Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 7:37
In the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
37. In the last day, that great day ] Now on the last day, the great day. This was probably not the seventh day, but the eighth day, which according to Lev 23:36; Lev 23:39; Num 29:35; Neh 8:18, was reckoned along with the seven days of the feast proper. To speak of the seventh day as ‘the great day of the feast’ would not be very appropriate; whereas the eighth day on which the people returned home was, like the first day, kept as a Sabbath (Lev 23:39), and had special sacrifices (Num 29:36-38). In keeping with the solemnity of the day Christ solemnly takes up His position and cries aloud with deep emotion (see on Joh 7:28).
stood ] Or, was standing.
If any man thirst ] The conjectural reference to the custom of pouring water at the Feast of Tabernacles is probably correct. On all seven days water was brought from the pool of Siloam and poured into a silver basin on the western side of the altar of burnt offering, a ceremony not mentioned in O.T. Apparently this was not done on the eighth day. Accordingly Christ comes forward and fills the gap, directing them to a better water than that of Siloam. The fact that the water was poured and not drunk, does not seem to be a reason for denying the reference, especially when we remember how frequently Christ took an external fact as a text (comp. Joh 4:10, Joh 5:17; Joh 5:19, Joh 6:26-27, (Joh 8:12?) Joh 9:39, Joh 13:8; Joh 13:10; Joh 13:12-17; Mar 10:15-16; Mar 10:23-24, &c.). The pouring of the water would be suggestive enough. In such cases there is no need for the analogy to be complete, and in the present case it would add point to the reference that it was not complete. Mere pouring of water could not quench even bodily thirst; Christ could satisfy spiritual thirst. ‘Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.’ Isa 12:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In the last day – The eighth day of the festival.
That great day – The day of the holy convocation or solemn assembly, Lev 23:36. This seems to have been called the great day:
1.Because of the solemn assembly, and because it was the closing scene.
2.Because, according to their traditions, on the previous days they offered sacrifices for the pagan nations as well as for themselves, but on this day for the Jews only (Lightfoot).
3.Because on this day they abstained from all servile labor Lev 23:39, and regarded it as a holy day.
- On this day they finished the reading of the law, which they commenced at the beginning of the feast.
5.Because on this day probably occurred the ceremony of drawing water from the pool of Siloam.
On the last day of the feast it was customary to perform a solemn ceremony in this manner: The priest filled a golden vial with water from the fount of Siloam (see the notes at Joh 9:7), which was borne with great solemnity, attended with the clangor of trumpets, through the gate of the temple, and being mixed with wine, was poured on the sacrifice on the altar. What was the origin of this custom is unknown. Some suppose, and not improbably, that it arose from an improper understanding of the passage in Isa 12:3; With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. It is certain that no such ceremony is commanded by Moses. It is supposed to be probable that Jesus stood and cried while they were performing this ceremony, that he might:
1.Illustrate the nature of his doctrine by this; and,
2.Call off their attention from a rite that was uncommanded, and that could not confer eternal life.
Jesus stood – In the temple, in the midst of thousands of the people.
If any man thirst – Spiritually. If any man feels his need of salvation. See Joh 4:13-14; Mat 5:6; Rev 22:17. The invitation is full and free to all.
Let him come unto me … – Instead of depending on this ceremony of drawing water let him come to me, the Messiah, and he shall find an ever-abundant supply for all the wants of his soul.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 7:37-52
On the last day, that great day of the feast
Jesus the Christ
I.
PROFFERING BLESSINGS.
1. Water for the thirsty (Joh 7:37; Exo 17:6; Num 20:11; Psa 78:15; Psa 78:20; Psa 105:41; Mat 5:6).
2. Usefulness for the believing (Joh 7:38; Pro 4:23; Pro 18:4; Ac Rom 14:7; 1Co 6:20; Jam 3:10).
3. Divine aid for men (Joh 7:39; Isa 44:3; Joe 2:28; Zec Joh 16:7; Act 2:33; Php 2:13).
II. AWAKENING THOUGHT.
1. The prophet (Joh 7:40; Deu 18:15; Deu 18:18; Joh 1:21; Joh 6:14; Act 3:23; Act 7:37).
2. The Christ (Joh 7:41; Mat 16:16; Mar 14:61; Luk 4:41; Joh 1:41; Joh 4:29).
3. The seed of David (.Joh 7:42; Isa 11:1; Jer 33:22; Luk 1:69; Rom 1:3; 2Ti 2:8; Rev 5:5).
III. BAFFLING FOES.
1. Bitter enemies (Joh 7:44; Mat 21:46; Mar 11:18; Luk 19:47; Luk 20:19; Joh 7:19; Joh 7:30).
2. Perplexed officials (Joh 7:46; Mat 7:28; Mat 27:22; Mat 27:24; Mk Luk 23:22; Act 23:9).
3. Raging Pharisees (Joh 7:47; Luk 5:30; Luk 6:7; Luk 7:30; Joh 7:32; Act 23:9). (S. S. Times.)
Jesus the Christ
I. JESUS CLAIM TO DIVINE FULNESS (Joh 7:37-39).
1. It was tabernacles. The last day had come. It was Sabbath. All hearts overflowed with joy. With water from Siloah the priest came, pouring it upon the altar in the presence of all the people. That water was a symbol of salvation (Isa 12:3). Seeing it, Jesus makes, regarding Himself, this proclamation: If any man thirst, let Him come unto Me and drink. How emphatic the word thirst! It means all the needs of the soul and the deep cravings of mankind. The word drink is equally strong. Jesus here offers Himself as a complete satisfaction to man. The claim here set forth is one and the same thing with Isa 55:1. The same person speaks in both places. Jesus thus declares Himself to be God, i.e., the Christ.
2. The same thing is claimed in verse 38. The believer, having received Jesus, becomes himself a fountain of eternal life–rather is he a channel through which the grace of God flows to bless other hearts. This is the effect of the regenerating and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is secured for the sinful world by the atonement of Jesus Christ. The cross has two sides–one turned towards God the Father, reconciling Him to man a sinner; the other turned towards man, securing for him the Holy Ghost. Under these two aspects Christs sacrifice is always presented in the Bible. It is to the last of these that verses 38, 39 refer. Hence Jesus declares Himself the Christ.
II. THE PEOPLE CLAIM JESUS AS CHRIST (verses 40-44).
1. Some declared that He was The Prophet (Deu 18:15). The person here spoken of was held by the Jews to be the coming Messiah Act 3:22-23).
2. Others bolder, pronouncing His name: This is the Christ (verse 41).
3. A third party, while they seemingly rejected Him, bore a testimony to His being the true Messiah (verses 41, 42). He had both the lineage and birthplace which they required to convince them. Only their own ignorance stood in the way. Observe:
(1) It was Christs strong claim regarding Himself that won Him confessors. So in teaching, we must present the truth in strong terms, leaving results with the truth itself.
(2) A little ignorance often prevents men from receiving the gospel (verse 42).
(3) Anything for an excuse is the motto of some persons. The cry now is, He is a Galilean! If not this, then something else, equally untrue.
(4) The plain teaching of the Word is apt to attract the attention of all and cause divisions among the people (verse 43). Nothing is talked about so much as Christianity.
(5) No one can damage the truth, except so far as God gives him permission, and then it is for a wise purpose, as the future will show (verses 32, 44). His hour did come. Then He was crucified. The greatest crime secured the world the greatest blessing!
III. THE OFFICERS CLAIM JESUS AS CHRIST (verses 45-49). Their testimony in His behalf is contained in verse 46. It was the same as saying: His speaking is that of a Divine person. Those hard men, that went to arrest Him, were overcome by the love shown in His speech; by the truth which impressed them; by the persuasion His words carried with them and by His authority as a teacher. These all were so marked that, returning, His enemies had to declare. Never man so spake–none, save God, could show such love, truth, persuasion and authority.
1. These are all divine qualities, man having them in proportion as he is endued with power from on high.
2. The gospel has these four great elements–Love, Truth, Persuasion, and Authority.
3. Those who will not receive the gospel pronounce such testimony as this deception (verse 47). The belief of the humble-hearted is foolishness unto the intellectual-proud (verses 48, 49).
IV. Nicodemus claims Him to be Christ (verses 50-53). The charge against Jesus by the Pharisees was that He claimed to be from God, the true Messiah. Nicodemus virtually said this: You have not disproved this claim; nothing has been done to prove the falsity of Jesus words (verse 51). He might have made His testimony stronger. We must remember that a secret disciple is not bold in word or deed. The reply of the Pharisees was weak, showing that their cause was based on ignorance and prejudice (verse 52). Such is the cause of unbelief to-day. (A. H. Moment, D. D.)
If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink
The thirst of humanity anticipated and met
On the last day of the feast of tabernacles the priests stood near the altar and poured water over it copiously from large capacious vessels. Perhaps the day took its name the great day from that circumstance. It was a symbolical act intended to connect itself with the predictions that in the days of the Messiah God would pour out His Spirit, and was something like a prayer that they might live to see those days and share that blessing. It was our Lords custom to connect His teaching with occurrences before Him, and so, perhaps pointing to that act, He said, If any man, etc., proclaiming His Messiahship.
I. HUMANITY IS THE SUBJECT OF INTENSE SPIRITUAL DESIRES. We know how intense the animal appetite of thirst may become. How terrible it has been in the burning desert or the besieged city i That is here taken to indicate the character of spiritual desire, and is an ordinary rhetorical figure used by our poets and philosophers when they speak of the thirst of gold, ambition, etc. But Christ offers no drink for the appetites or passions.
1. There is the thirst of the intellect–the desire for truth. It is very wonderful how soon the mind of a child will begin to speculate about the mystery of life, of death, of God, and the soul.
2. There is the thirst of conscience in two forms.
(1) There is the consciousness of moral weakness. A man feels the moral obligation he is under, sees the beauty of duty, has a conviction of right, but a sense of infirmity of purpose–makes his strong resolutions and scatters them the next day. And so the moral nature thirsts for strength to perform.
(2) The conscience is burdened by a sense of sin, and yearns for its forgiveness and removal. This has given rise to priests. The people create the priests. No priesthood ever yet originated itself for the purpose of trampling on the people.
3. There is the thirst of the heart: not merely a desire for happiness. You are made for something greater than that. There is a thirst in looking at the dislocation of things around us. What tears of soul bereavement and pain let out the waters of bitterness in times of darkness I So the soul wants something to rest upon, to feel that we are not in a neglected and fatherless world.
II. JESUS CHRIST IN THE GOSPEL MEETS THESE DIVERSIFIED WANTS.
1. Christianity professes to be a revelation of spiritual truth. It interprets nature and adds communications of its own about all that it is necessary for us to know.
2. Christianity meets the thirst of conscience in a special way.
(1) By the revelation of the Person of Christ. The gospel does not come as a system of thought, nor are its preachers philosophers; it presents a Saviour, through whom we may obtain forgiveness of sins.
(2) Connected with this is the mission of the Spirit to renew, to strengthen the will, to purify the affections, to make duty a delight, and bring the whole man into harmony with duty and God (Rom 8:3-4).
3. Christianity meets the thirst of the heart by providing a large measure of rational and manly happiness, and that in two ways.
(1) By the life of faith–faith as a daily habit, looking to God in all things; and along with that it gives spiritual consolation and grace.
(2) By the character it creates and sustains, delivering us from the torments which attend passion, sin, disharmony with God.
III. CHRIST NOT ONLY MEETS THE THIRST OF HUMANITY, BUT IS URGENT TO MEET IT. Let Him come. Do not mystify yourselves with the metaphysics of the Divine decrees. Take Christ in His plain utterances and remember that secret things belong unto God. He says, if any man will, let Him come–believe in His honesty of purpose, and that He means what He says, It is not the will of my Father that one of these little ones should perish. You may perish, but that will be from your own acts, not Gods.
IV. CHRIST IN MEETING THIS THIRST DOES OF SET PURPOSE MAKE US A BLESSING TO OTHERS. Out of Him shall flow, etc. (T. Binney.)
Thirst relieved
A word spoken in season how good it is! Much of the force of an observation depends upon its being well-timed. The orators of Greece and Rome attended to this. But there was One who spake as never man spake, who seized all occasions. Here is an instance of it.
I. THE APPETITE SUPPOSED.
1. Let us account for it. When man proceeded from the hand of God he was a stranger to thirst. He was formed for the enjoyment of God, and God became the source of his enjoyment. Then he was in his element. But sin has removed man from the fountain, and he now wanders through a parched wilderness. My people have committed two evils, etc.
2. Its nature. It includes
(1) Want and emptiness. The mind has an aching void. We might as well expect light in a beam cut off from the sun, the source of all radiance, as expect satisfaction of mind without God.
(2) Restlessness–the fever of the mind. Hence the anxiety of change, seeking rest and finding none.
(3) Misery. Disappointed in the objects of pursuit men turn away in disgust, saying, miserable comforters are ye all. Hence despondency and suicide.
3. Its universal prevalence. It is felt more or less intensely, but none are strangers to it.
(1) The inquiries of men prove this. Who will show us any good.
(2) The pursuits of men prove this. The toils of the studious, the slumbers of the voluptuary, the cell of the hermit, the hoards of the miser, all.say, I thirst.
(3) The regrets of men prove this. Vanity of vanities, etc.
II. THE SATISFACTION PREPARED.
1. The person who offers the refreshment. The eternal Son of God who became man, to die for sin and rise and ascend into heaven to receive gifts for men, even the Holy Spirit. The living water. Christ has the Spirit without measure for the enlightenment and salvation of men. Here is all that can satisfy the thirsty, soul–pardon for the guilty, liberty for the enslaved, peace for the distracted, and finally heaven.
2. The means of getting the living water. Note
(1) the approach of faith, let him come.
(2) The application of faith drink.
III. THE EXTENT OF THE INVITATION. If any man.
1. As to character. There is no description of the persons invited. If any man, be he who he may, whatever his age, country, condition. This is better than any specification of name, for others might bear the same.
2. As to the simplicity of the qualification. All men thirst. Dont say I am not thirsty enough. If you thirst at all you are meant.
3. As to the sincerity of the Inviter. Can we doubt this? Is He not able, and willing to relieve us.
Conclusion:
1. Learn why Christ is imperfectly appreciated–because men do not realize their moral condition.
2. If this is not assuaged here it never will be in eternity. Read the parable of the rich man. (G. Clayton.)
Rivers of living water
1. These words were spoken on the last day of the feast–therefore on the last opportunity for doing good to that multitude. The dispersion of a mighty crowd is always affecting, as we forecast that it is a final parting with some, and see in it a foreshadowing of that last separation. Our Lord was sensitive to such feelings, and could not suffer the vast assemblage to break up without giving them something which might reveal itself in their hearts when far from the excitement of the city.
2. It was the great day, when, after the solemnities of the previous week and their august associations and suggestions, all susceptible souls would be open to elevated thoughts. So Jesus, seizing the moment when the metal was molten to give His own impress to it, cried, If any man, etc.
3. Christs gift is living waters. He speaks to us as subject to desires for which nature has made no provision, and offers Himself as a fountain of relief and eternal satisfaction. His words sweep the entire circle of humanity, for every man thirsts. The only question is, Can His religion do what everything else confessedly fails to do? Yes, said Jesus. The Holy Spirit as given by Him is as rivers of living water, because
I. THE SPIRIT IS THE CHANNEL OF GODS LOVE TO SOULS.
1. Man thirsts for love. It is the nobleness of our nature that food and raiment and gross pleasures do not satisfy it. What makes childhoods blessedness, but that its whole atmosphere is love? Yet how far all human love comes short of satisfying our craving all know. But let a man be thoroughly certified that God loves him to save him, and that every moment he has access to God to tell Him all his griefs, what a river of refreshment must this love prove in his heart.
2. Gods love to us is His love in Christ–love, the most ample in its measure, the most intense in its power, the most complete in its adjustments to our condition. But it is not this love in a book that will give us relief. The testimony of the Book must be transferred to the heart to become a living reality there. The Spirit adds nothing to its dimensions, but makes it approved and accepted to the soul. Divine love is the sovereign element of all blessedness: Christ is the Divine Vessel holding that love which flows over with sweet waters, but it is the Spirit which witnesses of this to the soul.
II. THE SPIRIT IS THE CREATOR OF BLESSED AFFECTIONS IN THE SOUL. Shall be in Him. Man thirsts for an inward blessedness. Not in his circumstances but in his heart, in noble views, pure affections, generous aspirations, lies the true well-being of man. He may have millions and yet be haunted with fears of starvation. He may allow himself every luxury, and yet his soul be a level of monotonous wretchedness. Malignant self-centred passions are the fever of the soul. Place a man amidst the splendours of royalty, and a jealous spirit will make him miserable. It is from a right state of the heart that its blessedness must flow; therefore the true salvation of man is not outward but inward. It has its outward elements in an alteration of mans relation to God; but what were it worth for the outcast to be delivered from his rags and poverty, and be received back if he retained all the evil passions which ruined him? He must become an altered man to become blessed. All experience and Scripture bear witness that this is a work not for man but for the Spirit of God. It is the almighty spirit of love, whose living waters flowing into the heart destroy its bitterness and impurity, and make it a fountain of brightness.
III. THE SPIRIT IS THE POWER OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATION.
1. As the waters of a fountain gush forth by their own pleasure, so do the living waters of spiritual life impart themselves to all around. Every refreshed soul is constituted a well of refreshment, like a fertile spot in the wilderness. How is this done? By the gifts and service which it prompts. Whenever He is in the heart, our families, neighbourhoods, churches will be refreshed. Stagnant waters which have no outlet become corrupt and bitter like the Dead Sea.
2. Man thirsts for successful, useful action. You are not content with the result which your daily calling gives you. Without despising common duties, you feel that you were made for nobler things. Well, the noblest course is open to all. You need not acquire rank or money. If renewed by the Spirit, you can make your course as a shining river. No other life is worth living: all other is vanity and vexation.
3. This blessedness and usefulness must be habitual, a river not a brook. Nothing can be more remote from the true idea of the Holy Spirit than transcient excitement. Conclusion:
1. This gift of the Spirit is acquired by faith. Coming is
believing.
2. This gift assumes different forms in different believers.
3. This gift every believer is bound to use. (J. Riddell, M. A.)
The incident
While the morning sacrifice was being prepared, a priest, accompanied by a joyous procession with music, went down to the pool of Siloam, whence he drew water into a golden pitcher capable of holding three log (rather more than two pints). But on the Sabbath they fetched the water from a golden vessel in the Temple itself, into which it had been carried from Siloam on the preceding day. At the same time that the procession started for Siloam, another went to a place in the Kedron valley, close by, called Motza, whence they brought willow branches, which, amid the blasts of the priests trumpets, they stuck on either side of the altar of burnt offering, bending them over toward it so as to form a kind of leafy canopy. Then the ordinary sacrifice proceeded, the priest who had gone to Siloam so timing it that he returned just as his brethren carried up the pieces of the sacrifice to lay them on the altar. As he entered by the water-gate, which obtained its name from this ceremony, he was received by a threefold blast from the priests trumpets. The priests then went up the rise of the altar and turned to the left, where there were two silver basins with narrow holes–the eastern, a little wider, for the wine; and the western, a little narrower, for the water. Into these the wine of the drink offering was poured, and at the same time the water from Siloam, the people shouting to the priest, Raise thy hand, to show that he really poured the water into the basin which led to the base of the altar As soon as the wine and water were poured out, the Temple music began, and the Hallel (Psa 113:1-9; Psa 114:1-8; Psa 115:1-18; Psa 116:1-19; Psa 117:1-2; Psa 118:1-29.) was sung Salvation in connection with the Son of David was symbolized by the pouring out of water Thus the Talmud says distinctly, Why is the name of it called the drawing out of water? Because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said: With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. We can now in some measure realize the event. The festivities of the week of tabernacles were drawing to a close. It was the last day, that great day of the feast. It was on that day after the priest had returned from Siloam with his golden pitcher, and for the last time poured its contents to the base of the altar; after the Hallel had been sung to the sound of the flute, the people shouting and worshipping as the priests three times drew the threefold blasts from their silver trumpets–just when the interest of the people had been raised to its highest pitch, that from the mass of the worshippers, who were waving towards the altar quite a forest of leafy branches as the last words of Psa 118:1-29, were chanted–a voice was raised which resounded through the Temple, startled the multitude, and carried fear and hatred to the hearts of their leaders. It was Jesus who stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. Then by faith in Him should each one truly become like the pool of Siloam, and from his inmost being rivers of water flow. This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. Thus the significance of the rite, in which they had just taken part, was not only fully explained, but the mode of its fulfilment pointed out. (A. Edersheim, D. D.)
The significance of the incident and Christs use of it
In the latter days of Jerusalem, as we learn from the history of the period, a ceremony was added to those of the ordained feasts of booths, intended, evidently, to commemorate the thirst in the wilderness, and the supply that was provided from the rock in Horeb. On the last day of the feast, towards evening, the priests formed a procession, and, having drawn water from the pool of Siloam, bore it to the Temple, and poured it on the ground, so that it should flow down to the lower streets of the city. This symbol pointed, probably, to Ezekiels grand vision of waters issuing from the Temple, small at first, but rapidly increasing, until they became a river that could not be passed over–a river to swim in. The precession of priests has gone to Siloam and returned to the Temple. They have poured the water from the golden vessel, and a rivulet is making its way along the unwonted channel, forth from the hallowed courts towards the city. The assembled crowds are ranged on either side, watching the progress of the mimic stream. The beams of the setting sun strike the water, where in a hollow it spreads into a pool, and golden glory flashes for a moment from the spot that had been dull dry earth before. The multitude gaze in ignorant superstition; but some of the Lords hidden ones are there, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and spelling painfully out of these dead letters the name of their living Redeemer. Jesus looked on the crowd as they gazed wistfully on the symbolic water. His heart was yearning for them. He knew what was in man: He knew that the Jews made idols of these significant signs, as they made idols of the scriptures which were printed on their clothing. He saw them drinking that which cannot quench the thirst of a soul. He pitied them, and came to the rescue. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The Preachers last sermon for the season
I. THE INQUIRY FOR THE THIRSTY.
1. It is very wide. Any man of all that heterogeneous mass.
2. It is anxiously narrowed down. If–as if He had said the mass of you do not thirst; do any of you thirst? He reads their genera/indifference only too well. Alas I the thirsty are few: self-content possesses the minds of many, and world content steals over others. They are in a desert; no drop of dew falls about them, and the water-bottle has long since been dry; but they are mocked by the mirage, and they put aside their thirst with the fond idea that they can drink to the full.
3. It is painfully clear. The thirsty know what thirst is. It is a self-explaining pain.
4. It is being continually repeated. It is as urgent to day as then.
5. What is this thirst? Nothing actual or substantive; it is a lack crying out of its emptiness. When our system needs drink, a merciful providence creates a pang which drives us to a supply. Thirst rings the alarm bell, and mind and body set to work to supply the demand. It were a dreadful thing if the system needed water and yet did not thirst; for we might be fatally injured before we knew that any harm was happening to us. So with spiritual thirst.
II. THE ONE DIRECTION FOR THE RELIEF OF ALL SUCH THIRSTY ONES. Let him come, etc.
1. Christ who gives the water which quenches spiritual thirst, invites us to Himself personally. What creed you are to believe will do by and by, just now your duty is to come to Christ. At this time Christ had not been crucified, risen, etc., but the text was spoken with a foresight of all that should transpire up to His glorification. Come directly to Him, who by all this has become a fountain of living water–not to creeds, ceremonies, sacraments, priests, services, doings, or feelings. Salvation lies in Him only.
2. All that a sinner wants is to be found in abundance in Him, and all that every sinner wants.
3. In Jesus is a varied supply. The thirst of the soul is not like the thirst of the body which is quenched with one liquid; the soul thirsts for many things–peace in distraction, pardon of sin, purity from pollution, progress ingrace, power in prayer, perseverance; and all this is in Christ.
4. We must come to Christ and bring nothing of our own except our thirst, and that coming is believing.
5. Having come we must drink–the first action of the infant, the easiest act of the man.
III. THE PERMISSION HERE GIVEN FOR THEIR PARTICIPATION.
1. There is no limit as to what thou has formerly done, in the way of sin, unbelief, hardness, denial.
2. There is no limit put as to where thou hast been before. A man went to a merchant to ask the price of a certain article. He then went to others and tried to buy at a cheaper rate, but found that the first had quoted the lowest price. So he went back, but the merchant refused to serve him, not caring for such customers. But if you have been to Moses, to Rome, yea, even to the devil, Christ still says, Come unto Me.
3. There is no limit because of any kind of lack. Some think themselves deficient in tenderness, or penitence, or disqualified by age, poverty, illiterateness. Some are locking the door with the very key that was meant to open it. I am afraid I do not thirst; I have not the sense of need I ought to have; but this means that you are sensible that you are more needy than you think you are. The fact that you need a sense of need proves how horrible is your need. Would you come if you did thirst? Then come and you shall thirst. The more unfit the more you are invited; your very unfitness is your fitness.
4. When Christ says Come nobody else can say Nay.
IV. THE ENTREATY FOR THEIR COMING. Jesus stood and cried. It was the last opportunity, hence the urgency. Surely we ought to entreat Him to let us come. Instead of that we are callous. When a man has charity to give does he entreat people to accept it? How strange that you should be so unwilling and Christ so anxious! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The great invitation
I. WHO THEY ARE WHO ARE INVITED. The thirsty.
1. In all thirst there is
(1) A sense of want. Every man is sensible that he is not self-sufficient.
(2) Desire of supply. The soul of man is ever desiring.
2. The object of this thirsting
(1) The end where the soul may rest, and that is happiness. For this every man thirsts.
(2) The means leading to the end. He that desires refreshment, desires also to drink, though he may by ignorance take a cup of poison.
3. There is a two-fold thirst
(1) Natural and common to all men. It is as natural for a man to desire happiness as it is for him to breathe. But men miss the way and seek it in the world, and hence, disappointed, say, Who will show us any good?
(2) Supernatural, experienced by those only whose heart God hath touched. My soul thirsteth for the living God. There is no happiness unless this is satisfied.
II. TO WHAT THEY ARE INVITED.
1. To come to Christ, i.e., to believe on Him (Joh 7:33). Unbelief is a departing from the living God: faith is coming back.
2. To drink, i.e., to actually make use of Christ for the supply of this need. This points out three things in Christ.
(1) The fulness of Christ for needy sinners.
(a) In Him there is a fulness of merit to take off the fulness of our guilt.
(b) A fulness of the Spirit to take away the power of sin, and to actuate us in all good.
(c) A fulness of grace.
(2) The suitableness of Christ. In Him there is a remedy for every disorder.
(3) His satisfactoriness. This drinking also implies three things in us.
(a) The soul going out for a supply of its particular wants, renouncing all confidence in itself or any creature (Jer 17:5).
(b) The souls going out in desire after supply from Christ upon His invitation.
(c) Believing application of Christ to the soul in
(i) catching hold of the promise suited to our case.
(ii) Venturing our case upon the promise and proposed supply.
(iii) Confidence in Christ answering our necessities.
III. MOTIVES FOR ACCEPTING THE INVITATION.
1. The supply of the needs of sinners is the great end of the mystery of Christ.
2. He is able to supply all needs however great they may be. Christ is a fountain that is never dry. The creatures are broken cisterns and soon exhausted.
3. Consider your need of Him.
4. If you come now you will drink of the rivers of Gods pleasures for evermore. (T. Boston, D. D.)
We must drink in the gospel
A celebrated minister was once taken ill, and his wife requested him to go and consult an eminent physician. He went to this physican, who welcomed him very heartily. The minister stated his case. The doctor said: Oh it is a very simple matter, you have only to take such and such a drug and you will be right. The patient was about to go, but the physician pressed him to stay, and they entered into pleasant conversation. The minister went home to his wife and told her what a delightful man the doctor had proved to be. He said, I do not know that I ever had a more delightful talk. The good man is eloquent, and witty, and gracious. The wife replied, But what remedy did he prescribe? Dear, said the minister, I quite forgot what he told me on that point. What? said she, did you go to a physician for advice, and came away without the remedy? It quite slipped my mind he said, the doctor talked so pleasantly that his prescription has quite gone out of my head. You must receive Christ by faith. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ a Divine Fountain
If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. What man would dare to say of merely physical things, If any man lacks knowledge, let him come unto me. Neither Humbolt, nor Liebig, nor Agassiz would dare to say this, even of the departments in which they are pre-eminent, how much less of the whole range of learning! yet Christ, disdaining physical things, appeals at once to the soul with all its yearnings, its depths of despair, its claspings–like a mother feeling at midnight for the child whom death has taken–its infinite outreachings, its longings for love, and peace, and joy, which nothing can satisfy this side of the bosom of God, and says, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He stands over against whatever want there is in the human bosom, whatever hunger there is in the moral faculties, whatever need there is in the imagination, and says, He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst. (H. W. Beecher.)
The gospel a general offer of grace
I was travelling some time ago, and I had a little child with me, and I was not acquainted with the law of the railroad respecting children, but I happened to see this announcement, All children under five years of age free. I did not ask any questions. My child was under five. Neither did I buy a ticket. I took the announcement to mean what it said, and did not pay a halfpenny. (D. L. Moody.)
We must feel our need of Christ before we come to Him
Suppose a man were to call upon the physician and say, Well, sir, I want your services. Are you sick? says the physician. No; not that I know of. What, then, do you want of me? Oh! I want your services. But what for? The man makes no reply. Are you in pain? No. Is your head out of order? No. Nor your stomach? No; I believe not. I feel perfectly well; but still I thought I should like a little of your help. What would a doctor think of such a case as this? What must Christ think of those that ask His help, not feeling that they really need it? (H. W. Beecher.)
The thirsty should drink
During a revival in a town in Ohio, a man who had been very worldly minded was awakened, but for some time concealed his feelings, even from his wife, who was a praying woman. She left him one evening in charge of his little girl of three years of age. After her departure his anxiety of mind became so great that he walked the room in his agony. The little girl noticed his agitation, and inquired, What ails you, pa? He replied, Nothing, and endeavoured to quiet his feelings, but all in vain. The child looked up sympathizingly in his face, and inquired, with all the artlessness and simplicity of childhood, Pa, if you were dry, wouldnt you go and get a drink of water? The father started as if a voice from heaven had fallen on his ear. He thought of his thirsty soul famishing for the waters of life; he thought of that living Fountain opened in the gospel; he believed, and straightway fell at the Saviours feet. From that hour he dates the dawning of a new light, and the beginning of a new life.
The patience of Christ
It was the last day of the feast of tabernacles. It was the eighth day which was spent as a Sabbath, but the Saviour did not cease to preach because the festival was almost over. Till the last day He continued to instruct, to invite, to entreat. It is but one instance out of many of the Saviours pertinacity of lovingkindness. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Faith is easy
Drink! That is not a difficult action. Any fool can drink; in fact, many are great fools because they drink too much of poisonous liquors. Drink! Thou canst surely do that. Thou hast only to be as a spunge that sucks up all that comes near it. Put thy mouth down and suck up that which flows to thee in the river of Christs love, open wide thy soul and drink in Christ, as the great northern whirlpool sucks in the sea. If any man thirst let him receive Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The spirit dwelling in, and flowing from, the Christian man
Now was the time of the autumn heats. The effects of the harvest rains had long passed. The crops were just removed from the face of the ground. Above was the burning Syrian sun. Beneath–as with us, now–was the scorched and arid soil. All was dust, and weariness, and heat. It was the time of a great festival–the great autumnal feast of tabernacles, commemorative of the fruits of the earth now gathered in.
I. Here you may observe we have AN INVITATION–Jesus stood, and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let Him come unto Me, and drink.
1. There seems to me something emphatic in that word, stood. It expresses in a teacher the attitude of prominence, energy, aggression. It was well suited to High, who, as tie was there placed amidst that perishing throng, came to seek, and to save that which was lost.
2. And the voice is still more marked than the attitude. Jesus stood and cried. This term is applied to those who arc labouring under some strong passion or affection of the mind, whether of grief, fear, desire, or other. Here it expresses earnestness and energy. At least, let ministers shew by their manner that they have a deep interest in the salvation of those they address.
3. But from the attitude, and the voice, turn we to the words themselves, to the gracious invitation of the Lord. Whom does He address? Those who thirst. A large class, as many will testify. For they who thirst include all who are not satisfied.
(1) There, for example, are they who are disappointed. On them life opened fairly and brightly, but its horizon became overcast. Full of joyous anticipation they sprang forward with alacrity in the race of life. But unlooked for difficulties arose, They experienced treachery and falsehood. Life to them lost its charm. They found not what they sought. They thirsted, but were not satisfied.
(2) Then there are the prosperous who cannot be satiated with prosperity. In their fulness they are empty; in their joyfulness they are sad; pleasure pleases not; slumber soothes not.
(3) And there are those, too, who, having tried to slake the thirst of their undying souls with dying things, and discovering their error, are now seeking in things heavenly, unfailing sources, and perennial fountains. These do not, now, thirst for the creature. They have found out their error, and plainly see that the creature cannot satisfy. Now to these, and to all others, unsatisfied, anxious, craving, desiring, thirsting, Jesus cries, Come unto Me, and drink. And it is thus that Jesus meets the cravings of our humanity; His providence supplies our bodily wants. As thy day, so shall thy strength be. In the same way mans intellect meets in his God, that on which it can repose. Who should satisfy mind but He who made mind! But, oh! the storms and tempests of thought! Then there is the way in which the Saviour meets mans spirit. The heart of man must have something whereon to repose, something to love, something wherewith to sympathize. The Saviour in His humanity here meets the heart of man.
II. Nor must we omit to notice THE EXTENT OF THE LORDS INVITATION–Any man. If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.
III. Having thus spoken of this invitation of our Lord, we have now to notice HIS PROMISE, WITH JOHNS COMMENT THEREON.
1. Water. Refreshment and purification are presented to us in this figure.
2. Living water. Not stagnant, much less putrescent. Life belongs to the Christian; and this life he must seek to impart to others.
3. Rivers of living water. Here are presented to us ideas of depth, copiousness, perpetuity. Eternal life in believers is not to be scant, or shallow. A joyous and abounding river, it is to flow with waters exuberant and vivifying to all around.
4. They are flowing waters. Out of Him shall flow rivers. The Spirit which God has given is not to be restrained.
IV. But in WHAT MANNER may this water of the Spirit in a man be said to flow out of him?
1. One main method of the manifestation of the Spirit has already been alluded to–by the words of our mouth. But we would not restrain the symbol of these flowing waters only to a mans words.
2. His actions also may be included. The Christians life should be a continual call to turn from the path of death.
3. Influence we would also name as another most effective mode of making these waters flow to the benefit of our fellow-men. Influence! Influence voluntary, and involuntary! How wide its extent, and how incalculable its power!
V. We have expounded and illustrated the text. Let us conclude by some INSTRUCTIONS drawn from it.
1. See the diffusive character of the dispensation of the gospel I A man is not made partaker of the Spirit of God for His own mere individual salvation, but for the salvation of others also.
2. But let us be careful to avoid a common error. The water of life must be put in us for our own salvation before it can flow out of us for others good. It is not like the spiders web which she spins out of herself.
3. But how encouraging the promise, He that believeth on Me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water. Christ here expressly declares that if we believe on Him we shall be made partakers of His Spirit.
4. Holy gracious the invitation! If any man thirst let him come unto Me, and drink. If our lips are to feed others, those lips shall themselves be first fed.
5. Contrast here these living waters of the soul with that perishing water of Shiloah of the ceremonial before alluded to. Here is the contrast between religion spiritual and religion ceremonial–between sacraments (or signs) and the things by them signified. The Jewish populace saw nothing but the water–heeded for the most part nothing but the ceremony. (M. Brock, M. A.)
The affinity between God and man in regard of mans wants and Gods fulness
1. This saying of our Lords produced among some the conviction that He was the Christ (Joh 7:40-41). We gather from hence that it met some instinct of the human heart. He struck a note which vibrated in their inmost souls. What was the secret of this effect. It was no doubt that many of the audience felt that they were spiritually athirst, that there was a craving in them after light, truth, love which nothing on earth met. They felt that He was making an offer of which hey had need to avail themselves. They are convinced of His claims by offering them exactly what they had felt the want of.
2. In order to the existence of love between two parties, there must be a secret affinity between them in virtue of which one supplies what the other needs. Take the case of friendship between the sexes. The man needs sympathy and confidence, which the woman supplies; the woman needs support, protection, counsel, which it is the mans part to furnish. This principle lies also at the foundation of commercial intercourse. A. produces what B. wants, and B. what A. wants; and this mutual want draws both together. The same mutual interdependence is observable in nature. Plants are fed by the light and air of heaven, and return the perfumes which some of them exhale. It is so with man and God.
I. MAN HAS AN URGENT NEED OF GOD. When this makes itself felt he cries, My soul is athirst for God, and then he is arrested by the offer of the Son of God, If any man thirst, etc. Of course all things need God for their continuance, but man has needs which distinguish him from the inferior creation.
1. His understanding is never satisfied with the truth it contrives to reach.
(1) There is nothing more interesting than discovery. It is as if God had proposed to us in nature and life certain enigmas, and had challenged human ingenuity to the solution of them. But observe how, upon a discovery being made, it loses its interest, and we immediately go in quest of fresh truth. Just as the pleasure of hunting is not derived from the game which is caught, but from the excitement of the pursuit, so with the quest of truth. You see this restlessness in the pursuit of religious as well as scientific truth. The inbred curiosity of the mind, which desires above all to know where it is precluded from knowledge, is the fruitful source of heresies and fantastic speculations.
(2) But is there nothing corresponding to this restless thirst? Is the mind to fret itself for ever and never reach the goal? Is there no highest truth in which the understanding may at length acquiesce? Not so. The Scriptures say that God is Light, and that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. When, therefore, man displays an insatiable desire to know, he should remind himself that God is its only satisfaction, and this Light is to be enjoyed, not by any painful straining of reason, but by entire submission of the will to Gods will.
2. Man craves after Infinite Good.
(1) This is attested
(a) By the mischievous excesses of intemperance. The instinct that prompts man to this is peculiar to him. There is nothing of it among the lower creatures. The real account of it is that by the constitution of his mind man thirsts after a good he finds in no created object. The instinct misdirected by the Fall, goes astray. Having a hungry spirit, he makes a desperate effort to extract from bodily enjoyments what may appease its cravings, but the body, like a people, is impoverished and enfeebled by excessive taxation.
(b) But there are more refined ways in which men endeavour to satisfy this craving. They seek preeminence of ability or position or wealth; the flattering speeches which are a sort of homage to superiority–how dear are these things to the soul! Not that the soul rests on them; having tasted them it immediately craves for new enjoyments, a wider reputation, a higher pre-eminence.
(c) The best of earthly good with which the spirit seeks to satisfy its thirst is human sympathy. It plants for itself a domestic and social paradise, but the trees, alas I like Jonahs gourd, are apt to be smitten. And, independently of this, no mere natural affection can satisfy the craving for love.
(2) But the Creator can satisfy every craving. Do we long after a joyous exhilaration of the Spirit which shall tide us over our difficulties? Be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit. Do we thirst after esteem? Human esteem is but a taper; the real sunlight of the soul is the smile of
Gods approbation. Is pre-eminence our aim? He is the Fountain of Honour. Do we long for sympathy? He is Love.
II. DOES GOD DEPEND ON MAN? Yes, as a field of display for the Divine perfections. God longs to surround Himself with intelligent and joyous creatures to lavish on them the resources of His infinite goodness. Here we may catch a glimpse of the reason why evil was permitted. To be bounteous to creatures retaining their integrity is a very inadequate effect of Gods goodness. Mercy could never have poured itself forth, had there not been vessels of mercy to receive it. And vessels of mercy could never have existed had there been no transgression. We may therefore recognize between God and man a natural reciprocity. He is the only Being who can satisfy the deep wants of the soul. And from His intrinsic goodness He longs to satisfy them. (Dean Goulburn.)
Christ our fountain head
I. CHRIST THE CLOVEN ROCK.
1. The smitten rock. Moses smote and Christ was smitten to save a perishing people.
2. The spring of life flowing therefrom.
3. Its inexhaustible fulness (Joh 4:14). The spring in the desert is now dry.
4. Its wonderful adaptability. Tropical suns cannot evaporate it, nor Polar breezes freeze it. It is adapted to every climate, and wise and foolish, rich and poor, must drink and cleanse themselves here.
II. THE SINNER AND THE FOUNTAIN.
1. The sinner thirsts. Life is a desert, provoking craving for satisfaction.
2. His consciousness of it. Desire for higher, purer experiences will awake in every rational soul. Then do what he will he cannot reason it away.
3. Its evidences. Mans endeavour to find rest somewhere; unnatural activity of mind and body; oft a desperate effort to drown the voice of God.
4. False waters.
(1) Wilful blindness.
(2) So-called innocent pleasures.
(3) Sinful indulgence–Marahs, or Dead Seas.
5. The thirst assuaged.
(1) By recognizing the terrible malady of sin.
(2) By confessing guilt.
(3) By coming to the fountain. The first draught allays the burning fever of the soul.
III. THE BELIEVER AND THE FOUNTAIN.
1. The disciples thirst. Every draught creates a new longing. He thirsts for a sanctified life, for Christian work, for victory over sin, for conformity to Christ.
2. His need for the fountain. Only near the fountain can he live and grow.
3. Its reflecting power. Here he learns to know himself; what he ought to be and what he is.
4. Its purifying power.
5. The visits to that fountain the thermometer of the Christians inner life. (H. Dosker.)
Come and drink
I. THE TIME. The last and great day of the feast when Israels joy, in appearance, was at the fullest, and when there seemed least need of any other joy.
II. THE PLACE. Jerusalem–the Temple. What need of anything else than what the Temple afforded: particularly through the teachings of this feast.
III. THE GIVER. The Son of God, and not merely a prophet, who knew what they needed, and what He had to give; Himself Gods own gift. To Himself He, as ever, turns their eye. Come unto Me. Feasts, altars, sacrifices, doctrines, ceremonies, were all vain.
