BROKEN CISTERNS

BROKEN CISTERNS
Part I

I want to ask us all one simple question, Is Jesus Christ our fountain of living water? Does Jesus Christ truly satisfy us?  

I assume you know, of course, that not all of God's people are satisfied with him alone.  Some turn to other things of this world for their satisfaction. I want to consider with you something Jeremiah said to the people of his day that applies to our day as well. Namely that Gods people, ones who once burned for him, can become cold and look to other worldly things to satisfy them. This was indeed the condition of Jeremiah's time; Jeremiah 2:12, 13 “Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.  For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water”

Forsaking the Fountain of Living Waters for Broken Cisterns

The prophet Jeremiah points out to his generation that there are 2 evils being committed (by His people): First, they had forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water. This very much has application to us today because in order for us to be truly committed Christians we must be convinced that only Jesus Christ truly satisfies, He is our fountain of living water. This truth is exemplified for us in John 7:37,38 “In 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. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”  Secondly, Gods people had hewn out for themselves broken cisterns.  A cistern is a reservoir made out of earth, like a pond, or carved out of rock; metaphorically these cisterns are other pleasures that were pursued for satisfaction and fulfillment.  They had before them the Lord Himself, the fountain of living water, and yet they turn to a manmade broken cistern; a device that is faulty and can fail in its duty to hold water, not to mention problems with stagnation.

Therefore the prophet continues his indictment: Jeremiah 2:18 “And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt (World), to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
The people of God were finding their satisfaction from the rivers of Egypt and Assyria.  Here's the problem in a nutshell, Gods people are drinking from the waters of Egypt!  Egypt has long been recognized as speaking of the world, to put it into today’s setting we would say these cisterns represent the music of the world, dress of the world, talk of the world, entertainment of the world etc. When one drinks from the waters of Egypt, their desire for the Lord begins to die and they no longer find that he satisfies.  They become disconnected from Him and become bored with the church and Gods people.

Here is the inevitable end of those who turn to the things of this world Jeremiah 2:19 “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.” It is indeed a tragic thing, when the people of God make the wrong choices in what they choose to satisfy themselves, the consequences of those choices more times than not is that these things end up hindering their walk and hold them back from the things of God.