Rivers of Living Water – Being a Pilgrim

“Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him. When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.”
John 7:44-46 NLT

The Temple guards had a dilemma. They had been sent to arrest Jesus, but they had no legal mandate to do so, other than the instructions of the religious leaders. But in Jesus’ presence they were overcome by His gracious and life-giving words, in some way touched by God. I picture a group of the senior clerics, the leading priests and the Pharisees, meeting together, and deciding to send the guards to arrest Jesus. So, the guards were called in and given their instructions. Off they went and found Jesus in the Temple teaching the people. He wouldn’t have been hard to find, because of the crowd who were probably standing there silently and listening to what Jesus had to say. In other places in the Gospels we read about how Jesus spoke with an authority they had never experienced from their own teachers. But the guards paused for a few moments, taking in the scene and starting to listen to Jesus as well. Mesmerised, they forgot their mission, and when the session came to a natural end, they returned to the meeting of clerics without Jesus. I wonder why they returned, but I suppose they had to report back to their employers. I also wonder what story they started to form in their minds to excuse their lack of action? But in reply to the question, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” they replied, “We have never heard anyone speak like this!”.

In the Temple, Jesus was communicating God’s message to His people. This was a brave thing to do because the religious leaders claimed that right for themselves, but early on in His mission, Jesus came up against the traditional religious environment of His day. His message was forgiveness and life, much more attractive than the Pharisaical message of laws and rules. He performed miracles and signs, and gave the glory to God, who subsequently touched those Temple guards with a message of hope and a future with Him. More than anyone else, those guards would have been well aware of the hypocrisy in the religious lives of their leaders, so it is no wonder that they were refreshed by an encounter with Jesus.

We pilgrims can have such an encounter with our Lord and Saviour at any time, through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. But we too must beware of becoming fixed and hypocritical in our faith. We worship the living God, who has made available to us the “living water” Jesus offered to the temple crowd that day at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles. We drink at every opportunity, so that the water of life will flow around us and touch all the sceptics in the “crowd”, with God’s gracious words of forgiveness and life.

Dear Heavenly Father. We thank You for the water of life that perpetually pours from Your throne in rivers of blessing. We praise You today. Amen.

“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.”
Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT

Just a few verses before in Revelation 22, Jesus had given John an invitation. He said, “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.” (‭‭Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭12). And now the invitation rings out again. Loud and clear. There can be no excuse that people never heard it. After Jesus it is the turn of the Holy Spirit to say, “Come!”. And just to make sure, the bride also says, “Come!”. Of course, we know that the bride is the church – we have read much about the Bride of Christ in previous Revelation Scriptures. So we have an alliance, a partnership, between the Holy Spirit and the Church; an invitation from Spirit-filled churches is powerful. And the next invitation in verse 17 is from all who hear the “Come” and repeat it to those around them.

But those who respond to the invitation have to be thirsty. And the thirst must relate to the “water of life”, freely given by our wonderfully generous God. This “water of life” is the same drink Jesus promised the woman at the well. He said in John 4:14, “But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” Jesus gave the invitation again in John 7:37-38, “On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart’””. The invitation is there to be accepted. But as the old saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink”. Unless people are thirsty for this living water promised by Jesus, they won’t drink it. They prefer the worldly drinks, even as the woman at the well discovered, finding out that anything of the world never satisfies and leads to a life of enslavement to drudgery.

Verse 17 in Revelation 22 starts with “The Spirit and the bride”. Notice that it is not the church on its own extending the invitation. Neither is it the Holy Spirit who is just saying “Come”. It is a joint invitation from the Holy Spirit and the Church. This may be an obvious point, but without the Holy Spirit, a church cannot effectively ask people to come and drink of the living water offered by Jesus. This is a because a church without the Holy Spirit won’t have a supply of living water. It will be as dry and arid as any natural desert. Sadly, the Holy Spirit left many churches long ago, but the dwindling and elderly congregations are still offering what they don’t have. And those in the world find out that there is nothing there for them. Perhaps all churches should ask themselves the question, “Would we know if the Holy Spirit left us?” The answer to that question could fill a book on its own.

So we pilgrims, those of us who have already responded to the invitation to “Come”, who are already drinking of the life-giving water, must extend the invitation to those around us. There are plenty of thirsty people around – I meet some every day on my morning prayer walks. We pray for the opportunity to connect people’s spiritual thirst with the life-giving water. Only Jesus can turn on the tap. And only people can propagate the “Rivers of living water” that flow from God’s throne.

Dear Father God. We pray for a fresh filling of Your Holy Spirit today. We know You have more than enough living water to quench our thirsts. We are so grateful. Amen.