IV. THE GIFT. Living water; the Holy Spirit; a gift sufficient to fill the soul of the emptiest, and to quench the thirst of the thirstiest, and then to overflow upon others. There are two gifts of God which stand alone in their priceless greatness–the gift of His Son and the gift of His Spirit.
V. THE PERSONS. Not heathen and irreligious, but religious Jews, engaged in Divine worship. Before it was to the Samaritan that He presented the living water. In Rev 22:1-21. it is to Jew and Gentile alike. So also in Isa 55:1-13. But here the thirsty one is the Jew. His rites and feasts cannot quench his thirst, which calls for something more spiritual and Divine. So to those who frequent the sanctuary–who pray and praise outwardly–the Lord now speaks. External religiousness may help to pacify conscience, but it does not confer happiness. Only Christ can do that.
VI. THE LOVE. It is all love from first to last. In love Christ presents the full vessel of living water, and presses to their parched lips. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Christs call to thirsty souls
1. These are bold words, and they would be as false as bold if He who speaks them were no more than man. Shall a mere man presume to invite, not a small number for knowledge and sympathy–that we might understand–but the whole race for the satisfaction of their most vehement and spiritual ideas. The presumption would be as blasphemous as absurd. But He who thus speaks has a right to speak, and is conscious of it.
2. All human desire and need is expressed in the one word thirst. Consider the different kinds of thirst, and see how coming to Christ will satisfy them.
I. The lowest and commonest of all, the thirst for HAPPINESS.
1. A man may come with a desire which is not gracious, but simply natural, since every creature desires to be happy, and which is universal, since no man is perfectly satisfied, and drink the cooling waters of the gospel. Those who limit the invitation to the graciously thirsty undo the grace they seek to magnify, and take all the freeness from the gospel. The words any man shatter such a fancy in pieces. Let him come with the feeling he has. It may be inward disturbance, brooding fear, gnawing heart pain, weariness of disappointment, inner longing–whatever it be he is welcome.
2. If he does not see how Christ can be of any service let him trust Him as he would a man who has the credit of being trustworthy, so far as to try His specific. Two men once followed Jesus because they heard another speak well of Him. They did not know very well what they wanted, so they asked Him about His home. He gave an answer He is giving to all the thirsty, Come and see. They went, and never left Him more.
3. But coming so, a man soon begins to be conscious of higher desires.
II. Thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS. If the desire for happiness is to be fruitful it will and must take this form.
1. A moral creature can never be happy without rectitude. If a man has the feeling let me be happy, but let me enjoy the pleasures of sin, he either does not come or coming does not drink. The thirst therefore continues, and becomes a pain.
2. But to come to the righteous one is to see righteousness and to become conscious of unrighteousness.
3. Can I be right, and How? How can these stains be cleansed? Christ alone can answer these questions, and satisfy this great desire. His blood cleanses. His righteousness avails. It is to be in them as a principle as well as on them as a garment.
III. The thirst for LOVE–the love that shall love us, and the love that shall go out to those who love us. When this desire is fully aroused it will not rest until it finds Jesus Christ. It is but a little way when you can say, He or she loves me, I am loved of husband, wife, parents, friends. This will never satisfy an immortal nature. Take the earthly love that is good and pure. It is the gift of God. Rut that you may have that faculty fully developed take first the love that passest knowledge.
IV. There is a thirst profounder and vaster which Christ alone can satisfy–the thirst for LIFE. The others may be traced back to this. It is the deep organic desire which has been implanted by its Author for its perpetuation. Every man has it. The shrinking from annihilation is instinctive. Out towards the realm of life it stretches imploring hands. But where? Reason cannot demonstrate its existence; imagination cannot find it in her loftiest flight. Philosophy says, You give me no data, and I can give you no conclusion. Ah, yes! no data; for the departed never return. And yet we thirst for them; and, if we are Christians, we are sure we shall see them again. But how? By His word who is the Life, and drinking of Him we live indeed. Any man. That is you. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
I. MAN AS A THIRSTY CREATURE. Every man thirsts.
The souls thirst satisfied in Jesus
1. Constitutionally. Not as accidentally excited, but as made by God to thirst. It is in our nature to thirst.
(1) For life. In deep sorrow we may cry, O that Thou wouldst hide me in the grave! In unrest we may say, I would not live alway. With heaven opened, we may desire to depart and be with Christ. But Satan spake truly, All that a man hath will he give for his life.
(2) For pleasure; according to our idea of felicity and our capacity for bliss. Man is not naturally a lover of misery.
(3) For activity. Men are net naturally lazy.
(4) For society. The results of the solitary system in our prisons show that the desire for association is constitutional.
(5) For knowledge. The subjects upon which we seek information vary; but all men desire to know.
(6) For power, from the moment in which we seize and shake the rattle to the hour in which we dispose of our property.
(7) For the esteem and love of others.
(8) For the possession of objects of beauty.
(9) For God. That this thirst is natural is proved by the fact that religion of some kind is universal. There is not a nation of Atheists.
2. There are derived thirsts, dependent upon the particular condition of the individual, and grafted on the natural thirst. Thus a desire for wealth may arise from a thirst for enjoyment, or power, or honour, or social connections. A thirst for freedom may arise from desire for activity, and for religious unity by desire for religious enjoyment. Any natural thirst creates others.
3. The natural, and many of the artificial, thirsts would have existed had man kept his first estate; but the entrance of sin has produced depraved thirsts. Sin itself is a morbid thirst, and actual sin is the offspring of such thirst (Jam 1:14-15). Covetousness, envy, etc., are depraved thirsts.
4. The return of man to God and his salvation by Christ involve new thirsts. There is the thirst
(1) Of the quickened spirit for particular religious knowledge.
(2) Of the penitent for pardon.
(3) Of the new born for righteousness.
(4) Of the child of God for being filled with all the fulness of God.
5. There are a few facts connected with these thirsts that we may not overlook.
(1) Those thirsts which are natural cannot be evil in themselves; and those which, being artificial, are lawful expansions of the natural are equally good.
(2) The influence of our thirsts is most extensive and important. In some cases our thirst is a ruling passion; but in all cases they govern thought, prompt the imagination, affect the judgment, awaken or quiet the emotions, guide the will, lead to action, and form our characters.
(3) Most potent, therefore, are they. A man is raised or cast down, destroyed or built up by his thirsts.
(4) When a man is sick, he needs not medicine irrespective of its nature, but the specific for his particular disease. Poisoned food is more dangerous than continued hunger. He is blessed, not whose thirsts are for the moment slaked, but whose thirsts are slaked at Divine fountains.
II. JESUS CHRIST AS THE FOUNTAIN OF SUPPLY. Take the invitation in connection
1. With our lawful natural thirsts. We thirst
(1) For continued life, and Jesus says, Come unto Me and drink (1Co 15:21-22; Joh 11:25-26).
(2) For activity, and Jesus says, Come, etc. (Joh 14:12).
(3) For enjoyment, and Christ gives joy in every gift, and promises it in every promise, and makes every duty its instrument (Mat 5:1-8; Joh 16:24; 1Pe 1:8).
(4) For power, and Jesus makes His disciples the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and kings and priests unto God.
(5) For society, and Christ satisfies it (Heb 12:22-23).
(6) For the love of others, and Christ directs streams of kindness to every one who comes to Him by means of His new commandment (Joh 13:34-35).
(7) For knowledge, and Jesus is Himself the Truth, in the knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life (Joh 17:3).
(8) For God, and He manifests Gods name to us, and shows us the Father.
2. If we here speak of depraved tastes, it must be to say that they who thirst morbidly cannot come to Christ and drink; but they may come to Him and be cured of their evil craving. As the thirst of a fever may be removed by a physician, so sinful thirsts may be removed by our Saviour.
3. The thirsts of the returning prodigal and repentant sinner are specially recognized in these words (Psa 51:1; Psa 51:8-9; Luk 18:18; Mar 2:5; Mar 5:34; Joh 8:11).
4. All the thirsts of the God-born spirit are here recognized.
Conclusion: From these words
1. We might preach humanity, and show what is in man. We might exhibit him as a dependent, receptive, desiring being; that he is not like his Maker, self-sufficient.
2. But we will rather preach Christ. Here we see
(1) The knowledge which He had of human nature. He knew the thirsts of the multitude in whose midst He spake.
(2) His recognition of all that pertains to man. His words and works meet most entirely all human needs. They are not like flowers given to the starving,.or gauze raiment to the naked in winter; but like bread to the hungry and clothes to the beggar.
(3) But what must be the resources of one who is justified in speaking thus? Can any individual be a fountain of supply to every man? There is One continually named by the sacred writers who is a Sun, Fire, Door, Rock, Bread, Fountain. To Him, who can be represented by these figures, any man may surely come and drink. No creature imparts all, or even many, kinds of good; but God is the spring of all that is beneficial, and Christ is the manifested God. To how few of our thirsty fellows can any of us say, Come to me and drink? But Jesus says that, and standing in the centre of all time, as in the midst of all men. Did we need proof of the Deity of Jesus Christ we have it here.
(4) But what shall we say of His love? Any man. The man may be Atheist or idolater, broken-hearted because all his cisterns are broken, be conscious that he deserves only to die with thirst; yet Jesus means him.
(5) But the thirsty have to come. The sole condition is coming, and the only limit to the ministrations of the Saviour is our receptivity. (S. Martin.)
Mans thirst quenched by Christ
1. An artist once painted a famous picture for an altar-piece, and called it the Fountain of Life. It represents the Sacrificed Redeemer stretched in His mothers arms. From the rock beneath their feet flow the abundant waters of salvation, which are received into a great cistern. Saints, martyrs, apostles, evangelists, are drinking of the water, or filling their vases and handing them to each other. From the cistern flows a stream into a lower place, where a family of poor, humble people are drinking with grateful looks. Then the stream flows away among meadows, where the little children can reach it, and they are taking up the precious water in their tiny hands, and drinking it with smiling lips. We can all see the meaning of that picture, which tells us that the salvation of Jesus is for all who will accept it, high and low, young and old, rich and poor. (H. J. W. Buxton.)
Christs satisfactions full and real
Not like a shallow brook, that runs in winter and is dry in summer; but a fountain that the frost never binds, and that the hot, thirsty day never drinks dry, that is ever full and ever flowing. In the regions of the burning desert they tell me that skeletons lie thick, not only in the paths to the fountains, but lie ghastly white and withering, with the naked skulls looking over the banks into the very waters. With the tongue cleaving to the roof of the mouth, they press on, guided by the green pasture that lifts its head above the sand, and shows where the fountain is. They drank the water in anticipation, but will they reach it? Alas! with what horror in their eyes they gaze on the empty bed, and fight with man and beast for some muddy drops that but exasperate their thirst! The desert whirls around them; they stagger, they fall; hope expires, and they expire themselves; and by and by the sky drops, lightnings flash, thunders peal, and rain pours down, and the water rises in that fountain, and plays in mockery with the tresses of dead beauty, and kisses the faces of the dead. Such things happen. But see you yen cross standing up yonder? It marks a fountain where never man went in vain. No dead souls lie around that cross. Calvary was once a Golgotha–a place of skulls. It is so no longer. Where men once went to die, men now go to live; and a man never went for mercy there, and for grace to help, and found none. There is now in America a great revival; there was in my own country a great revival. God send us all such revivals I In every church and every country there are times and seasons of revival, when the peace of believers is like a river in glorious flood, rolling beneath bank and ridge; like the sea in a storm, when it sends its waters beyond its common bounds, and overflows the boats that lie highest and driest on the beach. But at all times and in all seasons, I say, that if you will search you will find fulness of mercy to pardon and grace to help in time of need. The supply, in fact, is inexhaustible. I know mountains have been exhausted of their gold, mines of their diamonds, and the depths of ocean of their pearly gems; but the riches of mercy and of grace in Christ are inexhaustible. They are no less to you than to those who went before you, and there will be no less for those who come after you; and when unborn millions have come, and the worlds last man, with a dying sun above him add a reeling earth beneath him, comes up to that blessed Fountain, oh! he will find it as full as it is this day, in its fulness inviting you to wash and be clean, to drink and live, to believe and be forgiven. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
He that believeth on Me
I. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IS INTIMATELY CONNECTED WITH THE WORK OF CHRIST. It is a great pity when persons preach the Holy Spirits work so as to obscure the work of Christ–e.g., by holding up before the sinners eye the inward experience of believers, instead of lifting up the crucified Saviour, to whom we must look and live. It is an equal pity when Christ is so preached that the Holy Spirit is ignored, as if faith in Christ prevented the necessity of the new birth. The two works are so joined together that
1. The Holy Spirit was not given until Jesus was glorified. The original has it simply was not. Of course this does not mean that He was nonexistent, for He is eternal; but that He was not in fellowship with man to the full extent He now is, and could not be till the redeeming work of Christ was finished. You read of the prophets, etc., that the Spirit of the Lord came upon them and moved them, but He did not dwell in them. His operations were a coming and a going. They knew not the communion of the Holy Ghost. But since Christs glorification, the Spirit is in His people, and abides with them for ever.
2. The Holy Spirit was given after the ascension of Christ unto His glory, to make that ascension more renowned. When He ascended on high He gave gifts to men. Those gifts were men in whom the Spirit dwelt, and who preached the gospel to the nations. The shedding of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was the glorification of the risen Christ upon earth. What grander celebration could there have been?
3. The Holy Spirit was given as an evidence of our Divine Masters acceptance, the gift being a consequence of Christs finished work.
4. It is the Spirits work to bear witness of Jesus. He shall take of Mine. Hence He comes to convince of sin, to reveal the sacrifice for sin; of righteousness, that we may see the righteousness of Christ; of judgment, that we may be prepared to meet the Judge. He has not come, and never will, to teach a new Gospel.
5. It is by the gospel of Jesus that the Spirit works in the hearts of men. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
6. The Spirits work is to conform us to the likeness of Christ, not to this or that human ideal.
7. Evermore it is for the glory of Jesus that the Spirit works–not for the glory of a church, or a sect, or a man He shall glorify Me.
II. THE HOLY SPIRITS OPERATIONS ARE OF MARVELLOUS POWER. They are
1. Inward. The rivers are to flow out of the midst of a man, from his heart and soul, not from his mouth; the promised power is not oratory, talent, show.
2. Life-giving living water. When the man speaks, prays, acts, there shall be going out of him emanations which are full of the life of grace and godliness.
3. Plentiful Not a river, but rivers.
4. Spontaneous. Shall flow. No pumping is required–the man does not want exciting and stirring up. Does the sun make a noise that men may be aware of his rising? No, he shines and says nothing about it. So does the Christian.
5. Perpetual: not like intermittent springs.
III. THESE OPERATIONS ARE EASILY OBTAINED.
1. By believing in Jesus. It is faith which gives us the first drink and causes us to live, and the more abundant blessing of being ourselves made fountains come in the same way. With Christ is the residue of the Spirit.
2. By prayer. If ye being evil, etc. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christians are not ponds, but spring-heads
I have heard of William Gadsby, that, travelling on a coach one day, he asked two heretical divines to tell him how a sinner is justified in the sight of God. No, said they, you dont catch us is that fashion. Whatever answer we gave you would be repeated all over Manchester within a week. Oh, he says, then I will tell you. A sinner is justified in the sight of God by faith in the blood and righteousness of Christ. Go and tell that all over Manchester and all over England as quickly as you like; for I believe nothing that I am ashamed of. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Believers are springs of living water
One summer day, a few years ago, strolling for rest and pleasure near the mouth of the Columbia river, where there is a large rise and fall of the tide, I came, at low tide, upon a splendid spring of pure, fresh water, clear as crystal, gushing up from between the rocks that two hours before had formed a part of the rivers bed. Twice a day the soiled tides rise above that beautiful fountain and cover it over; but there it is, deep down under the salt tide, and when the tide has spent its force and gone back again to the oceans depths, it sends out its pure waters fresh and clear as before. So if the human heart be really a fountain of love to Christ it will send out its streams of fresh, sweet waters, even into the midst of the salt tides of politics or business. And the man who carries such a fountain into the days worry and struggle, will come again at night, when the worlds tide has spent its force, with clean hands, sweet spirit and conscience void of offence towards God and man. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Believers have a perennial spring within them
The Christian has a fens perennis within him. He is satisfied from himself. The men of the world borrow all their joy from without. Joy wholly from without is false, precarious, and short. Like gathered flowers, though fair and sweet for a season, it must soon wither and become offensive. Joy from within is like smelling the moss on the tree, it is more sweet and fair, and I must add that it is immortal. (H. G. Salter.)
As the Scripture hath said.
The reference is not to any one isolated passage, but to the general tenor of such passages as Isa 58:11;Zec 14:18, taken in connection with the original image Exo 17:6; Num 20:11). (Bp. Westcott.)
Out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water
Water an emblem of the Spirit
Why has He called the grace of the Spirit by the name of water? Because by water all things subsist; because of water are herbs and animals created; because the water of the showers comes down from heaven; because it comes down one in form, yet manifold in its working. For one fountain watered the whole of the garden Gen 2:10), and one and the same rain comes down upon all the world; yet it becomes white in the lily, and red in the rose, and purple in the violets and pansies, and different and varied in each several kind; so it is one in the palm tree, and another in the vine, and all in all things; being the while one in nature, not diverse from itself; for the rain does not change, when it comes down, first as one thing, then as another, but adapting itself to the nature of each thing, which receives it, it becomes to each what is suitable. Thus also the Holy Ghost being One, and of one Nature, and undivided, divides to each His grace according as He will, and in the name of Christ works many excellencies. For He employs the tongue of one man for wisdom; the soul of another He enlightens by prophecy; to another He gives power to drive away devils; to another He gives power to interpret the Divine Scriptures. He invigorates one mans self-command; He teaches another the way to give alms; another He teaches to fast and exercise himself; another He teaches to despise the things of the body; another He trains for martyrdom: diverse in different men, yet not diverse from Himself (Joh 4:14; Joh 5:4; 1Co 12:11). (S. Cyril.)
The abundance and vitality of the Spirits operations
Rivers, not river, to show the copious and overflowing power of grace; and living water, i.e., always moving; for when the grace of the Spirit has entered into and settled in the mind, it flows freer than any fountain, and neither fails, nor empties, nor stagnates. The wisdom of Stephen, the tongue of Peter, the strength of Paul, are evidences of this. Nothing hindered them; but like impetuous torrents they went on, carrying everything along with them. (Chrysostom.)
Diversity of the Holy Spirits operations
There is one Spirit, but divers operations; one fountain, many rivers. Moses mighty in miracle, Isaiah glorious in prophecy, apostles convincing in eloquence, Paul powerful in reasoning. A Howard for benevolence, a Luther for reformation, a Calvin for theology, a Huss and a Jerome for martyrs. No place having one believer is without a living well. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The Holy Ghost was not yet given.–The addition of the word given expresses the true form of the original, in which Spirit is without the article. When the term occurs in this form, it marks an operation or manifestation, no gift of the Spirit, and not the personal Spirit (comp. Joh 1:33; Joh 20:22; Mat 1:18; Mat 1:20; Mat 3:11; Mat 12:28; Luk 1:15; Luk 1:35; Luk 1:41; Luk 1:67; Luk 2:25; Luk 4:1). (Bp. Westcott.)
Because that Jesus was not yet glorified (comp. Joh 16:7; Joh 20:17). The necessary limitations of Christs historical presence with the disciples excluded that realization of His abiding presence which followed on the Resurrection. It is impossible not to contrast the righteousness of this utterance with the clear teaching of St. John himself on the unction of believers (1Jn 2:20, etc.), which forms a commentary gained by later experience upon the words of our Lord. (Bp. Westcott.)
The fulness of the Spirit the gift of the glorified Christ
The Holy Ghost was not yet with men in such fulness of influence on their minds, hearts, and understandings, as the Spirit of adoption and revelation, as He was after our Lord ascended up into heaven. It is as clear as daylight, from our Lords language about the Spirit, in Joh 14:16-17; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7-15, that believers were meant to receive a far more full and complete outpouring of the Holy Spirit after His ascension than they had received before. It is a simple matter of fact, indeed, that after the Ascension the apostles were quite different men from what they had been before. They both saw, and spoke, and acted like men grown up, while before the Ascension they had been like children. It was this increased light and knowledge and decision that made them such a blessing to the world, far more than any miraculous gifts. The possession of the gifts of the Spirit, it is evident, in the early Church was quite compatible with an ungodly heart. A man might speak with tongues and yet be like salt that had lost its savour. The possession of the fulness of the graces of the Spirit, on the contrary, was that which made any man a blessing to the world. (Bp. Ryle.)
The glorification of Christ
This is the first distinct reference to the glorification of our Lord. The conception is characteristic of this Gospel Joh 1:14; Joh 2:11), and includes in one complex whole the Passion with the triumph which followed. Thus St. John regards Christs death as a victory (Joh 12:32), following the words of our Lord, who identified the hour of His death with the hour of His glorification (Joh 12:23, etc.). In accordance with the same thought, Christ spoke of Himself as already glorified when Judas had gone forth to his work (Joh 13:31); and so He had already received His glory by the faith of His disciples before He suffered (Joh 17:10). In another aspect His glory followed after His withdrawal from earth (Joh 17:5; Joh 16:14).:By the use of this phrase the Evangelist brings out clearly the absolute Divine unity of the work of Christ in His whole manifestation (1Jn 3:5; 1Jn 3:8; 1Jn 1:2), which he does not (as St. Paul) regard as distinct stages of humiliation and exaltation. (Bp. Westcott.)
The Holy Spirit must be received by us
The sea enters into the rivers before the rivers can enter into the sea. In like manner God comes to us before we can go to Him, and heaven enters into our souls before we can enter into heaven. (Drelincourt.)
The Holy Spirit sustains the inward life of believers
Grace in the saints is not like light in the sun, that springs from itself, but like the light of a lamp that is constantly fed with supplies of oil, otherwise the weak light will faint and die. (H. G. Salter.)
Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet
Christ the Prophet
I. HIS FITNESS AS A PROPHET.
1. Foretold (Deu 18:15; Joh 1:45).
2. Typified (Deu 18:18; Act 3:22).
3. Anointed (Isa 61:1; Luk 4:17-21).
4. Competent (Mat 11:17; Joh 3:2; Joh 3:34).
5. Faithful (Joh 8:26; Joh 8:28; Joh 12:49-50).
6. Wise (Luk 2:40; Luk 2:47; Luk 2:52; Col 2:3).
7. Mighty (Mat 13:54; Luk 4:32).
8. Meek (Mat 11:29; Mat 12:17-20).
9. Sympathetic (Heb 2:18; Heb 4:15).
II. HIS TREATMENT AS A PROPHET.
1. Rejected by His own people (Joh 1:11).
2. Rejected at His own home (Luk 4:28-30).
3. Rejected before Pilate (Joh 18:39-40).
4. Followed by multitudes (Mat 5:1; Joh 6:2).
5. Believed by many (Joh 4:41-42; Joh 17:8).
6. Trusted by some (Act 7:59; 2Ti 1:12).
7. Commended by some (Joh 1:26-27; Joh 1:45).
8. All should hear (Deu 18:15; Deu 18:18; Heb 2:2-3).
9. All should trust Him (Psa 37:5; 1Pe 5:7).
III. His LESSONS AS A PROPHET.
1. On sinfulness (Joh 3:18-19; Joh 15:22).
2. On salvation (Joh 3:16; Joh 5:24).
3. On judgment (Mat 25:31-32).
4. On reward (Joh 6:47; Mat 25:34).
5. On penalty (Mat 25:41; Mat 25:46).
6. On heaven (Joh 14:2-3; Mat 22:30).
7. On victory (Luk 12:32; Mat 10:22). This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him Mat 17:5). (Sunday School Times.)
Christ the cause of division
Even when Jesus preached so sweetly His meek and loving doctrine there was a division among the people (Joh 7:43). Even about Himself there was a schism. We may not, therefore, hope to please everybody, however true our teaching or peaceful our spirit.
I. THERE WAS A DIVISION AMONG THE NEW DISCIPLES. We may view the parties formed in His day as symbolical of those in our own.
1. Some admitted none of His claims.
2. Others admitted a portion, but denied the rest.
3. Certain admitted His claims, but neglected to follow out the legitimate consequences of them.
4. A few became sincere hearers, going as far with Him as they had yet learned of Him. Let us view persons who have thoughts about Jesus with considerable hope. Though they blunder now, they may yet come right. Let us not frighten away the birds with imprudent haste. Let us pray for those who deny His claims, and resist His kingdom. Let us aid those who come a little way towards the truth, and are willing to go all the way if they can but find it. Let us arouse those who neglect holy subjects altogether,
II. THERE WAS A DIVISION OF BELIEVERS FROM NON-BELIEVERS. This is a great and wide difference, and the more clearly the division is seen the better; for God views it as very deep and all-im- portant. There is a great division at this present hour
1. In opinion; especially as to the Lord Jesus.
2. In trust; many rely on self; only the godly on Jesus.
3. In love. Differing pleasures and aims prove that hearts go after different objects.
4. In obedience, character, and language.
5. In development, growth, tendency.
6. In destiny. The directions of the lines of life point at different places as the end of the journey. This cleavage divides the dearest friends and relatives. This is the most real and deep difference in the world.
III. YET WHEN FAITH COMES, UNITY IS PRODUCED. There is unity among the people because of Him.
1. Nationalities are blended. Calvary heals Babel.
(1) Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ.
(2) The near and the far-off as to spiritual things are brought nigh in Him, who is the one and only centre of grace and truth.
(3) Believers of all nationalities become one Church.
2. Personal peculiarities cease to divide.
(1) Workers for Christ are sure to be blended in one body by their common difficulties.
(2) Position, rank, and wealth give way before the uniting influence of grace.
3. Mental specialities feel the touch of unity. Saints
(1) of varying creeds have an essential union in Christ;
(2) of all the changing ages are alike in Him;
(3) of all styles of education are one in Him;
(4) in heaven will be many as the waves, but one as the sea.
Ambitions, which else would disintegrate, are overcome, and laid at Jesus feet. Let us divide, if there be a division. Let us closely unite, if there be real union in Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Division of feeling and opinion about Christ
Here we see our words literally fulfilled. He did not bring peace, but division (Luk 12:51). It will always be so as long as the world stands. So long as human nature is corrupt Christ will be a cause of division and difference among men. To some He is a savour of life, and to others of death. Grace and nature never will agree any more than oil and water, acid and alkali. A state of entire quiet, and the absence of any religious division, is often no good sign of the condition of a Church or a parish. It may even be a symptom of spiritual disease and death. The question may possibly be needful in such cases, Is Christ there? (Bp. Ryle.)
Various opinions
We often speak of the great changes and revolutions which have occurred in the world. But through the long series there may be traced much that is permanent, so that probably uniformity is as truly the characteristic of human history as variety. It may, e.g., be always ascertained that the same principles have pervaded Gods moral government. It may also be perceived that the elements of human character have throughout been the same. Our text, relating as it does opinions of the Jews regarding our Lord, will give us opportunities of observing this sameness in particular cases. We may be compelled to say that men are what they were eighteen hundred years back, on discovering that modern indifference and unbelief borrows from ancient its form and apology.
I. The first parties introduced are THOSE DISPOSED TO RECOGNIZE CHRIST AS A TEACHER SENT FROM GOD.
1. The cause of this conviction was not any action of Christs, but a saying of His. Then surely the saying must have been one of extraordinary power, some assertion of Divinity, or some verification in Himself of ancient prophecy too complete and striking to be resisted. No; the wonder-working saying was that of Joh 7:37, which the Evangelist thought so obscure as to require an explanation. Yet simple as it seems to us and dark as it seemed to St. John, it succeeded at once in wringing the confession that He was a Divinely-sent Teacher.
2. The saying is one of those gracious invitations into which are gathered the whole gospel. It demands a sense of want, a feeling of thirst, but proffers an abundant supply, and by adding a reference to Scripture, which could only be interpreted of some measure of supernatural influence, our Lord intimated that His promise was a spiritual gift, satisfying desires after God and immortality.. Here is the moral thirst which is not to be slaked at the springs of human science and theology. And as there must have been many in the crowd dissatisfied with the traditions of the elders, and feeling a need of higher teaching, the promise would come home as meeting their wants, and the suitableness of the offer would pass as an argument for Christs Divine mission.
3. There is no difference here between past days and our own, for the argument is but that based on the self-evidencing power of the Bible. A religion may commend itself either by prodigies wrought in its support, or by the nicety, with which it fits in to the mental and moral constitution, to the wants and cravings of a soul which sought in vain everywhere else for supply. And this latter is the standing witness for the Bible. The sinner, conscious of exposure to the wrath of God, and of inability to ward off destruction, will find in Christ the Saviour he needs, and in the aid of the Spirit the help he wants, so that there will seem to him no room for doubt as to the truth of the gospel.
II. Mix again with the crowd and hearken to SOME OTHER OPINIONS.
1. Those who are inclined to conclude that Jesus is the long promised Christ, find themselves met with objections, formidable because professedly grounded on Scripture (verse 42). There is no attempt to depreciate Christs teaching, but there was a fatal argument deduced from prophecy which has expressly fixed the birthplace and lineage of Christ. But this is one of the most surprising instances of ignorance or inattention, if we may go no further. It is hardly possible to imagine a fact more readily ascertainable than that our Lord was born at Bethlehem, and was of the lineage of David; for the massacre of the innocents had made His birth so conspicuous, and now there was no one left but our Lord who could prove Himself to have been born at Bethlehem on the expiration of Daniels week of years. Therefore either He was the Messiah, or prophecy had failed. Yet so great was the popular indifference or prejudice, that a statement seems to have gone uncontradicted that the pretended Messiah was a Galilean. He passed as Jesus of Nazareth, and this was proof that He was not born in Bethlehem; and men were so glad of some specious excuse for rejecting Him, that they made this shallow falsehood a pretext for rejecting Him. It looked very fine to have Scripture on their side; the devil used the Bible in tempting Christ, and they could now use it in justifying their unbelief. The
Sword of the Spirit, like every other, may be used for suicide as well as for war.
2. The like of this is of frequent occurrence amongst ourselves. What is that scepticism which is often met with among the boastful and young? Is it the result of careful investigation? No. The fashionable young man, the orator at some juvenile literary club, gets hold of some objection against Christianity which has a specious sound and formidable look–all the better if it come out of the Bible, in the shape of an alleged contradiction and this is enough; he has his Shall Christ come out of Galilee? and with so decisive an argument, why should he trouble to search further? This is our quarrel with him. He wishes to continue deceived. The sceptic, like the Jew, has only to look around him and he would find that Jesus did not come out of Galilee, but out of Bethlehem. God suffered infants to be slain that Jewish unbelief might be inexcusable, and He has raised up giants in His Church whose writings render modern unbelief the same. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The wonderful nature of Christs teaching
His mode of speaking is like that of a prince, who, having been educated in a splendid court, could speak with ease of many magnificent things, at the sudden view of which a peasant would be swallowed up in astonishment, and would find himself greatly embarrassed in an attempt to explain them to his equals at home. (P. Doddridge, D. D.)
Then came the officers.–It is not clear what interval of time elapsed between Joh 7:32, where we read that the officers were sent by the priests to take our Lord, and the present verse, where we are told of their coming back to their Master. At first sight, of course, it all happened in one day. Yet, if we observe that between the sending them to take our Lord and the present verse there comes in the remark- able verse, In the last day, that great day of the feast, it seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that an interval of two or three days must have elapsed. It seems highly probable that the officers had a general commission and warrant to take our Lord prisoner, whenever they saw a fitting opportunity, about the fourth day of the feast. They found, however, no opportunity, on account of the temper and spirit of the crowd, and dared not make the attempt. And at last, at the end of the feast, when the multitude was even more aroused than at first by our Lords open testimony, they were obliged to return to those who sent them, and confess their inability to carry out their orders. (Bp. Ryle.)
The return of the bailiffs
I. THE MAJESTY OF JESUS CONFESSED (Joh 7:47). One almost wishes that the officers had been more specific. Perhaps it was the same qualities that had affected Christs listeners from the first.
1. Openness (Joh 7:26). No greatness, criticism, danger, daunted Him. Before the hierarchs (Joh 18:20), the hostile mob (Joh 18:5), and Pilate (Joh 18:33), He was ever the same resolute and outspoken preacher of the truth.
2. Authority. There was not a solitary realm in which He did not reign supreme–the kingdom of nature (Mat 8:26; Mat 14:32), the world of humanity (Mat 8:8), the empire of devils (Mar 1:27; Luk 4:36),the region of the dead (Mat 9:25; Luk 7:15; Joh 11:44), the innermost domain of the conscience (Joh 8:9).
3. Graciousness (Luk 4:22).
II. THE FRIENDS OF JESUS SILENCED.
1. The bailiffs rebuked (Joh 7:47-49). They were reminded that they were only menials, who had no right to think, etc.; hearing which, no doubt, crestfallen, they slunk away; let us hope rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Him (Act 5:41) and following up the favourable impression.
2. Nicodemus put down (Joh 7:50-52). The Sanhedrists could not frown at him as ignorant of the law (Joh 7:51), but they could sneer at his sympathy with the Galilean Preacher, and stopped his mouth by delicately hinting that he was growing old and did not know his bible as accurately as he should (Joh 7:52). Exactly so have Christs champions in all ages been treated.
III. THE ENEMIES OF CHRIST HARDENED. The hierarchs, determined on Christs removal, are henceforth impervious to everything advanced in His favour. The light that was in them became darkness. Lessons:
1. The power of Christs words over honest and sincere hearts.
2. The doctrine of Christ an argument for His divinity.
3. The superior religious instincts of the masses as distinguished from the classes.
4. The certainty that Christ and His cause will never lack defenders.
5. The downward course of those who wilfully oppose Christ. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Opposition to the truth
I. GENERALLY SERVES TO ELICIT THE MOST IMPORTANT TESTIMONY IN ITS BEHALF. The officers could have no possible interest in Christ, but were, if anything, prejudiced against Him. Hence their testimony was disinterested. It was
1. To the justice of His claims as a Divine messenger. Unless aided by Divine influence, there was the difficulty the Jews themselves started (Joh 7:15).
2. To the earnest persuasiveness of His manner. He spoke the truth, but in love. He concealed nothing to soften prejudice, but clothed warnings, etc., so as to win conviction (Joh 7:46).
3. To the force of His reasoning on conscience. What but this could have induced the officers to risk disapproval?
II. GENERALLY IGNORES MANS RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS BELIEF (Joh 7:48). We are told that we are not competent to judge for ourselves, and therefore should believe what our superiors bid. Some submit from indolence; others for the sake of a good appearance, willing to be damned for fashions sake, and to go to hell out of compliment to the scribes and Pharisees; others from policy. How is it that so many of the great ones are arrayed against the truth? Because
1. It is independent of their patronage.
2. It is indifferent to their prejudices.
3. It promises no worldly rewards. Hold to your personal responsibility.
III. Is ESPECIALLY CAREFUL TO CONSERVE ADVENTITIOUS DISTINCTION (Joh 7:48-49). Truth is levelling in its influence. It debases the great and exalts the humble. It destroys caste. Error, on the other hand, preserves it, for it is essential to its continuance.
IV. FREQUENTLY CALLS OUT THE SYMPATHIES OF ITS SECRET DISCIPLES (Joh 7:50). If we resolve never to do less for Christ than Nicodemus did, we shall be of service. Whatever we are not able to do, we can prevent a vote of censure on Christ unanimously.
V. IS GENERALLY MARKED BY RIDICULE INSTEAD OF ARGUMENT (Joh 7:52). This method is often successful, or it would not be employed. Truth revolts from levity.
VI. IS GENERALLY CONDUCTED IN VIOLATION OF EVEN ITS SELFCONSTITUTED STANDARDS. These men, who professed to go by the law and sneered at the people as ignorant of it, were themselves convicted of violating it (Deu 19:15-18).
VII. WILL FINALLY BE SILENCED AND OVERCOME. The assembly, unable to answer Nicodemus, broke up with every mark of haste and confusion. (J. W. L. M.)
The officers answered, Never man spake like this man
The circumstance
Our Lords ministry was now nearly completed; the effects of His example and preaching were so manifesting themselves that the Sanhedrim had become desperate. The prey was about to slip from their grasp, and they must either lose their position or silence the Preacher. They accordingly sent their officers to apprehend Him. They were accustomed to obey such orders, and were selected because naturally possessed of more firmness than sensibility, and because the more insensible by having practised the duties of their office. Like other Jews, they had heard much preaching by their rabbis, and therefore expected to find a ranter. The idea they had must have been that the apprehension cf a fanatical preacher, disturbing the public peace, would be an easy task, and rather a pastime. So they may have gone jocularly on from street to street until they had come to the immense multitudes gathered in and around the Temple celebrating the feast of tabernacles. But the chief interest of that multitude seems to radiate from the vast circumference to Christ as its centre. They press through the throng, and approach the hallowed spot. But what checks their rude steps? Why do they not advance to seize their prey, please their masters, and secure an extra fee? They are confounded, not with fear, but with amazement, reverence, and an unwonted human sympathy. There He stands, incarnate Deity! No fierceness of a mob leader is seen in Him, no cringing to formidable enemies, no caressing the populace. He stands alone and lofty in the meek dignity of a descended God. And they might first have said, Never man looked like that man. But they felt the attractive force of the very power that disarmed them. There was a presence that annihilated the authority of Sanhedrims; there was a manifest virtue that acquitted Him at the bar of their consciences.
And before it they laid down their vile commission, and joined the devout and admiring hearers. This added to their wonder and reverence. Surely Moses never spake more according to the mind of God. Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, never spake with more authority than this man. He is a prophet of the living God; and surely the elders of Israel never intended to arrest such a man; and they returned, not with a prisoner, but with a nolle-prosequi, a report that there was no ground of arrest. Never man spake like this man. (E. N. Kirk, D. D.)
Similar but contrasted incidents
Plutarch mentions it as a memorable proof of the extraordinary eloquence of Mark Antony, that, when soldiers were sent to kill him, he pleaded for his life in such affecting language that he totally disarmed them of their resolution, and melted them into tears. But these officers are vanquished, not by the forcible arguments of a man pleading for his life, but by hearing one of the ordinary discourses of our Lord, not particularly directed to them, but to the people at large. (G. Burder.)
In the troublous times that closed the great Republic, amongst the men that arose and made themselves masters of the world there was hardly a greater than Caius Marius. The conqueror of Jugurtha, the conqueror of the Cimbri, he was looked upon as the shield and sword of Rome. Six times he sought and six times he obtained the consulship, and bid fair to die as he had lived, the ruthless lord of the eternal city. But God decreed otherwise. A rival appeared upon the scene, and after chequered fortunes Marius had to fly. In the romance of his wanderings we read that he was once put on shore unattended and unarmed. He was seized and flung into prison, and an edict came from Rome that he must die. A Gaulish slave was sent to the dungeon to do the deed. Marius, sitting in a gloomy corner of the prison, with his bloodshot eyes glared on the man, and with his terrible voice demanded, Canst thou kill Caius Marius? And the slave, fearing the prisoner more than the gaoler or the judge, flung down his sword and fled away, crying, I cannot kill Caius Marius. Put side by side with this story of a sanguinary life the incident of the life the most submissive and self-denying the world has ever seen, and the very likeness of the latter will make the unlikeness of the spirit greater. In both murder was meant. In both the presence and words of the intended victim postponed the murder. In both the assailants turned craven. But the shield that turned the edge of their sword in the one case was terrific rage, in the other placid mercy. (J. B.Figgis, M. A.)
Never man spake like this man
1. Jesus was a popular preacher. The synagogue was full when He spoke, and men went out in crowds into the fields to listen to Him.
2. He was a powerful preacher. Extraordinary changes of character were wrought by His sermons. The tax-gatherer left his money.changing and the fisherman his boats to follow Him. All classes were affected by it, from the most cultured and religious to the most abandoned.
3. Whatever theory men may have respecting His person, there can be no doubt that the world has been revolutionized by His teaching. What, then, were the elements of His power?
(1) He spoke to the common in their vernacular, using illustrations from common life, but He never descended from the high place of a noble instructor. The demagogue flatters the prejudices and appeals to the passions of his audience, but Jesus never did this.
(2) He used no arts of elocution. Men did not flock to Him as they flock to an actor. He told them stories, hut they were simple stories, and not dramatically, for He taught sitting.
(3) Nor did He use the arts of rhetoric. He employed no ornament for the sake of ornament. You find nothing that could be called out and recited.
(4) There are no literary classics in His sermons. His was not the power which comes from scholastic learning or position. Men have shrugged their shoulders at lay preaching, but Christ was a lay preacher who had never graduated and become a Rabbi. His style was simple and transparent. Sometimes the waters are so deep that one cannot see the bottom, but they are never muddy.
4. We must look elsewhere for the sources of the eloquence of Jesus. If we look over the history of oratory, we find that three elements enter into it:
I. A GREAT OCCASION. All the great master-pieces were the offspring of great occasions–the orations of Demosthenes, when Greece was battling for its liberty; of Cicero, when the free institutions of Rome were threatened; of Chatham, at the time of the American revolution, Jesus had a great occasion, The world had reached its lowest ebb–politically, intellectually, socially, morally. Yet there was one little province which kept the light of hope burning, one little people who had an expectation of deliverance. A great need and a hope–these formed the occasion of Jesus.
II. A GREAT THEME. The greatest orators, on the greatest occasions, have broken down, because they have ranged themselves on the wrong side and failed to rise to the occasion with a great message. Not so Jesus. He proclaimed The kingdom of God is at hand. This was a message of hope, and one which called men with a trumpet-call to battle. In this kingdom all could take part; it was one that was for all, and one that defied the gates of hell. This message is for all the centuries and for today. When the ship was on the sands at Malta the crew did not stop to study the rhetorical form of Pauls message. When the soldiers in the Shenandoah valley were in flight they did not stop to study the elocution of Sheridan when, waving sword in air, he bade them turn and follow him to victory. And when the world felt the darkness of night resting upon it, it was not the eloquence of drama; it was the eloquence of this great truth–the hope that there is in God and in immortality–that made Christ eloquent then and has made His words eloquent from that day to this.
