If You Truly Thirst; Drink of Christ!
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John 7:32–39 (ESV)
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Setting the Stage
Setting the Stage
The Pharisees would be more like the boots on the ground.
The chief priests, being the aristocracy of the Jerusalem priesthood, would most likely be a bit more distant from the action.
So, the Pharisees hearing the crowd whispering with at least a superficial faith that they cannot imagine anyone doing more signs than what Jesus has done…
They don’t like this kind of crowd support of Jesus.
So, they go tell the chief priests and they come to the conclusion that it is time to arrest Jesus.
And so they send Temple Officers to arrest him at the right time.
At the arrival of the Temple Officers and Pharisees Jesus says…
John 7:33–34 (ESV)
33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.”
This is what Jesus is saying here…
You cannot stop my mission.
My mission is God’s mission.
My mission is only a little longer.
Jesus previously taught them of His heavenly origin.
Now He teaches them that His ultimate destination is heaven with His Father once again.
Then He says…
After I am gone you will keep looking for a Messiah but you will not find one.
There is no other Messiah than Me.
The false expectations you have of the Messiah will never be fulfilled.
I am the true Messiah who has come from the Father…
And, if you do not recognize and acknowledge Me as such you will die in your sins…
And you cannot join me in the place that I am going.
Their response exposes again…
Their Bondage of Earthly Thinking
Their Bondage of Earthly Thinking
John 7:35–36 (ESV)
35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
They completely miss the truths Jesus is teaching.
They miss all the spiritual elements that Jesus’ teaching contains.
They are short-sighted by earthly, fleshly thinking.
But, then Jesus speaks again…
John 7:37 (ESV)
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out,
This is the great day of the Feast.
Jesus after the great morning festivities stands up amid the crowd and shouts with great fervor and passion.
Now, let me stop there and say a bit about…
The Feast of Booths
The Feast of Booths
This Feast was after the last harvest of the year.
All the grain was threshed and all the grapes were pressed.
The Feast of Booths was a great time of rejoicing.
It was a time of rest from the intense labor of harvesting and processing the harvest.
Deuteronomy 16:14 (ESV)
14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.
With all the sacrifices that took place during this eight day Festival…
There was great feasting and celebration among all the people.
In Leviticus 23:42–43 we read…
Leviticus 23:42–43 (ESV)
42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
So, God connects this Feast of Booths with the Exodus and the Wilderness wanderings of God’s salvation of the Jews from Egypt.
His provision for them in His salvation from slavery.
On the last day of the Feast, it was commanded by God to be a holy convocation, a solemn assembly…
No work was to be done on this day.
On this day, part of the festival was a Water Pouring ceremony.
A priest, with an entourage, would fill a golden pot with water from the pool of Siloam.
When they came to the Water-Gate they would blow their trumpets (long, short, long), then shout with great enthusiasm, then blow the trumpets once again in the same manner as before.
Then a priest went up the ascent of the altar and turned to his left where there were two silver basins.
One basin for water and basin for wine.
While all of this was going on the Hallel (Psalm 113-118) was being sung by the Temple Choir.
When the choir reached Psalm 118 every male would shake a branch tied with palm with his right hand and raise a piece of citrus fruit with his left hand.
Then all the people would cry out…
—> Give thanks to the Lord! (x3)
The water was offered at the same time as the wine.
Each being poured into their proper basin.
The priest would pour the silver basins one into the other and then offer them to the Lord on the altar.
Once this was done there was great rejoicing, music, and dancing.
Even the most serious people celebrated with joy at this time of the Festival.
So great was the scene of the multitudes rejoicing at this time of the Feast that a common saying was…
“He that has never seen the rejoicing of the place of drawing water, has never seen rejoicing in this life.”
Three things were celebrated at this moment:
A prayer for future rain.
A remembrance of the goodness of God to provide water to the people in the wilderness from the rock of Meribah.
A looking forward and longing for the outpouring of the Spirit of God in the Messianic age.
This aspect of the Feast in which the longing for the outpouring of the Spirit of God was drawn from…
Isaiah 12:3 (ESV)
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
And, so on this last day of the Feast we read…
John 7:37 (ESV)
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Again, Jesus is not speaking of a natural thirst.
Although, the water from the rock at Meribah quenched their natural thirst.
The people in the wilderness needed more than physical water…
As they died in the wilderness because of unbelief.
But, what Jesus is pointing to is not only is He the better water than the water from the rock.
He is pointing out that He is the fulfillment of this Feast…
By calling the Nation:
to have their ultimate need of righteousness quenched in Him.
to find their ultimate provision in Him.
Now let me show you how Christ is the fulfillment of the Feast of Booths which is a celebration of the provision of God.
A celebration of past and present provision of God and a looking forward to the future provision of God in the Messianic age.
Turn to Exodus 17:4.
As you turn there let me remind you that the people of Israel had just grumbled against Moses and Aaron for a lack of food.
They were saying they would rather be in Egypt than to be following the Lord without food.
God tells Moses that He is testing the people.
The people are failing the test.
But, they blame their failure on Moses and Aaron…
Which God makes known that it is really a grumbling against God, Himself.
But, God in graciousness gives them Manna every morning except on the Sabbath.
Now they’re grumbling in the same manner against God by being angry with Moses and Aaron…
And they are grumbling because the place they are camped does not have water.
Exodus 17:4–7 (ESV)
4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
[the staff of Moses represented the judgment of God. It was what God had Moses use to inflict the plagues. To part the Red Sea. To bring the sea down upon the Egyptians. The people seeing Moses take up His staff would have signaled that God was about to judge.]
6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
The people were ready to stone Moses.
They were angry with Moses, but their anger was really with GOd.
They knew that Moses taking up his rod and walking ahead with some of the elders, summoned by Moses meant that God was about to judge.
They had failed God’s test again.
They had proven once again that they had a sinful, unbelieving heart.
They are bringing charges against God.
Later we even read in Deuteronomy 6:16…
Moses tells the people, “you shall not put God on trial like you did with the water at Massah-Meribah.”
The people are watching Moses take up the rod of judgment along with the elders.
They’re going out in front of the people.
A court case setting was coming to fruition.
Was Moses going to raise the rod of judgment against them?
A fearful anticipation would have been building in the people.
But God does something unique here.
6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
In the OT God did not stand before men.
—> Men stood before God.
In the Mosaic Law, people involved in law cases were to stand before the Lord, the priests, and the judges.
But here we see God saying He is going to stand before Moses on the rock.
And, God commands Moses to raise the rod of judgment and strike the rock.
The rock is associated with God as God says He is standing on the rock that will be struck.
The people deserve to be judged.
They deserve to be struck with the rod of judgment.
But, here we see God standing in the place of the people.
Taking the blow of judgement they deserve.
The result of this blow of judgment is…
—> Rather than judgment on the people…
The result was provision.
The result was water flowing out of the rock so that the people could drink freely and abundantly.
Jesus having just told them that He would only be with them a little while longer and then He would ascend to His throne room in heaven…
Must do something first before the ascension…
—> Namely the Cross.
Jesus must take the blow of judgment so His people will receive the provision of the New Covenant…
Namely eternal life.
How Do You Drink of the Messiah?
How Do You Drink of the Messiah?
John 7:38 (ESV)
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
You drink of Jesus by believing upon Jesus.
Jesus is all we need.
He is the ultimate provision that makes all other provision ultimately unnecessary.
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
