He that is Athirst come and drink Freely

beloved57 · Cobra Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 457

rev 21:6

6And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

What is it to be thirsty?

1) to suffer thirst, suffer from thirst

a) figuratively, those who are said to thirst who painfully feel their want of, and eagerly long for, those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported, strengthened

Where does thirst come from ?

Is thirst something that comes from our freewill ? Do we decide, oh well I want to be thirsty today..

Look at these verses here :

isa 55:

1Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price

matt 5:

6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

jn 7:

37In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

The adversaries of the gospel of sovereign grace , make their appeals to these verses or similar ones, in order to support the false premise of universal provision and opportunity for all the children of men, to exercise their freewill to get saved. That God is bidding all men to come.

This however cannot be further from the truth of scripture. For the discerning reader will see that the invite, if you will, is going to a specified people. It is to him that is athirst or thirsty..

Here again is a honest question, how does one naturally become thirsty ? Is this a desire or craving one naturally conjures up by their freewill of choice ? Do babies , will themselves to get hungry or thirsty ? what about other creatures, do they freely by their wills, decide to become thirsty or hungry ?

I hope you see my point. The body becomes naturally hungry or thirsty by Gods power, as to how He created it due to His sovereignty..

ps 139:

13For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

14I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

15My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

The human body and all its natural functions were and are curiously wrought by the marvelous work of God..

The ability to become thirsty and hungry were given by God to supply the nurishoument our body need for the sustainment of physical life and existence. This process men have no power or control over. God holds and regulates this by His word..

heb 1:

3Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

Gods eternal word Jesus christ upholds all things by His power, he sustains natural life of all created beings for His purpose..

The natural cravings and desires, of thirst and hunger are not gifts that are offered to men, or made available for their choice to accept or reject, but sovereignly given, inherited , if you dont mind, by virtue of having been given [not offered] physical exsistence..our physical life lives were granted according to the set purpose of God.

ecc 3:

1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

We as humans cannot prevent ourselves from hunger or thirst. Have you ever been fasting, and thought, this can be a breeze, if i dont get hungry ? or say, you contemplated and long day in the hot sun, and said, no problem if I dont get thirsty ..

Lets look quickly at a biblical narrative, when it was due time for Gods purpose of jacob gaining the birth right from his elder brother easu. gen 25:

27And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

28And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: [hungry and no doubt thirsty]

30And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

31And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

32And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

33And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

34Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

We see or observe here the amazingness of Gods sovereignty, using the natural biological gifts of hunger and thirst to bring about this most important end.

Easu just coming in from canvasing the country side, as a hunter, was exausted and hungry, and was made prime bait for the conniving jacob [ who too was under the sovereign control of God in His thought process]

job 12:

16With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.

it was at this time in the boys lives that God brought about a portion of his divine eternal purpose.

Just think, the next time you become thirsty or hungry, and you turn into the next mcdonalds you see, it may be in order to fulfill a predetemined purpose of God..

What, by the grace of God I have done, is to show that , if truly considered, we as human beings have no control over becoming naturally hungry or thirsty. As the easu and jacob story displays, God regulates these natural cravings and desires according to His purpose..

Now, if you dont mind, lets consider these things from a spiritual perspective. After all , the scripture references deal with spiritual desires and thirst and not natural or physical.

So here is the question ! What type of person is being addressed by the Sovereign Lord, when the invite to the thirsty is given ?

I believe its a spiritual man or women, one that has been given a new spiritual life via the new creation or new birth.

God stirs up or regulates their spiritual thirst as it pertains to His purpose, in order that He may satisfy its cravings and longings feely..

Just as the natural man and his lawful cravings for food and drink are sovereignly given by God,

so like wise, God sovereignly grants spiritual life to the elect, by His Sovereighn Spirit to create the lawful spiritual desires and thirst for that man..

Look at jn 3:

6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

To be frank with all, its impossible for the invation to those who thirst, can be referring to the natural man born according to natural childbirth only, for that person cannot have spiritual thirst and desires..

But the children of the kingdom, those having been born into the kingdom of God by the sovereing work Of God the Holy Spirit, these are blessed with these desires and cravings..

Notice Jesus words matt 5:

6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Amen, the blessing is the fact that the kingdom people do hunger and thirst after righteousness, why, so God can satisfy its craving and desires..

look at this scripture here out of the psalm 107:

9For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

Amen, Gods wants the glory..Listen to david, a kingdom representative..

ps 42:

1As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

2My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

Amen, God put or caused this blessed desire in the soul of his beloved, by His sovereign grace...

So in conclusion, the invitation of any man who is thirsty, let him come freely and drink, is not to all of humanity, but to them that have been selected by sovereign grace, born of the spirit of God, belonging to Gods kingdom of grace..

May God bless the reading of His word..