When searching for links between the Old Testament and the New Testament, Isaiah and Jesus made it easy. The New Testament specifically mentions Isaiah twenty two times; however, the New Testament refers to Isaiah well over one hundred times. Jesus himself makes many of these references.
Jesus began His ministry among the gentiles. He was raised in a gentile village, Nazareth. After John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, Jesus was first tempted by Satan in the wilderness and returned by the power of the Spirit to minister in Galilee among the gentiles (Luke 4:14). Jesus began His ministry back in His hometown of Nazareth; however, they rejected Him and sought to throw Him over a cliff, but “He passed through the midst of them and went His way (Luke 4:30).
After leaving Nazareth, Jesus moved to another gentile town of Capernaum, which was by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Nephatali. In making this move, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy spoken of by the prophet Isaiah which states in Matthew 4:15-16 (quoted from Isaiah 9:1-2). The land of Zebulun and the land of Nephatali, The way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.
It was on a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee where Jesus delivered His first teaching, which is now called “The Sermon on the Mount” as recorded in Matthew 5 and in Luke 6. The account of Matthew lists nine “Beatitudes”. The fourth one states, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” This statement by Christ aligns itself well with Isaiah 55:1 and 65:13: “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters” (Isaiah 55:1) and “Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; Behold, My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty” (Isaiah 65:13). In John 7:37, Jesus stated, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”
And in John 7:38 He said that, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living waters.” Three other passages in Isaiah speak of water that will be drawn from the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:3), waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:20) and of how the blessings of God will be brought forth (Isaiah 44:3). “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendents, and my blessing on your offspring” (Isaiah 44:3).
Jesus gave full clarification to these verses from Isaiah when He spoke to the woman at the well in John 4. The woman was a Samaritan who had come out to draw water in the heat of the day. Jesus asked for her to give him a drink. The woman was incredulous that a Jewish rabbi would speak to a woman, especially one who was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said to her, in verse 10, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman then asked Jesus how He was going to get water from the well as he had nothing to draw with and the well was deep. She then asked Him if he was greater than Jacob who had dug the well. Jesus then spoke to her of living water, which only He could give. In John 4:13-14, Jesus answered her and said, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 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 everlasting life.”
In this passage about the woman at the well, Jesus sums up the teaching from Isaiah regarding the “water of life” that Christ gives to all who ask, shall receive, and by the Spirit, that source becomes a well of water springing up unto eternal life. The woman at the well marveled at the man, the Jewish rabbi, who spoke to her, someone to whom no self-respecting rabbi would speak. She experienced first hand the marvelous words of Christ. She later exclaimed to those in her village, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I did. Could this be the Christ?” (John 4:29) Jesus had answered the woman previously when she had wondered about the Messiah who was to come. Jesus had told her then, “I who speak to you am He.” The first person in the New Testament to whom Jesus reveals Himself as the One who will give living water and quench spiritual thirst is the woman at the well!!
You and I still marvel at the many words that Jesus spoke, but when we come to Him as someone who is thirsty, He gives to us, by His Spirit, living water that brings eternal life and joy unto our thirsty souls. Praise His Name!!