'Let him come … and drink'—two expressions for one thing. That
invitation sounds all through Scripture, and, perhaps, there was
lingering in our Lord's mind, besides the reference to the rock that
yielded the water, some echo of the words of the second Isaiah: 'Ho!
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' 'Nay!' said Christ,
'not to the waters, but to Me.' And then we hear from His own lips the
same invitation addressed to the woman of Samaria, with the difference
that to her, an alien, He pointed only to the natural water in the well
that had been Jacob's, whereas, to these people, the descendants of the
chosen race, He pointed to the miracle in the desert, and claimed to
fulfil that. And on the very last page of Scripture, as it is now
arranged, there stands the echo again of this saying of my text, 'Let
him that is athirst come'—there must be the sense of need, as I was
saying, before there is the coming—'and whosoever will, let him take of
the water of life freely.'
Now, dear friends, beneath these two metaphorical expressions there
lies one simple condition. I put it into three words, which, for the
sake of being easily remembered, I cast into an alliterative form:
approach Christ, appropriate Christ, adhere to Christ.
Approach Christ. You come by faith, you come by love, you come by
communion. And you can come if you will, though He is now on the
throne.
Appropriate Christ. It is vain that the water should be gushing from
the rock there, unless you make it your own by drinking. It must pass
your lips. It must become your personal possession. You must enclose a
piece of the common, and make it your very own. 'He loved _us_, and
gave Himself for _us_'; well and good, but strike out the 'us' and put
in 'me.' 'He loved _me_ and gave Himself for _me_.' The river may be
flowing right past your door, yet your lips may be cracked with thirst,
even whilst you hear the tinkle of its music amongst the sedges and the
pebbles. Appropriate Christ. 'Come … and drink.'
Adhere to Christ. You were thirsty yesterday: you drank. That will not
slake to-day's thirst, nor prevent its recurrence. And you must keep on
drinking if you are to keep from perishing of thirst. Day by day, drop
by drop, draught by draught, you must drink. According to the ancient
Jewish legend, which Paul in one of his letters refers to, about this
very miracle, you must have the Rock following you all through your
desert pilgrimage, and you must drink daily and hourly, by continual
faith, love, and communion.