If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink

John 7:25-52

Key verse: John 7:37-38 “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

Two weeks ago, through Shepherd Jonathan, we learned the first part of chapter 7.  The main point was “If we choose to do God’s will, we get to understand Jesus teaching whether it came from God or not.”  Chapter 7 is a pivotal chapter in John’s gospel.    Now Jesus openly taught with a loud voice at the feast of Tabernacles so that everybody could hear it.  He knew his time in this world would be over soon. If you carefully read John’s gospel, only 6 months was left for him in this world. He would die on the cross as a pascal lamb at the next Passover.  So he was ready to teach the word openly and boldly.  

This chapter appears to be very complex and looks like boring with many controversies and arguments about the nature of Jesus.  However, it is natural when we think that the whole theme of John’s gospel is about who Jesus really is.  As we have learned so far through John’s gospel study, John proclaimed that Jesus is God the creator in the beginning and God the incarnate who was visiting this world and was dwelling among the sinners. Throughout John’s Gospel, John demonstrated Jesus to us God the incarnate through carefully chosen miracles and the events.  Do you know why Apostle John wrote this gospel?  According to John 20:31, ultimately, John wanted us to know and believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. He proclaimed that it is the only way for us to the eternal life. (John 20:31)

Today, I want to study about the remaining part of chapter 7. In the today’s passage, there was Jesus’ controversy in the feast of Tabernacles.  Everybody at the feast was talking about Jesus and asking who He really is. Some said “He is a good man”, others said “He is the prophet”, or others still said, “ He is the Christ”, but still others said, “No, he is a deceiver”. Who do you think He is?

I’d like to think about first, why it is so important to know who Jesus truly is and second, what does knowing Jesus mean? And third, the meaning of the feast of tabernacles, and lastly, what is the living water, which Jesus promised to give who believes in Him? 

Are you thirsty yet? I pray that God may quench our thirsty souls and give us streams of living water.

I. Is Jesus the Christ? (7:25-36)

In the halfway through the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus no longer hid himself in the crowds and openly taught the people in the temple courts. Jesus often cried out loudly. He pointed out their murderous intention and violation of Moses law.  His teaching stirred up the crowds. Look at verses 25-26. “At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?  Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ” .   The people of Jerusalem knew Jesus was the one who the religious leaders tried to kill and they were very apprehensive of Jesus’ teaching.  They wondered whether the Pharisees and the religious leaders acknowledged Jesus is the Christ. 

It was obvious that Jesus was the hottest topic during the feast of Tabernacles.  Since his public ministry, Jesus was controversial figure and I think some degree he still is. 

Look at verse 27. “But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”  The people of Jerusalem questioned Jesus' messiahship on the basis of where he came from. They thought that the Messiah should come mysteriously from unknown place and his origin should not be known; so since they knew that he came from Galilee, he can’t  be the messiah. Their knowledge was superficial and inaccurate.  They did not try to know what he did or what message he preached, but they focused on what the human background he had.

Look at verses 28-29. “Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” 

Then, why is it so important to know who Jesus is.  Look at verses 28-29 again.  Unless we know Jesus personally, we do not know God the Father who sent Jesus to us.  We cannot truly comprehend God unless we know Jesus whom God sent.  Although the Jews claimed they were God’s chosen people, they did not know God the Father and they did not have any relationship with God unless they know who Jesus is. Some people may say I believe God, but I don’t believe Jesus.  It is absolutely impossible to know God without knowing Jesus.  

God the Father is the source and standard of all truth, so truth is based on relationship with Him. Jesus has such a relationship, and the Jews did not, as Jesus says: You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me. Jesus continues by speaking again of the Father and of his dependency on the Father. Now he says that he has not come on his own (v. 28) and that the one who sent him is true ( v. 28). 

