Foreshadowing

John 7:37-38

"37 On the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

    This happened on the last day of the feast of tabernacles- the feast of Sukkot. It was the eighth day of the feast. During the Feast of Tabernacles- or the Feast of Sukkot- the native Israelites live in their Sukkahs in the plains to commemorate the Lord leading them and “tabernacling” among them in the wilderness after they left Egypt. During this feast, there were special sacrifices and offerings to God made with fire. The first day and the eighth day {the last day} were special, however. Both of those days are special Sabbaths and along with the sacrifices made with fire, there was to be spoken a holy convocation o the Lord- This convocation is a speech that is meant to thank the Lord for His abundance and provoke the people to thanksgiving. Of course part of any Sabbath, there is not to be any “customary” work done. {See Leviticus 23:34-36}.  

    There are several poignant lessons from this simple verse in John 7 so we will examine them one at a time.

 First, we know that Jesus himself was born on the first day of the feast of Tabernacles according to Luke 2 {See the truth about Christmas video series from Water, Wind, Wine Ministries for more info}. On that day, we also know that there were angels - a Heavenly Host- that announced the goodness of God toward men and provoked men to be thankful for the salvation of the Lord- This was God’s way of participating in the Feast of Sukkot- He gave the best Holy convocation on that day just like He instructed Israel to do in Leviticus 23! 

    Fast forward thirty years and we see our Lord Jesus standing up in Jerusalem beckoning all of those who thirst to come to Him. He also makes the promise of the Holy Spirit to those who take Him up on His offer. Essentially, it is God who is offering to His people instead of the other way around. John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize us with fire; ie The Holy Spirit {John 2:33 & Luke 16}. So on this last day - the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus is fulfilling the command in Leviticus by offering the sacrifice of fire and orating the Holy Convocation that proclaims the goodness of God and provokes God’s people to turn to him and be thankful toward Him! God provided His own sacrifice in the person of Jesus and this sacrifice was made with the fire of the Holy Spirit!

    The Old Testament is full of foreshadowing of things that would happen in the age we now live in- the church age- just as the church age is full of foreshadowing of the good things to come during the millennial reign!

    This is why the little statement “on the last day, that great day of the feast” is included in John 3:37- so that we might see that after we offer all we can offer as sacrifices, we see that those are nothing compared to what God has offered! 

    In this lesson, it was my intent to make two points to you. First, that there are no words at all in the Bible that are placed there arbitrarily by God- they all mean something. Second, that God always does what he requires and expects from us so that we may rest in the fact that we have a God who we can relate to because He can relate to us! He is always with us, no matter where we go,- He is very close to us!