Rivers of Living Water

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. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 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 (John 7:37-39).

Jesus had been challenging the great crowd that followed Him to take a step closer. He challenged those who sought miracles and signs to seek Him as the Source of the supernatural. He challenged those who wondered at His words to seek Him as the Authority for those words. He challenged those who found comfort and acceptance in being part of the crowd to seek Him as the Presence that would never leave or forsake them. He even challenged the Jews, chief priests, and Pharisees who rejected and sought to have Him arrested to seek Him and find Him while they still could. He was relentless in His efforts to provoke followers to step out of the crowd and closer to Him, to become a disciple. In today’s text He continued His pursuit. He identified another type of follower in the crowd. It was the religious follower who was thirsty for truth. He led the religious right into the Temple and up to the altar of God on the final day of the feast when a golden chalice of water was poured out on the altar in the Temple. Then He redirected their attention from the altar to Himself. He made it clear that this step was a step closer to Him… “Let him come to me”. It was a step away from the religious symbolism of the Temple, altar, chalice and water and toward the One they pointed to. It was a step of faith… “Whoever believes in me”. And today He added a promise. On this last day of the Feast of Booths, when that golden chalice of water was poured out on the altar in the Temple, Jesus promised that followers who became disciples will receive from Him, “rivers of living water”.

Once again, our Teacher the Holy Spirit confronts us with the question, are we followers or disciples of Jesus Christ. Today the Spirit of Truth asks us what satisfies our thirst for truth. Do we attend church weekly because it has become a familiar, comforting habit? Are we so dependent on a particular style of music, a regular order of worship, an encouraging type of preaching to keep us feeling close to the Lord? What if our world was so shaken up that we had to change churches or heaven forbid, the music, worship, or preaching in our comfortable, familiar church changed on us? What if we lived in a land where worship was driven underground and Christian fellowship of any kind was forbidden? Would we be farther away from our Savior? Finally, the Spirit offers us a very effective tool for personal reflection today. Perhaps one of the most obvious ways to know if we are follower or disciple of Jesus Christ is to ask if our hearts and lives are overflowing with the Holy Spirit.

The water that flowed onto the altar on the last great day of the Feast of Tabernacles was taken from the pool of Siloam and reminded the worshipper of God’s miraculous provision of water for the children of promise as they journeyed through the desert wilderness from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the land of promise… “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the LORD… 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” (Leviticus 23:34-43). The water also looked forward to God’s promise to pour out His Spirit in the latter days… “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants” (Isaiah 44:3). Jesus wants His disciples to impact our world just as the Israelites impressed hostile nations in the wilderness on their way to the land of promise, by God’s provision and presence with them. That’s what the overflowing presence of God’s Spirit does in and through real disciples today as we journey toward heaven, our land of promise… “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

As we grow up into Christ our hearts increasingly overflow with thanksgiving for God’s perfect provision and with the presence and power of His Spirit because as Christ’s disciples, we are filled with…

Rivers of Living Water.