Here, Jesus claimed that He is the one, whom God sent and He knew God, but they did not know Him.  It was a bold statement; either Jesus was the one God really sent, or He was a crazy megalomaniac and a blasphemer that deserved to be stoned. What do you think?  When the people of Jerusalem heard of Jesus’ claim at first, they were horrified and wanted to arrest Jesus and handed him over to the authority, but they could not because his time has not yet come.  In this passage, at least three times, the crowds or the religious leaders tried to arrest Jesus, but they could not do that because it was not yet God’s time.  Any men cannot interfere with God’s plan unless God allowed it.

However, not all people in Jerusalem rejected Jesus.  Look at verse 31. “Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?”  In the midst of skepticism and unbelief, many in the crowd put their faith in him.  They may be a minority, but God always leaves some remnants of God’s people in the midst of unbelievers.  We all know how miserable North Koreans live.  Almost three million North Koreans were starved to death. One of my friends who had been in North Korea many times and every time when he went in North Korea, he saw the miserable condition of North Koreans and his heart was so broken, so when he prays, he cries out and so upset and finger pointing to God, “Lord, why? Why do you just watch over this terrible guy, Kim, Jongil  whose family had brutally ruled North Korea last 65 years?  O, God, why are you so silent?”  Sometimes God’s action seems way slow but He is not silent. He is working and he is preparing for in his own time schedule.  Recently, my friend met a few underground Christians in Pyungyang who were teaching their children about Lord’s prayer and Apostle’s creed under the blanket at night before they became 6 years. When the children reach 6 years, they have to join the kindergarten and memorize all of the communist ideology, so before the children go to kindergarten, their parents teach them about Jesus with a risk of their lives or being expelled to the concentration camp.  God always leaves his remnants and He is still working.

Then, what was the difference between the believers and unbelievers?  Yes, some believers were touched by the Spirit or God’s grace for sure.  But what made them difference besides? I think that the believers opened their hearts.  They saw Jesus and his many miracles objectively and accepted the facts with humble hearts.  That’s why Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:3).  Those who are poor in spirit are sincere and their hearts are often broken, so are open for the word of God.  

Then, why is it so important to know who Jesus is? To know who Jesus is and confess our faith determines our eternal life.

Our faith is solely based on Jesus, the person.  Although there are many moral teachings in the Bible, I don’t think our faith can survive if we don’t know personally who Jesus is. When I talked to my son David, do you know who Jesus is, he said, Of course, I know, I know who Jesus is. I heard about him all my life.” But  I am not quite sure he really know Jesus because there is no sign of it. Let’s say he knows Jesus.   Is knowing who Jesus is enough?  Yes, it is the first step for sure, but I don’t think that is enough.  Let’s read John 20:31. “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” 

You have to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Believing Jesus demands action or decision.  If you truly believe Jesus is the Christ, how come your life style is same, no change at all?  If you know Jesus and believe in him, you have to obey and stop sinning and your life style should be changed.  No matter how much you enjoy, you have to give up your old life style and make a small step toward to Jesus.  Otherwise, it is not believing at all.  You still do not know who Jesus truly is.  Your knowledge does not help you at all. You have to make your action plan and do it.

II. If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink (7:37-44)

Look at verses 37-38.  “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  In the climax of the feast, the last and the greatest day, Jesus stood among the crowds and cried out in a loud voice so that everybody could hear it. Why was the feast of Tabernacles so important to Jesus and us?

 Let’s think about the meaning of the feast of Tabernacles.  The feast of Tabernacles is one of the three great feasts along with Passover and Pentacost. Seven months after the Passover which generally falls to October in our current calendar.  God wants the Israelites to remember how God dwelled with them in the desert. The Almighty God came to the slave people, the Israelites and was dwelling among them. God literally lived with them in the tent and guided them in the desert.  Do you know what is the characteristics of the slave people?  The slave people always complained, or grumble.  “Lord, we are thirsty.  Why did you bring us to this and have us dying of thirst in this miserable desert.  Then, God gave them water from the rock.  They grumbled again, “Lord, we are hungry and why did you bring us to desert and make us starve to death?  Then, God gave them manna from heaven. They grumbled again. Again and again, God helped them and guided them in the desert for 40 years. It was a great celebration of God’ grace and mercy upon the Israelites in the desert.  The living God lived with them in the tent.   During the feast, the Jews are supposed to dwell at the booth made by the grass and tree branches.  Many Jews still do celebrate this at the booth for a week.  They practice to remember God’s grace by living in the booth and they remember their real destination is not this world but the kingdom of God.

