What Does Jesus Mean By Living Water? | Erik Luchetta and Jeremy Marone

((music playing)) Pastor Jeremy, how you doing? Doing well. Awesome. Well, we're on a new series called What Does That Mean? And uh there's a verse in the Bible where Jesus says that from out of us will flow rivers of living water. What does that mean? Great question. So the river or the river of living water is a reference to the Holy Spirit and it is simply this.

The life of God intended to come to the earth from heaven. The life of God by the spirit through human beings setting the world right which means making the earth reflect heaven. So God's desire is that God would dwell, heaven and earth would be together, would overlap. God would dwell with humankind.

And so we see in this chapter in John 7:37 when Jesus references this idea of rivers of living water coming from us. It means that by the spirit the holy spirit living in us flowing through and out of us into the earth means that we are the place now where heaven and earth come together and god's healing life and abundance comes through us into the world.

Wow. So at [clears throat] the very beginning in the garden, the garden of Eden, God created two human beings, Adam and Eve. And God told them to tend and keep the garden. In that garden was a river that flowed out to all the land. It split off into four rivers and flowed to different parts of the earth as we see the four different rivers.

And the life of God was flowing. That's is its imagery symbolism. The life of God was flowing out of his garden which was the original temple if you want to say it like that is what Jesus is referencing here in John 7 I guess because God lived there correct because God dwelt with man there it was the original temple and out of that temple came a river that gave life and abundance and God's wisdom and love and all of the things that we would expect in God's presence was flowing out of there to the rest of the earth and that was God's plan from the beginning.

The Eden project was the plan where Adam and Eve would take the life of God, dwelling with God, and they would expand it over the whole earth because God dwelt in that garden in a way that he didn't dwell everywhere else on the earth, right? He didn't dwell anywhere else on the earth.

So, they were tasked with expanding that garden. And through humans, their their children, their offspring, their descendants, God's rule would expand through the whole earth. So we see this passage in John 7 as a reference to the followers of Jesus. Those who would give their allegiance to Jesus by the spirit.

They would be filled by the spirit. We would be new temples. We would be a new temple movement. We would essentially pick up the vocation or the calling of Adam and Eve in the garden and we would begin to exercise that in the earth. So you're saying the rivers of living water is basically a reference Jesus is referencing what God's original plan was all along.

And so in that moment he's basically saying the long awaited hope of the world and the long awaited promise in the Old Testament that God would fill and flood the world and begin to heal and repair it is happening and it's happening through people because that living water is coming through us.

That's right. Is that right? That's right. Yeah. God God created a beautiful world. He created a beautiful garden. He gave it to Adam and Eve. He said, "Tend it, keep it, bring order, and expand it." Well, it went sideways uh because of sin, because of corruption. Um they didn't order it.

They didn't keep evil out. They didn't expel the evil one from the garden. And so things went sideways. And because of that, we've seen the fallout. All human beings know it. All human beings know something is wrong in the world. And it should be set right. The question is how?

Yeah, that's the question. Well, we know the how cuz the Bible speaks of the how. And this is John 7. How is God going to restore his good world? How is he going to set everything right? How he's going to make all the wrongs right again? And he's decided from the beginning he wanted to do everything through human beings.

So, as human beings go, so goes the rest of creation, all of the earth. And Jesus is making a really clear connection here between the garden and the original plan of God and this moment. Yeah. So I want to start there. The Eden project has gone sideways. And God chose a family through Abraham, the Israelites.

He chose the Israelite nation to be the people through whom he would set everything right. Well, they didn't do it right. They failed. And then um [clears throat and cough] God chose um a king David to set everything right and that failed. And then we continue on through the prophets and then we it leads up to Jesus.

So you have the original Adam, humankind, Adam. He was chosen to be the one through whom God would bring his will on earth as it is in heaven to make earth reflect heaven. So he chose Adam failed. So he chose Israel. Israel failed. So now Jesus comes to fulfill both of the callings of Israel and Adam simultaneously to fill them full.

And here's what the here's what the people of God at that time, the Israelites, here's what they believed in this day. Jesus in John 7, this is during the festival of Passover, and he stands up and they believed that the last and final day of that festival when the Messiah came, when the one who would restore, when the king would come, who would establish Israel and their rule and God's rule and will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is what they believed. They believed that that Messiah would come and stand on the temple mount in Jerusalem and would declare that now the river of life would come out of this temple. And they literally believed that the foundation stone of the temple would break open and a literal water would come rushing out of this temple and would heal the land.

