Clean water.
I. SOULS NEED CLEANSING FROM SIN. Here we come to the deeper part of man's need. The Jews perceived their external disasters only too clearly. War, captivity, poverty, sickness, death, were visible evils. But they did not so readily discern the unseen spiritual evils which were behind those troubles, as their causes. The greatest calamity is not so bad as sin. While we are eager to elude the consequences of wrong-doing, God sees that the wrong-doing itself is our chief evil. The principal part of the redemption required by Israel was not deliverance from the power of Babylon, but deliverance from the tyranny of sin; their most needed recovery was not restoration to Palestine, but restoration to God. To be cleansed from their idolatry and brought into a condition of spiritual worship was their greatest salvation. Israel is restored if that is done, even though she be stir far from possessing her land; she is not restored without it, though she have the fee simple of every acre of Palestine.
II. THE CLEANSING OF SOULS WILL REMOVE BOTH THE GUILT AND THE POWER OF SIN.
1. The guilt. Sin leaves a stain behind. Blame justly attaches itself to all wrongdoing, and, though the deed of evil may be swiftly accomplished, the blame lingers long. The stain of sin is not merely an ugly fact; it produces dreadful consequences.
2. The power. The evil is more than a stain upon the conscience. It is a poison within the soul. It works harm by its corrupting as well as its defiling influence. We need some antidote to this poison, or some wonderful cleansing that shall completely purge it out of our being—a real internal washing, not merely a clearing of a darkened reputation.
III. GOD HAS PROVIDED CLEANSING WATER. What is needed is clean water. New, this is just what is not to be got in places of defilement. The foul soil stains and poisons the streams that flow through it. No human thing is clean from the contamination of man's great sin. Therefore there can be no human fountain for uncleanness. But God has opened a fountain, and the gospel of Christ introduces us to it. He is pure, and he can give perfect purification. The water that flows from this rock is not defiled with earth's contamination. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Here we have the double cleansing. The guilt is washed out by a Divine pardon given through the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, and the impurity is purged away by the Holy Spirit communicated to us by the grace of God in Christ. The cross redeems from all sin. The Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world. There is perfect cleansing of character, motive, heart, and soul in Christ.
IV. THIS CLEANSING WATER IS SPRINKLED ON INDIVIDUAL SOULS FOR THEIR CLEANSING. It is not enough that the water exists, nor that we behold it, nor that it flows in a full, free torrent.
1. It must be applied to each individual soul—sprinkled. This great fact is suggested by the rite of baptism. The future tense is here used. The prophecy was written before the advent of Christ. But even now the future tense must be used for all who are still in sin and earnestly desire cleansing. Christ's atonement is finished; but his cleansing must be continually given afresh to separate souls.
2. This cleansing is divinely given. "I will sprinkle," etc. God himself cleanses souls. We have to repent and seek his mercy. Then he will work directly in his pardoning and purifying grace.