The Fountain of Youth in the Bible

I enjoy speaking to you because the Bible truly is the most interesting book in the world. There are so many spiritual nuggets. The lessons are endless. The way we can bring out these spiritual nuggets that are in the Bible will never end.

I notice people are longing to go to the feast, maybe get away from difficult atmosphere at home or at work or at school, and be able to enjoy a time, a peace of getting together, and especially of looking forward to that coming kingdom of God. We have to keep our eyes focused on that primary goal. It's so easy to take your mind away from what is that coming kingdom of God. There was a scripture last week that I couldn't find, and I want to show it to you now because it is in the Bible, but it just hunkered in a corner of my pages and I couldn't find it. 1 Peter 4. I think it's appropriate. It says in verse 1 of 1 Peter 4, It says, Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind of suffering in the flesh. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. In other words, when you really have discipline and you go through sufferings, you purify yourself a lot more. He says that he no longer should live the rest of his life in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it's strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

And so we leave this society for eight days. God wants us to be purified, to be cleansed, to focus on loving each other and sharing the blessings during the feast. It's an opportunity to help others of the same faith.

As a teenager, I remember reading about the fountain of youth. And I was fascinated by that search for the fountain of youth. How many remember reading something about the fountain of youth? Probably this generation, not as much when we had time to read a lot of adventure books. And one of those themes was the search for the fountain of youth.

And who wouldn't want to drink of it and never age?

Of course, later, as you grew up, you realized that all that is on the earth is just plain water. There is no such thing as a special fountain of youth.

Back in the town where I lived my teenage years, called the town of Murphy, North Carolina, there's a plaque where it says, these Spanish explorers went through here, these areas of the Carolina Appalachian Mountains. They were searching for that fountain of youth. Of course, gold and something else as well. But that was one of the things that was on their mind because early on, after Columbus discovered America, more of these Spanish explorers came through.

One of them, his name was Ponce de Leon, and he was one of the founders of Puerto Rico, became the first governor of Puerto Rico. And while he was there, he heard this story from the local Indian population about a special place west of Puerto Rico that had a fountain of life.

And Ponce de Leon believed it, and so he went off with his ships, and they landed in a strange land. They thought, this must be it.

That land is what is called today the state of Florida. And Ponce de Leon was the one who named it. And Florida is a Spanish word. How many know what Florida means? Well, we have Riza because she was from Puerto Rico. She knows the story.

Florida comes from the word greenery, because they found so much greenery in Florida. And so we use the term florida, which means very green and plush place. And that's the way they found it.

And so Ponce de Leon traveled, and he never found that fountain of youth. And all the Spanish explorers that went through, they were searching for it. They never found it. The Indians said the place was called Bimini, and they never were able to find it.

Do you know where the true fountain of youth is found? Ponce de Leon never found it. We can find it because it's in the Bible. The fountain of youth is described in the Bible.

So many explorers lost their lives looking for it. And it was all along in the Bible itself. As a matter of fact, that fountain of life-giving water is one of the main themes of the Bible.

We can take this thread from Genesis and go all the way about the fountain of living waters that God is offering us to drink of one day.

And as we focus on the feast, that is one of the reasons we go to the feast. We want to be part of that kingdom. We want to drink of those waters of the fountain of life.

It starts in the Garden of Eden.

There we find the equivalent of the fountain of youth.

Notice in Genesis 2, in verse 8, it says, The Lord God planted a garden, eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow, that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Two different ways of life were presented to Adam and Eve. Which would they choose? The way of life and following God?

Or the way of Satan and following his evil ways?

We all know what happened. Adam and Eve were deceived, and Adam followed suit. The Bible says he wasn't deceived. He just said, well, I've got to go along. He didn't have the strength of character to have repented and told her to repent immediately. He just went along. So many people, maybe not the cause of sin, but they are an accomplice to sin. They just follow along. This is what happened. Adam went along. And then in chapter 3, after they took the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, notice what it says in verse 22. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us. To know good and evil, he's going to have to figure that out for himself. Because God gave us free will. He gave us creative minds so people would try to figure out what is good and what is evil, but no longer by God's revealed will. He goes on to say, And now, lest he put out his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever. So this means submitting to God, following his way, receiving the Holy Spirit, and eventually receiving eternal life. They wouldn't have gone through all of the pains and evils. Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed caribim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life. So the Tree of Life was blocked off from mankind. It was lost, but not forever.

