An Invitation to Fulfillment
Fortifying the Foundations # 18
John 7:37-8:1[1]
10-19-03
Turn with me this morning to Lev 23:39-43
39 "’So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month,
(that is about this time of the year—in fact, today is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles or Succoth as it is referred to by Jews today. It is probable that the Thanksgiving celebration by the pilgrims was patterned after this celebration)[2] after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. 40 On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. 41 Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths 43 so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’" NIV
In those verses God established for Israel the great harvest celebration known as The Feast of Tabernacles. It was a seven-day event with a Sabbath day added as the eighth day, known as the Shemini Atzeres or Solemn Assembly.[3] During this feast the Israelites dwelt in little temporary booths or huts[4] made from tree limbs. There is an entire volume in the Talmud directing how these booths were to be erected. The dimensions are minutely described.[5] But the purpose was to remind Israel of God’s faithfulness in bringing them out of Egypt into the Promise Land.
This is the festival going on in Jerusalem at the time of our text in John 7. As you recall last week we talked about Jesus’ teaching and interaction with the Jews in the middle of this great celebration—perhaps on the fourth day. Our text this morning opens on the seventh day. It is the last and greatest day of the Feast.[6] Everything came to a great climax of joy on this day.
To grasp the full significance of Jesus’ invitation in verses 37-39 of John 7 we need to know
I. the Jewish CONTEXT in which he spoke.
At the break of day the worshippers leave their booths to take part in the services.
They are all dressed in festive array. Each worshipper carries in his right hand what is called the “Lulabh” or palm branch. It is actually a myrtle and a willow branch tied together with a palm branch in between.
In each left hand is a citrus fruit called “Ethrog” thought to be the Paradise-apple.
The crowd would divide into 3 groups. Some would remain at the temple. Another group would go in procession to Maza (which some think is the Emmaus Road) and gather willow-branches to adorn the altar with a leafy canopy.
The third group is of particular importance to our text. As music sounded they would follow a Priest in procession from the temple down the Tyropoeon Valley to where it merges with the Kedron Valley through the Fountain Gate to the Pool of Siloam. The Pool of Siloam[7] was fed by the Rogel Spring of water further up the Kedron Valley. When the procession reached the Pool of Siloam (which overflowed to another pool) the Priest would fill a golden pitcher from the waters of the Siloam.
They then went back—timing their journey so that they reached the Temple just as the morning sacrifice was being laid on the Brazen Altar. A 3-fold t trumpet blast welcomed the Priest as he entered through the Watergate. As the Priest ascended ‘the rise’ of the altar he is joined by another Priest carrying wine for the drink offering.
(I hope you sense the awesome pageantry of all this.) The saying in the Jewish writing is, “He who has not seen the Rejoicing of the Place of Water-drawing has never in his life witnessed a real celebration.”[8]
These two priests come to two silver funnels leading down to the base of the altar.
Into the eastern funnel the wine is poured. At the same time the water is poured into the western funnel. (Both the wine and the water represent the Holy Spirit in scripture.) As the priest pours the water the people are shouting for him to raise his hand.[9]
Immediately after the water is poured the great ‘Hallel’ is chanted to the accompaniment of the flute. The ‘Hallel’ is Psalms 113 to 118. As the Levites chant the first line of the Psalm, the people repeat it; while to each of the other lines they respond by Hallelu Yah (Praise the Lord). In Psalms 118 the people not only repeat the first line (O give thanks to the Lord) but also these (O then, work now salvation, Jehovah, O Lord now send prosperity) and again at the close of the Psalm, “O give thanks to the Lord.”
As they repeated these lines, they shake the Lalabh in their hands toward the altar as a praise for past blessings and to remind God of His promises.[10] (The pouring of the water signified the prayer for abundant rain which was necessary for the growth of their crops.)
Then a silence follows. One voice rises in the crowd, “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.”
Jesus is not interrupting the ceremony. He is interpreting it. The celebration has come to a climax. It is a celebration of God’s goodness. It is a prayer for God’s provision.
Here is the ultimate cause of celebration. Here is the ultimate provision of God. The Messiah stands in their midst as the fulfillment of this great feast.
Imagine the impact of Jesus’ invitation in that setting. He is not sitting in a teaching position but standing[11] to proclaim an invitation. His voice is not soft and mellow but full of emotion and intensity.[12] Who would dare to speak up like that at such a holy moment? The Lord of Glory speaks up because it all points to him. It is all fulfilled in him.
No wonder the people respond as they do John 7:40-41. “On hearing his words some of the people said, ‘Surely this man is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘He is the Christ.’
They understood the claim he was making by that invitation. Only the Prophet, only the Christ could make such a claim.
How rich the Scripture is when we understand the Jewish context.
Look with me at Rev 7:9-10. Revelation is full of Jewish symbolism. It can not be understood without an Old Testament point of reference. In Rev. 7:9 John writes,
9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." NIV
Why does John tell us in Rev. 7:9 that they were “holding palm branches in their hands”?
