in Jesus' name to receive Christ's righteousness by faith. Through His atoning blood sinners are freed from bondage and condemnation, His life reveals God's character and holiness, and believers are enabled to obey God's commandments, while justification comes through faith in Christ. Leaving God for false allegiance brings spiritual loss and can lead to subjection to Rome, calling those who claim to belong to God to turn back from backsliding to the living God. Association with the world molds people to its standards, cools love for God, blinds the mind to good and evil, and leaves carelessness, self-love, love of the world, lack of love and faith, spiritual corruption, transgression of God's law even amid felt righteousness, and no desire for communion with Him nor hunger for the bread of life and thirst for the waters of salvation.

Broken cisterns include attractive storybooks, improper reading and cheap reading that divert the mind from the Bible. Drinking the water of life means staying close to God through study of Scripture and seeking God through Scripture rather than borrowed substitutes. To leave Lebanon's cool pure waters for turbid valley streams by abandoning God's Word for cheap reading corrupts thought and weakens spiritual life and leaves the soul spiritually empty.

Broken cisterns are attention engrossed by trifling earthly things, haste unto vanity, earthly pursuits and human ambition and invention, and striving by unfair means for advantage. They cannot give lasting joy or meet the needs of eternal life, and cannot satisfy or give the joy found in the Lord. Those who forsake God for earthly vanity lose joy in the Lord and interest in eternal realities, become unable to endure the seeing of Him who is invisible, and are left spiritually dark and empty, inwardly dreary as midnight darkness without knowing the meaning of joy in the Lord. Those who have tasted the power of the world to come must not follow that course.

Results of Forsaking

Forsaking the fountain leaves continued hunger and thirst, with pain, sorrow, unrest, disappointment, suffering, distress, weariness, and no rest outside of Christ. Worldly gains and favors cannot end that hunger, for getting more often only increases the desire for still more, and the things of the world cannot satisfy the inexpressible craving of souls that vainly seek to drink from the unsatisfying pleasures of sin. The sorrow and longing seen in people reveal the soul's need for the peace of Christ, who is the living water and the gift that satisfies, so that whoever partakes of Him does not thirst again. God speaks to hearts and pleads by His Spirit for men to seek what alone can give peace and rest, the grace of Christ and the joy of holiness, constantly working to attract minds away from sin to the infinite blessings in Christ, and to all who drink from broken cisterns He addresses the call for the thirsty to come and take the water of life freely.

Those who forsake God become spiritually dark, empty, blind, and dreary as midnight, unable to endure the seeing of Him who is invisible, not knowing the meaning of joy in the Lord and taking no interest in eternal realities. They are left without desire for communion with Him and without hunger for the bread of life or thirst for the waters of salvation, for association with the world molds people to its standards and cools their love for God. Their broken cisterns are attention engrossed by trifling earthly things, haste unto vanity, and striving by unfair means to obtain advantages, and those who have tasted the power of the world to come must not follow this pattern. Worldly pleasure is such a broken cistern that cannot satisfy the soul's deep longing, for mistaking excitement and mirth for happiness ends when the excitement ends in despondency and despair, which shows the folly of forsaking God for these pleasures. Youth who resist are warned to come before grieving away the Holy Spirit for the last time.

Neglect of God's sacred precepts and of His law as the revelation of His holy character brings decline of living piety, and turning from God to human teachings and theories is choosing broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Forsaking the great principles of righteousness set forth in the law is the reason the fruits of Bible conversion and sanctification are so rarely witnessed and the reason there is so little deep, abiding work of the Spirit such as marked revivals in former years, so returning to those sacred precepts is necessary for revival. In the church this appears as spiritual corruption marked by lack of love and faith, carelessness, self-love, and love of the world, with envy, hatred, jealousy, suspicion, strife, and bitterness showing separation from God and going astray. It leaves formal profession without inner grace and unfruitful lives like clouds without water, and refusing warnings leaves unwillingness to turn back and be healed. Self-made holiness and self-made standards of righteousness are likewise broken cisterns that cannot provide what God gives, leaving people transgressing His law even when they feel righteous.

