DAY 142

LIVING WATER

1 Chronicles 16, 17 & 18 and John 7:28-53

We come to one of the high points of David’s time as king. The Ark comes to Jerusalem, David pours himself out in praise to God, and there is a real sense of intimacy and connectedness of God to David.

Jesus is still in Jerusalem at the Feast of Booths. Yesterday I asked you what your sentiment towards Jesus was. Do you view Him as Son of God, or do you view him as a really wise and good man, but only a man, or do you view his as a nut?

That last word, “nut,” may seem a little strong. But the text today says that at the last day of the festival he stood up and cried out “if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me…out of his heart will flow streams of living water.” The text goes to say that Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. Before we get to the Holy Spirit let’s just pause. He stood up and cried out – so is he a nut, or is he able to deliver what he is proclaiming? That is the question.

The other point to appreciate is that this is the Feast of Booths. On the last day of the Feast the priests would form a big procession down to a pool of water, scoop up the water in a beautiful flagon, process back up to the Temple, and pour it out. You might ask why they would do that.

In Ezekiel, chapter 47, there is this poetic prophesy where there is water flowing out from the Temple; if flows and flows. The further from the Temple the deeper and wider it gets. It is full of fresh water and the fresh water, the living water, is full of life! Some day life would flow from the Temple. As the priests would pour out that water they would pray for the resurrection of the dead!

Here stands Jesus, “come all who are thirsty” from Isaiah 55 and he proclaims that He is the Living Water! I wonder if the priests were pouring it out as He was crying out! The Scripture goes onto say that Jesus is talking about the Spirit AND that is will not happen until He is glorified (meaning his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension). There is that small, but powerful allusion to Passover.

The point: all who believe in Jesus will have the Spirit in them, so much so that it will flow out of them…they, we, become the Temple that Ezekiel is prophesying about!

This is not new; you have read this before as I spoke about “The Promise of the Father.” What I pray is that you are getting a deeper and richer sense of the connection of Jesus to the Old Testament. Jesus fulfills over and over the promises of God. Jesus also holds out for us the possibility of a relationship that is beyond the Old Testament. Consider today in the Old Testament we read about one of the most intimate moments David (a person who had one of the most intimate relationships with God) has with God…and yet Jesus stands up today and says you can have more, in fact you will be the source of Living Water flowing to others…if only you believe. Your “sentiment” and your attitude make all the difference to how God can dwell in your (and my) hearts.