Flood of Blessing
John 7:37-39
The people to whom Jesus spoke were aware of the devastating power of a draught and the life-giving blessing of abundant rain—especially as the time of harvest approached. This gives added meaning to Jesus’ promise.
Jesus gave this promise during a significant holiday for the people of Israel.
The Feast of Tabernacles took place during what would be our September. It was a week-long feast to celebrate the end of the harvest and to recall God’s blessings during Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness. Jews would gather around Jerusalem where they would build little shelters out of tree branches to recall the nomadic life they had in the wilderness. Sometime during their history an eighth day was added to the festivities which allowed the people additional time to celebrate as they took apart the little shelters they had lived in for a week.
Since the eighth day was not technically part of the feast, it isn’t clear if John’s reference to “the last great day of the feast” means the seventh or the eighth day. It really doesn’t matter because Jesus’ words remain just as beautiful whichever day it was.
His words reflect a tradition which had become part of the festivities. Each morning the priest would carry a golden pitcher to the pool of Siloam, fill it with water, and return to the temple where that priest joined another priest carrying a pitcher of wine. Then they poured the water and the wine into funnels which would carry the liquids to the base of the altar. As t hey did so, the people chanted, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
This water reminded the people of how God gave them water from the rock at Horeb. Phillip Hughes describes the events of the seventh day:
“On the seventh day, the priest would circle the altar seven times in succession--as the people of Israel had encircled the walls of Jericho. When he came around for the sixth time, he’d be joined by another priest carrying the wine. They would ascend the ramp to the altar of holocaust where they were together to pour out the water and the wine on the altar. When they were in place, there would come a pause as the priest raised up his pitcher. Always the crowd shouted for him to hold it higher and he would do so. It was considered to be the height of joy in a person’s life if he could see the water being poured out onto the altar.”
If the events John describes took place on the eighth day, the day when no water was poured out, Jesus’ words take on an additional significance.
Again and again throughout the week, the people were reminded of water. Now, Jesus was claiming to be the source of water for the thirsty. John, reminding us he was there, tells us that Jesus stood up. In that day most teachers sat while they taught, the fact that Jesus stood lets us know how much he wanted the crowd to hear his words. He shouted:
“If you are thirsty, come to me and drink!
Have faith in me,
and you will have life-giving water
flowing from deep inside you….”
John gives his readers a hint to help them understand what Jesus was talking about. He says, “By this He referred to the Spirit that those believing in Him were going to receive -- for the Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” John was referring to the great event which would take place after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
When we understand that Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit, we can better understand what Jesus was saying to those he was inviting them to place their faith in him.
Through the activity of the Holy Spirit, the believer in Christ is blessed to become a blessing.
To understand this we need to ask some questions.
What is Jesus saying about himself? He is saying he is…
The Rock Who Refreshes
Several years ago I had a friend named Geoffrey Coleman. Geoffrey was from Australia and had worked on some of the “stations” or ranches in the outback. He once told me of an experience he had while working on a road in that desert land. They had not taken enough water with them and ran out well before it was time to return home. As the crew continued working in the unrelenting sun, the men became thirstier and thirstier. Finally, to a man, they were overcome with such a powerful desire for something to drink that they all jumped into the truck and drove at breakneck speed to a small stream which was a few miles away. Without pausing to pull off so much as their boots, they plunged into the water.
On one occasion, the people of Israel felt they were going to die from thirst in the desert. The story is found in Exodus 17.
At the Lord's command, the people of Israel left the Sin* Desert and moved from place to place. Eventually they came to Rephidim, but there was no water to be found there.
So once more the people grumbled and complained to Moses. "Give us water to drink!" they demanded.
"Quiet!" Moses replied. "Why are you arguing with me? And why are you testing the Lord?"
But tormented by thirst, they continued to complain, "Why did you ever take us out of Egypt? Why did you bring us here? We, our children, and our livestock will all die!"
Then Moses pleaded with the Lord, "What should I do with these people? They are about to stone me!"
The Lord said to Moses, "Take your shepherd's staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile. Then call some of the leaders of Israel and walk on ahead of the people.
I will meet you by the rock at Mount Sinai.* Strike the rock, and water will come pouring out. Then the people will be able to drink." Moses did just as he was told; and as the leaders looked on, water gushed out.
In part, the Feast of Tabernacles recalled this event, God’s providing water for his people.
Now he tells them he is like that Rock. He provides spiritual water to satisfy those who are spiritually thirsty. In I Corinthians Paul suggested that the water provided by that Rock could be compared to the salvation Christ provides.
Just as that Rock in the desert provided water to the thirsty people, Christ would provide refreshing water to those who believe in him. The stress on belief in this statement is important. This chapter allows us to eavesdrop on the debates raging about Jesus. The crowds were divided. Some people asserted he was the Messiah, others insisted he couldn’t be.
This was important but all the talking about Jesus meant nothing if these people weren’t willing to believe in him, make him the object of their trust. As Jesus put it, those who really were spiritually thirsty needed to “drink”.
This brings us to other questions:
What happens when a person “drink” from the water this Rock provides? What happens when we place our faith in him?