Turning to broken cisterns brings self-brought ruin, as when Israel, though chosen with great advantages to be the light of the world, abandoned God and turned to Egypt and Assyria for help, so that its wickedness and backsliding would correct and reprove it. Refusing to come to Christ to learn meekness and lowliness of heart and refusing to obey the law of God as the rule of His kingdom and the path of peace and joy proves there is no rest outside of Christ. Forsaking the pure, healthful and happy enjoyments God gives in nature to awaken love, gratitude, and high and noble aspirations, for selfish, earthly and sensual indulgences, fixes the eyes on earth instead of heaven and Jesus, separates from the Maker, courts disease, and brings premature death, as choosing low amusement and perverted appetite, drink, dancing, and smoking promises enjoyment but disappoints. Seeking the highest good in earthly things and erecting altars to heathen gods leaves the soul without rest, and Solomon learned this emptiness by bitter experience, so that in his later years, wearied and thirsting, enfeebled in mind and body, he turned from earth's broken cisterns to drink again at the fountain of life with chastened spirit. That bondage is more cruel than the grave, with no power in oneself to be freed and with fear of utter ruin, yet the discipline of suffering can quicken the conscience to see folly truly and give a ray of hope, and by inspiration the history of wasted years was recorded with warning lessons for after-generations, so that although the people reaped harvests of evil from the seed sown, the life-work was not wholly lost.

Abandoning pure principles and treating people unjustly does not reflect God's Spirit and brings no true good. Distrusting God's love and disobeying truth despite abundant mercy, warnings, and light leaves people without the spiritual blessings He provided. In danger help should not be sought from those as weak as ourselves, but flight should be made to God who is mighty to save, for in sorrow and affliction He is refuge, comfort, and source of joy, with His open invitation offering rest to the burdened.

Return to the Fountain

To all who drink from broken cisterns the verse holds out God's tender call for the thirsty to come to Christ and take the water of life freely, for turning from idols that cannot satisfy or save and coming directly to God in Jesus' name brings Christ's righteousness to the believer by faith. Justification comes through faith in Christ, whose life reveals God's character and holiness, and through His atoning blood sinners are freed from bondage and condemnation and enabled to obey God's commandments. The sorrow and longing seen in people show the soul's need for Christ's peace, since seeking satisfaction in things that cannot satisfy and in earthly sources that cannot give lasting life leaves the deepest needs unmet. Forsaking the fountain and hewing broken cisterns is refusing to come to Christ to learn meekness and lowliness of heart and refusing to obey the law of God as the rule of His kingdom and the path of peace and joy, bringing pain, sorrow, unrest, disappointment, suffering and distress and proving there is no rest outside Christ. The broken cisterns are this world and its unsatisfying pleasures of sin and the praise of others, from which souls vainly seek to drink to satisfy an inexpressible craving for something they have not, while God speaks to hearts and pleads by His Spirit to seek what alone can give peace and rest, the grace of Christ and the joy of holiness, constantly working to attract minds away from sin to the infinite blessings in Christ, and Jesus welcomes all who are spiritually thirsty with the gift of salvation that brings hope and satisfies the soul's need.

