“Torrents of Living Water”
John 7:25-53
“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.” [Jn 7:37-38]
The King James Bible uses the word “torrents” instead of “rivers.” I like that translation better because it infers a stronger influence. When we come to drink of Jesus, the Holy Spirit not only flows; it overflows, it surges.
Water was used as a significant teaching tool by Jesus, and John made sure to make note of it. In John 4 Jesus offered an alternative to the Samaritan’s physical water. “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” [Jn 4:13-14]
The “fountain of water springing up” describes a similar overflow in our passage this morning. The audience in John 7, however, was larger!
Chapter 7 began with Jesus going to the Feast of Tabernacles where there were large crowds. As He taught at the Temple, He was questioned about His doctrine, whether it was from God.
Jesus answered, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me,” He then went on to provide this insight, and specifically to the Sanhedrin [ref. v.50]: “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority.” [v.17]
Jesus gave us the key to knowing right doctrine. It comes by willing to do the will of God. It is relational and not just a mere scholastic exercise. There is no substitute for spending time with the Lord.
Chapter 7 ends with a description of the final day of the Feast. Each day prior the priests brought water to the Temple from the pool of Siloam to commemorate the water that God supplied from the rock in Exodus 17. They poured the water out on the altar as a memorial offering while the people sang and rejoiced. Jesus, however, was the fulfillment of what that ceremony typified [ref. 1 Cor 10:4].
It was on the last day of the Feast that Jesus said the words in Jn 7:37-38. Glorious! Can you imagine the shock and awe! Each day, water was brought in and poured out to typify the Rock in the desert. And then Jesus on the last day said, “If anyone thirsts let him come to Me and drink.”
Torrents of Living Water is a vital key to this life of faith. And you and I need to drink it daily.
