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IW101

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”(John 7:37-38 Holman Christian Standard Bible) On each of the seven days of the Feast of the Tabernacles, there was an important water ritual. This ritual commemorated God’s provision of water during Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. Each day of the feast the high priest drew water from the pool of Siloam and carried it back to the temple. Isaiah 12:23 was recited, “Therefor you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation”. The water was poured out as an offering to God. (MacArthur, 2006) Jesus is our living water quenching our thirst at every moment. Just as our physical bodies require water for survival, so too our spiritual needs demand His always giving water. John 8:12 Jesus said to the Pharisees “I am the light of the world. In the court of the women where Jesus spoke these words was a nightly ceremony during the Feast of the Tabernacles. Four giant candelabras were lit. According to MacArthur, one ancient Jewish source stated “there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that did not reflect their light” The lighting of the lights served as a reminder of the pillar of fire which guided Israel in the wilderness. As part of the nightly ceremony, they would dance around the candelabras singing praises. Jesus, unlike the lights that needed to be lit each night, is the light that never stops shining. He lights our path constantly as we pass through this dark world. Darkness disorients man, darkness is a danger, it is lonely and uncomforting. Jesus is directing, He is safety, He is fellowship, and gives us peace.

CH102

The first one that I will discuss is the similarities regarding water. In the Feast of the Tabernacles, the Jews are to pour out water as sacrifices to God. These are specifically to remind them of the water that God gave them from the rock while they were in the wilderness after freedom from slavery in Egypt. In John 7:38, John writes, “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.’[1] I believe that the timing of this is very important. Vernon McGee tells us that on the last day of the festival, the amount of water that was poured out was doubled from the other days.[2] Jesus said this verse on the last day of the festival. I think that He knew the people would be thirsting the most on this day, and that it was also the day which they sacrificed the most water so by default, they would have the most physical thirst. When you are thirsty and someone offers you a drink, you don’t really care about who it is. You will be drawn to it. What the people were not expecting is Christ to offer the water that is salvation thru Him and also the Spirit that would later come to the Jews and the Gentiles after His resurrection.[3]

Second, in the Feast of Tabernacles, there are torches that are lit to remind the Jews of the pillar of light that God used to light the way of the Israelites as they walked in darkness through the wilderness. In chapter 8, Jesus says “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”[4] In Chapter 9, Towns speaks to this and reminds us that Jesus had already given the witnesses to this being true. The Pharisees had challenged this, but Christ reminded them that John, God the Father, Moses, and Himself had already validated it.[5] Morris does a great job reminding us that the term “light” is used in John 23 times. This is more than twice as many as any other book in the entire New Testament.[6] When we all think of turning on a light in a darkened room, we notice how it pierces every stretch of dark. This is a good metaphor for good vs. evil and light vs. darkness.