Three times a year the Jews were required to come to Jerusalem for religious purposes. The Feast of Tabernacles was the last gathering of the year. The harvest had been gathered from the valleys and plains of Palestine. The olives had been picked and pressed for their oil. The palm trees had yielded their fruits. The people had trodden the purple clusters of the vine in the wine press.3TC 289.2

The feast continued for seven days, and the inhabitants of Palestine, with many from other lands, came to Jerusalem to celebrate it. Old and young, rich and poor, all brought some gift as an offering of thanksgiving to Him who had crowned the year with His goodness. The people brought from the woods everything that could give expression to the universal joy. The city resembled a beautiful forest.3TC 289.3

The feast was not only the harvest thanksgiving but the memorial of God’s care over Israel in the wilderness. To commemorate their tent life, during the feast the Israelites lived in tabernacles, or shelters, of green branches set up in the streets, in the courts of the temple, or on the housetops. The hills and valleys surrounding Jerusalem were dotted with these leafy dwellings. With sacred song and thanksgiving the worshipers celebrated this occasion.3TC 290.1

A little before the feast was the Day of Atonement, when the people were declared to be at peace with Heaven. “O give thanks to the Lord ... For His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 106:1) rose triumphantly, while all kinds of music accompanied the united singing.3TC 290.2

The temple was the center of the universal joy. On either side of the sacred building’s white marble steps, the Levite choir led the service of song. Voices near and far took up the melody until the encircling hills rang with praise.3TC 290.3

At night the temple blazed with artificial light. The music, the waving of palm branches, the great gathering of people with the light streaming over them from the hanging lamps, and the majesty of the ceremonies deeply impressed the onlookers. But the most impressive ceremony was one that commemorated an event in the wilderness journey.3TC 290.4

At dawn the priests sounded a long blast on their silver trumpets, and the glad shouts of the people from their shelters welcomed the festal day. Then the priest dipped a container of water from the flowing waters of the Brook Kidron. Lifting it to his shoulder, while the trumpets were sounding, he went up the broad steps of the temple, keeping time with the music with a slow and measured step.3TC 290.5

At the altar in the court of the priests, there were two silver basins. The priest poured the water into one, and a similar amount of wine was poured into the other, and the contents of both flowed into the Kidron and on to the Dead Sea. This consecrated water represented the fountain that gushed from the rock at God’s command to quench the thirst of the children of Israel.3TC 290.6

As the sons of Joseph made their preparations to attend the feast, they saw that Christ gave no sign that He intended to go. Since the healing at Bethesda, He had not attended the national gatherings. To avoid useless conflict at Jerusalem, He had been working only in Galilee. His apparent neglect of the great religious assemblies and the hatred shown Him by the priests and rabbis perplexed even His own disciples and His family. In His teachings He presented the blessings of obedience, yet He Himself seemed indifferent to the service that God had established.3TC 290.7

He mingled with tax collectors, disregarded rabbinical observances, and freely set aside traditional requirements concerning the Sabbath—all these seemed to place Him in conflict with the religious authorities. His brothers thought it was a mistake to alienate the great and scholarly men of the nation. They felt that these men must be in the right. But they had witnessed Jesus’ blameless life, and His works had deeply impressed them. They still hoped He would lead the Pharisees to see that He was the Messiah, the Prince of Israel! They cherished this thought with proud satisfaction.3TC 291.1

They were so anxious about this that they urged Christ to go to Jerusalem. “Depart from here,” they said, “and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” If He knew He was the Messiah, why this strange reserve? Why not go boldly to Jerusalem and perform the wonderful works reported about Him in Galilee? Do not hide in secluded provinces, they said. Present yourself at the capital, win the support of the priests and rulers, and establish the new kingdom.3TC 291.2

Selfish Motives Exposed

These brothers of Jesus reasoned from the selfish motive of people who long for attention. “Then Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time is not yet fully come.’ When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.” His brothers had spoken to Him in a tone of authority.3TC 291.3

He threw their rebuke back to them, not classing them with His self-denying disciples but with the world. The world does not hate those who are like it in spirit. It loves them as its own.3TC 292.1

Christ was not to be presumptuous, not to rush into danger, not to hurry a crisis. He knew that He was going to receive the world’s hatred; He knew that His work would result in His death. But to expose Himself to danger prematurely would not be the will of His Father.3TC 292.2

Many from all parts of the world had come to the Feast of Tabernacles in hopes of seeing Christ. The Pharisees and rulers looked for Him, hoping for an opportunity to condemn Him. They anxiously inquired, “Where is He?” but no one knew. None dared acknowledge Him as the Messiah, but everywhere there was quiet, earnest discussion concerning Him. Many defended Him as one sent from God, while others denounced Him as a deceiver.3TC 292.3

Meanwhile Jesus quietly arrived at Jerusalem by a less-traveled route. If He had joined the caravans, this would have attracted public attention to Him, and a popular demonstration would have stirred up the authorities against Him.3TC 292.4

In the middle of the feast, He entered the temple courtyard in the presence of the crowds. People had been saying that He did not dare to place Himself in the power of the priests and rulers. Everyone was surprised at His presence. Every voice was hushed.3TC 292.5

Standing there as the center of attraction to that vast assembly, Jesus spoke to them as no man had ever done. His words showed that He knew the sacrificial service and the teachings of the prophets far better than the priests and rabbis did. As one who saw the Unseen, He spoke with positive authority about both earthly and heavenly things. As at Capernaum, the people were astonished at His teaching, “for His word was with authority.” Luke 4:32. He made every possible effort to bring them to repentance. He did not want to be rejected and murdered by His own nation if He could save them from the guilt of such a deed.3TC 292.6

The question passed from one to another, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” Both Jesus and John the Baptist had been described as ignorant because they had not received training in the rabbinical schools. Those who heard them were astonished at their knowledge of the Scriptures, but the God of heaven was their teacher. As Jesus spoke in the temple courtyard, His words held the people spellbound. Those who were most violent against Him felt powerless to do Him harm.3TC 292.7

Weariness of the Worshipers Recognized

On the morning of the last day of the feast, the people were tired from the long festivity. Suddenly Jesus lifted up His voice: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” The people had participated in a continued scene of pomp and festivity, their eyes dazzled with light and color and their ears filled with the richest music, but there had been nothing to meet the wants of the spirit, nothing to satisfy the thirst of the soul.3TC 293.1

That morning the priest had performed the ceremony commemorating the time that Moses struck the rock in the wilderness. That rock symbolized Him who by His death would cause living streams of salvation to flow. There in the presence of the multitude Christ set Himself apart to be struck, so that the Water of Life could flow to the world. As Jesus spoke, their hearts thrilled with a strange awe. Many were ready to exclaim, with the woman of Samaria, “Give me this water, that I may not thirst.” John 4:15.3TC 293.2

Many who heard Jesus were mourning over disappointed hopes, nourishing a secret grief, or seeking to satisfy their restless longing with the things of the world, but among the glitter of the joyful scene they stood dissatisfied and sad. That sudden cry, “If anyone thirsts,” startled them, and as they listened to the words that followed, their minds lit up with a new hope. In the symbol before them they saw the offer of the priceless gift of salvation.3TC 293.3

The cry of Christ to the thirsty ones is still going out, and it appeals to us with even greater power than to those who heard it in the temple on the last day of the feast. “Let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17.3TC 293.4

Who Is the Greatest?

Among Snares