Living Water – John 7:37-39

          Last week, we ended with Jesus saying, “You will seek Me and will not find Me.”  In Matthew 7:7, when talking to His disciples, Jesus said, “You will seek Me and find Me.” Now He tells the crowd that they “will seek Him and not find Him.”  The prophet Isaiah said, “Seek the Lord while He may be found.” Isaiah 55:6 Jesus will soon go to the cross, be resurrected, and ascend to the Father to His original glory. His time on earth was running out. Jesus tells the crowd, “Where I am, you cannot come.”  There is only one way all can come to the Father in heaven – through the shed sinless blood of Jesus. Jesus will have to go to the cross and shed His blood so all can come to the Father through belief in Jesus and His atoning sacrifice. If we who believe in Jesus let our sense of needing Jesus die, we will not seek Him.  “Wise” men will seek Him because without Him they can do nothing.

Living Water

        The Feast of Tabernacles is taking place in Jerusalem. Two elements were prevalent in the Feast of Tabernacles, water and light. The water drawing/pouring ceremony took place in the morning, and the lamp lighting ceremony took place at night (in the darkness).  This Feast stands out among the other feasts because it was a joyous occasion – a feast of thanksgiving to God for all of the harvest. Jesus is standing in the court of the Temple on the 7^th day of this Feast. No doubt the water drawing ceremony is taking place. This water drawing ceremony is the backdrop of Jesus’ spiritual revelation that He is the One who gives the “living water.”  “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to later receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:37-39 In Christ, we draw water from His well of salvation and the gift of the living (eternal) water of the Holy Spirit and Word. What happened in the “natural” at the Feast of Tabernacles becomes “spiritual” through Christ.

            Jesus, whose flesh body came through the Jews, celebrated all of the Feasts perfectly in order to fulfill them. The Law and all of its requirements had to be obeyed perfectly and completely in order to complete it and trumpet in the New Testament through Christ. Because God gave the Law to Israel, it would have to be an Israelite who is also God who would fulfill it. Jesus is not only the spiritual tabernacle of God who is with men, He also fulfills the water pouring by the water and blood that flowed from the wound in His side at the cross for the atonement of sin for the whole world. Jesus is also the fulfillment of the lamp lighting as the Light of the world who shines in the darkness.

            Let’s take a closer look at the water drawing/pouring ceremony and how it symbolizes Christ.

·                                       This ceremony took place at dawn – the light of a new day – on each day of the seven-day feast. Seven is the number of completion/perfection. Jesus is the One God sent to complete the Law and bring in the Light of a new day through the New Testament sealed by His shed sinless blood. Keep in mind that God said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Revelation 21:5           

·                                          On each of the seven days the high priest would take a golden pitcher and fill it with water from the pool of Siloam. Siloam means “sent one.”  Gold is symbolic of the divine. Jesus our Great High Priest was the Divine Sent One of God and the Perfect One (symbolized by the number 7) who would complete us.

·                                        Once the water was drawn, the procession brought it to the court of the temple with the joyful sounding of the trumpet. Daily they would walk around the brazen altar of sacrifice once, but on the 7^th day they would walk around the altar seven times symbolizing completeness. When Joshua and the Israelites walked around Jericho seven times, the wall came tumbling down giving them the victory over evil. A trumpet in scripture symbolizes the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God from beginning to end. He is the One who was victorious over evil and gives us the victory over our spiritual enemy.

·                         The high priest would then go up the steps to the top of the brazen altar of sacrifice where the flesh of the sacrificial lamb was burnt (consumed). At the top on each side of the altar of sacrifice were two silver basins. The high priest would pour out the water into the silver basin while another priest poured out the sacrificial blood into the other silver basin on the other side. The water and blood would mix and flow down to the bottom of the altar on the ground. Jesus, our Great High Priest, who is the sacrificial Lamb of God poured out the water and blood from the wound in His side onto the ground to atone for sin. Silver is the metal of atonement.

·                                     The high priest raised the golden pitcher high for all to see. Jesus was lifted up high on the cross of suffering for all to see before He poured out His water and blood.

       As we can see, Jesus fulfilled this water and wine pouring ceremony. It was the Divine atonement of Jesus on the cross that poured out the living water of the Holy Spirit, the blood of sacrifice for atonement for sin and the wine of abundant life in Him. Jesus fully explained the water ceremony and that He was the source of living water. “Living” because it is eternal water that never dies. The living water that He gives will satisfy the thirst of the heart.

        The last book of the Bible says that all who are thirsty can come to the river of life (Holy Spirit) and drink freely. “To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.” Revelation 21:6 The last chapter in Revelation shows us that the water of life flows from the throne of God and the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1) Revelation 21:22-23 shows us that there is no temple in the Heavenly Promised Land because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple, and that there is no sun or moon because the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp. Jesus reflects the glory of God as a lamp just as believers in Jesus are to reflect His light and life. This was foreshadowed in the lamp lighting ceremony in the temple.

        Jesus in His statement about the living water that He will give wants to take the crowd’s attention from the pouring of earthly water in an earthly physical temple to their deep need of Him and the needs of their soul. No human being can live without water and food. So too, we need Jesus and the water of the Word and Holy Spirit to bring us to spiritual life. Jesus is greater than the earthly water from the pool of Siloam. He will fill the empty parts of your soul with His love, comfort and power. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is God’s “new” way of working and communing with His people. He wants the water of the Word and the Holy Spirit to flow in and out of us – the Living Bread and the Living Water. Without Christ, our souls are thirsty because we were created spiritual and fleshly by our Creator.