And so when Jesus in John 7:37 and 38, I want to read it. If you've got your Bible, if you're watching and you have your Bible, John 7:37-38. On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. So if you're if you're an Israelite, if you were a Jewish Jewish person in that day, and you you know the Old Testament well, which would have been custom, oh yeah, they would have read it.

They would have heard it. They would have understood it. They would have assembled around it. They would have known the scriptures. You know exactly what Jesus is referring to. He's referring to the fact that he's the one who would come and restore this river of life. So the river coming out of Eden got distorted and corrupted.

It was supposed to bring life, but instead it went sideways. So Jesus is coming to restore a river. And that's what they were hoping for. That was their hope was that God would come and fix this world. God would come himself. So when Jesus stands up and says, "Let anyone who's thirsty come to me and drink and out of them will flow rivers of living water."

He's standing on the temple mount in that moment and he's declaring I'm the one who you have believed would be here would come. So do you think then but they were expecting that the river would flow out of the physical building the temple. Yes. Right. That's what you said that they were expecting that from even the foundations of the the physical temple that a river would flow from out of it.

But Jesus is saying that the river is going to flow through those who follow him. Right. So it's going to be the river of the spirit. So is that not a physical river? That would that then mean that the people who follow Jesus are the temple? Correct. Because it's supposed to flow out of the temple.

Yep. And so Jesus is ultimately saying then he's announcing a new wherever wherever the river is flowing out of that's the dwelling place of God. Exactly. So we are filled with the spirit. Hence we are the temple and the river flows out from us to heal the world so that the earth reflects heaven.

Exactly. And we see this in in the in the Old Testament in Ezekiel. So at the end of Ezekiel there's about the last eight chapters Ezekiel 40 through48 is a vision that God gives the prophet Ezekiel [clears throat] about a temple. Now let's let's run a little history here. There was an original tabernacle back with Moses that the children of Israel would set up in the desert and then they would tear it down and they would move and they would set it up the presence of God and they would tear it down and they would it was they were nomads essentially and they would just go about um and the temple at that time was a tabernacle that was mobile right and then after King David his son Solomon God said I'm going to build an actual temple and they built a temple in somewhere Around 950 BC, Solomon built a temple to God and that was the place where Israel Israel was the was the envy of the world.

They had God as their king ultimately and his presence would fill this temple and out of that would come life and the nations would flock and they would come see. You know there's a famous story of the queen of Sheba in the Old Testament that came to Solomon and said, "Show me this temple."

She was a very well-known wealthy queen and she came and saw it and and it was if it was as if God revealed to her his majesty and his power and his goodness and his grace and all of that through what Solomon had built and the and the people of Israel.

Well, that temple was ultimately destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. And then the temple was rebuilt some 70 about 100 years later was rebuilt. And now that temple was standing in Jerusalem and that's the temple that Jesus the mount that he's standing on right now. And that's the So that's the temple he's speaking of right there.

Yeah. But the temple that Ezekiel is envisioning in Ezekiel 47 and I'm going to I'm going to read this passage. So the garden was the original temple, the first temple and then they built a physical temple with Solomon and it got destroyed. Then they rebuilt it and now it's the temple that Jesus is standing on the mount of.

Mhm. But the prophetic vision that God gives to Ezekiel in chapters 40-48 does not match this temple that Jesus is standing on. And what's interesting about the the language, the Hebrew language of chapters 40-48 in Ezekiel is that many scholars believe that he's not actually talking about a physical temple.

He's describing in Jewish language what a real true temple would look like. But the imagery is about a people who would be built, not a physical temple. So this is so in other words the the tabernacle with Moses or the temple with Solomon was only pointing towards a greater temple that would come that would not be a physical temple.

Correct. But you're saying Ezekiel saw it as that the temple would be a people. Yes. And here's how he describes it. Basically in in Ezekiel chapter 47, I'm going to read um I'm going to read a couple of verses, but I'm going to describe verses 1-2 in Ezekiel 47.

And basically, God takes him um outside and shows him a river, a river that begins to rise. And this river rises all around Ezekiel. And it rises to his ankles and then to his knees and then to his hips. And it it basically starts taking over the land.

And so he's being shown this imagery of this river that flows even down into in verse 8 of Ezekiel 47, it fl the water flows down even down into Arabah which is essentially the dead sea region which is death itself. So God gives this imagery where the Eden project in in the garden with Adam and Eve went sideways and corruption and death and sin and all of that flooded into the world.