There would be an opportunity that God would make it possible for human beings one day to eat of the Tree of Life and drink of the fountain of living waters. In Genesis 3.15, this is the first prophecy of God intervening after man sinned, and he would work things out so man could one day receive eternal life. He says in verse 15, And I will put enmity between you and the woman, talking about Satan, and between your seed and her seed, Satan's earthly followers and the woman's followers, who would be from the seed, which is talking about Jesus Christ. Talking about Jesus, it says, He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. And so Satan would eventually have Jesus Christ killed, but Jesus Christ would be resurrected, and he's coming back, and he is going to expel and destroy Satan's kingdom on the earth. And so this opportunity to live forever was temporarily postponed, but it would one day be opened for us. Christ would bring access to drinking of that fountain of living waters. Notice in John chapter 4, John chapter 4, in verse 13, Jesus answered, talking to this American woman, verse 13, and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. That's typical common water. But 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 eternal life. So Christ said, I'm going to bring that fountain of living water that people are going to partake of, which is going to give them eternal life. Notice in John chapter 7, in verse 37, here it's talking about Christ keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.

It says in verse 37, On the last day, that great day of the feast. Now, that's not clear. Is it talking about the seventh day of the feast, or is it talking about the last great day? Now, one of the arguments that points to being the last great day is because that word, great day, is also used for a holy day when Jesus Christ was arrested, and it said about that day being a great day. And so you don't call just a typical day of a feast a great day, but you do have this, and it also in the Old Testament talks about the feast days as great days. It comes from the term megas in Greek, which means something very important, very special. And so it says, On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. But he is inviting people. Follow me, obey me, and one day you will drink of those living waters. So he was inviting people to be converted to follow him. Of course, the Jewish authorities didn't want people to follow Jesus Christ. And so they hounded him and they slandered him because they knew that he had the power to attract people. And they were so worried that people were going to leave their organization instead. So we see that all throughout history. Now, when will Jesus Christ offer those living waters? When will it actually happen? Because right now we have God's Holy Spirit, but in a small percentage. It's just a deposit that God has given us of his Holy Spirit. But one day that Holy Spirit is going to fully transform us. It will give us eternal life, but that's in the future. And so let's go to Ezekiel 47 to see in that coming millennium, when Christ returns, these fountains of living waters. Ezekiel 47.

In verse 1. Ezekiel, in a similar way as the Apostle John in the book of Revelation, here Ezekiel was also given a vision, but not of the new Jerusalem, like in Revelation, but actually of the establishment of God's kingdom during the millennium. And so he is given this vision of Jesus Christ establishing his kingdom and establishing his headquarters in Jerusalem. So it says here in chapter 47, verse 1, Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east. For the front of the temple faced east, the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around the outside of the outer gateway that faces east. And there was water running out on the right side. And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured 1,000 cubits, and he brought me through the waters. The water came up to my ankles. And then he says in verse 6, He said to me, Son of man, have you seen this? Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river. When I returned, there along the bank of the river were very many trees on the side and the other.

Then he said to me, This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. So from all the destruction that had happened before with all the plagues, this water that comes out of that throne of Jesus Christ goes, and wherever it touches, it heals everything. They're living waters. It gives life. Verse 9, And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there, for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. Verse 12, Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fall. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine. So the term is talking about here when it says medicine or for refreshing. It just revitalizes anybody that drinks this water. It gives them strength, vitality. And so during the millennium, we're going to have living waters. People are going to be refreshed by them. But the ultimate fulfillment will not be during the millennium. The ultimate fulfillment will be when that new Jerusalem comes down on the earth. That's when the fountain of living waters will be available to all those that enter the new Jerusalem. Notice in Revelation chapter 7, Revelation chapter 7 and verse 15. This was touched upon in the sermonet briefly. Those that are faithful to the end. And this is their fate. This is their destiny. Verse 15, therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple. So here's talking about that new Jerusalem. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them nor any heat. We know there won't be any sun at that time. For the Lamb who's in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. So this is talking about the ultimate result of being in the new Jerusalem. And God will provide the fountains of living waters. Let's go to Revelation chapter 21. Let's see what it says here in Revelation 21 verse 1. Now it's important to understand that John is being given one vision after another. So this isn't something that just his imagination. This is God revealing the future reality. And that's why it says, now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. So this is part of the vision. If you go to the previous chapter, notice what it says in Revelation 20. It says, and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were open. And another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So he's seeing all of this. That's why it's the book of Revelation. So it's not a figment of his imagination. He is writing down what he sees, just like Ezekiel was taken to a high mountain, and he saw the Jerusalem during the millennium. And he writes down all of these things.

