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Christ Supplies Us With Living Water, January 4
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud
voice, “If a man is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink. Whoever believes
in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from
within him.”
John 7:37, 38
, N.I.V.
The priest ... performed the ceremony which commemorated the smiting of
the rock in the wilderness. That rock was a symbol of Him who by His death
would cause living streams of salvation to flow to all who are athirst. Christ’s
words were the water of life. There in the presence of the assembled multitude He
set Himself apart to be smitten, that the water of life might flow to the world. In
smiting Christ, Satan thought to destroy the Prince of life; but from the smitten
rock there flowed living water. As Jesus thus spoke to the people, their hearts
thrilled with a strange awe, and many were ready to exclaim, with the woman of
Samaria, “Give me this water, that I thirst not” (
John 4:15
).
Jesus knew the wants of the soul. Pomp, riches, and honor cannot satisfy the
heart. “If any man thirst, let him come unto me.” The rich, the poor, the high, the
low, are alike welcome. He promises to relieve the burdened mind, to comfort
the sorrowing, and to give hope to the despondent. Many of those who heard
Jesus were mourners over disappointed hopes, many were nourishing a secret
grief, many were seeking to satisfy their restless longing with the things of the
world and the praise of men; but when all was gained, they found that they had
toiled only to reach a broken cistern, from which they could not quench their thirst.
Amid the glitter of the joyous scene they stood, dissatisfied and sad. That sudden
cry, “If any man thirst,” startled them from their sorrowful meditation, and as they
listened to the words that followed, their minds kindled with a new hope. The
Holy Spirit presented the symbol before them until they saw in it the offer of the
priceless gift of salvation.
The cry of Christ to the thirsty soul is still going forth, and it appeals to us with
even greater power than to those who heard it in the temple on the last day of the
feast. The fountain is open for all. The weary and exhausted ones are offered the
refreshing draught of eternal life. Jesus is still crying, “If any man thirst, let him
come unto me, and drink.” “Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely” (
Revelation 22:17
). “Whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall
be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (
John 4:14
).—
The
Desire of Ages, 454
.
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