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Patriarchs and Prophets
of the Feast of Tabernacles, when the people from all the land were
assembled at Jerusalem. On each of the seven days of the feast the
priests went out with music and the choir of Levites to draw water in
a golden vessel from the spring of Siloam. They were followed by
multitudes of the worshipers, as many as could get near the stream
drinking of it, while the jubilant strains arose, “With joy shall ye draw
water out of the wells of salvation.”
Isaiah 12:3
. Then the water drawn
by the priests was borne to the temple amid the sounding of trum-
pets and the solemn chant, “Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O
Jerusalem.”
Psalm 122:2
. The water was poured out upon the altar of
burnt offering, while songs of praise rang out, the multitudes joining in
triumphant chorus with musical instruments and deep-toned trumpets.
The Saviour made use of this symbolic service to direct the minds
of the people to the blessings that He had come to bring them. “In the
last day, that great day of the feast,” His voice was heard in tones that
rang through the temple courts, “If any man thirst, let him come unto
Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” “This,” said John, “spake
He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.”
John
7:37-39
. The refreshing water, welling up in a parched and barren
land, causing the desert place to blossom, and flowing out to give life
to the perishing, is an emblem of the divine grace which Christ alone
can bestow, and which is as the living water, purifying, refreshing, and
invigorating the soul. He in whom Christ is abiding has within him a
never-failing fountain of grace and strength. Jesus cheers the life and
brightens the path of all who truly seek Him . His love, received into
the heart, will spring up in good works unto eternal life. And not only
does it bless the soul in which it springs, but the living stream will
flow out in words and deeds of righteousness, to refresh the thirsting
around him.
The same figure Christ had employed in His conversation with the
woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well: “Whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give
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him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
John 4:14
. Christ combines the two types. He is the rock, He is the
living water.
The same beautiful and expressive figures are carried throughout
the Bible. Centuries before the advent of Christ, Moses pointed to Him