This is so important that in Revelation 22, the angel says in verse 6, Then he said to me, These words are faithful and true. These aren't figments of imagination. This isn't some symbolism of some imaginary thing that has to do with just loving, and that actually these things don't exist. No, the angel is testifying. These words are faithful and true. They are real. And the Lord God of the holy prophets, the God that inspired the holy prophets with accurate accounts, sent his angel to show his servants the things which must surely take place. So these are all things that are going to happen in the future. We don't have to doubt it one bit. So going back to Revelation 21, John says, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. That's talking about the atmosphere and the... what is the land of the earth. Everything had been purified in a fire. And all of that has passed away, and there was no more sea, because the waters were completely evaporated. And then I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. So this is the great reunion. So it starts in the first stage, just with Jesus Christ.

He comes, the saints are resurrected, mentions that they will see Christ as he is, because they will be part of that God family, and they will live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. Now they will see Christ face to face. It will be a wonderful relationship that takes place during those thousand years. But it is after everything has been purified, everything has been judged, all sin has been removed, all the earth with all the blood spilled has been completely burnt and just been purified. Then God, who is absolutely holy, he's not going to be where sin is, now he comes with a purified earth. And it says here that it's a beautiful New Jerusalem. And it says in verse 4, And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, no more sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. So as human beings we're going to experience pain. We're going to experience aging. We're going to experience death if Christ doesn't return before that time. If Christ returns and you're still alive and you've got God's Spirit and you're faithful, you're going to be immediately transformed from physical to spiritual. So that's the only time when there's no burials, there's no decomposition. No, it's just a complete transformation. It says in a blink of an eye it will happen. Going on, He says, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, Right, for these things are true and faithful. Again, the testimony of God saying all of this is going to happen. And He said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to Him who thirsts. So again, the fountain of living waters. God uses that as a symbol of us accepting Him, following Him. He's going to give us of that water. Verse 7, He who overcomes shall inherit all things. Talking about the entire universe because Christ was made heir of all of creation. So all of these 200 billion and plus galaxies that are out there with an average of probably more than 200 billion stars in every galaxy and in every one of those stars that are suns, there are billions and billions of planets just waiting for the resurrection of these saints to be beautified. God has a lot of real estate out there. A lot of work is yet to do. So He says, I will give of the fountain of the water of life. So it talks about the fountain of eternal youth. To Him who thirsts. He says, He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His God, and He shall be my Son. So that's part of the family of God that He's creating. He wants to share all of this with us. And somehow He created all this matter in the universe to be put to use. And so it's like our kids, they love to play with Legos. And our grandkids love to play, make things. Well, you can't make things if they're just all invisible. But if it's something concrete, something of substance, you can do a lot with that. And it's just like having all of these easels and all of this canvas that we get to paint. We get to use the creativity and imagination. And God wants to see how His children are going to create things. Isn't one of the most wonderful things in life when you have children? If you're privileged, it's that way. I realize that. But when the children grow up and one day say, Dad, Mom, come over. We have our first house. And you go there and they finally have their first house. And you get to help them decorate and enjoy that. Well, God has this waiting for us. I want to see what you're going to do with what I give to you.

And so that's part of what we look forward to during the feast. Looking into the future, having faith that all of this is truthful and real.

That's so inspiring when you realize how much God has prepared, as it says in 1 Corinthians 2.9.