Because as a Jew read those words all that we have talked about in this great Feast of Tabernacles would come to mind. To the Jew palm branches were symbolical of God’s deliverance, God’s provision and the praise of His people for all that.
We have talked about the context of Jesus’ great invitation. Now look closely with me to
II. The CONTENT of this invitation.
1. It is a Universal call to Come to Christ.
“If anyone is thirsty…” That means you are not excluded from this invitation.
When God called me to the ministry I struggled with the fact that nothing about me fits the mold of what our cultures says a minister ought to be. I was not raised in a sweet, kind environment. I was raised in a neighborhood where you had better learn how to take care of yourself if you wanted any respect from anyone. I was not the kind of person someone would look at say, “Wouldn’t he make a fine preacher.” My greatest fear was public speaking. Ministers are supposed to be these sweet guys that everybody likes but nobody takes too serious. At least that’s the image Hollywood portrays. I was not that at all. How could God possibly be calling me to the ministry?
All those criteria are man-made, culturally conditioned. God casts a very broad net when He calls people to Himself, “If anyone..” Are you a “anyone’? Then listen closely to His invitation. You may not be as disqualified as you think. God has a way of taking common things and common people and confounding the wise with them.
In the early ‘20’s God took a young girl with little education and confounded the religious scholars of her day. As she preached people got healed. People got delivered. People got saved. That girl was Aimee McPherson and thousands upon thousands have come into the kingdom through her ministry. She was an imperfect human being who responded to God’s call.
The great prophet, Samuel, went to the house of Jesse to anoint a king. The last person anyone saw as qualified for the calling was a little shepherd boy named David. God can see things in people that others can not see. In our text, Jesus makes a universal call to mankind.
There is only one prerequisite to Jesus’ invitation. “If anyone is (what) thirsty…” Only thirsty people drink.
God has mercifully created us with a built in need for Him. We are all born with a thirst for God—a longing to know God—a longing to know and be known. There is a thirst, a craving, in every soul for the eternal God. There is a God-given desire to be valued and loved—to express love. There is a deep search for significance, meaning, and spiritual reality in the souls of men. That’s why you find religion all over the world. Man intuitively knows there’s more. Man intuitively knows there’s God.
Jesus is addressing something of great significance, the thirst of the human soul.
Never let the Devil tell you people are not interested in God. Only a fool would not be. “The fool has said in his heart there is no God.” [13] But even when he’s telling himself that—he knows, he longs for reality (reality that extends beyond the confines of this temporal, material world). That is the universal appeal of the gospel.
How people respond to the longings inside is another issue?
2. Jesus is very specific as to the Response that leads to fulfillment.
“If anyone is thirsty LET HIM COME TO ME…”
There is only one place we can go to eternally satisfy the thirst of our souls.
“Let him come to ME…” not religion, not alcohol, not drugs, not pornography, not adultery, not greed, not materialism, not Buddha, not a bunch of legalistic rules and regulation. “Come to Me, Jesus say, and I will give you rest, I will be your peace, I will be your joy.”
Israel stands as a warning to every person who hears this invitation. We know that ultimately this crowd rejected Jesus’ invitation and called for his crucifixion.
Israel had a history of turning to the wrong places to fill their thirsting souls.
Jeremiah, the prophet, wrote (Jerm. 2:12-13)
12 Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD.
13 "My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Have you ever heard the expression, “That won’t hold water.” It’s worthless. It won’t get the job done. I Corinthians 10 tells us that Israel’s history is recorded in scripture for our benefit—as a warning that we not follow that example.
We too can find ourselves going to empty wells for satisfaction. America is full of broken cisterns. “If I could just have that—I would be satisfied. If I could just make
$ 500 a month more. If I could just marry the right person. If I only had that job. If people would just recognize my ministry. One more car. One more house. One more piece of furniture. One more dress. One more hunting rifle.” This list of broken cisterns can go on and on and on.
But Jesus is not inviting us to those things. Neither is he offering to give us those things. He is offering us himself. He is our peace …our joy…our hope. The satisfaction only comes in relationship with him.
So people try to quench their thirst with all the wrong things. The tragedy is this: Their thirst is deceptively quenched. Like a child who tries to satisfy his hunger with more and more candy. The hunger temporarily subsides but no real nutrition is received.
Is your thirst for God being satisfied by a rich relationship with Him? Are you thirsty or have you been drinking from broken cisterns? Thirst is a wonderful blessing because it can lead us to Christ.
Notice those last two words in verse 37, “…and drink.”
The old adage is “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”
Jesus has provided everything we need for life and godliness.[14] We do not have to live a meager existence in spiritual poverty and depression. The limitless Resource is available to us. But WE have to drink. WE have to come to the Lord in our thirst and desperation, open our spiritual mouths wide, open our souls to him and RECEIVE.