III. For behind the words was A GREAT PERSONALITY–a personality so great that when He first rose in the synagogue of Nazareth all eyes were fastened upon Him; that when the mob gathered to stone Him as He passed they parted and let Him go; that when they rose to lead Him to the precipice He passed uninjured through them; that when these police came to arrest Him they went away saying, Never man spake, etc. This we cannot analyze, and must therefore leave it. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)
Christ a preacher
as contrasted
I. WITH THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES.
1. In the spirituality of His instructions. The Jewish teachers and their modern imitators are distinguished by their degrading conceptions of religion, morality, and worship. The Scriptures are made a cumbrous book of court etiquette; the heart is ignored; judgment and mercy pass for trifles as compared with ritual; and theology is turned into hair-splitting casuistry. But what a Teacher is this! With Him a broken heart is a sacrifice; a believing heart a sanctuary; love to God and man all duty.
2. In the dignity of His instructions. Rabbinical teaching, ancient and modern, is gravely puerile, and as you pass from it to Christs you pass from a prison to a mountain top. Contrast with His their notions of
(1) Jehovah–the national patron with the Universal Father.
(2) The Messiah–the Jewish conqueror with the Saviour of the world.
(3) The law overwhelmed with traditional burdens and superstitions, with the law as pointing to and fulfilled by Him.
II. THE POETS. Apart from Christs influence, their teaching has no concrete reality nor anything to meet the deepest wants of the soul. Which of the non-Christian poets has sung anything calculated to make men holy, bring God near, secure pardon, lift the veil from the tomb, respond to any one of the queries of the human soul? But Christ says, God is a spirit, etc. There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. In My Fathers house are many mansions, etc. Come unto Me all ye that labour, etc. Where in uninspired poetry shall we find lines like these? Christ was a true poet, but He gave truths adapted to meet the urgent necessities of the soul.
III. THE PHILOSOPHERS.
1. They can do no more than conjecture in regard to religious truth. But here we must have authority absolutely Divine. Socrates confessed this necessity but could not meet it. Christ confessed it and met it. No man hath seen God at any time, etc. He did not reason, He affirmed.
2. They can only talk of abstractions, such as deity, laws of nature, etc., good words in their place, and so is humanity, and if you should call your friend humanity, you would deal with him as philosophers deal with God. But Christ teaches a personal God. Abstract teaching has its place, but to teach therapeutics to a man in a fever is as cruel as to mock at disease. Christ was a practical teacher, and told us not only what to believe, but what to do.
IV. THE PRETENDERS.
1. His claim, the loftiest ever made, was put forth under circumstances which fully attested its genuineness. It was open, in the presence of enemies, without human help. These and other tests would have detected imposture.
2. Imposters chiefly address the senses and the imagination, but Jesus whole manner is that of one who would win mans intelligent confidence, and all He said was to give a basis to intelligent faith. (E. N. Kirk, D. D.)
Christ the standard of preaching
Long before the Messiah appeared it was foretold that He should sustain the office of preacher. The spirit of the Lord God is upon Me. Consequently the Jews expected that He would appear in this character. When Messias cometh He will teach us all things. This general expectation Christ did not disappoint. As soon as He appeared He drew the attention of admiring multitudes, but His addresses were too galling not to rouse the resentment of the enemies of truth. Hence the incident before us. But, how did Christ preach to make such impressions on those who had resolved to resist Him.
I. Christ was a PLAIN Preacher. His ideas lay clear in His own mind. He was master of every subject on which He preached. He knew the whole character and counsel of Gee, the frame and constitution of the human mind, the circumstances of all mankind. Upon these subjects He expressed Himself in a style which was not only intelligible but agreeable to persons of every capacity. Sensible that figurative language is the voice of nature, He made free use of images, not borrowed from the arts which are confined to the learned few, but from the air, light, water, etc., which were familiar to all. Hence the common people heard Him gladly.
II. Christ was a SEARCHING Preacher. He knew the heart, and so was able to speak to the heart. This gave His preaching irresistible force, and men felt their whole souls to be naked before the all-seeing eye, and as they will feel at the day of judgment. Christ never drew a bow at a venture, but always sent His arrows home. Witness His dealings with the Pharisees, the rich young man, Martha, the woman taken in adultery, etc.
III. Christ was a SENTIMENTAL Preacher. His teaching was replete with interesting truths which not only enlighten the mind, but find the nearest passage to the heart. He urged, e.g., the necessity of disinterested love upon all His followers as the essence of true religion.
IV. Christ was a MOVING Preacher. He is the most moving Preacher, and possesses the power of persuasion in the highest degree, who is best able to convey His own views and feelings to the minds of His hearers. This Christ was able to do, and was thus able to move the minds of His hearers with whatsoever passions He wished to excite. What could equal His language to hardened hypocrites, and what could be more melting than His invitations to penitents! (N. Emmons, D. D.)
The teaching of Jesus Christ
I. ITS OBJECT. There is a primary sense in which Christ taught as never man taught, viz., in that He was Himself its object. Others, even the greatest, convey the truth, but are not that truth. Jesus alone could say, I am the Truth. The whole of Christianity is in Christ, neither He nor His disciples taught any other. The two terms of the religious problem are God and man. To know them is the whole of religious truth.
1. An apostle said, Show us the Father. Christ responded, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. All that we can know of God Christ has taught, or rather shown us. All His perfections and all His works.
2. In the same way all concerning man, his true nature and high destiny, we see in Him who is the perfect man.
3. Not only so, but He reveals the true relations of God and man. He is the Mediator between the two. On the one hand, by the fact of His mediation He manifests mans fall and his inability to save himself, and on the other, the love of the Father who gave His Son that whosoever believeth in Him, etc.
4. All that we can know of the work of salvation is bound up in the person of Christ. He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, etc.
5. Christian morality, through sanctification, is entirely referred to Him.
6. As to the future, all depends on Christ, who will raise the dead, judge the world, and bring His own to glory. Are we not justified in saying with Paul, God forbid that I should glory, etc. Let us beware of withering this living teaching by our abstractions! Every doctrine, if separated from Christ, is smitten with barrenness.
II. The incomparable excellence of Christs teaching results also from its PERFECT FORM. The perfection of human words is measured by the fidelity with which they manifest the human soul. A man may be very eloquent and yet his words be a brilliant lie, because not in harmony with his moral state. Perfectly sincere words are perfect words, and they are only so when it can be said: As are the words so is the life. If this be the case our text is justified, for never was man sincere like Christ. He lived His words and spoke His life. His life was the perfect life of love, and His words were the perfect language of Divine love.
1. The love of Christ rested on His humility, and never man spake like this Man in respect to humility. Compare His words with the despotic authority or pompous solemnity of the Jewish doctors. Their teaching was like their persons, clothed with long robes and phylacteries, and sitting in Moses seat. Christ sat not on the benches of a Jewish school, had no official title, spake in the streets or by the sea side, and rendered homage to truth without exercising compulsion. And what could be more simple than His words. They were free from all solemn form. No doctor ever taught more in the style of a layman. He spoke as a friend to friends, without any rhetorical embellishment, and without aiming at effect. The simplicity of Christs words is what constitutes their perfection, By resting on external authority He would have confessed that His doctrine needed foreign aid; by enveloping it in solemn forms He would have suggested a doubt of its intrinsic value. Christ knew that nothing is so beautiful or powerful as truth, and He wished that it should appear alone in His teaching.
2. Christs love was especially characterized by mercy, which is love to the unfortunate and the poor, and the merciful character of Christs teaching is evinced by its popularity. It was admirably suited to the wants of the simple and ignorant many. For Christ never admitted that distinction between the profane and the initiated which is always found in the religions and philosophy of antiquity, but rather gave special attention to the former. Not that He rejected the enlightened; but He knew that a doctrine which suits the poor is a truth for poor and rich, ignorant and learned alike. He could speak, then, to the people without fear of restricting His mission; and who has ever spoken to them like the Saviour? In bringing the truth to the feeblest reason Christ took nothing from the truth, nor subjected it to any alteration. It is very easy to gain the goodwill of men if we flatter their errors and their prejudices, but Christ never employed that accommodation which is treason against the cause of God. If then He rejected this we can only explain the popularity of His teaching by the form He gave to it. He ever found means to connect the truth with some feeling, idea, or fact in harmony with itself. And so He made constant appeals to conscience, conviction of sin, need of deliverance, sorrow and suffering. Nor was He content to rest on general dispositions, He knew what was wanted by each, and He addressed to each the precise teaching that was made for him. Recall the numerous persons who conversed with the Saviour. You will not find a word that is not the most affecting that could have been pronounced. Is He talking to fishermen? He says, I will make you fishers of men. Is He addressing a doctor of the law? He makes constant allusion to his dignity. Is He speaking to a great multitude that He has just satisfied with food? He discourses of the bread of life. It was with the same design that Christ multiplied His admirable parables. None of His hearers, after listening to Him, could look on the external world without reading His doctrines there afresh, something to raise the thoughts to God. Never man spake like this man because never man loved our poor humanity like Christ.
3. The teaching of Christ was full of love also in that it was essentially creative and fertilizing to the mind of His hearers. A teacher not impelled by love does not tolerate spontaneity of thought in his disciples; but Jesus method was to give men a glimpse of the precious mine of truth that they might dig and search for themselves. He did not hurry anything, wishing to prepare the new bottles for the new wine, and pour it into them drop by drop. With what gentleness did He endure their slowness of understanding and weakness of faith.
4. The words of Christ were the expression of perfect love, because never was there addressed to man language so consoling as His. (E. DePressense, D. D.)
Our Lord as a Teacher
No one can read His discourses without seeing that He differs generically from all other teachers. He is an order by Himself (Joh 3:11-13).
I. Compare Him with SOCRATES, whom we know well, and have a full record of his teaching and methods. Like our Lord his one aim was moral improvement. His end in discovering truth was conduct. To know, with him, was but the way to live. But when we come to his method it contrasts sharply to that of Jesus. For he affirmed nothing, professed himself ignorant, but thought that by inquiry and consideration it might be possible to find out what ideas were just and what were false, and so to establish a sound healthy knowledge that might be the guide to a sound and healthy life. But he dreaded to say I have the truth about anything. This is the method of Act 17:27. Our Lords method is at the opposite pole. It is calm, convincing affirmation. It is entirely unparalleled. It is the word of One who does know; who has not to argue and inquire, but to declare. Its simplicity arises from absolute certainty. Agnosticism, notwithstanding, this is the teaching for which the world yearns, and which can only meet the worlds needs.
II. COMPARE HIM WITH MOHAMMED. Christ dealt only with the highest spiritual truth–with ideas and principles of conduct alone. He did not occupy Himself in marking out safe paths for men; He gave them light that they might see their way (Mat 11:1-5; Joh 10:24). This is in striking contrast with Mohammeds method. The chances are that if any one had asked him, Speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me, he would have had a revelation about it. The Koran is full of private direction and legislation, and it is that which has crippled the free development of Mohammedan society. Men go to it, not for principles of guidance, but for particular precepts. With Christ there is always a breadth which transcends the need of the moment, and furnishes a principle which is good for all times. This is the reason for the largeness of the development of Christendom. Christ tells us not what to do, but how to be. Mohammeds words are full of direction. Christs of inspiration. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)
Christ the incomparable Teacher
BECAUSE IN HIM
I. DOCTRINE AND TEACHER ARE ONE. Other teachers are different from what they teach, and never make themselves the object of their own instruction. Christ is the sole Teacher who is able to say, I am the Truth, and as such the substance of His own teaching. Christs purpose was not to give a right conception of God, or to lead men to rightly know themselves. We have this in the Old Testament. His purpose was to reconcile men to God. Hence He required not faith in God–this the Jews had long ago–but in Himself.
II. DOCTRINE AND LIFE PERFECTLY HARMONIZE. This can be said of no other. However careful the teacher, his life falls behind his teaching. He could alone say, Which of you convinceth Me of sin? When He said, Be ye perfect as your Father, etc. He could also say, I and My Father are one. If He exhorted to resignation He said, Thy will be done. His requirement of self-denial was illustrated in His actual bearing of the cross. Of His new commandment He was the model, As I have loved you. He went about doing good to those who rejected Him, to enforce the duty of doing good to those who hate us, and prayed, Father, forgive them, that we might pray for our persecutors.
III. THE DOCTRINE AND THE GROUNDS OF THE DOCTRINE COINCIDE. Other teachers convince their scholars by proofs, and prophets by Thus saith the Lord–Christ simply says, Verily, verily, I say unto you. He is the ground of His teaching just as certainly as when the Lord God confirms His words by saying, As surely as I live.
IV. HIS DOCTRINE AND ITS EFFECTS ARE IN FULLEST UNISON. Every teacher aims at this, but no one fully reaches it. As the husbandman often finds that his seed does not germinate, so there are many whose teaching has not the desired results. One does not speak intelligibly, another wants impressiveness, a third dies prematurely. But Christ speaks so that even fishermen understand Him; so attractively that crowds press upon Him, and authorities envy Him; so irresistibly that friends cannot be turned from Him by threats. And now He speaks through a thousand tongues, in pulpits, schools, and homes. You who are burdened, do you not find rest in Christs teaching? You who suffer, comfort? You who are guilty, pardon? You who are dying, triumph? Verily the result of Christs teaching is not to be doubted. Conclusion: If, then, after eighteen centuries we are compelled to confess that, despite all the wonderful advances in knowledge, never man spake like Christ, it must be clear that He was more than a child of man. Were He only this we must have outstripped Him. (R. Nesselmann.)
Incomparableness of Christs teaching in
I. ITS MANNER. It was this which struck His hearers when on the mount Mat 7:29). It is no less striking to us who compare the I say unto you with the prophetic thus saith the Lord.
II. ITS MATTER. Never man spake
1. Such wise words. There have been many wise men, but as Solomon excelled all the children of the East, so may we say of the great Teacher a wiser than Solomon is here. His words were those of one who knew what was in man. How admirably does He lay open human hearts! With what Divine skill did He answer all questions I How suitably and readily–His enemies being judges (Luk 20:39).
2. Such holy words! He never spoke one that was idle or unprofitable.
3. Such gracious words (Psa 45:1-17; Luk 4:1-44.)!
III. ITS EFFECT (Luk 4:32).
1. It was a wonder-working voice which Jesus uttered. Devils fled before it, diseases vanished; it called the dead out of their tombs; the winds heard it and were still, the fig-tree and was withered. Yet what was so wonderful as its effect upon mens consciences! What terror and confusion it struck into His enemies (Joh 18:4), etc.!
2. It wrought wonders in those whom it called to mercy.
(1) Of conviction (Joh 4:29; Heb 4:12; 1Co 14:24-25).
(2) Of conversion (Joh 5:25). Look at the manner in which thedisciples were called.
(3) Of consolation (Mat 14:26-27).
Conclusion: What, then, is our duty?
1. To hear and obey (Heb 12:25; Joh 12:48;Pro 1:24).
2. To imitate (Eph 4:29). (A. Roberts, M. A.)
The incomparable ministry
The text is one of the truisms of Christianity, but the confession came from men who were not the disciples, nor particularly the audience of Jesus. They were a band of ignorant men, the mere police of the Sanhedrim. And it is remarkable that not a word was spoken by Christ directly to them why they should not execute their mission. What was said was said to the multitude at large upon subjects entirely independent of His guilt or innocence. The purpose of their coming is simply ignored. There were but two brief utterances after their arrival which the Evangelist has written down, and while it would be an improbable supposition that they were all that gave occasion for the confession, yet they were specimen utterances. They belonged to very different fields of thought and speech, and together go far towards giving an idea of Christs teaching as a whole.
I. (Joh 7:33-34.) Try to hear with the ears of these men, and to imagine the impression. Must not any one have said, What an independence of human enmity and human power. A little while I am with you, and then I go, asking no questions, dreading no interference. The officers heard, and felt themselves impotent. This man speaks that He doth know; He has His own times and seasons; Sanhedrim and Procurator are alike nothing to Him. But is there not a deeper awe behind? We shall seek Him and not find Him. Ye will be wanting Me one day. When terrified Jerusalem is crying for pity I shall be beyond the reach not only of violence, but of sight and access. Oh! in this day of your merciful visitation, be ye gathered under My wings. Never man spake like this man, were it but for the DIGNITY. We were born to have some one over us; may it be the right one! Other voices, counterfeiting the true Voice, have had an easy sway. But there is a Voice which moves heaven and earth, and if that Voice makes itself heard in the living world, in conscience we feel that if we had been sent by ten Sanhedrims we, too, should exclaim never man spake it!
II. (Joh 7:37.) Well He knew what was in man when He addressed this language to common humanity. If any man thirst, be it for comfort, rest, knowledge, holiness, or love, let Him come unto Me. Strange words these for these rough police- men to listen to when they came to apprehend this Man for a malefactor. And yet so simple were the words, so strong, so directly did they make appeal to the man within the man, finding him out in memory and conscience, reminding him of so many cisterns of human or sinful desire broken, awakening so many recollections of better impulses and higher aspirations, that they could not lay hands on Him.
III. Dignity alone might be coldness, and tenderness effeminancy, but DIGNITY AND TENDERNESS combined are an irresistible strength; and He who could utter both these sayings had a key to mans heart as God made it, and as man had corrupted it is sure of a hearing.
1. A little while, etc., He says to us, and it is well to hear Him sometimes speak in that tone. It is not true to represent Him as a mere humble suitor. The Voice which pleads is the Voice which made and which shakes heaven, and as He speaks now from heaven in heaven we must seek Him.
2. The dignity of Jesus is the one thought, and if He speaks of that it is to give energy to His tenderness. I will not affront any man by supposing that he thirsts not. He may tell me that he is satisfied–but all in the deep of their several hearts are athirst in one way or another. To how few of us is life as we would have it. Many delights once possessed have been lost. But there is a keener thirst, that of the spirit for the conscious love of its Maker. This Christ can quench. Try Him. (Dean Vaughan.)
The unrivalled eloquence of Jesus
The constables could not take Jesus for He had fairly taken them. Note by way of preface
1. That it is a sure sign of a falling Church when its leaders call in the aid of the secular arm. The Church which cannot maintain itself by spiritual power is dying, if not dead.
2. That in the end the spiritual power will baffle the temporal. The officers are fully armed, the preacher has no weapons, and yet they cannot arrest him. What stays their hand? It has come to be a combat between body and mind, and mind prevails. Abel may be killed, but from the ground his blood continues to cry. Martyrs have a greater power in their graves than in their pulpits.
3. That God can get testimonies to the majesty of His Son from the most unlikely places. Civil authorities do not employ the most refined and intellectual as officers, and the priests would naturally select those least likely to be affected by Christs teaching. Yet these rough, brutal men felt his matchless oratory. Not only as in the case of Saul can God direct a high character into the right path. He makes the wrath of men to praise Him, and compels adversaries to do Him homage. Let us note
I. THE PECULIAR QUALITIES of our Lords eloquence, as among kings, He is the King of kings, among priests the great High Priest, among prophets the Messiah, so is He the Prince of preachers, the Apostle of our profession. Christ spoke
1. Clearly, and yet His matter is profound. Did ever man speak so simply? Even little children gathered round Him. He never gives forth dark sayings that His hearers may credit Him with vast learning and profound thinking. And yet there is in His teaching a depth that genius cannot fathom, but all the while He speaks in short sentences, with plain words and homely illustrations. The common people with their common sense heard Him gladly,
2. With authority. He was a master dogmatist. It was not, It may be so, but Verily, verily, etc. And yet side by side with this there was an extraordinary self-sinking. He never assumed official dignity.
3. Faithfully, yet tenderly. Even Nathan could not be more true to human conscience. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, etc. There was no mincing matters because wickedness was associated with greatness, no excusing sin because it put on sanctimoniousness. He neither fawned on the great nor pandered to the populace. Perhaps no preacher ever used more terrible words with regard to the fate of the ungodly. Yet He did not break the bruised reed. What a Son of Consolation He was!
4. Zealously, yet prudently. He was full of ardour, never preached a cold, dull sermon. Yet His fervour never degenerated into wildfire. He was not afraid of the Herodians, yet how quietly did He allow them to walk into the trap. He was ready to meet the Sadducees, but He was on His guard so that they could not entangle Him in His speech.
5. Lovingly. He was full of tenderness even to tears, but was far removed from that effeminacy which some times passes for Christian love. He was manly all through.
6. His preaching was remarkable for its co-mingling of all the excellencies which are found separate in His servants. He addressed the head and the heart. He aroused the conscience, but was also great in the arts of consolation.
7. The main aspect of His eloquence, however, was that it was the vehicle of the greatest truths.
II. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS of this eloquence.
1. Do you remember when you first heard Him speak? Recall
(1) His words of pity. Come unto Me, etc.
(2) His words of persuasion. Turn ye, turn ye, etc., Come now let us reason together.
(3) His words of power, Awake thou that sleepest.
(4) His word of pardon.
2. Since we heard His pardoning voice, we have heard many a time
(1) His word of promise.
(2) His word of consolation.
(3) His word of fellowship.
3. There are some words spoken long ago which have been so quickened by His presence that we number them among our personal recollections. I have loved thee with an everlasting love; It is I, be not afraid, etc., etc.
III. PROPHETIC ANTICIPATIONS.
1. AS long as you live you are to speak for Jesus, but your hope for His kingdom lies in His voice. And we expect Him to speak more loudly yet, for the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth.
2. We expect Him to speak sweetly to us in the hour of death. Fear not, for I am with thee.
3. In paradise.
4. At the judgment. Come ye blessed of My Father. Will He say that to you, or Depart ye cursed. Anyhow your confession will be then if not now, Never man spake, etc. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The words of Jesus
I. HIS TRIBUNE. Those whose words have moved mankind have for the most part addressed an audience in some chamber selected for the suitability of its construction or for the sanctity of its associations. Not so with the words of Jesus. His tribune was the plank of Peters boat, the portico of Jerusalem, any place on which He chanced, to any person whom He met. He not only sought the people, but let the people seek Him; and some of His most striking utterances were addressed to a single auditor. The great orators of Notre Dame called their sermons conferences. But they are no such thing, for Lacordaire or Hyacinthe had it all to himself, like the least of us. But the Masters sermons were conferences in truth. He let the people interrupt Him by their questions, by bringing their sick, by leading their little ones to His arms. And yet, in spite of these defects of His audience-chamber, and difficulties with the audience, the golden silence made the silver speech the brighter.
II. CHRISTS TEXTS are a marvel of beauty for their appositeness. The well of Sychar suggests a sermon on the water of life; the feeding of the five thousand and a reference to the fall of the manna, a discourse of the bread of life; the water in the priests pitcher a promise of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. A corn-field was probably in sight when He said, Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And a vine may have trellised the window of the upper room, or a vineyard grown on the sunny slopes beneath, when He said, I am the True Vine. Thus would the attention of His auditors be riveted while Jesus spoke; they would leave Him astonished and delighted, and they would never forget words founded on facts before their eyes.
III. CHRISTS TOPICS were as varied as His texts were timely, and the variety was as striking as the timeliness. Some distinguished preachers have really only one topic, and, begin where they will, you soon find them on their favourite subject. But Jesus of Nazareth had no beaten paths, or rather all paths were alike familiar to His feet. A very short index often suffices for a very large volume, but it would require a catalogue of some length to tabulate all the subjects on which even our four brief Gospels tell us that Jesus had something to say. Natural as the singing of the lark was His speech; but His strain, like the larks, was never monotonous. The many-stringed harp of human life was in His hands, and He touched every chord, in turn. He has words to speak about Divine love, and words also about human charity. He has something to tell about the holiness of heaven, and something also about the happiness of earth: much about the Jerusalem above, and much about the earthly Zion. But how can we select where every stone is a gem, or to cull where every flower is an exotic? Enough that He touched upon everything in turn, and everything He touched turned to gold.
IV. CHRISTS MODE OF TREATMENT; we find this as varied as the topics. Sometimes there is the orderly succession of thoughts, built up into a harmonious whole, as in the sermon on the Mount. At other times there is a beautiful carelessness. Just as flowers and forest trees, creepers and mosses, are intermingled in nature, so amid stupendous subjects of appalling grandeur dealt with in the Masters teaching we find minute touches of gentleness and grace, which give the play of light and shade to the whole.
1. He taught as one having authority. He spake as one who dwelt in very deed in the secret place of the Most High. To the question How hath this man letters, having never learned? the answer is My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. We do not wonder now that never man spake like this man.
2. A very human interest belongs to the words of Jesus from the fact that they are full of illustration. Sometimes it is parable all worked out, like a broad lace of gold, sometimes mere metaphor, like a golden thread flashing through a silken mantle, but at all times instance or illustration is ready to relieve the dry details of doctrine or precept. Since His words were so sparkling, no wonder that the common people beard Him gladly.
3. His words affect every faculty in succession.
(1) He speaks to the intellect, His hand the while digging wells in the surface of the earth, in which you can see the stars by day.
(2) He speaks to the heart, striking off appeal after appeal with a fervour that makes His words, not as the cold steel of the armoury, but the flashing iron of the forge.
(3) He speaks to the conscience a simple word, like a seemingly harmless wire, conveying an electric thrill to the soul.
4. Christ addressed mankind in many and varied capacities, but His versatility made Him equal to every occasion.
(1) lie spoke as a king, and never monarch spake like this man, whether he is sending his subjects to the field, putting the sword into one hand and the cup of sorrow into the other, or welcoming them home from the war and garlanding their brows with the joy of their lord.
(2) He spoke as a legislator, and never lawgiver spake like this man. Few but lawyers read law books; even the legal parts of the books of Moses are sealed to most men. But the second Moses has given His laws in such language that, while statesmen learn wisdom from their pages, little children linger over their lines. His code was suited to His own age and suitable to every age succeeding.
(3) He spoke as a teacher of morals, and never moralist spake like this man. When He told men to mark the secrets of their hearts as the seeds of sin He put His hand upon the plague spot which physicians for ages had been seeking in vain. And when He opened His mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit–the mourners, the meek, the merciful–a new era dawned upon mankind.
(4) He spoke as a teacher of wisdom, and never philosopher spake like this man. His apostles, though they knew it not, were the esoteric disciples of a school destined to outlive the most celebrated of antiquity. How few now care to read Aristotle, who wrote elaborate treatises, compared with the number of those who love to linger over the reported utterances of Jesus Christ, who never wrote a line I
(5) He spoke as a brother born for adversity, and never friend spake like this man. Do you yearn for sympathy? Come unto Me all ye that labour, etc. Do you ask for society? Lo, I am with you alway. Do you seek for intimacy? I have not called you servants but friends. Do you pant for love? Greater love hath no man than this. And His promises are as full as His heart is large. Is your concern about earthly need? The very hairs of your head, they are all numbered. About heavenly grace? I am come that ye might have life. About death? I am the Resurrection and the Life. About eternity? Where I am there shall also My servant be.
(6) He spoke as a revealer of secrets, and never prophet spake like this man, for man never before or besides had such tidings to tell. He came, He said, because God so loved the world. He came to die, giving His life a ransom for many, shedding His blood for the remission of sins.
Conclusion:
1. Go to Him as a child of sin. A sinner went to Him once, and she came away amazed that He who was incarnate purity should notice her. Would not she say, Never man spake like this man ? And if you, sinner, go you will say the same.
2. Go to Him as a child of sorrow. Jairus went to Him bereaved, and he came away comforted. Mary of Magdala went in trouble, and she.came away at peace. Mary of Bethany went weeping, and she came away rejoicing. The woman who had an issue of blood went trembling, and she came away triumphing. You go too, sufferer, and see if He has not reserved a blessing for thee that shall make thee say, Never man spake like this man.
3. Go to Him as a child of man, and He will teach you about earthly duty; for He has words for parents, words for children, words for masters, words for servants, words for friends, words for enemies; and for all words such as never man spake.
4. Go to Him as a child of God, and He will teach you about the beginning of the spiritual life, the progress of the spiritual life, and the perfection of the spiritual life, till at length, tired of leaving you to listen at a distance, He shall take you to Himself, and there as He leads you unto living fountains of waters, while you drink in every word you will exclaim, Never man spake like this man. (J. B. Figgis, M. A.)
The testimony of sceptics
Is this the tone of an enthusiast or of a mere sectary? What sweetness, what purity of manners! What touching grace in His instructions! What elevation in His maxims! What profound wisdom in His discourses! What presence of mind, what acuteness, what justness in His replies! What empire over His passions! Where is the man, where is the sage who knew in this way how to act, suffer, and die? What prejudice, blindness, or bad faith does it require to compare the son of Sophroniscus with the Son of Mary! What distance between the two? They say that Socrates invented ethics; but others practised morality before he taught it. Aristides was just before Socrates described justice; Leonidas died for his country before Socrates taught the duty of patriotism; Sparta was temperate before Socrates praised sobriety; Greece abounded in virtuous men before he defined virtue. But Jesus–where did He find the lofty morality of which He alone gave both the lesson and the example? Prom the midst of a furious fanaticism proceeds the purest wisdom; among the vilest of the people appears the most heroic and virtuous simplicity. If Socrates lives and dies like a philosopher, Jesus lives and dies like a God. (J. J.Rosseau.)
The benefit of hearing the truth
It is good to come to the Word, though with ill intent; they that come to see only, as Moses did to the bush, may be called as he was. They that come to sleep may be taken napping, as Latimer saith. They that come to catch may be caught as those in the text. (J. Trapp.)
Christs matchless teaching
He spake with grace, and with gravity: they were all oracles that He uttered; honey-drops that fell from Him. Of Christ it might better be said than ever it was said of Crassus the Roman orator, Caetaros a Crassa semper omnes illo autem die etiam ipsum a sese superatum. (J. Trapp.)
The power of Divine truth
There went a man out of this place one evening who was spoken to by one of our friends, who happened to know him in trade, and had him in good repute. What I have you been to hear our minister to-night? The good man answered, Yes, I am sorry to say I have. But, said our friend, why are you sorry? Why, he said, he has turned me inside out, and spoiled my idea of myself. When I went into the Tabernacle I thought I was the best man in Newington, but now I feel that my righteousness is worthless. Oh, said the friend, that is all right; you will come again, I am sure. The Word has come home to you, and shown you the truth: ye will get comfort soon. That friend did come again, and he is here to-night: he takes pleasure in that very truth which turned him inside out; and he comes on purpose that the Word of the Lord may search him, and try him, and be to him as a refiners fire. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
I knew a man who was of a fierce temper, a troubler to his own household when he happened to fall into his fits; he was so passionate at times that I should not like to tell all the wild things which he would do. I have seen that man since conversion, and he has had things to test him which might, as we say, have provoked a saint, but he bore them patiently, and in a manner which I desire to imitate. The lion has become a lamb, he is gentle and tender; no one could think that he was the same man; indeed, he is not, for grace has made him a new man in Christ Jesus. We have seen persons revelling in licentiousness, who sinned greedily, who could not be satisfied with any common sin; but they have heard the gospel, and become chaste and even delicate in purity, so that the very mention of their former crimes has shocked them and made them weep. Such persons have manifested a watchful care against the fault in which they once delighted. They have been afraid to go near their old haunts, or to mix with their old companions. What has wrought this? What teaching must that be which accomplishes such marvels? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Then answered the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
The opponents of the truth
We have here a dramatic sketch of the opposition to Christ and His gospel, which may stand, in part, or as a whole, for every subsequent scene in which error has been pitted against the truth.
I. THE DEBATERS.
1. Their respective standings.
(1) Unequal. The officers were no match for the Sanhedrim in point of social position, religious profession, wealth, and learning. How often in this great controversy has there been a clean cleavage between the masses and the classes, and how often has God chosen, as here, the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty? etc.
(2) Equal. Nicodemus was the peer of his colleagues in all respects, and Christianity has seldom wanted defenders as completely equipped as their opponents, ready to fight them with their own weapons, and to meet them on their own ground.
2. Their qualities
(1) Interest and disinterestedness. The Jewish authorities had everything to lose by the success of Christ. The occupants of Moses seat must needs tremble when the seat itself was undermined. The officers, on the other hand, had nothing to gain, except the anger of their masters, and the possible deprivation of their offices; while Nicodemus, from his preeminent position, was in greater danger. These two forces have been conspicuously displayed all through the great struggle. But in every religious crisis the truth has triumphed over the powerful vested interests by which it has been opposed.
(2) Bigotry and candour. Selfishness blinds the eyes to the clearest evidence. The officers related simple facts, Nicodemus recited an incontestible principle. Both were plain, and were urged with obvious sincerity. But the chief priest would not see. The same fault marks the opponents of truth in all ages. There are sincere sceptics, men who cannot see, but these are never antagonists.
(3) Ignorance and knowledge. The Pharisees had not heard these particular words, and had therefore not felt their power. Hence their controversial weakness, which showed itself in the blind rage which ever characterizes the defenders of a lost cause. As for the principle of equity stated by their colleagues, while not theoreti- cally ignorant of it, they were practically unacquainted with it, for they never used it. But both the officers and Nicodemus were fortified with experimental know- ledge, and it is with this weapon that Christianity has invariably conquered. There is no getting over the argument, Once I was blind, but now I see.
II. THE METHODS OF DEBATE.
1. As between the Sanhedrim and the officers. To the plain unwarranted report of the latter, the former oppose
(1) An imputation of intellectual weakness. Are ye also deceived? This is the standard calumny against Christians. They have weak heads, and so are imposed upon by specious arguments, or unread, and so led astray for want of knowledge. In some circles to be a Christian is quite synonymous with deficiency of intellect and susceptibility to delusion.
(2) An assumption of infallibility–a characteristic of unbelief all through the ages. How can Christianity be true when the modern, advanced, progressive, ripe, thinker does not believe in it?
(3) Scurrilous abuse (Joh 7:49)–the time-honoured method of argument when there is no case; the well-worn weapon of anti-Christianity.
2. As between the Sanhedrim and Nicodemus. The latter appeals to a simple principle of equity. To this the former oppose
(1) A base insinuation. To belong to Galilee was about the grossest insult that could be perpetrated on a Jewish gentleman–but Christians are by this time accustomed to be accounted the offscouring of the earth. The offence of the Cross, so far as outward profession is concerned, has well-nigh ceased, but let a man in certain circles put its principles into practice, or venture to assert them, and what epithets, such as fanatic, humbug, canter, will be hurled at his head!
(2) A gratuitous assumption. Nicodemus had not said that a prophet had or would arise out of Galilee; nor had Christ asserted a Galilean origin.
Because a man has lived in a certain locality that is not to say that he was born there. How often has the opponent of Christianity fought an enemy of his own making? How many caricatures of the Trinity, the atonement, heaven, hell, etc., pass muster as Christian doctrines, and are criticized as such?
(3) The closure (Joh 7:53). The Sanhedrim having spoken there was an end of all discussion–a convenient course frequently adopted since. Christianity is not afraid of a patient hearing, but its opponents are. (J. W. Burn.)
Nicodemus saith unto them
Nicodemus
1. A timid but honest inquirer after truth (chap. 3.).
2. A calm and decided advocate of justice (chap. 7.).
3. A heroic confessor of the Lord bringing grateful offerings (Joh 19:39). Here he meets their boasts
(1) That no ruler believes in Jesus.
(2) That they were zealous for the law. (J. P. Lange.)
Boldness best
Nicodemus got little favour from the Pharisees, though his favourable feeling towards our Lord was so cautiously expressed. This is generally the case with those who act timidly as he did. People may just as well be out-spoken and bold. (Musculus.)
Nicodemus and the Sanhedrim
Nicodemus does not announce himself a believer in Jesus but he lays down a general principle sanctioned by the law of Moses (Exo 23:1); and by the law of nature. His cautious answer may have been dictated by a constitutional timidity, or by a hope that if the Pharisees would only have the fairness to examine the doe- trine and the claims of Jesus before they condemned Him they would not wish to condemn Him; that, like the officers who were sent to apprehend Him, they too would be filled with admiration for Him. But the Pharisees, who are blinded by envy and spite, see not the want of truth, or the falsehood as well as the irrelevancy of their answer to Nicodemus. Many prophets had come out of Galilee. But if not, that was no reason why prophets should not still arise in Galilee. Deborah the Prophetess was from the country of Galilee. She dwelt between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim (Jdg 4:1-24.). Anna the Prophetess was from Galilee, of the tribe of Asher (Luk 2:36). The prophet Jonah was of Gathhepher, a town of Lower Galilee in Zebulun (2Ki 14:25). There is also a general consent among commentators that the Prophecies of Hosea were delivered in the kingdom of Israel. It was also anciently believed that Hosea belonged to the tribe of Issachar, which would be included in the more modern district of Galilee. Nahum was born in Elkosh, a small village in Galilee; hence he was called Nahum the Elkoshite (Joh 1:1), The Prophet Elijah the Tishbite was born, according to some, in Thisbe, in the tribe of Naphtali, in Galilee; according to others in Gilead, on the east side of the Jordan. Elisha was born at Abel-Meholah, in the northern part of the valley of the Jordan. Though neither of these were strictly in the district called Galilee, they were neither of them in the country of Judaea, or in the kingdom of Judah, but both in the kingdom of Israel. Nicodemus simply asks that they should hear Him before they condemn Him. The answer of the Pharisees shows that they had already condemned Him, and unheard. It was impossible, they said, that He could be the Christ, because the Christ should come from Bethlehem, in Judah, and Jesus was born in Galilee. (F. I.Dunwell, B. A.)
Grace cannot remain hidden
Good blood will not belie itself: love, as fire, will not be long hid. Croesus dumb son could not but speak to see his father ready to be slain. Nicodemus, though hitherto a night-bird, now shows himself for Christ in a council. Nicodemus was but a slow scholar, Judas was a forward preacher; yet at last, when Judas betrayed Christ in the night, Nicodemus faithfully professed Him in the day. (J. Trapp.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 37. In the last day, that great day of the feast] This was the eighth day, and was called the great day, because of certain traditional observances, and not on account of any excellence which it derived from the original institution. On the seven days they professed to offer sacrifices for the seventy nations of the earth, but on the eighth day they offered sacrifices for Israel; therefore the eighth day was more highly esteemed than any of the others. It is probably to this that the evangelist refers when he calls the last day the great day of the feast. See the account of the feast of tabernacles, in the note on Joh 7:2. It was probably when they went to draw water from the pool Siloam, and while they were pouring it out at the foot of the altar, that our Lord spoke these words; for, as that ceremony pointed out the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, our Lord, who was the fountain whence it was to proceed, called the people to himself, that, by believing on him, they might be made partakers of that inestimable benefit.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our Saviour thinketh not fit to take any notice of their guess, whither he would go, nor replies any thing to it. The feast of tabernacles was to hold seven days, Lev 23:34, in which they were to offer up burnt offerings, Lev 23:36. The eighth day was to be kept as a sabbath; there was in it to be a holy convocation, no servile labour was to be done. Christ on that day discoursed again to the people, crying aloud, and publicly,
If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink; that is, If any man stand in need of any spiritual good, righteousness, strength, comfort, &c., it is to be found in me; let him come to me, by faith acknowledging, receiving, and embracing me, as the Mediator and Saviour of the world, and he shall have from me whatsoever spiritual influence of grace he stand in need of. Those who remember what our Saviour told the woman of Samaria, Joh 4:10,14, where he compared himself to living water, will easily understand this the sense of these words. The condition on our parts is expressed under the notion of thirsting; which we know is the natural appetite, craving some liquid thing to refresh the man under his drought; and it is expressive of an exceeding great passion, and so made use of both in the Old Testament and the New to signify a souls passionate desire of spiritual things, Isa 55:1; Mat 5:6.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
37-39. the last day, that great dayof the feastthe eighth (Le23:39). It was a sabbath, the last feast day of the year, anddistinguished by very remarkable ceremonies. “The generallyjoyous character of this feast broke out on this day into loudjubilation, particularly at the solemn moment when the priest, as wasdone on every day of this festival, brought forth, in golden vessels,water from the stream of Siloah, which flowed under thetemple-mountain, and solemnly poured it upon the altar. Then thewords of Isa 12:3 were sung,With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation,and thus the symbolical reference of this act, intimated in Joh7:39, was expressed” [OLSHAUSEN].So ecstatic was the joy with which this ceremony wasperformedaccompanied with sound of trumpetsthat it used to besaid, “Whoever had not witnessed it had never seen rejoicing atall” [LIGHTFOOT].
Jesus stoodOn thishigh occasion, then, He who had already drawn all eyes upon Him byHis supernatural power and unrivalled teaching”JESUSstood,” probably in some elevated position.
and criedas if makingproclamation in the audience of all the people.
