If any man thirst

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

John 7:37

It was the Fall feasts and the whole nation of Israel was gathered at Jerusalem. Having observed the Feast of Trumpets and Atonement in the last two weeks, the Fall feasts was drawing to a close with the Feast of Tabernacles. On the last day, the Levites were at the Pool of Siloam -- the only pool in the city with living waters. They drew the water into a golden goblet and brought it up to the temple, pouring it into one of the two silver basins adjoining the altar; and in the other basin, they poured wine. As the procession went on, the Jews were chanting from Isa 12, a commeoration of water being drawn from the rock as the nation of Israel wandered through the desert.

And as they chanted "with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isa 12:3), Jesus stood up in the midst of the people, and cried, saying "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink".

And as they chanted "God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation" (Isa 12:2), little did they know, the one standing in their midst was truly their salvation incarnate! And the Jews chanted "Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee" (Isa 12:6) -- and it was true - the Holy One of Israel was right there in Zion, in their midst!

As the choir sang the hallel from Psalm 118, they would have come across "the LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation" (v14), "I will praise you, for you have heard me, and are become my salvation" (v21), and yet when their salvation stood in their midst, and they did not recognize the significance of that moment.

The one whom they have been longing for and singing about was standing in their midst, and they did not see! Moses wrote "the LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation" (Ex 15:2). The Law (Torah), the Prophets, and the Psalms all proclaimed God's salvation, and year after year, God had the nation of Israel to rehearse the feasts, so they would remember His promises and at the coming of His anointed, they would truly sing and shout.

Pray for the nation of Israel. That they may receive the Spirit of God and thirst no more.

Grace at its end

Almost 200 years after Israel was scattered by the Assyrians (722/721 BC), Daniel stood in a faraway land and cried out unto the LORD. Confessing the sins of his people, he pleaded with the LORD for His mercy and lovingkindness. Remembering how his people, from both the house of Judah and the house of Israel were scattered throughout the nations, he supplicated (Dan 9:7):

"O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day;to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee."

It was in response to Daniel's intercession that the arch-angel Gabriel responded thus: "seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city..." (Dan 9:24). i.e. God is promising Daniel that there is an end to the scattering of his people, and He will bring Israel back into Jerusalem -- however, this would be at His appointed time -- "the time of the end".

Therefore when we see the Jews re-gathered in Israel, we are to know the parable of the fig tree - and the fig tree has been symbolic of the nation of Israel. Jesus says when you see the fig tree putting forth leaves, you should know that summer is nigh, that "this generation [genea] shall not pass away until all these things are fulfilled".

Many interpret Jesus to mean "this age shall not pass away". But in Matthew 28:20, Jesus says, "Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age/world [aeon]" - therefore, seeing the difference between genea and aeon, we know that Jesus literally refers to the [physical, human] generation witnessing the fig tree putting leaves. i.e. the generation which witnesses the re-birth of Israel and the Jews re-gathered in Jerusalem is "this generation" which will not pass away until all the signs in Matt 24 are fulfilled.

In Romans 11, Paul states that the "blindness [of the Jews] in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Rom 11:25). i.e. when the fulness of the Gentiles is come, the blindness of the Jews wil be lifted, and they will finally understand Jesus is the Messiah.

Standing by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus invited the disciples to drop their nets and join Him to become "fishers of men". However, a fishing ban has been imposed in Galilee since March 2010 because of the rapid depletion of fish. The quantity of fish has fallen below replacement level, and this has never happened before.

Perhaps, this is God's way of hinting that the "fulness of the Gentiles" is drawing near -- and along with that, we shall expect to see the remainder of the signs in Matthew 24 to be played out in full - for verily, the Lord has said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away".

Psalm 90:10 says "the days of our years are threescore years and ten" - if a generation is 70 years, then we are 7 years away from the 70th anniversary of Israel's rebirth. The days of Grace are at its end. Let us join the psalmist also, saying "Who knows the power of your anger? even according to your fear, so is your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (90:11-12)

References

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135666

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7548606/Fishing-banned-on-the-Sea-of-Galilee.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8675076.stm