In that day you will say,
"That day" is today. During Jesus's earthly ministry, there was a problem. As he proclaimed and taught about the kingdom of God, the people were looking forward to a time when God would come and set all things right through judgment and complete renewal. This was not wrong, but it is not the good news that Jesus brought. He was talking about the opportunity of access to the kingdom of God now.
We face the same misunderstanding today. People talk about the kingdom of God in terms of building it and waiting for it, but not in terms of its presence and immanence. Jesus talked about seeing and entering the kingdom of God, not building it or making it happen. When he said, "The kingdom of God is near," he did not mean it was about to happen, but that it was entirely accessible. (For further information about this, you can read this blog entry: What Is the Kingdom of God?)
Isaiah was talking about the day that God would bring deliverance to his people. Complete deliverance. That day is happening now in Jesus. He says "If anyone is thristy, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will now flow from within him." (John 7:37-38) The complete deliverance is in Jesus and life with him through his Spirit. That life will not change in the future, but come to fruition. Perhaps another way of saying it is that life we can find now in Jesus will not change in kind, but in its intensity. When he returns it will not be so much something different as something more.
The "wells of salvation" are not just forgiveness to get us out of this life into the next. These wells are where we go each moment to draw living water for the days and years of sojourn in this time of exile. This water is the same, but the setting is different. In substance, simply living with Jesus is the eternal, abundant water we need. However, we often get obsessed with just wishing for a change of setting instead. For those whose joy comes from pulling water out of the well day in and day out, the Lord is their song and their salvation. He is their daily companion on the road through life. We do not seek escape, but joyful, obedient living.
The only well we can go to is the life that we have before us. Living water is accessible from within by the Spirit, but it is available only from within us. From our lives lived deeply and truly. We cannot access water from someone else's well, someone else's life, as much as we might want to. This desire is what keeps most of us from enjoying God's deliverance. We want another life. What we need is another God. We do not trust God in our lives, but are afraid of our life and the God Who has given it to us. Jesus has come to redeem, renew, reframe our lives, not give us another escape.
Only in the power and reality of Jesus's redemption will the wells of salvation open for us. Only then will it be a joy to access that living water, the kingdom of God in King Jesus. We will find our confidence. And we will discover what it is to not live in fear. We will truly be saved.
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