Water and Rivers

The Feast of Tabernacles in relation to

The Feast of Booths (Sukkah Hebrew for Booth or shelter with a roof of branches and leaves) or Tabernacles (Feast of Ingathering) is a command from and 39-44. It was 7 days that started after the season of harvest. It was to commemorate the Lord and Him saving them from Egypt and they lived in booths during this time of redemption and separation from Egypt. On the first day of the 7 day feast they would observe Sabbath but first would gather palm branches and other willow or other similar type branches to build their tents out of. These branches would be used for the roofs of their dwelling for this week. They would remove selfishness and self-sustaining from their lives for 1 week a year to remind them of their dependence on God and to teach their children to fear the Lord. On the final day of the feast, which is where we find ourselves in . The final day would be another sabbath with sacrifices and more rejoicing before the Lord. But there was an extra observance that was added by later Israelite leaders. It was the ceremony of the pouring out of water. This was to bring in a large jar of water on the 8th day, taken from the pool of Siloam by the current head priest, and carried up to the temple, carried in a golden pot, and poured into a basin in front of the altar. There was even a water gate, set apart for this very reason. When the water was being poured out, rejoicing would begin. A celebration of the Lord’s deliverance to the nation of Israel and His sustaining of them through the wilderness years. This was to commemorate when the Lord provided them with water out of nothing so that they would survive. ; The Lord had provided water for the nation of Israel out of a rock. On 2 separate occasions He did this for them. Both times during very tumultuous times for the nation. Once when they were in the middle of the wilderness with no hope in sight, so much so they were wishing themselves to be back in Egypt and enslaved. The second time was in Numbers and there they grumbled to the point of wishing they were dead. And yet the Lord still gave them the waters that they needed. The reason I bring this up is to set the stage of the feast that Jesus is in Jerusalem to observe. I also want to give you another piece of the puzzle. Jerusalem at this time was in tumult. The Romans were there and although they were left to some government on their own, the Jews were required to swear allegiance to Cesar. We know from later on when Jesus is put on trial that there were 2 high priests. This is not how it was originally to be set up. Jesus spent a large amount of His time rebuking the religious leaders of His day as well. So the time was right, according to His Sovereign decree, for the Lord to send the waters that would save them. The living waters that He described to the Samaritan woman as a “well of water springing up to eternal life.”

and poured into a basin in front of the altar. This was to commemorate when the Lord provided them with water out of nothing so that they would survive. ; The Lord had provided water for the nation of Israel out of a rock. On 2 separate occasions He did this for them. Both times during very tumultuous times for the nation. Once when they were in the middle of the wilderness with no hope in sight, so much so they were wishing themselves to be back in Egypt and enslaved. The second time was in Numbers and there they grumbled to the point of wishing they were dead. And yet the Lord still gave them the waters that they needed. The reason I bring this up is to set the stage of the feast that Jesus is in Jerusalem to observe. I also want to give you another piece of the puzzle. Jerusalem at this time was in tumult. The Romans were there and although they were left to some government on their own, the Jews were required to swear allegiance to Cesar. We know from later on when Jesus is put on trial that there were 2 high priests. This is not how it was originally to be set up. Jesus spent a large amount of His time rebuking the religious leaders of His day as well. So the time was right, according to His Sovereign decree, for the Lord to send the waters that would save them. The living waters that He described to the samaritan woman that He described as a “well of water springing up to eternal life.”

Compare Jesus to the waters that were provided in the desert.

Now why would Jesus wait till this day to stand up and cry out “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.”? He was showing them that He was there to be the water that would save them. He was sent to them to be the water of everlasting life. He was the spring that would well up unto eternal life. Let us look together back at the woman at the well and see how Christ describes Himself as the water of eternal life in more detail. Everyone who drinks of the waters of this world will always continue to thirst. (3+ weeks without food but only 3-4 days max without water) We see this in the episodes in Israel’s history when they were provided water from a rock and was yet thirsty again. The Lord sustained their physical needs at that time but their physical bodies were going to thirst again. Verse 14 elaborates on this meaning. Water is used as an example of salvation for it’s cleansing properties and it’s ability to purify things. To bring things into a better state. To even redeem things that were corruptible beyond use. ( Naaman and dipping in the river) Only Jesus Christ is the giver of the water of eternal life. Only His blood can cleanse the sinner. Only His death will justify the depraved. Only His righteousness debited to our account will make us right before a Holy God. And when the Father calls His chosen children by His mercies, given to the Son to be redeemed by the work that only the Messiah could do on the cross, by the Spirit’s regeneration and softening of the sinners heart, He gives them this living water which will carry them unto eternal life. The gift of this water is a permanent situation. When you have been a drink from this flow, you will never suffer from the thirst that comes from being a dead man walking in their sins before a Holy God. This is the promise from the Lamb to be slain for our sins. What an amazing God we serve. It has been said from this pulpit by Jeff many times and I know I have echoed it as well. The entire Bible, the Living Word of God, is the story of the redemption of depraved sinners by a Holy God according to His Grace. The OT is full of foreshadows of the redemption to come. Even in the provision of the Lord for the physical needs of the the nation He redeemed from Egypt, He gave us an example of who He was sending to redeem us. And Christ, following the will of the Father, was at the temple to proclaim that he was the true waters sent to save. That after it was fresh in their minds that the Lord provided saving waters for their physical bodies, He was also providing the saving, living water to redeem them out of their spiritual death.

