John 7:25-52
37 On the last and greatest day of the
festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come
to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes
in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within
them.”
We
all experience a deep thirst in our lives. It's not just about physical needs
but something much deeper in our hearts. We often try to satisfy this longing
with things like money, relationships, success, or other pleasures. But no
matter how much we have or achieve, we still feel empty, like something is
missing. This universal thirst is not a flaw in our design, but it’s meant to
point us to our true Savior. In today’s passage, Jesus gives a powerful
invitation: “If anyone is thirsty, let
them come to me and drink.” May we accept His invitation and experience the
true satisfaction of our souls.
___________
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank You
for calling us to this place today and allowing us to hear Your word and
worship You.
In this time, may
the Holy Spirit grant each of us a humble heart to hear and receive the word of
life.
Through me, may
You proclaim Your word.
Amen.
___________
Look
at verses 25-27.
“At that point some of the people of Jerusalem
began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?”
The people of Jerusalem began asking each other about Jesus.
v27 /
But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know
where he is from.
They believed that no one would know where the Messiah was from.
Jn 7:14, 15 “Not until halfway through
the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews
there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having
been taught?”
Earlier in this chapter, the people attending the festival were amazed
by Jesus’ teaching. They must have already sensed that Jesus was extraordinary.
However, their familiarity with where Jesus came from prevented them from
recognizing Him as the Messiah. They knew Jesus grew up in Nazareth, Galilee,
as the son of Joseph, the carpenter, and assumed He couldn’t possibly be
special.
They thought they knew where Jesus was from, but in truth, they didn’t.
Look at verses 28 and 29. Jesus said,
“Yes, you know me, and you know
where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true.
You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
They did not know Jesus’ true identity. God sent Jesus to this world, and only Jesus knows God.
Their claim also stemmed from a misunderstanding of Scripture.
As with other claims made by those who reject Jesus, this suggestion
contradicts Scripture.
The Old Testament prophets did, in fact, predict where the Messiah would come from. Later, others at the same festival would mention this (John 7:42), though they didn’t realize that Jesus actually fulfilled this requirement.
Here, we see how important it is to know what the Bible says correctly.
In Genesis 3, the serpent subtly changed God's words and cleverly
deceived the woman. When we read Genesis 3 together with the college guys’
group, we didn't immediately realize that the serpent's words were false. Satan
doesn't tempt with 100% lies. If they were entirely false, we wouldn't be
deceived. Satan always uses a half-true, half-false message to deceive. He
cleverly distorts God's Word, using Scripture to create doubt and confusion
about God's intentions.
Look at verse 31.
“Still,
many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he
perform more signs than this man?”
It says that many in the crowd believed in Jesus. However, based on
their question, it seems that they were simply impressed by the miracles Jesus
performed. They were drawn to the signs, but their belief didn’t seem to go
beyond being impressed by His actions.
Look at verses 37-38.
On
the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud
voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living
water will flow from within them.”
The Festival of Tabernacles commemorates the 40 years
the Jews spent in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land after
escaping slavery in Egypt. This festival lasted for 7 days. All Jews had to
live in temporary shelters during these 7 days, celebrating the festival.
The water-pouring ceremony, though not explicitly
commanded in the Scripture, was a well-known and significant tradition of the
Festival of Tabernacles by the time of Jesus.
This ceremony was an act of gratitude and prayer for
rain during the harvest season.
It was also an act of anticipation for the spiritual
rain that God had promised to pour out through the Old Testament prophets.
Zechariah
13:1 “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.”
In other words, through the Festival of
Tabernacles, the Jews expressed gratitude to God for protecting their ancestors
in the wilderness and reminded themselves to rely solely on God. At the same
time, they awaited the promised Messiah from the Old Testament.
Each morning during the Festival of Tabernacles, a
priest would draw water from the Pool of Siloam in a golden pitcher. This water
was carried to the temple and poured out on the altar.
On the last day of the festival, often called
"the greatest day," this water-pouring ceremony reached its climax,
marked by prayers for rain, God’s blessings, and the coming of the Messiah.
It was the last day, the greatest day when Jesus
stood and said in a loud voice,
"Let
anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as
Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."
A person cannot survive more than three days
without water.
Healthy men should drink about 3.7 liters of water
daily, and healthy women should drink 2.7 liters daily.
Imagine a traveler lost in a desert, parched and
desperate for water. As the thirst deepens, death comes closer.
But our thirst isn't just physical. Our souls also
feel thirst. We search endlessly for something to quench our longing, which
could be for wealth, success, love, recognition, and so on.
I was once thirsty for recognition and popularity.
I studied hard to gain approval, worked out diligently, and attended church
every Sunday for worship. The object of my thirst changed over time. I went to
an all-boys’ middle school and high school, and so, after I entered a co-ed
college, my thirst shifted to the desire for attention from girls. However,
this thirst was never completely satisfied. No matter how good my grades were,
how much recognition I received, or how many dates I had with girlfriends,
there was always a sense of emptiness that couldn’t be filled.
In John 4, the Samaritan woman had changed
husbands five times, yet she still did not find satisfaction in her heart.
Why
are we constantly thirsty, and how can we quench this thirst?
