living water

“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 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)

In first century Israel there was a deep desire and expectation that something was going to change. There was a deep longing to get out of the rut they were stuck in. There were many groups thinking that they lived in the end times. They interpreted the prophets of old as though they were speaking about them.

There was a group called the Zealots who thought that God’s kingdom would come through violence. They armed themselves and their followers. They believed that it was against God’s will to pay taxes to Caesar, for God alone was Lord. They believed that the Jews could overthrow the Romans if they would try, because God would be on their side.

One branch of this group were called the Sicarii, or knife men. These were the assassins of the group. They would hide knives in their cloaks and infiltrate crowds during the festivals. They would could prominent Roman collaborators, and then disappear back into the crowd. In AD 66, barely thirty years after Jesus was crucified, the Zealots led a major armed revolt against Rome. They wanted to bring salvation through force. This brought only the wrath of the Romans who destroyed the city and the temple, and scattered the Jews across the countryside.

Just outside of Jerusalem was another group called the Essenes. This community lived at Qumran, from where may believe the Dead Sea scrolls were produced. This group argued that they were the remnant of Israel and that a great leader would come and lead the nation back to God. They took great comfort in the prophecy of Ezekiel regarding the restoration of Israel.

In Ezekiel 39 we get this incredible promise of restoration from exile.

““Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Ezekiel 39:25-29)

Ezekiel goes on to describe in incredible detail this amazing new temple constructed in Jerusalem. He tells exactly what the temple will look like, what happens there, who serves there, how the feasts will be celebrated, and where the sacrifices will be prepared. At the end of this description of the temple he tells of something peculiar. Look at Ezekiel 47.

” Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side. Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to En-eglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” ” (Ezekiel 47:1-12, ESV)

“So everything will live where the water goes.”

I once went with our youth group in Southern Alberta to a horse camp up in the Rockies (Blue Bronna Wilderness Camp). It was always fun to spend time riding through the mountains on the back of a good horse. One day we decided to go for a hike to “Window Mountain Lake.” This lake is in the bottom of a bowl up high on the mountain, fed by snow melt which remained all year round.

But being the young youth leader I was, the youth challenged me to go swimming. So I did. Well, I am not sure you could call it swimming. I slowly made my way into the water as the numbness rose up my body. I eventually got up the nerve to plunge beneath the surface.

The water was absolutely freezing.

Every part of my body felt like it was on fire, you know that cold firey feeling that seems to move around in your blood stream? As I came up out of the water, and my lungs had relearned how to breath, I felt incredibly refreshed.

I have never felt so alive as after I have been for a good swim.

Water nourishes, it sustains, it refreshes.

Water had a very important role within the life of Israel at the time of Jesus.

Clean water meant new life.

Fresh water meant abundant life.

Water flowing from the sanctuary of God meant freedom from the past, and a fresh start. It was reminiscent of the water flowing from the rock as the Israelites travelled through the wilderness. (Ex 17, Num 20)

“ 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.” (John 7:37, ESV)

The feast that Jesus is attending when he makes this statement in John is the feast of Tabernacles. During the feast, everyone is expected to take a pitcher of water from the Pool of Siloam, carry it to the temple and pour it out on the altar. On the last and greatest day of the feast, the priests would take a golden pitcher, fill it at the Pool of Siloam, carry it to the temple and pour the water at the base of the altar. They would do this seven times.

Pool to altar.

Pool to altar.

Pool to altar.

The water would begin to flow from the altar, across the sanctuary, out the gateway and down the steps of assent.

Pool to altar.

Pool to altar.

Then Jesus stands up. He draws all attention to himself and says, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37-38, NIV)

Jesus claims to be the fulfilment of all that they are seeking. He claims that he is the new temple from which the river of life will flow.

“That river of life flowing from the temple that you heard about in Ezekiel,” says Jesus, “believe in me and you will drink from it. That thirst that you have for cleansing, for renewal, for true life,” says Jesus, “it is leading you to me. Slake your thirst. Come and be refreshed.

“Come and let the river of life flow through you.”

The thing is it is only in giving that we receive.

Ann Voskamp, on her blog A Holy Experience, talks about the family’s planting of a garden. They plant potatoes, squash, tomatoes, and peppers. The tomatoes and peppers started in the greenhouse now meet the real out doors.

The day after blows in on a wind. A hot, searing wind. Opa would have winced to see those 16 pepper plants, those 52 tomato plants, ragged and wind-whipped. Trying to survive hard times.

Before noon meal, I drag out coiling hose, a rubber river across the grass, and hunch over each weary stalk with momentary protection from the beating gusts.

There’s a drink for the wilting.

The wind can buffet; economy, sickness, discouragement. The sun can scorch; heartbreak, parent-ache, marriage-burn. But if we have water… if we have water, we can survive.

I’m arched over each tomato, wind-breaker and water-carrier, and I think I know what element-weary souls need. …

After noon-meal, we open to Isa. 58; we each do, our table Bibles in hand. It’s our reading for the month of May, each day, again and again, spurred on by a friend to thirty days of reading Isa. 58. The retracing of these words each day reshapes hearts. We recite words together and are quenched:

“and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land…

You will be like a well-watered garden.”

I stop mid-swallow.

A well-watered garden. What is it again that makes me like a well-watered garden? I know winds, I know sun, I know daily drooping. Don’t I just need this, the water of the Word?

His Word says that it’ll take more than His Word. I’ll have to spend myself. I’ll have to give myself to those who are empty, I’ll have take part of me to meet the needs of those weighed down, to use part of me to lift their burden. The truth’s always in the paradox: If I pour out … I will be like a well-watered garden.

…

We are only watered when we water.

I close my Bible, washed with the water of the Word. But for there to be water within, streams of living waters flowing from within, watering me, I’ll have to open the tap and pour out.

The wilting need a drink. And so He quenches me.

The Spirit pours its water out on us, but when we shut the tap the pool within becomes sour and stagnant. But when we open the tap, and allow the water to flow through us then streams of living water flow from within and we feed a great river that is surrounded with trees that bear their fruit in season.

With the Spirit flowing through us our lives produce others who understand what it means to be loved by God.

When the Spirit was poured out on the disciples, they did not remain in that room. They went out into the streets and told others about the Father’s amazing love for them in Jesus. As the Contemporay Testimony, Our World Belongs to God, says.

“The Spirit thrusts God’s people into worldwide mission. He impels young and old, men and women, to go next door and far away into science and art, media and marketplace with the good news of God’s grace. The Spirit goes before them and with them, convincing the world of sin and pleading the cause of Christ.” (Art 32)

There is a river of life flowing from the temple, flowing from the lamb who has been slain.

There is a river whose banks are filled with trees that bear their fruit in season whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.

There is a river deep with God’s love, and wide with God’s mercy.

There is a river, and we are invited to swim, to plunge deep in the stream, to be washed, purified, cleansed.