If anyone is thirsty --John 7:37

If anyone is thirsty —John 7:37–39

—The Feast of Tents

Andrew Fountain – Sept 6, 2015

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John 7:1,2 and 37-44

1. Feast of Tents

Deuteronomy 16 —God commands the feast

You must celebrate the Festival of Booths for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest.
You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages.
You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the LORD your God in the place he chooses, for he will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; so you will indeed rejoice!

Deuteronomy 16:13–15 commands the feast
- so it lasted 7 days, and was after the harvest—a very joyful time
- Jewish history books (Josephus & Macc.) tell that the feast was kept for 8 days

Leviticus 23 —tells us what they did

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the LORD for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest.
On the first day you must take for yourselves branches from majestic trees—palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows of the brook—and you must rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

Leviticus 23:40 tells us what they did
- note previous verse (v39): 15th day, 7th month
- After the captivity, the temple was rebuilt.
  - they compared the glory of the former temple —there was so much less gold
  - but there was a prophecy that the Messiah would come:
  “The Messiah will come and fill this temple with glory”

Haggai 2

On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the LORD spoke again through the prophet Haggai:
…
Moreover, the LORD who rules over all says: ‘In just a little while I will once again shake the sky and the earth, the sea and the dry ground.
I will also shake up all the nations, and they will offer their treasures; then I will fill this temple with glory,‘says the LORD who rules over all.
‘The silver and gold will be mine,‘says the LORD who rules over all.
‘The future splendor of this temple will be greater than that of former times,’ the LORD who rules over all declares, ‘and in this place I will give peace.’ ”

Haggai, 2:6–9
- was spoken on the same day and the same spot, more than 500 years earlier!!!
  —Haggai makes a careful note of the exact day

Isaiah 12

At that time you will say:
“I praise you, O LORD,
for even though you were angry with me,
your anger subsided, and you consoled me.
Look, God is my deliverer!
I will trust in him and not fear.
For the LORD gives me strength and protects me;
he has become my deliverer.”
Joyfully you will draw water
from the springs of deliverance.

Isaiah 12:1–3
- We know from writings at the time that they would read this verse during the feast
- Isaiah 12:3 was associated with the feast. “Therefore with joy...”
- We also know that they had practice of water pouring as they quoted this (from pool of Siloam)

2. Water theology

God provided water from a rock
-Ex 17:3–6 – Moses struck the rock

-Num 20:2–13 – Moses struck the rock when told to speak to it.
This theme of God providing water from a rock is taken up in the songs of Israel:
- Ps 78:15,16 “He brought streams out of the rock… rivers of water…”
- Ps 105:41 “…opened rock and waters gushed out…”
  - it was a symbol of freedom and of new life
The Apostle Paul says that this rock was a picture of Christ
- 1 Cor 10:4b “For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.”
Then the idea is picked up by the prophets: there will be a new Exodus…
explain

2b. Water in New Exodus

Isaiah 48

Leave Babylon!
Flee from the Babylonians!
Announce it with a shout of joy!
Make this known!
Proclaim it throughout the earth!
Say, ‘The LORD protects his servant Jacob.
They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions;
he makes water flow out of a rock for them;
he splits open a rock and water flows out.’

Isaiah 48:20,21 —from Babylon
- But never any water coming out of Babylon—there was something more it was pointing to.
- There was a level of excitement in the prophecies —pointing to that!
Joel 3:18 —rivers of water

Joel 3

On that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and the hills will flow with milk.
All the dry stream beds of Judah will flow with water.
A spring will flow out from the temple of the LORD,
watering the Valley of Acacia Trees.

Then look at Joel 2:28… —Can you see the connection? (Pentecost)

Joel 2

After all of this
I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your elderly will have revelatory dreams;
your young men will see prophetic visions.

2c. Water theology cont’d

It is also linked with the idea of a new creation (rivers in garden of Eden)
- Water is a symbol of this new creation.
Summary: Streams of water = salvation – as in the Exodus

3. Link between Water and Spirit

3b. Link between Water and Spirit

Summary of ideas:

feast of Tents:
- looked back to Moses, wilderness
- freedom from slavery
- God’s supernatural provision
Streams of water:
- Salvation, God’s Spirit
Promise of pouring out
- new Exodus

4. Context in John

Jesus constantly connects himself with the Wilderness.
He is the New Moses—greater than Moses—ready to lead them out of captivity.
John 3:14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.”
John 5:46,47 “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.”
John 6:1ff. feeding of the 5000
-then they asked for bread and implied that Moses had given them Mana
John 6:31–35 “it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven.”

4b. John 7—One greater than Moses

Jesus replied, “I performed one miracle and you are all amazed.
However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision… you circumcise a male child on the Sabbath.
But if a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?

4c. Greater than Moses

Moses led them out of slavery
- Jesus is the new Moses
Moses gave them water from a rock
- But Jesus Christ is the Rock
Moses gave them manna
- But Jesus is the bread from heaven
Moses lifted up a serpent
- But Jesus is the one who was lifted up

Jesus is proclamating the Gospel

Come to ME
I will lead you out of slavery
“If anyone thirsts, come to me!”

Did people thirst in those days?
- Woman of Samaria, —what was she thirsty for? —relationships, (despite 5 husbands)
for hope, messed up lives
- Come and Drink
Are people thirsting today?
- suicides
- depression
- divorce
- violence
- drugs
Never has the world promised so much and delivered so little
Christ is holding himself out as The Answer (New exodus from slavery)
How can HE help us? (dead 2000 years)
- He is alive and rules by the power of his Spirit
- Spirit -> life from the dead
- Spirit -> new creation
- Spirit -> is the one who satisfies
How do I come?
- (what do we as Christians tell people if they ask us?)
- Ask / Follow
- Jesus frequently told people to leave what they were doing and follow him
- That means stopping our old lifestyle, and looking to him to guide us as to what is right
Jesus tells us two things:
- “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me”
- “let the one who believes in me drink”
So we have to do two things to get this water:
1. “Come to him in prayer”, simply asking him
2. Trust him enough to follow him completely
If you are already following Jesus and feel dry, want more of this water, it’s the same!
Two amazing verses to end with:

Isaiah 55:1–2

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Revelation 22

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.