The Water of Life

Water and Life

Brett Miller

Jesus is the Power that Pours out Water, Life and Rescue

Feast of tabernacles, is a feast of "presence" and Jesus is a presence at the Feast. He appears, he fills, he pours out the spirit, like water.

John 7:37–39 NIV84

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

​( Will only reference this, Will not read it, do not translate)

ISBE Booths, Feast of

BOOTHS, FEAST OF This festival, known variously as the Feast of Booths, (Lev. 23:34; Dt. 16:13), Tabernacles (2 Ch. 8:13; Jn. 7:2), or Ingathering (Ex. 34:22), was one of the three major feasts in which all Hebrew males were required to participate each year. It began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Tishri), i.e., mid-October, five days after the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10). It continued for one week, and was associated with the end of the year (Ex. 34:22) when agricultural work concluded. It was a “pilgrim” festival, the intent of which was to emphasize the nomadic character of the wilderness period (Lev. 23:43).

On the first day the congregation ceased from all normal activities and presented burnt offerings to the Lord, a procedure that was repeated on the eighth day, after the festival proper had terminated.

The booths, which were simple shelters made of interlaced branches, were the people’s living quarters during the festival. In each seventh year occurred a special ceremony, a public recitation of the covenant provisions agreed to on Mt. Sinai by the Israelites in time of Moses.

This served the extremely important function of keeping at the forefront of the people’s minds the obligations assumed on that occasion, as well as reminding them of the blessings that would follow as long as the provisions of the covenant were honored.

The feast was celebrated against a background of rejoicing for divine blessings, represented by the bounty of the year’s harvest. This was reflected in its occasional designation as the “Feast of Ingathering” (Ex. 23:16; 34:22).

In at least one instance Christ Himself was in the city when the festival was being observed (Jn. 7:2).

By NT times it had become a custom on that feast for a procession to visit the Pool of Siloam and return with water, which was then poured out as a libation of thanksgiving to God. It may well have been as a result of witnessing this ceremony that Jesus was prompted to make His observations about living water and eternal life (Jn. 7:37–39).

There are TWO OT Messages in Jesus Mind: Zech 14 and Ezek 47

Zechariah 14:3–9 NIV84

Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime—a day known to the Lord. When evening comes, there will be light. On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter. The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

WHEN JESUS SPEAKS HE IS THINKING ABOUT ZECH 14

1: “Jesus will bring Power and Life”

Water, life, stand over all Jerusalem The pouring out of Life Pouring water from the pool of washing.... Symbol of washing, symbol of power and life pouring out of us….

What Does this Mean?

If Jesus can transform the world what can he do in my life? DO I have an enemy....he can vanquish them....

1: Jesus is promising Jerusalem, a city wracked by war for centuries, actual peace and security. (In Him)

Jesus Promises Peace

2: Then Yahweh will appear as a huge man on the Mount of Olives.

The mountain will split under his feet and a valley will appear east and west through the mountain. The newly formed valley will serve as a means of escape for the remnant in Jerusalem and as a way of Yahweh’s victorious processional to Zion (v 5).1

Jesus will be the “Valley of Escape”

3: This is not just power over one event, but over all of history...

What does it mean to me that God is in control of HISTORY?

a) He controls MY history, my narrative. God sees what is, not what I see, or others see, or the representations of others. When it comes to forgiving..What prevents me so often is the sense that someone is allowed to be right, to ”get away with something” but if God controls history...his version is right…JESUS IS BIGGER THAN MY NARRATIVE

b) The water of life shall go out of Jerusalem. (Zech 14:8) Jesus is that water that will flow all over the world. He turns salt to fresh...this brings life.

All that Jesus Touches is cleansed by his power

All that Jesus Covers over will Spring to everlasting Life

LIFE will FLOW forth from US

b) he protects what is his. (and brings a plague on those that harm it) Vs 12-15

God is a fierce protector of what is his: Which means that I dont need to play the avenger role.

Jesus goes “to the mount of Olives” Jn 8:1 Almost like a fulfillment of the prophets deliberately .

Jesus is bringing the past and the future together in himself....

What does this mean about “circumstances”? Circumstances are just another word for personal ‘history’. God laughs at ‘circumstances’.

Circum= surrounding condition (circumference)

Sta+ meaning to stay, to be immovable (Stable, Stationary)

Circumstance= a condition over which there is no control, it is fixed

Is there any condition over which God has no control?

“Circumstances” are reasons for faith for the faithful

and excuses for the faithless

c) Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment and the Prophet. He is our God...all that he says is true, all that he does is just, and all that he sees is pure and right.

God is returning to fight for Israel again enemies

He will stride across the Mount of olives

The Mount will be split in tw

THEN THE LORD WILL COME: and all the holy one with him...a symbol of the end times, (supernatural philosophy)

THE SECOND IMAGE IN HIS MIND IS

The Ezekiel 47 Imagery

Ezekiel 47:1–10 NIV84

The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea.

Water flows out from under the Holy of Holies

Spills out under the doorframes

Flows out of the Wadi, down into the Judean countryside, and turns the desert into a river.

The Water of Life turns Desert into River

This is the location where John and Jesus would later preach and baptize.

The imagery seems to suggest that eventually the power of the Holy Place (Jesus) would cleanse and immerse all created things.

CLOSE:

If this is right, then Jesus is ‘standing up’ and announcing at the water ceremony of the Feast that he is the fulfillment of that very image.

He is the fulfillment of Ezekiels Vision of the water of Life.

Verse 8: “living water will flow out of Jerusalem”

The idea is that GOD will return to Jerusalem and set history right.

By Jesus using this reference, he is linking his words to the prophetic tradition from Zechariah and Even the Temple vision of Ezekiel.

What is Jesus Indicating?

I Am am the “coming of the Lord” who will stand on the Mount of Olives

2: The water that will be poured out on that day is the water that flows from him. He is saying “I am the source of LIVING water”

3: The ceremonial pouring of water mean cleansing and power. Jesus is saying: “I am the cleansing and the power” that rescues Israel from her enemies. Everything that I touch will come to life

Then John says “by this he meant the Spirit”....Jesus is both fulfilling prophecy and speaking it at the same time. This is “evidence” of his claims.

Jesus brings the holy spirit when he comes, that what flows from him is not just Water (Genesis) but the spirit that hovered over those waters (Genesis 1:2)

This is the promise of New Creation. Not just a gathering of the fields, but the gathering of mankind.

Have you been gathered? Do you have the power of the HS flowing thought your life? Come to Jesus and get that power today