John 7:37-52

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 Lord's 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 Zechariah's prophecy of the new world it was this Feast of Tabernacles which was to be celebrated all over the world (Zechariah 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 John 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 Isaiah 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 (Psalms 113:1-9; Psalms 114:1-8; Psalms 115:1-18; Psalms 116:1-19; Psalms 117:1-2; Psalms 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 (John 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 John 7:37-38: Psalms 46:4-5; Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 55:1; Isaiah 58:11; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Zechariah 14:8.

In John 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. Isaiah 40:31; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:10; Titus 3:5). But here in John 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 ofLife 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 (Matthew 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 John 7:39. The gift of the Holy Spirit which is promised to every Christian (Acts 2:38; Acts 5:32); without which no man belongs to Christ or may have eternal life (Romans 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 (1 Peter 1:10-11; 2 Peter 1:20-21). A few individuals out of God's chosen people were given the Spirit, e.g., Samson, Samuel, etc. Even those believers who repented and were baptized at John the Baptist's preaching were not given the indwelling Spirit. We have an instance of the rebaptism of certain of John's disciples (Acts 19:1-7) into the name of the Lord Jesus because John's 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. Matthew 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 Christ's 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. John 14:17; John 16:4-5; John 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. John 11:4; John 12:16; John 12:23; John 12:28; John 13:31; John 14:13; John 15:8; John 17:4; John 17:10; Acts 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. Deuteronomy 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 David's birthplace, Bethlehem (cf. 1 Samuel 16:1-4 Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; Micah 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. John 7:12; Acts 2:30; Romans 1:3; 2 Timothy 2:8; Revelation 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. Matthew 7:28-29; Luke 5:8; John 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. Matthew 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 John 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. Exodus 23:1-2; Leviticus 19:15-18; Deuteronomy 1:16; Deuteronomy 19:15-18).

Although Nicodemus was ready to speak out for a fair trial for Jesus, this passage (John 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 (John 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 Christian's 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 (Matthew 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 John 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 John 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 (2 Kings 14:25; Jonah 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?