Lesson 23: John 7:37-52 - The Feast of Booths (part 3)
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”
41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
43 So there was a division among the people over him.
44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”
46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”
47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,
51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
On the last day of the feast, twice as much water was used to remind the people of the two rocks Moses had struck in the wilderness for them (Exodus 17:6, Numbers 20:8). So Jesus’ reference to water was again an extension of the rituals of the feast.
Some in the crowd said Jesus was the Messiah. Others denied He could be the Messiah because the Messiah was not to come from Galilee – the Scripture indicated Messiah would be a son of David and would come from David's home in Bethlehem – see Micah 5:2. (Jesus was born in Bethlehem to perfectly fulfill prophecy, but most of the people in the crowd did not know this.)
Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah could not be ignored. His claim here, to be the source of everlasting water (He had made this same statement to the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4), placed Him in the position of being the God who had done these miracles for Moses. He could not be only a man, for a man who claims to be God is insane. He must be who He claimed to be, especially since He performed all the miracles which had been prophesied He would do.
*Dig Deeper: Read Isaiah 44:3-4 and Isaiah 55:1 – how do these prophecies relate to what Jesus said here?
*In what way do these prophecies affect your life today or help you understand who Jesus really is?
Lesson 23: John 7:37-52 - The Feast of Booths (part 3) Print
Modified on: Wed, 20 Jan, 2021 at 5:22 PM
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