Streams of Living Water for the Thirsty!

Recently I have been working my way through a book titled, "The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit" by R.A.Torrey.  It is a great book, and I highly recommend it, for he does an excellent job expanding on who the Holy Spirit is, how He is referred to in the Scriptures and what that means to us as a believer in Jesus.  In reading this book, I find that I am relatively shallow in my understanding and knowledge of the Holy Spirit, and it has been very helpful.

In this light, this morning I felt like reading in John's Gospel and saw the following verses from John 7:37-39 NIV:

[37] "On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. [38] Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” [39] By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified."

It is important to note that this is John writing this Gospel, an eye-witness to the events of the Resurrection and Ascension and Pentecost.  He was personally recounting from his years of experience, his remembrance and understanding of Jesus' words.  Here he wraps into the account his retrospective understanding of what Jesus said about the Spirit.  I can imagine at the time Jesus spoke these words there was much confusion, for the Holy Spirit had not been given yet, and the neither the Jews nor the Apostles had any real paradigm for what Jesus was saying.

We have the famous Ezekiel prophecy of streams flowing from the Temple (Ezekiel 47) and Jesus had talked about "living water" with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), but there is no real mention or teaching given by Jesus yet about the Holy Spirit.  I am sure they all stood around and stared at each other, especially since Jesus made this statement as a major announcement!  John spares us the confusion and suspense and just tells us what Jesus meant.  He says that Jesus was referring to the Spirit, and indicates that those who believed in Him (Jesus) were to receive the Spirit, after Jesus was glorified.

I find this interesting commentary, as we know that Jesus sent out the Apostles (Luke 9) and later the 72 (Luke 10) for small ministry trips to neighboring villages, and they went with power and authority and saw miracles and healings everywhere they visited.  John says at this point they had not yet been given the Holy Spirit.  In other words, it seems to me that the receipt of the Holy Spirit was a wholly different experience.  That means that looking back at these experiences, John knew that they had not been fully aware of the Holy Spirit, nor His power while out ministering in Jesus' authority.  Fascinating!

I digress, back to what Jesus was proclaiming.  He said (paraphrased) " if anyone was thirsty, we are to come to Him and drink, and if we believe rivers of living water would flow from within them".  We know that Jeremiah spoke of God being the spring of living water (Jer 2:13 & 17:13) and thus the people must have had some understanding that Jesus was speaking of a divine blessing.  Isaiah spoke the following - Isaiah 58:11 NIV: "The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."  This however was something more, for this was not a spring, but rather a river of living water.  The Greek word used by John is defined as streams, rivers, torrents and floods.  This is much more than a small spring that provides sufficient water for a garden plot, but rather a flow of water that is significant and life giving!

It is interesting that a small drink for the thirsty can turn into a river of living water, but that is what happens when the Holy Spirit is given, the natural is turned into the "super"natural.  I am reminded of the Dairy Queen commercial for its flaming hot burgers.  The man in the commercial takes one bite, and then everything he breathes on catches fire!  That is a funny illustration of the same principle Jesus speaks of here, one drink becomes a river.  The source is clearly not us, for our drinks do not multiply within us.  The picture I see is that one drink, coupled with belief, opens the flood-gates of heaven, and that which exists in heaven now pours forth out of us!

I think this is why John adds the retrospective reference, as up to that point they had not experienced this outpouring, and outflowing as described by Jesus.  What an awesome invitation and promise Jesus has given us!  Let us come to Him and drink, for I know I am thirsty!  Holy Spirit we welcome Your outpouring into our lives and out of us to others who are thirsty!!

Amen!