The Great Invitation: Come and Drink
John 7:37-39
The Colorado River flows through our valley. This great river has been called the life and soul of the West. It begins high in northern Colorado flowing out of La Poudre Pass Lake near Rocky Mountain National Park. It weaves its way through the western United States gathering other tributaries. It passes through the Grand Canyon, its course finally crosses the border into Mexico to its end point at the Sea of Cortez. All along the way, the river provides water to dozens of cities, irrigates the farmlands and golf courses that appear on the landscape. But as the population has grown over the past decades and the need for water has become more demanding, the water level of the Colorado River has actually decreased. It’s dropped by several feet in the last few decades so that now the river no longer reaches the Sea of Cortez. About a hundred miles to go to its endpoint it becomes dry. It runs out of water leaving a cracked and desolate and uninhabitable landscape, a dry riverbed, a wasteland. What was once a great river becomes a dead and empty riverbed. It’s run out of resources.
Our passage today tells us about a river which never runs dry. It’s a river whose source is Jesus. Jesus promises that from the innermost being of the one who believes in Him will flow rivers of living water.
Remember that the events in John 7 are taking place in Jerusalem during the week long Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths. John gives us the time marker in verse 2, “Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.” So verses 1-13 record the events at the beginning of the feast. In verses 14-36 we saw the events in the middle of the feast when Jesus goes into the temple and begins to teach. There the Jewish religious leaders confronted Him about His authority and He indicted them for their plans to kill Him. The crowds of people in Jerusalem were divided and confused about Jesus’ identity.
Now in verse 37 we come to the events at end of the feast. Listen as I read John 7:37-39:
37 On the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet [given], because Jesus was not yet glorified.
What a great invitation Jesus gives here to the people in Jerusalem! Like all of His invitations, it is an invitation to salvation, to eternal life, to the Kingdom of Heaven. In this invitation there is the offer, an implicit requirement, and the result.
1. The Offer: Come to Me and drink.
Let’s think about this wonderful offer for a few moments and note a few things about it:
A. The person who offers: Jesus.
To appreciate Jesus’ claim here, it helps to know some things about the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) because as I said, that is the setting Tabernacles was a harvest feast of thanksgiving to God (Ex. 23:16). This week long feast commemorates the time when the Israelites lived in booths or tents in the wilderness after coming out of slavery in Egypt (Lev. 23:43). During those 40 years in the wilderness God protected them, preserved them, and provided for them food and drink. This feast reminded them of God’s care for them in the wilderness, when He provided manna and water from the rock. The feast also looked forward to the final harvest and ingathering of the nations during Messiah’s kingdom.
Historians tell us that during Jesus’ time, the feast was also characterized by a daily procession led by a priest carrying a golden pitcher of water drawn from the Pool of Siloam. The water was daily poured out at the base of the altar, which pointed to the future outpouring of the Holy Spirit as predicted by Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy you will draw water
From the wells of salvation.” And in Isaiah 44:3 God promises, “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring.”
Jesus is claiming here to be the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles. John wrote in 1:14 (literally), “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” So now, on the last day of this feast, Jesus claims to be the source of living water to all who will come to Him and drink. In other words, He fulfills all that the feast symbolized. Paul tells us that Jesus is the rock that supplied Israel with water in the barren desert (1 Cor. 10:4, For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ). As Jesus said in chapter 6, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
The water pouring ceremony took place every day for seven days, followed by an eighth day when a holy convocation was held. John says (7:37) “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out.” That is, He shouted in a loud voice like we saw Him do in verse 28. In the solemn moment when the festival reaches its apex when everyone is holding their breath at the drama of the celebration, Jesus captures their attention and shouts, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”
What a great invitation! No mere human could make such an offer: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Who, except God in human flesh, God “tabernacling” among us, could fulfill the meaning of the feast and the promises of the prophets?
His invitation clearly shows us again Jesus’ claim to be God among us. He is the only one who could make such an offer and fulfill it.
Then we also see in this offer:
B. To whom it is offered: anyone.
His invitation is to “anyone” (7:37). That is as broad as you can get! In this crowd were not only His disciples who believed in Him, but the crowds who were confused about Him. There were the people of Jerusalem who were ready to reject Him because He came from Nazareth in Galilee. And there were even Jesus’ enemies, the religious leaders who were trying to kill Him. And to them all He says, “If anyone.”
Through the Spirit inspired scripture here in John 7, the offer extends to each of us. Whether you grew up in a Christian home and have always gone to church or whether you are a complete pagan or a convicted criminal, the offer is for you: Come to Jesus and drink. No one is excluded. To underscore this truth, the Bible ends with this same invitation (Rev. 22:17): “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”
So the offer is from Jesus. It is to anyone. And then we see the simple invitation in His offer:
C. The simple offer: come and drink.
Jesus cries out, “let him come to Me and drink.” Isn’t that great! Jesus didn’t say, “If anyone is thirsty, keep digging and eventually you’ll hit water!” He didn’t say, “If anyone is thirsty, let him join the church, get baptized, take communion, do penance, give money to the church, clean up your life, and attend church every Sunday!” Jesus simply said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” “Me” implies that it is a personal relationship with Jesus, not a bunch of religious rules or rituals.
What could be more simple? You’re outside working in the yard on a hot day and your wife comes out with a pitcher of ice cold water and says, “Come and drink!” It doesn’t take a lot of effort or will power or a college degree to come and drink.
