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37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 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 Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants 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. ~ John 7:37-44
John's gospel presents the Lord Jesus as the fulfillment of all things Old Testament, including the feast of Tabernacles. On the last great day of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles the Lord Jesus offered the thirsty rivers of living water. God's purpose in bringing the people out of Egypt and through the wilderness was to show his power and his love for Israel, so that Israel would trust Him and follow Him.
The Lord Jesus, in today's text, uses an analogy that implies fullness, completeness to the point of overflowing. It implies refreshment, growth and life. This life is offered only to those who are willing to enter a personal and meaningful relationship with the Lord Jesus. The experience is essential.
The precedent to this experience is thirst. All thirst, but not all thirst for God. We are afflicted and blessed with a chronic restlessness, an insatiable soul-thirst, so that we might keep seeking Him.
We were made for God. The taste buds of our souls were made to be satisfied in a personal relationship with the Son of God. But, we are fallen, and the fundamental meaning of our fallenness is thirsting for things other than God. Our sinful nature is a condition of diseased spiritual taste buds.
The Lord Jesus loudly proclaim, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink." Coming to the Lord Jesus is an act of the heart. We primarily meet the Lord Jesus through His Word. Drinking is the same as believing or trusting. After he says, "Come to me and drink," in v.37, He then says, "Whoever believes in me." In John 6:35, the Lord Jesus said, "He who believes in me shall never thirst." The essence of drinking the Word of the Lord Jesus is trusting it. The essence of believing in the Lord Jesus is finding in Him the satisfaction of our deepest soul-thirst. Drinking is believing, and believing is drinking.
The result of coming to the Lord Jesus and believing is: "rivers of living water will flow from within them. " The promise is not only that we will be satisfied, but that He will be satisfying. He promises not only that our cup will be full, but also that it will be overflowing. In drinking from the Lord Jesus we become not merely a receptacle, but a spring or a fountain.
Everything starts with a soul-thirst for the Lord Jesus and a drinking in of His promises by faith. Then two things happen in our hearts: first, we sense deep down that we have now discovered the source of lasting and complete joy, and our hearts crave to know more and more of Christ; and second, the water "becomes in us a spring of water welling up into eternal life."
When the people, in v.40, heard these words, they said, "Surely this man is the Prophet." According to v.41, "Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?" Not all recognized Him as the One. Some wanted to seize Him with ill desire.
Let me redirect your attention to v.39 where the Lord Jesus describes the rivers of living water. The rivers of living water is analogous of the Holy Spirit whom He gives to those who believe that He is the Messiah. It is the Spirit of God who produces this life, not us. And, the Holy Spirit gives this to those who believe and receive.
Finally, let me close with a story which illustrates the point. A new federal building had just been completed in our Nation's Capitol. A thirsty man walked down the hallway in the building, searching for a water fountain. As he turned the corner, he noticed a water fountain. Upon his arrival, he looked for a button to push or a pedal to pressed down, but there was none. Just then, a man walked up with a sign that he fixed to the wall behind the water fountain. The sign read "stoop and drink." This is our daily task: to come to the Lord Jesus and receive from Him on a daily basis. It is then that the "rivers of living water will flow from within."
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