The Water and the Light - A Type of Christ
When the Messiah spoke of Himself as the light of the world, He referred to salvation and forgiveness of sin He offered to all those who put their trust in Him. As it was spoken by the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, "I will give YOU as a light to the Gentiles, That YOU should be My salvation unto the ends of the earth'" (Isa. 49:6). He offers that light to men today: "He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12). Have you experienced the life-changing light of the Messiah, or are you still walking in darkness?
The water is also a type of the Holy Spirit. There are three types of water sources in the land of Israel. Huge, rock-hewn collection tanks, known as cisterns, are used to collect rainwater during the rainy months. Massive cisterns, capable or holding millions of gallons of water, still exist today at the Masada stronghold. However, cisterns are the least desirable and valuable water source in Israel - they can easily become contaminated or stagnant and are not replenish able until the next rainy season.
Wells are a more valuable water source. They provide fresh, replenished water, but even they can dry up during a drought. They most valued water source in Israel are the brooks and rivers which are fed by springs (such as those at Ein Gedi). These were known in the Bible as "living waters" or, in other words, waters with movement. The Lord used this truth to illustrate Israel's rebellion and idolatry:
Jeremiah 2:13 - For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
When Jesus addressed the people in the Temple on the last day of the feast, He alluded to the same fact. He said, "He who believes on Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38). This was the purest water, the most valued water, and water that would never dry up.
Ancient Jewish theology connected the water-drawing ceremony with the Holy Spirit. "Why do they call it, 'the house of drawing'? Because they draw the Holy Spirit" (Gen. Rab. 70:1) And again, "Why is the name of it called, the drawing out of water" Because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit according to what is said: 'With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation'" (Ruth Rab. 4:7). They believed the Holy Spirit came upon them and manifested Himself through great JOY!
Jesus' reference to water was used with the exact same connotation and connection. "But this spoke concerning the SPIRIT, whom those believing in Him would receive." (John 7:39)
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is relation to salvation was a much-repeated theme of the Old Testament prophets:
Ezekiel 11:19 - And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
Ezekiel 36:27 - And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Ezekiel 37:14 - And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.
Ezekiel 39:29 - Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.
Joel 2:28-29 - And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: [29] And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
Isaiah 32:15 - Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
Isaiah 59:21 - As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.
The Lord said through Isaiah:
Isaiah 44:3 - For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
The Hebrew prophet Zechariah prophesied of a future, glorious day when Israel as a nation will look upon the pierced Messiah and repent of her rejection of Him. God's Spirit will be poured out upon them and they will enter into the New Covenant as a nation:
Zech. 12:10 - And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn