John 7:37-42 - On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 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. On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Christ.”

Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?“

This took place during the Feast of Tabernacles, one of the main annual religious holidays for Israel. Originally, it was supposed to be a time when the Israelites remembered the 40 years in the wilderness when they lived in tents and encamped from place to place as the Lord led them.

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John 7:37-39 - On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 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.

The infilling of the Spirit in us is an important dimension of the “salvation” that Christ gives us. This is more than merely quenching our spiritual thirst – this is enough water for daily cleansing of our hearts and lives (purification, holiness). It is enough to bring abundant life. It is enough to overflow and provide a blessing for those around us. Each of us should become like a small fountain or spring, a source of this “living water” that flows fresh every day. John adds some comments that teach us a few other doctrinal points about the Holy Spirit:

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1 John 2:28-29 – “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.  If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.”

Many Christians think of salvation only as a one-time event. They focus on the moment of conversion. This passage focuses on another dimension of salvation: salvation as a process. This process continues for our entire lives, until we reach eternity.

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