It says, But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. And then it proceeds to say that with God's Holy Spirit, we're able to glimpse at that future. We have that faith. We have that hope.

It's interesting, as I was going over Revelation 22, we're going to cover it a little bit more. But there are two job descriptions of what we're going to do after the New Jerusalem comes down. Notice what it says here in Revelation 22, verse 3. It says, And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there, they need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. So the two job descriptions is, the first one, they shall see his face and his name, which means part of the family, will be on their foreheads. So seeing his face means you have direct access to God the Father and Jesus Christ. There are no priests, no intermediaries. You get to interact. Just like a child, when they need to talk to their father or mother, they don't need to go to an intermediary. They go and just directly go before father and mother. And that is an experience of good parenting. Children always have access to their parents.

And it never expires. You never say, well, son, you're 45 now. I don't want you to come before me anymore. Do something on your own. No, it doesn't matter. You can be 65, 75. If you're still alive, they always have access to you, direct access to you. It's the same way. God wants that relationship with every one of us.

We shall see His face. It means there's no intermediary. Remember that God told Moses, you can't see me face to face because there's no man that can look at my face and live. But one day, as spirit beings, part of his family, we will be able to talk directly to him. Now, of course, God is so much greater. He doesn't live in the same dimension and time as we do. So he is so much greater. He has multiple levels that he can interact with people face to face.

And so we don't have to worry about such a big family. God's going to figure it out, but He's going to make us feel like we are a special child to Him.

It reminds me of the old story back in the Roman Empire days when the emperor had just won a great battle and he had captured the king and all of his generals and had brought all the booty and all of the wealth, and he took it all to Rome. And of course, they had this great big parade and they had all the slaves coming and all the kings in chains and then the emperor came in his chariot. And of course, they always had a slave that they had to put next to him that would always say, you are only a man. So he wouldn't get so lifted up. But the story goes that as this parade was going by and they had all of these people on the sides and cheering and all of a sudden this little child comes through and he tries to get to the chariot and one of the centaurians stops him and says, you can't come any closer. This is the emperor. He's on his chariot. This is a big parade. And the little kid looks at him and says, well, he might be your emperor, but he's my dad. And you know what? He hopped into that chariot. Right? They have special access. This is the way God is going to be able to treat every one of us one day. He has a special child. He says all the tears will be wiped away. All the pain that we lived through in this life will just be gone. He will explain every bit of what has happened to us. God says that he has the hairs on our head counted. He knows. But you know what? What is 70, 80, 90 years when you're talking about millions of years into the future? So there's so much hope. And brethren, if we don't have this chance to go to the feast and be able to feast on the feast, feast our eyes on this coming kingdom, because it says it more than just a message. We have to live it. We have to leave our homes. We have to go to a place and fellowship, looking for that coming kingdom. That not only has to do with Christ's kingdom, that's just the first stage. He's just coming to set up a shop here on earth. But this includes all the way to the New Jerusalem. All of this is pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day. It is not just the judgment of people. Because what's going to happen to those people? Do we just stop with the meaning of the Last Great Day because of the great white throne judgment? No, that's the beginning stage. But then it goes on to say, this is what's going to happen, and look where the saints are eventually going to end up. So the Last Great Day includes, of course, the fulfillment of that judgment, which is being in the New Jerusalem with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

In Revelation 22, here Revelation 21, as you'll see in the study, is basically a description of the exterior of the New Jerusalem. It tells you about the walls, it tells you the dimensions, it tells you the colors that they're going to be, all the beauty that it has. But Revelation 22 shows you the interior of the New Jerusalem. So just as he was given a vision of the outside of the New Jerusalem, in chapter 22 he's given the vision of the inside of the New Jerusalem, which starts in verse 1 of chapter 22. He says, So again, the same pattern as in the millennium, Christ's temple, when he sets it up, waters will flow from the throne, they will give life and vitality to everything they touch. But actually, that's just a small model of this New Jerusalem. Now you have the actual river of the water of life, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. So they're both there on the throne. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing or refreshing, because there's not going to be any more sickness, there's not going to be anybody sick there. But it talks about giving this refreshing enjoyment when you use them.

