There is a Fountain
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 2:1-13
In the passage we have been considering the past few days, God calls Himself “the fountain of living waters.” In the past, I have told you about the principle of “intertextuality.” Intertextuality means that there are connections between the early and later texts of Scripture. Often these connections are obvious. When a writer directly quotes a text of Scripture and says something like, “It is written,” we immediately understand the connection.
But there are other links between earlier and later texts that aren’t as obvious. Allusions to earlier stories or texts are often made in the Old and New Testaments. They aren’t direct quotes but ideas or concepts or principles that come from what was written earlier. Sometimes these are seen in the use of similar words or phrases. These connections serve an important purpose beyond just linking one text to another. They serve as ways that the later texts interpret the earlier texts for us.
The language of Jeremiah 2:13 might sound familiar to you. It should. There are two instances in John’s Gospel where Jesus brought up the idea of being a fountain of living water. He doesn’t use the exact wording of Jeremiah 2:13, but it is close enough that the connection is obvious. In John chapter four, we have the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. In verse ten, Jesus says to the woman, “[I] would have given you living water.” Then in chapter 10, on the last day of the great feast, Jesus loudly declared, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Our of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
Neither of these passages is a direct quotation of Jeremiah 2:13, but both of them are an echo of that and other earlier texts. With that in mind, when we consider Jeremiah 2:13 in light of this principle of intertextuality, we understand that the God who is speaking there is the eternal Son of God. The LORD the Jews had forsaken was the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Jesus speaks in John’s Gospel, He reminds us that we can come or come back to Him. Why continue in this evil of forsaking the fountain of living waters? Believe in Him and ask of Him and He will give you from Himself living water.
