Living Water for the Parched Soul
Buckle up, friends! 🛣🚙
In this post, we're going to cruise down the "Route 66" of Hebraic culture to gain a solid understanding of the Feast of Tabernacles & how Jesus came to fulfill and personify it. Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to attend a Feast of the LORD during the time of Jesus when the Temple stood in Jerusalem? Well, we're going to scratch the surface of that question and discuss just one unique aspect of the Temple ceremony during Sukkot (the Hebrew name for the Feast of Tabernacles) called the "Nisukh HaMayum" which translates to “The Water Libation” or “The Water-Drawing Festival.” My desire in this post is to lay a solid foundation for the meaning of "living water," as well as the context of its appearance in the Feast of Tabernacles. Then, in the next post (Part 3), I can singularly focus on how the Holy Spirit ministers to believers. I hope you enjoy learning about the culture that Jesus was immersed in and how He used it to point people to Himself!
One of the titles of the LORD is "Fountain of Living Water"⛲️ (“M’qohr Mayim Khayim" in Hebrew). This title or name of the LORD is found in Jeremiah 17:13: "O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be disgraced. They will be buried in the dust of the earth, for they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living water." So, what exactly does this title reveal about the nature of God and why is "living water" used to describe Him?
Living water, mayim chayim, is a metaphor used throughout Scripture to describe life, salvation, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In the natural sense of the word, to the ancient Israelites, living water meant fresh, running water from a source like a spring versus stagnant water from wells & cisterns. More specifically, it described pure, flowing water that was untouched by human hands. The Jewish people carried this concept of "living water" into their worship. Outside of God's holy Temple in Jerusalem and their local synagogues, they built mikvehs which were ritual baths (think of baptismal pools hewn into rock) where they symbolically cleansed their hearts before worship by being submerged into the living water. These mikvehs contained •only• living water which was collected from nearby springs or rain run-off.
Jesus used the metaphor of living water to teach the crowds about His very own nature. To get the full context of what He reveals about Himself in John 7:38, let's take a quick look at this very special Feast of the Lord, as well as what happens at the climax of that celebration.
At the end of John 6, we discover that many "disciples" have deserted Jesus due to His “hard” (offensive) teaching regarding being the Bread of Life. Not long after the desertion of disciples, we discover that the Feast of Tabernacles is drawing near and all male Israelites (along with their families) are preparing to journey up to Jerusalem to appear before the LORD in accordance with God's commandment regarding His three most important Feasts (Passover, Pentecost, & Tabernacles). The Feast of Tabernacles is a 7-day feast occurring in the fall which celebrates both the ingathering of the harvest, as well as God's provision & goodness to the Israelites when they were a wandering nation in the wilderness (hence the reason they build tabernacles to dwell in during the Feast). It is also prophetic of Jesus (God incarnate) taking on flesh and dwelling (tabernacling) with mankind, as well as His future second coming & millennial reign.
A very important aspect of this Feast is the use of living water during the daily water libation ceremony in the Temple. It is important to first understand that an offering of wine was poured out onto the Burnt Altar, after the burnt offering, every single day of the year (once in the morning & once in the evening). However, during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), an offering of living water was simultaneously poured onto the Altar, along with the morning offering of wine. While the crowds shouted with joy and recited the Hallel (Psalms 113-118), one priest would pour the living water onto the west side of the Altar and another priest would pour the wine offering on the east side of the Altar to illustrate Isaiah 12:3, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation."
To gather water for the ceremony, the priests would take a golden pitcher and walk to the Pool of Siloam every morning of the Feast. The meaning of siloam in Hebrew is "sent.” One priest dipped the golden pitcher into the Pool and then carried the living water back to the Temple. In Jewish tradition, the waters of Siloam were called the "wells of salvation." It is tradition that the source of water that filled the Pool of Siloam in the Second Temple period was the same water that the kings of the House of David came to be anointed as “King” in.