And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. So I mentioned the first job description is having that personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. We first established the relationship with Jesus Christ, and then with God the Father, so now it's together. They're working all together. God's plan has been carried out. And once we have that direct relationship with God comes the second job description, which is that they will be His servants, and they shall serve Him. And then verse 5, it says, and they shall reign forever and ever. We're going to serve God, but there's still the reigning forever and ever. I thought it was very interesting that one of the commentators in this chapter 22, Eldon Ladd, which I'm going to mention in the Bible study, he said, I don't know who people are going to reign over.

And besides, it's not important because he, as a Protestant, having a Protestant perspective, he just thinks, well, we're going to be going up to heaven and we're going to be looking at God's face and just gazing. We don't have much to do, but he doesn't realize that God's kingdom is going to spread. It's going to extend out beyond the earth. And so they shall reign because it is a kingdom of people now transformed into spirit beings, and they will have different responsibilities and governing over different parts of this universe. We're not talking about going up to a third heaven.

God the Father brought the New Jerusalem to the earth. This is the new headquarters. Notice in Isaiah 9. Isaiah 9. That's what all of these Bible studies help a person deepen an understanding of these things. Isaiah 9. 7. It talks about in verse 6. Let's go there first. It says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the increase of his government and peace, will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.

And so his government is not going to just be here on the earth. The New Jerusalem is not going to be where all the action is. That's just where God the Father and Jesus Christ have the headquarters, and it's big enough that everybody's going to have ample spaces to work there. But it's the beautifying of the universe, of the creating, and of now showing God that we are learning his ways, and we're going to do it in a concrete fashion. Today's artists reflect today's society. It's not a pretty picture. Modern art usually is not very beautiful. It's not very optimistic, dark, confusing, because it's reflecting what this society is.

But in God's kingdom, it's going to be joy, love. We're going to paint colors, and we're going to beautify things, which is all going to be based on those fruits of God. God's spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. All of these wonderful characteristics, that's going to be the stamp that is placed on every one of those planets. We're going to be able to enjoy and use our imagination. So God is inviting us to drink of the fountain of the rivers of living waters.

Yes, this fountain is better than the fountain of youth, which could only keep you alive longer, but you're still a human being. You still have your human nature. God is giving us waters when we spirit beings will no longer have human nature, will no longer have bad tempers, will no longer have envy or hate or vanity or pride. All of that has been purged out of every person.

Their core identity is what is going to remain, but without all the nasty parts of human nature, that's why we can get along with each other forever, because nobody's going to have a bad temper. Nobody's going to have envy and think evil of others. We can live with brethren in this condition forever. Remember two of the disciples of Jesus Christ who became apostles, John and James. What was their description?

What were they called? Remember? Sons of thunder. Boy, they had a bad temper. Things would blow up. They would blow up about things. They were the ones that said to Christ, Oh, the Samaritans spurned us and do this. Do you want us to bring fire down from heaven? Boy, we're ready to blast all these people, leave craters there. Christ said, No, you don't know what kind of spirit you're talking about. So these men are going to be part of that kingdom of God.

They won't have any short tempers anymore. So the legend of the fountain of youth that Ponce de Leon once searched for and never found doesn't exist on the earth. But it does exist in the pages of the Bible. God promises one day for us to drink of the fountains of those rivers of water He will bring. The Bible is the true source and the true fulfillment of this desire that we all have.

One day we will, God willing, drink of those waters. The feast that is coming pictures all of this. The first seven days describes the coming millennium. But the last day not only pictures the great white throne judgment, that's just a beginning phase. But actually what happens afterward with the New Jerusalem coming down? And God the Father dwelling with us.

And in the middle, the fountain of waters of eternal life. Let's end with one last verse, Revelation 22 verse 17, which is part of the picture of the coming feast and that last great day. Revelation 22 verse 17, it says, And the Spirit, talking here about the Spirit of the prophets that God used in the Old Testament, and he talks about the Spirit of the prophets, as it does in verse 6 here, which says, And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angels.

So the Spirit has to do with those and the bride, the saints that God has as well. And they say, Come, and let him who hears say, Come, and let him who thirsts, come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. That's the way the Bible ends. So there is a fountain of eternal life, and it is found in the scriptures.