“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. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ 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”
(John 7:37-39).
The beauty of the Lord’s promises to provide the Holy spirit to those who believed was contingent based upon a very subtle beginning. Those who were thirsty, the Lord would offer them to come to Him and drink. He would quench their thirst. This is the pivotal moment for those who believed and were able to receive the Holy Spirit. A thirst for eternal life; for something so much more than the ordinary. So what does the word thirsty mean? The word thirst, as defined in the Thayer Bible study dictionary, are those who painfully feel a want of, and eagerly longing for those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported and strengthened. The Lord’s prerequisite to coming to Him and belief to receive the Holy Spirit is that you are in a place to eagerly long for and want your soul refreshed. He is not a God who works outside of free will (Revelations 22:17). He calls us to come to Him in our desire and longing. We must first come to Him with this thirst.
The Lord desires that we are renewed and might be righteous through Him, but what does that really mean to come to Him and Drink (John 7:37-39)? In Hebrew thought, a person’s name speaks of character and function. What someone is named is the function of what they would be, perform or draw out. The name caused and assigned a person to what character and function they were to fulfill. With that being understood, Jesus’s name in Hebrew is Yeshua, which means salvation. He came to bring salvation to the world and only through Him can one attain this salvation (John 14:16). The character and function of salvation that Yeshua contains is what we need to come to by taking on His yoke and learning from Him (Matthew 11:29). We are to learn how to become like Yeshua and through Him become perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Therefore, if we take on the character and function of the Lord, we then are able to bring a refreshing to others souls. We are able to become that River of Living water that quenches the thirst of the people.
As we have established above, in order to have rivers of living water flow from your innermost being, you must first believe (John 7:38). So how does water flow out of someone? This is not a literal flowing of water. Living water in Hebrew is a biblical term which appears in both the Old and New Testaments. In Jeremiah 2:13 and 17:13, the prophet describes God as
“the spring of living water”.
The water is also likened to the Word of God in Ephesians 5:26. And since we know the Lord is eternal, the Lord states that whoever drinks of the water that he gives shall NEVER thirst again (John 4:14), and the well will rise up out of them and cause eternal life. This eternal Word and the Law of God is to be written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33) and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth shall speak (Matthew 12:34). The water (which is the Word) is what flows out of us. As we meditate and ruminate on the Word daily, we inscribe His Word within our hearts and innermost being.
For the reason of reaching others, the Lord has given us the choice to come to Him. He says those who draw near to Him, He will draw near to them (James 4:8). As we thirst for a strengthening and refreshing of our souls, the Lord provides us an eternal satisfying quench that we shall thirst no more. This is all done by learning from Him and writing His Word and Commandments on our hearts and walking out the character of who He is. Pouring out to others as He pours into us; an eternal River of living water.
References:
- NKJV Bible Scriptures
- Thayer Bible Dictionary