Bible Study series. John 7:37-39. The rivers flow out of your innermost being and refers to the Spirit. Learn to live in the Spirit.
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In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 7:37-39
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus was standing up and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 The one believing in me, just as the Scripture says: Out of his inner most being rivers of living water will flow. 39 But he said this about the Spirit whom those believing in him were about to receive, for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)
Comments:
16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. (Zech. 14:6, NIV)
Mounce says that in NT times, the festival of tabernacles or booths involved a water-pouring rite. “At dawn on the first six days, a procession led by the high priest to the Pool of Siloam and returned with a golden flagon of water, which was then poured out in the temple before the Lord. On the seventh say, the ceremony was repeated seven times” (comment on vv. 37-39). So now we know why Jesus spoke of living water and rivers of it—more than the flagon.
Carson (pp. 321-22) continues the description of the ceremony. The procession approached the Watergate on the southside of the inner court. Three blasts of the temple were sounded. The high priest processed around the altar with the flagon. The temple choir sung the Hallel (Pss. 113-118). The choir reached Ps. 118. Every male pilgrim shook a bundle of willow and myrtle twigs tied with the palm in his right hand. He raised a citrus fruit with his left hand to signify the harvest was gathered in. Everyone cried “Give thanks to the Lord” three times. The water was offered to God during the morning sacrifice, along with the drink offering of wine. Wine and water were poured in separate silver bowls. Then they were poured out before the Lord. The idea behind the rite was the Lord’s provision of water in the desert and the Lord pouring out the Spirit in the last days. Pouring at the festival symbolized the messianic age, when a stream of water from a sacred rock would flow out over the whole earth.
It is in this context that Jesus stood up and cried out—indicating something very significant.
Borchert adds:
As the ceremony developed, the Pharisees, who were primarily urban dwellers, insisted that a significant emphasis should be placed on the petition for rain because by this time of year (the fall) their cisterns would nearly be empty after the dryness of summer. Such symbolism carried the meaning beyond the emphasis of the desert experience, and the harvest symbolized in the citrus symbols that were raised in thanksgiving to God for the recently gathered fruits. … For six days the water parade took place once each morning. Then on the seventh day it was repeated seven times. On the eighth day there was no water ceremony, but it was a solemn time of reflection and prayer. Whether the events in John 7:37–39 took place on the seventh or eighth day is not clear because either day could technically be called “the last and greatest day” (7:37) since the eighth day was not really an original part of Tabernacles. Whichever day is in mind here, Jesus’ act was remarkable. (comment on vv. 37-38)
Then the people pray. Here is Nehemiah:
15 In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them. … 19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. (Neh. 9:15, 19-20)
37:
Jesus was standing up. The professional grammarians teach me that though the verb “stand” is in pluperfect, it has an imperfect force, so it “was standing.” It is almost as if he repeated his message about the rivers of living water. The verb “cried out” is in the aorist, but it is also timeless, without horizon or boundary (which is what “aorist” literally means) because it applies to everyone. We too need to believe, put our faith in Jesus, so that we too can receive the Spirit.
Recall this conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well:
Jesus said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who he was who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Mister, you don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where then do you get the living water from? 12 You are not, are you, greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well and himself drank from it, along with his sons and animals?” 13 In reply, Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water which I will give will not thirst forever, but the water which I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:10-14)
In v. 39, John will explain that the water here symbolizes the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe John intends a direct quotation from the OT, but patterns and themes, combined. Here are some verses:
15 till the Spirit is poured on us from on high,
and the desert becomes a fertile field,
and the fertile field seems like a forest.
16 The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert,
his righteousness live in the fertile field.
17 The fruit of that righteousness will be peace;
its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. (Is. 32:15-17)
In the above verses, the citizens of the kingdom of God will now bring about righteousness among themselves.
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost. (Is. 55:1, 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. (Is. 58:11, NIV)
“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. (Zech. 13:1)
6 On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. 7 It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light. 8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem … (Zech. 14:6-8)
Other verses about water and the (implied) Spirit
My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jer. 2:13, NIV)
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezek. 36:25-27, NIV)
Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it. (Prov. 4:23, NIV)
16 ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
Now let’s shift to the NT, the Book of the Revelation, clearly (to me at least) written by the same man who wrote the Fourth Gospel (John).
The sun will not beat down on them,’
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” (Rev. 7:16-17, NIV)
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. (Rev. 21:6, NIV)
Once again, Jesus’s words about “as the Scriptures say” refers to patterns and themes in Scripture.
38:
“The one believing in me”: it could be translated as “he who believes in me” or “whoever believes in me.” Saving faith and the call of the gospel is open ended. No limited number by God’s design. If people refuse, then the consequence will be on themselves, not on God. This belief has to entrust everything to him.
Remember the acronym from v. 31.
His “inner most being” is my choice of words for the Greek noun which literally reads “belly.” It is “the seat of the inward life, of feelings and desires.” It is the “heart” (BDAG, HT: Novakovic, p. 259). There is some controversy about whose inner most being and “his.” Whose is the inner most being? Jesus’s inner most being, or the believer’s? The answer depends on punctuation (!) between v. 37 and v. 38. I always took it to mean from the believer’s inner most being because he is the one who receives the Holy Spirit. The Spirit comes in, fills up his inner most being, and then the Spirit flows out of him like rivers (plural). An amazing image (if you think about it). But if you wish to see Jesus as the source, and he produces the rivers of living water, then that’s okay too. But if you see things as I do, then the believer does not create or produce the rivers of living water, but the Spirit himself does this, inside of him. Ultimately, the Father in Jesus’s name is the source.
39:
Jesus plays on the word water, and additionally living water. Does this mean running water or springing water? Or is something deeper going on? To be clear, here’s our uncomplicated diagram, to be read from the bottom up:
Running / Living waters = Holy Spirit’s presence and surging and filling of believers
Something deeper is going on. The flowing water is like rivers (plural). Jesus means the deepest need in the human heart can be satisfied only by the Spirit, whom we have to receive. He does not come on us or in us uninvited. We open our hearts to him.
One last point: “for the Spirit was not yet.” The Greek ends there. So some add: “was not yet there” or “not yet given.” Of course, in John’s theology, the Spirit was given to Jesus at his baptism (1:32-34). So it cannot mean the bad idea that the Spirit did not even exist before Jesus’s glorification (resurrection and then ascension), for the Spirit is mentioned in important places throughout the OT.
The Spirit in the Old Testament
Instead, John is referring to Jesus breathing on his disciples and saying to them to receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). Also, John surely has in mind the wonderful experience at Pentecost:
1 And when the Feast of Pentecost had fully come, all of them were together in that one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there was a sound like the rush of a powerful wind. The whole house was filled where they were sitting, 3 and tongues as fire were seen by them, were distributed among them, and settled on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them inspiration to speak and declare. (Acts 2:1-4)
So it looks like this promise in 7:38-39 was fulfilled in John 20:22 and at Pentecost. Acts 2:38-39 say that the gift of the Spirit is for everyone then and there and for all who are afar off, both geographically and generationally. Therefore, Acts 2:1-4 and 38-39 and John 7:37-39 correspond to each other.
Gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 and 12:28
The Spirit’s Deity and Divine Attributes
The Spirit in the Life of Christ
The Spirit in the Church and Believers
GrowApp for John 7:37-39
1. The Spirit can flow out of you like rivers. Have you had this experience? What is it like?
2. How do you have the Spirit flowing out of your inner most being?
3. Study Galatians 5:16. How do you know you are walking in the Spirit? See Galatians 5:22-23.
RELATED
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12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel
4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel
3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
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