Do the math! In verse 37 of our Text Jesus invites us to come get a drink. (Meaning Believe on Him as the Son of God, accept Him as our personal Saviour.) “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”
Then immediately (verse 38) that one drink, one swallow maybe, had produced “Rivers of Living Water!” Within that Believer, “Flowing out of his belly.”
Jesus saves us (by our little bit of faith) then gives us this copious Flood of His sweet Holy Spirit!
Wow!
When Jesus mentioned that the “Scripture hath said” (verse 38) He may have had in mind verses like …
Isaiah 55:1 … “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.”
Isaiah 12:3 … “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
Isaiah 58:11 … “And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”
Obviously, Jesus loved Isaiah!
Of course, He loved the Psalms too!
Psalm 42:1 … “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.”
The Clause in verse 39 teaching us … “The Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified” … means that the Holy Spirit would not be “poured out” on God’s people UNTIL Jesus had died on the old rugged Cross.
This is comparable to an event in the life of ancient Israel recorded in Exodus 17:6. “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”
The Rock (a symbol of Jesus) was struck … and then the life-giving water (a type of the Holy Spirit) flowed! See it? Jesus died and the Holy Spirit then came in His mighty Presence!
Beautiful!
One more thought today … after preaching our short Text (verses 37-39) the Lord Jesus does not speak again in the rest of the chapter, John chapter 7! Nothing more can possibly be said than … “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”
Praise the Lord!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell