John 7:37, commentary and pictures

On the last great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, amid the water-pouring service that commemorated water from the smitten rock in the wilderness, Jesus stood publicly and cried aloud for any thirsty soul to come to Him and drink. The thirst He meant is thirst of soul — longing for pardon, peace, righteousness, rest, life and salvation that wealth, pleasure, honor and ceremony cannot satisfy. He Himself is the fountain of living waters and the spiritual Rock, smitten in death that streams of salvation might flow to the world, and no priest, minister or other mortal can take His place. To come is to look to Him in faith, open the heart and bring every burden and sin to Him, and to drink is to receive by faith His forgiveness, His word, and the Holy Spirit promised to believers after His glorification. Whoever thus drinks receives a never-failing well springing up to everlasting life within, satisfying and renewing the soul and flowing out to refresh others, and the invitation is open to all, rich and poor, saint and sinner, while mercy still lingers.

Feast Day Setting

The cry was uttered on the last day, that great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the closing religious gathering of the year. It was a seven-day feast at Jerusalem, when people came from Palestine and other lands to remember God's goodness and mercy and to give thanks for the harvest. The city was decorated with branches giving it the appearance of a forest, and the temple courts were crowded.

It was spoken publicly with a loud cry in the last year of his ministry, amid the water-pouring service. At dawn the priest drew water from Siloam, from the Kedron, with music and singing, lifted the flagon high, carried it up the temple steps and poured it on the altar of burnt offering. This commemorated the bringing of water from the rock struck in the wilderness.

The feast's solemn joyful ceremony had been instituted by Jesus and represented his mission. Jesus used that symbolic service to point minds to the blessings he came to bring.

On that final crowning day the people were wearied by pomp and ceremonies and festivities. While the multitude seemed all joy and rejoicing, Jesus with tender pity saw many hearts sorrowful, weary, homesick, sick with sin, disappointed and perplexed, and spiritually parched. Their thirst for peace and comfort and consolation had not been quenched by earthly fountains.

The verse belongs to a setting of public teaching and growing opposition, where his pure teaching and godly life exposed hypocrisy and his Sabbath miracles were works of mercy. Officers sent to seize him could not lay hands on him, and authorities decreed that anyone confessing belief in him would be cast out of the synagogue.

Meaning of Thirst

The thirst is spiritual thirst, a longing for truth, restful hope and deliverance from sinful desires and propensities. It is thirst for assurance, for understanding of God and His ways, for pardon, peace, refreshment and righteousness. It is need of comfort and strength in trouble, of a personal Saviour who can be everything the soul needs, of life and salvation itself. No priest or rabbi and no human being can satisfy this hunger; Christ's grace and power alone remedy vice and lift from sin to purity.

It is the soul's longing for what lasts forever, for more of the Lord and for nearness to the Saviour. Those who have tasted living water still pant for more of God even while enjoying peace like a river, not content with occasional flashes of light. They are not satisfied with religious ceremonies or with past experiences of grace, but reach forward daily to higher elevation of Christian character and deeper entrance into God's requirements and promises. What they receive does not end desire but increases it, for Christ's supply is inexhaustible and those who receive Him continue to long for more while needing to seek nothing else.

This thirst is felt by the weary, the homesick, the sin-sick, the disappointed and perplexed, and those longing to understand God and His ways. It belongs to the burdened, the sorrowing, the despondent, the oppressed and fainting, to those in grief, pain and weakness, and to those longing for happiness, fulfillment, knowledge, life and spiritual help. It touches those struggling with harmful appetites and habits, whom Christ supports and lifts up, and those who have lost time and are stunted in Christian growth yet may still find peace and joy and renewed growth because it is not too late. It touches even the wealthy man who trusts in his riches and does not feel his danger, who is called to things of enduring value.

Pomp, wealth, honor, worldly pleasures and success, human praise, earthly pursuits, frivolous exciting amusements and religious display cannot meet this thirst. Even when gained they leave people burdened, sorrowful, disappointed and still thirsting. They are like empty cisterns and broken cisterns that hold no water, and like pools become dry. Turning from the knowledge that makes wise unto salvation to feed on earthly frivolous things is feeding the soul on brackish water instead of accepting the invitation to come and drink. Seeking satisfaction from sources that cannot give life leaves hunger unmet.

