This is why the Lord says that there is spirit and life in his words,
that he is the light that enlightens, and that he is the truth, as the follow-
ing passages clearly show:
Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life.”
(John 6 : 63 )
Jesus said to the woman by Jacob’s well, “If you knew the gift of God
and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give me something to drink,’ you
would ask him and he would give you living water. Those who drink
some of the water that I will give will not become thirsty to eternity.
The water that I will give will become in them a well of water gushing
for eternal life.” (John 4 : 6 , 10 , 14 )Here as in Deuteronomy 33 : 28 , “Jacob’s well” means the Word. The Lord
sat at that location and spoke with the woman because he is the Word.
The “living water” means the truth in the Word.
Jesus said, “If any are thirsty, they must come to me and drink. If any
believe in me, as Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow out of
their bellies.” (John 7 : 37 , 38 )
Peter said to Jesus, “You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6 : 68 )
Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away; my words will not pass
away.” (Mark 13 : 31 )
The Lord’s words are truth and life because he himself is truth and life,
as he teaches in John: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14 : 6 ).
Also in John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. In it there was life, and that life was the light for
humankind” (John 1 : 1 , 4 ). “The Word” means the Lord in his role as divine
truth. He alone has life and light. This is why the Word, which is from the
Lord and is the Lord, is called the fountain of living waters(Jeremiah 2 : 13 ;
17 : 13 ; 31 : 9 ); the fountain of salvation(Isaiah 12 : 3 ); the fountain(Zechariah
13 : 1 ); and a river of water of life(Revelation 22 : 1 ). This is why it says that the
Lamb who is in the middle of the throne will shepherd people and lead
them to living fountains of waters (Revelation 7 : 17 ). There are other pas-
sages where the Word is also called the sanctuaryand the tentwhere the Lord
dwells with humankind [Ezekiel 37 : 26 – 28 ; Revelation 21 : 3 ].
Our earthly self, however, is incapable of being convinced by these 191
quotations that the Word is divine truth itself in which there is divine
§191 sacred scripture 271