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“Is Anyone Thirsty?" • 9.1.19
• Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- Our text finds itself in the
center of Jerusalem, around late September, early October. The Jews are
celebrating their 7th and final feast, known generally as the "Feast of
Tabernacles."
- To avoid confusion, I'd let you
know that this is but one name among several. It is also called the "Feast
of Booths," "Sukkot" as the Jews call it, and, finally, the
feast of "Ingathering."
- It took on that final distinction
because of this feast's connection to the end of the harvest season. It is
always a time of great joy, the Rabbis even came to call it the "Season of
Our Joy!"
- Part of that joy was created and
enhanced by the communal campground atmosphere that was experienced during the
feast.
- "Sukkot," the word,
refers to booths that would be erected in and around Jerusalem for these 8
days, serving as a reminder of Israel's experience during her wilderness
wanderings.
• Leviticus 23:42 : "You shall dwell in booths for seven
days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that
I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the
land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’" : The feast was celebrated in the present
to commemorate and educate the Jewish people about their past.
- Young Jewish children would learn from an
early age that God had been the source behind all of Israel's blessings, in the
past, as well as the present blessing seen in their crops.
- Interestingly, this particular feast, the
final annual feast on the religious calendar, also has significance for the
future, specifically in relation to you and I, the Gentiles.
- After the Lord defeats the nations in the battle
of Armegeddon, He will set up His Earthly millenial Kingdom in Jerusalem and
call all of the survivors of the nations to His city.
- He will specifically call them to come to
worship Him during this particular feast, according to Zechariah 14:16!
Like all of the feasts, there was an historical element and a prophetic
element.
- The Feast of Tabernacles then, speaks of the
future and final ingathering of souls, Jewish and Gentile alike, into the
Kingdom of God.
- Now, during the feast, in the presence of
mutiplied millions of faithful Jews, the priests enacted three ceremonies that
bonded the hearts of Israel to their God. We will learn of two.
- The first ceremony took place every day at
dawn at the rising of the sun over the horizon.
- The nation's leaders and those gathered
turned at the Temple complex would turn away from the east to west, which
caused them to face the Temple.
- They did this and made the following
declaration :
˚
"Our fathers when they were in this
place turned their faces toward the east, and they worshipped the sun toward
the east; but as for us, our eyes are turned toward the Lord." : They renounced their former idolatry
and promised their fidelity to God. Later in the morning, there was a second
ceremony called the "Festival of Water Libation."
- This would begin at the pool of Siloam with
the gathering of water from the spring into a golden decanter filled with the
water and mixed with a little wine.
- The priests would then lead a noisy, shofar
blowing procession from the pool of Siloam to the temple complex and to the
altar.
- Once the crowd arrived at the altar, the
people stood to hear the reading of the Hallel Psalms, which in our Bibles, are
Psalms 113-118.
- We don't have time to read them all this
morning, but you have time to read them this afternoon! There are wonderful
insights there that you would do well to capture for yourselves.
- After these were read to the people, the
priest poured out the contents of his decanter onto the ground surrounding the
altar and marched around on day 1, once, day 2, twice, all the way to 7.
- The symbolism was rich, commemorative of
God's provision for the people's thirst in the wilderness, when water was drawn
out of the rock to satisfy their thirst. (Ex. 17:6,7, Num. 20:9-11)
- In the present, they were expressing their
gratitude to the Lord for the rains that had made their harvest successful.
- But as with every feast, there was also a
future element, with the expectation that one day, God would fill His people
with His Spirit and usher in the Kingdom of God!
- That is what the 8th day, the last day, the
great day of the feast points to!
- On the 8th day, the final day of the feast,
the priests circled the altar seven times and then poured out the water in a
ceremony called "Hoshana Rabbah," known also as the "Great
Hoshiana."
- When the words are translated into English,
we would be hearing the phrase, "save now!"
- The symbolism is powerful as the people pray
for God to fulfill His future promise as He has fulfilled His past promises.
The people prayed to God, the water has been poured out.
