John 7:37–­39a

³⁷ On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and called out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! ³⁸ As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive. For the Holy Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.  (EHV)

Dear Friends in Christ,

Moving here to Arizona a year ago, the four pieces of advice I heard most often were “Wear sunglasses,” wear sunscreen,” “wear a hat,” and “drink plenty of water!” You can last days without sleep or food, but not without water. Water is our greatest physical need. Living Water is our greatest spiritual need. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!” Jesus says.

Jesus spoke these words on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (or Tents or booths), a special festival in which people would camp out for a week every year in temporary shelters to remind them of how God had preserved their forefathers through forty years of tenting and wandering in the wilderness on the way to the promised land from Egypt. On each day of the annual feast, the priest would pour a pitcher of water at the base of a stone altar. This part of the ceremony was to remind Israel of the times in the desert when God made water come right out of a rock to quench their thirst. But like all the Old Testament ceremonies, it was to point ahead to the Messiah who would come to quench their spiritual thirst for forgiveness, peace with God and eternal life.

On the last day of the feast, Jesus stood up in the crowd, drew attention to Himself and preached: He pointed the people to Himself as the fulfillment of the festival, the Messiah who came to quench spiritual thirst—to bring Living Water to the world.

“If Anyone is Thirsty…”

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!” Jesus says. Sadly, so many don’t even know they’re thirsty—especially people who have all their physical needs met. The rich feel like their own god, like the rich man who said, “Soul…take it easy. Eat drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19).

The crowds who followed Jesus weren’t rich. Many if not most of them toiled hard to eke out a living, and that helped them feel their spiritual thirst.

Today in a well-to-do place like this, I’m sure there are a good number of people who don’t feel spiritual thirst. Maybe they did for a while during the worst of Covid but now things are back to normal for most. It’s expensive toy season once again. No time to thirst for righteousness.

We don’t want to give in to that temptation, and it’s very real! The world’s lures tempt us to forget what’s really needed—the “one thing needful,” namely, to listen to the Word of God, to be forgiven and be made right with God, to have our eternal affairs in order and hold on to our heavenly hope.

That’s the thirst Jesus was speaking about. If we recognize our real need for God’s help, our spiritual thirst, and confess our sins, Jesus has the perfect cure for us: the Living Water of forgiveness. By sending His Son to die for us, God not only paid for our sins, but He also showed how intensely He desires to give His Living Water to everyone. God wanted so dearly to save every single soul He was willing to send His son to a horrible death.

You and I have experienced the cool, refreshing joy of drinking from the well of salvation. We’ve tasted and seen that the Lord is good. We are no longer dying of thirst, but we are still thirsty. Jesus said in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

We do thirst after righteousness. While the water of life quenches our thirst for forgiveness, we want to see justice. We want to see righteousness rewarded, not mocked. Isaiah spoke of the Lord’s kingdom, “See, a king will reign in righteousness, and officials will govern with justice. ² Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water for a dry place, like the shade of a massive cliff in a parched land. … ⁵ The fool will no longer be called noble, nor will rogues be treated like respectable people” (Isaiah 32:1–2, 5). We “hunger and thirst after righteousness” and we “shall be filled.” He has promised the “new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness.” Christ has earned us a place there and guaranteed it by His death and resurrection. But even before we live there, Jesus has promised that we “will be filled.” God promises justice to His saints on earth. No matter what we must endure, Jesus quenches our thirst with His promise to make everything — no matter what — become a blessing.

“…Let Him Come to Me and Drink.”

But Jesus says even more: As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.” And John explains: By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive.

For eight hundred years, the people of Israel had been waiting for the fantastic words of Joel the prophet to be fulfilled: “After this, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. ²⁹ Even on the servants, both male and female, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. …  ³² And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:28–29, 32a). Jesus was promising this special day would finally soon take place as He preached on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. ‘It’s almost here!’

