GOD'S INTENT TO BLESS
#19 GOD’S INTENT TO BLESS
Scripture John 7:37-39; Acts 2:1-4 NIV Orig. 4/5/64 (5/79)
Rewr. 3/3/87
Passage: John 7:37-39 NIV 37 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. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[a] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Acts 2:1-4 NIV When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
Purpose: To remind us that we are God’s people, and that it is His intent to bless in His purpose and by His presence.
Keywords: Christ Death Faith Sovereign God Revival Holy Spirit
Introduction
The presence of God never comes by accident. We never perceive Him under conditions that He did not intend.
If Jesus went through those times when he did not perceive God’s presence, and He did, then the chances are that we will also. Gethsemane suggests this aloneness that Jesus felt. Luke 22:44 “Being in agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat were as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Later, on the cross He would experience more, with greater eagerness to pray. Mark 15:34 “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
The scripture gave prophetic utterance that it would be so. That such a feeling of aloneness would occupy Jesus before His death. Isaiah 63:3 “I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me.”
The theme of “aloneness” of Jesus would occupy some of the New Testament writers. I Peter 2:24 “Who His own self bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed.”
Though Jesus was forced to endure such separation, He was never out of the mandate of God’s caring. As believers, nor are we. The times when we feel so, are in reality times when He would magnify both purpose and presence in our lives. Consider what Jesus truly endured at Calvary. His followers scattered into the night. One had denied even knowing Him. Another had been instrumental in his arrest. The religious people of Judea clamored for His blood. Roman soldiers perceived His mortality as a cat and mouse game with Him as the victim. In 1868 Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane wrote the hymn, “There Were Ninety and Nine”:
“But none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed,
Or how dark was the night that the Lord passed through ere He found His sheep that was lost.
Out in the desert He heard its cry, sick and helpless, and ready to die.
Lord, where are these blood drops all the way, that mark out the mountain track?
They are shed for one who had gone astray, ere the Shepherd could bring him back.
Lord, whence are thy hands so rent and torn? They’re pierced tonight by many a thorn.”
In the midst of such agony of aloneness, God used the faith of a dying thief to bolster the dying Saviour. A revolutionary, a convicted felon, is remembered now as the one who brought the healing balm of faith to the festering wounds of Jesus.
I. To Bless by His Purpose. V37 “In the first day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’”
We cannot separate this even from Jesus’ death. John 7:6 “Therefore Jesus told them, ‘the right time for me has not yet come.’” This is about opportunity, intervention, and destiny. V7:30 John: “His hour was not yet come;’ v33 Jesus: “I go unto Him that sent me”; v39 John “Jesus was not yet glorified.” God’s glory is manifest when one performs service of honor in His name. What greater service than giving of one’s life.
Now Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Late October was the harvest festival. The last day was reserved for a special ceremony. Water, symbolizing the life of the harvest, had been brought in a golden vessel from the pool of Siloam. As it was poured out, it was accompanied by an ecstatic burst of Levitical trumpets. Of all God’s blessings at harvest, the longing for Messiah is keenly felt in such a celebration. There is a sudden pause of stillness and silence. In this climactic void, Jesus speaks, “If anyone thirsts, . . . come unto me and drink.”
The interpretation is easy. Without water from heaven, there would be no harvest. Without the effusion of Christ’s presence, an exceeding spiritual drought is evident. Out of Jesus, says the text, do these waters come forth. The Holy Spirit is not yet given. But Jesus entrusts to us the sharing of these waters of life. John 14:12 “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works.”
II. To Bless by His Presence. Acts 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” First, a clarification. We must let Luke speak God’s message for us here. The text speaks of “other” languages, not “strange, unknown” ones.
Scripture defines the “unknown” tongue of the Corinthian church. I Corinthians 14:39 “Thou shalt not forbid to speak in tongues.” The text here speaks otherwise. Acts 2:1 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord in one place.” The Holy Spirit was working. This day constitutes God’s empowering of believers to communicate the Gospel.
The performance of God’s presence is manifest through three quintessential steps in believers.
Step number one is repentance. One becomes concerned about sin when we perceive it contrary to our good. More than regret. More than fear of consequences. Rather, anguish that one’s life is out-of-step with God’s plan. Psalms 51: “Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight.
Step number two is the step of believing, faithing Christ as Lord and Saviour. This is an intellectual faith, but not that only. II Timothy 1:12 “. . . for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” What we believe is secondary to in whom.
Faithing Christ is commitment in Him, surrender to Him, being changed by Him. John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” Not “all” without exception, rather “all” without distinction. It is the work of Christ. It is the work of Christ alone. But we are encouragers not discouragers of seekers. “Out of his belly flowed rivers.”
Step number three is that we are the “rapids” through which those waters move out to bless humanity. Thus, in this melding of repentance and faith, the new ground is broken in which the Holy Spirit works. John 14:23 “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:26 “. . . the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and will bring all things to your remembrance.”
When next you come upon a windmill, watch it closely. See if you can see the source of its energy. Look good for pulleys and gears. They are not there. But you can see the result of the wind’s intractable presence. As the blades turn, life-giving water is pumped where it is needed. So with the Holy Spirit. As we believe, and allow the living waters to be manifest in us, others come to be blessed by these waters.
Conclusion
When the Passion Play first began to be performed, the lead was played by Anton Lang. It was early suggested that a papier-mache cross be devised instead of the heavy wooden timbers. Night after night, a “real” cross would be too much. He refused, demanding, “Unless I feel the weight of the cross, I cannot play the role.” Too often we pursue the easy, convenient way to live as believers, a way more contemporary, more tasteful. We are looking for papier-mache crosses. The Holy Spirit has come to make the purpose and the presence of God a blessing: A blessing to us, and to those around us. There is no second-hand, less demanding Holy Spirit.