Streams Of Living Water
STREAMS OF LIVING WATER
JOHN 7:37-52
When they remembered God’s leading through a dry wilderness, Jesus offered to meet a deeper thirst, through the Holy Spirit.
It is only on the last day of the feast, the “climax of the festival” (Phillips), that Jesus is ready to make an astonishing offer to his people and to the world. On this occasion water from Siloam’s pool was solemnly offered in the temple; probably this was an ancient rite invoking God’s help in bringing the refreshing “former rains” to end the long summer drought. Jesus seized this opportunity: any thirsty soul was invited to find deep and lasting refreshment through faith in him. The blessing which he offered was to be made available through the Holy Spirit, who had not yet been given in a new way to believers.
As usual there was a mixed reaction. For some this offer marked him as the promised prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15; John 1:21; 6:14). For others it showed him to be the Christ. Those who knew their Scriptures knew that Christ had to come from Bethlehem. So there was a division among them, with one party relying on Scripture and the other on experience, and neither probably aware that had they known the facts Scripture and experience could have been reconciled! Again a desire to arrest him fails. The temple police find that there is something about him and his teaching which marks him off as unique. But ignorant men can soon be crushed, without any need of reasoned argument, by an appeal to superior office and knowledge. When Nicodemus does dare to raise his voice in protest in the name of the very Law which they professed to uphold, he too is scornfully dismissed as having baseless provincial sympathies. Galilee of all places!
Notes 7:37: probably the eighth rather than the seventh day. The punctuation of the saying of Jesus is uncertain. It is probably better to follow the RSV margin and NEB in making two parallel invitations and then referring the quotation to Jesus himself rather than to the believer. The Scripture in question may be Zechariah 14:8, which was part of the lesson appointed for the Feast of Tabernacles. It is no longer Jerusalem but Christ who is the source of blessing. 7:39: the Spirit had been active in the world from the beginning but was not to be given to the believer in the full Christian sense until Pentecost. The phrase is literally “the Spirit was not.” The third person of the Trinity had to wait for his full personal revelation in the world as did the second person. 7:43: divisions are also described in 9:16 and 10:19. 7:50: Nicodemus’ visit to Jesus by night had suggested timidity (3:1f.). Now as “one of them” he plucks up courage to speak up, even if tentatively, for Jesus. 7:52: had they forgotten Jonah? (2 Kings 14:25).
Thought Jesus is a perplexing figure to those who refuse to accept him at his own estimate as Son of God and Savior.