Christ the Living Rock

Jesus is the fountain of living waters, the unfailing fountain and the overflowing fountain, the living Rock and the living water itself. He is the fountain of life in whom hope of eternal life is centered, the source of life and salvation and power and pure unadulterated truth, the living sin-pardoning Saviour to whom people of every age should be directed. From him Christians may continually draw rich supplies of grace and God's love, and coming to him brings life-giving water that becomes a well within the person springing up into everlasting life. Those who drink can refresh others and guide weary souls ready to perish in sin to the life-giving waters, for he sustains the Christian like a hidden spring sustains a palm in the desert, giving life and strength amid the world's corruption. This invitation to come and drink is to be sounded with renewed urgency, and all who thirst may choose to come, for they are invited and not driven.

The wilderness rock that gave water pictured him, for he is the spiritual rock who set himself apart to be smitten in death so that the water of life and streams of salvation could flow to the thirsty world. He declared himself to be that living Rock and that living water, identifying himself as both rock and water in the feast-day scene that commemorated God bringing water from the rock on Israel's desert journey. The priest's ceremony of drawing and pouring water recalled the rock struck in the wilderness, and as that was reenacted Jesus presented himself as the one to be smitten in death, the source who answers spiritual thirst for the weary, homesick, sin-sick, disappointed and perplexed who long to understand God and his ways. His words are the water of life that meets the soul's deepest need, and his invitation is pictured as an embrace extended to the world for life and salvation, warning at the same time against seeking satisfaction from sources that cannot give life.

Israel received its spiritual blessings through him despite its murmurings and rebellion, yet as the Jews reenacted the bringing of water from the rock their failure to recognize him as the rock grieved him. They were not atheists or unbelievers but misapprehended vital truths concerning him, wrested the Scriptures to justify their own course, and refused to receive him as Messiah, Son of God and Saviour of the world although he came as Scripture had foretold, with the eyes of their understanding darkened. Still the offer was made that all might be converted and might honor the Son as they had professed to honor the Father.

The invitation is universal and gracious: if any man thirst, rich and poor, high and low, saint and sinner, burdened, sorrowful and discouraged are equally welcome to come and drink and receive life that satisfies the soul's deepest need. It is a call to receive the life-giving spiritual provision he offers, even eternal life, and the water he gives meets every need when he dwells in the soul. What draws his attention is the soul's thirst for the waters of life, not nationality, rank, creed, status, or personal relationship to him, and his gospel invites everyone who thirsts for what the world cannot provide. Pomp, riches, honor, human praise, worldly success and pleasures, and religious display cannot satisfy the heart but leave people burdened, sorrowful, disappointed and still thirsting, as useless as a broken cistern that cannot quench thirst or hold water. To such he offers relief for the troubled mind, comfort for the sorrowing, hope for the despondent, rest, peace, and the gift of salvation awakening new hope, and those who receive his love have within them life springing up to everlasting life to share with others through good works, right example and Christian counsel.

Jesus, rather than priests or rabbis, ministers or any mortal, is the one who satisfies this thirst for truth, restful hope, assurance, and deliverance from sinful desires and propensities. He does not tell thirsty souls to go to any human leader or fellow disciple for help, for he is the source of all power and every believer may come directly to him, the living source of grace and power, and drink repeatedly to refresh the thirsty soul. No minister or other mortal is the fountain or a necessary channel through whom grace must come, and ministers whose work will bear test and strain of trial must direct people to Christ alone, not to themselves or to any other human being. The feast's solemn joyful ceremony had been instituted by him and represented his mission, and amid its outward joy he saw people whose hearts were sorrowful and spiritually parched.

Coming and Drinking

Coming means looking in faith to Jesus lifted up on the cross and trusting His word and promise of pardon for healing from sin and everlasting life. It means beholding Him by faith as an ever-present help in time of need, bringing to Him to carry all burdens, griefs, guilt, sin, troubles, pain and weakness, and refusing to cherish perplexing thoughts. It means opening the heart to receive the Saviour and the light He gives, and resting in His love in the peace He bestows. Drinking means believing in Him and receiving by faith what He presents to refresh the soul. That includes the fountains of living waters, the pure robe of righteousness put upon sinners, sweet words of forgiveness and promise, rest, a strengthened will, and removal of remorse for sin. It is faith feeding on the rich promises of God for comfort and hope until they become an inward well springing up to everlasting life, receiving the Word of God as living bread and living water of salvation, and continually receiving spiritual life so as to present the fulfillment of prophecy with power and fervency.

The invitation is to be accepted as given, without demanding an explanation of how it saves. It is to be met with childlike trust, coming in faith, asking for what He has promised, and believing that He gives the water of life and the Spirit of God. Recognizing the evidence of truth is not enough; the heart must be willing to humble itself, submit to God, repent, and receive Christ. That willingness lets self die, turns from sinful practices and passions including tobacco, allows Jesus to arm, shape and mark the life with His own character, and comes with living faith and earnest persevering prayer believing that God hears prayer. People are invited, not driven, to come, and each must choose to come. The promises and blessings offered must be received by faith before they can be experienced.

Coming is not met with rejection, humiliation, suspicion, denunciation, or being cast out. Those who come are welcomed, brought close to the living fountain of mercy and love, supported when trembling and lifted up, with His goodness and power to save impressed on heart and mind by the Holy Spirit. Drinking is continual and ever deeper, not standing back from Him nor living on past experiences of grace. Thirsty souls must come now and keep coming, keep receiving the Water of life from His fullness, drink repeatedly and directly from the living source without any minister or mortal as necessary channel, feast on the heavenly manna found in Christ, and reach forward to higher elevation of Christian character. This means drinking deeper and still deeper every day, keeping understanding and heart in closest hourly contact and earnest communion, keeping a heavenly frame of mind and dwelling on His character to be changed into the same image from glory to glory.

True drinking requires self-abasement giving a distinct view of Christ and of personal littleness, being humbled and emptied of self with the soul temple emptied of selfishness and self-glory and hidden with Christ in God so God can work for and through the believer. It means falling on the Rock and being broken so the Holy Spirit can fill the heart and work with saving power, with individual daily conversion in humble attitude and true contrition, not resting satisfied with just enough to save from death or sipping a few drops of meager enlightenment. It requires disconnecting from everything with the least evil influence upon mind and character, bringing tastes, appetites, habits and passions under control of the Spirit, crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts, and bearing faith, meekness, temperance, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, love, joy and peace. A mind kept clear through temperance can hear and appreciate the invitation and find the offered water satisfying thirst unto everlasting life.

Gift of Living Water

The living water promised to the thirsty is the Holy Spirit, to be received by those who believe in him. The following words explain that this gift is joined to belief in him. It was to be given after his glorification, when he ascended to the Father and the promised Comforter would come. Through the Spirit he makes himself known to each person who seeks and believes in him.

Received into the heart by faith, the Spirit brings God's love and satisfies the heart's longings, so that worldly riches, honors, and pleasures lose their attraction. It is divine grace that Christ alone can bestow, which purifies, refreshes, invigorates and strengthens the soul. It gives life to the believer, revives and teaches and sanctifies, and can revive and heal souls wounded by sin. It gives constant satisfaction, meeting a need that worldly things cannot satisfy, and it is the beginning of eternal life, so that those in whom he dwells will live forever. Those who receive show its presence through tender pity and Christlike compassion toward the weak and unfortunate, and through willing acts of mercy and benevolence.

The promise of the Spirit is the most valuable and consequential truth for the Bible student, occupying a vast place in Christ's teachings to enrich every mind. He offers the Holy Spirit to all who believe in him in the largest measure, in its unlimited fullness, as abundance of heavenly bread and wine proffered to starving and thirsting souls. It is provided with an abundance proportionate to its vast resource, to be grasped by faith and furnished in plentitude. It is limited only as the human agent is incapable of receiving it, and its abundance is not limited by God but depends on willingness to receive and attend to what is true and living. The promise is scarcely appreciated because it is not discerned and is left unappropriated.

