I've been thinking a lot about water lately and how important it is for our survival.
There is nothing that satisfies our body more than a tall glass of water when you are feeling parched and thirsty.
Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12:3 NKJV
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. John 7:37 NKJV
In the Bible, The Feast Tabernacles was a popular festival rich in symbolism. Each day of the feast of booths included a water ceremony in which a procession of priests descended to the south border of the city to the Gihon Spring.
There a priest filled a golden pitcher as a choir chanted Isaiah 12:3: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
The water was then carried back up the hill to the “Water Gate,” followed by crowds carrying tree branches (lulab in the right hand) in memory of the desert booths and (an ethrog in the left hand) a citrus branches in memory of the harvest.
The crowd would shake these and sing Psalms 113–118.
When the procession arrived at the temple, the priest would climb the altar steps and pour the water onto the altar while the crowd circled him and continued singing. On the seventh day of the festival, this procession took place seven times.
Judaism saw this water ceremony on multiple levels. On the one hand, it was a plea to God for rain since the autumn is a time of threatened drought in Israel.
On the other hand, it was a source of rich symbolism. The feast was established as a memorial to the wilderness journey and God’s provision of water from a rock (Num. 20:8, 10; 2Cor. ).
The pouring out of water which caused the sacrificial rock altar of the temple to flow represented the day God’s life giving water would flow out of God’s temple during the messianic age.
Zechariah and Ezekiel had visions of rivers flowing from the temple in a miraculous display of God’s blessing (Ezek. 47:1; Zech. 14:8). [In a drought-stricken land, it was a spectacular vision of water, life-giving water flowing from God’s life-giving temple.
Jesus’ climatic appearance and astounding words are to be understood against this background. (John 7)
On this final day of celebration, Jesus steps into public view and makes His most stunning pronouncement of the feast. As the seventh water procession climbed the steep hill of south Jerusalem, verse 37 commences. Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink."
He was making a plea for their inner thirst that so easily alluded them because they were filling their lives with wrong things,
Nothing can fill your lives like Jesus. There is no lasting earthly satisfaction. Marriage, family, money, fame, enlightenment, travel, athletics, academic achievement- nothing completely satisfies us. Any satisfaction or significance we gain in our quest fades quickly and becomes a vague memory, if remembered at all.
Yes, certainly, there are happy events along the way, unexpected moments when we experience pure delight. But those moments are fleeting, and we can never go back in time to relive them and recapture the sensation.
Why then do we keep seeking for something to satisfy us? Simply put, its because we have to. You and I are thirsty people. We long for a deep satisfaction, the kind that makes our insides very alive, that makes us enriched people. We thirst. Deep in our souls, down at the core, we desperately want something-and want it legitimately-that we don’t have -to be respected, to be deeply involved with someone who truly accepts us.
Whether we realize it or not our souls are thirsting for God. Every desire, every aspiration, every longing of our nature is nothing less than a yearning for God. We were born for His love and we cannot truly live without it. He is the joy for which we have been searching all our lives. Everything that we desire is found in Him-and infinitely more.
Jesus is the answer for this deep thirst. But it’s our responsibility-and our opportunity-to drink deeply of Him, to trust Him to produce the kind of change that way down deep inside we know we want for ourselves.
And so, if you find yourself restless and thirsting for something more in life; respond to Jesus’ invitation, "Come to Me and drink." Go to Him, drink freely of His grace and forgiveness, and experience true joy and the personal significance that only Jesus can provide.
Happiness depends on happenings, but joy, satisfaction, significance and so much more depends on drinking in from Jesus!
For those who accept the invitation and come to Jesus, He gives an astounding promises in verse 38. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
Jesus was requiring of each individual a response of faith in Him. In order to come and drink, you must believe in Jesus. In order to continue to drink you must continue to come in faith to Jesus. He is the source of the fountain that wells up inside of faithful believers.
Scripture is full of references to blessing of the Holy Spirt in connection to water. - Isa. 44:3; 55:1; 58:11; Ezek. 47:1ff; Joel 3:18; Zech 13:1; 14:8; Prov. 4:23; 5:15.
When a believer comes to Christ and drink he not only slakes his thirst but receives such an abundant supply that authentic rivers flow out of his inner being.
This springing up well not only refreshes one’s own soul but flows out to refresh the lives of others.
The DEAD SEA is so salty that it contains no fish or plant life. What accounts for this unusual condition? There are absolutely no outlets! A great volume of water pours into this depression from the Jordan, but nothing flows out. Inlets plus no outlets equals a dead sea.
This law of nature may also be applied to the child of God, and it explains why many believers are unfruitful and lack spiritual vitality.
It’s possible for some people to attend church, listen to religious broadcasts, study the Scriptures, and continually take in the Word as it is preached from the pulpit, and yet seem lifeless and unproductive in their Christian lives.
Such individuals are like the Dead Sea. They have several "inlets" but no "outlets." To be vibrant and useful believers, we must not only "take in" all we can, but we must also "give out" in service to others!
It is my prayer for each of you today that you would stay thirsty with God and that you would freely pour out to others to keep yourself fresh and flowing with God.
May God abundantly por out the water of His spirit upon every part of your soul and in every way as you seek Him today.
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