Rivers of Living Water, Flow.

John 7:31-53 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible (link on links page) 

³¹ But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?”

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him. ³³ Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. 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.

Division of People over Jesus

⁴⁰ Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This certainly is the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Still others were saying, “Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

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.  The Spirit was not yet given. It is not that the Holy Spirit did not yet exist or was not yet active in the affairs of men. The Holy Spirit, like God the Father and Jesus is eternal. The Holy Spirit was present and active at creation.

 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 

The Spirit was moving. The words that are translated formless and void could also be translated chaos or disorder. When God spoke the Holy Spirit was the power of God to create and make order from chaos. That's part of what the Holy Spirit does, the Holy Spirit provides the power to do the will of God, to create and make order from chaos. The Spirit's role has not changed from then until now.

Returning to our text it says the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Until Jesus was glorified, until He suffered and died on the cross for the sins of all mankind the Spirit was limited in how He  interacted with people. We see in the Old Testament that the Spirit would come upon or be with people.   

 Jesus says:     “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; ⁹ concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; ¹¹ and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. (John 16:5-11)

This confirms what Jesus was saying in today's text when He said that they would no longer see Him. He was going to the Father and sending the Holy Spirit to be the presence of God in the world. Not only was He sending the Holy Spirit to be with us though,    Jesus also says:

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.(John 14:16-17)

After the resurrection, when He appeared to the disciples Jesus said:        Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”     Endued with power, The Holy Spirit, God in Spirit, abiding with us and in us. Jesus says, in today's text:      " He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.”   Certainly we cannot contain, within ourselves, the fullness of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. After all the Holy Spirit is, like God, omnipresent. He continues as at the foundation of creation to move over the earth to be the power of God to create order from chaos. We cannot contain the Holy Spirit, but as vessels given the privilege to carry this power and presence in us and with us, it will come forth out of us to do the will of God. It is as Jesus says:   rivers of living water.

That is a critical aspect of our relationship to and with the Holy Spirit. It is like a river. It flows. We cannot hold or contain the Holy Spirit. The power and presence of God moves and flows through and from us. We cannot try to hold it and store it up. When we do it becomes our own power. It becomes still, stagnant and lifeless. Because the living waters flow out from us we must also be constantly renewed. Every river has a source, a place from which it flows. If the source is blocked off the river will no longer flow. The living waters that flow out of us have only one source. We are renewed, revitalized, refilled in and by the presence of God. We need to go to the source, the presence to be refilled. But if the river of life is to truly flow from us then we need to actually learn to more than go to the presence to be refilled. We need to learn to live and abide in the presence of God even as we work and walk among people. Only then can the power of God truly flow, uninterrupted through us, bringing the life giving, life changing power of God to the world. 

In John 15 Jesus says:      ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.(in much apart nothing) ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. ⁹ Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.  

Amen, so be it. May Your love and Your power flow in and through me as abide in and with You.  Amen