He is the unfailing fountain of living water, the inexhaustible well-spring of truth, an ever-flowing stream and open fountain from which Christians may continually draw rich supplies of grace and God's love. Earth's cisterns are often emptied and its pools become dry, but however much is drawn from Christ and given to others abundance remains, with no danger of exhausting the supply. He has been the fountain of living water ever since the fall of Adam, and he will continue this work of offering it until every soul has been tested and tried. His grace keeps flowing like ever-flowing streams to bless all who come, and the fountain is open and continually flowing so that those who come receive healing. He supplies grace to the oppressed and fainting, and when the oppressed and languid ask of him and watch unto prayer, refreshment will come, for he knows the necessities of every soul.

The one in whom Christ abides has within a never-failing fountain of grace and strength, a well springing up unto everlasting life. His love received in the heart springs up in good works unto eternal life. Jesus cheers the life and brightens the path of all who truly seek him. He sustains the Christian like a hidden spring sustains a palm tree in the desert, giving life and strength amid the world's corruption. He brings relief to the burdened, comfort to the sorrowing, hope to the despondent, and peace, giving comfort, hope and soothing balm in trouble and affliction. The believer is clothed in his righteousness, not one made by human effort.

Remaining without this gift and spiritually parched is the result of one's own failure and refusal to come to Christ and trust his promise. Spiritual drought comes from being long satisfied with meager enlightenment and sipping only a few drops of heavenly grace. It comes from resting content with just enough of the Spirit to save from the sleep of death, which disqualifies for receiving the fullness and for the great things of God. It comes from not living temporally and spiritually by every word from God's mouth, while only those who so live know his satisfaction as a personal Saviour.

Flowing Out to Others

Those who come and drink have within them life springing up unto everlasting life, a never-failing fountain of grace and strength that cheers the life and brightens the path, purifying, refreshing and invigorating the soul. The living stream does not bless its possessor alone but flows out in words and deeds of righteousness, in good works, right example and Christian counsel, to refresh the thirsting around him. In this way those who receive grace become sources of living water, and guide weary souls ready to perish in sin to the life-giving waters.

Receiving his grace makes every true disciple a giver and a missionary, sharing the good news of salvation and bringing others to the water of life. In giving this spiritual water to others the believer receives a greater blessing than in working only for personal benefit, and is brought nearer to Christ. Giving makes room for fresh blessings and increases capacity to receive, while continually receiving without giving causes loss of both blessing and capacity. Nourishment from God's word sustains this life and keeps open the channel for receiving as what is received is imparted to others.

God's children are to be like flourishing palms in a desert, guiding weary, troubled, restless people who are near perishing in the desert of sin to Jesus and his life-giving water, as a palm guides a dying traveler to shade and water. The water of salvation becomes within them a living spring that refreshes others who are ready to perish, and Jesus sustains them amid the world's corruption like a hidden spring sustains a palm in the desert, giving life and strength. Those who have drunk from the Fountain of Life can give the Water of Life to spiritually hungry and thirsty people by sharing the pure, simple truth that Jesus taught, and by sharing the wisdom and blessings God gives. Workers must first come and drink for themselves, having personal experience and earnest desire for the Spirit, before they can lead others, refresh children, or minister to souls.

The living waters are to reach thirsty people through many channels and workers, carried by unselfish effort and the Holy Spirit's guidance. The Spirit's power enables God's workers to give clear testimony as they open the Scriptures, opening the Bible before the thirsty and giving opportunity to hear the message of God's love so thirst is quenched. Those who separate from the world and drink can refresh others, and sanitarium work is appointed to lead thirsty souls to him as the source. The verse presents the true significance of the cross, full of grace and truth to be read for instruction, making deep impression even on strangers, and calls the church to be a bright, shining light revealing godliness to draw a refusing world. Drinking deeply from the fountain also enables believers to recognize the needs of distant souls, which otherwise make little impression.

