Hello everybody and welcome in to episode #296 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading John 7 today and our focus is on How Can We Drink Jesus? Jesus Died Thirsty So That We Can Have Living Water! We are a daily 10ish minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in Central Zambia, Parts unknown Finland, South Africa, Singapore and Bangladesh, Baden Wurttemberg, Germany, New York, New York, Atlanta, Georgia, Huntsville, Alabama, Columbus, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee, Houston, Texas, McAllen, Texas, Salt Lake City, Utah, and South Bend, Indiana. Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast! Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more– Click here for our Bible 2021 reading plan\
Before we dig into the main course, allow me to submit two more bits of evidence that not all of the commoners or crowds of Israel liked Jesus – in today’s chapter, they are going to try and kill Him and accuse Jesus of being demonized:
19 Didn’t Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?” 20 “You have a demon!” the crowd responded. “Who is trying to kill you?” (John 7:19-20)
and
28 As he was teaching in the temple, Jesus cried out, “You know me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on my own, but the one who sent me is true. You don’t know him;29 I know him because I am from him, and he sent me.” 30 Then they tried to seize him. Yet no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. John 7:28-29
And yet, even in the midst of all of that controversy, many others believed in Jesus as He taught them.
I may have mentioned this before, but my first foray into Christian ministry on the internet took place in the late 1990s, when I launched a website called, “Hungry for Jesus,” which I realize is a pretty weird name. I used to post a ton of revival focused articles there, and was enthused when people from around the world would visit the site, and read those articles, the vast majority of which were not written by me. The name and the theme of “Hungry for Jesus” really comes out of John 6 and 7, as you’ll recall yesterday, that Jesus, in John 6, told the people that they would have eternal life if they would eat and drink of Jesus…which was as weird sounding in the first century as it is today, as evidenced by how people responded to Jesus. Some of them believed and followed Him, probably more turned away in disgust or bewilderment. In today’s chapter, Jesus is going to elaborate on this theme of eating and drinking even more, and He is going to do so LOUDLY:
37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”39 He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:37-39
This is one of my favorite Scripture passages – it shows the passion and mystery of Jesus, and is a perfect demonstration of His teaching style, which strongly majored on metaphor and illustration. Jesus is not talking about literal drink here, as we discussed yesterday, but TRUE drink – something that is far beyond literal drink – metaliteral drink. As Jesus told the woman at the well, there is a drink, that comes from Him, that will permanently slake your thirst – not your literal and bodily thirst, but your spiritual thirst. The Jews, upon hearing this, might well be reminded of Isaiah 55:
“Come, everyone who is thirsty,
come to the water;
and you without silver,
come, buy, and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without silver and without cost!
2 Why do you spend silver on what is not food,
and your wages on what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.
3 Pay attention and come to me;
listen, so that you will live.
I will make a permanent covenant with you
on the basis of the faithful kindnesses of David. Isaiah 55:1-3
Notice about this Isaiah 55 water that it satisfies more than real water, or real food. That it is freely given – no cost. How does one get this amazing water? Vs. 3 tells us: Pay attention and come to God. LISTEN SO THAT YOU WILL LIVE!!
How does one get the Living Water that Jesus is speaking of? Through great cost? No! Through great effort? NO! Through great works? NO! Through great merit or morality? NO! By coming to Jesus, Listening and BELIEVING! The Water of Life is FREE and ETERNAL and from Jesus, and we see it spoken of in Revelation 21, also:
5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. Revelation 21:5-7
and in Revelation 22:
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the churches. I am the Root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17 Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let anyone who hears, say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:16-17
Free living water from Jesus given to everyone who is thirsty and desires and COMES to Him, Listening and Believing. How is this wonderful water free? Because Jesus paid the price for it. Did you know that Jesus Himself, the purchaser and giver of this Living Water, died thirsty? John 19 tells us, “28 After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty” 29 A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
They offered Jesus some sour wine, which is basically vinegar, and doesn’t slake your thirst, and then Jesus died. Jesus died thirsty, and through His death and resurrection, all who listen, believe and come to Him can have Living Water for Eternal Life freely and without cost. Because He died thirsty, we can have eternal Living Water. Let’s read our passage, and if you are thirsty, go to Jesus and drink!
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Bible Memory passage for the month of October: 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
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