Advent Day 20: The Fountain

Fountain (no.1), Jonathan A. Anderson, 2012. Oil on canvas, 60 × 48 in. Private Collection. Used with permission from the artist.

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” from the album Jubilee. Performed by The Jubilee Singers, lyrics by Robert Robinson, music by John Wyeth, arranged by John Leavitt.

Poetry:

“The Fire, The Fountain”
by Etta Blum

The fountain, the fire,
the smoldering,
and the embrace of love.
I touched fingers lightly
to all of these.
I became a tree among the trees
(my leaves pretending to be wings)
before going to sleep.

I said to the birds:
"Who will tire first,
you or the fountain?"

The Fountain

As a kid on the playground, I ran myself to exhaustion as I played tag, four square, dodgeball, and baseball. In the hot, humid Illinois sun, I was so thirsty. The drinking fountain was a sweaty kid’s savior. The thirst-quenching water flowed up out of that fountain and revived my soul. I would linger at the fountain as long as possible, drinking in its life-giving water until the guy behind me shoved me out of the way.

In the same way, Jesus is our Fountain—he quenches our thirst, our needs, our desires, our longings. He brings life and revives our soul. We search all around to fill our empty souls, but usually we are looking in all the wrong places. Recent polls show that 52% of Americans are lonely, 41% of marriages end in divorce, 31% struggle with anxiety, 91% of men and 60% of women consume pornography, and nearly 100% of us are connected to our phones and social media, seeking satisfaction. We are seeking to quench our thirst from dry deserts that offer no lasting solution.

Jesus is the only life-giving Fountain that meets our needs.

Zechariah 13:1 states that the fountain will be for the house of David and Jerusalem, but the Old Testament prophets extend this water blessing to all the world. This fountain imagery is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, who offers us living water—water that cleanses, bringing life and forgiveness. Jesus says, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

This life-giving water imagery fulfills Ezekiel 47:1-12, which talks about water flowing out of the temple in Jerusalem until it is a deep river. This life-giving water is accessible to all. In Ezekiel, the water flows out and brings healing and life to everyone and everything it touches. Even the salty Dead Sea is brought back to life. The salty water becomes fresh, clean, and pure, filled with fish. Fruit trees for food and healing abundantly grow along the banks of this life-giving river.

This is the Fountain image: Jesus the Fountain brings life, healing, and purity. He is our refuge and place of rescue. Jesus is the only one who can perfectly quench our thirst and longings. Why would we look anywhere else?

Prayer:
Lord, as our hymn for today requests, we ask, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Come be our Fountain of hope on hopeless days, our friend when we are lonely, our peace when we are anxious, our forgiveness when we feel shame. Lord, we look to you for life, healing, and restoration. Help us to desire you instead of wandering as the hymn says, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here’s my heart; O take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above.”
In Jesus our Fountain’s name,
Amen.

Dr. Matt Williams
Professor of New Testament
Director, Accelerated Masters Programs
Undergraduate New Testament Studies

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, please visit our website via the link in our bio.