Tonight’s passage is a picture of the great claim of Jesus and the divided opinions about him. It’s a picture that should cause every one of us to search our own response to Jesus.
READ v.37. You might recognize these words of Jesus. He spoke similar words to the woman at the well. The Feast of Tabernacles was the most popular feast among the Jews. For that reason it was simply known as THE FEAST. It was also called The Festival to the Lord and the Feast of Ingathering. It was celebrated for 7 days.
Each Jewish family would build a small stucco or tent-like structure in their yard or on some other property they owned or secured for the occasion. Then they moved out of their home into the structure for the 7-day period.
The Feast celebrated two significant events. Historically, it celebrated the day when Israel wandered about in the wilderness as strangers and pilgrims without a homeland. The purpose for moving into the stucco or tent-like structure was to keep before them the wilderness wandering of their forefathers.
Secondly, the Feast was to be a period of thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest season and for the goodness of God in all of life. The people were to give thanks for all that God had given them: all the fruit of the land that enriched life and made life possible.
The ceremony of the festival was impressive and gives us a dramatic picture of Christ’s claims as we will see in verses 37-39. On each of the seven days, the people came to the temple and brought some fruit as an offering and a few palm and willow branches.
The branches were used to form a roof over the altar. Then the priest took a golden pitcher and led the people in a processional down to the pool of Siloam where he filled the pitcher with water. During this march the people played the flute and sang the Hillel, which was Psalms 113-118.
It was on the return march that the drama took place. As the pitcher of water passed through the Water Gate, the people repeated in union: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:3)
When the pitcher reached the altar, the water was poured out over the altar as an offering to God. While this was being done, the people waved palm branches and recited the words “O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success.” (Psalms 118:25)
The idea of the processional was a dramatic way to thank God for rain, to offer prayer to God for more rain, and for a fruitful season in the coming year. It was a dramatic way for the people to acknowledge their need and dependence upon God for the rains.
The last day of the Feast was dramatic in particular, because the people repeated the processional 7 times. Not that Scripture says the Fest of Tabernacles will be celebrated and fulfilled in the end time when our Lord returns. The Feast will apparently symbolize our joy, liberty, and victory through the wilderness experience of life and the glorious provision of God: the glorious provision of living eternally and worshipping and serving God throughout the universe. (Zech. 14:16)
READ 37-39. Here we see the claim of Jesus. It was now on the last day of the Feast, the day when the people marched in the processional 7 times, that Jesus made His claim. Imagine the scene: Jesus did two unusual things. HE “stood” (a teacher always sat in that day), and He “cried out” shouting loudly. Both actions would startle and shock the people to attention.
Picture thousands of voices praying to God for the living rains in the coming season, reciting: “grant us success,” and then piercing the air comes Jesus’ thundering cry, READ 37b-38.
3 claims that Jesus made:
1. He claimed that He was the source of life: He is the One who can quench the real thirst of man’s being, who can meet the desperate need of man.
a. People do thirst for physical water and for spiritual life. Jesus claims to be the source, that is, the Water that can quench man’s thirst and give the fruit and bounty that man so desperately needs in his life. He claims that He can do what water does.
- He can cleanse and purify.
- He can refresh.
- He can revitalize and energize.
2. His second claim was that He was the source of abundant life. Rivers of living water can flow out from a person. An abundance of life can be experienced. In Matt. 5:6, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
a. The death of Jesus Christ (I’m talking about His having been struck for the sins of the world) is the source of the living water. Out of His death He was able to arise, and by arising He was able to conquer sin and death and to bring forth eternal life in all of its abundance. Here’s something you might not have thought about. READ Exo. 17:6 and Numbers 20:11. The Word of God to Moses was a picture of the living water that was to come from Christ after He was struck.
b. Living water comes only through “believing in Christ.”
3. Jesus’ third claim was that He is the source of the Holy Spirit. Rivers of living water refer to the Holy Spirit. This is really a crucial verse because it is the only place in Scripture where “living waters” is defined. He meant He would give the Holy Spirit to a person. The presence of the Holy Spirit, of course, meant the experience of abundant and eternal life.
Note: it is only the person who believes in Christ who receives the Holy Spirit. Belief in Jesus Christ is essential. Christ is the Giver of the Spirit.
READ 40-44. These verses are pretty clear on what the people were thinking and saying. We can see that their response was divided.
1. Some said He was the Prophet.
2. Some said He was the Christ.
3. Some questioned if He could be the Messiah. They knew that He was from Galilee, and they knew the true Messiah, according to Scripture, even their Scripture, was to come out of Bethlehem, the city of David. So they saw no possible way He could be the Messiah.
You might have already noticed that immediately upon Jesus’ dramatic claims, the people began to argue over Him, arguing if He was the real Messiah, the Christ. There is just too much evidence within the human soul that senses the truth of God the Jesus is the Messiah. So these questions and arguing starts happening immediately following Jesus’ public claims.
So, (repeat #s 1-3 above) and:
4. Some would take and do away with Him. They wanted nothing to do with Him. He was a threat to their peace and security and to their desire to live as they wished.
READ 47-53. Talk about divided opinion: even the religious leaders, the Pharisees, were divided as to who Jesus was. The rulers’ response was fourfold. And it is their response that needs to be looked at very carefully because their response speaks volumes to rulers and leaders of every generation. Let’s look at these four responses as we close out chapter 7.
1. One of the responses was that the leaders wanted to get rid of Jesus. They wanted nothing to do with Him. How do you think the guards felt in v. 46? The temple police were greatly impressed with the Lord’s teaching. To them He was a great teacher.
2. Another response was that the leaders claimed that He was a deceiver and that the people were mistaken and cursed because they followed Him. Remember from earlier in this chapter (v. 11-15) that they thought Jesus was deliberately deceiving and leading the people away from their true religion.
3. Still another response was that the leaders strongly rejected Jesus. Nicodemus spoke up for Christ, charging the leaders with breaking the law themselves and suggesting that they all hear Christ and observe His works closely. The leaders used Scripture for the basis for rejecting Christ. They said that no Scripture pointed to a prophet coming out of Galilee. And when you think about what they said, they were wrong for two reasons.
a. Jonah, a prophet, came from Galilee.
b. God is able to raise up prophets from anywhere He chooses.
4. The last response was that the leaders went to their own houses and lived just as they had always chosen. God doesn’t force any person to subject himself to His Son. Every person has the freedom to live as He wishes either for God or for self. The leaders chose to live for self.
