John 7:37 talks about the high point
of the feast of Tabernacle. It was the last and greatest day of the feast. It
was the climax of the celebration where the people would congregate at the
temple. The crowd would be unusually larger. At this point Jesus stood up and
cried loudly saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” Here
we see Jesus openly made the invitation. Unlike His opponents, He openly invited
the people to come to Him if they desired to be ministered to. Three words
stand out – thirst, come, and drink.
Thirst speaks of a craving. It is
desiring for something that one does not already possess. A thirst is something
we are conscious of. Many fail to realize that what we need most in life is
Christ Jesus. In ignorance, many would thirst for wealth, fame, pleasure, comfort,
and the list can go on endlessly. The common problem with all these searchings is
that they can never satisfy our soul. Many have lost sleep and health in search
for them, and yet found them to be very evasive. The real need of life we should
thirst for is Christ Jesus Himself. He will satisfy our inner longing in life. Our
restlessness in life is due to the lack of Christ and not the lack of things. The
recognition of our need for Christ is the first and important step to a
satisfying life.
Then the next word is come. This is
an active action word. Here it suggests that we approach Christ and move our
desire toward Him. To do so, we need to engage our will and come to Him wholeheartedly.
It is an act of faith. It means that we must turn our desire away from the
world and those things that could never bring lasting satisfaction. Then the
final word is drink. Like the word come, this is also a verb. It requires
action. Many may come to the water and not drink of it. In the same way, if we are
to have our spiritual thirst quenched, we need to partake of the flowing water
Christ alone supplies. This word drink is used here as a figurative expression.
Jesus is talking about making Christ our own.
Elaborating on the invitation, the
Lord said, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” It was likely that Jesus had in mind Isaiah 58:11b that says, “You will be like a
well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Out of the innermost being shall be the ever-flowing
stream of refreshing water. In one Authorized Version of the Bible, verse 38 reads
like this: “…out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” The belly is
the part where we constantly crave. If Christ is not the centre of our craving,
we will be hankering for things that can never fully satisfy.
In verse 39, Jesus tells us what He
meant by the living water that will flow from the believers’ inner being. He
was referring to the Holy Spirit who will come in and dwell in us, and become
the source of life when we make Christ our Lord and Master. At that point they
could only anticipate the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. For us believers
today, we can expect the perpetual work of the Holy Spirit in our life every
time we come to Him. For Christ is already glorified. So whenever we come to
Him, His Spirit, like an ever-flowing stream, will flow in and through our life,
bringing the much needed refreshing.
During the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacle,
water from the pool of Siloam would be collected each day. Then it was poured out
from a golden vessel to commemorate God’s provision of water for the children
of Israel in their wilderness wandering. Jesus is saying here that He is that
water. Through the Holy Spirit He is still refreshing our life. As we grow in
Him, we can be one of His life giving streams. We must come constantly to Him
and plug in to Him to receive His life enriching water. And then become a tributary
of His life giving water to others. We should not be a stagnated pool but Christ’s
life giving streams. Are we?
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