John 7:37 Commentary and Bible Study

The last day, that great day of the feast, was probably the seventh day, not the dispersion day, the eighth day. Jesus stood and cried out with another great exclamation. ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.’ Every day during the feast of the tabernacles, water was ceremonially drawn from the pool of Siloam, and taken in procession to the temple, and poured out at the base of the altar, and so Christ takes up this as an illustration. Thirst, that is the prerequisite. It was the opposite of what the chief priests and the Pharisees and the scribes did. They did not thirst. Thirsting is a lowly, humble thing, like a dying man on a battle field, or a traveller who has run out of resources and is at his wits’ end. ‘Oh for the forgiveness of my sin. How will I ever receive a blessing from God? How can the gates of heaven ever be opened to such a creature as I am?’ They were not humbled and lowly and thirsting for God’s pardon and God’s love. That is the position you have to be in to be truly saved. You come with an awareness of great need. Christ announces himself to be far greater than the rock that was struck at Meribah from which the water flowed, which was commemorated in the daily water ceremony at the feast of tabernacles. He presents himself as a river of blessing and life and forgiveness. ‘Let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly [out of his inner most being, it means] shall flow rivers of living water.’ The Pharisees did not have it. But you will have something deep inside you that will generate life, new life, communion with God, so that you will be a fountain of prayer and understanding and help for others. Out of your innermost person. Of course it is a figure of conversion by the power of the Spirit which changes you, and gives you a new mind and a new heart, a new motive, new service for Christ, and words for others.