As they journeyed from Egypt to Canaan the redeemed of Israel enjoyed their Redeemer's providence. They ate divinely given food, "He gave them bread out of heaven to eat"; they drank divinely given water, "He clave rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths"; they were led and lighted by the divine pillar, "In the day-time also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire." And this was typical. In three successive chapters of John--sixth, seventh and eighth--Jesus declares Himself as the true source of the Bread, the Water and the Light of Life.

      The crowds are gathering about Him at Capernaum, hinting that He should feed them again. He tells them to give less attention

BREAD.

to the food which is of such little account and to make more of that which is of so much account. Then step by step he approaches his "hard saying." "The broad of God is that which cometh down out of heaven"; "I am the bread of life"; "I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. The bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the world"; "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves"; "He that eateth this bread shall live forever." The Jews brought out their usual question, "How," and strove about it. Many of the disciples went back, and thus the Saviour blazed His way between the crowd as He ever does with the two-edged sword of The Word of God. But there were some who knew how to cling to Jesus despite the perplexing things He would sometimes say and do, and to them He explained the "hard saying." No, he does not drive us to the doctrine of transubstantiation; for He says, "It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life." There we have it. The bread of life is supplied by the words of Jesus. Shall we wonder then that there are Christians everywhere who are starving to death, so little do they "handle the Word of Life"; so little used are their Bibles. The feast is spread before them, but neither will they come to the table nor eat. And so they grow lank, lean and hungry, looking, and starve the "inner man," all for the lack of learning to read the words of Jesus. For verily, all that is needed to believe is to read; and all that is needed to disbelieve is to leave the Bible alone.

      The next scene is in Jerusalem. You have heard the preacher on the last day of protracted meeting, as he grew eager and

WATER.

earnest lest the people should depart unsaved. O, how eager and burdened the Saviour felt on that last great day of the feast! And now he steps out before the thirsty throng and proclaims Himself the Smitten Rock from which eternal springs are flowing--the on-flowing, ever-flowing, over-flowing [58] fountain of living water. Here, if any man thirst he may drink and never thirst again. As He said to the outcast woman, "Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." There is the first result of drinking; satisfaction for yourself. And you need not think you can lead others to the rock until you have been over the road yourself. But then comes the second result of drinking: "If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive." The words of Jesus supply the bread of life; and the Holy Spirit within the believer supplies the water of life. Not a mere brook either, nor a creek, nor yet a river alone--but rivers of waters of life. Brother, sister, friend of mine, do you know anything about such a life? Have you in the first place drunk to your own soul's satisfaction? And have you in the second place become unto others a very fountain of life? Like desert travelers, men are thirsting, thirsting, dying; and like caravans in Sahara, they haste after the mirage before them never to overtake it; or else they drink brackish, stagnant water from the wells of this world, and "thirst again." They drink at this fountain and that; they go to the dance and theatre, the gaming-table and race-track, the saloon and brothel, because they think these will satisfy--but they come away and "thirst again." Like alcoholic liquors, the waters in the wells of the world can satiate, but they can never satisfy the thirst they themselves create, And you--God has set you a spring, in the center of a circle that no one else can supply; and if rivers of living water are not flowing from within you to them, you have need to drink yourself, and for their sakes.

      Again the scene is set in Jerusalem. On either side of the temple court stands the huge golden candelabra, which, during the

LIGHT.

feast of tabernacles would be burning at night, lighting the court, the city, and from the eminence of Zion, piercing even the shadows of Olivet. In such a setting the Saviour delivered the saying, "I am the light of world." There He stood, the whole world's shining Sun! Veiled indeed in mortal clay was He, as Gideon's lamps were hidden in the pitchers; yet destined, when once the vessel should be broken at the cross, to pierce the deepest darkness and send the shadows skulking to the wall. "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life." It is a great big, broad, sweeping claim. Big enough to put the man who makes it in with lunatics or deceivers, unless he is just what he professed to be. But his influence on succeeding generations denies that he was either lunatic or deceiver; for lunatics get no following, and no deceiver's name could ever, become the very synonym of truth and veracity. So far, as I know no infidel has ever dared to challenge His statement, "I am the light of the world"; though they may strip Him of His deity, as the [59] soldiers once stripped Him of His garments, they have been compelled to say with them, "This was a righteous man." God or man, divine or human, true or false, Jesus has been the light of the world. All other lights have faded before Him. If such a person be not God, we need not seek for any.

      But we have not always behaved as it we believed Him the light of the world, brethren, but more as if we believed Him the light of some city, county, country, or at the most, of some lone continent, and that our own. Let us henceforth, by praying and by preaching; by and by going, make men know that Jesus is the light of the world. Not that we can bring all men to the light; some love darkness rather; but we can bring the light to every man. And at last by his personal presence he will fill the earth with God's knowledge, as waters have filled the sea.

["The Bread, the Water, and the Light of Life." Word and Work 9 (February 1916): 58-60.]

      The electronic version of E. L. Jorgenson's "The Bread, the Water, and the Light of Life" has been produced from microfilm of Word and Work for 1916.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained; however, corrections have been offered for misspellings and other accidental corruptions. Emendations are as follows:

            Printed Text [ Electronic Text
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 59:     candalabra, [ candelabra,
 

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
373 Wilson Street
Derry, PA 15627-9770
e_stefanik@email.msn.com

Created 30 January 2002.