God gave Ezekiel a vision that God's flood of life would come and restore and would push back the flood of sin and corruption and death. And God's flooding river would bring life even down to death itself. So this is a prophetic vision about the coming king, Jesus, the Messiah, who would restore all things through his death and resurrection.

And by the giving of the spirit, a new river would flow through God's people, who would be a new temple. Wow. So here's the way Ezekiel describes what he saw in verse 9. Swarms in Ezekiel 47:9. Here's what Ezekiel describes. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows.

There will be large numbers of fish because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh. So where the river flows, everything will live. Verse 10. Fishermen will stand along the shore from Inggeti to Ingleim. There will be places for the spreading of nets. Now, that's going to be a really important phrase here in just a moment at the end of the book of John.

There will be places where the fishermen will come and they will spread their nets and they will see the life of God through through even the fish in the Dead Sea will come alive. And it says the fish will be of many kinds like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea.

The fish of many kinds. Didn't didn't Jesus say that there would be a kingdom established in Revelation of all nations, tribes, tongues, and people? Wow. Ezekiel is describing a people, not physical fish necessarily, right? Not a physical temple necessarily. He's describing a new people who would be made in the image of God from all nations, all different kinds like the Mediterranean Sea.

He's using fisherman language to describe a reality that would come in the future where God would form a new people, a new temple movement and by his spirit they would be the healing of the nation. So it would extend beyond the Jewish people correct to the nations. So absolutely what Ezekiel is seeing is that all tribes, people and tongue tongues will be a part of this flowing river.

Yes. And that this river then is that those people in a sense are partaking in it and then sharing it. Yes. With the rest of creation, bringing God's healing to the rest of the world. Wow. And these Jewish people, these Israelites that are on the day on on the last and final greatest day of the feast are listening to Jesus say this.

In their minds, they would have been connecting these prophetic visions of the future. And Jesus is saying that future is breaking in right now. Wow. And those wherever the spirit flows, that's where the life is coming from, the true temple. Wow. So he said, you you you believe you believe that this temple mount's going to break open and a re an actual water is going to come out.

And I'm telling you, it's the spirit. I'm telling you, a new people is being formed. And I'm calling you to get on board. I'm calling you to come be a part of this. Now, here's what's wild. That's John 7 at the end, the very last chapter of John.

Jesus has died, has risen from the dead, and is now approaching his disciples again. And in John 21:es 4-6, this is what it says. When the day was now breaking, when the dawn was coming, Jesus stood on the beach. Yet the disciples didn't know it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, "Children, you do not have any fish to eat, do you?"

Now think about Ezekiel 47 that we just read. Even the fish in the Dead Sea would come alive. And the fishermen would go and they would spread their nets and there would be fish of all kind. Children, you don't have any fish, do you? And they answered him, "No."

In verse six, he said to them, "Cast the net on the right hand side of the boat." Right hand in scripture is generally authority, right? Cast your nets on the right hand side of the boat and you will find the fish. Now, after Jesus rises from the dead, John adds this chapter in.

I mean, is he just does he just like the idea of explaining a fish fry that Jesus is having with his disciples? [laughter] Is it like did he throw that in and be like, "And we ate a meal with him and then he ascended to heaven." This is the the coolest um crawfish boil we ever had.

[laughter] No, this is a very distinct moment that Jesus is having with his disciples at the end of John. He's already declared in John 7 that a river would flow and bring life. And now he's saying to them, "Cast your nets." Now, he uses actual fish and actual fishermen to prove a prophetic point from Ezekiel 47.

So, they cast their nets and then they were not able to haul in. It was so such a big hall they weren't able to do it because the great quantity of fish. Jesus is declaring to his disciples, you are now part of this new temple movement and through you the spirit is flowing and God is bringing fish in of all kinds.

Yeah. And it even kind of reminds me of like when God said to Abraham, "Look at the stars of the sky. They're more numerous than you can count. You won't be able to count them." And so Jesus is in a sense saying the same thing. They couldn't haul in all that fish.

Representing the people and the diversity of people who are going to participate in the life of the spirit to bring healing to the world. Wow, that's fantastic. So that's the end of John. So the garden had a river flowing out of it. The temple, the original physical temple in Israel was supposed to be the place where where life flowed out to the nations, but they failed.