- This is where Jesus is standing and this is
what we discover Him saying to the nation of Israel gathered on that day in
that moment. Verse 37.
Text
• John 7:37 : "On the last day, that great day of
the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." : Jesus stood.
- The people had symbolically prayed to their
God and Jesus stands to answer their prayer, crying out for everyone to hear
before the celebration began.
- Generally, a teacher would sit to teach and
the people would stand. Jesus is not acting here as a teacher, but as a Prophet
declaring God's direction.
- A prophet declares what a people should do to
receive the answer to their prayers. What is that action? "If anyone is
thirsty, let Him come to me and drink!"
- We would hear it like this: "If you are
thirsty now, you must come to drink from me now!" It is a present
imperitive, a command to the nation from God Himself!
- Jesus replies on behalf of the Godhead and
invites the crowd to receive their spiritual water from Him! He will provide
for their spiritual thirst as He once met their physical thirst in the
wilderness!
- Jesus is identifying Himself as the Rock that
the people were commemorating! Paul makes that exact connection in I
Corinthians 10:4! Jesus was that spiritual rock that followed them!
- If you are parched spiritually and want to be
satisfied eternally, Christ alone must be the fount that you drink from!
- Understand that Jesus is also making a direct
reference to the words of the Prophet Isaiah. Please turn in your Bibles
to Isaiah 55.
- Isaiah is speaking of the King's invitation
to Israel in the last days, which sounds like this:
• Isaiah 55:1-3 : "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money, come,
buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—The sure
mercies of David." : When
Jesus makes this declaration, He is connecting His hearers to this divine
invitation and exhortation.
- Jesus has the water and is the one that can
dispense it freely! Why would you pay for water and bread when that payment
could not buy what Jesus is willing to give for free?
- When you follow this thread in the scripture
through to the end, you'll find an interesting final invitation to all in Revelation
22 from Jesus Himself!
• Revelation 22:16,17 : "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you
these things in the churches. I am the
Root and the Offspring of David, the
Bright and Morning Star.' And the Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears
say, 'Come!' And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the
water of life freely." :
Jesus is the God of Isaiah, the God of John and the God of Revelation!
His promise of water goes even further, extending to the benefit His water has
for others. Verse 38.
• John 7:38,39 : "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has
said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living
water.' But this He spoke concerning the
Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not
yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." : Jesus explains the metaphor that He
had just used. To "come to Him and drink" was to believe upon Him!
- "To eat His flesh and drink His
blood" is to believe upon Him! To look at Him as the Door and go through,
is to trust fully, to attach ourselves exlusively, to Him!
- Jesus says this in the present tense, meaning
that this person is currently believing, currently trusting in Him!
- It seems that in the past, it didn't need to
be said, but Jesus continually uses this tense and it's wise for us in our age
to consider this.
- God's promises in Christ are to those that
endure in their faith for their lifetime! There is no promise for those that
turn away or go back! Nobody gets an "honorary entrance" into heaven!
- You cannot place your trust in a past season,
but only in present reality! Don't boast about your Christianity if the
"good ol days" are not the current "good times!"
- This again underscores the vital importance
of being led to trust in the real Jesus in the first place! There is no
blessing for attaching oneself to a culture or a cult of personality.
- There is salvation in Jesus alone and there
is profound blessing through Him! The One that is believing in Him has a
promise from scripture.
- "Out of his heart will flow rivers of
living water," or more accurately, "out of his belly shall flow a
torrent of living water."
- Nobody is certain where this comes from in
scripture explicitly, but there are several passages that come close. For
example:
• Isaiah 44:1-5 : "Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who
made you and formed you from the womb, who will
help you: ‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant;
And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; They will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses.’ One will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’; Another will call
himself by the name of Jacob; Another will
write with his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
and name himself by the name of Israel." : The promise of God's Spirit flowing
from within Israel is found throughout the prophets.
- The figure of "living" water is
appropriate, as it refers to a moving spring, which was far more valuable than
a standing well.
