A Christian Who Believes, Drinks, and Overflows

“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39, ESV)

In 2015, I was living in Cape Town, South Africa, a city that doesn’t have a skyline the way normal cities do. Instead, this city is marked by the three mountains that loom large over the metropolis. The biggest of these mountains is called Table Mountain, named for its long, flat shape.

I’m not a hiker by any means, but climbing to the top of Table Mountain is a rite of passage of sorts, especially for foreign students like I was. While my family was in town, we decided to tackle the trail together. It was continuous stairs and switchbacks from the trailhead to the top, and it always seemed that just when you thought you were going to see the top, the trail just kept going. 

We didn’t pack nearly enough water for the three of us, so by the time we got to the top, we were all dripping with sweat, walking on legs that felt like jelly from the exertion, and mouths that were screaming for a long drink of water. There is simply nothing like finding an unlimited water source when you desperately need one; to be able to drink as much as you want and to the absolute satisfaction of your thirst. 

If the people standing in the temple courts knew this feeling in John 7, they would have fallen on their faces in relief over the spiritual promises Jesus was giving them. 

This feast that Jesus is attending is the Festival of Tabernacles, a Jewish celebration that commemorated God’s provision of water to the Israelites while they were living in the wilderness. This festival lasted eight days in which people stayed in tents, just the way they did in the wilderness generations ago. Every day, water would be poured out over an altar, to remember the water God provided Israel.

But on the eighth day, no water was poured out, just prayer from the crowds of people, thanking God for bringing them to the Promise Land, a place where water was plentiful and always flowing.

It was on this day that Jesus stood up and cried out in a loud voice for all to hear: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

This is not the first time that we’ve heard Jesus welcome spiritually thirsty people to come to Him and drink of Him– back in John 4, we read about Him talking about a Living Water that quenches spiritual thirst with the Samaritan woman. Of course, we knew then like we know now that Christ is speaking of Himself, but now, instead of speaking privately with a small-town woman, He’s making these bold theological statements in the temple courts in front of a large crowd of people– including religious leaders that wanted to arrest and kill Him.

This statement is both important and deliberate. It is made in the temple courts, during the last day of a spiritual ritual that the Jews of that time clung to. This crowd of people in this specific spot were probably very staunchly set in the rituals and routines of Jewish culture. They would have assigned a high value to these traditions and held a reverence for the meaning of this last day of the festival, where prayers were offered instead of water.

So this moment that Jesus chooses to make yet another statement of His deity and godship is bold and intentional. Instead of water being poured out to commemorate a past blessing from God to His people, Jesus speaks of pouring Himself out as a new promise to these same people. He’s saying, “Stop pouring out water in your rituals and traditions to remember a thirst that will never be truly satisfied. Drink of me. Believe in me. Come to me and you will never thirst in your soul ever again. I will fill that need. I am both the water poured out and the promise of safe haven that God vowed to give you.”

But He was also talking about His Holy Spirit, the One who would be poured out after the cross– after Jesus ascended back to God the Father when scripture was totally fulfilled. 

Jesus was telling those gathered Jews that He was not only the Messiah, but that God was going to give them His Spirit to indwell in them, so they could be with God always. To receive that Holy Spirit, all we have to do is believe, and God would never leave us wanting again. 

When we believe in God, live our lives in sacrifice to Him, and walk by faith with Him, He gives us His Spirit. He leads us out of spiritual wilderness, where we have to struggle and strive to be with Him, and He gives us His promises and draws us near to Him. He pours Himself out to us so that communion with Him is as simple as drinking from His cup. 

We become more life Him when we live at His feet. Eventually, that Holy Spirit– that Living Water– begins to flow out of us from our very hearts. From Jesus, to us, and then out to others who would also believe and draw near to Christ.

And if we really valued God’s Spirit– if we desired His Living Water– we would fall before Him in wonder and gratefulness that we can partake of it.

But sometimes, we miss it. Sometimes, we get caught up in our little worlds and what’s immediately at hand. We rebel against being distracted from whatever we feel is more important in that moment. We get stuck in our rituals and traditions. 

God, forgive us.

Because He is offering us something that should be above all else. We should stop and marvel and partake with joy. We should offer up our prayers and our thanks to a God that didn’t have to share Himself with us, and certainly not before we stand before Him in glory. But He still did.

The people standing in the temple courts with Jesus didn’t have access to His Holy Spirit, but they did have access to Him. Yet they still chose to grumble, gossip, and conspire against God in the flesh. Today, we may not have access to Jesus in that way, but we have His Spirit, flowing freely in anyone who believes and who draws near to God when He beckons. 

Today, I encourage you to drop what you’re doing. The toil of our hands and the busy schedule of our day can wait. Jesus is standing in the middle of the room crying out to you, asking you to come near and drink of Him. 

So take a few minutes today to stop and pour out your prayers to a God that poured Himself out for you– a God who wants to dwell in your heart and fill it. He wants to satisfy your spiritual thirst so you can go out and tell others of His glorious Son who gave all of Himself in love for His people.