Those temples would eventually come down. And then Jesus declares that a new temple, not a physical temple, would be built. And this is 1 Peter 2:9 and 10. This is Peter actually declaring those who are in the kingdom, those who are Jesus people, Messiah people, those who are the living temple are being built up like stones together.

And then in Revelation 22, and again, this is the whole point. From the beginning, God had a project, the Eden project. It went sideways. It got corrupted. But he never abandoned that plan. And from the beginning, God wanted to restore that. He wanted to set the world right.

And he only wanted to set it right through human beings, which was his plan A. And he didn't have a plan B. Yeah. So now he's calling new human beings to come in. And every step of the way, he would call human beings, come be part of this lifegiving project, the the original Eden project.

And humans would fail. and they would fail and they would fail. And then Jesus succeeded and now Jesus is handing off this project to a new group of people from every tribe, tongue, language, and people. And in Revelation 22 verse 1 and 2, it says, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life as clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city."

This is Jewish imagery language saying this river is now flowing and bringing life. And if you read the rest of Revelation 22, you can see it is the restoration. There is a tree there that has 12 fruits for the healing of the nations. And God is saying through a new group of people, I am setting right the world that had gone wrong.

I I am bringing life where there's been death. And that life is flowing even down to the dead sea where those fish will come alive. So what is John what is Jesus saying in John 7? He's saying that God gave a project in the very beginning. It went sideways but he's committed to it and he wants to restore it.

But he wants to restore it through human beings and through Jesus the true human the first one born from the dead. All of us in him are a part of that human temple that new temple movement. and by the spirit, wherever the spirit dwells is of God. And then out of that comes God's life and abundance.

I want to tell a story real quick. Um there was a young man, a a high school um senior and a follower of Jesus and he had gotten he he'd gotten saved and he was so he was so excited about his faith and he wanted to share his faith and so he would pray for all of his friends.

He would pray for healing and he would pray for all these different things. And so, um, he prayed for months and months and months and months and didn't really see a whole lot of movement. Didn't didn't really see healing. Didn't really But he said, "God, I know this is true.

I know that the spirit in me does powerful things. I know that prayer is effective. So, I want to I want to see it. I want to see your kingdom come in the lives of people around me. Miracles and and healings and salvations." So, a buddy of his who was a a close friend of his, a senior in high school, he tore his ACL in his knee.

And he came to him and he said, "I want to pray for you." And he goes, "Man, get out of here with all that Jesus stuff. I I don't need all of that. That's not that's not how my my leg's going to get better. I'm going to have surgery, blah blah."

He said, "No, let me do it." And he goes, "No." And he finally convinced him to let him pray for him. And this is what he said to him. the the the follower of Jesus told his friend, "If if I pray for you and God heals you, you have to follow Jesus."

Wow. That was his ultimatum to him. He literally said it. You have to follow Jesus because you'll know it's true. So, he laid his hands on him and prayed for him. The next morning, his buddy got up and walked downstairs in his own power. He had a torn a torn ACL.

Could barely, he couldn't walk at all. He had to be carried around. He was on crutches. He gets up, no crutches. He walks downstairs. He realizes there's no swelling, there's no pain. And he walks down the stairs of his house by himself and he freaks out. He picks up his phone.

He calls his friend. This is a true story. Calls his friend and he's like, I'm not going to say what he said. [laughter] He basically cussed him out. He was like, "What did you do to me?" And he said, "You ready to follow Jesus?" He said, "My my leg is fine."

A week or two later, he goes back to the doctor. They do another MRI. The doctor goes, "There's not a tear in your ACL." Wow. We don't have to do surgery. And so, anyways, that that testimony is is just it's like the gospels. Jesus would do a miracle and he would say, "Here's the kingdom.

This we're I'm making things right in the earth such that earth reflects heaven. I'm setting right the things that have gone wrong that the world that's been corrupted. But here's the thing. I want to do it through you. I want to do it through you." And so Jesus is saying in John 7 that those who follow him filled by the spirit, the spirit would flow through us.

And whatever the spirit flows through or out of brings life to those around us, to creation, to human beings, God's flourishing and abundance. And so we get to be those people. We literally get to be the ones through whom God restores um and sets the world right. Wow.

That's amazing. Wow. That is amazing. Well, thank you so much. that was uh you know you shared some you and I do a lot of talking you know about scripture but you and I have never really talked along you know that that topic right there in particular where where you went into Ezekiel.

Um that was extremely helpful. So uh thanks so much and you know I look forward to our next time together and uh all the times that we get to share together. Me too. Thanks man. All right see you next time.