In Isaiah 12 we have this beautiful little prophetic utterance.1 And in that day you will say:Sounds a whole lot like the song of Moses. It is, it is the song of the redeemed.
"O Lord, I will praise You;
Though You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
'For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation.' "3 Therefore with joy you will draw waterIn what day? They day we start drawing water from the wells of salvation.
From the wells of salvation.
4And in that day you will say:4And in that day you will say:Family, this is where we are!
"Praise the Lord, call upon His name;
Declare His deeds among the peoples,
Make mention that His name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord,
For He has done excellent things;
This is known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!"This word inhabitant is "inhabitris". It is in the feminine gender, and it speaks of the Bride of Christ. The Bride of Christ is in Zion. Why is she there? Because she has drunk from the wells of salvation, just as all of those brides are pictures of the Church who drink from the well.
Isaac finds his wife Rebecca at a well. When she comes back to him, she finds him at a well. So, life together begins at a well.
With that in mind, lets see what were talking about by the twelve wells of Elim. This pictures 12 points or principles that are brought out in numerous of different ways all the way through Scripture.
What do these twelve wells picture?
Number 1: Here is the first well -- Jesus was crucified for us.
The Bible says
Matthew 27: 35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:Jesus was crucified."They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots."That's the substituionary work. It's Jesus dying for us, being crucified for us. That's well number one.
Proverbs 16:22 Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it.It's not enough just to hear these 12 principles spoken to you. Understanding is the wellspring. Understanding those principles causes what's in the well to spring up. Spring up, oh, well! We need the well to spring up within us.He was crucified. What do you think of when you read that He was crucified? It's more than a natural thing. there's more to it than a man who was crucified in the flesh. It's the spiritual implications and applications of that crucified that actually change who we are spiritually.
When Pharaoh sought to bring Moses into a compromise, he said, "You can sacrifice, but do it in the land of Egypt." To us, the practical implication of that is, "Go ahead and get involved in the Cross, but do it in the natural. Don't find the Spirit implication."
And Pharaoh has caused much of the Church to miss out on the powerful significance of the Cross because we think of it as simply a natural thing. When Jesus was crucified He became sin, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
In John 12 He said, "if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me." That's more than a physical thing! That's a Spiritual thing. That's what the crucifixion was. He hung on a tree and there He drew all of mankind into himself. That's the first well, you drink of until you understand it!
There's six things that Jesus did for us. And three of those things did away with my old man. Redemption has a negative side and a positive side. Before God could make you what you are today, He had to do something legally with what you were yesterday. He had to do away with your old sinful man. He couldn't come to you and say, "kings, lets just call them righteous." No. We legally sinned. So what Father did was send His Son, who had no sin, and was indentified with us on the Cross. He became sin and was crucified for us.
Well number 2: We were crucified WITH HIM!
If you drink of the first well long enough, it will lead you to the second well. We were crucified with Him.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified WITH Christ, nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.The Jerusalem Bible says, "I have been crucified with Christ."Crucifixion was something that happened two thousand years ago. Your old man was crucified two thousand years ago.
Lovett, says, "I am crucified with Christ as surely as I were on the Cross with Him."
That is perfect. You drink from that well. That's how you get rid of who you used to be. That's how Father gets rid of it. Identification is not how you look at it. This is important. When Paul said, "I was crucified with Christ," he did not mean, " That's how I see it," although that was true. He primarily meant, "That's what Father has revealed to me as to what He saw on Calvary. I was crucified with Him."
Another translation could be, "I died with Christ on the Cross to the old life and old relations, and yet in a new and higher manner, since now, Christ lives in me; for my new spiritual life has it's source and support in Him."
So the the truth of this well is not thinking that you must try to die. You're renewing your mind to having already died. That's drawing from that well. The key is to know this!
There are people who say that Jesus did not spiritually die. But He became so much like me that God says in His Word that my old man was crucified. If my spirit was dead, then His Spirit therefore must have died. This is not only how God sees it. Its how it actually is!
There is a little bit of error that has leavened the whole church. Father doesn't see it in any other way than what it really is. That's the well of crucifixion.
The lack of understanding, or drawing from that well, causes us to live under the tyranny of sin.
Well Number 3: Jesus died for us.
How many of you now Jesus physically died? There is more to it than physical death. The Bible says that He tasted death for every man. He tasted my nature, and my death condition. Eph. 2 says that we were dead together with Him. This couldn't be physical, and must be Spiritual, because my physical body is still alive. We were died together, were quickened together, and made alive because we were dead together. He took my death that I might have His life.
