John 7:37-39
New International Version (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.”[a] 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.
I have to say... I just got smacked in the face with a HUGE revelation here. I have read these verses a thousand times and never noticed the crystal clear, can't-miss-it, "BY THIS HE MEANT" explanation that follows it.
I have always thought of of the living water as the word, or the gospel, or the love of God. All true in a sense, but it couldn't be any more clear here that the rivers of living water are referring to the Spirit that lives within us.
Acts 2:38 tells us how we receive that Spirit - through baptism - and Romans 8:9 tells us what the Spirit does for us: "9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life[d] because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you."
Wow. Rivers of living water? I'd say so!
A couple of weeks ago, a friend told me about something interesting he read in a book (I wish like everything I could remember the name of the book, but alas. Ever since I had a child, I can't remember what day of the week it is.). Anywho, the author of this book says that he imagines we are going to have a conversation something like this when we get to heaven: Us: "Moses, I'd give anything to know what it was like to part the waters of the Red Sea." Moses: "I'd give anything to know what it was like to have the Spirit living inside of me."
You see, we don't give the Spirit nearly enough credit. I'm not sure we truly believe that He's really there. But yet, when a lesson tugs at my heart or a song makes me cry or a verse leads to the understanding that I'm doing something wrong, that's the Spirit working in me, growing me, leading me in the true paths. And He's also interceding for me, helping me, and lifting my prayers up to God when my frail, human words fail me (Romans 8).
Y'all... this is HUGE. So big that I can barely wrap my mind around it. What an incredible blessing to know that I am not walking this walk alone. It's one of those things that, if I can even partially begin to grasp it, will completely change my life. We'll be talking more about this in the near future... I want to study and pray about it. In the meantime, read Romans 8 in its entirety...it's good stuff.
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