The pouring of water and wine on the Altar during the Feast of Tabernacles is significant and draws my attention to the testimony of the Apostle John when he writes in his Gospel account, "Yet one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may also believe" (John 19:34-35). John is passionately trying to convey a truth here to his readers. He wants them to •know• that, with his own two eyes, he saw water AND blood flow from the wound in Jesus’ side. I am still learning all that John's testimony prophetically pertains to, but as I read the words, water and blood, I immediately think of the symbolic nature of the water libation ceremony where living water & wine are poured out together. Hang with me to get the full meaning of this prophetic sign a little later in this post.
Therefore, on the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood among the thousands gathered at the Temple in Jerusalem and made a mighty proclamation regarding Himself:
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"
John adds an important note after Jesus’ declaration: "But this He said in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
Here we see Jesus abundantly offering spiritual life through the Holy Spirit to anyone who comes to Him - the “Sent One” from God. He is declaring that He is the long-awaited Messiah and is beckoning His people to come know Him & draw from His deep wells of salvation. He is the Source of salvation and will quench all spiritual thirst by pouring out His Spirit in our lives. If He is the source of the living water, then He has to be the promised Messiah!
So then, if living water symbolically represents salvation & the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and wine is the biblical symbol of the blood of Christ (see the Last Supper communion), then the water and blood flowing from Christ's side, as well as the simultaneous pouring of the water and wine during the libation ceremony, both find their ultimate prophetic fulfillment in the death and resurrection of the Messiah. Both salvation and the giving of the Holy Spirit are predicated on the death of the Messiah at the cross and His subsequent resurrection three days later. The Holy Spirit could not be sent by the Father until Jesus had been glorified (referring to His resurrection from the dead and ascension into Heaven where He was, once again, crowned with glory and seated at His Father's right hand). Then, the Holy Spirit came down to take the place of Christ among His believers with the purpose of leading them into deeper knowledge of the things of God, as well as empowering them with strength and power to advance His Kingdom. He came to dwell •inside• of them!
The parched soul needs to understand that the thirst you are experiencing is due to a spiritual draught in your life. You need the water of life found •only• in the Holy Spirit! The Spirit is given by Jesus to be a Comforter, a Helper, an Advocate, and an Intercessor. He is literally the Spirit of Christ dwelling inside of believers as evidenced by the following verses:
✨ROMANS 8:9-SPIRIT OF CHRIST
✨GALATIANS 4:6-SPIRIT OF HIS SON
✨GALATIANS 2:20-CHRIST IN ME
✨COLOSSIANS 1:27-CHRIST IN US
I want to dedicate an entire post to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in believers' lives, so be sure to check out Part 3 of this series. Lastly, if you're interested, I have compiled Scriptures below that reference "living water" for your consideration:
💧Isaiah 32:1-2:
“Look, a righteous King is coming!
And honest princes will rule under Him.
Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.”
💧Jeremiah 2:13:
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
💧1 John 5:6:
“This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.”
💧Isaiah 55:1:
“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink-
even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk-
it’s all free!”
💧Numbers 20:8-13:
“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the Rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the Rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock. So Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as He had commanded him. Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the Rock, and said to them, “Listen, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this Rock?” Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the Rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in Me, to show My holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and through which He showed Himself to be holy.”
💧1 Corinthians 10:4:
“…and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that traveled with them, and that Rock was Christ.”
💧Zechariah 14:8:
“On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously in both summer and winter.”
💧Isaiah 44:3:
“For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields.
And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children.”
💧Isaiah 58:11:
“The Lord will guide you continually,
giving you water when you are dry
and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring.”
💧Zechariah 13:1:
“On that day a fountain will be opened for the dynasty of David and for the people of Jerusalem, a fountain to cleanse them from all their sins and impurity.”
💧Proverbs 4:23:
“Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.”
💧Proverbs 14:27:
“The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.”
💧Psalm 42:1:
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”
💧Psalm 36:7-9:
“How precious is Your mercy, God! And the sons of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You allow them to drink from the river of Your delights. For the fountain of life [m’qohr khayim] is with You; in Your light we see light.”
References:
Fountain of Living Water:
Water Libation Ceremony:
Living Water in the Hebraic Culture:
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