In Genesis, God created a man from the dust of the
ground. Then, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man
became a living being (Gen 2:7). This shows that humans are composed of both
flesh and spirit and, importantly, that our life is from God. God created
humans in His image and blessed them. He created the Garden of Eden, a place of
abundance, and entrusted the first man, Adam, to care for it. In doing so, God
granted him complete freedom, except for one command: not to eat from the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil.
As long as Adam remembered his Creator and obeyed
God's word, the right relationship between Creator and creature was maintained.
Through this relationship with God, humans can experience true satisfaction and
joy. However, sin entered the world, and when humanity ate the forbidden fruit,
the relationship between God and humans was broken. This broken relationship
led to the deep spiritual thirst that we experience today.
The main cause of their sin was the desire to be
equal with God. Instead of obeying and following the Creator who gave them
life, the desire to become equal with God introduced sin, shame, and death into
the world.
Through sin, the right relationship with God was
broken, and as a result, we lost the spiritual life that was sustained through
that relationship. After the fall, humanity lost the image of God and has
repeated a history of judging good and evil like God, hating and killing one
another. Driven by fear of death, we attack others first and strive to be
stronger than others. Sin encourages us to love and care for ourselves above
all. Because we love ourselves most, we cannot bear to see others do better than
us. Even if we have a lot, if someone else has more, we are still thirsty.
In John 3, Nicodemus, the greatest elite of his
time, came to Jesus at night. He was wealthy, a teacher of Israel, and
politically powerful. Despite having everything, Nicodemus still felt an
emptiness in his heart, which led him to seek Jesus secretly. This is because
our deepest thirst cannot be quenched by anything the world offers.
Our thirst can only be fully resolved when the
broken relationship with God, caused by sin, is restored. Only through Jesus
can we restore our relationship with God.
Philippians
2:6,7 “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by
taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
Jesus, though He is God, came to this earth in the
flesh. On this earth, He became a friend to the poor and the sick, and in a
world where loving myself is natural, He laid down His life on the cross for
our sins.
To believe in Jesus means to believe that He
conquered the powers of sin and death through his death on the cross for my
sins and resurrection from the dead. This act of sacrifice and resurrection is
the foundation of our faith, as it restores our relationship with God and
grants us eternal life.
Jesus said in verse 38, “Whoever believes in me,
as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
v39 / By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who
believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been
given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
After Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit was given to
believers on this earth. In the Bible, the Holy Spirit is often compared to
water. Just as water cleanses and washes away dirt, the Holy Spirit cleanses
our soul, which has been defiled by sin. Through the work of the Holy Spirit,
we are purified, and our relationship with God is restored.
Titus
3:3-7 “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by
all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated
and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior
appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because
of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the
Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our
Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs
having the hope of eternal life.”
As mentioned earlier, the Festival of Tabernacles was meant to commemorate the 40 years of the Israelites' wilderness journey, during which God dwelt in the Tabernacle and protected them. At that time, the Tabernacle acted as God's temple. Later, the temple in Jerusalem was built, and when Jesus came to the earth, He said,
“Destroy
this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. / But the temple he had
spoken of was his body.” (John 2:19,21)
John 1:14a says, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."
As we learned in last week's sermon, the word ‘dwelling’ means ‘tabernacled.’, which signifies that Jesus Himself is the true temple, the true Tabernacle.
After Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in believers. Just as God had dwelt in the Tabernacle and protected the Israelites in the Old Testament, now the Holy Spirit, through the salvation provided by Jesus, dwells in each of us and protects us. The church and each believer are now the temple of God, where the Holy Spirit dwells.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says,
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
Jesus paid the price for our sins, and for those who believe, He
generously pours out the Holy Spirit. Let's look again at verse 38, “...rivers of living water will flow from
within them.” Imagine that rivers of living water are flowing from within
you. You can no longer be thirsty. When the Holy Spirit, given through Jesus,
dwells within you, the broken relationship with God is restored, and you
experience the true satisfaction that the world cannot offer. You begin to live
a life of eternal life here on earth.
The Jewish people commemorating the Festival of Tabernacles were waiting for the Messiah through the water-pouring tradition. Before them, Jesus declared that He was the Messiah and the living water.
However, opinions about Jesus were still divided. The chief priests and the Pharisees, for example, did not consider Jesus to be the Messiah and claimed He was deceiving the people. Interestingly, in verses 50-51, Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus, appears again. He speaks up against the hypocrisy of the religious leaders who were dismissing Jesus, showing his support for Jesus.
In conclusion, Jesus invites all thirsty souls to come to Him. When we believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and the river of living water satisfies our souls forever. Our thirst can only be eternally quenched by Jesus. As those who have been saved through faith in Jesus, our bodies are now temples where the Holy Spirit dwells. I pray that each day, guided by the Holy Spirit, we may live a life that pleases God and bears the fruit of the Spirit. Amen.
Lord, because of sin, we are all constantly spiritually thirsty. We are
saved from sin only by Your grace, through the cross of Jesus.
I pray that all who are spiritually thirsty may come to You and receive
the living water. I also thank You for sending us the Holy Spirit and being
with us always.
Lord, now we are the temple where Your Spirit dwells. Help us always
remember Your grace and guide us to live holy lives according to the Spirit.
Amen.