“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.” (John 7:37-39)
We have little experience of physical thirst in the western world, yet we know an inner thirst – we so often feel dry, we feel parched, we desire life and refreshment. We so often try to quench this thirst with material things – as if shopping can bring the refreshment we need, as if going to the gym or making ourselves look beautiful will give us the inner life we crave, as if relationships will meet our deepest longings. Yet Jesus says to us “If anyone is thirst, let him come to me and drink”. He is the one who satisifes our souls, as he meets our deepest longing for life and refreshment – as he meets our deep spiritual need for God himself. Deep down we all have a thirst for God, and this thirst can be met by nothing else.
Jesus explains that this ‘water’ we will receive from him is no less than the Holy Spirit. As he comes to live within us, he meets our longing to know God personally. The ministry of the Holy Spirit has rightly been called one of the greatest blessings of the Christian life. When we come to Christ not only do we receive the more ‘objective’ blessings of sins forgiven, justification, sanctification, but also the more experiential/subjective blessing of the great thirst within us being satisfied, as God himself comes to dwell within us by his Spirit.
Not only do we drink, and have out thirst quenched, but “streams of living water will flow from within” us. The result of the Spirit dwelling within us is blessings flowing to others, like a river of water. Perhaps we might think here of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23) It is certainly true that being indwelt by the Spirit should lead to Christlike lives that bless others. But in fact Jesus seems to be saying that what will flow out from us to others will be not the fruit of the Spirit, but the Holy Spirit himself!
Of course the Spirit only comes to dwell in those who believe in Jesus, as is stated here – the Holy Spirit cannot come to dwell within someone who has not first been cleansed by Christ’s death. But the way we relate to others can encourage this. As we are filled with the Spirit and live lives of Christlike holiness, we can commend the gospel to those around us. Our desire should not only be to bless others with our actions of kindness and grace, but ultimately to point them to Jesus, the source of all kindness and grace.
As so often in the Bible, we learn that God’s people are blessed by God not merely for their own sake, but in order to be a blessing and witness to others:
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.” (Psalm 67:1-2)
If we do not yet know Jesus, and are trying to quench our thirst with other things, we should come to him, and discover everlasting satisfaction for our soul. And if we have had our thirst quenched, by the living water of God’s Spirit within us, lets us remember that this should also flow out from us – to the parched land of our nation, that needs more than anything else the water of life that only Jesus can give.
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