John 7:37-39 Rivers of Living Water

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Rivers of Living Water

John 7:37-39

Introduction: The Gospel John relies heavily on two methods of teaching: (1) “signs” that give us pictures of God’s purposes through Jesus, connecting Jesus to Yahweh of the OT and convincing us that he is the “I AM” revealed to Moses. (2) The festivals mentioned in John often set the context for the teaching of Jesus or the sign that Jesus works. The purpose of the sign may be defined by the meaning of the festival. John 7 gives us just this kind of message.

John has used water in symbolic ways throughout his message. Water symbolism has been used from the very beginning when a river flowed out of the Garden. From there on water is repeatedly used as a cleansing, life-giving symbol: Noah, Red Sea, Moses saved by water, the Laver, tabernacle cleansings, many prophetic pictures of the messiah. In our text, the feast of tabernacles is a remembrance of God providing food and water in the wilderness. 

1. The Last Day of the Feast, the Great Day
   1. It is important we do not overlook these words. John is connecting us to the Tabernacle feast, and even more importantly, to the last day of the feast. In 7:2, this chapter began with John’s seemingly casual statement: “The Jewish Feast of Booths was at hand.” These words set up the chapter as Jesus uses the feast as a way of showing himself to be the ultimate fulfillment of certain prophecies.
   2. Now note the figure of thirst and the living water and how that connects to the Tabernacle feast. You will remember that while Israel was in the wilderness, finding water was a constant problem that could only be solved by the Lord. Moses records at least two occasions in which God brought water out of a rock, though certainly there were many more. By 200 B.C. this abundance of water in the wilderness began to be commemorated at the Tabernacle feast, which was celebrated as a remembrance of God’s abundance throughout 40 years. 
      1. Each morning during the feast a priest drew water from the Pool of Siloam with a golden flask. This pool was located south of the temple and was fed by the fresh waters of the Gihon spring, which was a necessary water source for Jerusalem. The waters gave an adequate supply, but certainly not abundant. In other words, there was always a concern about the scarcity of the water just like in the wilderness. After drawing the water, the priest would carry it to the temple in a great procession & pour it out at the altar of burnt offering. 
      2. This ritual was a reminder to Israel of things past and things future. Concerning things past, there was a remembrance of the many occasions in which God provided water in the wilderness journey to Canaan.
      3. This led to the belief in Israel that a rock of living water had, in a sense, “traveled” with them throughout the wilderness. In fact, in Num. 21:16-18, there is an ambiguity in the Hebrew so that the text can also be read as if the well journeyed with them. The Targum Onkelos (Aramaic translation of the Hebrew) renders this translation: “And thence was given them the well….It was given to them from the wilderness. And from the time that it was given them, it descended with them to the rivers, and from the rivers it went up with them to the height.” By the way, the Talmud encourages Jews to read the Targum, thus this is an accepted rendering.
      4. This also reflects what Paul said in 1 Cor. 10:1-4 “For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” (Ps. 78:16, 20 also refers to “the Rock.”)
      5. The Tosefta (a secondary compilation of the Mishnah with additional commentary), in speaking of the Feast of Tabernacles says, “And so the well which was with the Israelites in the wilderness was a rock, the size of a large round vessel, surging and gurgling upward, as from the mouth of this little flask, rising with them up onto the mountains, and going down with them into the valleys. Wherever the Israelites would encamp, it made camp with them.”
2. As the Scripture Has Said
   1. Now that we see the connection to the feast, we need to understand to what scripture Jesus is referring when he quotes the words, “Out of his heart will flowing rivers of living water.” Therefore, there was a prophecy or prophecies that foretold of living water flowing out of a believer’s heart. However, Jesus quotation does not fit any OT passage. Instead, there seems to be a group of passages to which Jesus refers.
      1. Isa. 12:1-3 “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.’ Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” You will notice that since the Lord is the source of salvation, drawing water from the wells of salvation would refer to the Lord as the well from which the salvation flowed.
      2. Ezek. 47:1-5 The key here is the “new temple” of Ezekiel having water flowing out it that turns into a roaring river.
      3. Zech. 12:10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” 13:1 “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.” All of these texts fit well with Jesus’ statement of what the scripture had foretold. 14:17-19 concludes with this all happening during the Feast of Booths.
   2. Now let’s put this all together. When Jewish interpreters saw these passages and connected them with the prophecies of Isa. 12:3; Ezekiel 47:1-11; Zech. 12:10–14:9, they concluded that the well that traveled with Israel in the past would return in the future and again provide Israel with an abundance of living water. And, this second giving of life-giving water was connected to the pouring out of the blessings of the Holy Spirit. Two additional prophecies help make this connection to the Holy Spirit and to the Feast of Tabernacles:
      1. Joel 2:28; 3:18
      2. Zechariah 14:7-9
   3. Therefore, since Ezek. 47:2 spoke of the waters flowing out from the temple, the priest performing the water-drawing ceremony at the feast of Tabernacles would bring the water through the southern gate of the temple. When he poured the water out, he was calling on God to send the waters of the Spirit that would usher in the new age for Israel as spoken by all the prophets.
   4. Thus when Jesus cried out in the temple, the Jewish people would recognize that He was claiming to fulfill these prophecies. He is the Rock that provided for Israel in the wilderness and would be the well of water springing up inside the believer. Jesus is the source of living (life-giving) water, eternal life. Cf. Isaiah 44:1-5
3. “From His Belly Will Flow Rivers of Living Water”
   1. First, by using the word “belly” (translated “heart,” “inmost being”), Jesus shows the living water would not flow out of a literal well, but out of a person. 
   2. This is not the typical Greek word for “heart,” but refers to that which comes from the gut, the innermost appetite and being. Thus, the one from whom flows the living water has himself become God’s well, someone who has received the Spirit of God and therefore has a transformed life. It is only this person who can be a well of living water. As in the book of Acts, Christians did not need someone to preach at them or command to share salvation, it was a natural result of being changed into a life-giving well upon drinking the living water Jesus provides.
   3. Isa. 12:3 “Therefore with joy you shall draw water from the wells of salvation.” Notice the plural “wells.” Though Jesus is the ultimate source, believers would also have his life-giving water in themselves so that a lost world would be able to draw water from many sources. The giving of the Spirit is the ushering in of the waters of salvation. Each believer receives this water and then becomes himself a flowing, life-giving well of water from which others can draw and receive life.
   4. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:5–6)
   5. This picture culminates in that Ezekiel 47 vision of the water leaving the temple as a little stream, but as it flows from the temple it gets larger and larger until it covers the land. The temple of Ezekiel 47 referred to God’s new temple, the church. It referred to us. There are two things this should do for us:
      1. Inside of each of us is a well of living water that is constantly nourishing us, cleansing us, and giving us life and peace. Every time you study the word, every time you pray, every time you let the Lord change you to be more like him, you are drinking of that living water.
      2. God’s purpose for building us as his temple is so we can be wells of living water as a source of life for the world. If that is not what are, then we cannot claim to be God’s temple.
      3. Let’s take this one step further so we do not misunderstand. Jesus is not talking about a command – I command you to be a well – he is talking about the person we will become when we come to him. We become a well of living water as a natural outcome of drinking living water from Jesus. We can’t help it. We are overflowing with the “joy drawing water from the wells of salvation.” We are the temple of God, and that’s what flows from God’s temple.

Berry Kercheville