Verse 38 is regards to the water symbolism is described as of the most disputed exegetical issues in the whole gospel. This is in relation to the translation from the original language. Depending on the translation and how the punctuation is inserted the flow of the rivers comes from the innermost being of the Christ, or the innermost being of the redeemed person. There is no absolute conclusive evidence for either and several of the commentators that I read fell onto one side or the other. The fact that it is referencing the Holy Spirit coming from Christ after His glorification, and Christ tells us in “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me” and in “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” and in light of these 2 verses and other references from the old testament I tend to fall on the side of Christ referencing Himself as the one from whom the rivers of water will flow. But as we will see in just a moment Jesus does send the Holy Spirit after he has returned to right hand of God to be seated on His throne, with the earth as His footstool. This of course happened on the day of Pentecost.

Josh 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Compare the river of living waters to the Holy Spirit coming on the day of Pentecost.

Compare the Spirit to the river of living waters. Use Day of Pentecost.

then jump to verse 41. Now we see come to fruition what we have discusses was promised by Christ. That the Helper, the Holy Spirit would come after He ascended. Now I want to clarify something. The Holy Spirit was active before the day of Pentecost. The third member of the trinity is eternally existing, just as the Father and the Son are. Just as Mike said in his sermon last Saturday night that men were saved by the Lord the same way in the Old Testament as they are in the new. The Holy Spirit must regenerate the heart of those dead in sin in order for them to be saved. That didn’t suddenly change when the day of Pentecost happened. Now the day of Pentecost was released a larger portion of the Spirit upon them. It was a much larger measure of the gifts of the Spirit. Before Pentecost the Spirit still regenerated, still convicted, and still sanctified those called by God. But this was an outpouring, a filling of the cup till it over-flowed. It was an unleashing of the river of living waters. An amazing outpouring of the grace of the Father. This fulfillment of what Christ was referring to in is a precious gift that we have. Christ said it himself in that we read earlier that it is to our advantage that the Helper is sent to us. This is a sure sign that the Lord provides for those who are His sheep. The amazing promise we have fulfilled in the Helper coming in and indwelling us upon our salvation is irrefutable proof of the Love of the Father. He doesn’t simply save us and say “There ya go live as you please.” He sends the Spirit to convict us, to guide us, to illuminate His word for us. But I will tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt what the Spirit does not come for. And that is to “slay” people. He was not given to us as a selling point for people to get rich with. He didn’t come as a tool to be dragged through the mud by the false teachers of today. The Spirit is the third part of the trinity, the Godhead that commands the universe. He is not to be commanded by mere humans for their own profit and gain. I am speaking of course of the Word of Faith movement and the cancer it has created in modern evangelicalism. It has permeated pulpits all over the world, it has permeated pastors who have, until recently, preached the Gospel according to scripture alone, it has permeated the praise and worship music with its false teaching. It has worked it’s way into Christian bookstores. This is not the Holy Spirit of scripture. He is under no obligation to bow the will of any man. You will not simply speak into existence your hearts innermost desires by commanding the Helper, that Christ sent to aid us in our sanctification, to jump through the hoops we hold up for him. That is not at all how this works. The Holy Spirit is there to guide us into obedience to His word. To lead us through sanctification into the image of Christ Himself. We are to submit ourselves to the Spirit. Never to puff ourselves up with pride to the point that we think we can command a member of the Godhead to do our bidding.

Challenge those who are saved.

But let me tell you something that the disciples didn’t do on that day. Lets look back at and see that they didn’t try to tip toe around the issues. When you have time read all of Peter’s sermon and I can assure you he didn’t build a bridge over the river of living water that was rushing forth from them. God was using them as a means to share His message, His gospel with those who were present that day, and Peter did not try to soften that blow. He didn’t try to dam up the river to make it less offensive. The thing about a river of living water is that it is powerful. It carves the ground and goes where it wants to. That is such an amazing picture of the Spirit of God, that scripture describes as being like the wind, going where it pleases. Jesus explains this to Nicodemus in “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The Spirit will go where it pleases, but we as believers, especially in today’s times of “relevance at all costs” have to be careful that we are not building people bridges over this river. This raging river of purification, this river of conviction, but what is ultimately a river of salvation must hit the unbeliever the way the Lord directs. We cannot, must not, try to soften the force of this river. The Spirit of God is there to regenerate the human heart. To convict them of sin. The unregenerate person must but come face to face with their position before a Holy God. Every human is separated from God by their sin, and it is only by God’s grace that they can be brought to a place of repentance. The force of this river is intended to be offensive at first encounter. But without the gift of conviction, repentance, and faith brought on by the Spirit, one cannot be saved. We must never be accused of attempting to redirect, dam up, or attempting to build someone a bridge over the raging rivers of living waters.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Call those who are lost.

I hope and I pray that some here today have been confronted with this river for the first time in their life. Maybe you have never understood where you stand before a Holy God. I pray that the river has struck you, that you are offended, not by what Scripture says, but by the repulsive nature of your own sin. That you are convicted today of your standing before a Holy God having broken His law standing condemned under His perfect wrath. But that you understand His grace, that His son died for you and took your place absorbing the wrath for you sins upon Himself and are in need of this grace. If that is you this morning.......