Are the Rivers for Me?
Last Sunday we dove into the powerful words Jesus declared on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Hoshana Rabah).
At this climactic moment, all of Israel was gathered together, celebrating the ancient memory of God’s abundant provision at the Rock of Meribah (see Exodus 17:1-7 & Numbers 20: 2-9), and anticipating the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit when the Messiah would step into His reign over Israel and all humanity. What a massive moment for Jesus to literally stand and declare His identity as the Son of God.
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as[f] the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
-John 7:37-39 (ESV)
The writings of the Apostle John also lead us into the thicket of division and threats surrounding Jesus’ identity. All was not well in Israel. People were afraid to speak out. Afraid of the violent opinions around there. Some were hanging on Jesus’ words, wanting to follow. Others were skeptical, ready to reject. The religious leaders were moving toward arrest and murder. And even the guards were caught off guard by this Jesus, His authority, His presence.
What do you imagine it was like for Jesus to speak into this tense moment?
What stirred you as you thought of the Living Waters that Jesus prophesies about for His followers?
How did this land with you?
You know, for a long time I’ve been praying and thinking about the Holy Spirit and His role in our lives. It’s part of the reason I chose this passage when studying the feasts.
As Evangelicals, we don’t emphasize the ministry or person of the Holy Spirit, but in this passage Jesus thrusts to the forefront of our (and Israel’s) consciousness this picture of His Presence moving in our lives
Many times, we think the Holy Spirit and the life of abiding with Him is for some high-achieving, spiritual minded, perfect praying, super Christian. And in our hearts, we can quickly disqualify ourselves from the Life God has already given to us. We can actually shut down what God wants to do through us when we think less of ourselves than He does.
Well, in the Equipping Hour, we dove deeper into a portion of this passage that I wasn’t able to highlight during the sermon–one that speaks into this self-disqualification we so often live-in as Christians.
As Jesus connected His Life to Israel’s prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit during the water ceremony (listen to the Sunday Sermon for more insight on this), He was also connecting Himself to Israel’s past. I mentioned the Rock of Meribah above, a miracle surrounding this Rock happens both at the beginning of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and right as they enter the Promised Land (see Exodus 17 & Numbers 20).
In both circumstances, Israel approaches Moses in a moment of lack and brings a variety of accusations against him (and God). This division reveals a flaw at the core of Israel. Moses, of course, calls on God, and God calls Moses to use his staff and strikes the Rock and this act releases a river that satisfies all the thirst in millions of Israelites.
Prophets and New Testament writers connect this Rock of Meribah to God Himself—and the language Jesus uses implies that He Himself is this Rock that will be struck and out of Him will flow the Rivers of Living water. And in the same way that Israel, in their division and unbelief could come to those waters and drink–if they only would come to Him in faith–those rivers would satisfy and become a spring in their own lives!
This is reassuring for those of us who feel like–”where are these Living Waters for me?” Our false spiritualities urge us to create our own living water separate from the Source (see Jeremiah 2). We look at the “Spiritual Giants” and they tower over us and we project all the opposites of our imperfection on them–but these “giants” have only found the Source in Jesus, that’s all. And if you asked them, they would say the same.
We don’t need to muster up the Holy Spirit. We need to come to the Broken Rock and His Flowing Rivier. There are no rivers coming from the inner self, unless that self is saturated with Jesus. There are no rivers coming from acts of justice, unless that act is saturated with Jesus. There are no rivers coming from our own moral, self-discipline, unless that morality is arising from the flow of Jesus.
If we’re not experiencing the Rivers of Living Water, then perhaps we’ve wandered away from the Broken Rock in which the Rivers are still flowing! Come to Jesus again, that’s what He said, and there’s always more than enough in Him.
Take a look at the scriptures below and pray into what it might me to stay connected to Jesus this week ahead:
“How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.”
“For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”
“ Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever...
The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”