Responding While Mercy Lasts

The invitation is the voice of mercy, the gospel call and last message of mercy to a fallen world, still being heard but only for a little longer before the final test and judgment when the voice will soon be heard no longer. It is sent everywhere to people of every place while the warning message is being carried to the cities, and accepting it brings eternal life and life from Christ. There is no reason left for ignorance or questioning about finding mercy and grace and salvation, or whether prayer will be heard and favor given, for doubt is cut away by its positive authority.

On the last day of a camp-meeting the same invitation is present with special nearness, bringing mercies and blessings forcibly home and making that last meeting a day of special visitation with rare privileges and needed blessings. While the multitude seems all joy and rejoicing, many hearts thirst for peace and comfort and consolation that earthly fountains failed to quench, and the fountain of living waters is offered to any thirsty one. Those who leave early for home or farm instead of coming lose the refreshing of soul and remain with a name to live while spiritually dead and unrefreshed. Ministers most of all ought to stand in the forefront to humble the soul, come in earnest faith, hear every word to be given, and lay hold of strength; if they stay away and fail to improve the precious meetings for prayer they go without the power willing to be bestowed, and the future will tell the loss and peril of being passed by.

The call requires union and harmonizing of effort, for Italians, Germans, French, Swedes, and every tribe and nation do not have separate paths but have only one model to copy and one mold to receive. That one model is the perfect example to be followed and to shape all, rather than separate ways. The invitation reveals superior goodness as the voice of the true Shepherd, calling even the wealthy man who trusts in riches and does not feel his danger to things of enduring value more precious than gold or silver or precious stones. If he takes time to consider he will discern that goodness, stop trusting in uncertain riches, recognize responsibility and accountability as a steward of entrusted means, and become a worker together with God in uplifting humanity. It pleads with men to turn from earthly pursuits to the heavenly and eternal, working by mercies given and mercies withheld to lead them to look above the earth during probationary time, revealing intense desire to relieve woe, heal wounds, and bless the needy and oppressed without indifference to any creature made.

Judas was given this offer and the privilege of close communion yet refused to benefit from it, showing that refusing Christ refuses freely offered heavenly blessing. Response once touched by divine influence can be lost when doubt and unbelief are admitted, thereby quenching the Spirit. The promise shows goodness, mercy, and compassion giving reason for faith and freedom from discouragement, and comfort to one seeking counsel and drawing near. The fountain is open and continually flowing, and those who come receive healing as they believe, receive blessing, and rejoice in love; coming brings rest amid grief, pain, and weakness by trusting Jesus as personal Saviour who pardons sin, clothing the believer in his righteousness and not one made by human effort. His grace keeps flowing like ever-flowing streams to bless all who come, for he is life and consolation and the only hope so that to let go is to have nothing to hold to, and disappointments and trials should bind the soul closer to his great heart of infinite love rather than pull away.

Receiving requires making the most of present opportunities with greater faith and exercising the high privilege and special blessing from the great Source of strength, lest opportunity close without blessing and without help for the great work before laborers. It forbids keeping away and complaining of thirst instead of coming close with living faith, calls for earnest persevering prayer believing prayer is heard, and promises sight of salvation with fullness in Christ for need and for soul labor. The soul temple must be emptied of selfishness and self-glory, cleansed by refining grace and kept free of obstruction, hidden with Christ in God so God can do the work ready to be done for and through the believer, with faith put into practice through given opportunities. Studying precious truths of the Bible is drinking from the fountain, an invitation welcoming anyone who comes, bringing joy and continual thanksgiving for unmerited blessings as an ongoing feast. Spiritual refreshment together with taking in the Word and learning from Jesus forms a sanctified heart whose words are free from envy and jealousy.

Ministers whose work will bear test and strain must direct thirsty souls directly to Christ alone as source of all power, not to themselves or any human leader or fellow disciple. Even those accounted good workers must drink more deeply and continuously to draw nigh to God and receive the divine touch, in order to discern his work at every point. This is needful when he does his last closing work in a manner out of the common order and contrary to human planning, taking the reins into his own hands and carrying forward righteousness by simple surprising means, under the angel joining the third angel, instead of wanting to control, narrow, and dictate what movements shall be made. Coming in this way brings brighter higher attainments, not living on past grace but reaching forward to higher elevation of character, entering more deeply every day into the spirit and meaning of requirements and promises and becoming day by day more like Christ, changed from glory to glory with only an earnest yet received and best days still to come.