Turning back is repentance toward God and faith in Christ, for forsaking God the source of life and strength and relying on one's own works and righteousness are the two evils, a self-reliance like a broken cistern that cannot provide what is needed for spiritual success, and ministers who lead souls astray must turn to the Lord in deep repentance to receive forgiveness and enduring strength. Discerning the true Fountain who is the source of strength and joy and salvation brings thorough conversion and transformation as great as the change from death to life, with marked change in spirit and deportment and motives and affections, where self is no longer consulted and indulged, the things once loved are now hated and the things once hated are now loved, and happiness is found in the path of duty in doing good to others in forgetfulness of self, in contrast to following selfish pleasure and inclination while neglecting duty and seeking happiness in serving self and gratifying desire and finding only a barren, desolate, unsatisfied mind without real religious experience or fruit to God's glory. Young people seeking happiness in amusement, pleasure and companions while resisting God's Spirit find those pursuits cannot satisfy or make them happy, and the true fountain for cleansing the soul is Jesus' precious blood, so that happiness comes through repentance toward God and faith in Christ and surrender to Him brings renewed life. Forsaking God the fountain of life for earth's broken cisterns leaves a person wearied and thirsting, enfeebled in mind and body, in a bondage more cruel than the grave from which there is no power to free oneself and harassed by fear of utter ruin, yet awakened by judgment the conscience is quickened to see folly in its true light and the discipline of suffering does its work by giving a ray of hope, for God has not utterly cut off the one who forsook Him but stands ready to deliver him, and turning back means leaving earth's broken cisterns to drink once more at the fountain of life with chastened spirit. Drinking from the pure fountain of living water is communion with God and divine grace which elevate and purify the life, so that those who drink lose taste for earthly, low and passing pleasures pictured as muddy streams.

Drinking means a heart receiving God's word and retaining its treasure in contrast to a broken cistern which cannot keep its water, a heart continually supplied by unfailing springs that refreshes the weary, thirsty and burdened. Leaving God is leaving the fountain of living water, the pure snow-water of Lebanon, to drink at the low, turbid streams of the valley, which is leaving the truth and word of God for borrowed human opinions, supposing the laws of nature control the God of nature and not knowing the truth nor understanding or receiving the lessons of heavenly wisdom and eternal truth taught by mountains, rivers and stones when the Lord bids nature speak. Teachers who rely on borrowed human opinions drink turbid water, while those who study God's Word dig for truth and receive its pure, life-giving wisdom, for God is the source from whom all wisdom flows. God is the fountain of living waters with a source of power without limit opened before every soul who believes in Jesus Christ, so thirsty souls need not wait for grace to come through any living mortal but may come to the living waters themselves and drink and drink again and be refreshed, and extolling, praising and leaning on a man to draw a congregation and move feelings by human influence is forsaking the fountain for broken cisterns and leaning on a broken reed, since no man is the fountain or wellspring of life and each must seek God for himself while He is to be found and call upon Him while He is near. Forsaking Him is looking to men, hanging upon men, depending upon others and trusting in others rather than in the living God, as when one man gathers all responsibilities because he thinks he can do it more perfectly and thereby sins against himself and his brethren by educating people to look to him and expect everything to come through him instead of looking to God and expecting great things from Him, leaving them without the experience that would make them efficient workers while crushing burdens destroy the strength of overworked leaders, whereas God's plan is to give every man his work according to ability and educate all to think, act, be caretakers and lift burdens, teaching them to go to God, trust in Him, carry all troubles to Him, take hold of Him by living faith, work in the power of His might, expect great things of God, use God-given abilities to the utmost and seek help from the only Source where it can be obtained, by which they enlarge, grow and become apt, skillful workers. The life bound up with Christ continually draws from this fresh, unfailing, life-giving source of spiritual life and does not become spiritually stale or empty, unlike anything relied on instead of Him which is like a broken cistern that cannot retain water.

The Redeemer's fountain for healing remains near and open despite forsaking, for He has opened a fountain for healing whose water all may receive, and though forsaking the fountain brings weariness and disappointment it remains near to those who return to it, while human achievements, money, position, buildings, applause and efforts to secure one's own ends are broken cisterns that may hold a little water of life but are shallow and cannot satisfy in time of drought. God has not utterly cut off the wanderer but stands ready to deliver, and the fountain is opened to the thirsty soul so that those who earnestly seek light and gladly accept each ray of divine illumination from God's word receive spiritual refreshment and divine light, and through them God makes His light and power known across the whole earth. Turning from God and distrusting His love despite abundant mercy, warnings and light, and departing from Him and failing to obey the truth, leaves His people without the spiritual blessings He provided. Forsaking the fountain of living water to drink at turbid streams is reaching out constantly for sympathy and wanting to be propped up by human aids instead of coming where God can help, choosing the society of those who can give no wisdom and who need help in moral power themselves rather than placing oneself in connection with those of strength of character and experience who could help, and keeping company with unbelievers and entering into flirtation and evil practices that open the soul to temptation, imbibing their spirit and being molded by them instead of uplifting them, a course bringing spiritual weakness and lack of determination, purpose and firm power of will to grow in faith and experience, while the Lord is willing to be gracious when the sinner comes where He can help.