If any man thirst, let himcome unto me, and drink!What an offer! The deepest cravings ofthe human spirit are here, as in the Old Testament, expressed by thefigure of “thirst,” and the eternal satisfaction ofthem by “drinking.” To the woman of Samaria He hadsaid almost the same thing, and in the same terms (Joh 4:13;Joh 4:14). But what to her wassimply affirmed to her as a fact, is here turned into aworld-wide proclamation; and whereas there, the gift byHim of the living water is the most prominent ideain contrast withher hesitation to give Him the perishable water of Jacob’s wellhere,the prominence is given to Himself as the Well spring of allsatisfaction. He had in Galilee invited all the WEARYAND HEAVY-LADEN of the human family to come under His wing andthey should find REST (Mt11:28), which is just the same deep want, and the same profoundrelief of it, under another and equally grateful figure. He had inthe synagogue of Capernaum (Joh6:36) announced Himself, in every variety of form, as “theBREAD of Life,” andas both able and authorized to appease the “HUNGER,”and quench the “THIRST,”of all that apply to Him. There is, and there can be, nothing beyondthat here. But what was on all those occasions uttered in private, oraddressed to a provincial audience, is here sounded forth in thestreets of the great religious metropolis, and in language ofsurpassing majesty, simplicity, and grace. It is just Jehovah’sancient proclamation now sounding forth through human flesh, “HO,EVERY ONE THAT THIRSTETH, COME YE TO THE WATERS, AND HE THAT HATH NOMONEY!” c. (Isa55:1). In this light we have but two alternatives either to saywith Caiaphas of Him that uttered such words, “He is guiltyof death,” or falling down before Him to exclaim withThomas, ” MY LORDAND MY GOD!”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In the last day, that great day of the feast,…. That is, of tabernacles, as appears from Joh 7:2, which was usually called
, “the feast”, in distinction from the passover and Pentecost q; and the eighth day of it was called , “the last day of the feast” r, as here: and it was a “great day”, being, as is said in Le 23:36, an holy convocation, a solemn assembly, in which no servile work was done, and in which an offering was made by fire unto the Lord. According to the traditions of the Jews, fewer sacrifices were offered on this day than on the rest; for on the first day they offered thirteen bullocks, and lessened one every day; so that on the seventh, day, there was but seven offered, and on the eighth day but one, when the priests returned to their lots, as at other feasts s; but notwithstanding the Jews make out this to be the greater day for them, since the seventy bullocks offered on the other seven days, were for the seventy nations of the world; but the one bullock, on the eighth day, was peculiarly for the people of Israel t: and besides, they observe, that there were several things peculiar on this day, as different from the rest; as the casting of lots, the benediction by itself, a feast by itself, an offering by itself, a song by itself, and a blessing by itself u: and on this day they had also the ceremony of drawing and pouring water, attended with the usual rejoicings as on other days; the account of which is this w:
“the pouring out of water was after this manner; a golden pot, which held three logs, was tilled out of Siloah, and when they came to the water gate, they blew (their trumpets) and shouted, and blew; (then a priest) went up by the ascent of the altar, and turned to the left hand, (where) were two silver basins–that on the west side was filled with water, and that on the east with wine; he poured the basin of water into that of wine, and that of wine into that of water.”
At which time there were great rejoicing, piping, and dancing, by the most religious and sober people among the Jews; insomuch that it is said x, that
“he that never saw the rejoicing of the place of drawing of water, never saw any rejoicing in his life.”
And this ceremony, they say y, is a tradition of Moses from Mount Sinai, and refers to some secret and mysterious things; yea, they plainly say, that it has respect to the pouring forth of the Holy Ghost z.
“Says R. Joshua ben Levi, why is its name called the place of drawing water? because, from thence , “they draw the Holy Ghost”, as it is said, “and ye shall draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation”,
Isa 12:3.”
Moreover, it was on this day they prayed for the rains for the year ensuing: it is asked a,
“from what time do they make mention of the powers of the rains (which descend by the power of God)? R. Eliezer says, from the first good day of the feast (of tabernacles); R. Joshua says, from the last good day of the feast.–They do not pray for the rains, but near the rains;”
that is, the time of rains; and which, one of their commentators says b, is the eighth day of the feast of tabernacles; for from the feast of tabernacles, thenceforward is the time of rains. The Jews have a notion, that at this feast the rains of the ensuing year were fixed: hence they say c, that
“at the feast of tabernacles judgment is made concerning the waters;”
or a decree or determination is made concerning them by God. Upon which the Gemara d has these words,
“wherefore does the law say pour out water on the feast of tabernacles? Says the holy blessed God, pour out water before me, that the rains of the year may be blessed unto you.”
Now when all these things are considered, it will easily be seen with what pertinency our Lord expresses himself on this day, with respect to the effusion of the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, as follows:
Jesus stood and cried; he now stood up, whereas at other times he used to sit, and spoke with a loud voice, both to show his fervour and earnestness, and that all might hear:
saying, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. This is to be understood not of a natural thirst, though the allusion is to it, which is very painful and distressing; as the instances of the Israelites in the wilderness, Samson after he had slain the Philistines, and our Lord upon the cross, show; much less a sinful thirst, a thirst after the riches, honours, and pleasures of this life; but a spiritual thirst, or a thirst after spiritual things, after salvation by Christ, and a view of interest in it, free and full pardon of sin through him, justification by his righteousness, a greater degree of knowledge of him, more communion with him, and conformity to him, and after the sincere milk of the word, and the breasts of Gospel ordinances: and such that thirst after these things, and eagerly desire them, and are in pain and uneasiness without them, as a man is, who has a violent thirst upon him, are such as are regenerated and quickened by the Spirit of God, and are made sensible of themselves, and of their state and condition by nature. Now these Christ invites to come unto him, not to Moses and his law, moral or ceremonial, and to obedience to them, and works of righteousness done by them, to any creature, or creature acts; for these are cisterns without water, where no true peace, joy, righteousness, and salvation are to be had; but to himself, who is the fountain of gardens, the well of living waters, and who is as rivers of water in a dry land, to thirsty souls: and when come to him, which is by believing in him, they are encouraged to drink; that is, to take of the water of life freely, or to take of his grace freely; salvation by him is of free grace, and the pardon of sin is according to the riches of grace, and justification is freely by his grace, and so all other blessings; and of this they may drink abundantly, or they may partake of it largely: there is a fulness of grace in Christ, and there is an abundance of it communicated to his people; it is exceeding abundant; it flows, and overflows, and may be drank of to satisfaction, till their souls are as a watered garden, and they are satisfied with the goodness of the Lord.
q Shirshashirim Rabba, fol. 5. 3. & 7. 3. r Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 7. sect. 6. & Maimon. in ib. s Bartenora in Misn. Succa, c. 5. sect. 6. t T. Bab. Succa, fol. 55. 2. Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 21. fol. 231. 1. u T. Bab. Succa, fol. 48. 1. w Misn. Succa, c. 4. sect. 9. x Misn. Succa, c. 5. sect. 1, 4. y T. Zebachim, fol. 110. 2. Maimon. in Misn. Succa, c. 4. sect. 9. & Hilthot Tamidin, c. 10. sect. 6. z T. Hieros. Succa, fol. 55. 1. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 70. fol. 62. 3. & Midrash Ruth, fol. 32. 2. Caphtor, fol. 52. 1. a Misn. Taanith, c. 1. sect. 1, 2. b Bartenora, in ib. c Misn. Roshhashana, c. 1. sect. 2. d T. Bab. Roshhashana, fol. 16. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Gospel Invitation. |
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37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) 40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. 41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? 43 So there was a division among the people because of him. 44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
In these verses we have,
I. Christ’s discourse, with the explication of it, v. 37-39. It is probable that these are only short hints of what he enlarged upon, but they have in them the substance of the whole gospel; here is a gospel invitation to come to Christ, and a gospel promise of comfort and happiness in him. Now observe,
1. When he gave this invitation: On the last day of the feast of tabernacles, that great day. The eighth day, which concluded that solemnity, was to be a holy convocation, Lev. xxiii. 36. Now on this day Christ published this gospel-call, because (1.) Much people were gathered together, and, if the invitation were given to many, it might be hoped that some would accept of it, Prov. i. 20. Numerous assemblies give opportunity of doing the more good. (2.) The people were now returning to their homes, and he would give them this to carry away with them as his parting word. When a great congregation is to be dismissed, and is about to scatter, as here, it is affecting to think that in all probability they will never come all together again in this world, and therefore, if we can say or do any thing to help them to heaven, that must be the time. It is good to be lively at the close of an ordinance. Christ made this offer on the last day of the feast. [1.] To those who had turned a deaf ear to his preaching on the foregoing days of this sacred week; he will try them once more, and, if they will yet hear his voice, they shall live. [2.] To those who perhaps might never have such another offer made them, and therefore were concerned to accept of this; it would be half a year before there would be another feast, and in that time they would many of them be in their graves. Behold now is the accepted time.
2. How he gave this invitation: Jesus stood and cried, which denotes, (1.) His great earnestness and importunity. His heart was upon it, to bring poor souls in to himself. The erection of his body and the elevation of his voice were indications of the intenseness of his mind. Love to souls will make preachers lively. (2.) His desire that all might take notice, and take hold of this invitation. He stood, and cried, that he might the better be heard; for this is what every one that hath ears is concerned to hear. Gospel truth seeks no corners, because it fears no trials. The heathen oracles were delivered privately by them that peeped and muttered; but the oracles of the gospel were proclaimed by one that stood, and cried. How sad is the case of man, that he must be importuned to be happy, and how wonderful the grace of Christ, that he will importune him! Ho, every one, Isa. lv. 1.
3. The invitation itself is very general: If any man thirst, whoever he be, he is invited to Christ, be he high or low, rich or poor, young or old, bond or free, Jew or Gentile. It is also very gracious: “If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. If any man desires to be truly and eternally happy, let him apply himself to me, and be ruled by me, and I will undertake to make him so.”
(1.) The persons invited are such as thirst, which may be understood, either, [1.] Of the indigence of their cases; either as to their outward condition (if any man be destitute of the comforts of this life, or fatigued with the crosses of it, let his poverty and afflictions draw him to Christ for that peace which the world can neither give nor take away), or as to their inward state: “If any man want spiritual blessings, he may be supplied by me.” Or, [2.] Of the inclination of their souls and their desires towards a spiritual happiness. If any man hunger and thirst after righteousness, that is, truly desire the good will of God towards him, and the good work of God in him.
(2.) The invitation itself: Let him come to me. Let him not go to the ceremonial law, which would neither pacify the conscience nor purify it, and therefore could not make the comers thereunto perfect, Heb. x. 1. Nor let him go to the heathen philosophy, which does but beguile men, lead them into a wood, and leave them there; but let him go to Christ, admit his doctrine, submit to his discipline, believe in him; come to him as the fountain of living waters, the giver of all comfort.
(3.) The satisfaction promised: “Let him come and drink, he shall have what he comes for, and abundantly more, shall have that which will not only refresh, but replenish, a soul that desires to be happy.”
4. A gracious promise annexed to this gracious call (v. 38): He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow— (1.) See here what it is to come to Christ: It is to believe on him, as the scripture hath said; it is to receive and entertain him as he is offered to us in the gospel. We must not frame a Christ according to our fancy, but believe in a Christ according to the scripture. (2.) See how thirsty souls, that come to Christ, shall be made to drink. Israel, that believed Moses, drank of the rock that followed them, the streams followed; but believers drink of a rock in them, Christ in them; he is in them a well of living water, ch. iv. 14. Provision is made not only for their present satisfaction, but for their continual perpetual comfort. Here is, [1.] Living water, running water, which the Hebrew language calls living, because still in motion. The graces and comforts of the Spirit are compared to living (meaning running) water, because they are the active quickening principles of spiritual life, and the earnests and beginnings of eternal life. See Jer. ii. 13. [2.] Rivers of living water, denoting both plenty and constancy. The comfort flows in both plentifully and constantly as a river; strong as a stream to bear down the oppositions of doubts and fears. There is a fulness in Christ of grace for grace. [3.] These flow out of his belly, that is, out of his heart or soul, which is the subject of the Spirit’s working and the seat of his government. There gracious principles are planted; and out of the heart, in which the Spirit dwells, flow the issues of life, Prov. iv. 23. There divine comforts are lodged, and the joy that a stranger doth not intermeddle with. He that believes has the witness in himself, 1 John v. 10. Sat lucis intus–Light abounds within. Observe, further, where there are springs of grace and comfort in the soul that will send forth streams: Out of his belly shall flow rivers. First, Grace and comfort will produce good actions, and a holy heart will be seen in a holy life; the tree is known by its fruits, and the fountain by its streams. Secondly, They will communicate themselves for the benefit of others; a good man is a common good. His mouth is a well of life, Prov. x. 11. It is not enough that we drink waters out of our own cistern, that we ourselves take the comfort of the grace given us, but we must let our fountains be dispersed abroad,Pro 5:15; Pro 5:16.
Those words, as the scripture hath said, seem to refer to some promise in the Old Testament to this purport, and there are many; as that God would pour out his Spirit, which is a metaphor borrowed from waters (Pro 1:23; Joe 2:28; Isa 44:3; Zec 12:10); that the dry land should become springs of water (Isa. xli. 18); that there should be rivers in the desert (Isa. xliii. 19); that gracious souls should be like a spring of water (Isa. lviii. 11); and the church a well of living water, Cant. iv. 15. And here may be an allusion to the waters issuing out of Ezekiel’s temple, Ezek. xlvii. 1. Compare Rev. xxii. 1, and see Zech. xiv. 8. Dr. Lightfoot and others tell us it was a custom of the Jews, which they received by tradition, the last day of the feast of tabernacles to have a solemnity, which they called Libatio aqu–The pouring out of water. They fetched a golden vessel of water from the pool of Siloam, brought it into the temple with sound of trumpet and other ceremonies, and, upon the ascent to the altar, poured it out before the Lord with all possible expressions of joy. Some of their writers make the water to signify the law, and refer to Isa 12:3; Isa 55:1. Others, the Holy Spirit. And it is thought that our Saviour might here allude to this custom. Believers shall have the comfort, not of a vessel of water fetched from a pool, but of a river flowing from themselves. The joy of the law, and the pouring out of the water, which signified this, are not to be compared with the joy of the gospel in the wells of salvation.
5. Here is the evangelist’s exposition of this promise (v. 39): This spoke he of the Spirit: not of any outward advantages accruing to believers (as perhaps some misunderstood him), but of the gifts, graces, and comforts of the Spirit. See how scripture is the best interpreter of scripture. Observe,
(1.) It is promised to all that believe on Christ that they shall receive the Holy Ghost. Some received his miraculous gifts (Mar 16:17; Mar 16:18); all receive his sanctifying graces. The gift of the Holy Ghost is one of the great blessings promised in the new covenant (Acts ii. 39), and, if promised, no doubt performed to all that have an interest in that covenant.
(2.) The Spirit dwelling and working in believers is as a fountain of living running water, out of which plentiful streams flow, cooling and cleansing as water, mollifying and moistening as water, making them fruitful, and others joyful; see ch. iii. 5. When the apostles spoke so fluently of the things of God, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts ii. 4), and afterwards preached and wrote the gospel of Christ with such a flood of divine eloquence, then this was fulfilled, Out of his belly shall flow rivers.
(3.) This plentiful effusion of the Spirit was yet the matter of a promise; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. See here [1.] That Jesus was not yet glorified. It was certain that he should be glorified, and he was ever worthy of all honour; but he was as yet in a state of humiliation and contempt. He had never forfeited the glory he had before all worlds, nay, he had merited a further glory, and, besides his hereditary honours, might claim the achievement of a mediatorial crown; and yet all this is in reversion. Jesus is now upheld (Isa. xlii. 1), is now satisfied (Isa. liii. 11), is now justified (1 Tim. iii. 16), but he is not yet glorified. And, if Christ must wait for his glory, let not us think it much to wait for ours. [2.] That the Holy Ghost was not yet given. oupo gar hen pneuma—for the Holy Ghost was not yet. The Spirit of God was from eternity, for in the beginning he moved upon the face of the waters. He was in the Old-Testament prophets and saints, and Zacharias and Elisabeth were both filled with the Holy Ghost. This therefore must be understood of the eminent, plentiful, and general effusion of the Spirit which was promised, Joel ii. 28, and accomplished, Acts ii. 1, c. The Holy Ghost was not yet given in that visible manner that was intended. If we compare the clear knowledge and strong grace of the disciples of Christ themselves, after the day of Pentecost, with their darkness and weakness before, we shall understand in what sense the Holy Ghost was not yet given the earnests and first-fruits of the Spirit were given, but the full harvest was not yet come. That which is most properly called the dispensation of the Spirit did not yet commence. The Holy Ghost was not yet given in such rivers of living water as should issue forth to water the whole earth, even the Gentile world, not in the gifts of tongues, to which perhaps this promise principally refers. [3.] That the reason why the Holy Ghost was not given was because Jesus was not yet glorified. First, The death of Christ is sometimes called his glorification (ch. xiii. 31); for in his cross he conquered and triumphed. Now the gift of the Holy Ghost was purchased by the blood of Christ: this was the valuable consideration upon which the grant was grounded, and therefore till this price was paid (though many other gifts were bestowed upon its being secured to be paid) the Holy Ghost was not given. Secondly, There was not so much need of the Spirit, while Christ himself was here upon earth, as there was when he was gone, to supply the want of him. Thirdly, The giving of the Holy Ghost was to be both an answer to Christ’s intercession (ch. xiv. 16), and an act of his dominion; and therefore till he is glorified, and enters upon both these, the Holy Ghost is not given. Fourthly, The conversion of the Gentiles was the glorifying of Jesus. When certain Greeks began to enquire after Christ, he said, Now is the Son of man glorified, ch. xii. 23. Now the time when the gospel should be propagated in the nations was not yet come, and therefore there was as yet no occasion for the gift of tongues, that river of living water. But observe, though the Holy Ghost was not yet given, yet he was promised; it was now the great promise of the Father, Acts i. 4. Though the gifts of Christ’s grace are long deferred, yet they are well secured: and, while we are waiting for the good promise, we have the promise to live upon, which shall speak and shall not lie.
II. The consequents of this discourse, what entertainment it met with; in general, it occasioned differences: There was a division among the people because of him, v. 43. There was a schism, so the word is; there were diversities of opinions, and those managed with heat and contention; various sentiments, and those such as set them at variance. Think we that Christ came to send peace, that all would unanimously embrace his gospel? No, the effect of the preaching of his gospel would be division, for, while some are gathered to it, others will be gathered against it; and this will put things into a ferment, as here; but this is no more the fault of the gospel than it is the fault of a wholesome medicine that it stirs up the peccant humours in the body, in order to the discharge of them. Observe what the debate was:–
1. Some were taken with him, and well affected to him: Many of the people, when they heard this saying, heard him with such compassion and kindness invite poor sinners to him, and with such authority engage to make them happy, that they could not but think highly of him. (1.) Some of them said, O, a truth this is the prophet, that prophet whom Moses spoke of to the fathers, who should be like unto him; or, This is the prophet who, according to the received notions of the Jewish church, is to be the harbinger and forerunner of the Messiah; or, This is truly a prophet, one divinely inspired and sent of God. (2.) Others went further, and said, This is the Christ (v. 41), not the prophet of the Messiah, but the Messiah himself. The Jews had at this time a more than ordinary expectation of the Messiah, which made them ready to say upon every occasion, Lo, here is Christ, or Lo, he is there; and this seems to be only the effect of some such confused and floating notions which caught at the first appearance, for we do not find that these people became his disciples and followers; a good opinion of Christ is far short of a lively faith in Christ; many give Christ a good word that give him no more. These here said, This is the prophet, and this is the Christ, but could not persuade themselves to leave all and follow him; and so this their testimony to Christ was but a testimony against themselves.
2. Others were prejudiced against him. No sooner was this great truth started, that Jesus is the Christ, than immediately it was contradicted and argued against: and this one thing, that his rise and origin were (as they took it for granted) out of Galilee, was thought enough to answer all the arguments for his being the Christ. For, shall Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the scripture said that Christ comes of the seed of David? See here, (1.) A laudable knowledge of the scripture. They were so far in the right, that the Messiah was to be a rod out of the stem of Jesse (Isa. xi. 1), that out of Bethlehem should arise the Governor, Mic. v. 2. This even the common people knew by the traditional expositions which their scribes gave them. Perhaps the people who had these scriptures so ready to object against Christ were not alike knowing in other parts of holy writ, but had had these put into their mouths by their leaders, to fortify their prejudices against Christ. Many that espouse some corrupt notions, and spend their zeal in defence of them, seem to be very ready in the scriptures, when indeed they know little more than those scriptures which they have been taught to pervert. (2.) A culpable ignorance of our Lord Jesus. They speak of it as certain and past dispute that Jesus was of Galilee, whereas by enquiring of himself, or his mother, or his disciples, or by consulting the genealogies of the family of David, or the register at Bethlehem, they might have known that he was the Son of David, and a native of Bethlehem; but this they willingly are ignorant of. Thus gross falsehoods in matters of fact, concerning persons and things, are often taken up by prejudiced and partial men, and great resolves founded upon them, even in the same place and the same age wherein the persons live and the things are done, while the truth might easily be found out.
3. Others were enraged against him, and they would have taken him, v. 44. Though what he said was most sweet and gracious, yet they were exasperated against him for it. Thus did our Master suffer ill for saying and doing well. They would have taken him; they hoped somebody or other would seize him, and, if they had thought no one else would, they would have done it themselves. They would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him, being restrained by an invisible power, because his hour was not come. As the malice of Christ’s enemies is always unreasonable, so sometimes the suspension of it is unaccountable.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Now on the last day ( ). The eighth day which was “an holy convocation,” kept as a Sabbath (Le 33:36), apparently observed as a memorial of the entrance into Canaan, hence “the great day of the feast” ( ).
Stood and cried ( ). Past perfect active of used as imperfect and intransitive and first aorist active of . Picture Jesus standing (linear) and suddenly crying out (punctiliar).
If any man thirst ( ). Third class condition with and present active subjunctive of , “if any one is thirsty.” On each of the seven preceding days water was drawn in a golden pitcher from the pool of Siloam and carried in procession to the temple and offered by the priests as the singers chanted Isa 12:3: “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” “It is uncertain whether the libations were made upon the eighth day. If they were not made, the significant cessation of the striking rite on this one day of the feast would give a still more fitting occasion for the words” (Westcott).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The last day. The eighth, the close of the whole festival, and kept as a Sabbath (Lev 23:36). It was called the Day of the Great Hosanna, because a circuit was made seven times round the altar with “Hosanna;” also the Day of Willows, and the Day of Beating the Branches, because all the leaves were shaken off the willow – boughs, and the palm branches beaten in pieces by the side of the altar. Every morning, after the sacrifice, the people, led by a priest, repaired to the Fountain of Siloam, where the priest filled a golden pitcher, and brought it back to the temple amid music and joyful shouts. Advancing to the altar of burnt – offering, at the cry of the people, “Lift up thy hand !” he emptied the pitcher toward the west, and toward the east a cup of wine, while the people chanted, “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” It is not certain that this libation was made on the eighth day, but there can be no doubt that the following words of the Lord had reference to that ceremony.
Stood [] . The imperfect, was standing; watching the ceremonies. Both A. V. and Rev. miss this graphic touch.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “In the last day,” (en de te eschate hemera) “Then in the last day,” the seventh day of the feast of booths or feast of the tabernacles, Joh 7:2, Lev 23:36.
2) “The great day of the feast,” (te megale tes heortes) “The great(final) day of the feast,” or on the High Sabbath, the eighth day, the day following the seven days of the feast proper, Num 29:13-36. This was attended with much pomp, Neh 8:18.
3) “Jesus stood and cried, saying,” (eistekei ho lesous kai ekraksen legon) “Jesus stood and cried out, repeatedly saying,” asserting, offering a source of satisfaction to thirsty souls, much as recounted, Isa 55:1-3.
4) “If any man thirst,” (ean tis dipsa) “If anyone at all thirsts,” as your fathers thirsted in the wilderness and cried to the Lord and to Moses for natural water, to slake their thirst, Exo 17:1-7. This feast was traditionally concluded by the people of Israel singing the Hallel Psalms Psa 113:1 to Psa 118:29 as the priests poured water on the great rock before the temple, Isa 12:3; Num 20:8-11.
5) “Let him come unto me, and drink.” (erchestho pros me kai pineto) “Let him come tome of his own choice and drink,” who has spiritual thirst, a thirst of the soul. That ancient rock that went before Israel, as a source of water through the desert, for forty years, was declared to be Christ, who saves and satisfies the thirsty soul, 1Co 104; Joh 4:15; Rev 22:17. He was also that rejected stone, 1Pe 2:8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
37. On the last day. The first thing that ought to be observed here is, that no plots or intrigues of enemies terrified Christ, so as to cause him to desist from his duty; but, on the contrary, his courage rose with dangers, so that he persevered with greater firmness. This is proved by the circumstance of the time, the crowded assembly, and the freedom he used in exclaiming, while he knew that hands were stretched out on all sides to seize him; for it is probable that the officers were at that time ready to execute their commission.
We must next observe, that nothing else than the protection of God, on which he relied, enabled him to stand firm against such violent efforts of those men, who had every thing in their power. For what other reason can be assigned why Christ preached on the most public day of the festival, in the midst of the temple, over which his enemies enjoyed a quiet reign, and after that they had prepared a band of officers, but because God restrained their rage? Yet it is highly useful to us, that the Evangelist introduces Christ exclaiming aloud, Let all who thirst come to me For we infer from it that the invitation was not addressed to one or two persons only, or in a low and gentle whisper, but that this doctrine is proclaimed to all, in such a manner that none may be ignorant of it, but those who, of their own accord shutting their ears, will not receive this loud and distinct cry.
If any man thirst. By this clause he exhorts all to partake of his blessings, provided that, from a conviction of their own poverty, they desire to obtain assistance. For it is true that we are all poor and destitute of every blessing, but it is far from being true that all are roused by a conviction of their poverty to seek relief. Hence it arises that many persons do not stir a foot, but wretchedly wither and decay, and there are even very many who are not affected by a perception of their emptiness, until the Spirit of God, by his own fire, kindle hunger and thirst in their hearts. It belongs to the Spirit, therefore, to cause us to desire his grace.
As to the present passage, we ought to observe, first, that none are called to obtain the riches of the Spirit but those who burn with the desire of them. For we know that the pain of thirst is most acute and tormenting, so that the very strongest men, and those who can endure any amount of toil, are overpowered by thirst. And yet he invites the thirsty rather than the hungry, in order to pursue the metaphor which he afterwards employs in the word water and the word drink, that all the parts of the discourse may agree with each other. And I have no doubt that he alludes to that passage in Isaiah, All that thirst, come to the waters, (Isa 55:1.) For what the Prophet there ascribes to God must have been at length fulfilled in Christ, as also that which the blessed Virgin sung, that
those who are rich and full he sendeth empty away, (Luk 1:53.)
He therefore enjoins us to come direct to himself, as if he had said, that it is he alone who can fully satisfy the thirst of all, and that all who seek even the smallest alleviation of their thirst anywhere else are mistaken, and labor in vain.
And let him drink. To the exhortation a promise is added; for though the word — let him drink — conveys an exhortation, still it contains within itself a promise; because Christ testifies that he is not a dry and worn-out cistern, but an inexhaustible fountain, which largely and abundantly supplies all who will come to drink Hence it follows that, if we ask from him what we want, our desire will not be disappointed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
DISCOURSE ON THE LIVING WATER
Text 7:37-52
37
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
38
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.
39
But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.
40
Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, This is of a truth the prophet.
41
Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee?
42
Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?
43
So there arose a division in the multitude because of him.
44
And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
45
The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why did ye not bring him?
46
The officers answered, Never man so spake.
47
The Pharisees therefore answered them, Are ye also led astray?
48
Hath any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees?
49
But this multitude that knoweth not the law are accursed.
50
Nicodemus saith unto them (he that came to him before, being one of them),
51
Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know what he doeth?
52
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
Queries
a.
How will the rivers of living water flow from the believer?
b,
Was the Spirit not given in some measure prior to Jesus glorification?
c.
What criteria did the Pharisees use to judge the validity of Jesus teachings?
Paraphrase
On the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood and cried aloud, If any man thirsts after righteousness and everlasting life let him come unto Me and drink. For the man believing in Me, as the scripture has said, Out from his innermost being shall flow an abundant river of this life-giving water (He said this concerning the gift of the Holy Spirit which they that believed in Him were about to receive. For the gift of the Holy Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified). Some of the multitude, having heard these words of Jesus, were saying, This is truly the Prophet. Others were saying, This is the Christ. Still others said, The Christ does not come out of Galilee, now does He? Have not the scriptures said that the Christ, when He comes, will come from the ancestry of David and from the village of Bethlehem where David was born? There arose a division therefore in the multitude on account of Jesus and His teaching. Some of them desired to arrest Him but no one forcibly laid their hands upon Him. The temple police even returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, Why have you not brought him? The officers answered, Never has a mere mortal spoken as this man is speaking! The Pharisees replied, He has not seduced you also, has he? Have any of the authorities or Pharisees approved his teaching? As for this crowd of ignoramuses that do not know the law, they are accursed! Then Nicodemus, the one who came to Jesus before, being one of the Pharisees, said to them, Does our law permit a man to be condemned and sentenced without first giving him a hearing and hear his defense in order to determine the facts? The Pharisees replied, You are not also from Galilee are you, Nicodemus? Search where you will in the scriptures and you will see that the Prophet does not come from Galilee.
Summary
The Lords discourse on the living water touches the chords of hope in some who are ready to accept Him as the Messiah. Others, judging Him hastily and in ignorance of the facts, reject Him as the Christ. The Pharisees condemn everyone as ignoramuses who do not believe what they believe and reject what they reject.
Comment
We have substituted the phrase, on the last day of the great feast, in our paraphrase in lieu of the traditional . . . on the last day, the great day of the feast. Josephus (Antiquities 3:10:4) states that this feast is the holiest and greatest feast. We believe that the Greek word megas (great) more appropriately applies to the whole feast rather than to any particular day. This was precisely the way the Bodmer II papyrus (P66) read originallyon the last day of the great feast. The manuscript was evidently changed in later years from its original reading to the traditional reading.
The most joyous of all festive seasons in Israel was that of the Feast of Tabernacles. It fell on a time of year when the hearts of the people would naturally be full of thankfulness, gladness and expectancy. Edersheim says of the three great annual feasts: the first [Passover] . . . spoke, in the presentation of the first sheaf, of the founding of the church; the second [Pentecost] of its harvesting, when the church in its present state should be presented as two leavened wave-loaves; while the third [Tabernacles] pointed forward to the full harvest in the end, when in this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things . . . (The Temple, its Ministry and Services, p. 269, pub. Eerdmans, by Alfred Edersheim.) The Rabbis, in many passages of the Mishnah, single this feast out from all the other feasts. This feast closed the sacred festive cycle for the year. It very appropriately followed the Day of Atonement by only five days. At the Day of Atonement the sin of Israel was removed and her covenant relationship to God was restored. Thus a sanctified and cleansed nation could keep a holy feast of harvest joy unto the Lord. In Zechariahs prophecy of the new world it was this Feast of Tabernacles which was to be celebrated all over the world (Zec. 14:16-19). Finally, more sacrifices were offered at this feast than either of the other two annual feasts.
Some of the background of the ceremonies during this feast will make Jesus words in Joh. 7:37-38 much more significant. Each day of the feast the people came with palm branches and limbs of willows to the temple. They held these branches over the great altar of burnt offering until they formed a sort of roof and the people marched around the altar. While the people were thus marching, one of the priests went, according to the ceremony, to the pool of Siloam and filled a golden pitcher with about two pints of water. As he returned through the Water Gate, the people chanted Isa. 12:3 . . . With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. The priest walked up the steps to the great altar and began to pour the water out into the altar and the people began to sing the Hallel (Psa. 113:1-9; Psa. 114:1-8; Psa. 115:1-18; Psa. 116:1-19; Psa. 117:1-2; Psa. 118:1-29) to the accompaniment of the flute.
Perhaps this is the very moment Jesus cried out, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. Jesus explained the deep significance of the ceremony and claimed to be Himself the One through Whom they would find fulfillment of its promises.
To the people this ceremony was both a prayer of thanksgiving and supplication for the rains which brought the harvest. It was also a memorial ceremony looking back to the water which sprang from the rock when their forefathers were in the wilderness. It was also understood as a prophetic-type ceremony in which they depicted the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. The Talmud says, Why is the name of it called, The drawing out of water? Because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said: With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Jesus must have meant the scriptures in general teach that from within the believer shall flow rivers of living water. No scholar yet has been able to determine that His words (Joh. 7:38) are an exact quotation from any specific Old Testament passage. These are some of the Old Testament passages to be studied in connection with Joh. 7:37-38 : Psa. 46:4-5; Isa. 44:3; Isa. 55:1; Isa. 58:11; Eze. 47:1-12; Zec. 14:8.
In Joh. 4:14 Jesus promises the believer a never-failing source of life, strength and joy. The living water promised to the woman at the well was to be a well of living water springing up unto eternal life. This is figurative language to describe the continual renewing work of the Holy Spirit so long as He is allowed to dwell within the believer (cf. Isa. 40:31; 2Co. 4:16; Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:10; Tit. 3:5). But here in Joh. 7:37-39 Jesus uses figurative language to show that the living water will also flow out from the inward man of the believer. The Christian will naturally become a source of life to others. Jesus is the Water of Life and believers become streams of life-giving water pouring forth to those thirsting for Life, the believers being ever supplied from the Source themselves. Jesus is the Light of the world and believers are also lights (Mat. 5:14). One only need review the book of Acts and especially the life of Paul to see examples of those who have drunk deeply of the Water of Life and become rivers of living water themselves.
The indwelling Spirit of Christ is meant in Joh. 7:39. The gift of the Holy Spirit which is promised to every Christian (Act. 2:38; Act. 5:32); without which no man belongs to Christ or may have eternal life (Rom. 8:1-17). This measure of the Holy Spirit was not given before the resurrection and ascension of Christ. The Holy Spirit was given to individuals in the Old Dispensation on an arbitrary basis by God (1Pe. 1:10-11; 2Pe. 1:20-21). A few individuals out of Gods chosen people were given the Spirit, e.g., Samson, Samuel, etc. Even those believers who repented and were baptized at John the Baptists preaching were not given the indwelling Spirit. We have an instance of the rebaptism of certain of Johns disciples (Act. 19:1-7) into the name of the Lord Jesus because Johns baptism carried with it no promise of the Holy Spirit. Jesus distributed the powers of the Holy Spirit as He saw fit while He lived on earth (cf. Mat. 10:1). But while Christ dwelt among men in the flesh it was not possible for Him to send the Comforter to each believer. As Westcott says, The necessary limitations of Christs historical presence with the disciples excluded that realization of His abiding presence which followed on the Resurrection (The Gospel According to St. John, by B. F. Westcott, p. 279, Eerdmans). Jesus says much the same Himself (cf. Joh. 14:17; Joh. 16:4-5; Joh. 16:7). Jesus is spoken of as being glorified in a number of waysthrough His works, through His disciples, in His death, in His resurrection, in His exaltation to the right hand of the Father (cf. Joh. 11:4; Joh. 12:16; Joh. 12:23; Joh. 12:28; Joh. 13:31; Joh. 14:13; Joh. 15:8; Joh. 17:4; Joh. 17:10; Act. 3:13).
When Jesus cried aloud in the temple courts it was probably right at the moment when the worshippers were at the highest pitch of interest in the ceremony, His words, being highly significant for the moment, had instantaneous effect. Many of the worshippers were ready to impulsively declare, This is truly The Prophet, the one our father Moses promised in the Law (cf. Deu. 18:15). Others were just as ready to declare Him Christ! But their emotional instability and their ignorance is betrayed. They do not even know that Jesus was actually born in Bethlehemthey hastily make their judgment of Him assuming that He originated in Galilee.
They were correct in two points! The Scriptures do say that the Christ is to be born in Davids birthplace, Bethlehem (cf. 1Sa. 16:1-4 Isa. 11:1; Jer. 23:5; Mic. 5:2). And the Scriptures also say that Christ comes from the seed of David. Scholars are not agreed on the lineage of Mary. Some say Christ gets His Davidic lineage from Joseph. But this writer is persuaded that Mary was a descendant of David (cf. Sam. Joh. 7:12; Act. 2:30; Rom. 1:3; 2Ti. 2:8; Rev. 5:5). Scripture tells us that Jesus was born, according to the flesh, of the seed of David, and Jesus human nature was not derived from Joseph, for Jesus was born of the virgin Mary.
Some of the worshipping pilgrims appear to have been actually hostile. Perhaps they were angered by Jesus interruption of the ceremoniesperhaps at His silence in denying to be the Christ (which was really a claim). How could a lowly Galilean be the Christhe was guilty of blasphemy. Some wanted Him arrested. There were temple officers already there, sent by the chief priests and Pharisees to arrest Him. But they returned empty-handed. Their superiors demanded a reason for their failure. The officers reply would seem rather ludicrous were it not for other instances where people were overawed by the words, countenance, or mere presence of Jesus (cf. Mat. 7:28-29; Luk. 5:8; Joh. 18:6). What restrained these hardened temple policewas it the eloquence of Jesus? His personality? Or the authority with which He spoke and carried Himself? Perhaps all three.
But the Pharisees were not the least impressed by such a report. These ignorant police and the ignorant masses might think the Galilean to be eloquent, persuasive and speaking with authority, but the Pharisees knew him to be a sinister character, seeking to lead the masses astray. The scribes and Pharisees spent practically their whole lives in minute study of the Scriptures and the traditions of the fathers. The more Scriptures one could quote, the more Rabbinical authorities and traditions one could quote, the wiser and holier one became. And so the multitudes who could not quote much Scripture or traditions were ignorant and sinful. Thus the ignorant masses were to follow unhesitatingly the decisions and opinions of the religious expertsthe Pharisees. This is one reason Jesus told men who were following the Pharisees that they were blind men following blind guides . . . (cf. Mat. 15:14).
The Pharisees have just boasted that none of their number believes in this Galilean and now one of their own number, Nicodemus, speaks up in defense of Jesus. The Pharisees have just boasted that they were the great students and interpreters of the Law and now one of their own number points out that they are violating that Law.
We have discussed the personality of Nicodemus in Volume I, page 93 (see Joh. 3:1-2). This incident shows that he was not a craven coward. He was speaking in defense of a hated enemy of his colleagues. They had sworn to kill the Galilean and were not at all reticent in expressing their hatred for Him and His followers. Nicodemus was reminding these arrogant, self-righteous men that they were violating their own Law.
And violating the Law they were indeed! The law required that justice be done, and impartially. Every man was to have the right to fair, and legal trial upon being accused. Every accusation had to be established at the mouth of two or more witnesses (cf. Exo. 23:1-2; Lev. 19:15-18; Deu. 1:16; Deu. 19:15-18).
Although Nicodemus was ready to speak out for a fair trial for Jesus, this passage (Joh. 7:50-52) leaves one with the feeling that Nicodemus could have been more bold and direct and testified openly his persuasion that Jesus was a teacher come from God (Joh. 3:2)even that He might be The Prophet or the Messiah. Nicodemus quoted the relevant legal maxims and when his august colleagues taunted him with having a connection with the Galilean rabble, he said no more.
Many Christians today often find themselves in much the same situation. There comes the moment of truth in every Christians lifeand more than oncewhen he must openly and boldly witness for Jesus or be reduced to an uncomfortable and ashamed silence. Let every follower of Jesus remember His warning, Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven (Mat. 10:32-33).
A final note in the field of textual criticism. Both the King James Version and the American Standard Version texts read, in the last sentence of Joh. 7:52, Search, and see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. (Italics mine.) The Bodmer II (P66) manuscript places the definite article before prophet in Joh. 7:52 making it read thus: . . . the prophet does not arise out of Galilee. This relieves the chief priests and Pharisees of making an egregious error, for there were prophets who came from Galilee, such as Jonah (2Ki. 14:25; Jon. 1:1), and perhaps Hosea and Nahum. It is doubtful that the scribes and Pharisees would make such an error as the K. J. V. and the A. S. V. would have them commit by saying no prophet ariseth out of Galilee. Furthermore, the P66 rendering would more aptly fit the contextual discussion which concerned the prophet and the Christ.
Quiz
1.
How important was the Feast of Tabernacles to the Jews?
2.
What was the most significant part of the ceremonies connected with this feast?
3.
Name four Old Testament passages which speak of living water.
4.
What is the living water within believersand how does it flow out from within them?
5.
What measure of the Holy Spirit was not given prior to Jesus glorification?
6.
Why could the Holy Spirit not be given before Jesus was glorified?
7.
What law was the Pharisees violating in their accusations and actions against Jesus?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(37) In the last day, that great day of the feast.The question whether the seventh or the eighth day of the feast is intended here, is one of antiquarian rather than of practical interest. The words commanding the observance in Deu. 16:13, and Num. 29:12, mention only seven days; but this latter passage is followed in Joh. 7:35 by a reference to the solemn assembly on the eighth day. With this agree the words in Lev. 23:35-36; Lev. 23:39, and Neh. 8:18. Later the eight days of the festival are certainly spoken of as in the Talmud, in 2Ma. 10:6, and Jos. Ant. iii. 10, 4. The best modern authorities are for the most part agreed that it was the eighth day, i.e., the 22nd of Tishri, that is here referred to. It was the great day as the octave of the feast, and the day of holy convocation.
Jesus stood and cried.Comp. Note on Joh. 7:28. Here the vivid remembrance of the writer remembers the attitude as well as the voice.
If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.These words were almost certainly suggested by part of the ritual of the festival, which consisted in a solemn procession with music, and headed by a priest, which went on each morning from the Temple to the pool of Siloam, where the priest filled a golden vase with water and carried it to the Temple amid the joyful cries of the people. He then poured it out on the western side of the altar of burnt-offering; while another priest poured a drink-offering of wine, at the same time, on the eastern side of the altar, and the people during this act chanted the words of the Hallel, Psalms 113-118. If we accept the eighth day as that referred to in this verse, then this ceremony was. not repeated; but its very absence may have suggested the fuller declaration of the reality of which it was the representation. The current Rabbinical interpretation of the symbolism connected it with the gift of the latter rain, which was at this season; and also with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Talmud says expressly, Therefore is its name called the house of drawing, because from thence is drawn the Holy Spirit, as it is said, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation (Jer. Succa, v. 1). Thoughts like these would be connected with this ritual by the Jews and by Jesus Himself, and the exact form which His own thought takes is marked by the words, If any man thirst. He stands there on the great day of the feast, and around Him are men who for seven successive mornings have witnessed acts and uttered words telling, though they know it not, of the true satisfaction of spiritual thirst, and thinking of the descent of showers on the thirsty ground, and in some vague way of the Holy Spirits presence. They are as the woman of Samaria was by the side of the true well. For every one who really knew his need, the source of living water was at hand. (Comp. Notes on Joh. 4:7-15.) That very Feast of Tabernacles, with its dwelling in tents, moreover, brought vividly to their minds the wilderness-life; and as in the past chapter the manna has formed the basis of His teaching about the Bread of Life, so here the striking of the rock and the streams gushing forth in the desert would be present to their minds. In the interpretation of one who was himself a Pharisee, and was taught in the schools of Jerusalem, that rock was Christ (1Co. 10:4).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jesus’s second Feast-of-Tabernacles discourse; its effects; followed by the defeat of the rulers, Joh 7:37-53.