On each day of the feast there was a procession of priests to the pool of Siloam to draw water. This symbolizes how God provided them the water from the rock when they were dying of thirst in the desert.  The priests returned to the temple with the water and went in procession once around the altar with the choir chanting Psalms 113-118.  Let’s read  Psalm 118:1-2 and 14-15.  “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.  Let Israel say: ‘His love endures forever.’” (118:1-2) “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.  Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous; ‘The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!’”(118:14-15) After chanting and shout of joy, the water was poured out as a ceremony at the morning sacrifice. On the seventh day of the festival the priests processed around the altar with the water not once but seven times. It is the climax of the festival.  They feel the presence of God among them.  At this high point, God the incarnate, Jesus cries out again loudly, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink (v. 37). As they drank the water in the desert given by God, they must come to Jesus to drink the water.  

Water is the source of life.  In our body, if we don’t drink even a few days, we easily become sick and even die, so even when you are fasting, you must drink a plenty of water.  So God gave us a signal of thirst in the body, which means we should drink the water. Thirst is a strong signal for us to drink.  If we don’t have water to drink in the desert, it is unbearable. I often go to hiking in the mountain.  When I go to hiking, I make sure to carry at least 2 liters of water because I know how thirst is dangerous and unbearable.  My mouth, throat, and tongue are dried up,  and I feel like dying of thirst.   Just like our physical body, our souls feel thirsty when our spirit dries up. Only Jesus can give us the living water.  

Then, what is the sign of spiritual thirst.  They feel empty, irritable and angry.  Sometimes, they feel miserable because of meaninglessness. They seek something cool so that their heart could be filled.  However, the complacent people don’t feel the spiritual thirst. They feel O.K, but it is not O.K.  They will die of spiritual thirst. 

I have had many ups and downs in my life, but when I think about myself, I am very unlikely person to be a believer. According to the late missionary Samuel Lee, I am an intellectual hedonist, which I don’t know exactly what he meant, but I think he meant I was a spiritual wanderer.  When I was young, my family was poor and my nation was hopelessly corrupted and I was sick with TB. I was angry, full of complaint and rebellious toward God.  I was thirsty, but nothing quenched my soul.  Eventually, when I studied Mark gospel sincerely in 1975, God opened my heart.  The word of God quenched my thirsty soul.  That was long time ago. Now, I feel O.K.  Outwardly God blessed me abundantly. I am an O.K Christian. I am a tenured full professor in the college of Pharmacy. I am physically healthy.  So I am complacent. I feel O.K.  I don’t feel thirsty.  If you don’t feel thirsty although you are dehydrated, it is dangerous.  In fact, very young baby or very old nursing home residents often become very sick and die of dehydration because they don’t feel thirsty or they cannot drink by themselves and their caregiver ignores their thirst.  Our UBF ministry has been characterized by a manger ministry, but just like everybody else, we have become complacent when we grow.  It is a dangerous sign.  We have to be spiritually thirsty again and seek Him only.  

The Psalmist sang, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" (Ps 42:1-2). 

Jesus says “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” The Almighty God gave the Israelites  water from the rock in the past. Now the spiritually thirsty souls must listen to Jesus’ invitation and come to Him and drink.  What Jesus offers is the fulfillment of the very things they were celebrating in the festival. In Isaiah 55:1, God invited the Israelites, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters"  Here the Son is repeating the offer of the Father. Indeed, he is fulfilling God’s promise, who "will guide them and lead them beside springs of water" (Is 49:10). His offer shows he is far more than just a prophet; here we have God himself visiting us the sinners and He is offering us the living water. When we believe in Him, we will receive the living water, which quench not only our souls but become streams to cover the whole world. 

Let’s read verse 39.  “ 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.”