- Moving water was fresh and wasn't susceptible
to the growth of unhealthy organisms. It was naturally filtered and preferred
by the ancient world as that which was fresh.
- Not only is the thirsty soul satisfied in
Christ, but they become a source for other thirsty souls around them! The "water"
that flows from a regenerated heart is a healthy, fresh, life giving stream!
- This is the promise of the baptism and the
filling of the Holy Spirit! Listen to the language: "Whom those believing
in Him would receive!" It's not for the super spiritual, but for every
believer!
- There is much debate today centered around
the concept of the Holy Spirit's interaction with believers in the Old
Testament.
- The Holy Spirit must have regenerated souls
prior to Christ. Christ has said as much in John 6:44. Beyond that, our
relationship to the Holy Spirit is far superior to theirs.
- Specific men in the Old Testament were
endowed with the power of the Holy Spirit for certain times and seasons.
- It was not a continuous relationship and was
the essential weakness of the old covenant.
- One cannot read this passage without coming
to clarity: "The Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet
glorified!"
- Did the Old Testament saints come to faith in
Christ by the power of the Spirit? Yes. Did they experience His filling. Yes,
on a provisional basis.
- Did they experience the filling of the Holy
Spirit in the same way that a believer does today?
- They cannot have had the same experience
because that was only available to all of God's people after Christ's
resurrection! And that is the promise to us!
- We can be filled with the Holy Spirit and are
in fact, commanded by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:18, to ask for
that filling continuously! Why?
- That we might provide a healthy satisfying
taste of the Spirit's Work within us to those that God is drawing to Himself!
Look at the reaction of the people on that day. Verse 40.
• John 7:40-44 : "Therefore many from the crowd, when
they heard this saying, said, 'Truly this is the Prophet.' Others said, 'This is the Christ.' But
some said, 'Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the
Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David
was?' So there
was a division among the people because of Him. Now some of them wanted to take
Him, but no one laid hands on Him." : The reaction to the Lord's statements came in quickly. The crowd
was impressed and knew that He had to be someone!
- Some believed Him to be the Prophet, either
the second Moses or the second Elijah. Some believed Him to be the Messiah and
those were soon inundated by doubt.
- "Will the Messiah come from
Galilee?" Jesus spent a great deal of time in Galilee, so much so that
people associated Him with that region and assumed He was born there!
- But, as the crowd asserted, the Messiah was
to be born in Bethlehem, where Jesus was indeed born, and was, according to the
flesh, in the very line of David himself!
- This is Matthew's point when he begins
his gospel with the geneology of Christ! Apparently, though that information
was public knowledge, it was not commonly circulated at this time.
- That question about His hometown caused a
rift to develop with some even wanting to have him arrested, though nobody made
good on the threat. Verse 45.
• John 7:45-49 : "Then the officers came to the chief
priests and Pharisees, who said to them, 'Why have you not brought Him?' The officers answered, 'No man ever
spoke like this Man!' Then the Pharisees answered them, 'Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the
Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.'" : The religious leaders assumed that
the officers they sent would have made an arrest. Instead, they came back with
their chins on the ground.
- "You were supposed to bring Him
in!" These men have reached a profound level of frustration, as their
plans continue to be thwarted in every direction.
- They can't even get their lackeys to do their
dirty work! And why not? Because these men were smart enough to recognize the
genius in His words! No man ever spoke like this Man!
- Truly, it's unfair, because this man was no
ordinary man, but the God Man, speaking from His own knowledge and from God's
authority! Imagine what the religious leaders must have thought!
- They must have been crazy with envy and
certainly, while they themselves thought Him to be a masterful teacher, they
could not let these officers know that.
- They chalked the Lord's impact upon them up
to deception. Their Messiah, God in the flesh, stood right in front of them and
they considered Him to be a deceiver!
- How sad that one day the one that is a true
deceiver will pass for the original in their minds and it will be the worst
case of mistaken identity in history! Look at where their confidence lay.
- They appeal to their own authority. "If
the Messiah were here, we'd recognize Him first!"
