THE LAST GREAT
DAY
This is a high day. It has come to be known as the last great day of the
feast but it is actually a separate holy day making up the last of the seven
annual Holy days commanded by Yahweh. It is a bittersweet day full of memories
of the beautiful festival time that we have all shared. But it is a sad day as
we face going back into the world and leaving our beloved brothers and sisters
for another year. The past seven days have been a time of refuelling
spiritually and physically. It has given us a brief foretaste of the time when
we will all be in Yahweh's kingdom together for all eternity.
There is deep symbolism in this day that means a great deal to us as
Yahweh's people. This is the day of the pouring out of water. This pouring of
water ceremony is not listed with the other rituals surrounding this holy time
in Lev.23.36 It is believed to have
begun at the time of Hezekiah who was one of the good kings of Judah. Since it
is not one of the original commands should we really take notice of it? Yahshua
did and since He is our example we should also hear what He had to say on this
last great day concerning water and what it means to us.
Before we do that lets
investigate how this ceremony was carried out. On this day the priest would
draw water from the pool of Siloam which flowed under the temple mount and
solemnly poured it onto the altar. This water was brought in gold containers to
the sounds of great jubilation and the sounding of trumpets that would cease as
he poured the water. Following this pouring out, the words of
Is. 12:2-6
would be sung. "Behold, Elohim is my salvation; I will trust, and will not
be afraid; for Yahweh ELOHIM is my strength and my song, and he has become my
salvation." 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4
And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to Yahweh, call upon his
name; make known his deeds among the nations, proclaim that his name is
exalted. 5 "Sing praises to Yahweh, for he has done gloriously; let
this be known in all the earth. 6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of
Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."
The word “WELL” above is from the Hebrew Mahyawn It means
spring or fountain. Something to take note of here is that the pool of Siloam
was fed by a spring or fountain. This has great meaning as we will see soon. It
was after this pouring out ceremony that Yahshua stood up and declared; John 7:37 "If any one thirst, let
him come to me and drink. Just what
did He mean by this statement? To begin to understand lets turn to John 4:7-14 The woman didn't understand what Yahshua was talking about. We
need have no doubt as to what He meant.
John 7:38-39 He who believes in me,
as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living
water.’" Now this he said about
the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the
Spirit had not been given, because Yahshua
was not yet glorified.”
This water springing up to eternal life is the Holy Spirit
that Yahweh has given us. Why the analogy of water? There are two things that
are the mainstay of physical life; food and water. Without these two things we
would not survive. We would soon become weak and vulnerable to all kinds of
illness as our immune system weakens. We would soon die. This is the very same
as our spiritual life. We need food and water to survive spiritually. Lets
understand fully what this means.
Yahweh and Yahshua live on the spiritual plain. They have
provided the things we need to live and survive on the physical plain and they
have also provided the things we need to live and survive on the spiritual
plain. They use things that we can identify with to teach us. Lets turn to;
Deuteronomy 8:3 And he
humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know,
nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live
by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth
of Yahweh.
Yahshua repeated this scripture to satan when He was being
tempted after His baptism by John.
Matthew 4:4 Now
we can begin to see that everything about Yahweh's plan of salvation centres
directly on Yahshua. John 14:6 Yahshua said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the
life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. Yahshua is called the Word in the
evangel of John and also in
Revelation 19:13
Let's now begin to connect these scriptures and understand
the true food and water that we need.
John 6:32-37 & John 6: 48-50
Yahshua lived in this body of flesh that He is talking about
and gave up this life for us. He died in the flesh that we might eat of the
spiritual bread that He provides as a resurrected almighty glorious spirit
being. The bread that He mentioned is the word of His Father Yahweh that he
brought to this earth and that He imparts to us through the Holy Spirit.
Lets return now to the scripture John 7:37-39 and Is.12:2-6 and comprehend the great meaning that is in
the water that Yahshua is talking about. The Hebrew for the word “Well” in Isaiah is “mahyawn” As we saw before it means Spring or fountain. In John 4:14 the Greek word spring in the
RSV and well in the KJV is “Paygay”
It means the same as the Hebrew, a spring or fountain. These words are a great
help to us in understanding how this spring of living water works. The well that
the woman was drawing water from was a cistern type well. These wells depend on
runoff water or water from an underground stream below the surface of the
earth. These wells and underground streams depend on surface water for
replenishing the supply. If they are not replenished in this way they will dry
up and be worthless.
It is this way with us. We need constant replenishing from
water in order to survive physically. This is what Yahshua meant. But now He
offers us living water that will spring up to eternal life. He used the term
spring and it has great meaning. A spring of water does not depend on surface
water or runoff water to keep it flowing. A spring has its source deep within
the earth. It is clean and fresh and some springs have been running for
hundreds and even thousands of years. They are constant in quality.
The living water of the Holy Spirit that Yahshua spoke about is this
same way. When we drink water we will soon need more. It will be as if we had
never had water before because our system has used it until it is depleted
causing us to thirst again. Its effects are temporary and must be constantly
replenished. This is water from an outside source. When we drink of the living
water of the Holy Spirit we will never thirst again. It's source is from deep
within. It depends on no outside source. The Spirit is from Yahweh and it is
constantly refreshing us from within. Once we have it there will be no more
nagging thirst that we cannot quench. Just as a spring can not stay within
itself for long and finally comes streaming to the surface so this living water
will at the return of Yahshua well up in us and spring forth to eternal
life.
You do not have to be rich to afford this food and drink. Isaiah 55:1 "Ho, every one 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. 2 Why do you spend your
money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not
satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves
in fatness.
In this life everything is temporal nothing is lasting. We
eat and we are not satisfied for very long until we hunger again. We drink and
it is the same thing. We buy goods and they either wear out or rust or maybe
they are even stolen. Everything in this life has only temporary effects. It
brings only temporary satisfaction. Before we knew Yahweh and Yahshua life was
very unsatisfactory and permanence was lacking from our lives. We all had a
longing that we tried to answer with material and physical things. But the
longing was for something else that we could not identify and nothing could fulfil
us completely.
Psalms 42:1 As a hart longs for flowing streams, so
longs my soul for thee, O Elohim.
Psalms 42:2 My soul thirsts for Elohim, for the
living Elohim. When shall I come and behold the face of Elohim? Psalms 63:1 O Elohim, thou art my Elohim, I seek thee, my soul thirsts for
thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is. Psalms 143:6 I stretch out my hands to thee; my soul thirsts for thee like a
parched land. Selah
We all longed for this same thing even if we did not know it. We got our
first inkling of how this longing would be fulfilled when Yahweh called us to
follow His Son Yahshua. John 6:44
When we answered the call, repented and were immersed into the name of
Yahshua Messiah, Yahweh gave us His gift of the Holy Spirit we had the first
taste of this life giving water. As we studied His word we had our first taste
of the true bread sent from Heaven. This hunger for something and this thirst
for something that would be truly satisfying was fulfilled.
All are born with the seed of
eternity in their minds and hearts. No one wishes to die. Yet from the time we
are born death is a certainty. The bread from Heaven and the living water from the spring of Yahweh's Spirit
reveals to us that this seed can grow and flourish and one day we will hear
these ever so wonderful words; Revelation
21:6 And he said to me, "It is
done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I
will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment. Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the Bride say,
"Come." And let him who hears say, "Come." And let him who
is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.
HalleluYah May Yahweh bless your studies,
Elder Dave Ganton