34 “You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.”
35 The Jews then said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He?
36 “What is this statement that He said, ‘You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come’?”
37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'”
39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:32-39.
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There are three things that I want to cover in this Scripture.
First, I want to cover the contrast between the reprobates and the elect.
Although in a sense, Scripture tells us that in our total depraved condition, no one seeks after God (Romans 3:11), the Pharisees were seeking Jesus, not to follow Him and be His disciples, but to seize Him. The Pharisees represent the reprobates who seek Jesus to handle Him on their own terms for their own purposes. They may want to be saved, but they are only willing to receive Jesus on their own terms. They will neither find Jesus nor go where Jesus is (heaven).
On the other hand, there are those elect in whom God creates that thirst for Jesus. We read in the last chapter, John Chapter 6, about God’s irresistible grace through which God draws His elect to Jesus. Although everyone receives an outward call, even command, to come to Jesus, only the elect receive that inward call and thirst for Christ.
Second, the Pharisees’ scoff, that Jesus would not go to the Greeks (a/k/a Gentiles), was prophetic. To these Pharisees, and most Jews, it was unimaginable that Godly Jewish leaders would go to and teach the heathen Gentiles. But, Jesus, through His Body, the Church, did exactly that. This reminds us of the depth and extent of the love of God for the whole world, namely for people beyond just the Jews, people of every nation and tribe.
Third, Jesus statement “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” should greatly encourage us. Even though Scripture has recently pounded the table about the truth of election, we need not “inquisitively pry into the secret and deep things of God”. No name, after those in the first century, is written in the Bible. No one, except God, can peer into the Book of Life. Rather, we can perceive as to whether or not we are thirsty for Christ. If we are thirsty for Christ, then we receive assurance by Jesus’ statement that we can come to Jesus and drink.
There is no Reformed Confession that is stricter about election nor pounds the table more about election than The Canons of Dordt. But, here is the comfort of what The Canons of Dordt states about such a thirst.
Article 12. The elect in due time, though in various degrees and in different measures, attain the assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election, not by inquisitively prying into the secret and deep things of God, but by observing in themselves with a spiritual joy and holy pleasure, the infallible fruits of election pointed out in the Word of God – such as a true faith in Christ, filial fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc.
Article 16. Those who do not yet experience a lively faith in Christ, an assured confidence of soul, peace of conscience, an earnest endeavor after filial obedience, and glorying in God through Christ, efficaciously wrought in them, and do nevertheless persist in the use of the means which God hath appointed for working these graces in us, ought not to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to rank themselves among the reprobate, but diligently to persevere in the use of means, and with ardent desires, devoutly and humbly to wait for a season of richer grace. Much less cause have they to be terrified by the doctrine of reprobation, who, though they seriously desire to be turned to God, to please him only, and to be delivered from the body of death, cannot yet reach that measure of holiness and faith to which they aspire; since a merciful God has promised that he will not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed. But this doctrine is justly terrible to those, who, regardless of God and of the Savior Jesus Christ, have wholly given themselves up to the cares of the world, and the pleasures of the flesh, so long as they are not seriously converted to God.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 