The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (also called the Feast of Booths) is a seven-day celebration of the harvest, somewhat similar to our Thanksgiving holiday. During this festival in the first century, the priest would pour water into a basin and allow the water to overflow. This act symbolically asked God to send abundant rains. It also invited God’s Spirit to flow through the people. The belief in a prophecy from Ezekiel 47 led the Jews to an annual expectation that a “river of life” would flow from Jerusalem, a stream that would begin during the Feast of Tabernacles.
Jesus says that thirsty people should come to Him to drink. If they do, then streams of living water will flow in them. He uses the imagery from the festival along with the prophetic expectation from Ezekiel and tells the people, “Hey, that’s like me. If you believe in me you’ll always have enough to satisfy you.” While some people thought Jesus was crazy, others recognized Him for who He was: the Messiah!
Sometimes I feel empty, anguished, spent, lost, dry, parched, and with nothing left to give. I’m spiritually thirsty. Jesus says, “Come here and drink.” Jesus says that “anyone who is thirsty” should come. He means me. He means you, too.
Are you satisfied in your relationship with God? Do you long for more? Do you think there might be more to life than what you currently experience? You might be very thirsty. You might long for the life of the Spirit to flow in and through you. When the Jews expected the prophecy of a flowing river to come to them, Jesus declared, “That prophecy is true. It is fulfilled. It is found in me. Come and drink.”