Living Water needed to revive

John tells the account that Jesus came to the feast of tabernacles on the last day of that great feast and called the people to come to Him and drink of that living water. (See John 7:2,10,37-38}

To understand consider the ceremony of that feast. On the feast of Tabernacles the Jewish people were remembering the wilderness journey and how God brought them to the promised land.

On the last day the priest would take a special container and go to the pool of Siloam to draw a pitcher of water, with much singing and marching around the altar (7 times) the water would be poured on the altar as the people remember the water that flowed from the rock, and also showed gratitude for rain.
Also, as water was poured out, the people would pray for rain for the coming season.

Into this setting Jesus appears and cries out:
"If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink"

In chapter 6, John recorded the words of Jesus as He presented Himself as the “true bread” from heaven.
During the wilderness journey God had provided physical bread for Israel, He now offers “true bread from heaven,” offering eternal life.
In chapter 7, Jesus presents Himself at the Feast of Tabernacles as the life giving water. In the wilderness the smitten rock, produced water.

At a feast celebrating God's life giving care during their wilderness journey. Jesus announces that He is the source of the water of life. All who would come to Him in faith are welcomed to partake of Him.

He is the source of revival from spiritual draught and death that ends in physical death. Only as we partake of Him can we be revived to spiritual life that ends in eternal physical life.

The pouring of the water is also symbolic of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
As the first century people prayed for rain during their ceremony, so we need to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit!

The next verse (John 7:39) "This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet poured out because Jesus was not yet glorified ."

Verse 38 reads: "He that believes on Me,..out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water."

We need the Holy Spirit for revival, the Spirit that testifies of Jesus and truth, and quickens our spiritual nature thus reviving and reforming us and causing us to spread that living water to others.

John continues the story of Jesus visit to Jerusalem towards the end of the Feast of Tabernacles.

The very next day, after inviting all those worshippers in Jerusalem to see the reality of the living water and inviting them to come to Him for that living water, we have the following account.



What does this have to do with "living water"?

Jeremiah gives us the information:



Here is the source of revival -- the living water!
Which like literal waters bring life to parched land, the living water brings spiritual life to people dead in sins and raises them up to spiritual growth and maturity.

To reject it is to be written in the dust (death)
To accept is everlasting life!

4:14 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.

Amen! Please continue posting. I am thoroughly enjoying it. Thank you, Jesus.

We tend to take clean, safe drinking water for granted. It's so readily available that we don't really realize how precious and valuable it is. Yet millions are without access to clean water. It's hard to comprehend a report that states that 2.2 million people die every year from some kind of water-related disease, and that a child dies every 15 seconds because of bad water. Many women spend 20 or more hours per week collecting water, some walking 7 miles a day, often for contaminated water.

Water is essential to maintain a healthy body, a clear mind, and a good balance within our tissues. About 60 percent of our body is water, and we must constantly replenish the supply or we die.
Water is essential to life in general, whether plant, animal or human.

Water is an excellent example of our need for Christ's presence in our lives. Without it our spiritual life dies.

Christ is the only source of living water. He alone can quench the thirst of those suffering from the drought of divine truth that so afflicts the world.

A text in Jeremiah describe a sad state many are in:

“My people … have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:13

Too many try to satisfy their thirst by carving out broken cisterns of worldly gain or pleasure that cannot hold the living water that satisfies the deep longing for everlasting truth.

But all of these are substitutes that leave us more thirsty than before. Drinking the worldly "thirst quenchers" of pleasure, quests for fame and fortune, or drugs and immorality only brings more pain and guilt. The only solution many see is to drink stronger drafts of their polluted water. But, like salt water it only increases the thirst and dehydrates them further.

People need the Lord!
They need the refreshing, life giving water of God's Word, His promises, His truth!

In our smal town we are blessed with pure and refreshing water from a spring that we can use freely right from the faucet.

Jesus used the illustration so vivdly in the account in John 4 where a Samaritan woman was commissioned by Jesus to bring the Glad Tidings to the whole population of her home town. One of the most remarkable preachers of the New Testament. Jesus broke all of the conventional rules of the church in His approach to this woman. None of the appointed Apostles understood His behavior. Read the vivid story in DA.

Amen! Thank you, Dedication.