Experiencing Christ Teachings

God ordained this feast of Tabernacles so that the children of Israel would remember how their fathers, while wandering in the wilderness, lived in tents (Lev. 23:39-43) with the expectation of entering into the rest of the good land. Hence, this feast is also a reminder that people today are still in the wilderness and need to enter into the rest of the New Jerusalem, which is the eternal tabernacle (Rev. 21:2-3). While the people were being dismissed on the last day of the feast, the Lord stood up and cried, “If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink” (7:37). The people were not satisfied. The things that they were enjoying during the past seven days had failed to quench their thirst. If they would come and drink of Christ, they would have rivers of living water flowing out from within their innermost being. The living water is the Holy Spirit who will flow out of the smitten rock...

If you see the thought concerning these two feasts, you will see the two phases of man’s condition and the two aspects of Christ as our supply of life. On one hand, He is the bread of life while we are laboring; on the other hand, He supplies us with the living water while we are resting. Once you see this thought, you will understand the whole of John 7. Although it is a long chapter, it is brief in thought. The thought is that when you have succeeded in all of your achievements, when you have enjoyed all of your possessions, when you have rejoiced in all of your best circumstances, you will then realize that your thirst has not been quenched. Nothing is adequate to quench your thirst. Only the Lord can quench your thirst by affording you the living water.

CHRIST BRINGING THE FLOW OF LIVING WATER TO QUENCH OUR THIRST.

Now in chapter seven we come to the sixth case—the need of the thirsty. This case is in contrast with the fifth case, the need of the hungry. In the previous case the Lord is clearly revealed as the bread of life to satisfy our hunger, but in this case the Lord brings the flow of living water to quench our thirst. In the fifth case the people are hungry, but in the sixth case they are thirsty. The fifth case presents the living bread, and the sixth case introduces the living water. The bread of life is for hungry people, and the rivers of living water are for thirsty people. For the thirsty, Christ is the quenching life. He is the very life that is able to quench man’s thirst.

The Word is outside of us. When I receive the Word into me, it immediately becomes the Spirit. When I speak the Word out, the Spirit once again becomes the Word. When you receive the Word into you, the Word becomes the Spirit once more, and when you speak the Word out, it becomes the Spirit again.

When we receive the Word in spirit, we are receiving Christ Himself as the abundant supply of life. Now, day by day, we are participating in this wonderful, resurrected Christ as our food, life, and life-supply. He is the Spirit that gives life and He is the Word of life

We have been regenerated and, day by day, we may contact the Lord, the living Spirit, for our satisfaction. In addition to this, we need healing. We are all sick, Fragile and dying people. We are fallen people, weak and fragile, who are dying and who need the Lord’s healing. If you have the healing of the Lord Jesus, your dying will become living. How do we tap into life in an overcoming Way? We need to be sensitive and responsive to the spirit’s working towards our need of healing through his word. He sends His Word and Heals Our Spiritual, Mental, Emotional and Physical Diseases

We have seen that incarnation is the first step and that crucifixion is the second. Resurrection is the third step by which the Lord has made Himself available as our life. the Lord had to be resurrected that He might abide in us as our life and life supply. The Lord could not have abode in us before His resurrection. He could only abide in us after His resurrection. Thus, John 6 verse 56 indicates that He was going to be resurrected and become the indwelling Spirit.

In verses 22 through 31 we find the seekers after the perishing food. They were seeking satisfaction. Regardless of the kind of food people are seeking, they all are seeking satisfaction. These people were trying to do something and to work for God. They were also seeking for signs and miracles. The concept of fallen man toward God is always that he must do something for God and work for God

We live in a troubled world. The world is altogether troublesome. Family life, school life, and every type of occupation—all are troublesome. Who is at peace—the president, the Rich, the Royal ones? No one is at peace. Regardless of whom you are, you are troubled. We all have troubles. We all Need the Peace Giving Christ to Enter into our Troubled Small world

It is interesting to note that the five barley loaves and two fishes came from a small boy, not a big man. This is very meaningful, because the Lord wants to indicate to us that He is our life, not as someone big, but as someone small. Both barley loaves and fishes are small items, signifying the smallness of Christ as the life supply to us

In Genesis 2:9, Christ was typified by the tree of life. The tree of life, belonging to the vegetable life, is good for producing and generating, but has no blood for redeeming. At the time of Genesis 2, man was not yet involved with sin and thus had no need for redemption. However, in Genesis 3 man fell. Immediately after man’s fall, God came in to deal with that fall by slaying sacrificial lambs to redeem Adam and Eve and to make coats of skins to cover their nakedness (Gen. 3:21). Thus, the vegetable life itself is no longer adequate for fallen man; there is the need of the animal life.