37. In the last great day (See note on Joh 7:2) No festal water (type of the Spirit) was drawn from Siloam on this day, and Jesus stood forth to supply the deficit by proclaiming the outpouring of the real Holy Spirit, 37-39. A divided sentiment and struggle ensue, 40-44. The officers return disappointed to the authorities who break up in division and defeat.
Jesus stood and cried The second grand proclamation of Jesus through the crowd of fermenting parties. The commencement only of the discourse is given. Its purpose is to apply the typical waters to their now present antitype, proclaiming that the hour of their grand fulfilment has come.
‘Now on the last day, the great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, “If any man thirst let him come to me and drink”.’
‘On the last day, the great day.’ The feast came to its climax with a special Sabbath, which was the eighth day. And it was probably on this day, so that the people would take the message home with them still fresh from hearing it, that Jesus proclaimed these momentous words ‘with a loud voice’, that is as a proclamation.
‘If any man thirst let him come to me and drink.’ His words were like the cry of the water-seller in Isa 55:1. As with the water-seller He was not teaching but making a public announcement and offer. His actions would be especially noticeable because it was usual for a Jewish teacher to speak sitting down. This time, however, He stood. What He was saying was thus intended to be seen as a proclamation.
The people’s minds would be filled with the events of the week that had gone before and there would be a feeling of joy and well-being in their hearts. So His words would catch the mood of the moment and they would be open to hear. Perhaps Jesus was now about to reveal Himself by spectacular miracles as God’s Messiah.
In Isaiah the cry of the water-seller, “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy and eat, yes, come and buy wine and milk, without money and without price”, was immediately followed by the promise of the renewal of the everlasting covenant (Isa 55:3). Jesus’ words were very similar and must have had Isa 55:1 in mind. He too was offering a new covenant. His offer, however, differed somewhat as He was able to offer what the water seller could not, living water through belief in Him.
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his inner being will flow rivers of living water.”
At such a time, reference to flowing water would immediately bring to people’s minds the water poured out daily before God at the Temple, symbolising rain and fruitfulness, and the coming deliverance. Their minds were full of it. Thus the ‘birth from above, birth from water’ (Joh 3:6) is here seen in the spiritual rain which would feed the spiritual springs and provide plentiful water for the people to drink. It will result from response to His words. In the words of His previous preaching, ‘he who believes in Me will never thirst’ (Joh 6:35). And this would be associated in the minds of the people with the ‘drawing of water from the wells of deliverance’ (compare also Joh 4:13-14).
But now a new promise was added. ‘He who believes on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his inner being will flow rivers of living water.’ This went beyond what had been taught before. Now they were not only to receive life but were to expect to be purveyors of that life to the world. It was a promise that the great outpouring of the Spirit promised by the prophets was approaching, resulting in rivers of water for all. What John’s baptism pointed to was about to be fulfilled.
So now Jesus was promising something even greater than previously. Men had been told that they could be born from above, and drink of the water of life through putting their full trust in Jesus, but now was added the concept that they would then become the source of life to others. Water would flow out from them to others, just as in Eze 47:1 onwards it was to flow from God’s Temple to the world (compare Joe 3:18). This is what was to come. Those who responded would become a new Temple and the source of life to the world.
The rebirth by the Spirit was unquestionably already taking place in men’s hearts, and they were even then drinking of the water of life as they responded to the words of Jesus. That is something that must not be forgotten. From the beginning God had worked through His Spirit. But now, He was saying, there is something even more wonderful yet to come, a pouring out of the Spirit which will make them life-giving fountains to the world.
The Rivers Of Living Water ( Joh 7:37-44 ).
Meanwhile the Feast of Tabernacles was drawing to a close with its emphasis on harvest and the prayers for rain for the coming year. The people were totally dependent on that rain for survival, and during the seven days of this feast a ceremonial procession would gather water each day from the pool of Siloam and carry it to the Temple. There it was poured out before God at the time of the morning sacrifice while the people chanted the words of Isa 12:3 – ‘with joy you will draw water from the wells of deliverance’. It was their cry for rain in the coming season.
But it also looked forward to the great expected time of deliverance, that time when God would step in and deliver His people from their oppressors, the time when the land would flourish as it never had before, seeing rain in abundance (Isa 32:15) and great flowing rivers (Joe 3:18; Eze 47:1-12; Zec 14:8), and when the pouring out of the Spirit would produce fruitfulness of another kind in the hearts of men (Isa 44:1-4; Joe 2:23-29). It was a time of high excitement. The people were ever filled with an expectancy that God would act. And what was happening about Jesus had added to that excitement.
The detailed celebration of the Feast was as follows. Early on each of the seven mornings of the feast the high priest would lead a procession from the Pool of Siloam to the temple. Another priest, again accompanied by crowds, would at the same time fill a golden ewer with water from the pool. He would then carry it through the Water Gate on the south side of the temple and into the temple courtyard. There he would ceremoniously pour the water into a silver basin on the west side of the brazen altar from which it would flow through a tube to the base of the altar.
Many Jews would accompany these priests. Some of them would drink from the pool while others would chant Isa 55:1; Isa 12:3: “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters — with joy draw water from the springs of salvation.” This was such a happy occasion that the Mishnah stated, “He who has never seen the joy of the water-drawing has never in his life seen joy.” (Sukkoth Joh 5:1). The priest would then pour water into the basin at the time of the morning sacrifice. Another priest would also pour the daily drink offering of wine into another basin at the same time. Then they would pour the water and the wine out before the Lord.
The pouring out of water represented God’s past provision of water in the wilderness and His provision of refreshment in the future times of the Messiah. The pouring out of wine symbolised God’s bestowal of His Spirit in the days to come. Every male present would simultaneously shake his small bundle of willow and myrtle twigs (his lulab) with his right hand and hold a piece of citrus fruit aloft with his left hand. The twigs represented stages of the wilderness journey marked by different kinds of vegetation, and the citrus fruit symbolised the fruit of the Promised Land. Everyone would also cry, “Give thanks to the Lord!” three times. Worshippers in the temple courtyard would then sing the Hallel (Psalms 113-118). So by the end of the seven days excitement was at its peak, and all were thinking of the future work of God’s Spirit. This would be followed by the eighth day, possibly ‘the great day of the feast’.
Whether in fact the ‘great day of the feast, was the seventh day or the eighth day is disputed. The seventh day was a festal sabbath, and while during the first six days the priests walked once round the altar, on the seventh day they walked round it seven times. Thus it was seen as an important day. But the feast had come to be seen as one of eight days so that ‘the last day’ would naturally be interpreted as the eighth day.
Jesus Testifies of His Deity: The Living Water – In Joh 7:37 to Joh 8:1 Jesus Christ testifies of His deity by revealing Himself as the Living Water (Joh 7:37-39). The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness and God’s divine provision. With these wanderings God provided the rock from which flowed fresh, “living” water, or clear, unpolluted water. Paul refers to this water in his epistle to the Corinthians Joh 10:4, “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”
This festival culminated on the eighth and final day as a day of rejoicing before the pilgrims returned to their homes. With the meaning of this feast in mind along with the fact that these people are about to take a long journey home, Jesus cried out that He was that Rock, that Living Water that the Israelites partook of in their wilderness journeys. For those who accepted His doctrine in Joh 7:1-36, Jesus offers the true living water, the infilling of the Holy Spirit (Joh 7:37-39).
Joh 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:37 Lev 23:33-36, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.”
Num 29:35-36, “On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do no servile work therein: But ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish:”
During their wilderness journey, God provided the rock from which flowed fresh, “living” water, or clear, unpolluted water. Paul refers to this water in his epistle to the Corinthians, And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” (1Co 10:4) Each day of this festival, priests would draw water from the pool of Siloam, bring it to the Temple, and pour it out before the altar in memory of the water that God provided the Israelites in the wilderness (Mishnah, Sukkah 4.1, 9-10). [202]
[202] Andreas J. Ksterberger, John, in Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2004), 239.
Jesus arrived in Jerusalem “in the midst of the feast” (Joh 7:14). He taught them in the Temple for several days. This festival culminated on the eighth and final day as a day of rejoicing before the pilgrims returned to their homes. With the meaning of this feast in mind along with the fact that these people are about to take a long journey home, Jesus gives an invitation to those who thirsted for God’s Word by crying out that He was that Rock, that Living Water that the Israelites partook of in their wilderness journeys. Jesus was using the springs of fresh water that flowed up from under the hill of Jerusalem and collected in the Pool of Siloam as a type of living water that God offers everyone who wishes to drink. The people could not understand God’s Word without the infilling of the Holy Spirit to teach them. They could not make their spiritual journeys without this infilling. Thus, Jesus offers them the infilling of the Holy Spirit for their spiritual journey in life
Jesus was trying to relate to the Jews by the events emphasized at each of the Jewish feasts that He attended. For example, at the last Passover Jesus miraculously fed the five thousand and then told the people that He was the Bread of Life (John 6). At this same Feast of Tabernacles Jesus Christ will heal the blind man and then declared that He is the Light of the World (Joh 9:1-11). Prior to the final Passover referred to in Joh 12:1, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead as a way to declare that He was the Resurrection and the Life (John 11).
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:38 Isa 58:11, “And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”
The phrase “living water” is a symbolic reference to the Holy Spirit, which is referred to in verse 13-14. It literally referred to fresh, pure moving water. It was water from a spring that had not been touched with pollutants. Note this same phrase used by Jeremiah
Jer 2:13, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters , and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
Note how Jesus has used the phrase “living water” with the woman of Samaria.
Joh 4:10, “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water .”
Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Joh 7:37-39 Some scholars see Joh 4:13-14 as a reference to initial salvation through the work of the Holy Spirit while Joh 7:37-39 refers to the infilling of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. However, Joh 7:37-39 can certainly apply to both salvation as well as a daily infilling of the Holy Spirit’s anointing.
Joh 4:13-14, “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Note these words from Frances J. Roberts regarding this passage of Scripture:
“ Behold, I have placed within thee a spring of living water. For My Spirit shall be a continual flowing forth of life from thine innermost being . This I have promised to all My children, and this ye may experience as ye claim it by faith. For all My promises are received by faith. None are gained by merit, nor are they awards for human achievements.
“It is My Life that I am giving you. It is not an emotion; it is not a virtue, though these may follow subsequently. It is Myself. Divine grace, heavenly love, infinite mercy, fathomless peace, – all these shall spring forth unbeckoned and irrepressible out of the deeps within thee because My Spirit has taken residence there.”
“If there be dryness within thy soul and ye have not this life flowing forth, ye need not grieve, neither chide thyself for being empty. Fill up the empty place with praise. Thou mayest by praise open to Me the gates of the temple of thy soul. The King shall enter and bring His glory. The Rose of Sharon shall bloom in thy heart and His fragrance shall be shed abroad.” [203]
[203] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 42.
“Let thy praises rise in the daytime and in the night. Yea, when thou are utterly spent, then shall My speech fall upon thee. Then shalt thou lie down in peace and rise up in joy, and thou shalt be partaker of a perpetual fountain. As it is written: Out of thine innermost being shall gush forth rivers of living water.” [204]
[204] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 44.
Joh 7:40 “Of a truth this is the Prophet” – Comments – This prophet was spoken of by Moses:
Deu 18:15, “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;”
Joh 7:42 Comments – Note a direct reference to the city of Bethlehem:
Mic 5:2, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
This is confirmed in Mat 2:4-6.
Mat 2:4-6, “And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
Note other indirect references to the seed and lineage of David:
2Sa 7:12, “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.”
Psa 89:3-4, “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.”
Psa 132:11, “The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.”
Joh 7:41-42 Comments The Reasonings Among the Jews Concerning Jesus Christ – Some Jews heard Jesus Christ and felt sure that He was the Messiah. Others evaluated His background and concluded that was not their Deliverer. God could have had Jesus Christ to be raised in the city of Bethlehem. God was trying man’s heart. The message of the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached to the people spoke to men’s hearts and not to their minds. These people were touched in their hearts (Joh 7:40), but they followed the reasonings of their minds in Joh 7:41-42.
Jesus the Living Water:
v. 37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.
v. 38. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
v. 39. (But this spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified. “)
It on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the “day of the great Hosanna,” on which the leaves of the willows and the other branches that had been used for the building of the booths were shaken off and the palm branches were waved against the altar, when the priests went around the altar seven times in a procession of thankfulness, and when a priest was commissioned to get a pitcher of water from the pool of Siloam and then pour it out at the side of the altar. All these ceremonies had been introduced in the course of time, and the Jewish teachers had explained some of them, especially the last, as a symbol which would find its fulfillment in the days of the Messiah. The proclamation of Jesus at this point was therefore very important and significant. He not only applied the words Isa 12:3 to Himself, but indicated that all other prophecies which were connected with this festival had found their fulfillment in Him. The water of the pool of Siloam was considered living water, since it was replenished from time to time by means of a natural siphon from a spring in the rock. But, after all, it was only earthly water, which could quench the thirst for only a short while. But those whose soul thirsts for God, as the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, Psa 42:1-2, must go to the Savior for their soul’s refreshment. For in the salvation earned through Christ’s Passion and death there is full satisfaction for the desire of all humble souls for mercy and forgiveness. Jesus is the fountain of living water, for in Him there is true, everlasting life. Every one that accepts Him and His salvation will never again be tortured with thirst, for he will possess the fullness of God’s mercy. And that is not all. The believer will himself become a fountain of living water, Isa 58:11; Isa 44:3. The Spirit, who has entered into his heart in regeneration, has worked spiritual life in him. This life daily gains in strength and willingness. It must manifest itself in deeds of the Spirit, in good works. There will daily be a new and full supply of knowledge and love, through the work of the Holy Spirit, given to all believers. At that time indeed the great revelation of the Spirit, the Pentecostal miracle, had not yet taken place; Jesus had not yet finished His earthly work, to enter into the glory of His Father. But the work of the Spirit in the Word is efficient at all times; sanctification is His peculiar office and ministry. The Spirit has now been revealed as He that glorified Christ. We have a greater measure of His manifestations in our days than the believers of the Old Testament had, Joe 2:28. “At the time when Jesus preached, He promised the Holy Spirit, and therefore the Holy Spirit was not yet there; not that He was not in existence in His nature, in heaven, but that He was not manifested in His revelation and in His work. For that is the special work and office of the Holy Spirit that He reveal and glorify Christ, that He preach and give testimony concerning Him. This office was then not yet in active working; the office of glorifying Christ the Lord was not yet in use, that is, the preaching of the forgiveness of sins, and how one may be delivered from death, have comfort and joy in Christ, that it concerns us: all this was at that time unheard of and not mentioned; that deliverance, salvation, righteousness, joy, and life should be given us through that man, Christ, whom people did not know at that time.”
Joh 7:37-39. In the last day, &c. It is commonly supposed, that, while Jesus was thus discoursing in the temple on the last and great day of the feast, the water from Siloam was brought into the women’s court of the temple with the usual solemnities, according to the directions of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, if we may believe the Jewish writers: part of this water they drank with loud acclamations, in commemorationofthemercy shewn to their fathers, who were relieved by the miracle of a great stream of water made to flow out of a rock, (see Psa 78:20.) when the nation was ready to die with thirst in a sandy desart, where was neither river nor spring: and part of it they poured out as a drink-offering, which they accompanied with prayers to Almighty God for a plentiful rain to fall at the followingseed-time; the people in the mean time singing the passage, Isa 12:3. With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. The exposition of the Talmud, which asserts that this ceremony had reference to the pouring out of the Holy Ghost, shews the peculiar propriety of our Lord’s address, and his application of this circumstance; for the Lord Jesus, whose custom it was to raise moral instructions from sensible occurrences, took this opportunity of inviting, in the most solemn and affectionatemanner, all who were in pursuit, whether of knowledge or happiness, to come unto him and drink, in allusion to the rite which they were then employed about. He probably stood upon an eminence, so as to be conspicuous, and spoke aloud, supplying the place of the trumpets used on these occasions; and by this address he taught them, that the effusion of the Holy Ghost, represented by their pouring out the water, was not to be expected from their rites and ceremonies, but from a belief in the doctrine which he preached: for that by coming to him and drinking, he meant believing on him, is manifest from the context, and from ch. Joh 6:35. Further to encourage them, our Lord promised them the gifts of his Spirit, which he represented under the image of a river flowing from their belly, to express the efficacy and perpetuity of these gifts, together with the divine pleasures which they produce, by quenching the desires of those who possess them, and fructifying others who come within their influence. See ch. Joh 4:14. Isa 55:1. The words of the 38th verse are not to be found literally in the scriptures of the Old Testament, but are to be understood, as Grotius observes, as a general reference to the several prophesies which refer to the effusion of the Spirit by the Messiah, under the similitude of pouring out water. See Isa 52:15; Isa 44:3; Isa 58:11. Eze 36:23-27. Joe 2:28. Zec 13:1; Zec 14:8. See also Num 24:7. The flowing of rivers of living water out of the believer’s belly is an idea taken from receptacles placed round springs, out of which great quantities of water flow by pipes; and perhaps there may be some allusion here to the prominency of that capacious golden vale, from which the water at this festival was poured out in a large stream. This figure therefore represented the plenitude of spiritual gifts to be possessed by believers, and the happy effects which they should produce in the world. By the facultyof speaking all the different languages of the earth fluently, which wasthe first gift of the Spirit, qualifying the apostles and others to preach such doctrines of the gospel as the Spirit revealed to them, they were both watered themselves, and in a condition to water the Gentiles, not with small streams, but with large rivers of divine knowledge; and so the land, which till then had been barren, was from that time forth to beexceedingfruitfulinrighteousnessuntoGod.Accordinglythe evangelist adds by way of explication, But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. These peculiar gifts of illumination and utterance were not yet communicated to believers, being what they received on the day of Pentecost, to fit them for converting the world. Nevertheless, if the universality of the invitation and promise inclines the reader to think, that, on this occasion, our Lord had the ordinary influences of the Spirit also in his eye, the evangelist’s remark, that the Holy Ghost was not yet given, will not exclude them; because even these might, at that time, be said not to have been given, as they had been given but sparingly, in comparison of the plentiful distribution which was to be made of them to all believers after Christ’s ascension. Accordingly, the ordinary influences of the Spirit are often in scripture represented as the consequences and reward of faith; Gal 3:14. Eph 1:12. And possibly in the words shall flow rivers of living water, our Lord might design a contrast to the stream which at this time was poured out of the golden vase. The quantity taken out of the waters of Siloam was such, as might be soon poured out and exhausted; but out of those believers on whom the Holy Ghost should come, rivers of living water should flow, whose effect and benefit should never cease as long as the world itself should endure. There had been some drops, as it were, of this Spirit, which had fallen upon some of the Jewish nation before; but those were no more to be compared with these rivers of water, than the waters of Siloam with the great river Euphrates. What was the spirit which Bezaleel had, when compared with that Spirit wherewith the apostles were inspired? What was that spirit of courage which was given to the judges, if compared with that which convinced the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment? What was that spirit of Moses, communicated to the seventy elders, compared with that of the SON OF GOD, which he has shed abroad in the hearts of his people? What was that spirit of prophesy, which inspired a few prophets, when compared with that pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh upon and after the day of Pentecost? For these rivers of water, though they began their course at Jerusalem upon that day, as the fruit of the glorious and triumphant ascension of Jesus into heaven, yet they soon overflowed the Christian church in other parts of the world: the sound of that mighty rushing wind was soon heard in the most distant places, and the fiery tongues inflamed the hearts of many who never saw them. See Lev 23:36. Num 29:35. Act 2:33.
Joh 7:37 . As the eighth day (the 22d Tisri) was reckoned along with the seven feast days proper, according to Lev 23:35-36 ; Lev 23:39 , Num 29:35 , Neh 8:18 , as according to Succah, f . 48. 1, the last day of the feast is the eighth , it is clear that John meant this day, and not the seventh (Theophylact, Buxtorf, Bengel, Reland, Paulus, Ammon), especially as in later times it was usual generally to speak of the eight days’ feast of Tabernacles ( 2Ma 10:6 ; Josephus, Antt . iii. 10. 4; Gem. Eruvin . 40. 2; Midr. Cohel . 118. 3). In keeping with this is the very free translation ( termination of the feast ), which the LXX. give for the name of the eighth day, (Lev 23:36 ; Num 29:35 ; Neh 8:18 ), i.e. “assembly;” comp. Ewald, Alterth. p. 481.
] the (pre-eminently) great, solemn. Comp. Joh 19:31 . The superlative is implied in the attribute thus given to this day above the other feast days. Wherein consisted the special distinction attaching to this day? It was simply the great closing day of the feast, appointed for the solemn return from the booths into the temple (Ewald, Alterth. p. 481), and, according to Lev 23:35-36 , was kept holy as a Sabbath. The explanation of in Philo, de Septenario, II. p. 298, that it denoted the end of the yearly feasts collectively, has as little to do with the matter (for has reference only to the feast of Tabernacles) as has the designation in the Tr. Succah, for this means nothing more than “feast day.” If, indeed, this day had, according to Tr. Succah (see Lightfoot, p. 1032 f.), special services, sacrifices, songs, still no more was required than to honour it “sicut reliquos dies festi.” Its consisted just in this, that it brought the great feast as a whole to a sacred termination.
The express designation of the day as is in keeping with the solemn coming forth of Jesus with the great word of invitation and promise, Joh 7:37-38 . The solemnity of this coming forth is also intimated in (He stood there) and in (see on Joh 7:28 ).
, . . .] denoting spiritual need [269] and spiritual satisfaction, as in Joh 4:15 , in the conversation with the Samaritan woman, and in Joh 6:35 ; Mat 5:6 . We are not told what led Jesus to adopt this metaphorical expression here . There was no need of anything special to prompt Him to do so, least of all at a feast so joyous, according to Plutarch, Symp . iv. 6. 2, even so bacchanalian in its banquetings. Usually , a reason for the expression has been found in the daily libations which were offered on the seven feast days (but also on the eighth, according to R. Juda, in Succah iv. 9), at the time of the morning sacrifice, when a priest fetched water in a golden pitcher containing three logs from the spring of Siloam, and poured this, together with wine, on the west side of the altar into two perforated vessels, amidst hymns of praise and music. See Dachs, Succah , p. 368. Some reference to this libation may be supposed, because it was one of the peculiarities of the feast, even on the hypothesis that it did not take place upon the eighth day, derived either from the old idea of pouring out water (1Sa 7:6 ; Hom. Od . . 362, al ., so De Wette); or, according to the Rabbis (so also Hengstenberg), from Isa 12:3 , a passage which contains the words sung by the people during the libation. But any connection of the words of Jesus with this libation is all the more doubtful, because He is speaking of drinking , and this is the essential element of His declaration. Godet arbitrarily interpolates: “He compares Himself with the water from the rock in the wilderness , and represents Himself as this true rock” (comp. 1Co 10:4 ).
[269] Luther: “a heartfelt longing, yea, a troubled, sad, awakened, stricken conscience, a despairing, trembling heart, that would know how it can be with God.”
(b) Christ as the dispenser of the spirit, the real, siloam with its water of life. increasing ferment in the people
Joh 7:37-44
37[Now]39 In the last day, that [the] great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man [any one] thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38He that believeth on [in] me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly [body]40 shall flow rivers of living water. 39(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe41 on [in] him should [were about to] receive, for the Holy Ghost [the Spirit] was 40not yet given, [omit given]42 because that [omit that] Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Many43 [some] of the people [multitude] therefore, when they heard this saying 41[these words],44 said, Of a truth this is the Prophet [This is truly the Prophet.] Others said, This is the Christ. But [omit But] some [Others]45 said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee [Doth the Christ then come from Galilee]? 42Hath not the Scripture said, That [the] Christ cometh of [from] the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem [from Bethlehem, the town]46 where David was?
43So there was a division among the people [the multitude] because of him. And 44some of them would have taken him [wished to seize him]; but no man [one] laid hands on him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Joh 7:37. In the last day.Meyer: As the eighth day (the 22d Tisri according to Lev 23:34; Num 29:35; Neh 8:18) was reckoned in with the seven days of the feast proper, and as, Succah, fol. 48, 1, the last day () of the feast is the eighth, John certainly meant this day and not the seventh (Theoph., Buxtorf, Bengel, Roland, Paulus, Amnion); especially as it was customary at a later period to speak of an eight days celebration of the feast of tabernacles (2Ma 10:6; Joseph. Ant. III. 10, 4; Gem. Eruvin. 40, 2; Midr. Kohel. 118, 3). To this corresponds, too, the translation (finale of the feast), by which the Septuagint expresses the designation of the eighth day, [solemn assembly] in Lev 23:36; Num 29:35; Neh 8:18. Comp. Ewald, Alterthmer, p. 481. Tholuck: A general jubilee (Plutarch calls it a Bacchanal) and splendid ceremonies of many kinds took place at this feast, so that the Rabbis were accustomed to say: He who has not seen these festivities, knows not what jubilee is. See H. Majus: Diss. de haustu aquarum.
[Alford takes the same view as to the day, and then tries to solve the difficulty which attaches to it. The eighth day seems here to be meant, and the last of the feast to be popularly used. But a difficulty attends this view. Our Lord certainly seems to allude here to the custom which prevailed during the seven days of the feast, of a priest bringing water in a golden vessel from the pool of Siloam with a jubilant procession to the temple, standing on the altar and pouring it. out there, together with wine, while meantime the Hallel (Psalms 113-118) was sung. This practice was by some supposedas the dwelling in tabernacles represented their life in the desert of oldto refer to the striking of the rock by Moses:by others, to the rain, for which they then prayed, for the seed of the ensuing year:by the elder Rabbis (Maimonides, cited by Stier, iv. 331, ed. 2), to Isa 12:3, and the effusion of the Holy Spirit in the days of the Messiah. But it was universally agreed (with the single exception of the testimony of R. Juda Hakkadosh, quoted in the tract Succa, which itself distinctly asserts the contrary), that on the eighth day this ceremony did not take place. Now, out of this difficulty I would extract what I believe to be the right interpretation. It was the eighth day, and the pouring of water did not take place. But is therefore (as Lcke will have it) all allusion to the ceremony excluded? I think not: nay, I believe it is the more natural. For seven days the ceremony had been performed, and the Hallel sung. On the eighth day the Hallel was sung, but the outpouring of the water did not take place: desidcraverunt aliquid. Then Jesus stood and cried, etc. Was not this the most natural time? Was it not probable that He would have said it at a time, rather even than while the ceremony itself was going on? This accords with the view taken by Lange (see below and Doctr. and Ethical No. 1), but Wordsworth, Owen and others defend the usual opinion that on the eighth day as well as on those preceding, and with louder and more general expressions of joy, the priest brought forth, in a golden vessel, water from the spring of Siloam, and poured it upon the altar, and that Jesus at that very time proffered the water of life to all who would come unto Him and drink.P. S.]
The last day of the feast of tabernacles was an especially high day, being the close of the feast (as well as of the festal season of the year), and being a Sabbath, a day on which the congregation assembled according to the law (Lev 23:36), and which was therefore distinguished by a special sacrificial ritual. But one thing the day lacked, which distinguished the other days. On each of the seven preceding days, in the morning, occurred the festal water-drawing. A priest drew water daily with a large golden pitcher (holding about two pints and a half) from the spring of Siloam on the temple hill, brought it into the temple, and poured it out mingled with sacrificial wine, into two perforated dishes at the altar. The ceremony was accompanied with the sound of cymbals and trumpets, and the singing of the words of Isa 12:3, which Rabbi Jonathan paraphrased: With joy shall ye receive the new doctrine from the chosen righteous. This was the celebration of the miraculous springs which God opened for the people on their pilgrimage through the wilderness. But because the eighth day marked the entrance into Canaan, the water-drawing ceased. On this day the springs of the promised land gave their waters to the people; an emblem of the streams of spiritual blessing which Jehovah had promised to His people. To this symbolical performance the words of Jesus on the last day of the feast evidently refer (Leben Jesu, III. p. 619). It is of no account that, according to Rabbi Juda, the pouring out of the water took place on the eighth day also. This was probably a later supplement, if the statement is not an error.
The great day [ ].That is, especially great in comparison with the other days.47 See the preceding remarks. Philo also [De Septenaris II. 298] observes that it was the close of the yearly feasts; i.e. of the three great feasts, not of all.
Cried, saying.Jesus had not hitherto so openly presented Himself as the personal object of a saving faith.
If any one thirst [i.e. whosoever thirsts] let him come to me and drink.See the observations on Joh 7:37. The reference of this preaching of salvation under the promise of a miraculous draught and fountain of water to the water-drawing is groundlessly considered by Meyer to be dubious. It agrees entirely with the character of the fourth Gospel, in which Jesus presents Himself in the most varied ways as the fulfilment of the Old Testament symbols. The spiritual import of the water-drawing appears in Isa 12:3 [with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation]. This water-drawing must be distinguished from the devotional water-drawing on days of humiliation and fasting, 1Sa 7:6.
[The invitation first given to the Samaritan woman at Jacobs well, is here extended to all the people on the great feast in Jerusalem. The N. T. closes with a similar offer of the water of life (Rev 22:17). There is an inner thirst as there is an inner man, and the former is deeper and stronger than the thirst of the body, and can only be satisfied from the fountain of life in Christ. Under the imagery of one thirsting for water, which everywhere, and especially in countries like Palestine where the want of water is so frequently experienced, would be well understood, our Lord proffers to all such persons that which will forever satisfy the longings of the soul and give it permanent rest. Owen. An allusion to the water drawn in a golden vase from the pool of Siloam and poured on the altar in the temple as a memorial of the water from the rock smitten in the wilderness, and typical of the living water of the Spirit from the true Rock (1Co 10:4). Wordsworth.P. S.]
Joh 7:38. He that believeth48 in me, etc.Explaining the expression: Come unto me and drink.As the scripture hath said.These words are not to be connected with , as if the meaning were: He who according to the scripture believeth in Me (Chrysostom, Calovius, and others). An may be understood. Meyer: is nominat. absol. The question then is, what words of Scripture the Lord means. The expression [which follows: out of his body shall flow rivers of living water] does not occur literally in the Old Testament; so that Whiston and others took up the idea that it was from some canonical or apocryphal sources now lost. Against this are (1) the usage of the New Testament, (2) the general reference to the scripture, which, as such, seems to be intended to point rather to a promise running through the Old Testament than to any particular passage (see Isa 44:3; Isa 55:1; especially Isa 58:11; Eze 47:1 ff.; Joe 2:23; Zec 13:1; Zec 14:8). Olshausen fixes particularly on those passages which promise a flowing forth of living water from the temple, the believer being considered as a living temple.49 And undoubtedly Christ at least would as surely have Himself considered the true temple-fountain, as He in John 2 presented Himself as the true temple. The notions of the temple (John 2) and the fountain (John 4) here run together. The question is whether the believer also will himself be a temple-spring. See the next paragraph.
Out of his belly (body) . That () may denote in Hebrew usage the inward part, the heart, is proved by Pro 20:27, and similar passages (see Bretschneiders Lexicon); hence Chrysostom [his successors] and others have taken as equivalent to . [Augustine: the inner man, the hearts conscience.P. S.] The only question is, why the Lord chose the strong term. Meyer [p. 312] thinks it should be strictly understood of the abdomen [Bauchhhle, as the receptacle of water taken into a man], and then this should be taken figuratively. His body shall give forth living water as a stream of a fountain (through the mouth!); without the figure, the divine grace and truth which the believer has taken from the fulness of Christ into his inner life, remains not shut up within himself, but imparts itself in overflowing abundance to others. This rendering accounts for the striking expression no better than that of Chrysostom. , in the wider sense denotes any belly-like cavity [the belly of the sea, of a mountain, of a large vessel, etc.]. If we keep in view the symbolical reference to the water-feast, we may refer the expression to the belly of the temple hill (Gieseler [in the Studien und Kritiken, 1829, p. 138 f.]; see Lcke, II. p. 229), and also to the body of the great golden pitcher with which the priest drew the water (Bengel). We have previously (Leben Jesu, II., p. 945) given the former interpretation.50 But as Christ Himself is the parallel of the temple hill with the spring of Siloam, so the believing Christian is well represented by the golden pitcher with which the priest drew the water; at least this enters into the choice of the expression.51 The meaning is: The whole Christian is a vessel of grace emptied of vanity, filled with the Spirit. Of course the pitcher of itself yields no stream of living water; but this is just the miracle of the true life, that, being drunk (Joh 4:10) or drawn in faith (as in our passage), it becomes a flowing fountain of living water. To refer the to Christ (Hahn: Theologie des Neuen Testaments, I. p. 229 [and Gess: Person Christi, p. 166]), jars with the context, especially Joh 7:39. The living water is explained below.
[Shall flow rivers of living water. is put first in the original to emphasize the abundance. Chrysostom comments on the plural: Rivers, not river, to show the copious and overflowing power of grace: and living water, i.e. always moving; for when the grace of the Spirit has entered into and settled in the mind, it flows freer than any fountain, and neither fails, nor empties, nor stagnates. The wisdom of Stephen, the tongue of Peter, the strength of Paul, are evidences of this. Nothing hindered them; but, like impetuous torrents, they went on, carrying everything along with them.P. S.]
Joh 7:39. But this spoke he of the Spirit which they that believe in him were about to receive.[An explanatory remark of the Evangelist similar to the one in Joh 2:21. Important for apostolic exegesis. Otherwise the Evangelists never insert their own views or feelings to interrupt the flow of the objective narration which speaks best for itself.P. S.].According to Lightfoot the Rabbins also considered the water-pouring or libation of the feast of tabernacles as the outpouring of the divine Spirit (haustio Spiritus Sancti). [Comp. the prophetic predictions of the Messianic outpouring of the Spirit, Joe 3:1; Isa 32:15; Isa 44:3; Eze 36:25; Eze 39:29].
According to Lcke (II. p. 230) the living water is intended to mean as much as eternal life [Joh 4:10; Joh 4:14], but not the Holy Spirit; and Johns exposition may be indeed epexegetically correct, but is not exegetically accurate.52 His arguments are: (1) The outflowing, , is not a receiving (). But the receiving is everywhere identical with faith, and the Spirit, which the believers received, also in fact flowed forth. (2) The cannot be an absolute future, excluding the present. But neither has the gospel history made the outpouring of the Holy Ghost so; for before this, in fact, a certain miraculous power already flowed forth from the apostles [comp. also Joh 20:22]. (3) Olshausen, it is true, observes that even in the New Testament the Spirit is conceived under the figure of water, as the description of the Spirit as poured out, Act 10:45, Tit 3:6, clearly shows. But how comes it, that the corresponding emblem of water is never expressly used in the New Testament for the Holy Ghost. We have , but never . This is accounted for by the fact that the symbol arose from the contrast, so vivid to Palestinians, between the stagnant water of cisterns and the living water of springs. The legal system gave a certain measure of life, like cistern water, which did not propagate itself, and easily corrupted. The gospel dispensation of faith gave the water of life, which like a fountain replenished itself, increased, and was always fresh. And this was the Spirit. Lcke says: The essential affinity of the expressions and is undeniable. Here, however, is more than affinity; the two expressions denote the same life of the Spirit, only under different aspects.
Meyer rightly adduces for the correctness of the Evangelists explanation the strength of the term (to which may be added). But when he goes on to remark, that John does not consider the Holy Ghost Himself to be meant by the living water, but only says of the whole declaration, that Jesus meant it of the Holy Ghost, leaving the Christian mind to conceive the Spirit as the Agens, as the impelling power of the stream of living water,he runs substantially into Lckes interpretation.
We have only to distinguish between the Spirit of the life, as the cause, and the life of the Spirit, as the effect; carefully remembering that the cause and the effect are here not physically separate, but penetrate each other. Assuredly the words of Jesus speak directly of the operation of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit is a self-supplying spring.
On the doctrine of the Spirit of God in the Old Testament and of the Holy Ghost in the New, comp. the biblical and dogmatic theologies; Spirit is the uniting formative principle of visible life. So the air, the symbolical spirit of the earth; so the spirit in man. And the Spirit of God is, in the first place, the uniting life and formative principle of the creation (Gen 1:2; Psa 33:6); then, of the life of the creature, and in particular of man (Gen 6:3; Psa 104:29-30); then, of the theocracy (Num 11:25, etc.). Subsequently the promise of a new kingdom (see the Prophets). So in the New Testament, the one life and formative principle of the life of Jesus, of the body of disciples, of the New Testament Church, of the new world.
For the (Holy) Ghost was not yet [ ().53For the reasons above given we keep the . The Spirit was already always present; the Spirit of God had evidenced Himself even in the Old Testament; but the revelation of God as Holy Ghost was not yet given. In the glorification of Christ the Spirit of God first came to view as the Holy in the specific New Testament sense. The is therefore emphatic; He was not yet present and manifest upon earth to men. The addition [, given, in the E. V.] in cod. B. (Lachmann) seems to be a gloss explanatory of the difficult term. Christ was conceived, in deed, by the Holy Ghost, and anointed with the fulness of the Spirit; but this was as yet a mystery to the world; the Holy Ghost could not come into the world till after the ascension of Christ, Joh 16:7. Hofmann (Schriftbeweis I., p. 196): The outpouring of the Spirit was the demonstration of His super-mundane natureand of His intra-mundane existence; the appropriation of His perfect form of life and vital operation to the world (comp. Act 19:2).The Macedonians were unwarranted in applying this passage against the personality of the Holy Ghost. It is metonymia caus pro effectu. Heubner. (Or also: metonymia existenti pro revelatione),
[Because Jesus was not yet glorified ().By the atoning death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God the Father, from whence He promised to send and did send the Spirit, as the Spirit of the gospel redemption. In promising this Spirit, Christ expressly said that He must withdraw His visible presence from the disciples and return to the Father before the Comforter could come (Joh 16:7). The previous working of the Spirit under the old dispensation was preparatory, prophetic, fragmentary and transitory, like the manifestations of the Logos before the Incarnation. On the day of Pentecost the Spirit took up His abode in the Church and in individual believers, as an immanent and permanent principle, as the Spirit of the God-Man and Saviour, as the Spirit of adoption, as the Spirit of truth and holiness, who reveals and glorifies Christ in the hearts of believers, as Christ revealed and glorified the Father, and abides with them forever.P. S.]
Joh 7:40-41. When they heard the sayings [instead of this saying].The reading: heard the sayings, has the weight of authorities. The total impression of Christs utterances at the feast is therefore intended. The heard is emphatic: those of the people who listened to Him with earnestness ( ), said, etc.Of a truth this is the Prophet.Meyer groundlessly says, this means the prophet who was to precede the Messiah, not the Messiah Himself; and yet it means the person promised in Deu 18:15. That is, these people are all agreed that Jesus is the Prophet in general. After this, however, they divide. Some are decided, others are not. The separate into , . The former declare outright, that He is the Prophet of Deu 18:15; He is the Messiah. The latter, who would admit Him to be the Prophet, the forerunner of the Messiah according to the Jewish theology, have a difficultythe supposed Galilean origin of Christ. The birth of Christ in Bethlehem was unknown to them. John considers it superfluous to show up their error, and hence De Wette has gratuitously inferred that John himself did not know that Christ was born in Bethlehem.54 John well knew that the conditions of faith had to lie higher and deeper than such a circumstance. Minds which sincerely yield themselves to the impression of Christ, could easily learn His origin, and so be delivered from their error.
Joh 7:42. Hath not the scripture.Isa 11:1; Jer 23:5; Mic 5:1.Where David was.1 Samuel 16.
Joh 7:43. So there was a division.This division or violent split among those who accorded recognition to the Lord in different degrees, must be distinguished from the division between all those who were friendly to Him and the enemies, of whom Joh 7:44 at once goes on to speak, or the analogous divisions in Joh 9:16; Joh 10:18. There were at first but a few among the people, who made common cause with the hostile Pharisees. See below.
Joh 7:44. And some of them.That is, not of the two preceding classes, but of the people who heard His words. As stands after , it is even a question whether the words should not be : would have taken Him of themselves, on their own responsibility. De Wette thinks they might have wished to rally the intimidated officers. But the probability is that the officers, as a secret police, as under-sheriffs, had mingled with the people; for no point is mentioned, at which they showed themselves openly; and such an arrangement would correspond with the scrupulous caution of the Sanhedrists. These hostile people, therefore, felt an impulse to open the summary process of zealotism against Jesus.But no man laid hands on him.They were still fettered by the counsel of God, on the one hand, the fear of the adherents of Jesus, on the other, an involuntary awe. And that the servants of the Sanhedrin did not venture to seize the Lord, we first learn in the next section.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It yields an incongruous conception, to suppose (with Tholuck and the older expositors,) that Jesus stood and proclaimed aloud the words of Joh 7:37-38, while the priest was carrying that holy water through the fore-court, and the people were giving themselves up entirely to their jubilations over this symbol. Just then He would have announced that in Him was offered in reality what was there signified in symbol. So public an assault upon the temple-worship, as should assume even the appearance of a vehement rivalry, cannot be expected of the Lord. On the contrary, the eighth day, with its lack of the festal water-drawing, must have brought with it to the attendant people a sense of want, to which Jesus addressed His call with good effect. At that moment, when the symbolical lights of a legally inefficient religion were burning low and going out, the evangelical substance of the symbols appears. The points which determine the symbolical utterance of the Lord are these: (1) The water-drawing was a symbol of spiritual blessing. The redeemed of Israel, on their second return to Canaan, were to draw water on the way with joy out of the wells of salvation, Isa 11:12; Isa 12:3. (2) Siloam was situated, indeed, on the temple-hill, but it rose not in the temple itself, but outside of it, at the foot of the holy mountain. So the true spirit of life was lacking in the sacerdotal worship of the temple; it appeared most in the prophetic office, symbolized by the fountain of Siloam in Isa 8:6. (3) Hence the prophets foretold the future priest-hood and worship of the Spirit under the figure of a stream issuing from the temple, Ezekiel 47; Joe 3:18. All Jerusalem was to become full of fountains, Zec 14:8; in fact the whole people was to be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, Isa 58:11. (4) The eighth day of the feast of tabernacles, in its symbolical place, denoted the time of this gushing life of the Spirit; hence it was primarily a day of expectation, of longing, of prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost (see Leben Jesu, II. p. 942). This is the Lords opportunity. In Him the miraculous fountain of the eighth day, for the breaking forth of which from the temple they hoped, was given to the people.