- There had to be at least one of the rulers
that had put their trust in Him! Were there any at all? We'll get the answer to
that question momentarily, but the effect is powerful.
- How can one believe if the people who are
leading the nation are unbelievers themselves!?
- They are telling these officers that Jesus
could not be the Messiah, yet were unwilling to approach Jesus to honestly
discover the truth of His claims!
- The only real reason more rulers did not believe
in Him was because of the pressure on them not to! And what about the people?
They are just as dismissive toward them.
- "These people must not know the law!
Don't listen to them because are accursed." The NLT renders it this way:
• John 7:49 : (NLT) : "This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the
law. God’s curse is on them!'" :
The law of Moses points directly to the Lord being the Messiah, whose actions
and words matched the criteria for the Messiah!
- These men didn't know Jesus and they didn't
know that they were the ones that were accursed! Men without religion have a
better chance to get to Jesus than they do! Verse 50.
• John 7:50-53 : "Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by
night, being one of them) said to them, 'Does our law judge a man before it
hears him and knows what he is doing?' They answered and said to him, 'Are you also from Galilee?
Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.' And everyone went to his own house." : The leaders had asked a question
about any of their rulers believing in Him. They did not know that THE Teacher
of Israel had come to believe in Him!
- Nicodemus has been a believer since John 3!
Notice that he was "one of them." Hadn't anyone read that? He had
come at night and had been convinced, but he wasn't willing to be known.
- Sadly, there are many like Nicodemus today,
believing in Jesus, but living in the shadows, unwilling to make their
allegiance known because of their fear of people.
- Could you imagine the impact of his influence?
When the world around him was questioning, would it not have been great for him
to be able to lend his skill?
- Someday, he will shed his cowardly fear of
man and stand, but on this day, he does his best to help without giving himself
away.
- He wants his brothers to hear Jesus for
themselves, so he pushes them to follow the law, which forbade the condemnation
of a man without the testimony of two or three.
- These men won't even take heed to their own
brother or their law, which they took pride in holding to! "Are you from
Galilee!?" "What, are you crazy Nicodemus!?"
- With only a hint of respect for Jesus, they
turn on him with incredible ferocity! Nicodemus had a basis for his fear. They
are so angry with Jesus that they ignore their own knowledge base.
- Jonah, Nahum and some believe, even Elijah
came out of the Galilee region to minister to Israel! They completely ignore
the facts to close the door on the possibility of Christ's claim!
- On that day, they all went away to their own
house, divided in their opinions and left to their own beliefs that would never
amount to anything, in part, because a believer stayed silent!
- In many ways,
Nicodemus illustrates just how necessary the baptism and filling of the Holy
Spirit is to believers.
- Nicodemus had
investigated the Messiah himself and had come to Biblical conclusions, but he
lacked the power to counteract his fear of men.
- When people
all around him asked about Jesus, he knew the answers, but fear overwhelmed his
sensibilities. When his own brothers shut him down, there was no power to
retort!
- I'd love you
to take some time today to read chapters 3-8
of the book of Acts.
- What you will
see there are not gifted theologians matching wits with other theologians, but
fisherman who have been with Jesus speaking boldly and leaving their opposition
helpless!
- That's the
power of the Holy Spirit to effectively overcome cowardice and transmit the
witness of Christ's reality to all that would come in contact with it!
Conclusion
- My question to you is simple: "Is anyone
thirsty?" If you are not saved, that thirst is quenched in Jesus Christ
alone. There is no other fount that will satisfy you.
- But, knowing that I am speaking predominantly
to Christians, I must ask a second question: "Are you experiencing any
level of relationship to the Holy Spirit that Jesus promises?
- Is there a gushing river of living water
flowing out from you? Are people around you constantly inundated by the flow?
- Or are you living like Nicodemus, living in
constant fear that anyone might know who you really are? You hear your friend's
questions, you know who the answer is, but you are silent!
- Today is the day to ask Him to change that!
Ask Him for the water that comes without price and is free for the asking! You
have salvation. Why won't you also have His power?
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