There is a twofold result.
The Believer Is Blessed.
Again, John is looking ahead to that time after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, when Christ would begin to pour out blessings on those who had trusted him. Jesus would fully satisfy those who were spiritually thirsty, if only they would come to him. Again, he is the one who will meet our needs--thirst, hunger, etc.
One of the repeated themes mentioned during the Feast of the Tabernacles was joy. In fact, it was the most joyous of the Jewish feasts. That joy was linked to the promise of the Spirit.
The New Testament teaches that the Spirit brings joy into the life of the believer. Paul writes that “the fruit of the Spirit is…joy.” It is the joy of spiritual satisfaction, the joy of knowing our sins are forgiven and we have an abiding relationship with God.
That joy was at the heart of the gospel, which one writer defined as, “good news which makes a person sing, leap, and dance for joy.” This is the blessing Jesus promises to those who trust him.
Here’s another question: Do we understand that this promise has an even more remarkable implication?
It’s one thing for Jesus to say he is a source of blessing, it’s quite another for him to say that he will make us a source of blessing. Though Spirit…
The Believer Becomes a Blessing
The word-picture is vivid. Williams’ translation captures the nuances of the verbs Jesus used, “Whoever continues to believe in me will have… rivers of living water continuously flowing from within him."
Christ bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit, not simply so we may constantly receive his blessings, but so we may become a blessing.
The people of Israel, who drank from the rock which Moses struck, had been blessed to become a blessing. But many of them forgot that. As a consequence much of their religion became spiritually stagnant. Now, Jesus promised them they could become a source of “living water.”
He makes the same promise to us because the Christian life involves more than receiving, it involves giving.
Something marvelous happens when Christians allow themselves to be used in such a way. Lenski speaks of the sheer abundance of water implied by Jesus’ words and observes that “[the word] ‘rivers’ pictures the fact that the believer will resemble Jesus himself in that he will help to quench the thirst of many others.”
You see, living water was also “life-giving water.” (CEV) The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated the harvest. Every farmer knew how much that harvest depended upon the life-giving water. If you’ve ever seen a drought-stricken land, you know how the lack of water leaves only death and despair.
But how do Christians serve as this “conduit of life?” There are two ways.
First, believers can provide this life-giving water through the church.
The Book of Acts pictures the church bringing this blessing to a spiritually thirsty world ready to hear the story of God’s love and grace.
One older writer suggests this when he asks: “What is the apostolic Word itself through which we believe; what are the confessions of the church, in harmony with which we believe; what are her hymns, her prayers, her sermons, all the testimonies of the faith and love in saving word and sacred conversation--what are they but rivers of living water flowing from the body of the church?”
I know too much about the history of the church to deny that there have been times when the church—forgetting her need to be vitally united to her Lord—has brought shame to the Name of Christ. But, when the church has been spiritually healthy, the world has been blessed. There have been social blessings in the form of hospitals, orphanages, and schools or laws to protect children, women, and society’s poorest. But, above all, there have been spiritual blessings as the gospel of grace has touched the lives of men and women of every race.
At the same time, individual believers may be the channel of that live-giving water.
The “Streams of living water…” which flow from the Christian who has a vital faith in Christ will give refreshment to the hot, weary people we encounter.
How many of us can make that claim? Do we bring “refreshment” to our society and culture? Too often, instead of being refreshing we are tepid. I know too much about myself to make any claim to be a blessing wherever I show up.
Only rarely do we encounter that Christian whose very presence leaves us refreshed. Jesus tells us that we can be that kind of person if we trust him and allow the Spirit to work in and through us.
We need to keep this in mind when we consider the enormous task of reaching out to our culture on behalf of Christ.
The interesting thing about flood waters is that they’re hard to keep out. They can go pretty much wherever they want to go. In the same way, you can’t seal out the “living water” which comes from the life of a believer who is open to the Spirit.
If you’ve been around a church very long, you’ve heard someone talk about the fruit of the Spirit. You might even be able to quote from Galatians where Paul says, “The fruit (or outcome of letting the Spirit shape your life) is love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” But do you remember the wry remark Paul makes as he concludes the list? He says, “against such things there is no law.”
The law may say you can’t tell someone about the love of Christ, no law can keep you from showing the love of Christ.
In many places around the world, the only witness believers may make is the witness which comes from the overflow of God’s love in their hearts.
Yet, men and women have responded to that witness and have come to enquire about Jesus.
Conclusion
John Bennett describes how this promise applies to the life of the believer by pointing to an irrigation system like that found on some farms.
Water is stored in a reservoir, waiting to do its work. A gate is opened and the water rushes into a canal. That canal is first washed clean of any thing which doesn’t belong. Then, when the canal is full, its water begins to flow into sluices which carry the life-giving water to the crops.
In the same way, when you and I are connected by faith to Jesus Christ, we can carry God’s blessings to those around us.
We need to ask ourselves if we are somehow damning up that stream…with our fears, our doubts, our prejudices, our self-centeredness. We need to put aside our pride and admit Jesus alone can quench our thirst. Let him fill us. And let him bless the world through us.