2. Out of his belly. Tholuck: Luthardts observation, that even the corporeal nature was to be an abode of the Holy Ghost,is irrelevant. Yet this is, in fact, involved in the idea of regeneration, of the inner man, of the members made instruments of righteousness (see Leben Jesu, II. John 945: Their new human nature itself will become the ground whence these springs of water shall issue). Rivers of living water. While in Joh 4:14, the self-replenishing of the inner life is promised, here the impartation of new life appears in its tendency to issue into the world as a stream for the refreshing of others. Comp. Tholuck, p. 224.
3. On the relation between the Holy Ghost and eternal life, comp. the Exegetical and Critical remarks on Joh 7:39.
4. For the Holy Ghost was not yet (given). In what sense? since even in the Old Testament the Spirit of God, as the Holy Spirit, inspired the prophets, 2Pe 1:21, and was the principle of life in the devout, Isa 63:10-11; Psa 51:12; Psa 143:10. That the prophets of the Old Testament were conscious of a difference between the measure of the Spirit vouchsafed to them and the New Testament revelation of the Spirit, is shown just by the Old Testament predictions of the streams of living water (see above); of the effusion of the Spirit (Joe 3:1); of the anointing of the Messiah with the sevenfold Spirit of God (Isa 11:2; Isa 61:1); and of the Spirit of the inward law, or of regeneration (Jer 31:33; Eze 36:26). Tholuck: The majority of ancient and modern commentators consider the difference only quantitative (one of degree). Chrysostom: , etc. Chrysostom, however, gives a qualitative difference (difference in kind(?) not in the itself, but in the aim of its operations: , . Such a difference in the itself Augustine points out, in the fact that the Christian impartation of the Spirit was connected with miraculous gifts; so Maldonatus, the Lutheran expositors Tarnow, Hunnius, Gerhard, Loci, I., 308, Lyser, Calovius, Meyer. Evidently this would not prove much; for the Old Testament prophets also wrought miracles. Brenz, in singularly arbitrary style: Not till after Pentecost did the preaching de remissione peccatorum go forth, which was in the strict sense the opus Spiritus.This is, after all, of the centre of the thing, though not the whole thing. On the contrary Luthardt regards as the qualitative difference that which is indicated in Rom 8:15 and 2Ti 1:7 : The Holy Ghost was not yet in His office; the old preaching and law were still in force. That is, correctly, it was not yet the economy of the Holy Ghost. Cocceius also, in opposition to the identification of the economies which was current in his time, presses this distinction of the tempus promissionis et consummationis. Equidem puto, hic evidentissime dici, adeo multum interesse inter tempus, quod antecessit glorificationem Christi et id, quod consecutum est, etc. P. 226.The complete exhibition of Christ and His work in history was the objective condition precedent of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost; the complete spiritual susceptibility of the disciples, as matter of history, and in them the susceptibility of the world, was the subjective condition. Not until all the elements of the life of Christ and of His redeeming agency had appeared in objective and subjective reality, could the Spirit of the life of Christ enter into believers, and become the Spirit of believers. And not till then could it become manifest and begin an economy of its own as the Holy Ghost, who has His life personally in Himself (Leben Jesu, II. 2, 946). The absolute exaltation of Christ above the world was the condition of His absolute sinking within the world, which made Him the principle of the new life in believers; this first brought into full manifestation that glory of the Holy Ghost which is a new form, and the third form of the personality of God, and at the same time a wholly gracious operation (gratia applicatrix). Yet this blessing of the life of Jesus must be distinguished from His personality itself, and the Spirit imparted to believers is not to be considered, as it is by Tholuck, the Son of man Himself transfigured into Spirit.
5. Important as it is that the dispensation of the Spirit he duly appreciated, it is wrong to talk, as the Montanists, the Franciscan Spiritualists, the Anabaptists, and Hegel do, of a separate age or kingdom of the Holy Ghost, supposed to lie beyond the kingdom of the Son.
6. The divisions among the disciples of Jesus themselves, of which the Evangelist tells us, are intimated also in Matthew (Joh 16:14). In them is reflected the much larger division which was germinating between the friends and the enemies of Christ, and which is the main thing in the section before us. Lckes supposition that the ostensible objection that Jesus was not from Bethlehem, whence the Messiah ought to come, was made in particular by the scribes among the people, is gratuitous. But it could not enter into the Lords plan, to work upon the people with the testimony of His birth in Bethlehem; because His way was, to leave the popular notion of the Messiah quite aside, and to have His Messiahship recognized from His spirit and His work.
7. Here at last a knot of fanatical enemies of Jesus, who would fain seize Him, comes to light in a marked manner among the people themselves. It was the murderous intent of which Jesus had before testified: Ye seek to kill Me. They fain would, they well might; but involuntary reverence for the Lord, fear from above, and fear of the people, still restrained them.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Jesus at the feast of His people: 1. At the beginning: staying out of sight. 2. In the middle: appearing and teaching. 3. At the close: standing and calling aloud.The last day of the feast, the most glorious.As the hours of grace decline, Christ sounds His gracious call the louder.How majestically Christ will stand at the last day of the feast of the world, and how loud His call will be then.Christ the true end of all feasts.Christ the truth and substance of every sacred feast.Even of that feast.As the need of salvation is a thirst, so faith is a drinking (a refreshment) in the highest and holiest sense.Thirst, as a prophetical pointing: (1) to spiritual thirst; (2) to the spiritual refreshment of salvation; (3) to the destination of the man to be a fountain of life to others.The call of Christ at the feast of water-pouring: 1. His invitation. 2. His promise.The measure of the supply which Christ gives to the believers thirst: 1. The believer himself shall drink. 2. Out of his belly shall flow streams of living water (he shall give drink to many).As Christians are to be lights through the light of Christ, and shepherds through the staff of Christ, so they are to be fountains of life through Christ, the fountain of salvation.Out of his belly (body): Even our bodily nature is to be sanctified as a vessel of the Spirit (from mouth and hand, eye and footsteps, it should trickle and stream with blessing).The promise of the new life a promise of the Spirit.The Holy Ghost was not yet: 1. The declaration. 2. Its import for us.How the outpouring of the Holy Ghost was dependent on the exaltation of Christ: 1. The world must first be perfectly reconciled, before it can be sanctified. 2. Christ must first transcend sensuous limitation in time and space, before He can communicate Himself to all everywhere according to His essential life. 3. Christ must first be fully the Lord of glory, before He can glorify Himself through the Spirit in all hearts.In Him the world was offered up to God; therefore through Him God could enter into the world.All parts of His redemptive manifestation were completed; therefore the Spirit of the whole could come forth.When the manifestation of the Father was completed, it was followed by the manifestation of the Son. When the manifestation of the Son was finished, it was followed by the manifestation of the Holy Ghost; while yet this itself was a glorifying of the Son, and of the Father through the Son.The glory of the dispensation of the Holy Ghost.The different effects of the words of Christ.The division over the words of Christ.The division between the friends and enemies of Christ shades off among His adherents themselves (Joh 7:41), and among His enemies (Joh 7:44).The hand of God overruling the hands of the enemies of Christ: 1. A hand of omnipotence (they can do nothing, so long as He restrains). 2. A hand of wisdom (they can do no harm, when He lets them loose). 3. A hand of faithfulness (they must serve His people, when He lets them prevail). 4. A hand of triumph (they must destroy their own work, and judge themselves).
Starke: What it is to thirst. To long after righteousness and salvation, Mat 5:3; Rev 22:17, etc.Nova Bibl. Tub.: We can most nobly keep our feast-days by coming to Jesus.Majus: The wells of salvation are open to all men who are like dry ground.Quesnel: In vain do we seek to satisfy our desires and quench our thirst among created things; we only thirst the more, with a thirst unquenchable, till we come to Christ.According to the breadth and depth of the vessel of our faith will be our portion of the water.Rivers, a type of overflow, Isa 48:18; Isa 66:12.Majus: True faith is like a copious fountain; it cannot restrain itself from gushing forth in holy love.Hedinger: Christianity spreads; it is fain to communicate itself by holy conversation, testimonies of disapproval, patience, etc.Cramer: The world will never be of one mind concerning Christ; and yet amid a multitude of divisions the true church and the true
religion can easily be maintained.He who loves and seeks the truth, finds it. But he who contemptuously asks, What is truth? falls into error.Quesnel: We have not so much to fear from the evil will of men, as from our own.Ibid.: Blessed is he who is in the hand of God, whom no fleshly arm of man can hurt.It is the method of antichrist always to use force.Osiander: God upholds those who follow their calling in spite of all the rage and bluster of enemies, till they have finished their course.
Braune: If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. Faith has three constituents: Longing for the satisfaction of the most stringent wants; turning of the heart to the Saviour who helps; and reception of that which He offers, and which exactly meets the longing.From Him, from His personality as sanctified by faith, rivers of living water, active, vigorous quickenings in rich abundance overflow to others. The believer came with thirst, with the feeling of want; and he sends forth rivers.
Gerlach: While John records the grand words of the yearning invitation and mighty promise, he feels how far they were from being fulfilled to any disciple who came to the Lord at he time he spoke them; and that the day of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost was but the beginning of their true fulfilment.
Heubner: Pfenninger: Every good thing in the world must be longed for, thirsted for; else it is not a good.Bengel: Nothing but thirst, yet sincere thirst, is needed. To him who has a true thirst, nothing is of so great account as the satisfaction of it. Without Christ everything is dry and barren: everything should drive and draw us to Him.The believer is not only to receive vital force for himself, but also to become a fountain of life for others.The Spirit of God is a fulness, out of which we are to impart to others.When Christians can give but little, they prove thereby that they themselves have not much of the Spirit.What comes from the Spirit tastes, so to speak, like fresh spring-water, not flat like water which has grown stale in a vessel.We lack in faith, therefore lack in the spirit.Discord commonly arises wherever Jesus and the gospel attack men.Thorough inquiry and thorough knowledge would have solved the doubt and discord. The authors of divisions and schisms are swelling smatterers, who have no true knowledge of the Scriptures.
Schleiermacher: We see everywhere, that the Redeemer of the old, to which His people ever persist in adhering, points them at every opportunity to the new.But what else was the fruit which the life of the Lord was to bring forth, than just this: that the fulness of the Godhead which dwelt in Him, should pass thence to the community of believers, the whole congregation of the Lord.Besser: There is a doubleness in the nature of the church [and of every believer]: like Abraham, she is blessed and she is a blessing (Gen 12:2).She is both at once: a garden and a fountain of gardens (Son 4:15-16).
Footnotes:
[39]Joh 7:37.[The after is not without force, and should not have been omitted in the E. V.P. S.]
[40]Joh 7:38.[ . Alford and Conant retain the strong term of the A. V. Noyes translates: from within him; Luther and Lange: body. properly means belly, abdomen, bowels, stomach, as the receptacle of food, but tropically also, in Hellenistic usage, the inward parts, the inner man, the heart ( comp. the Lat. viscera), and so it is taken here by Chrysostom and others. The LXX. often interchange and . See the Exeg.P. S.]
[41]Joh 7:39.Lachmann [Alford] reads [those who believed] instead of on the authority of B. L. T. [. D. rel. Tischend.: .P. S.]
[42]Joh 7:39. [Holy before Spirit] is omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf, after the Vulgate, Itala, most versions K. T. As B. D. and others have the word, we may suppose the omission of to have been occasioned by doctrinal considerations, which, however, have rather made the passage more difficult than easier. [given] which Lachmann, after Cod. B., retains, stands less firm. [Both and are wanting in Cod. Sin. which simply reads (without the article). So Tischendorf in the 8th ed. Alford omits and retains , but puts it in brackets. Westcott and Hort put [] on the margin.P. S.]
[43]Joh 7:40. . The [text. rec.] or [explanatory] are dropped, according to B. D. L. T. &c.
[44]Joh 7:40. Lachmann, Tischendorf, according to [] B. D. E. G. &c. [Cod. Sin., Tischend., Alf.: , Lat. hos sermones, verba illa, hc verba. The text. rec. reads P. S.]
[45]Joh 7:41.Instead of Lachmann has after B. L., etc. [Tischend. after Cod. Sin.: without P. S.]
[46]Joh 7:42.[This is the position of the Greek, . P. S.]
[47][Meyer: The of the eighth day consisted just in this, that it brought the great feast to a solemn close.]
[48][ is an emphatic absolute nominative. The predicate is not expressed, but implied in the words . Such irregularity is not unfrequent in the best Greek classics. It is intended to give greater prominence to the noun, hence to the necessity of faith. Similar instances Joh 6:39 (); Joh 17:2; Act 7:40; Rev 2:26 ( ); Joh 3:12; Joh 3:21; comp. Buttmann, Neutestamentl. Grammatik, p. 325.P. S.]
[49][The most remarkable and appropriate of these passages are Eze 47:1-12, where rivers are prophetically described as issuing from under the threshold of the temple eastward (Joh 7:1), and making alive and healing all that is touched by them (Joh 7:9); Zec 14:8 : And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem ( ); and Isa 58:11, where Jehovah promises the thirsty to satisfy his soul in drought and to make him like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. To these prophetic words the quotation applies in a free and comprehensive way, and the characteristic is an interpretation in application to the individual believer. Compare here also the remarks on p. 182 in regard to the fact made almost certain by recent researches that there was a living spring beneath the altar of the temple, from which all the fountains of Jerusalem were fed, the source of the Brook that flowed hard by the oracles of God,the perennial river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God (Psa 46:1).P. S.]
[50][So also Olshausen: The believer is here represented as a living temple. Alford: The temple was symbolic of the Body of the Lord (see Joh 2:21); and the Spirit which dwells in and flows forth from His people also, who are made like unto Him, Gal 4:6; Rom 8:9; 1Co 3:6.P. S.]
[51][This interpretation seems rather far-fetched. The cavity of a small vessel is hardly designated by belly. Besides the Christian is not only an instrument, but a living member, of Christ, and Christ Himself is in him. Godets reference to the rock in the wilderness, which Moses smote, so that . corresponds to , Exo 17:6, is still mere artificial.P. S.]
[52][Alford justly remarks that it is lamentable to see such an able and generally right-minded commentator as Lcke carping at the interpretation of an apostle, especially John, who of all men bad the deepest insight into the wonderful analogies of spiritual things. The difficulties raised by Lcke rest in his own misapprehension. John does not say that the promise of our Lord was a prophecy of what happened on the day of Pentecost, but of the Spirit which the believers were about to receive. The water of life after all is the life of the Spirit, for the Spirit is life and the mind of the Spirit is life. Rom 8:6; Rom 8:10. The communication of eternal life always implies the gift of the Spirit of Christ.P. S.]
[53] [The can, of course, not refer to the essential or personal existence and previous operation of the Spirit, who is coternal with the Father and the Son, who manifested Himself in the creation (Gen 1:3; Psa 33:6) and through the whole O. T. economy, as the organizing, preserving, enlightening, regenerating and sanctifying principle (Gen 6:3; Exo 31:3; Psalms 51; Psalms 104, etc.), who inspired Moses and the prophets (Num 11:25; 1Sa 10:19; 1Sa 10:26; Isa 61:1; 2Pe 1:21), who overshadowed Mary at the conception of Christ (Mat 1:20; Luk 1:35), who descended upon Him without measure at the baptism in Jordan (Joh 1:32-33; Joh 3:35), but to the presence and working of the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ with the fulness of the accomplished redemption in the Christian Church, or to the dispensation of the Spirit, which, according to the promise of Christ (John 14-16), commenced after His resurrection and ascension, on the day of Pentecost.
The readings , , , are all superfluous glosses to guard against a misunderstanding. If anything is to be supplied to , it should rather be present (aderat), or working (), or in the believers ( ) from the preceding.P. S.]
[54][Alford: The mention of the question about Bethlehem seems to me rather to corroborate our belief that the Evangelist was well aware how the fact stood, than (De Wette) to ismply that he was ignorant of it. That no more remarks are appended, is natural. John had one great design in writing his Gospel, and does not allow it to be interfered with by explanations of matters otherwise known. Besides if John knew nothing of the birth at Bethlehem, and yet the mother of the Lord lived with him, the inference must be that she knew nothing of it,in other words, that it never happened. Owen argues from this passage in favor of the importance of the genealogical tables of Matthew and Luke to answer Jewish objections like these against the acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah.P. S.]
DISCOURSE: 1648 Joh 7:37-38. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
OUR blessed Lord incessantly laboured for the salvation of men; nor could their ungrateful returns at all divert him from his purpose. His life was sought, and he knew that persons were sent to apprehend him: yet, instead of rejecting them with abhorrence, he sought to win them by love, and importuned them to accept his richest blessings. Let us consider his invitation,
I.
As addressed to them
The time and manner of his invitation are worthy of notice Lest, however, his invitation should be slighted, he enforced it with a promise In this promise he clearly shewed them that he was the promised Messiah But it is time that we consider the invitation,
II.
As addressed to us
In the very name of Christ, and as his authorized ambassador, I now repeat the invitation to you: I stand and cry to you, even as he did to them, and with the very same confidence and assurance.
[Christ is the fountain of living waters [Note: Jer 2:13.]: it has pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell [Note: Col 1:19.]; and that all we should receive out of it according to our necessities [Note: Joh 1:16. Php 4:19.]. In fact, he has received the Holy Spirit on purpose that he may impart it unto us [Note: Psa 68:18. with Eph 4:8.]. And now I say in the presence of you all, that if you will but believe in him you shall receive this heavenly gift in the richest abundance. Whatever you may have been, or whatever you may have done, even though, like his auditors, you may have thirsted for his blood, the offer is to you. If only you thirst for salvation, you shall never be disappointed of your hope: The Holy Spirit shall be in you as a well of water springing up unto eternal life. It shall accomplish in you all the good pleasure of your God, and shall enable you to diffuse blessings all around you. In truth, this is your distinctive privilege. A man may possess ever so large a measure of earthly wisdom or power, and never be able to benefit or comfort one soul: but if you be endued with the Holy Ghost, your conversation shall be edifying to all around you; and you shall be the means of imparting to others in rich abundance the consolation and refreshment which you yourself have received. If Christ be as the rock in the wilderness to you, you in your measure shall be the same to many a thirsting soul.]
Let me then invite you all, as it were, separately and by name If there be any who doubt whether they shall ever obtain such mercy at their Saviours hands, only believe, and according to your faith it shall be done unto you. See how exactly the Lord has stated your very case, and accommodated to your mind his gracious promises [Note: Isa 41:17-18.] Dismiss your fears then, and wait patiently upon him in prayer: and in due season the Rock shall be stricken to quench your thirst; and your soul shall ere long be as a watered garden, and as a spring of water, whose waters fail not [Note: Isa 58:11.].
But doubtless there are some who have already drunk of the living waters which Christ has given them. It is no wonder that you thirst: for if you had received as much as ever St. Paul himself had, you would only thirst the more, forgetting what you had received, and panting still for more. But remember this; if you have ever drunk of these waters, you will never thirst for any thing else even to your dying hour [Note: Joh 4:14.]. Even though you have no earthly comfort whatever, you will be as one that possesses all things [Note: 2Co 6:10.]. Remember too, that you must daily make your profiting to appear. Being watered as the garden of the Lord, you must abound in all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Remember lastly, that you are to impart to others the blessings which you yourselves have received. From you are to flow rivers of living water for the refreshing of others; and as you have received freely, you must freely give to all around you. As the righteous are a tree of life [Note: Pro 11:30.], that all may eat of their life-giving fruits, so are you to be wells of salvation in your respective spheres, that all who can gain access to you may have the cup of salvation put into their hands, and drink and live for ever. Such is the honour which our blessed Saviour has conferred on you; and such is the improvement of it which he expects at your hands.]
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying. If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (39) (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (40) Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, of a truth this is the Prophet. (41) Others said, This is the Christ, but some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? (42) Hath not the Scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? (43) So there was a division among the people because of him. (44) And some of them would have taken him: but no man laid hands on him.
I would beg to pause over this short but powerful sermon of Jesus, on the last day of the feast. The Lord knew that all his public ministry was now closing, He stood therefore and cried. Reader! I pray you to turn to Pro 8:1 to the end. Isa 55:1-4 ; Rev 3:20 . And let it not be forgotten, that as Christ ended his public preaching with this cry, so did the Holy Ghost close the sacred canon of scripture with words to the same effect. Rev 22:16-17 .
I leave the Reader to form his own conclusions as to the result of such powerful preaching on the minds of the people. We read indeed of the different effects. Some were overawed, like the buyers and sellers in the temple, for the moment, and said, of a truth this is the Prophet. Others, hardened, still contended that it could nor be. And some, more daring than the rest, would have seized Christ? Reader! pause and contemplate the awful state of Adam-nature by the fall. Though Jesus sweetly gave the gracious invitation to the thirsty soul, yet we read of none that thirsted.
The observation of the Evangelist, which is inclosed within a parenthesis at Joh 7:39 , is worthy our closest regard. How blessed is it to have our Lord’s words so fully explained, in reference to the Holy Ghost. And how doubly blessed when kindred souls are made sensible of that influence, in their own experience? I beg the Reader to observe in this verse the word given, that it is in Italics, meaning that it is not in the original. And I would desire, with all due respect to the labors of our most able translators, to substitute for it rather the word come: for the Holy Ghost was not indeed yet come in all that plenitude of power, in which he was to come after Christ’s return to glory; but God the Spirit had always been in his Church, and manifesting grace to his people in all ages. The spirit of Christ, saith Peter, was in the Prophets, when testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow. 1Pe 1:11 . And every child of God under the Old Testament dispensation, as well as under the New, are alike partakers in his quickening, regenerating, and renewing mercy. Neh 9:20 . But, when it is said that the Holy Ghost was not yet given, or come, it is meant in respect to that more open display of his Almighty power, which was reserved for the latter day glory, when those promises were to be eminently fulfilled. Isa 44:3-5 ; Joe 2:28 ; Act 2:1 , etc. The kingdom of grace, in the ordination of the Apostles and first preachers of the Gospel, was to be introduced, with visible marks of the personality and Godhead of the Holy Ghost, as the Almighty and Sovereign Minister in the Church of God. See Joh 14 and Commentary.
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Ver. 37. In the last day ] In this eighth day (which the Jews called Hosanna Rabbah) they read the last section of the law, and likewise began the first; lest they might otherwise seem more joyful in ending their sections than willing to begin them. (Tremel. ex Talmud.) Upon this day also, by the institution (say they) of Haggai and Zechariah (but more likely by their own superstition), they did, with great solemnity and joy, bring great store of water from the river Shiloh to the temple; where it being delivered unto the priests, it was poured upon the altar, together with wine; and all the people sang that of the prophet,Isa 12:3Isa 12:3 ; “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” Hereunto our Saviour is thought to allude, Joh 7:38 ; “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of water;” provided that he believe in me, so as the Scripture saith he should. For so (after Chrysostom) Heinsius, De Dieu, and others expound it.
He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said ] sc. That men should believe on me, to such I make a promise, that out of his belly, that is (by a catachresis), a out of the bosom and bottom of his soul “shall flow rivers,” &c.: he shall not only have sufficient for himself, but wherewith to refresh others.
a Improper use of words; application of a term to a thing which it does not properly denote; abuse or perversion of a trope or metaphor. D
37 52. ] JESUS THE GIVER OF THE SPIRIT ( Joh 7:37-39 ). CONSEQUENCES OF THE DISCOURSE ( Joh 7:40-52 ).
37, 38. ] It is not certain what is meant by this . . . The command, Lev 23:34-35 , was to keep the feast seven days; the first to be a solemn assembly and a feast-sabbath, then on the eighth day another solemn assembly and a feast-sabbath: so also ib. Lev 23:39 . (But in Deu 16:13 nothing is said of the eighth day.) In Neh 8:18 the feast is kept seven days, and on the eighth is a solemn assembly, “ according unto the manner .” In Num 29:12-38 , where minute directions are given for every day of the feast, the eighth day is reckoned in, as usual. Josephus, Antt. iii. 10. 4, gives a similar account. In 2Ma 10:6 , we read , . But the eighth day was not properly one of the feast days; the people ceased to dwell in the tabernacles on the seventh day. Philo says of it, , , , . De Septenario, 24. And though this, as Lcke observes (ii. 224), may be pure conjecture, it is valuable, as shewing the fact the reason of which is conjectured; viz. that the eighth day was held in more than ordinary estimation . The eighth day then seems here to be meant, and the last of the feast to be popularly used, as in some of the citations above. But a difficulty attends this view. Our Lord certainly seems to allude here to the custom which prevailed during the seven days of the feast, of a priest bringing water in a golden vessel from the pool of Siloam with a jubilant procession to the temple, standing on the altar and pouring it out there, together with wine, while meantime the Hallel (Psalms 113-118.) was sung. This practice was by some supposed as the dwelling in tabernacles represented their life in the desert of old to refer to the striking of the rock by Moses: by others, to the rain, for which they then prayed, for the seed of the ensuing year: by the elder Rabbis (Maimonides, cited by Stier, iv. 331, edn. 2), to Isa 12:3 , and the effusion of the Holy Spirit in the days of the Messiah. But it was universally agreed (with the single exception of the testimony of R. Juda Hakkadosh, quoted in the tract Succa, which itself distinctly asserts the contrary), that on the eighth day this ceremony did not take place. Now, out of this difficulty I would extract what I believe to be the right interpretation. It was the eighth day, and the pouring of water did not take place. But is therefore (as Lcke will have it) all allusion to the ceremony excluded? I think not: nay, I believe it is the more natural. For seven days the ceremony had been performed, and the Hallel sung. On the eighth day the Hallel was sung, but the outpouring of the water did not take place: “desideraverunt aliquid.” ‘ Then Jesus stood and cried , &c.’ Was not this the most natural time? Was it not probable that He would have said it at such a time, rather even than while the ceremony itself was going on?
An attempt has been made to alter the punctuation thus: , , ., . . . Of this I can only say, that it is surprising to me how any one accustomed to the style of our Evangelist can for a moment suppose it possible. The harshness of . is beyond all example. The ordinary punctuation, making . a nom. abs., see ch. Joh 6:39 , is the only admissible one , even were it beset with far greater difficulties than it is. (The punctuation above mentioned is strongly upheld against this note in Stier, edn. 2. In spite of what he there says, I cannot think it can ever make way among Biblical scholars. It introduces two subjects into the first part of the sentence, viz. and , to the utter confusion of both sense and metaphor. The distinction, insisted on by Stier, between the believer on Christ, who was not only to come , but to drink , and the people at the feast, who only witnessed the outpouring of the water, and which he gives as a reason why must stand emphatically before . its qualifying subject, will be quite as marked with the usual punctuation: nay even more so.)
On the first clauses, see notes on ch. Joh 4:13-14 .
. . ] These words must apply to . ., since . could not form part of the citation. But we look in vain for such a text in the O.T., and an apocryphal or lost canonical book is out of the question.
I believe the citation to be intimately connected with the ceremony referred to, and that we must look for its place by consulting the passages where the flowing out of water from the temple (see above) is spoken of. The most remarkable of these is found in Eze 47:1-12 . There a of water of life (see Joh 7:9 especially) flows from under the threshold of the temple . Again in Zec 14:8 , . I believe these expressions to be all to which the citation applies, and the to be the interpretation of the corresponding words in the prophecies. For the temple was symbolic (see ch. Joh 2:21 ) of the Body of the Lord; and the Spirit which dwells in and flows forth from His glorified Body, dwells in and flows forth from His people also, who are made like unto Him, Gal 4:6 ; Rom 8:9-11 :1Co 3:16 .
Joh 7:37-44 . Jesus proclaims His ability to quench human thirst with living water .
Joh 7:37 . This exact specification of time is given that we may understand the significance of the words uttered by Jesus. The Feast of Tabernacles lasted for seven days (Lev 23:34 , Neh 8:18 ), and on the eighth day was “an holy convocation,” on which the people celebrated their entrance into the holy land, abandoning their booths, and returning to their ordinary dwellings. On each of the seven feast days water was drawn in a golden pitcher from the pool of Siloam, and carried in procession to the Temple, in commemoration of the water from the rock with which their fathers in the desert had been provided. On the eighth day, which commemorated their entrance into “a land of springs of water,” this ceremony was discontinued. But the deeper spirits must have viewed with some misgiving all this ritual, feeling still in themselves a thirst which none of these symbolic forms quenched, and wondering when the vision of Ezekiel would be realised, and a river broad and deep would issue from the Lord’s house. Filled with these misgivings they suddenly hear a voice, clear and assured, , : that is, whatever natural wants and innocent cravings and spiritual aspirations men have, Christ undertakes to satisfy them every one. To this general invitation are added words so enigmatical that John finds it necessary to explain their reference.
John
THE ROCK AND THE WATER
Joh 7:37 – Joh 7:38 The occasion and date of this great saying are carefully given by the Evangelist, because they throw much light on its significance and importance. It was ‘on the last day, that great day of the Feast,’ that ‘Jesus stood and cried.’ The Feast was that of Tabernacles, which was instituted in order to keep in mind the incidents of the desert wandering. On the anniversary of this day the Jews still do as they used to, and in many a foul ghetto and frowsy back street of European cities, you will find them sitting beneath the booths of green branches, commemorating the Exodus and its wonders. Part of that ceremonial was that on each morning of the seven, and possibly on the eighth, ‘the last day of the Feast,’ a procession of white-robed priests wound down the rocky footpath from the Temple to Siloam, and there in a golden vase drew water from the spring, chanting, as they ascended and re-entered the Temple gates where they poured out the water as a libation, the words of the prophet, ‘with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.’
Picture the scene to yourselves-the white-robed priests toiling up the pathway, the crowd in the court, the sparkling water poured out with choral song. And then, as the priests stood with their empty vases, there was a little stir in the crowd, and a Man who had been standing watching, lifted up a loud voice and cried, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.’ Strange words to say, anywhere and anywhen, daring words to say there in the Temple court! For there and then they could mean nothing less than Christ’s laying His hand on that old miracle, which was pointed to by the rite, when the rock yielded the water, and asserting that all which it did and typified was repeated, fulfilled, and transcended in Himself, and that not for a handful of nomads in the wilderness, but for all the world, in all its generations.
So here is one more instance to add to those to which I have directed your attention on former occasions, in which, in this Gospel, we find Christ claiming to be the fulfilment of incidents and events in that ancient covenant, Jacob’s ladder, the brazen serpent, the manna, and now the rock that yielded the water. He says of them all that they are the shadow, and the substance is in Him.
I. So then, we have to look, first, at Christ’s view of humanity as set forth here.
‘The misery of man is great upon him,’ because, having these desires, he misreads so many of them, and stifles, ignores, atrophies to so large an extent the noblest of them. I know of no sadder tragedy than the way in which we misinterpret the meaning of these inarticulate cries that rise from the depths of our hearts, and misunderstand what it is that we are groping after, when we put out empty, and, alas! too often unclean, hands, to lay hold on our true good.
Brethren, you do not know what you want, many of you, and there is something pathetic in the endless effort to fill up the heart by a multitude of diverse and small things, when all the while the deepest meaning of aspirations, yearnings, longings, unrest, discontent is, ‘My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.’ Nothing less than infinitude will satisfy the smallest heart of the humblest and least developed man. Nothing less than to have all our treasures in one accessible, changeless Infinity will ever give rest to a human soul. You have tried a multiplicity of trifles. It takes a great many bags of coppers to make up L. 1000, and they are cumbrous to carry. Would it not be better to part with a multitude of goodly pearls, if need be, in order to have all your wealth, and the satisfaction of all your desires, in the ‘One Pearl of great price’? It is God for whom men are thirsting, and, alas! so many of us know it not. As the old prophet says, in words that never lose their pathetic power, ‘they have hewn out for themselves cisterns’-one is not enough-they need many. They are only cisterns, which hold what is put into them, and they are ‘broken cisterns,’ which cannot hold it. Yet we turn to these with a strange infatuation, which even the experience that teaches fools does not teach us to be folly. We turn to these; and we turn from the Fountain; the one, the springing, the sufficient, the unfailing, the exuberant Fountain of living waters. Some of you have cisterns on the tops of your houses, with a coating of green scum and soot on them, and do you like that foul draught better than the bright blessing that comes out of the heart of the rock, flashing and pure?
But not only are these desires misread, but the noblest of them are stifled. I have said that the condition of humanity is that of thirst. Christ speaks in my text as if that thirst was by no means universal, and, alas! it is not, ‘If any man thirst’; there are some of us that do not, for we are all so constituted that, unless by continual self-discipline, and self-suppression, and self-evolution, the lower desires will overgrow the loftier ones, and kill them, as weeds will some precious crop. And some of you are so much taken up with gratifying the lowest necessities and longings of your nature, that you leave the highest all uncared for, and the effect of that is that the unsatisfied longing avenges itself, for your neglect of it, by infusing unrest and dissatisfaction into what else would satisfy the lowest. ‘He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase,’ but he that loves God will be satisfied with less than silver, and will continue satisfied when decrease comes. If you would suck the last drop of sweetness out of the luscious purple grapes that grow on earth, you must have the appetite after the best things, recognised, and ministered to, and satisfied. And when we are satisfied with God, we shall ‘have learnt in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be self-sufficing.’ But, as I say, the highest desires are neglected, and the lowest are cockered and pampered, and so the taste is depraved. Many of you have no wish for God, and no desire after high and noble things, and are perfectly contented to browse on the low levels, or to feed on ‘the husks that the swine do eat,’ whilst all the while the loftiest of your powers is starving within. Brethren, before we can come to the Rock that yields the water, there must be the sense of need. Do you know what it is that you want? Have you any desire after righteousness and purity and nobleness, and the vision of God flaming in upon the pettinesses and commonplaces of this life which is ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing,’ and is trivial in all its pretended greatness, unless you have learned that you need God most of all, and will never be at rest till you have Him?
II. Secondly, note here Christ’s consciousness of Himself.
Brethren, I do not wish to dwell upon this aspect of our Lord’s character in more than a sentence, but I beseech you to ask yourselves what is the impression that is left of the character of a man who says such things, unless He was something more than one of our race? Jesus Christ, it is as clear as day, in these words makes a claim which only divinity can warrant Him in making, or can fulfil when it is made. And I would urge you to consider what the alternative is, if you do not believe that Jesus Christ here sets Himself forth as the Incarnate Word of God, sufficient for all humanity. ‘I am meek and lowly in heart’-and His lowliness of heart is proved in a strange fashion, if He stands up before the race and says, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.’
III. Note, further, Christ’s invitation.
Now, dear friends, beneath these two metaphorical expressions there lies one simple condition. I put it into three words, which, for the sake of being easily remembered, I cast into an alliterative form: approach Christ, appropriate Christ, adhere to Christ.
Approach Christ. You come by faith, you come by love, you come by communion. And you can come if you will, though He is now on the throne.
Appropriate Christ. It is vain that the water should be gushing from the rock there, unless you make it your own by drinking. It must pass your lips. It must become your personal possession. You must enclose a piece of the common, and make it your very own. ‘He loved us, and gave Himself for us’; well and good, but strike out the ‘us’ and put in ‘me.’ ‘He loved me and gave Himself for me.’ The river may be flowing right past your door, yet your lips may be cracked with thirst, even whilst you hear the tinkle of its music amongst the sedges and the pebbles. Appropriate Christ. ‘Come . . . and drink.’
Adhere to Christ. You were thirsty yesterday: you drank. That will not slake to-day’s thirst, nor prevent its recurrence. And you must keep on drinking if you are to keep from perishing of thirst. Day by day, drop by drop, draught by draught, you must drink. According to the ancient Jewish legend, which Paul in one of his letters refers to, about this very miracle, you must have the Rock following you all through your desert pilgrimage, and you must drink daily and hourly, by continual faith, love, and communion.
IV. We have here not only these points, but a fourth. Christ’s promise.
So we may have a well in the courtyard, and may be able to bear in ourselves the fountain of water, and where the divine life of Christ by His Spirit has through faith been implanted within us, it will come out from us. There is a question for you Christian people-do any rivers of living water flow out of you? If they do not, it is to be doubted whether you have drunk of the fountain. There are many professing Christians who are like the foul little rivers that pass under the pavements in Manchester, all impure, and covered over so that nobody sees them. ‘Out of him shall flow rivers of living water’-that is Christ’s way of communicating the blessing of eternal life to the world-by the medium of those who have already received it. Christian men and women, if your faith has brought the life into you, see to it that approaching Christ, and appropriating Christ, and adhering to Christ, you are becoming assimilated to Christ, and in your daily life, God’s grace fructifying through you to all, are ‘become as rivers of water in a dry place, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.’
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 7:37-39
37Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” 39But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Joh 7:37 “on the last day, the great day of the feast” There is some question whether this was a seven-day feast (cf. Deu 16:13), or an eight-day feast (cf. Lev 23:36; Neh 8:17; II Maccabees 10:60, and Josephus). Apparently in Jesus’ day it was an eight-day feast, however, on the last day water was not taken from the pool of Siloam and poured at the base of the altar as it was on the other seven days. We learn of the ceremony from the Tractate Sukkah of the Talmud, which quotes Isa 12:3 . This may have been a visualized prayer for rain for the crops.
“If” This is third class conditional which means potential action.
“anyone is thirsty” The universal invitation to faith in Jesus! See note at Joh 7:17
“let him come to Me and drink” Jesus uses the same metaphor in Joh 4:13-15. This could possibly refer to Jesus as the Messianic Rock which provided water (cf. 1Co 10:4). It is obviously related to the OT invitation of Isa 55:1-3 and the cultural opportunity of the symbolic pouring out of water during the feast.
Some early ancient Greek manuscripts omit “to me” (cf. MSS P66, *, and D). It is included in P66c, P75, c, L, T, W, and it is implied by the context. The UBS4 gives its inclusion a “B” rating (almost certain). In John people are urged to trust Him. The gospel has a personal focus.
Joh 7:38 “He who believes in Me” Notice this is a present tense. This shows an emphasis on the continuing personal relationship involved in believing like John 15’s “abiding.” See Special Topic: Greek Verb Tenses used for Salvation at Joh 9:7.
“as the Scripture said” It is hard to identify a specific Scripture for this quote. It could be Isa 12:3; Isa 43:19-20; Isa 44:3; Isa 58:11; Eze 47:1; Joe 3:18; Zec 13:1; or Joh 14:8, which refer metaphorically to eschatological water as a symbol of the presence of the Divine. In this case the promised water of the new age of agricultural blessing is altered to the metaphor of the internal nature of the new covenant. The Spirit will be active in the heart and mind (cf. Eze 36:27-38).
“From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water” There have been several theories as to the pronoun antecedent.
1. Jesus Himself (cf. the early church fathers)
2. the individual believers who have trusted Christ
3. Jerusalem. In Aramaic, “his” can mean “her” and can refer to the city (this is the position of the rabbis, cf. Eze 47:1-12 and Zec 14:8)
There is a good brief, simplified discussion of the two theories based on how one punctuates Joh 7:37 b and 38a in NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 683.
Jesus has called Himself the living water (cf. Joh 4:10). Now in this context it is the Holy Spirit (cf. Joh 7:39) who provides and produces the living water in Jesus’ followers. This is parallel to the Spirit’s work of forming Christ in the believer (cf. Rom 8:29; Gal 4:19; Eph 4:13).
Joh 7:39 “for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” Apparently this reflects John’s later thinking (i.e., an editorial comment) on the significance of this statement (cf. Joh 16:7). It also shows the significance of Calvary and Pentecost both being viewed as a “glory” (cf. Joh 3:14; Joh 12:16; Joh 12:23; Joh 17:1; Joh 17:5). There are several scribal variants to try to explain what John meant by this brief statement.
In = Now on. Greek. en, as in Joh 7:1.
the last day. See Lev 23:34-36.
that = the.
drink = let him drink.
37-52.] JESUS THE GIVER OF THE SPIRIT (Joh 7:37-39). CONSEQUENCES OF THE DISCOURSE (Joh 7:40-52).
Joh 7:37. , in the last) This was the seventh day: not the eighth, inasmuch as it was one which had its own proper feast. See F. B. Dachs, ad cod. Succa, p. 373; comp. p. 357, 405. This seventh day was an especially solemn one in the Feast of Tabernacles; Lev 23:34; Lev 23:36, On the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord; it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein; Num 29:12, On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the Feast of Tabernacles began, etc.; Neh 8:18, Day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God; and they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly. 2Ch 7:8, Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt; and in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly, etc. Jesus also Himself made this day a great day; nor was there remaining before the passion of the Lord another such day of so great solemnity, and celebrated by so large a crowd. He therefore availed Himself of the opportunity[205]).- , if any man thirst[206]) An apposite expression, even [independently of other reasons] on account of that rite, when on that last day of the feast they were wont to draw water from the fountain of Siloah, and to pour it in libation upon the altar of the whole burnt-offering. See Surenhus. de Alleg., V. T., p. 354. [To thirst is the first distinguishing mark of a soul panting for salvation, and a most sure characteristic of such a one.-V. g.]-, let him come) Rev 22:17, The Spirit and the bride say, Come.-And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
[205] The antitypes to the Passover and Pentecost were realized in the sacrifice of Christ, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Jerusalem before the entire abolition of types. Thus also in this passage it is permitted to us to observe an antitype to the Feast of Tabernacles, which the Saviour enlightened with such a splendour of His own glory, repeating at Jerusalem that remarkable promise, Zechariah 14 (ver. 18, 17, which points to Jerusalem; [the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to worship at the feast of tabernacles; whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain]), and soothing the minds of believers by the very abundant fulfilment of it, then to be so immediately looked for.-Harm., p. 354, etc.