Come to Christ. It means, with all your heart and with all your will, you come to Him. Spiritually speaking, it is to move toward Jesus Christ as the only source of your need. “Drink.” Drink means to appropriate. A river flowing through the parched valley doesn’t do any good unless you drink. Drinking means to take Him, receive Him, make Him your own, embrace Him. As he said to the woman at the well in John 4:14, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.”
Coming and drinking is simply a way to describe what it means to believe. Jesus gives the parallel statement in verse 38: “He who believes in Me ….” (John repeats “believe” in the clarifying statement of verse 39). To receive the living water that Jesus offers, come to Him and drink, or believe in Him. Make Him your own by faith. Appropriate what He did on the cross for your sins. A river running through the desert does you no good if you don’t drink from it. If you feel thirsty, ask Jesus to satisfy your thirst with His abundant, free salvation.
So the person who offers is Jesus, the eternal God in human flesh, who gave Himself on the cross for our sins. The offer is for anyone who thirsts. The offer simply describes what it means to believe in Jesus. All you have to do is come to Jesus and drink.
But notice second:
2. The condition: you must be thirsty.
Jesus cries, “If anyone thirsts ….” You have to be thirsty for God. The Bible often uses this kind of language. Isaiah 55:1 proclaims, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.” The psalmist cries out (Ps. 42:1-2), “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” David wrote a Psalm in the wilderness saying (Ps. 63:1), “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.” And in Revelation 21:6, Jesus says, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.”
The only qualification is thirst – not morality, not religiosity, not good works, not being a benevolent person, not being “a basically good person.” There is no qualification like that. The only qualification is that you are thirsty. Malcom Muggeridge, the great English journalist wrote:
I may, I suppose, regard myself, or pass for being, as a relatively successful man. People occasionally stare at me in the streets–that’s fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Internal Revenue–that’s success. Furnished with money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to, may partake of trendy diversions– that’s pleasure. It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time–that’s fulfillment. Yet I say to you — and I beg you to believe me–multiply these tine triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing–less than nothing, a positive impediment–measured against one draught of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who or what they are. [Malcom Muggeridge JESUS REDISCOVERED (Garden City, NY Doubleday, 1969) p. 77,78
At first glance, being thirsty for God seems easy enough. But the problem is, because of sin people either don’t recognize their thirst or they seek to satisfy it in wrong ways. And very often, benevolent, basically good people, religious people, moral people don’t feel the thirst. That’s why when Jesus came, most of the moral, religious people hated Him. And it was the sinners and tax collectors and outcasts that came. It’s the thirsty that come.
That is the condition. Recognize your thirst for God. The good news is that the offer is a free gift. You don’t have to work all your life to earn it. You don’t have to clean up your life first to qualify for it. This points to…
3. The result: Rivers of living water.
See it in John 7:38, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
When that verse says, “out of his heart,” the word is literally, “belly.” The belly is the inner part of us that is always craving something (Phil. 3:19; this insight from A. W. Pink, Exposition of John). But here, rather than craving earthly things, the implication is that our inner cravings are abundantly satisfied with living water.
And Jesus says this fulfills scripture, “as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” There are many Old Testament Scriptures that link water to God’s abundant blessing on believers (e.g. Ps. 78:15-16; Prov. 4:23; Isa. 44:3; Ezek. 36:26-27; 47:1-9; Joel 3:18; Zech. 13:1; 14:8). So Jesus is not quoting one Old Testament verse, but giving a teaching gathered from throughout the law and the prophets.
Verse 39 explains what the living water symbolizes, “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet [given], because Jesus was not yet glorified.” The Greek text is literally, “the Spirit was not yet.” John means that the Spirit was not yet manifested on earth as He would be on and after the Day of Pentecost, after Jesus was crucified, raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven (“glorified”).
Later in John we read that in the Upper Room on the night He was betrayed, Jesus said to the eleven (John 14:16-17), “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (See, also, John 15:26; 16:7.)
All believers in Jesus Christ are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote (Rom. 8:9), “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” The Holy Spirit is the seal of our redemption (Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30). He gives spiritual gifts to all believers (1 Cor. 12:7-11). The Spirit reveals to us the riches that God has prepared for us who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9-10), which include every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3) and all that we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3-4).
But as many commentators point out, this living water is not a reservoir, but a river. This water that flows to you when you come to Christ comes into your life doesn’t stay in you. It goes through you. In you is a fountain that becomes a river. The rivers flow out of us to others who are thirsty.
The world is a barren desert, and people are dying of thirst. You and I are to be the rivers of living water that these dying people need. The good news is that unlike the Colorado River, the supply of living water within us never runs dry. It flows from our inmost being by the Holy Spirit to bring refreshment and life to us and to others. As people see Christ in us (the fruit of the Spirit) and want what we have, we can tell them how they can come to Jesus and drink. Lost people desperately need what only we who have believed can give them.
What should you do in response to Jesus’ promise here? First, honestly assess the degree to which “rivers of living water flowing from your innermost being” describes you. If it doesn’t describe you at all, then come to Jesus and drink! If you have to admit that it’s more like a trickle, then make it your priority to be satisfied daily with the riches of Christ. Walk in the Spirit and ask Him to fill you. Then get your focus off yourself and onto those you can bless. Pray that your normal experience would be that from your innermost being rivers of living water would flow to a thirsty world.