Well Number 4: "I died with Him."
What happened to my old man? My old man was crucified, and then died. How did it die? It died with Him.
Romans 6:8, now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with Him....Weymouth, says, "seeing that we have died with Christ...."It is a past tense thing.
The Twentieth Century translation says, "and our belief is, that as we have shared Christ death....we shall also share...."
It was a co-death.
The Living Bible says, "..... and since your old sin loving nature died with Him......"
We're new creatures in Christ! That's what those twelve wells of Elim speak of. We're drawing from those wells. That's what the 12 stars on the crown of the Son clothed women speak of. The crown speaks of a mind renewed. A golden crown with 12 stars. Why? She has her mind renewed to these things. She meditates on them. She draws from the wells of water. She thinks about them, draws from them, meditates on them.
The Amplified in Version says,
Col. 2 :20 if then you have died with Christ to material ways of looking at things, and having escaped from the worlds crude and elemental notions in teachings of externalisim, why do you live as you still belong to the world?New Barclay says, "If with Christ you have become dead......"Johnson's says, "If you have died to worldly standards....."
When did you die to them? People say, "Oh, I wish I could get as spiritual as Paul or so and so, so that I can say I died with Christ."
Family, don't look at anyone in your life as a Spiritual a giant. It's not them. That's not something that Paul or anyone else grew into. It's something He learned by revelation. It produces spiritual growth, but it is a fact. This is not something they obtained in their own efforts. We are just finding out facts about ourselves who are in Christ. It's not that you must enter into His death. You have already passed away in Him. It's not something you are trying to live up to. It's something we're trying to renew our mind to.
Romans 6: 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.It's a reckoning process. That's what we're doing. That's what the wells are there for. You're drinking from the well of His death. And the well of His death leads you to the well of "His death as your death."Well Number 5: He was buried.
What do you do with that? You draw from his burial. You study it. He was placed in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, but Isaiah 53:9 says He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death. Draw from that. Can you receive from that? When you draw from that well, it leads you to...
Well Number 6: I was buried with Him.
There is a finality about burial. My old man is dead, is buried, and it's over! It is a finished work.
Romans 6:4, therefore we are buried with Him, by baptism with...See the words "for" and "with." There are six "for" wells, so to speak. Six wells of "for" truths, and six wells of "with" truths. He did some things "for" us,and we did some things "with" Him. These are powerful prepositions, "for," "with" and "in." There are things He did "for" us, things we did "with" Him and things we have "in" Him. The living Bible says your old sin-loving nature was buried.Romans 6:5 ...for if we have been planted together in the likeness of a death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.Those three things do away with your old man. Do you understand the wells of Elim? If you think this is just lightweight, you're wrong. All of the Word of God revolves around these thoughts. These thoughts make the Word of God come alive!What are the twelve loaves of bread on the Table of Shewbread? They are in two stacks of six. They depict six things Jesus did, and six things that each of the prevous means to us. Six are the "for" stack, and the other six are the "with" stack.
This is the reason that on the sixth day, there was twice as much manna. Why? It is because we have been eating of the six stacks of what He did, and now we find what He did to us in the other six stacks. It's a double portion. It's a multiplication of what was true of Him being true of us. Do you understand that we, the Church, have been very big on what happened to Jesus? But for the most part we have not known a single thing about what that meant to us! What happened to Jesus is the "for", and what the means to us is the "with."
I was crucified with Him. That does away with everything I don't like about myself. You say, "Pastor I have a terrible problem. I have a bad temper." Well, there is a well over there called "crucified with." Go drink of that. That's the key. You don't have a problem that can't be taken care of by drinking of the proper well.
"Well, I got rid of the temper problem, but I need more love in my life." There are six more wells over there. There is one called "quickened together." You have His life.
"Yea, but I need more power in my life." Well, go to the well of "seated with Him." Go drink of that.
These are all practical, and not just stories. These are meant to be applied to your life.
You say, "Here is my problem. I have some things I need to get rid of." The things you need to get rid of are in the first six wells. The things you need to add to your life will be found in the next six wells. The first six wells take care of anything you don't want. Study what happened to Him and how that applies to you. What Jesus did in those first three things, crucified, died, buried, gets rid of your old man. Burial is a riddance. You are rid of some people. You see, there is a person in your life that Father has gotten rid of. It's the old you!
Then we come to Well seven: Jesus was made alive.
