Protest, Proclamation, and Debate: How a Dividing Savior Warns and Comforts (John 7:32-52)

This Sunday we continue our study of John 7. We considered last week the way Christ divides. The person and the work of Christ continue to divide humanity. Questions of who he is and whether he is who he claims to be, the Messiah, the Savior, the perfect God-man, are prominent themes in John 7 and today.

The setting for John 7 is the last day, the great day of the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast, also known as the Feast of Ingathering or Booths, lasted eight days. All through the first seven days water from the Pool of Siloam was carried in a golden pitcher and poured out at the altar in the temple to remind everyone of the water God miraculously provided for a thirsty Israel in the wilderness. It seems that on the eighth day there was no pouring of water – only prayers for water – to remind them that they came into the Promised Land. They lived in temporary shelters, booths, for seven days to remind them of their wilderness sojourn, but the eighth day was a holy convocation to the Lord. (See Lev 23:33—44; Deut 16:13—17.)

It is on this last day, the great day of the feast, when there was no pouring of the water, that Jesus stands in the temple area and cries out that if anyone thirsts, they should come to him and drink. He is the source of living water, and he will make living water flow from the hearts of those who come and drink of him. The celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles emphasized how God provided water to Israel in the wilderness on their way to Canaan. Jesus boldly called people to Himself to drink and satisfy their deepest thirst, their spiritual thirst. In preparation for our time together, read John 7. Notice how Christ divides, but how his division is both a source of comfort and anguish depending upon one’s thirst.

Pray for our time together that we would thirst for the living water of Christ the living Word, and his written Word. I look forward to seeing you this Sunday and drinking deeply of the living water that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so abundantly provides.

For His Glory and your joy,
Pastor Rod
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Discussion & Response Questions: John 7:37-39
As the crowds dispute with one another, what does this reveal about their understanding of Jesus’ identity?
How do we know that what Jesus was about to say was of great importance? (v. 37)
What is Important about where he said it?
What is important about when he said it?
What is important about how he said it? (Contrast this to Isaiah 42:2 and the general tone of his ministry.)
What does it mean for one to go to Jesus and drink? How are we to do this?
What does it mean for rivers of living water to flow from someone? Do rivers of living water flow from you? How does this connect to Ezekiel 47?
How does reading Ezekiel 47 and Zechariah 4 and 14 with John 7 help us understand Jesus’s teaching in John 7?
How does John’s explanation in verse 39 help us understand Jesus’ invitation in verses 37-38?
How is the tension resolved between Prophet vs Christ (vv. 40-41), and Galilee vs. Bethlehem (vv. 41-42)?
How do the Pharisees view the crowds in their thinking? Why? (vv. 45-52)
What does this text reveal to us about Jesus?
How should we respond to these truths?