Scriptures: John 7:37-39, Isaiah 12:3, Zechariah 12:10, 13:1, 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, Zechariah 14
In the last two lessons we learned how Jesus fulfills the first two fall festivals, the Festival of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. Today we look at the final fall festival God commanded the Jews to observe forever, the Festival of Shelters (also called Festival of Tabernacles, Booths, or Sukkot in Hebrew) which will be celebrated by the whole world when Jesus returns. In Leviticus 23 God commanded the Jews to live in special three-sided shelters for seven days to commemorate their time in the wilderness when they lived in temporary shelters while God protected them with the cloud of his glory, fed them with manna, and gave them water from a rock. It is celebrated at the time of the final fall harvest, which points to the harvest at the end of the age when Jesus returns.
Zechariah spoke of a coming day when God would redeem Jerusalem and cleanse people from sin. “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (Zechariah 13:1). Jesus revealed at the Festival of Shelters that he is that fountain, once again pointing people to the scriptures that prophesied about him. “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:37-39).
Why is it significant that Jesus said this on the last day of the festival? The climax of the festival is the water ceremony which entails bringing spring water (called living water) from the Pool of Siloam and pouring it onto the altar as a way of imploring God to send the rain, since this also was the beginning of the rainy season in Israel which is needed for the spring crops to grow. As part of the water pouring ceremony, Isaiah 12:3 is quoted: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” In Hebrew, the word for salvation is “yeshua.” Jesus’ name in Hebrew is Yeshua. Every time you see the word salvation in the Old Testament, you can insert the name Jesus. So as the water is poured out to God while they ask him to send water, Jesus announces that he, Yeshua, is the well from which living water is drawn. All who drink the living water that comes from him will be filled with a river of living water, the Holy Spirit.
Jesus, the Rock, is the source of the living water of the Holy Spirit, just like the children of Israel drank water from the rock in the desert. Exodus 17 tells us that when there was no water in the desert, God told Moses to strike a rock and water gushed out for the people to drink. The Apostle Paul tells us that this rock foreshadowed Jesus. “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4). The fountain or source of living water was always with Israel.
When Jesus was crucified, “one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” (John 19:34). When the Rock was struck, water flowed out, pointing yet again to Jesus as the fountain of living water. God foretold this piercing in Zechariah 12:10. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn” (ESV). The spirit of grace could not be poured out until Jesus had been pierced, resurrected, and glorified (John 7:39). Jesus is the Rock who provides the fountain of living water. Because of his sacrifice, all who believe in him can now be filled with the living water of the Spirit. Jesus came to not only provide a way for us to be with the Father in heaven but be filled with God’s presence by the Holy Spirit now. All we have to do is ask.
Have you ever wondered why God punished Moses for striking the rock the second time Israel needed water in the desert? The first time they needed water, God commanded Moses to strike the rock. This foreshadowed Jesus being pierced for our transgressions as the fountain of salvation. The second time they needed water, however, God told Moses, “Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water” (Numbers 20:8). This was supposed to foreshadow us asking the Rock for the Holy Spirit and trusting that the living water would be freely given. Instead, Moses struck the rock, so he did not get to enter the promised land. In Luke 11:9-13 Jesus promised that we only need to ask the Father for the Holy Spirit and he will give him. We don’t earn the Spirit through effort and striving (striking the rock), but freely receive this gift through Jesus when we ask with belief that God will give us what we ask for. When we strive for holiness in our own strength, we miss out on the promised land God wants to give us. (Lest you think that God was too harsh with Moses, remember that Moses was with Jesus on the mountain where Jesus was transfigured, so he did get to go into the promised land and see the glorified Rock of Israel!)
We can believe that God will give us his Spirit when we ask because just as Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises in the old covenant, the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promises in the new covenant. Jesus promises to never leave us, and so the Spirit is given to connect us to Jesus and tell us whatever Jesus is saying. Jesus promises to raise us from the dead, and so the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is given to us. Jesus promises that anyone who believes in him will do the same works he does, and so the Holy Spirit is sent to equip believers with power to continue Jesus’ ministry on earth. Anyone who believes in Jesus will have the same living water flowing in them that flowed out of Jesus.
What are the characteristics of the Spirit’s river of living water? Zechariah 14 tells us that when Jesus returns, he will stand on the Mount of Olives, causing it to split in two. “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter” (Zechariah 14:8). Ezekiel sees a vision of this river of living water that will flow from the temple to the Dead Sea which is too salty for any fish to live there. “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live” (Ezekiel 37:8-9). Jesus sent his disciples out as “fishers of men,” but told them to wait for the Holy Spirit to empower them. The miracle catch of fish was a sign to Peter that the Holy Spirit would bring the “fish” to him. This is exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out and 3000 people heard Peter preach and were baptized.
The river of living water brings dead things back to life. The living water restores balance to what has been out of balance. It also causes us to bear fruit and bring healing. “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 37:12). While this will be a physical river when Jesus returns, what the river accomplishes is available now by the river of living water that is inside all who are a temple of the Holy Spirit.
As promised in Jeremiah 17:7-8, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” As we trust in the Lord and become rooted in him, the living water flows through us, enabling us to bear fruit and bring healing to our hurting world in every season. That’s why Jesus told his disciples it’s better for him to leave so he can send the Holy Spirit. God’s plan was to release the river of the Holy Spirit to flow through all who believe in the Rock, Jesus.
During the water ceremony in the Festival of Shelters the people prayed for rain, another symbol of the Holy Spirit who enables the harvest. “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11). We pray for the Holy Spirit like we pray for rain because the Spirit teaches us truth and reminds us of what Jesus, the Word, has said. It is the rain of the Holy Spirit that accomplishes God’s will on the earth through us, enabling the harvest of souls. Jesus warned in John 15 that apart from connection to him through the Spirit, we can do nothing.
The Festival of Shelters or Tabernacles will be fulfilled in the final harvest and continue to be celebrated when Jesus comes. Zechariah 14:16-17 tells us “Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.” Just like Israel would experience drought when they were in rebellion, when Jesus sets up his earthly kingdom, nations who do not obey Jesus will experience drought because God wants us to know that we need Jesus like we need water. This festival will be celebrated forever because it reminds us that God came to dwell with us while we were temporary wanderers in this world, just as God dwelled with the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years while they lived in temporary shelters. It also reminds us that every good gift – including rain and the Holy Spirit – comes from above.
Though the Jews live in shelters for seven days, on the eighth day they hold a sacred assembly and do no work. While the number seven is the number of completion, for God created the world in seven days, the number eight speaks of the age to come when there will be a new heaven and new earth. On the eighth day of the festival, Simchat Torah is celebrated, the completion of the annual cycle of reading the Torah. I went to this celebration once and saw how the end of Deuteronomy is read and then the Torah scroll is rolled back to the beginning to read Genesis 1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). When Jesus returns, the heavens will be rolled back like a scroll. It will be the dawn of the eighth day, the new beginning that ushers in the new heavens and earth, when striving ceases and we enter God’s promised rest. God will come down to dwell with us and the Word of God will be celebrated forever. May we celebrate, today, the Fountain of living water who cleanses, purifies, and gives us a new beginning.
Response:
Thank you, Jesus, for giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Fill us with this river of life so that we bring life to the world around us. Thank you for your presence in this life and the eternal life to come.
(The picture above is where the “living water” from the Gihon Spring comes out of the tunnel built during King Hezekiah’s reign. This water filled the Pool of Siloam which is presently under excavation in Jerusalem.)