Sharing the Water

Those who would lead others to the fountain must first drink deeply from the stream themselves, for only personal experience of faith and earnest hunger for the Spirit of God can fit ministers, teachers, Sabbath-school workers and canvassers to guide searching souls to Christ. Hearing sacred truths is not enough without sanctified hearts, and a religion confined to the head, without hearts sanctified by the truths heard, cannot lead others to the source of life. Self-complacency, machinery and routine in Sabbath-school work turn the soul away from that source, while arguments and religious work without conversion and the light of truth in one's own life cannot make up for the lack. A real religious experience is required, knowing God's will and living in communion with Him, so that teachers can lead young people to Jesus and guide those searching in darkness to Christ and the truth. One who has drunk from the fountain of life-giving truth can give the Water of Life to thirsty souls, just as eating the Bread of Life enables a worker to feed hungry people with simple, living truth.

A broken cistern cannot keep its water, but a heart that receives God's word retains its treasure and is continually supplied by unfailing springs to refresh the weary, thirsty and burdened. Such a heart is like a mountain stream fed by unfailing springs whose cool, sparkling waters leap from rock to rock refreshing the weary, the thirsty and the heavy-laden, and like a constantly flowing river growing deeper and wider as it advances until its life-giving waters spread over all the earth. Even when the earth lies bare and brown under summer heat it leaves behind verdure and fruitfulness with fresher grass, richer trees and more abundant flowers, for the religion of Christ in the true child of God is a vitalizing, pervading, living, working, spiritual energy, and when the heart is opened to the heavenly influence of truth and love these principles flow forth again like streams in the desert causing fruitfulness to appear where there is barrenness and dearth. Christ abiding in church members is a well of water springing up into everlasting life, and they are responsible for sharing this living water, the sacred truth, with others who are perishing, revealing Christ's love and leading the thirsty to Jesus who gives the bread of life and the water of salvation rather than remaining empty cisterns. Christ has been the living spring since the fall of Adam, an inexhaustible fountain from which every soul may continually draw spiritual refreshment and grace without exhausting the supply, in contrast to earthly sources that run dry. The distinct message of Revelation 14:12 is to lead people away from empty substitutes that cannot satisfy or sustain, away from these broken cisterns and back to the fountain of the water of life.

Preaching should bring hearers nearer the fountain of living water and to the truth in Jesus, making clear that Christ is the source of life and salvation, not lead them into teaching that leaves them no nearer the fountain. Ministers who teach confused, tangled human theories instead of the clear, practical lessons of Christ have forsaken Christ and hewn broken cisterns that hold no water, for such Christless teaching is vain philosophy that does not feed the flock, puts the crib too high for the people to reach, has no more light in it than the traditions and commandments of men in Christ's day, and leads only to discouragement and despair, because without Christ nothing can be done for the saving of the soul. In the last days some depart from the faith by trying to quench spiritual thirst from broken cisterns instead of from God, seeking spiritual satisfaction apart from God and remaining spiritually unsatisfied, and those who do so proclaim a misleading message and speak smooth things. Genuine gospel work is done by men who acknowledge Christ as Master, the way, the truth and the life, who hold their commission from God and are accountable to God for their talents like Elijah and Jeremiah, who speak intelligently of the sacredness and importance of the truth, point to the needs of the present hour, bear an inspiring message against perverted principle, point souls to God's standard of righteousness, and watch for souls as those who must give an account.