There is a God side to this and a human side. God has divinely provided life in Christ—not just an eternal home in heaven, but LIFE, a flow of spiritual reality and relationship with God that meets every, every need we have. The cross has paid it all and bought it all. All we have to do is want it—want it bad enough to come to Christ for it. And receive it as a gift from Him. “If anyone is thirsty (are you thirsty?) let him come to me and drink.” Will you come to him and drink this morning?
“Well if God would send Billy Graham, I would drink.” Jesus didn’t say come to Billy Graham. He said come to ME. “If God would change my circumstance, fix my problems I would drink.” Jesus didn’t say come after everything suits your fancy. He simply said “come.”
Isa 12:3 “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” NIV
There is a joy, there is a peace, there is love available to all who will come and drink.
3. He promises to do more than just fill you. He promises to OVERFLOW you.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
On the last great day of the feast, the people had gone to the Pool of Siloam, a pool that overflows into another pool. They had rejoiced in the ceremony of water drawing.
Now Jesus said, I will not only water your soul. But I will make you a channel of blessing to others as well. (“As the Scripture has said”)—we don’t know for sure which scripture Jesus is referring to in this invitation. But Isaiah 58:11 is a strong possibility.
11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, (that is the personal satisfaction we receive when we come and drink)
like a spring whose waters never fail. That is the blessing we will be to others.
This is the essence of all true ministry—an overflow of the life of Jesus in our lives.
The flesh profits nothing. It is the overflow of the Holy Spirit that really helps people.
When we get full of anything we overflow. “The abundance of the mouth the heart speaks.”[15] Israel in the wilderness got full of complaint and overflowed with murmuring.
The person full of resentment will overflow with bitterness. The person full of covetousness will overflow with greed. The person full of the world will overflow with worldliness. The person full of Jesus will overflow with his life (his fruit, his healing, his encouragement, his sufficiency).
Ministry is nothing more than overflowing with the life of Jesus. Anything else is not New Testament ministry.
Before we can overflow we have to be filled ourselves. That’s why Eph. 5:18 tells us to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is everything. It is personal satisfaction. It is ministry equipping. It is necessary, necessary, necessary! Nothing will substitute for being filled with the Spirit. We may have been filled yesterday, but we live in today. Are you full of the Spirit now? Are you thirsty for more? Jesus is a never ending fountain of life. As long as we stay connected to him we will never, never run dry.
Notice the Apostle John’s comment in 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.”
John is writing this after the Day of Pentecost. It was after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension that the Spirit was poured out in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise.
Today, if we will hear his voice—today, if we are thirsty—today if we will come to HIM—today if we will drink we will not only find satisfaction for our own souls but we will become a source of blessing to many others.
The invitation still stands. "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” Are you thirsty? Come to Him today!
Let us pray.
Sing: “As the Deer”
John 7:37-8:1
37 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. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 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.
40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."
41 Others said, "He is the Christ."
Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42 Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn’t you bring him in?"
46 "No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared.
47 "You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48 "Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law-there is a curse on them."
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"
52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."
53 Then each went to his own home.
8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives NIV
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
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[1] Text read earlier in the service is provided at the end of this message for reference. Chapter division should be between John 8:1 and 8:2.
[2] Ruth Specter Lacelle, Jewish Faith and the New Covenant (Seattle, WA: Bedrock Press, 1980) pp. 230-231
[3] Ibid p. 233
[4] The booth are called Sukkah by Jews today. See Jewish Faith and the New Covenant by Lacelle
[5] Lascelle, p. 231
[6] Many follow Westcott’s lead in assigning John 8:37 to the octave of the feast which had probably been added. (Deut. 16:13 established a seven day feast). However, Edersheim’s argument against Westcott’s position is convincing and the activities of the seventh day would have provided a much more likely context for Jesus’ invitation.
[7] Called the King’s Pool in Neh. 2:14
[8] Lascelle, p. 230 whose references are Mishna Sukka V and Gemara Sukka 53a
[9] So as to make sure that he poured the water into the funnel and not the ground. See Edersheim’s comments about the conflict between the Sadducess and Pharisees concerning the pouring of the water.
[10] Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Vol II (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984) pp. 156-160 Each day of the feast the public service would close with a procession around the altar by the priests who chanted, “O then work now salvation, Jehovah! O Jehovah, send now prosperity.” On this seventh, last great day, the procession of priests made the circuit of the altar, not only once, but seven times. On this last day the people shook off the leaves on the willow branches around the altar, and beat their palm branches to pieces. That afternoon the booths were dismantled and the feast ended except for the anticlimactic eighth day.
[11] “was standing”, imperfect ( heisteekei,) watching the ceremonies (from Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)
[12] G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to John (Los Angeles: Fleming Revell Co.) p. 138
[13] Psalms 14:1
[14] II Peter 1:3
[15] Luke 6:45