Then John further explains, “The Holy Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” Now, clearly, the Holy Spirit was already at work in the world. The Holy Spirit was present already on the very first day of creation, “hovering over the face of the deep,” Genesis tells us. Throughout all of history, the Holy Spirit had always been silently going about His task of creating faith and repentance in people’s hearts. Then, He appeared in the form of a dove and descended on Jesus at His baptism. He had already worked faith in the disciples’ hearts long before the day of Pentecost. But—then, just as Jesus promised, Pentecost day came when the ancient prophecy of Joel was fulfilled. On that day the Holy Spirit forwent His typical shyness and manifested Himself so vividly. He came that day to usher in a whole new era—the New Testament, made possible by Jesus completing His saving work.

After He atoned for the sins of the world on the cross, Jesus was glorified. He descended to hell to proclaim His victory over Satan. Then He rose victorious over the power of death. Then God exalted Jesus to His right hand at His Ascension and the fullness of time had come. All the mysteries of the Old Testament now made sense as they were seen in their fulfillment. God would no longer bind himself to a little nation on the east end of the Mediterranean called Israel in this new Pentecost era, but now, through His Church, the Gospel would spread throughout the world and gather in the saints from every nation.

Jesus’ promise and Joel’s prophecy were fulfilled together on this day. Pentecost changed everything. The Apostles, with the special promised gifts of the Spirit, wrote by inspiration the New Testament Scriptures. With the Spirit’s guiding, courage, and power, they set out on foot and sailed for points unknown to bring the Gospel to every creature. And under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the Church grew and spread into all the world.

The same Holy Spirit is still with us today! The Day of Pentecost was a one-time event in many ways. God ushered in the New Testament with great fanfare. But the work of the Spirit goes on in the usual way as it has since the beginning of the world. The Holy Spirit continues to miraculously bring people to faith, just as He had done for the disciples years before Pentecost Day. In the same way, He still comes to people. He comes through the means of grace. Paul wrote: “God chose you from the beginning for salvation by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and faith in the truth. ¹⁴For this reason he also called you through our gospel” (2 Thessalonians 2:13b-14a). He comes to us through the word of God, just as He first came to us in baptism. To the crowd on Pentecost Day, Peter preached: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38–39).

“Streams of Living Water Will Flow from Within Him.”

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!” Jesus said. “…Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive.

The Holy Spirit, whose great festival we celebrate today, dwells within us. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. He works in us to strengthen our faith, to comfort us, to pray for us, to guide us, to enliven and embolden us to carry out His work. He worked inus through the Gospel, and He works through us too. “Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.”  Isaiah the prophet had once said, “The Lord will… satisfy your desire in arid places…. Then you will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters will not fail” (Isaiah 58:11) and you will produce the “fruit of the spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22).

Those streams of water are evident and noticeable when we look at the works accomplished in the name of the Christian Church around the world—hospitals, schools, universities, charities, nursing homes, not to mention Western Civilization itself. Zechariah had foretold: “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the eastern sea and half of it toward the western sea. It will continue to flow in summer and in winter” (Zechariah 14:8).

Just think how the original, little band of believers on Pentecost has now become the millions of martyrs and saints in heaven, and the believers in Jesus throughout the world today. Pentecost changed everything! The Holy Spirit has been busy, quietly working through the means of grace, bringing people to faith through baptism and preaching, and strengthening and keeping the whole of His flock in the one true faith through the Word of God. The Gospel that was poured into us is flowing out into the world as we carry out the most significant work entrusted to us: sharing the Gospel! The little water that has flowed into us has multiplied and flows out, joining the waters in others, and forming a mighty river and countless streams—leading more and more to the Living Water, giving them the Spirit, and starting more streams. “…Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.”

We see the results of the Spirit’s flow each time one more person is baptized or one more communicant member is added to the Church such as Chrysteen and George. It all started with the Spirit and it all comes to fulfillment by the Spirit through the Living Water of the Gospel. Keep drinking and keep sharing. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! ³⁸ As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.” Amen.