Everyone remembers that Gatorade's tagline used to be "the thirst quencher." In John 7:37-38 Jesus claims to be the thirst quencher.
"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." John 7:37-38
I've always thought that this was a neat passage, but I never saw the significance until I took a deeper look at what the Feast was and what Jesus was claiming to be. Hopefully you'll be as amazed as I was after I explain it.
The Feast in this passage is the Feast of Tabernacles (which is briefly explained in Leviticus 23:33). On each day of the feast there was a procession of priests to the pool of Siloam to draw water. The priests then would return to the temple, where the water was taken in procession once around the altar with the choir singing Psalms 113-118, and then the water was poured out as a libation at the morning sacrifice. All day and all night celebration surrounded this ceremony. The celebration was associated with Isaiah 12:3 "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation."
Jesus came to the Feast "on the last and greatest day of the Feast." On the last day the same procedure was followed except the procession circled the altar seven times instead just once. The last day of this ceremony reached a fever pitch of excitement.
It was during this awesome celebration that Jesus shouted "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." Jesus was claiming to be able to offer people the water of salvation. In fact, Jesus was saying even more than that. Ezekiel 47 talks about a deep and wide river that flowed out of the temple that cause trees to provide food and healing leaves. Revelation 22 describes the River of Life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. This tree also provides healing leaves for the nations and food.
Jesus, as He stands in the Temple, is claiming to be the source of the River of Life. Jesus is making a bold, bold claim. And, get this, because of His bold claim we can boldly claim the promise of sustenance, healing and salvation that His claim provides.
How awesome is this passage! Go to Jesus and drink today.
Not to be punny, but it's really neat to see the deeper meaning of Jesus' words like this. On surface level, I thought of that more as a reminder that Jesus fills me up more than anything, but never really saw the impact and depth of that statement like this. Just another awesome reminder of his authority and power!
ReplyDelete