Can you understand how the Philistines of the flesh keep sticking flesh into the wells? We have to get the old flesh out of the wells so we can drink that clear spiritual water out of them.
"Quickened." He was made alive, He was given life.
Acts 2:24 says He was loosed from the pains of death. He was the first begotten from the dead (Rev. 1:5; Col. 1:18, Hebrews the first chapter). That wasn't talking about physical begetting. He was the first one spiritually raised from the dead. I was quickened together with Him.
Col. 2:13 you being dead in your sins and uncircumsion of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him.When were you quickened? When He was quickened!"Well, that's the way God saw it". Well, that's the way it was! The moment you made Jesus Lord, the moment by the Spirit of God, you said, "Lord, I ask you to forgive me and I receive you as Lord of my life," the Spirit of God took you and placed you into your inheritance. He put you into that death, burial and resurrection. The quickening that you now have, occurred two thousand years ago. But at this time of salvation, you entered into it. Our inheritance is the fullness of Him. Those 12 wells are your Promised Land. If you are experiencing strife and trouble, then there is one of those wells you have missed.
What is the fullness of Christ? It's the quickening and raising and seating. That's the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, God has quickened us to Christ.Well number 9: Jesus was raised. He came up out of that tomb.Col. 3:1 said, if you be risen with Christ, seek those thing which are above.
If you be risen with! It is not a question of having resurrection life. It's a question of resurrection life having you. It's you giving place to it -- drinking from the well. How do you do this? By understanding.
Proverbs 16: 22 Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it.This is my life. It's everything I am. Everything applies to this today. All of Fathers creation speaks of this. It's changing me. I'm on my way to the fullness of Christ. I am having one "twinkling-of-an-eye" experience after another. Not just because I know I should, but because I'm drinking from the well, and the water I'm drinking is changing me.Eph. 1:19-20 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principleity and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.What power do we have? The same power He showed when He raised Christ from the dead.That was well 10.
Well number 11: Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father.
We see that all over the book. Over and over. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Eph. 2: 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,One translation says, "together with Christ Jesus and in Him He raised us up and enthroned us in the heavenly realm."We're enthroned in that realm and we've been there since the moment we made Jesus Christ Lord.
What's Father doing? The Bibles said, "I have given you the Canaan land." What we're doing is walking out of Babylon and walking into that which was ours all the time. Babylon is confusion.
Philippians 3:10 calls us citizens of the heavenlies. How are you supposed to know this? Drink out of the wells until it is understood. Why do you think you are having overwhelming desires to study and listen to tapes and come to Church and receive more and more? It's because you are yielding to the call of the Spirit to come into your rightful place.
What is drawing you? What are you hearing calling you? Is it the fleshly desires, or is it the Spirit of God calling you to draw from the wells? There is no other way to understand this book we have. The Tree is the answer to the problems of life and the Father takes you to these twelve wells which will take care of everything. These wells cause you to grow up.
With Joy you draw from the wells of salvation. What does that mean? The feast of Tabernacles is also called the feast of Joy. The Feast of Tabernacles is the last feast, and it's the blowing of a trumpet. It's a clear-sounding trumpet declaring, causing us to understand, the Word so we can draw from those wells.
Family, if you're not in the middle of what Father is doing today, you are In the wayside. The seed that is being given to you will be plucked from you by the birds of confusion.
You say, "Why am I doing the same things over and over again?" It's because you're not drinking from the right well. You don't understand the Kingdom of God. If you don't understand this, you will continue to have the wicked one steal from you. So you must understand. The understanding is what you receive when you go back and meditate upon the death, burial and resurrection until Father gives you spiritual understanding. That's what the whole prayer of Eph. Chapter 1 is about. That He might grant unto us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that the eyes of our understanding be enlightened.
You have to meditate, think about it, and let it devour your life. Spend more time in understanding what your Lord did, than time in TV trying to find out what your favorite soap opera star is going to do and who she or he is going to sleep with next.
Whatever your need or problem is, these twelve wells are the answer to human problems. They cause us to become a strong tree planted by the rivers of water. Such a tree does not become shaken when the winds blow. It's drawing its nutrients from the true water. There is a storm coming to this world system and to this planet. More importantly, there is a storm coming into your life from the Word that is doing away with your old thought-processes, your old traditions that were not right. The boat of religion is sinking. The only thing that will float on this Water is the revelation that Paul brought us of who we are in Christ. You need your roots planted deep in the wells that makes you strong.