Jn. 7:39 "But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." (NKJV)
The Feast of Tabernacles was arguably that most important feast in the Jewish calendar year. Even more than at the Passover, Jews from all over the known world streamed into Jerusalem. Distant kin who had not seen each other for years rejoiced in the homecoming. Thanksgiving was offered each night around a huge bonfire lit in the temple precincts. Pilgrims would notice that at night Jerusalem could be seen for miles, a beacon shining in the darkness, a city set on a hill.
Cross posted at Theologica
Central to its theme was that of abundant bounty. The festival of Pentecost, celebrated fifty days (variously computed) after the Passover was the feast of the first harvest of the year. Essential to its meaning was that of "first fruits", God's faithfulness in replenishing the storehouses that were emptied during the long winter season. Tabernacles celebrated the full harvest, the final harvest, and its intent was to focus on how God had abundantly provided for His people.
That is why people slept in tabernacles or tents during the time. By erecting a hut outside their normal quarters they reminded themselves that they had arrived in the promised land with nothing but what they carried from Egypt on their backs. It was a feast of contrasts wherein the Jewish family could sit in their hut and look at the city ablaze with lights and realize just how wonderfully faithful and generous their God had been in providing for them.
The central celebration however was the morning procession. Each morning a priest would leave the temple and grandly proceed in the presence of a large crowd, down to the pool of Siloam. There he would get an urn of water and with great dignity transport it back to the Temple. This was done each day but on the last great day of the Feast, called the day of the Great Alleluia, the High Priest would make the grandest procession of all and the crowd would wave and shout Alleluia - as the "living water" was ceremonially returned to the Temple. It was during this procession that Jesus had stood and proclaimed in a loud voice, presumably distracting people from the procession, and cried "<strong>If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water</strong>." (Jn. 7:37b-38)
It was after Jesus' cry that the verse quoted above is given. John tells us that Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit which would come on all of those who were believing in Him, though He, the Holy Spirit, had not yet been given.
It is my contention in this post that this statement by Jesus cannot be properly understood apart from appreciating the historical context, the Feast of Tabernacles and the part that this Feast played in the whole year long drama of feasts, which formed the God ordained context in which Jesus' and John's words were spoken.
God had told His people "Three times you shall keep a feast to Me during the year." (Exod. 23:14) These feasts were, as mentioned, the feast of unleavened bread (Passover), the feast of harvest or first fruits (Pentecost) and the feast of ingathering (Tabernacles).
These three feasts were always understood as having both immediate and elevated meanings. They were revelational as well as commemorative. The Feast of Tabernacles is explicitly mentioned in Zech. 14 in this regard as will be discussed in a subsequent post. But the point is, these three feast represent an encapsulation of God's decree of salvation. They represent:
(1) His Atoning Salvic work, (Passover) cleansing and purifying a people unto Himself so that He may start them on their journey to His Holy Mountain (Sinai) where they will meet with Him and feast with Him and dwell in His Presence (i.e. the Tabernacle). In the Passover God judges the world and sets apart His people through the shed blood of a lamb applied to the lintels of their heart. Passover celebrates the founding and cleansing of God's People and the initiation of a journey.
(2) The Completion of His First Harvest, (Pentecost) wherein God brings forth the fruits of His long sowing and tilling of the ground and the First Fruit (Jesus) and the First Fruits (His disciples from among the Jews) are harvested. Not that these Jews only will be harvested but that the unique field from which they were harvested, the special vineyard of the Israelite nation, has produced its crop and its time is past. Henceforth the Jews are one of many nations to be tilled for further harvest.
(3) The Final Harvest, yet to be consummated, when the workers refreshed and energized by the fruits of the first harvest see the results of their labors fulfilled and the ultimate ingathering is complete. Here is foretold a time of celebrating God's super-abundant blessing on His people, for those who started a journey with nothing but are now blessed in every conceivable way. When the living waters that have flown out of Jerusalem over the whole earth to irrigate the land have issued forth in fruit which streams back along the course of the water to its source, the City of God, the New Jerusalem whose brightness will shine forth into the darkness forevermore.
In subsequent postings I hope to elaborate on how this revelational content to the three feasts help us to situate our own time in the progress of redemption, how it colors our view of the Church, its powers and its mission, and also help us to understand what John meant and, probably even more controversially, what John did not mean with regard to the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer.
God Helping Us, I will.
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