“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Jesus quoted Isaiah 55… with a twist…

Jesus had gone to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot, (Jn. 7:1-10). This is the 8-day celebration where the Jews would build little shelters and camp in them, remembering how their ancestor Jacob had built little booths for his cattle. It is a harvest festival where special food offerings were brought to the Temple and people would feast and share food with the less fortunate. If Thanksgiving was a week-long camp-out with the whole family, bookended by all day church, that’s kinda Sukkot.

What do we think when a family member won’t come for Thanksgiving? Tabernacles was one of the 3 required feasts for all Jewish men to attend. And Jesus didn’t go with the family. He went secretly.

The last day of the feast…

🤔 One of the all-day-church days?

Yes. It was a solemn assembly at the Temple. They had big celebration. Here is a bit of commentary from David Brown (Jamison, Fausset, and Brown):

In the midst of this water-pouring ceremony…

“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
‭‭John‬ ‭7‬:‭37‬-‭39‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Jesus identifies Himself as the source of Isaiah’s waters. And then He paraphrases a handful of scriptures with “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” It may shock you to know that there is no text in the Bible with this exact quote.

Ezekiel 47:1-12 describes a river issuing from a Temple- a river with supernatural properties that sounds more like the river in Revelation 22:1-2 than the Gihon Spring or any other river in the Bible.

Zechariah 14:4 and following describes the LORD coming to defend Jerusalem and “His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives.” It describes an earthquake so severe that it rearranges the map and then…

“On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.” Zechariah‬ ‭14‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

(Interestingly, the one feast all nations are required to attend after the enthronement of Christ as King of all the Earth… is the feast of Tabernacles, Zechariah 14:16-19.)

But the place in scripture that gets closest to describing living water coming out of a person, is John 4, the woman at the well.

“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”
‭‭John‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

THIS is the living water that Jesus offers on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. And John gives the commentary that this water is the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 55 is an invitation, just like Jesus’ invitation in John, to come to the Lord. He alone has the water that truly satisfies. By verses 10-13 the Word of the Lord is described as water- rain and snow – that waters the earth and makes it fruitful. And when we see thorns and thistles being replaced by lovely trees, that is code for the restoration of Eden. Isaiah is talking about the reversal of the curse that introduced thorns and thistles and death. When Paul quotes Isaiah 55:3 about “the sure mercies of David” when he preaches the Gospel in Antioch of Pisidia (Acts:13:14-41), he takes the passage to be scriptural support for the resurrection of Messiah. It is the resurrection that is ground zero for the restoration of Eden.

Jesus gives the Holy Spirit water that begins with a microscopic restoration in the heart of the individual. Like the mysterious river in Ezekiel, the longer it flows from the inner sanctuary, the deeper it gets. And it brings healing; first to its own banks, then to the whole land.

Maybe it’s something like this:

• Eden on earth with an actual river that divided and grew as it went out.
  • This was lost. Thorns & thistles grow.
• Jesus gives living water (the Holy Spirit) and restores Eden spiritually within the person, little by little.
  • Christ was crowned with thorns- the symbol of the Fall and Curse.
• Future restoration of Eden on earth complete with an actual river that heals the land.
  • Thorns and thistles replaced by fruitful and healing trees again.

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Isaiah 56 – 57

These 2 chapters contrast the foreigners who draw near to Yahweh and the native Israelites who turn away from Him.

Keep in mind that the book of Isaiah will go with the Jews into Babylonian captivity. They will be among Gentiles and some of those Gentiles will want to join them. Many of the Jewish (and other Gentile) men in the captivity will be emasculated and made servants for wealthy Babylonians. They are the outcasts. But Isaiah 56:1-8 has a message of hope and comfort for them: All who truly seek the LORD are welcome. Not outcasts.

But there is another group introduced in 56:9 – 57:13. Greedy. Ruthless. Drunk. Lazy Gluttons. Cold hearted. Mockers. Promiscuous. Perverts. Idolaters.

But it gets worse… They are deep in the occult, participating in child-sacrifice and demonized sexual orgies.

THESE are the “out-casts” in the true sense of the word. They have been projectile-vomited out of the land; cast out. And Yahweh essentially says, You know those idols you worship? Let them help you. Yeah. Good luck with that.

But the eunuchs and the foreigners who take refuge in Yahweh? They will possess the land and inherit the Holy Mountain. The humble, the repentant, the lowly, they will be welcomed back with open arms. Whosoever will.

There is a glimmer of light in the darkness for the nations. Israel who has had the Light has corporately turned away from the Light. But Yahweh is like Motel 6- He’ll leave the light on for ya. He just wants anyone who will to come home.