Coming brings happiness that does not fail and peace constant through changing circumstances, independent of worldly goods or earthly friends, unlike happiness drawn from earthly things. It gives peace like a river, triumph, unspeakable gratitude for tokens of love, and leads to dedicating self anew as a living sacrifice devoted to his work and shedding holy influence. Knowing him and receiving love bring satisfying joy ending weariness, loneliness, and dissatisfaction and renewing mind and body, healing the sin-sick soul beneath whose unrest lie unsatisfied desires, and drawing physical, mental, and spiritual energy from the life-giving fountain. Its reality is shown by tender pity and Christlike compassion to the weak and unfortunate with willing mercy and benevolence, by receiving abundant grace that transforms character and shows itself in faithful service, by becoming living witnesses praising God, and by a changed heart kind and courteous rather than profession alone. It is shown by words free from envy and jealousy through refreshment from the wellsprings of life, by true religion resting on truth rather than passing feeling or worldly excitement, and by leading weary souls to drink deeply to receive illumination to fill the earth with glory.

The drink is the water of life meeting the soul's deepest need when wearied by pomp and ceremony and unsatisfied by worldly pleasures, with the wilderness rock picturing the fountain of life and his words as life-giving water. Thirst is longing for lasting life that ceremonies, gain, and praise cannot supply, leaving men like those at a broken cistern, and he offers spiritual food and drink to meet it. This living water is the religion of Christ in the heart as wellspring of life, with faith in Jesus not kept outward and separate but welcoming him within to rule, govern impulses, and bring thoughts under control. It is a rich living drink placed within reach to be received and continually drawn by abiding faith, for brief delight without taking truth into the heart to purify soon loses its impression, yet nourishment from the Word sustains life imparted to others and keeps the channel open by giving. Drinking means receiving the spiritual life longed for from him.

The fountain is open to saint and sinner alike to come, form personal connection with the Source, turn from sin to the living God, taste that the Lord is good in the last message of mercy, and ask in faith for full measure. Those who know truth must find this wellspring and remain connected to the Source of light to be doers of the Word and safe teachers bringing fresh nourishment to hungry souls by daily drawing for refreshment. Coming means trusting him and finding peace and rest in his love, an experience everyone must learn who will dwell with him in the mansions prepared, with precious lessons taught in that coming. Trials pressing almost beyond endurance reveal need of help and test willingness to come, and the Lord uses them to draw the heart. People are to rely on him rather than feelings or human support, receiving what he is willing to give, with fullness for help and soul labor as the soul is hidden with him in God.

The whole chapter stands as warning to heed counsel and not endanger his cause or influence through distorted ideas, for God works with a person while that person follows and listens. Sanitariums are to lead people to him, and therefore to be homelike institutions in pleasant places rather than mammoth buildings. Those who drink find satisfying joy and relief from weariness, loneliness, and dissatisfaction, no longer thirsting for frivolous sensual exciting amusements, for principles of religion strengthen the mind and remove taste for such pleasures. Coming brings communion with God, fullness of love, heavenly joy, and light dispelling gloom, with the soul to keep drinking these joys and praising its Redeemer; drinking revives the soul to flourish from rich fullness and supply for each and for all, giving presence as light and love, comfort, hope, and soothing balm showing the Lord good and merciful, a Saviour joy and crown of rejoicing to be magnified. Such drinking means keeping understanding and heart in closest hourly contact and earnest communion, drinking deeper for illumination, loving God with all heart soul and mind and neighbor as self, bringing tastes appetites habits and passions under control of the Spirit, bearing faith meekness temperance longsuffering gentleness goodness love joy and peace, crucifying flesh with affections and lusts, and possessing whatever is honest lovely and of good report; this depth of piety discernment and enlightenment is needed in the last days to decide righteously in great questions of humanity morals and religion, and want of sincere piety and firm purpose to lead a self-denying pure holy life excludes from ministry.