John 7:37-38 “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
Like apples of gold in settings of silver, today’s promise takes on even greater value in its context. When Jesus said the words above, He was speaking to crowds gathered at the Temple in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Feast of Tabernacles was an annual symbolic celebration that looked back to Israel’s journey through the wilderness. It also looked forward to the promised kingdom of the Messiah. During this weeklong celebration, the Jews moved out of their houses and lived in booths or tents made of branches to remind them of God’s providential care for the nation during the nearly forty years they lived in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land.
The Temple area would be illumined by large candlesticks reminding the people of the guiding pillar of fire that led them in their journey. Each day the priests would carry water from the Pool of Siloam and pour it out from a golden vessel, reminding the Jews of the miraculous provision of water God gave them from a rock. Everything was done that week as a festive reminder to them of God’s faithfulness when they travelled through the desert.
The last day of the feast would be the seventh day, a very special day on which the priests would march seven times around the altar. It would be the last time they would draw the water and pour it out. No doubt, just as they were pouring out the water, symbolic of the water Moses drew from the rock, Jesus stood and shouted His great invitation to thirsty sinners.
Imagine the scene! Just as the priests would pour out that final golden vessel filled with water, Jesus stood and shouted with a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink!” Then He adds more in verse 38, “Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
What did he mean? John tells us in the next verse, “By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
Those rivers of living water were a picture of the Holy Spirit, promised to believers after Jesus ascended to the Father. Jesus told them that when He returned to the Father, He would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to live within them! It would be the Spirit’s presence within believers that would empower them to live an abundant life regardless of their circumstances, even when they may be in a dry and barren place. Believers would not only drink that living water to satisfy their own souls but would become channels of living water to bless a thirsty world around them!
Just as with their sacrifices, the Jews were reenacting a tradition that would never fully satisfy their hearts. But Jesus offered them living water with eternal satisfaction! That water symbolic of the indwelling Spirit of God is what sets a Christ follower apart from the world around them.
In John 4:14 (MSG), Jesus said, “Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst – not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”
What a vivid picture of life in all its fullness. Does that describe your life? It can. You only need to respond to Jesus’ invitation. If you’re thirsty for that life-giving water, come to Christ and drink to the full!