[206] There are not wanting persons who, in the present day, think that His speech in this passage refers to the miraculous gifts of those who received the apostolic doctrine. (See D. Ernesti Bibl. theol. Noviss. T. i. p. 791.) Nor truly can any one maintain with good reason that these gifts are not referred to: Comp. ver. 39, etc., The Holy Ghost was not yet given, etc. Yet I should be sorry to think, that this universal and most solemn promise should be so restricted, as that you must think, that those gifts of the Holy Spirit are excluded, which every soul that is weary of vanity thirsts for. In fact the passage Zec 14:8, It shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, compared with Joh 8:1, In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness not obscurely teaches, that those gifts of the Spirit are at least at the same time implied, of which every one hath need, in order that he may be brought to a real state of rest, and a better life.-E. B.
Joh 7:37
Joh 7:37
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.-The feast lasted eight days and the last day was a holy convocation, and it had come to be the greatest day of the feast. On this day he called to all who thirsted to come to him and drink the waters of salvation. [The eighth or last day of the feast probably was devoted more to rejoicing and thanksgiving for the blessings of the year and for the hope of Israel. It was called the great day of the feast.]
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
In these verses our Lord was directing the minds of His listeners on to a new dispensation. He came, as we know, under the law. He came in exact accordance with all Old Testament prophetic Scripture. He came to magnify the law and to make it honorable. But throughout His glorious ministry, while pointing out the failures of the people under the law, He spoke constantly of that grace and truth which He came to make known.
We have already considered His various interviews in the temple, and now we come to something that took place on the last day, the great day of the feast of tabernacles. It had been customary on the last day to have a special service called the pouring out of the water. On that day a company of white-robed priests went down to the Pool of Siloam. They filled their jars with water from the pool, and then walked back to the temple and poured out the water in the presence of the people. This was to call to their minds the marvelous provision that God had made for Israel during the days of their wandering in the wilderness.
When they came murmuring to Moses, he cried to God. And He said, Thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it (Exo 17:5-6). Moses did so. As the rock was cleft the water gushed out, and the people had all they needed. On a later occasion, shortly before they entered into the land, when again they were in distress because of lack of water, God said, Take the rod [Aarons rod], and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water (Num 20:8). But Moses smote the rock twice. The water came out abundantly, but Moses had not followed Gods directions. He was a bit troubled and irritated, and he made a great blunder. Sometimes, you know, Gods servants do get troubled and upset.
Moses actually lost his temper on this occasion. As a result he spoiled Gods lovely type. The smiting of the rock in obedience to God in Exodus 17 was a beautiful type of the smiting of Christ with the rod of judgment. When Moses lifted the rod up over the Red Sea, the waters parted asunder and the people went through on dry ground, so it was perfectly proper that he should use the same rod on the rock. That rock was Christ. Christ had to be smitten in judgment on Calvarys cross, and when the wrath of God that was our due fell upon Him and He bowed His head beneath that rod-when the Rock of Ages was cleft for us-the living water flowed forth for the refreshment of a famished world. But you know He was only smitten once in judgment. Having died for our sins, He is never to die again and will never have to know the smiting of the rod of judgment again. That question has been settled once for all.
God commanded Moses on the second occasion to take Aarons rod and go out and speak to the rock, and it should give forth its water. That is, he was to take the rod of priesthood, reminding us that our Savior is now ministering in the presence of God as our great High Priest. He does not need to be smitten again to sustain our life. But we read in Numbers 20, Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice (v. 11), after he had said to the people, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? (v. 10). And so he spoiled the type of Gods lovely picture of the present work of His Son.
But-oh, the grace of God!-in spite of the failure of the servant the water gushed out. God still, in His infinite grace, meets peoples need far beyond their understanding. But read what happened to Moses. God said, Now because you did not sanctify Me in the eyes of the people-you smote the rock and were angry-you will not go into the land but will die in the wilderness (v. 12, authors paraphrase). And oh, how Moses pleaded and prayed that he might go in, but the Lord at last said, Speak to Me no more of these matters. You will not go in, but you can go up and see the land. So Moses prayer, in that instance, could not be answered. Afterward, of course, fifteen hundred years afterward, God did allow him to enter the land. When the disciples were on the Mount of Transfiguration, they looked up and saw the Lord Jesus Christ, and with Him were Moses and Elias. God let him go in, but it was when he could be there as the companion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But now going back to the memorial of the smiting of the rock. The priests, in the observance of the feast of tabernacles, brought the water from the Pool of Siloam (which means Sent), and they poured that water out before the Lord in the presence of the people. And on the last day Jesus stepped forward and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink (Joh 7:37). And today He stands crying the same wonderful words: If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Note the universality of the message. Is there any man who does not thirst and who does not know what it is to yearn and long for that which is eternal? And Jesus says, If any man thirst-not just select cases, and He does not even indicate the nature of the thirst. He might have said, as He did once, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness (Mat 5:6). He might have said, If any man thirst after goodness, after purity, after holiness, let him come unto me, and drink. But He makes it far wider than that. He says, If any man thirst. That is for every one of us.
You may say, Yes, I am thirsting for pleasure. I want to find more joy and delight in living. Well, my dear friends, if any man thirst after real pleasure and lasting joy, Jesus says, Let him come unto me, and drink. It is written, At Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Psa 16:11). What Jesus said concerning the water of that well in Samaria is just as true of all that earth has to offer-Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again (Joh 4:13). You may try all of the different pleasures of earth, they will never quench your thirst. We grant that there is a measure of pleasure in sin, but you know Scripture says that Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Heb 11:24). That is all, they last only a little while. They are like some of these sweet drinks that you take in the summer, and every time you drink you become only the more thirsty. So it is with all that the world has to offer. But Jesus says to those who try the world but are thirsty still, Come to Me and drink, and you will never thirst again.
Someone says, Well I am not concerned about pleasure, but I thirst for wealth-for the means to make things comfortable for my family and myself. Yes, but the wealth of this world passes away. But if you want pleasure that will last forever and the wealth that will abide, come to Jesus and heed His gracious invitation, and you will be wealthy forevermore.
Perhaps you thirst for the good opinion of others-to be well thought of. Oh, dear friends, there is nothing like having the good opinion of God Himself, and you get that when you trust His blessed Son, when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your own Savior. Then God Himself guarantees that you shall participate with Him in glory-that shall last forever.
Jesus says of His own, The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one (Joh 17:22). We often sing that Glory song, and one verse goes,
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me!
Some object to that phrase and say they would rather sing, That will be glory for Him. Well, of course, that will be glory for Him, but on the other hand it will be glory for me to gaze on His blessed face and be with Him for all eternity. How perfectly satisfied we shall be in that day! Yes, if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
And then He adds, He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (7:38). To come unto Him and drink is to believe Him and the message He has given, to put your trust in Him. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Now where has the Scripture said this? Well, there may not be any exact verse of Scripture that says in so many words that he that believes on Jesus from within him shall flow rivers of living water, but I take it that the Lord is referring to the general tenor of Scripture. The living water flowing forth from the smitten rock-Scripture after Scripture indicates that truth. In Isa 41:17-18 is a glorious promise that really refers to the very same thing as that of which our Lord Jesus Christ speaks. Refreshment and blessing spiritually is for those who put their trust in this Savior that God has provided. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
Then in 43:19-20 of the same book, that of the prophet Isaiah, it is written, Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
And then again in Isa 44:3, For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.
One other quotation from the same prophet, And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not (58:11). The heart of the believer is pictured there. The very inward being of the believer is as a watered garden with streams flowing out for the blessing of others.
Jeremiah uses the same figure in 31:12, Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
And then in that lovely book, the Canticles, the holy of holies of the Old Testament, we have the believer typified by the bride, and pictured as one whose heart is a garden from which the water flows forth: A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon (Son 4:12; Son 4:15). It is living water flowing out from the garden for the blessing of others.
And one other Old Testament Scripture: Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets (Pro 5:15-16).
And so in all of these passages, to which many more might be added, we have the thought of the Spirit of God dwelling within the child of God as living water and flowing out in blessing to others.
This refers to the work of the Spirit of God in this present age as well as in the glorious kingdom age. This is clearly indicated in verse 39 of our text, But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
The Lord Jesus Christ was pointing on to a time when He was going back to the Father, after being smitten on the cross, when the Holy Spirit was to come in a new sense to take possession of and dwell within all believers, in order that they, by their testimony, might carry refreshment and joy to others. And, dear Christian, how concerned you and I ought to be as to whether we are allowing anything in our lives that is hindering the outflow of living waters. Just as a stream flowing out from a garden might become choked and hindered by stones and rubbish, so may unholy things in our lives choke and hinder the flow of blessing. I am afraid we Christians hinder the outflow by selfishness, by worldliness, by careless behavior, by unjudged sin, etc. All of these things hinder the outflow of the living water. If we have come to Christ, if we are living in the enjoyment of His love, and are not allowing anything to hinder our communion with Him, then indeed we shall be channels of blessing from and through whom the living water shall flow forth constantly.
Living Water
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.Joh 7:37.
1. The occasion and date of this great saying are carefully given by the Evangelist, because they throw much light on its significance and importance. It was on the last day, the great day of the feast, that Jesus stood and cried. The Feast was that of Tabernacles, which was instituted in order to keep in mind the incidents of the desert wandering. The peculiar greatness of the eighth day lay in the fact that it was the close of the whole festival and was kept as a Sabbath (Lev 23:36). It has been conjectured that it was observed in memory of the entrance into Canaan. At present it is treated as a separate Festival.
Part of the ceremonial was that on each morning of the seven, a procession of white-robed priests wound down the rocky footpath from the Temple to Siloam, and there in a golden vase drew water from the spring, chanting, as they ascended and re-entered the Temple gates, where they poured out the water as a libation, the words of the prophet, With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. It is uncertain whether the libations were made on the eighth day. If they were not, the significant cessation of the striking rite on this one day of the feast would give a still more fitting occasion for the words of the text.
2. The true worshippers among these Israelites had been seeing a spiritual meaning in the water, and had been conscious of an uneasy feeling of thirst still in the midst of these Temple services, an uneasy questioning whether even yet Israel had passed the thirsty desert, and had received the full gift God had meant to give. There were thinking men and thirsty souls then as there are now; and to these, who stood perhaps a little aside, and looked half in compassion, half in envy, at the merry-making of the rest, it seemed a significant fact that, in the Temple itself, with all its grandeur and skilful appliances, there was yet no living fountain to quench the thirst of mena significant fact that to find water the priest had to go outside the gorgeous Temple to the modest waters of Siloah that go softly. All through the feast these men wondered morning by morning when the words of Joel were to come true, when it should come to pass that a fountain should come forth of the house of the Lord, or when that great and deep river should begin to flow which Ezekiel saw in vision issuing from the threshold of the Lords house, and waxing deeper and wider as it flowed. And now once more the last day of the feast had come; the water was no longer drawn, and yet no fountain had burst up in the Temple itself; their souls were yet perplexed, unsatisfied, craving, athirst, when suddenly, as if in answer to their half-formed thoughts and longings, a clear, assured, authoritative voice passed through their ear to their inmost soul: If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
3. Strange words to say anywhere, daring words to say in the Temple court! For there they could mean nothing less than Christs laying His hand on that old miracle, which was pointed to by the rite, when the rock yielded the water, and asserting that all which it did and typified was repeated, fulfilled, and transcended in Himself, and that not for a handful of nomads in the wilderness, but for all the world, in all its generations. So here is one more occasion on which, in this Gospel, we find Christ claiming to be the fulfilment of incidents and events in that ancient covenant,Jacobs ladder, the brazen serpent, the manna, and now the rock that yielded the water. He says of them all that they are the shadow, and the substance is in Him. Let us consider, as they are set forth in the text, these three things
I.Christs View of Humanity.
II.Christs View of Himself.
III.Christs Invitation to Humanity.
I
Christs View of Humanity
1. If any man thirst.Christ confronts mans deepest need. He sees humanity thirsting. No metaphor could be more intense in a dry and thirsty land like Palestine. It fittingly pictures the deepest want of the human soul.
(1) It is characteristic of the teaching of Christ that He always speaks of mans chief spiritual needs in the terms of his greatest physical necessities. The words by which He describes the need of the soul for God are such words as hunger and thirst. We all know what it is to have physical thirst. Toiling under the hot sun, trudging along the dusty roadthe painful sensation is familiar enough to us. But more real and intense would be the figure to an Eastern. Ask him who has crossed the desert, What is thirst? and he will tell you of the bones of men and beasts all bleached and white that mark its highway. Smitten with thirst on its burning sands, what will a man not give for water? The fine sand entering into every pore of his skin, choking and blinding him, the scorching wind drying up the very marrow of his bones, his tongue cleaving to his mouth, his eyes bloodshot, the desert reels around him, and he is willing to fill the cup with pearls in exchange for a cupful of water. Water is always an attractive word in the East. But at the time when Jesus uttered this saying it would have an effect that was almost magical. It was in the autumn weather, when the sun had been shining in fierceness for months, and the barren ground was crying out for rain.
(2) We need not go over all the dominant desires that surge up in mens souls, the mind craving for knowledge, the heart calling out for love, the whole nature feeling blindly and often desperately after something external to itself, which it can grasp, and in which it can feel satisfied. We all know them. Like some plant growing in a cellar, and with feeble and blanched tendrils feeling towards the light which is so far away, every man carries about within himself a whole host of longing desires, which need to find something round which they may twine, and in which they can be at rest.
(3) The misery of man is great upon him, because, having these desires, he misreads so many of them, and stifles, ignores, atrophies to so large an extent the noblest of them. There is no sadder tragedy than the way in which we misinterpret the meaning of these inarticulate cries that rise from the depths of our hearts, and misunderstand what it is that we are groping after, when we put out empty, and, alas! too often unclean, hands, to lay hold on our true good. We do not know what we want, many of us, and there is something pathetic in the endless effort to fill up the heart by a multitude of diverse and small things, when all the while the deepest meaning of aspirations, yearnings, longings, unrest, discontent, is, My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.
Isaac Williams, wrote Mr. Copeland, mentioned to me a remark made on Hurrell Froude by S. Wilberforce in his early days: They talk of Froudes fun, but somehow I cannot be in a room with him alone for ten minutes without feeling so intensely melancholy, that I do not know what to do with myself. At Brighstone, in my Eden days, he was with me, and I was overwhelmed with the deep sense which possessed him of yearning which nothing could satisfy and of the unsatisfying nature of all things. 1 [Note: Dean Church, The Oxford Movement, 55.]
Its warping winds swept thro my soul:
Its fires scorched all my arc of life:
Of joy it gave a trivial dole
Then brought me anguish, shame and strife:
An hour of pulsing feverish joy,
Framed in a flame of blazing red;
Then, rotting in its own rank soil,
The swift-born flower lay swiftly dead.2 [Note: Desmond Mountjoy, The Hills of Hell, 15.]
2. If any man thirst.Christ speaks as if that thirst was by no means universal, and, alas! it is not. If any man thirst; there are some of us that do not, for we are all so constituted that, unless we use continual self-discipline, and self-suppression, and self-evolution, the lower desires will overgrow the loftier ones, and kill them, as weeds kill the precious crop. And some of us are so much taken up with gratifying the lowest necessities and longings of our nature, that we leave the highest all uncared for, and the effect of that is that the unsatisfied longing avenges itself, for our neglect of it, by infusing unrest and dissatisfaction into what else would satisfy the lowest. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase, but he that loves God will be satisfied with less than silver, and will continue satisfied when decrease comes. If we would suck the last drop of sweetness out of the luscious purple grapes that grow on earth, we must have the appetite for the best things, recognized, and ministered to, and satisfied. And when we are satisfied with God, we shall have learnt in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be self-sufficing.
The late Sir James Stephen in a lecture to young men once said that he could put his suggestions in one wordAspire. That was very good advice. But what should the aspiration be?1 [Note: Lord Avebury, Peace and Happiness, 77.]
On the morning of January 7, 1900, Bishop Creighton, a few days before he died, seemed particularly well. His chaplain, Mr. Percival, was with him for a long while, and they spoke of various answers which had been given to the question, What is the greatest danger of the coming century? The Bishop said, I have no doubt what is the greatest dangerit is the absence of high aspirations.2 [Note: The Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton, ii. 463.]
The first, and last, and closest trial question to any living creature is, What do you like? Tell me what you like, and Ill tell you what you are. Go out into the street, and ask the first man or woman you meet, what their taste is; and if they answer candidly, you know them, body and soul. You, my friend in the rags, with the unsteady gait, what do you like? A pipe, and a quartern of gin. I know you. You, good woman, with the quick step and tidy bonnet, what do you like? A swept hearth, and a clean tea-table; and my husband opposite me, and a baby at my breast. Good, I know you also. You, little girl with the golden hair and the soft eyes, what do you like? My canary, and a run among the wood hyacinths. You, little boy with the dirty hands, and the low forehead, what do you like? A shy at the sparrows, and a game at pitch farthing. Good; we know them all now. What more need we ask?3 [Note: Ruskin, The Crown of Wild Olive (Works, xviii. 434).]
3. It is only the thirsty whom Jesus Christ invites to come to Him as the source from which they can draw spirit and life. Those who have eaten and drunk to the full must become thirsty before they can understand, and certainly before they can take to heart, what it means when a man who has trod this earth bears witness to a whole people, and lastly to all mankind: I am the inexhaustible well from which all mans longing after life and spirit may be satisfied.
I know not any pleasure of sense more exquisite than a draught of cool, clear water, when you are thirsty; but few things are more insipid than water when there is no thirst. It is thus that Christ and His salvation are very sweet to one, and very tasteless to another.1 [Note: W. Arnot, The Anchor of the Soul, 31.]
O Lord, the most Fair, the most tender,
My heart is adrift and alone;
My heart is a-weary and thirsty,
Athirst for a joy unknown.
From a child I followed it, chased it,
By wilderness, wold, and hill;
I never have reached it or seen it,
Yet must I follow it still.
In those olden years did I seek it,
In the sweet, fair things around;
But the more I sought and I thirsted,
The less, O my Lord, I found.
When nearest it seemed to my grasping,
It fled like a wandering thought;
I never have known what it is, Lord,
Too well know I what it is not.
It is I, it is I, the Eternal,
Who chose thee Mine own to be
Who chose thee before the ages,
Who chose thee eternally.
I stood in the way before thee,
In the ways thou wouldest have gone;
For this is the mark of My chosen,
That they shall be Mine alone.
II
Christs View of Himself
If any man thirst, let him come unto me. Christ claims to satisfy mans deepest need. The claim is a tremendous one. Other teachers have counselled a course of action or a mode of life. This Teacher claims to be Himself the source of good and the fountain of life. Truly never man spake like this Man.
1. The peoples thirst shall be quenched, if they will but come to Him: this is the first and obvious meaning of His words. That they had some thirst for spiritual blessing their very presence in Jerusalem proved; for, however mingled may have been their desires, however worldly in many respects their thoughts of the Kingdom of God, yet they did desire God and Gods Kingdom; and if the religious hopes of the nation could have been obliterated, their one distinguishing characteristic would have been gone. But they are seeking to satisfy their souls in ways that do not, that cannot, succeed. Gods true presence is lost in the very abundance and show of the paraphernalia and ceremony of worship, and the life of God is dried up in them by the endless elaboration of their minute and barren rules of living. The truth of their holy religion does little more for their actual satisfaction than the sweet, living water of Siloam did for the golden vessel that it filled; and it does no more through them for others than the water poured from such vessel on to the altar, and wasted, as it streamed and trickled away. Let the people come to Him, and God Himself shall live in them.
2. All the cravings after a settled and eternal state, all the longings for purity and fellowship with the Highest, which the Temple services rather quickened than satisfied, Christ says He will satisfy. The Temple service had been to them as a screen on which the shadows of things spiritual were thrown; but they longed to see the realities face to face, to have God revealed, to know the very truth of things, and set foot on eternal verity. This thirst is felt by all men whose whole nature is alive, whose experience has shaken them out of easy contentment with material prosperity; they thirst for a life which does not so upbraid and mock them as their own life does; they thirst to be able to live, so that the one-half of their life shall not be condemned by the other half; they thirst to be once for all in the ampler ether of happy and energetic existence, not looking through the bars and fumbling at the lock. This thirst and all legitimate cravings which we feel, Christ boldly and explicitly promises to satisfy; nay more, all illegitimate cravings, all foolish discontent, all vicious dissatisfaction with life, all morbid thirst that is rapidly becoming chronic disease in us, all weak and false views of life, He will rid us of, and give us entrance into the life that God lives and impartsinto pure, healthy, hopeful life.
It is on record that a visitor once ventured to ask Alfred Tennyson what he thought of our Saviour. They were walking in a garden. The poet was silent for a moment. Then he stopped by a beautiful flower, and pointing to it said: What the sun is to that flower, Jesus Christ is to my soul.1 [Note: Arthur W. Robinson, The Voice of Joy and Health, 49.]
Christ claims to be able to meet every aspiration, every spiritual want, every true desire in this complex nature of ours. He claims to be able to do this for one, and therefore for all. He claims to be able to do it for all the generations of mankind, right away down to the end. Who is He that thus plants Himself in the front of the race, knows their deep thirsts, takes account of the impotence of anything created to satisfy them, assumes the Divine prerogative, and says, I come to satisfy every desire in every soul, to the end of time?2 [Note: A. Maclaren.]
3. He claims to be separate altogether from those whose thirst He would satisfy. It is a claim which only Divinity can warrant Him in making, or can fulfil when it is made. And from that day when He stood in the Temple and cried these words, down to this day, there have been, and there are, millions who can say, We have drawn water from this fountain of salvation, and it has never failed us. Christs audacious presentation of Himself to the world as adequate to fill all its needs, and slake all its thirst, has been verified by nineteen centuries of experience, and there are many men and women all over the world to-day who would be ready to set to their seals that Christ is true, and that He, indeed, is all-sufficient for the soul.
Jesus Christ threw a totally new light upon the personality of man. He took love as His point of departure, the central principle in our nature, which gathers all its other faculties and functions into one; our absolutely fundamental and universal characteristic. He taught us that virtues and graces are thorough only when they flow from love; and further, that love alone can reconcile the opposite phases of our lifeaction and passion, doing and suffering, energy and pain,since love inevitably leads to sacrifice, and sacrifice is perfect love. It may be granted that previous teachers had said somewhat kindred things. But Jesus Christ carried His precepts home by practice, as none had ever done before. He lived and died the life and death of love; and men saw, as they had never seen, what human nature meant. Here at last was its true ideal, and its true ideal realized.1 [Note: Illingworth, Personality, Human and Divine, 201.]
III
Christs Invitation to Humanity
1. Jesus stood and cried. The phrase used is singularly vivid: Jesus was standing, watching, it might be, the procession of the people from their booths to the Temple, and then, moved by some occasion, He cried. As Jesus stood and cried to the people, He was conscious of power to impart to them a freshly welling spring of lifea life that would overflow for the strengthening and gladdening of others besides themselves. He has the same consciousness to-day. The deep, living benefits He confers are as open to all ages as the sunshine and the air; there is no necessity binding any one soul to feel that life is a failure, an empty, disappointing husk, serving no good purpose, bringing daily fresh misery and deeper hopelessness, a thing perhaps manfully to fight our way through but certainly not to rejoice in. If any one has such views of life it is because he has not honestly, believingly, and humbly responded to Christs word and come to Him.
We all forget that Christs teaching is not a teaching like that of Moses, of Mohammed, and like all other human teachings, that is, a doctrine of rules to be executed. Christs teaching is a gospel, that is, a teaching of the good.
He who is thirsty, let him go and drink.
And so, according to this teaching it is impossible to prescribe to any one, to rebuke any one for anything, to condemn any one.
Go and drink, if thou art thirsty, that is, take the good which is revealed to us by the spirit of Truth.
Can one be ordered to drink?
Can one be ordered to be blessed?
Even so a man cannot be rebuked for not drinking, or for not being blessed, nor can he be condemned. The one thing that Christians can do, and always have done, is to feel themselves blessed and to wish to communicate the key of blessedness to other people.1 [Note: Tolstoy, Aphorisms (Complete Works, xix. 83).]
(1) The invitation was delivered with great earnestness. This is the worlds way turned upside down. We are accustomed to hear those crying who are ready to perish, while those who go out to save are calm and silent. Here this method is reversed. The lost whom He saves are silent and satisfied; the Saviour, who brings deliverance, cries. They act as if they were full, and He as if He were needy. Why did He cry? All things are His in heaven and on earth; what want is gnawing at the heart of Him in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily? It is the longing of His soul, not to get, but to give, redemption. He has a more eager desire to give pardon than any awakened sinner has to get it.
(2) If any man. The invitation was universal. The Gospel is as free as the air or the sunshine. Anythe man may be atheist or deist or idolater; the man may be sceptical and unbelieving: the man may be broken-hearted, because all his cisterns are broken; the man may be disappointed with all the wells to which he has been accustomed to resort; the man may be an outcast, forbidden to come where men drink, or an apostate, one who has forsaken the fountain of living water; the man may be conscious that he deserves only to die of thirst; the man may be sad at his hearts core, and weary in every limb, and dying of thirst; the thirst may be morbid and foul, the thirst may be varied and deep, the thirst may be refined and elevated, but to every man Jesus says, Come unto me. The thirsty one may have no apparel but rags and these filthy, no vessel but an earthen one and that broken, no money, no commendation; but Jesus says, Come. He may have nothing, and may need everythinglife, knowledge, power, joystill Jesus says, Come. He may be a most thirsty soul, with wide capacity and fiery eagerness, but Jesus says, Come and drink. And if those who hear Jesus say, Come and drink, do come and drink, they live satisfied, they die satisfied, and they abide satisfied for ever; but if they never come, they live thirsty, die thirsty, and abide madly thirsty for ever.
(3) Let him come unto me. The invitation is from a ceremony to a Person. Christ is a personal Saviour. The world had had enough of ritual. It had gone the weary round of form until life was almost extinct, and it seemed as if the smoke of sacrifice only darkened the skies and brought man no nearer vision of God. The Law increased the burden it professed to lift. Says Christ, It is not from Siloams stream, it is not from your silver songs and solemn litanies, not from your priests and altars and censers, that you can gain restIf any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
He that thirsts and wants relief must come to Christ Himself. He must not be content with coming to His Church and His ordinances, or to the assemblies of His people for prayer and praise. He must not stop short even at His holy table, or rest satisfied with privately opening his heart to His ordained ministers. He that is content with only drinking these waters shall thirst again. He must go higher, further, much further than this. He must have personal dealings with Christ Himself: all else in religion is worthless without Him. The Kings palace, the attendant servants, the richly furnished banqueting-house, the very banquet itself, all are nothing unless we speak with the King. His hand alone can take the burden off our backs and make us feel free. The hand of man may take the stone from the grave and show the dead; but none but Jesus can say to the dead, Come forth, and live. We must deal directly with Christ.1 [Note: Bishop J. C. Ryle, The Upper Room, 117.]
I remember a simple story that twined its clinging tendril fingers about my heart. It was of a woman whose long years had ripened her hair, and sapped her strength. She was a true saint in her long life of devotion to God. She knew the Bible by heart, and would repeat long passages from memory. But as the years came the strength went, and with it the memory gradually went too, to her grief. She seemed to have lost almost wholly the power to recall at will what had been stored away. But one precious bit still stayed. She would sit by the big sunny window of the sitting-room in her home, repeating over that one bit, as though chewing a delicious titbit, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. By and by part of that seemed to slip its hold, and she would quietly be repeating, that which I have committed to him. The last few weeks as the ripened old saint hovered about the borderland between this and the spirit world, her feebleness increased. Her loved ones would notice her lips moving, and thinking she might be needing some creature comfort, they would go over and bend down to listen for her request. And time and again they found the old saint repeating over to herself one word, over and over again, the same one word, HimHimHim. She had lost the whole Bible but one word. But she had the whole Bible in that one word.1 [Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Service, 77.]
(4) Let him come. He that thirsts and wants relief from Christ must actually come to Him. It is not enough to wish, and talk, and mean, and intend, and resolve, and hope. The thirsty have to come. To come in inquiry and by knowledge, to come in thought and by faith, to come in prayer and by trust, to come in the surrender of themselves to the Saviour. The sole condition is coming, and the only limit to the ministrations of the Saviour is our receptivity. Simple as this remedy for thirst appears, it is the only cure for mans spiritual disease, and the only bridge from earth to heaven. Kings and their subjects, preachers and hearers, masters and servants, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, all alike must drink of this water of life, and drink in the same way. For eighteen centuries men have laboured to find some other medicine for weary consciences; but they have laboured in vain. Thousands, after blistering their hands, and growing grey in hewing out broken cisterns, which can hold no water, have been obliged to come back at last to the old Fountain, and have confessed in their latest moment that here, in Christ alone, is true peace.
(5) And drink. Too many analyse, criticize, gather to the fountain and gaze on its waters; they do not drink. They do not live by Christ. When we drink of love we live on it, it enters into all our thoughts, colours all our hopes, gives strength to all our purposes; it is ourself. It must be even so with us and Christ. We must drink, must so draw His life and spirit into our souls that we shall be able to say, For me to live is Christ. So shall the thirst of the heart be satisfied, but only so.
How many seem to come to Jesus Christ, and yet do not drink! How few Christians are like a tree planted by the rivers of water! What would you have thought of the Jews, if, when Moses smote the rock, they had refused to drink? or what would you have thought if they had only put the water to their lips? Yet such is the way with most Christians. It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. The Spirit was given to Him without measure. The command is given to us to draw out of His fulness; yet who obeys? Not one in a thousand. A Christian in our day is like a man who has got a great reservoir brimful of water. He is at liberty to drink as much as he pleases, for he never can drink it dry; but instead of drinking the full stream that flows from it, he dams it up, and is content to drink the few drops that trickle through. O that ye would draw out of His fulness, ye that have come to Christ! Do not be misers of grace. There is far more than you will use in eternity. The same waters are now in Christ that refreshed St. Paul, that gave St. Peter his boldness, that gave St. John his affectionate tenderness. Why is your soul less richly supplied than theirs? Because you will not drink: If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.1 [Note: R. M. MCheyne, Additional Remains, 308.]
2. Christ satisfies every thirst of the soul. Do we thirst for activity? Jesus says, Come unto me, and drink. Hear Jesus say, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. He opened the eyes of the blind, unstopped deaf ears, made the lame to walk, healed the sick, cleansed the leper, and raised the dead. We thirst for enjoyment, and still Jesus says, Come unto me, and drink. Christ gives joy in every gift, and promises it in every promise. There is joy in the eternal life He gives, joy in the rest He gives, and joy in the peace which He bequeaths. We thirst for power, and Christ continues to say, Come unto me, and drink, for He makes His disciples now the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and ultimately He makes them kings and priests unto God. We thirst for society, and still Jesus says, Come unto me, and drink. Our Saviour makes those who are strangers and foreigners and aliens fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God. We thirst for the love of others, and Christ says, Come unto me, and drink; for He directs streams of kindness to every one who comes to Him by means of His new commandment, A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. We thirst for knowledge, and Jesus says, Come unto me, and drink. Learn of me. Those who come to Jesus are instructed by Him in the highest subjects. To all such Jesus is Himself the truth, and the truth concerning all that it is essential we should know. We thirst for God, and Jesus says, Come unto me, and drink. He manifests Gods name to us, and shows us how He Himself is to us the brightness of the Fathers glory and the express image of His Person. Thus if any man thirst for life, activity, pleasure, social fellowship, knowledge, power, the love of others, or for God, He may come to Jesus Christ and drink.
3. No one who has not come thus to Christ and trusted Him has found perfect satisfaction in this world. Whatever good we have, we have not the highest good. Deep down in our hearts there is some want that has not been met, some secret thirst which yet torments us. We moralize, we philosophize about the discontent of man. We give little reasons for it; but the real reason of it all is thisthat which everything lying behind it really signifiesthat man is greater than his circumstances, and that God is always calling to him to come up to the fulness of his life. Dreadful will be the day when the world becomes contented, when one great universal satisfaction spreads itself over the world. Sad will be the day for every man when he becomes absolutely contented with the life that he is living, with the thoughts that he is thinking, with the deeds that he is doing, when there is not for ever beating at the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger, which he knows that he was meant and made to do because he is the child of God.
I asked for Peace,
My sins arose
And bound me close;
I could not find release.
I asked for Truth,
My doubts came in,
And with their din
They wearied all my youth.
I asked for Love,
My lovers failed,
And griefs assailed
Around, beneath, above.
I asked for Thee,
And Thou didst come
To take me home
Within Thy heart to be.1 [Note: Digby Mackworth Dolben.]
Living Water
Literature
Arnot (W.), The Anchor of the Soul, 23.
Dods (M.), Footsteps in the Path of Life, 61.
Gray (J. A.), Salvation from Start to Finish, 117.
Hamilton (J.), Faith in God, 284.
Howatt (J. R.), Jesus the Poet, 265.
McCheyne (R. M.), Additional Remains, 304.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: John i.viii., 310.
Martin (S.), Rain upon the Mown Grass, 254.
Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, iv. 1265.
Ryle (J. C.), The Upper Room, 110.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxxi. (1885) No. 1875.
Westcott (B. F.), The Historic Faith, 228.
Zahn (T.), Bread and Salt from the Word of God, 203.
Christian World Pulpit, xxx. 91 (Hughes); xxxviii. 166 (Bramham); xlvi. 404 (Hall); lxvii. 251 (Body); lxxviii. 59 (Mrs. Dora Donaldson).
Homiletic Review, xxxviii. 320 (Meyer).
the last: Lev 23:36, Lev 23:39, Num 29:35, 1Ki 8:65, 1Ki 8:66
and cried: Joh 7:28, Joh 1:23, Pro 1:20, Pro 8:1, Pro 8:3, Pro 9:3, Isa 40:2, Isa 40:6, Isa 55:1, Isa 58:1, Jer 2:2, Mic 6:9, Mat 3:3
If: Joh 4:10, Joh 6:35, Psa 36:8, Psa 36:9, Psa 42:2, Psa 63:1, Psa 143:6, Isa 12:3, Isa 41:17, Isa 41:18, Isa 44:3, Isa 55:1, Amo 8:11-13, Rev 21:6, Rev 22:1, Rev 22:17
let: Joh 5:40, Joh 6:37, Joh 14:6, Isa 55:3, Jer 16:19, Mat 11:28
drink: Joh 6:55, Son 5:1, Zec 9:15, 1Co 10:4, 1Co 10:21, 1Co 11:25, 1Co 12:13, Eph 5:18
Reciprocal: Exo 17:6 – that the people Exo 23:16 – ingathering Num 21:16 – Gather 2Sa 23:15 – longed 1Ki 8:2 – at the feast Ezr 3:4 – the feast Neh 8:18 – according Neh 9:20 – gavest Psa 78:15 – General Psa 81:10 – open Psa 87:7 – all my Pro 1:23 – behold Pro 25:25 – cold Isa 32:2 – rivers Isa 35:6 – for Isa 43:20 – to give Isa 45:19 – spoken Isa 45:24 – even Jer 2:13 – the fountain Jer 17:13 – forsaken Eze 45:25 – In the seventh Eze 47:1 – waters issued Hag 2:7 – I will fill Zec 14:16 – and to Mat 5:6 – for Mar 14:49 – was Mar 16:16 – that believeth and Luk 6:21 – for ye shall be Luk 11:13 – give the Luk 14:17 – Come Luk 16:24 – in water Joh 3:34 – for God Joh 5:26 – so hath Joh 7:14 – the midst Joh 14:13 – will Act 10:12 – General Act 16:31 – Believe Tit 3:6 – he shed Rev 3:1 – he that Rev 7:17 – shall lead
THIRST ASSUAGED
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.
Joh 7:37
Christ here says that He is able and willing to assuage all mans spiritual thirst. Whatever spiritual need man has, in Christ it is met and in Christ alone.
I. Men thirst for pardon and peace with God.This is a deep and universal desire. It is not felt equally by all. In some it is an intense and almost constant longing; in others the thirst is not so great nor is it as continuous. But in all souls it is found. Sometimes the thirst is excited by startling, distressing circumstances which awaken anxiety and dread; in others it comes they hardly know how, but stealing into heart and mind, giving no rest. This thirst is caused now and again by a sightfitful and very fragmentaryof Gods love in Christ. However the wish for pardon may spring up, by whomever it is felt, to all and every one burdened with a sense of sin, Jesus says, Come unto Me and drink of the free, forgiving love of God made known in Me.
II. Many thirst to be made free from the power of sin.They not only long for power and peace with God, a longing is felt to be set at liberty from the bondage of evil passion and habits. Every man in whom there is any sense of the true, right, and pure is conscious that more or less he is in bondage to that which is corrupt and destructive. He is not allowed to lose sight of this for long, and sometimes he experiences shame and remorse through a terrible gust of temptation which has swept him into what his conscience condemns. Then he realises a little of the power of sin, it reigns in his mortal body and he obeys it in the lust thereof. But as he obeys he hates the power that enthrals him. There are many around us who thirst for release from the enslaving power of sin. They have tried to free themselves, nor have they quite given up hope of being able to do this. They have failed repeatedly, and sadly failed in all efforts of this kind that they have made. Still, the hope of deliverance from the power of sin by their own efforts is not quite gone. If we could but convince them that this hope is a delusion and that rescue from the power of sin and Satan can only be obtained in Jesus!
III. There is the thirst for love.All love comes from God: He gives us the capacity and impulse to love. He feeds the desire in us to love. He alone is the object that satisfies our love. No heart can rest in itself as the object of love. When any seek to centre and restrict love to themselves, instead of finding peace, satisfaction, and joy in loving, they are filled with disquietude, they are disappointed and miserable. No man liveth unto himself. Nor can we find any other object that fully satisfies the power of love except God Himself. The love of God alone imparts all we need. The yearnings of love are never met until God becomes the supreme object of love. The more you love Him the more you will love others. It is only in Christ that we can love God, as Christ only reveals the fullness and glory of Gods love to us. If you long for an object of love, come to Christ and take Him as Gods highest gift of love, and you will find rest to your souls.
IV. There is the thirst for a worthy aim and pursuit in life.There are very many in our crowded, wealthy land who have no definite, worthy occupation. Some of them are in possession of wealth sufficient to raise them above the need of toil. And yet they are dissatisfied, rightly so, with the purposeless spending of time and abilities. The rounds of pleasure do not give them all they want, their life appears to be idle and useless, etc. They become restless. Now if such only had rest in Christ, pardon, peace, and life in Him, what a noble aim would at once open up!
Illustration
On the last great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus was standing watching the procession of the people from their booths to the Temple, and then, moved by love and compassion, He cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. The image appears to have been occasioned by the pouring out of water brought in a golden vessel from Siloam, which pouring out was made at the time of the morning sacrifice, on each of the days of the feast, when that beautiful psalm Isaiah 12. was sung. The pouring out of the water was a commemoration of one very important event in the wilderness life, when the people drank of the water that followed them from the rock, which rock represented Christ.
7
Last day, great day of the feast. The day is described in Lev 23:36. It is called a great day because certain religious activities were done on that day that were not done on the seven other days. Also because the closing day of any important period is regarded with special attention. The Jews had been engaged for a week, having a time of rejoicing, and enjoying the good things produced by their fields and flocks. It was hence an appropriate time for Jesus to call their attention to something else of which they might partake, that was of vastly more importance than these temporal blessings. Jesus offered to give the blessing of spiritual drink to any man who would come to him for it.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
[In the last day, that great day of the feast.] The evangelist speaks according to a received opinion of that people: for from divine institution it does not appear that the last day of the feast had any greater mark set upon it than the first: nay, it might seem of lower consideration than all the rest. For on the first day were offered thirteen young bullocks upon the altar; on the second, twelve; and so fewer and fewer, till on the seventh day it came to seven; and on this eighth and last day of the feast there was but one only. As also for the whole seven days there were offered each day fourteen lambs, but on this eighth day seven only, Numbers_29. So that if the numbers of the sacrifices add any thing to the dignity of the day, this last day, will seem the most inconsiderable, and not like the great day of the feast.
I. But what the Jews’ opinion was about this matter and this day, we may learn from themselves:
“There were seventy bullocks, according to the seventy nations of the world. But for what is the single bullock? It is for the singular nation [the Jewish]. A parable. It is like a great king that said to his servants, ‘Make ready a great feast’; but the last day said to his friend, ‘Make ready some little matter, that I may refresh myself with thee.’ ” The Gloss is, “I have no advantage or refreshment in that great feast with them, but in this little one with thee.”
“On the eighth day it shall be a holy day; for so saith the Scripture, ‘For my love they are my adversaries, but my prayer is for them,’ Psalms_109. Thou seest, O God, that Israel, in the feast of tabernacles, offers before thee seventy bullocks for the seventy nations. Israel, therefore, say unto thee, O eternal Lord, behold we offer seventy bullocks for these; it is but reasonable, therefore, that they should love us; but on the contrary, as it is written, ‘For our love they are our adversaries.’ The holy blessed God, therefore, saith to Israel, ‘Offer for yourselves on the eighth day.’ ” A parable. “This is like a king, who made a feast for seven days, and invited all the men in that province, for those seven days of the feast: but when those seven days were past, he saith to his friend, ‘We have done what is needful to be done towards these men; let thee and me return to enjoy together whatever comes to hand, be it but one pound of flesh, or fish, or herbs.’ So the holy blessed God saith to Israel, ‘The eighth day shall be a feast or holy day,’ ” etc.
“They offer seventy bullocks for the seventy nations, to make atonement for them, that the rain may fall upon the fields of all the world; for, in the feast of tabernacles, judgment is made as to the waters “: i.e. God determines what rains shall be for the year following.
Hence, therefore, this last day of the feast grew into such esteem in that nation above the other days; because, on the other seven days they thought supplications and sacrifices were offered not so much for themselves as for the nations of the world, but the solemnities of the eighth day were wholly in their own behalf. And hence the determination and finishing of the feast when the seven days were over, and the beginning, as it were, of a new one on the eighth day. For,
II. They did not reckon the eighth day as included within the feast, but a festival day separately and by itself.
The eighth day is a feast by itself, according to these letters; by which are meant,
1. The casting of lots. Gloss: “As to the bullocks of the seven days, there were no lots cast to determine what course of priests should offer them, because they took it in order, etc.; but on the eighth day they cast lots.”