Here, John explained that the living water he promised is the Holy Spirit he would send later. Then, how will the living water, which is the Spirit quench our soul’s thirst?  How come water flows so much from his belly and become streams of living water?  What is the consequence of the Spirit, which quenches our souls?  In general, we don’t talk about the topic of the Spirit much because it appears to be mysterious or hard to grasp.  Sometimes, we are apprehensive because we don’t know much about it, so we avoid this topic altogether.  However, we can’t avoid because we cannot sustain our spiritual lives without help of the Spirit because we will be thirsty again without living water.  

Recently, I registered for swimming lesson.  My wife is an excellent swimmer, so she strongly urged me to learn how to swim.  In the past, I’ve failed many times to learn how to swim and I still don’t know how to swim.    I  swim about 20 feet, but when I try to breathe, I begin to sink.  As we all know, without breathing we can’t swim for long, we can’t sustain our spiritual life without help of the Holy Spirit.

Some people think that only those who belong to the certain denomination, such as Pentacost church receive the Spirit.  Or others think that when we receive the Spirit, we have to speak tongues or receive a special gift, such as gift of healing or gift of prophecy. That may be true, but they are not all.  I don’t think that those things are the essence of the Spirit.  Then, how does the Spirit quench our souls?

First, the Holy Spirit makes us to understand the word of God, which quenches our spiritual thirst.  The Holy Spirit helps us to know who Jesus is.  John 14:26 says “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” Without the help of the Spirit, we can’t understand the word of God. So if you don’t understand the word of God, ask and pray for the Spirit.

Second, the Holy Spirit gives us peace, joy and love of forgiveness.  When Jesus died on the cross, the disciples were gripped with fear and anxiety.  All of them ran away and were trembling behind the closed door.   The risen Jesus visited the fearful disciples.  Let’s look at John 20:21-22.  Jesus breathed the Spirit into them, saying “Peace be with you!”  When they received Him, they could overcome their fear and their hearts were filled with peace and joy.  This world makes us anxious and tremble.  Some people said, the earthquake, the Big One will hit Los Angeles and Tsunami will sweep it out for at least 60 miles, so we have to move at least to Arizona or possibly to Atlanta.  So they packed and disappeared overnight.  Unless God allows anything, nobody can touch even one hair of ours.  If our spiritual lives are filled with worry and fear and no joy or peace, then, it is something wrong.  It is just like a wedding guest who did not taste a choice wine Jesus prepared for us.  

Some people who thought to receive the Holy Spirit may become arrogant and look down others, so they become a source of dispute and division in the church. It happened at Corinthian church in the first century.  If that is the case, they may receive some other spirit, i.e. the spirit of argument rather than the Holy Spirit.  When they receive the Holy Spirit, they should be humble, joyful and be a peace-maker rather than a source of dispute and argument.

Third, the Holy Spirit makes us an enabler.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can be a warrior of faith.  We all know how the Holy Spirit transformed the twelve Galilean hillbillies to the powerful gospel workers in the Book of Acts.  The apostle Peter could convert 3000 people to be believers by his sermon in one day.  The Holy Spirit can change anyone to be a great man or a woman of God.  

Fourth, He makes us blessing to others. When we receive the Spirit of God, we can be a blessing to others.  As the Spirit rules the hearts of men, the God’s order will be restored. The streams of living water will flow from within him who receives the Spirit.

Jesus said, “Whoever believes in him, streams of living water will flow from within him.”    The living water will quench our thirsty souls and permeate the whole world. In offering them the Spirit he is claiming that the future heavenly kingdom has already arrived. Just as water flowed out from the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:10-14), so a river flows from the new temple, Jesus, as the Prophet Ezekiel saw his vision in Ezekiel 47. The apostle John also saw this vision in Revelation 22:1. Let’s read Rev. 22:1 “Then, the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb…”  It will come to completion in heaven in "the river of the water of life. It was as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev 22:1). That heavenly water of life is already available through Jesus when we believe in Him. His invitation at the Feast of Tabernacles is repeated in the invitation at the end of the book of Revelation: "Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life" (Rev 22:17).  Amen

One word: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink

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