2. A peculiar benediction by itself.
3. A feast by itself. Gloss: “For on this day they did not sit in their tents.” Whence that is not unworthy our observation out of Maimonides; “If any one, either through ignorance or presumption, have not made a booth for himself on the first day of the feast [which is holy], let him do it on the next day; nay, at the very end of the seventh day.” Note that, “at the very end of the seventh day”; and yet there was no use of booths on the eighth day.
4. A peculiar sacrifice. Not of six bullocks, which ought to have been, if that day were to have been joined to the rest of the feast, but one only.
5. A song by itself. Otherwise sung than on other days.
6. The benediction of the day by itself; or as others, the royal blessing; according to that 1Ki 8:66; “On the eighth day Solomon sent the people away: and they blessed the king.” But the former most obtains.
To all which may be added what follows in the same place about this day; “A man is bound to sing the Hallel ” [viz. Psalms_113-118].
He is bound to rejoice; that is, to offer thank-offerings for the joy of that feast.
And he bound is to honour that last day, the eighth day of the feast, as well as all the rest.
On this day they did not use their booths; nor their branches of palms; nor their pome-citrons; but they had their offering of water upon this day as well as the rest.
IT has been said that there are some passages in Scripture which deserve to be printed in letters of gold. Of such passages the verses before us form one. They contain one of those wide, full, free invitations to mankind, which make the Gospel of Christ so eminently the “good news of God.” Let us see of what it consists.
We have, first, in these verses, a case supposed. The Lord Jesus says, “If any man thirst.” These words no doubt were meant to have a spiritual meaning. The thirst before us is of a purely spiritual kind. It means anxiety of soul,-conviction of sin,-desire of pardon,-longing after peace of conscience. When a man feels his sins, and wants forgiveness-is deeply sensible of his soul’s need, and earnestly desires help and relief-then he is in that state of mind which our Lord had in view, when he said, “If any man thirst.” The Jews who heard Peter preach on the day of Pentecost, and were “pricked in their hearts,”-the Philippian jailer who cried to Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” are both examples of what the expression means. In both cases there was “thirst.”
Such thirst as this, unhappily, is known by few. All ought to feel it, and all would feel it if they were wise. Sinful, mortal, dying creatures as we all are, with souls that will one day be judged and spend eternity in heaven or hell, there lives not the man or woman on earth who ought not to “thirst” after salvation. And yet the many thirst after everything almost except salvation. Money, pleasure, honor, rank, self-indulgence,-these are the things which they desire. There is no clearer proof of the fall of man, and the utter corruption of human nature, than the careless indifference of most people about their souls. No wonder the Bible calls the natural man “blind,” and “asleep,” and “dead,” when so few can be found who are awake, alive, and athirst about salvation.
Happy are those who know something by experience of spiritual “thirst.” The beginning of all true Christianity is to discover that we are guilty, empty, needy sinners. Till we know that we are lost, we are not in the way to be saved. The very first step toward heaven is to be thoroughly convinced that we deserve hell. That sense of sin which sometimes alarms a man and makes him think his own case desperate, is a good sign. It is in fact a symptom of spiritual life: “Blessed indeed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Mat 5:6.)
We have, secondly, in these verses, a remedy proposed. The Lord Jesus says, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” He declares that He is the true fountain of life, the supplier of all spiritual necessities, the reliever of all spiritual wants. He invites all who feel the burden of sin heavy, to apply to Him, and proclaims Himself their helper.
Those words “Let him come unto me,” are few and very simple. But they settle a mighty question which all the wisdom of Greek and Roman philosophers could never settle; they show how man can have peace with God. They show that peace is to be had in Christ by trusting in Him as our mediator and substitute,-in one word, by believing. To “come” to Christ is to believe on Him, and to “believe” on Him is to come. The remedy may seem a very simple one, too simple to be true. But there is no other remedy than this; and all the wisdom of the world can never find a flaw in it, or devise a better.
To use this grand prescription of Christ, is the secret of all saving Christianity. The saints of God in every age have been men and women who drank of this fountain by faith, and were relieved. They felt their guilt and emptiness, and thirsted for deliverance. They heard of a full supply of pardon, mercy, and grace in Christ crucified for all penitent believers. They believed the good news and acted upon it. They cast aside all confidence in their own goodness and worthiness, and came to Christ by faith as sinners. So coming they found relief. So coming daily they lived. So coming they died. Really to feel the sinfulness of sin and to thirst, and really to come to Christ and believe, are the two steps which lead to heaven. But they are mighty steps. Thousands are too proud and careless to take them. Few, alas! think, and still fewer believe!
We have, lastly, in these verses, a promise held out. The Lord Jesus says, “He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” These words of course were meant to have a figurative sense. They have a double application. They teach, for one thing, that all who come to Christ by faith shall find in Him abundant satisfaction. They teach, for another thing, that believers shall not only have enough for the wants of their own souls, but shall also become fountains of blessings to others.
The fulfillment of the first part of the promise could be testified by thousands of living Christians in the present day. They would say, if their evidence could be collected, that when they came to Christ by faith, they found in Him more than they expected. They have tasted peace, and hope, and comfort, since they first believed, which, with all their doubts and fears, they would not exchange for anything in this world. They have found grace according to their need, and strength according to their days. In themselves and their own hearts they have often been disappointed; but they have never been disappointed in Christ.
The fulfillment of the other half of the promise will never be fully known until the judgment-day. That day alone shall reveal the amount of good that every believer is made the instrument of doing to others, from the very day of his conversion. Some do good while they live, by their tongues; like the Apostles and first preachers of the Gospel. Some do good when they are dying; like Stephen and the penitent thief, and our own martyred Reformers at the stake. Some do good long after they are dead, by their writings; like Baxter and Bunyan and M’Cheyne. But in one way or another, probably, almost all believers will be found to have been fountains of blessings. By word or by deed, by precept or by example, directly or indirectly, they are always leaving their marks on others. They know it not now; but they will find at last that it is true. Christ’s saying shall be fulfilled.
Do we ourselves know anything of “coming to Christ”? This is the question that should arise in our hearts as we leave this passage. The worst of all states of soul is to be without feeling or concern about eternity,-to be without “thirst.” The greatest of all mistakes is to try to find relief in any other way than the one before us,-the way of simply “coming to Christ.” It is one thing to come to Christ’s Church, Christ’s ministers, and Christ’s ordinances. It is quite another thing to come to Christ Himself. Happy is he who not only knows these things, but acts upon them!
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Notes-
v37.-[In…last day…great day…feast.] There seems to be an interval of three days between this verse and the preceding one. At any rate it is certain that our Lord went to the temple and taught “about the midst of the feast.” (Joh 7:14.) There seems no break from that point, but a continuous narrative of teaching and argument up to this verse. There is therefore no account of what our Lord did during the three latter days of the feast. We can only conjecture that He taught on uninterrupted, and that a restraint was put by Divine interposition on His enemies, so that they dared not interfere with Him.
Whether this “last day of the feast” means the eight day or the seventh, is a question not decided.
(1) Some, as Bengel, and others, think it must be the seventh day, because in the account of the feast of tabernacles given by Moses, there is no special mention of anything to be done on the eight day; (Lev 23:33-43;) while on each of the seven days of the feast there were special sacrifices appointed, a special reading of the law once every seven years, and also, according to the Jewish writers, a solemn drawing of water from the pool of Siloam, to be poured on the altar in the temple.
(2) Others, as Lightfoot, Gill, Alford, Steir, Wordsworth, and Burgon, think it must be the eighth day, because in reality the feast could hardly be said to be finished till the end of the eighth day; and even in the account of the feast in Leviticus, it is said that the eighth day is to be “a holy convocation” and a “sabbath.” (Lev 23:36 and Lev 23:39.)
The point is of no practical importance; but of the two opinions I incline to prefer the second one. The words seem to me to indicate that all the ceremonial of the feast was over, the last offerings had been made, and the people were on the point of dispersing to their respective homes, when our Lord seized the opportunity, and made the grand proclamation which immediately follows.-It was a peculiarly typical occasion. The last feast of the year was concluding, and before it concluded our Lord proclaimed publicly the great truth which was the commencement of a new dispensation, and Himself as the end of all sacrifices and ceremonies.
The objection that no drawing and pouring of water took place on the eighth day, appears to me of no weight. That our Lord referred to it, is highly probable. But I think He referred to it as a thing which the Jews had seen seven days running, and remembered well. Now on the eighth day, when there was no water drawn, there seemed a peculiar fitness in his crying,-“Come unto me and drink. The water of life that I give may be drawn, though the feast is over.”
[Jesus stood and cried.] These words must mean that our Lord chose some high and prominent position, where He could “stand” and be seen and heard by many persons at once. If, as we may suppose, the worshippers at the feast of tabernacles were just turning away from the last of its ceremonies, one can easily imagine that our Lord “stood” in some commanding position close by the entrance of the temple. When it is said that “He cried,” it means that He lifted up His voice in a loud, and, to Him, unusual manner, in order to arrest attention,-like a herald making a public proclamation.
[If any man thirst…come unto me and drink.] These words can have but one meaning.-They are a general invitation to all who are athirst about their souls, to come unto Christ in order to obtain relief. He declares Himself to be the fountain of life,-the reliever of man’s spiritual wants,-the giver of satisfaction to weary consciences,-the remover and pardoner of sins. He recommends all who feel their sins and want pardon, to come unto Him, and promises that they shall at once get what they want. The idea is precisely the same as that in Mat 11:28, though the image employed is different.
It is probable, as almost all commentators remark, that our Lord chose this figure and imagery, because of the Jewish custom of drawing water from the pool of Siloam during the feast of tabernacles, and carrying it in solemn procession to the temple. And it is thought that our Lord purposely refers to this ceremony, of which the minds of many would doubtless be full:-“Does any one want true water of life, better than any water of Siloam?-Let him come to me and by faith draw out of me living waters,-even peace of conscience, and pardon of sins.”-But it is fair to remember that this is only conjecture. This custom of drawing water from Siloam at the feast was a human invention, nowhere commanded in the law of Moses, or even mentioned in the Old Testament; and it admits of doubt whether our Lord would have sanctioned it. Moreover, it is evident from Joh 4:10, and Joh 6:55, that the figures of “water” and “thirst” were not unfrequently used by our Lord.-The figures at any rate were familiar to all Jews, from Isa 55:1.
Some have thought, that because the feast of tabernacles was specially intended to remind the Jews of their sojourn in the wilderness, that our Lord had in view the miraculous supply of water from the rock, which followed Israel everywhere, and that He wished the Jews to see in Him the fulfillment of that type, the true Rock. (1Co 10:4.) The idea is deserving of attention.
The whole sentence is one of those golden sayings which ought to be dear to every true Christian, and is full of wide encouragement to all sinners who hear it.-Its words deserve special attention.
We should note the breadth of the invitation. It is for “any man.” No matter who and what he may have been,-no matter how bad and wicked his former life,-that hand is held out, and the offer made to him:-“If any man thirst, let him come.” Let no man say that the Gospel is narrow in its offers.
We should note the persons invited. They are those who “thirst.” That expression is a figurative one, denoting the spiritual distress and anxiety which any one feels when he discovers the value of his soul, and the sinfulness of sin, and his own guilt. Such an one feels a burning desire for relief, of which the distressing sensation of “thirst”-a sensation familiar to all Eastern nations-is a most fitting emblem. No further qualification is named. There is no mention of repentance, amendment, preparation, conditions to fulfill, new heart to be got. One thing alone is named. Does a man “thirst”? Does he feel his sins and want pardon?-Then the Lord invites him.
We should note the simplicity of the course prescribed to a thirsting sinner.-It is simply, “Let him come unto me.” He has only to cast his soul on Christ, trust Him, lean on Him, believe on Him, commit his soul with all its burdens to Him, and that is enough. To trust Christ is to “come” to Christ.-So “coming,” Christ will supply all his need. So believing, he is at once forgiven, justified, and received into the number of God’s children. (See Joh 6:35, Joh 6:37.)
The expression “drink,” is of course figurative, answering to the word “thirst.” It means, “Let him freely take from me everything that his soul wants,-mercy, grace, pardon, peace, strength. I am the Fountain of Life. Let him use me as such, and I shall be well pleased.”
We do not read of any prophet or Apostle in the Bible who ever used such language as this, and said to men, “Come unto me and drink.” None surely could use it but one who knew that He was very God.
v38.-[He that believeth on me, etc.] This verse is undoubtedly full of difficulties, and has received very various interpretations. Not the least difficulty is about the connection in which the several expressions of the verse ought to be taken.
(1) Some as Stier, would connect “He that believeth on me” with the verb “drink” in the preceding verse. It would then run thus:-“If any man thirst let him come unto me, and let him drink that believeth on me.”-I cannot think this is a right view. For one thing, it would be a violent strain of all grammatical usage of the Greek language, to interpret the words thus. For another thing, it would introduce doctrinal confusion. Our Lord’s invitation was not made to him “that believeth,” but to him that is “athirst.”
(2) Some, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, Pellican, Heinsius, Gualter, De Dieu, Lightfoot, Trapp, and Henry, would connect “He that believeth on me,” with the following words:-“As the Scripture hath said.” It would then mean, “He that believeth on me after the manner that the Scripture bids him believe.” I cannot think that this interpretation is correct. The expression, “Believeth as the Scripture hath said,” is a very strange and vague one, and unlike anything else in the Bible.
(3) Most commentators think that the words, “as the Scripture hath said,” must be taken in connection with those that follow, “out of his belly,” etc. They think that our Lord did not mean to quote precisely any one text of Scripture, but only to give in His own words the general sense of several well-known texts. This, in spite of difficulties, I believe is the only satisfactory view.
One difficulty, of a grammatical kind, arises from the expression, “He that believeth on me,” having no verb with which it is connected in the verse. This cannot be got over. It must be taken as a nominative absolute, and the sentence must be regarded as an elliptical sentence, which we must fill up.
Another difficulty arises from the fact, that there is no text in the Old Testament Scriptures which at all answers to the quotation apparently given here. This difficulty is undeniable, but not insuperable. As I have already said, our Lord did not intend to give an exact quotation, but only the general substance of several Old Testament promises. Wordsworth thinks Mat 2:23 a similar case. Jerome also maintains that frequently the inspired writers contented themselves with giving the sense and not the precise words of a quotation. (See also Eph 5:14.)
Another difficulty arises as to the application of the words, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Some, as Rupertus, Bengel, and Stier, would apply this to our Lord Himself, and say that it means, “Out of Christ’s belly shall flow rivers of living water.” But it is a grave objection to this view that it totally disconnects the beginning of the verse from the end,-makes the expression “He that believeth on me” even more elliptical than it needs be,-and throws the latter part of the verse into the form of a precise quotation of Scripture.
I venture to think that the true interpretation of the verse is as follows:-“He that believeth on me, or comes to me by faith as his Saviour, is the man out of whose belly shall flow rivers of living water, as the Scripture hath said it should be.” It is a strong argument in favor of this view that our Lord said to the Samaritan woman, that the water He could give, would be in him that drank it “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (Joh 4:14.) The full meaning of the promise is that every believer in Christ shall receive abundant satisfaction of his own spiritual wants; and not only that, but shall also become a source of blessing to others. From him instrumentally, by his word, work, and example, waters of life shall flow forth to the everlasting benefit of his fellow-men. He shall have enough for himself, and shall be a blessing to others. The imagery of the figure used is still kept up, and “his belly” must stand for “his inner man.” His heart being filled with Christ’s gifts shall overflow to others, and having received much, shall give and impart much.
The passages to which our Lord referred, and the substance of which He gives, are probably Isa 12:3; Isa 35:6-7; Isa 41:18; Isa 44:3; Isa 55:1; Isa 58:11; Zec 14:8, Zec 14:16. Of these passages our Lord gives the general sense, but not the precise words. This is the view of Calvin, Beza, Grotius, Cocceius, Diodati, Lampe, and Scott. It is a curious, confirmatory fact, that the Arabic and Syriac versions of the text both have the expression “Scripture” in the plural, “As the Scriptures have said.”
It is a curious fact which Bengel mentions, that the 14th chapter of Zechariah was read in public in the temple, on the first day of the feast of tabernacles. If this is correct we can hardly doubt that our Lord must have had this in mind when He used the expression, “As the Scripture hath said.” It is as though He said, “As you have heard, for instance, during this very feast, from the book of your prophet Zechariah.”
That almost every believer, whose life is spared after he believes, becomes a fountain of blessing and good to others, is a simple matter of fact, which needs no illustration. A truly converted man always desires the conversion of others, and labors to promote it. Even the thief on the cross, short as his life was after he repented, cared for his brother thief; and from the words he spoke have flowed “rivers of living water” over this sinful world for more than eighteen hundred years. He alone has been a fountain of blessing.
Bloomfield quotes a Rabbinical sentence:-“When a man turns to the Lord, he is like a fountain filled with living water, and rivers flow from him to men of all nations and tribes.”
The favorite notion of some, that our Lord in this place only referred to the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, to be given on the day of Pentecost, is an idea that does not commend itself to me at all. The thing before us is a thing promised to every believer.-But the miraculous gifts were certainly not bestowed on every believer. Thousands were evidently converted through the Apostles’ preaching who did not receive these gifts. Yet all received the Holy Ghost.
Luther paraphrases this verse thus: “He that cometh to me shall be so furnished with the Holy Ghost, that he shall not only be quickened and refreshed himself and delivered from thirst, but he shall also be a strong stone vessel, from which the Holy Ghost in all His gifts shall flow to others, refreshing, comforting, and strengthening them, even as he was refreshed by me. So Peter on the day of Pentecost, by one sermon, as by a rush of water, delivered three thousand men from the devil’s kingdom, washing them in an hour from sin, death, and Satan.” Hengstenberg, after quoting this, adds, “That was only the first exhibition of a glorious peculiarity which distinguishes the Church of the New Testament from the Church of the Old. She has a living impulse which will diffuse the life within her, even to the ends of the earth.”
v39.-[But this spake…of the Spirit.] This verse is one of those explanatory comments which are so common in John’s Gospel. The opening words would be more literally rendered, “He spake this concerning the Spirit.”
Let it be noted that here, at any rate, there can be no doubt that “water” does not mean “baptism,” but the Holy Spirit.-John himself says so in unmistakable language.
[Which they…believe…should receive.] This means, “Which believers in Him were about to receive.” There is an inseparable connection between faith in Christ and receiving the Holy Ghost. If any man has faith he has the Spirit. If any man has not the Spirit he has no saving faith in Christ. The effectual work of the Second and Third Persons in the Trinity is never divided.
Rupertus thinks that our Lord had specially in view that mighty out-pouring of the Spirit on the Gentile world, which was to take place after His own ascension into heaven, and the going forth of the Apostles into the world to preach the Gospel.
[For the Holy Ghost…not yet given, etc.] This sentence means that the Holy Ghost was not yet poured on believers in all His fullness, because our Lord had not yet finished His work by dying, rising again, and ascending into heaven for us. It was not till He was “glorified” by going up into heaven and taking His seat at the right hand of God, that the Holy Ghost was sent down in full influence on the Church. Then was fulfilled Psa 68:18,-“Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.”-Before our Lord died and rose again and ascended, the Holy Ghost was, and had been from all eternity, one with the Father and the Son, a distinct Person, of equal power and authority, very and eternal God. But He had not revealed Himself so fully to those whose hearts He dwelt in as He did after the ascension; and He had not come down in person on the Gentile world, or sent forth the Gospel to all mankind with rivers of blessing, as He did when Paul and Barnabas were “sent forth by the Holy Ghost.” (Act 13:4.) In a word, the dispensation of the Spirit had not yet begun.
The expression, “the Holy Ghost was not yet given,” would be more literally rendered, “the Holy Ghost was not.” This cannot of course mean that the Holy Ghost did not exist, and was in no sense present with believers in the Old Testament dispensation. On the contrary, the Spirit strove with the men of Noah’s day,-David spake by the Holy Ghost,-Isaiah spake of the Holy Spirit,-and John the Baptist, now dead, was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb. (Gen 6:3; Mar 12:36; Isa 63:10-11; Luk 1:15.)
What the expression does mean is this. The Holy Ghost was not yet with men in such fullness of influence on their minds, hearts, and understandings, as the Spirit of adoption and revelation, as He was after our Lord ascended up into heaven. It is clear as daylight, from our Lord’s language about the Spirit, in Joh 14:16-17, Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7-15, that believers were meant to receive a far more full and complete outpouring of the Holy Spirit after His ascension than they had received before. It is a simple matter of fact, indeed, that after the ascension the Apostles were quite different men from what they had been before. They both saw, and spoke, and acted like men grown up; while before the ascension they had been like children. It was this increased light and knowledge and decision that made them such a blessing to the world, far more than any miraculous gifts. The possession of the gifts of the Spirit, it is evident, in the early Church was quite compatible with an ungodly heart. A man might speak with tongues, and yet be like salt that had lost its savor. The possession of the fullness of the graces of the Spirit, on the contrary, was that which made any man a blessing to the world.
Alford says: “John does not say that the words were a prophecy of what happened on the day of Pentecost; but of the Spirit which the believers were about to receive. Their first reception of Him must not be illogically put in the place of all His indwelling and working, which are here intended.”
I am quite aware that most commentators hold, that the out-pouring of the Spirit at Pentecost was specially meant by John in this passage. But after carefully considering the matter, I cannot subscribe to this opinion. To confine this verse to the day of Pentecost appears to me to cramp and narrow its meaning,-to deprive many believers of their interest in a most precious promise,-and to overlook all the special language about the inward teaching of the Comforter as a thing to come on believers, which our Lord used the night before His crucifixion.
Bengel remarks that the use of “to be” instead of “to be present” is not uncommon in the Bible. (Thus 2Ch 15:3.) When therefore we read “the Holy Ghost was not,” we need not be stumbled by the expression. It simply means “He was not fully manifested and poured out on the Church.” Peter, and James, and John, no doubt, had the Spirit now, when our Lord was speaking. But they had Him much more fully after our Lord was glorified. This explains the meaning of the passage before us.
We should note, in leaving these three verses, what a striking example they supply to preachers, ministers, and teachers of religion. Let such learn from their Master to offer Christ boldly, freely, fully, broadly, unconditionally, to all thirsting souls. The Gospel is too often spoiled in the presentation of it. Some fence it round with conditions, and keep sinners at a distance. Others direct sinners wrongly, and send them to something else beside or instead of Christ. He only copies his Lord who says, “If any one feels his sins, let him come at once, straight, direct; not merely to church, or to the sacrament, or to repentance, or to prayer, but to Christ Himself.”
Joh 7:37. And in the last day, the great day, of the feast. The feast of Tabernacles properly so called continued seven days. During (a part of) each day all the men of Israel dwelt in booths made with boughs of palm, willow, pine, and other trees. Day by day burnt-offerings and other sacrifices were presented in unusual profusion. Every morning, whilst the Israelites assembled in the temple-courts, one of the priests brought water drawn in golden urn from the pool of Siloam, and amidst the sounding of trumpets and other demonstrations of joy poured the water upon the altar. This rite is not mentioned in the Old Testament; but, as a commemoration of the miraculous supply of water in the wilderness, it was altogether in harmony with the general spirit of the festival. The chanting of the great Hallel (Psalms 113-118) celebrated the past; but (as we learn from the Talmud) the Jews also connected with the ceremony the words of Isaiah (Joh 12:3), Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation, and saw in it a type of the effusion of the Holy Spirit. On the evening of the first and (probably) of each following day the rejoicing of the drawing of the water was celebrated in the court of the women, with dancing, singing, and music; and lamps raised on four immense candelabra placed in the middle of the same court illumined both the temple and the city. On the seventh day the ordinary ceremonies of the feast came to an end. There was added, however, an eighth day (Num 29:35), a day of holy convocation on which no work might be done. This day did not strictly belong to the feast, but was a feast by itself, perhaps as closing (not only the feast of Tabernacles, but also) the whole series of festivals for the year: naturally, however, it became attached to the feast of Tabernacles in ordinary speech. Whether the great day so emphatically mentioned here was this eighth day or the seventh day of the feast is a point which has been much discussed, and on which we cannot arrive at certainty. On the whole it is most probable that the eighth day is referred to, the day of holy rest in which the feasts seemed to reach their culmination, and which retained the sacred associations of the festival just past, though the marks of special rejoicing had come to an end. This last day He to whom all the festivals of Israel pointed chose for the proclamation which showed the joy and hope of the feast of Tabernacles fulfilled in Himself.
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any one thirst, let him come unto me and drink. The words stood and cried bring into relief the solemn earnestness of this declaration, which completed and perfected the teaching of Jesus at this feast. The occasion was given (if we are right in regarding the eighth as the great day), not by the ceremony observed, but by the blank left through the cessation of the familiar custom. The water had been poured upon the altar for seven days, reminding of past miracles of Gods mercy and promises of yet richer grace: hopes had been raised, but not yet satisfied. When the ceremonies had reached their close, Jesus stood and cried to the multitudes that what they had hitherto looked for in vain they shall receive in Him. As in the synagogue of Nazareth He read from the book of Isaiah, and declared that the Scripture was that day fulfilled in their ears, so here He takes up familiar words of the same prophet (Isa 4:1), calling every one that thirsteth to come unto Him.
The feast of tabernacles (which is the first here meant) lasted eight days; the first and last of which were to be kept holy with religious assemblies and sacrifices; and it was a custom among the Jews, upon that solemn day, to offer up a pot of water unto God, which they drew out of the fountain of Siloam: with reference to this custom, Christ here cries with a loud voice, inviting the people to fetch and draw from him, as from a living fountain, all the sanctifying gifts and saving graces of the Holy Spirit.
Learn hence, That Jesus Christ is the original and fountain of all saving grace, whom, if we thirst after, repair to, and by faith depend upon, as a Mediator, we shall certainly receive what influences of grace soever we want and stand in need of.
Joh 7:37. In the last day, &c. Namely, the eighth day, when, according to the institution of Moses, (Lev 23:34; Lev 23:36; Num 29:35, where see the notes,) there was to be a holy convocation, or general and solemn assembly of the people, attended with some extraordinary sacrifices. This day is called the great day of the feast, on account of the high esteem in which the nation of the Jews held it, as a day kept holy solely on their own account. On the seven preceding days they held that sacrifices were offered, not so much for themselves as for the whole world; in the course of them, seventy bullocks being sacrificed for the seventy nations of the world: but the sacrifices of this day they considered as being offered for Israel alone, on whose behalf only several solemnities of the day were observed. Tremellius, on this text, observes, from the Talmud, that the Jews used on this day to march round the altar seven times, singing hosannas, with palm branches in their hands, in memory of the Israelites, in the days of Joshua, marching round Jericho seven times on the day of its fall. He informs us also, from the same authority, that on this day they drew water with great joy from the fountain or brook of Siloam, at the foot of mount Zion, and carried it to the priests in the temple, with the sound of the trumpet and great rejoicing, where they poured out part of it, mingled with wine, as a drink-offering, which they accompanied with prayers to God for rain. For, as at the passover, they offered an omer, to obtain from God his blessing upon the harvest; at pentecost, their first-fruits, to request his blessing on the fruits of the trees; so, at the feast of the tabernacles, they offered water, as a token of their desire for a plentiful rain to fall at the following seed-time; the people, in the mean time, singing, With joy shall ye draw water from the wells of salvation, Isa 12:3. Part of the water they drank, with loud acclamations, in commemoration of the mercy shown to their fathers, who were relieved by the miracle of a great stream of water made to gush out of a rock, when the nation was ready to die with thirst, in a sandy desert, where there was neither river nor spring.
The Jewish writers pretend that Haggai and Zechariah were the institutors of these rites, and that in performing them they acted according to the directions of these prophets. Be this as it may, it is probable, as Dr. Lightfoot has shown, from some Jewish writers, that among other things intended to be expressed hereby, the ceremony was also meant to be emblematical of their desire and expectation of the coming of the Messiah, and of the effusion of the Holy Spirit under his dispensation. But whatever might be the original intention of these ceremonies, we learn from the same writer (Tremellius) that the Jews had miserably perverted it, by the addition of their own magical ceremonies. Christ, therefore, probably intended to lead them back to the principal design and meaning of the institution, and to draw their minds from the terrestrial water, and all earthly and temporal things, to the water of life, and to himself, the chief scope of this feast and of all other ceremonies. For, as it was his custom to raise moral and spiritual instructions from sensible occurrences, he took this opportunity of inviting, in the most solemn and affectionate manner, all who were in pursuit, whether of knowledge, holiness, or happiness, to come unto him, and drink, in allusion to the rite they were then employed about. Jesus stood Probably on some eminence, where he could be seen and heard by the surrounding multitude, as the priest did who poured out the water mentioned above; and cried Intent voce, quo magis attentionem excitaret, (Grotius,) with a loud voice, that he might excite the greater attention. If any man thirst That is, sincerely and earnestly desire true happiness, and long for the blessings promised under the administration of the Messiah; let him come unto me By faith. Let him believe that I am able and willing to satisfy his most ardent and enlarged desires, and rely on me to do it; and drink That is, he shall drink; he shall receive the blessings for which he thirsts; for I am most ready freely to communicate every needful blessing, and particularly those supplies of the Spirit, which you profess sincerely and earnestly to desire. Compare Isa 55:1.
III. On and after the great day of the Feast: 7:37-8:59.
The last and great day of the feast has arrived; Jesus lays aside the apologetic form which until now He has given to His teachings. His word assumes a solemnity proportioned to that of this holy day; He declares Himself to be the reality of all the great historic symbols which the feast recalls to mind. Such declarations only aggravate the unbelief of a part of those who surround Him, while they draw more closely the bond already formed between the believers and Himself.
Four Divisions: 1. The true source: Joh 7:37-52; John 2. The true light: Joh 8:12-20; John 3. The true Messiah: Joh 8:21-29; John 4. The incurable nature of Jewish unbelief: Joh 8:30-59. The passage Joh 7:53 to Joh 8:11, which contains the story of the woman taken in adultery, does not appear to us to belong to the genuine text of the Gospel.
RIVERS OF LIVING WATER FLOWING OUT OF THE HEART
Joh 7:37-39. And on the last great day of the festival, Jesus stood, and continued to cry out, saying, If any one may thirst, let him come and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture said, Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. And He spoke this concerning the Spirit which those believing on Him were about to receive; for He was not yet; because Jesus was not yet glorified. This is really the grand, salient proclamation of all the preaching of our Savior recorded by John on the present occasion.
The Scripture here referred to is Eze 47:1-12, where we have that glorious description of the holy waters, flowing out from the right hand of the altar eastward, and down into the Dead Sea, transforming the wilderness of Judea into blooming gardens and fruitful fields, sanctifying and redeeming the poisonous waters of the Dead Sea, filling them with multitudes of the most valuable fishes, revivifying the whole surrounding country, dotting the shores of that desolate sea with thriving villages and populous cities, clothing the whole surrounding country with fruits and flowers, perennial verdure, and transforming all that vast, desolate region into an earthly paradise, thus symbolizing the wonderful potency of Spirit- filled people to transform the darkest jungles of our city slums and the gloomy wastes of heathen lands into holiness camp-meetings and millennial harbingers. The E. V., unfortunately, mars this wonderful passage by the translation, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, using a word entirely too physical in its signification to harmonize with this superlatively spiritual passage. The word is koilia, which means belly, stomach, heart, chest, etc. Now you see the word we want here is heart. How beautiful the passage, Out of his heart [i.e., his interior, spiritual being] shall flow rivers of living water! This is one of the finest passages in all the Bible, transcendently profound, sublime, thrillingly edifying, lucidly expository of the glorious, positive side of experimental sanctification, progressing indefinitely, through time and eternity first, ankle-deep, putting us where we walk with God incessantly, going only where Jesus goes; then wading in to the knees, reaching an experience of great proficiency in kneeology, though ever so ignorant of theology, where we learn the grand secret of conquering on our knees; passing another interim of recognition and appreciation, we wade in up to the loins i. e., get where we vote our whole precinct for the Lord Jesus Christ, in everything keeping our eye on God, all temporal interests and emoluments left in oblivion; passing another interval of progress, we wade in over our heads; as now the waters have risen to a swimming depth, the specific gravity of the human body being less than that of water, we have nothing to do but lie supine, with limbs relaxed, facing the blue dome of the beautiful celestial temple, and float ad libitum with the current of Gods providence and grace, perfectly secure in the triple leadership of His Word, Spirit, and providence, respectively guiding the intellect, heart, and body.
Joh 7:37-52. The Last Day of the Feast.The Feast of Tabernacles, the feast of the ingathering at the end of summer, lasted seven days in early times (Deu 16:13). An eighth day was added later (Lev 23:36). The custom of bringing water from Siloah each day and only pouring it out before the altar, is known certainly for later times, but probably existed in Christs time. It was held to commemorate the gift of water in the wilderness (Exo 17:6), and was accompanied by the recitation of Isa 12:3. Joh 7:37 f. is best interpreted by taking He that believeth on me with Joh 7:37, If any man thirst let him come to me, and drink he that believeth on me i.e. he that believeth on me let him drink (for the order, cf. Joh 1:12, 1Jn 5:12). Joh 7:38 is then a promise that Christ will quench the spiritual thirst of His followers. The source of the quotation is unknown, but cf. Exo 17:6, the water flowing from the rock; Ezekiel 47, the prophecy of the waters issuing from the Temple, symbolising the gift of the Spirit; and the tradition that Messiah or His forerunner Elijah was to restore not only the manna, but also the gift of water. [See further ET, xviii. 100, xxii. 10, xxiii. 180, 235.] The authors explanation that the promise referred to the Spirit is natural. The addition, There was not yet spirit, for Jesus was not yet glorified (p. 745), caused difficulty which led to various expansions of the text (cf. mg.). The appeal raised the expectations of the crowd to think of Him either as the prophet Jeremiah raised from the dead (cf. Mat 16:14), or the prophet of Deu 18:15, or else as the Christ. Against this was urged His Galilean origin. Messiah was to be of the house of David and Bethlehem His birthplace (Mic 5:2). The Jerusalemites expect Messiah to appear suddenly from heaven, the crowd looks for a Davidic king; the distinction suggests real knowledge. The story now reverts to the attempted arrest. The officers excuse their failure because of the power of His words on the people. The contempt of the rulers for the crowd may be illustrated from Pirke Aboth, i. 6, Hillel used to say A rude man fears not sin, and no vulgar person (am haarez) is pious (p. 624, Ezr 4:4*). But other views are held by a minority in the Sanhedrin. Nicodemus pleads for a fair trial, but is received with scorn. Galilee does not produce prophets. The cases of Nahum and Jonah (2Ki 14:25) are apparently forgotten. [Perhaps with the Sahidic Version we should read The prophet arises not out of Galilee.A. J. G.]
7:37 {15} In the {i} last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
(15) There are two principles of our salvation: the one is to be thoroughly touched with a true feeling of our extreme poverty: the other to seek in Christ only (whom we catch hold of by faith) the abundance of all good things.
(i) The last day of the feast of tabernacles, that is, the eighth day, was as celebrated a day as the first.
The promise of the Spirit 7:37-44
Having announced His departure, Jesus proceeded to offer the Holy Spirit for those who believed on Him (cf. chs. 14-16).
The feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days (cf. Deu 16:13). However the day following the feast was a day of convocation that the people popularly regarded as part of the feast (cf. Lev 23:36). It is difficult to tell if John meant the seventh or the eighth day when he referred to "the great day of the feast." Edersheim believed it was the seventh day. [Note: Edersheim, 2:156.]
"For the rabbis ’the last day’ of the festival was the eighth day, but they never spoke of it as the greatest day. Since the water-drawing rite and the dancing in the light of the great menoras were omitted on the eighth day, the description of ’the greatest day’ is thought by many to denote the seventh day, when the priests processed around the altar with the water drawn from Siloam not once but seven times. . . . It is also to be recognized that the invitation [of Jesus] would have been equally relevant on the eighth day, which was celebrated as a Sabbath with appropriate ceremonies and was attended by a great congregation." [Note: Beasley-Murray, p. 114.]
Jesus used the occasion to make another important public proclamation (cf. Joh 7:28). Perhaps Jesus laid low until this day to avoid arrest and then presented Himself again publicly. He invited anyone who was thirsty spiritually to come to Him and take what would satisfy and sustain him or her (cf. Joh 4:10; Joh 4:14).
Early each of the seven mornings of the feast the high priest would lead a procession from the Pool of Siloam to the temple. Another priest would first fill a golden ewer with water from the pool. He would then carry it through the Water Gate on the south side of the temple and into the temple courtyard. There he would ceremoniously pour the water into a silver basin on the west side of the brazen altar from which it would flow through a tube to the base of the altar. Many Jews would accompany these priests. Some of them would drink from the pool while others would chant Isa 55:1; Isa 12:3: "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. Joyously draw water from the springs of salvation." This was such a happy occasion that the Mishnah stated, "He that never has seen the joy of the Water-drawing has never in his life seen joy." [Note: Mishnah Sukkoth 5:1.]
The priest would then pour water into the basin at the time of the morning sacrifice. Another priest would also pour the daily drink offering of wine into another basin at the same time. Then they would pour the water and the wine out before the Lord. The pouring out of water represented God’s provision of water in the wilderness in the past and His provision of refreshment and cleansing in the messianic age. The pouring out of wine symbolized God’s bestowal of His Spirit in the last days. Every male present would simultaneously shake his little bundle of willow and myrtle twigs (his lulab) with his right hand and hold a piece of citrus fruit aloft with his left hand. The twigs represented stages of the wilderness journey marked by different kinds of vegetation, and the citrus fruit symbolized the fruit of the Promised Land. [Note: Morris, p. 372.] Everyone would also cry, "Give thanks to the Lord!" three times. Worshippers in the temple courtyard would then sing the Hallel (Psalms 113-118). [Note: J. Jeremias, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v., lithos, 4:277-78; J. W. Shepard, The Christ of the Gospels, p. 348; Edersheim, 2:157-60.]
This "water rite" had become a part of the Israelites’ traditional celebration of the feast of Tabernacles. Essentially it symbolized the fertility and fruitfulness that the rain brought. In the Old Testament, God likened His blessings in the messianic kingdom to the falling of rain (Eze 47:1-7; Zec 13:1). The Jews regarded God’s provision of water in the wilderness and rain in the land as harbingers of His great blessings on the nation under Messiah’s reign. Thus the water rite in the feast of Tabernacles had strong messianic connotations.
Jesus stood to announce His invitation. Normally rabbis sat when they taught. Therefore His standing position as well as His words stressed the importance of what He said. Jesus’ claim was even more impressive because on the eighth day no water was poured out. When Jesus called out His invitation, He was claiming to be the fulfillment of all that the feast of Tabernacles anticipated. He announced that He was the One who could provide messianic blessing, that He was the Messiah. His words compared Himself to the rock in the wilderness that supplied the needs of the Israelites.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CHRISTS OFFER OF THE SPIRIT
[This was a day of peculiar sanctity, and of uncommon festivity [Note: It was the eighth and last day of the feast of tabernacles, Lev 23:34; Lev 23:36.]; and it seems that some customs, not required in the original institutions of the law, obtained among the Jews at that time [Note: It is said that on this day they went annually to the pool of Siloam, and drawing water from thence returned with it in procession to the temple, where they poured it out with all possible demonstrations of joy. At what time this custom arose, it is not easy to determine; but probably it commenced after the Babylonish captivity; and was adopted in reference to that prediction, Isa 12:3. Nor is the design of it precisely known: but it seems most likely that they then commemorated the giving of water out of the rock in the wilderness; and called upon God for rain, which was so necessary to them at that season. Perhaps the more spiritual among them, might pray also for those spiritual blessings, which their promised Messiah was appointed to bestow. These circumstances served as the foundation of our Lords address, and reflect much light upon it.]. Happy to improve the opportunity, Jesus stood in the most conspicuous place, and, with an exalted voice, claimed the attention of the people; and, despising equally the censures of the uncharitable, and the persecutions of the proud, he made them fresh overtures of mercy. While they only panted for his blood, he longed for their salvation. He pointed himself out to them as the only fountain of living waters, and assured them of his readiness to impart whatsoever they stood in need of. He excepted none from his offers, provided they did but thirst for his blessings.]
[He first explained what he meant by coming to him. (It was not a mere outward, but an inward and spiritual application, that he wished them to make to him.) They were to believe in him, as possessing all fulness in himself [Note: Col 1:19.]: and as the person appointed of the Father to convey blessings to them [Note: Psa 72:17.]. In a full persuasion of this truth they were to come to him by faith. For their encouragement he promised them a rich effusion of his Spirit. By living water our Lord meant the gift of his Spirit [Note: ver. 39. Some, because our Lords words are not found in Scripture, connect with ; (translating , hath required) but there are many passages that speak to the same effect, though not in his express terms.]; and when he said, that rivers of this living water should flow out of his belly, he intimated, that the believer should have a constant spring of consolation within him, which should refresh all who came within the sphere of his influence. Of this blessed truth the Scriptures had abundantly testified, and our Lord now confirmed it to them by a most solemn promise. He assured them, as he had before told the Samaritan woman, that his communications to them should prove a source of unutterable and endless joy [Note: Joh 4:10; Joh 4:13-14.].]
[The gift of his Spirit in such an abundant measure was that new thing which the Messiah was to accomplish [Note: Isa 43:18-20; Isa 44:3.] And in thus freely offering it to all, he fulfilled the office more especially assigned him [Note: Isa 55:1-3 and Joe 2:28-29; Joe 2:32.] ]
[You who, like our Saviours auditors, have no desire after spiritual blessings, what have you ever found that can be compared with the blessings here offered you? What have all those things for which you have laboured proved, but broken cisterns that can hold no water? And do you think you contract no guilt whilst you prefer such vanities before the living God? Hear how God himself complains of you [Note: Jer 2:12-13.] And assure yourselves, that, if you continue to treat him thus, the day will come when you will want a drop of water to cool your tongue.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)