The Promise of the Holy Spirit

A week in shelters. John 7 happens at the Feast of Tabernacles, which the ICB calls the Feast of Shelters. For seven days families lived in booths made of branches. God said it was “that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:43). The great day. “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out” (7:37). Jerusalem was full of people who had come to worship God at the feast. Bold in danger. Some leaders wanted to kill Jesus (7:1), and the Pharisees had sent officers to arrest Him (7:32). Jesus did not hide. He stood up and called out so that everyone could hear. If anyone. Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (7:37). Anyone means anyone: a priest or a shepherd, a grown-up or a child. Nobody is left out of this invitation. A feast is not enough. For a whole week the people had sung, celebrated and thanked God. That was good. But a feast cannot fill an empty heart. Only Jesus can. He still calls. Jesus also said, “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). He never turns away anyone who comes to Him. What this means for you. Jesus is calling you too. You do not have to wait until you are older or better. You can come to Him today.

The setting (7:2, 37). John 7 takes place at the Feast of Tabernacles, the last of Israel's yearly feasts. For seven days families lived in booths of branches, because God said, “I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:43). The law added an eighth day, “a sacred assembly” (Leviticus 23:36). That great day. John calls it “the last day, that great day of the feast.” It was most likely the seventh or the eighth day. Either way, it was the high point of the week, and Jerusalem was crowded with worshipers. Cried out. The Greek word is krazō (say: KRAHD-zoh), to shout with a loud voice. John uses it again when Jesus “cried out” in the temple (7:28) and near the end of His public teaching (John 12:44). Jesus wanted every person to hear. Courage in the open. The leaders wanted Him dead (7:1, 19, 25), and officers had been sent to take Him (7:32). Jesus did not whisper His offer. He stood up and called to the whole crowd. The invitation. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” The offer is wide (anyone), the need is plain (thirst), and the answer is personal (come to Me). Jesus does not point people to a ceremony or a rule. He points them to Himself. What the feast remembered. The booths recalled the years when God kept Israel alive in the desert. He fed them and “brought water for you out of the flinty rock” (Deuteronomy 8:15). On the feast's great day, Jesus stood up and offered the water only God can give. Application. Worship, songs and holidays are good gifts, but they cannot satisfy the heart by themselves. A whole week of feasting still left the crowd needing Jesus. Make sure your faith rests not on what you do, but on the Person you come to.

The Feast of Shelters helped God's people remember. God had cared for them in the desert for many years. He gave them food, water and a way home. So the people thanked God with a big feast. But a feast cannot fill an empty heart. That is why Jesus stood up on the last day. He wanted every person to hear Him. Some leaders wanted to stop Jesus. But Jesus still spoke out boldly. He invited anyone who was thirsty to come to Him. Anyone means everyone. Nobody is too young or too far away to come to Jesus.

God's people had a big feast. On the last day, Jesus stood up. He called out loudly to everyone. Jesus wants everyone to come to Him.

Thirsty. When you are really thirsty, nothing matters more than water. Your heart has a thirst too. God made you to know Him, and nothing else can fill that place. A deep longing. A psalm writer said, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:2). People try to fill that thirst with money, fun or being liked. Those things never last. Come to Me. Jesus did not send people to a place or tell them to follow a new rule. He said, “let him come to Me and drink” (7:37). Only God could make an offer like that, and Jesus is God the Son. Drinking is believing. In the next verse Jesus explained what He meant: “He who believes in Me” (7:38). Coming to Jesus and drinking means believing in Him, trusting Him with your whole life. Never thirsty. Jesus once said, “He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). A free gift. Nobody earns a drink from a spring. You just drink. Long ago God said, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat” (Isaiah 55:1). Jesus offers Himself freely. Nobody can drink for you. A friend cannot drink water for you. In the same way, each person must come to Jesus for himself or herself. What this means for you. When you feel empty, lonely or restless, tell Jesus. Ask Him to fill your heart. He loves to give.

Thirst (7:37). In a dry land, thirst was a matter of life and death. The prophets used it for the soul's need of God: “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters” (Isaiah 55:1). Thirst is not a sin. It is the longing God built into us for Himself. Empty substitutes. Isaiah went on, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2). People spend their lives on things that cannot reach the deepest thirst. Come to Me. In Isaiah the invitation was to come to God. Here Jesus said, “let him come to Me.” He was offering what only God can give, because He is God the Son. Believe (7:38). Jesus explained the drinking: “He who believes in Me.” The Greek verb is pisteuō (say: pis-TYOO-oh), to believe or trust. John often joins it to a little word that means into. Saving faith is more than agreeing that facts about Jesus are true. It is trusting yourself to Him. Receiving, not earning. Drinking is the simplest thing a person can do: you receive what you could never make. That is grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). The same promise. “He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). In John 6 and John 7, coming to Jesus and believing in Jesus are the same thing. Application. Name the things you reach for when you feel empty: a screen, approval, winning. None of them is evil, but none of them can satisfy your soul. Bring your thirst to Jesus in prayer, and keep coming to Him every day.

Have you ever been really thirsty? Your body needs water to live. Our hearts have a thirst too. We need God more than anything. Toys, games and friends are good gifts. But they cannot fill a heart that needs God. Jesus said, “Come to me and drink.” Coming to Jesus means believing in Him. To believe means to trust Jesus with your whole life. Water from a spring is a gift. Nobody has to earn a drink of water. You just take it and drink. Jesus gives Himself to us as a free gift too.

Our bodies need water. Our hearts need Jesus. To come to Jesus means to believe in Him.

Rivers, not a trickle. Jesus said, “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (7:38). He did not promise a little cup. He promised rivers. Living water. In Bible times, living water meant fresh water that flows, like a spring or a stream. Water in a tank sits still. Living water keeps moving and stays fresh. The Holy Spirit. John explains, “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive” (7:39). The Holy Spirit is God, and He is a Person. The Bible calls Him He, never it. Not yet. “For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (7:39). Jesus still had to die on the cross, rise again and go back to His Father. Glorified. Just before the cross Jesus said, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified” (John 12:23). Jesus was glorified through His death, His resurrection and His return to heaven. The promise kept. After Jesus went back to heaven, the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). Jesus had promised, “He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” (John 14:16). Flowing out. The Spirit does not stay shut up inside. He gives power to live for Jesus and tell others: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). What this means for you. If you trust Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives in you. Ask Him to help you be kind, to forgive and to tell a friend about Jesus.

As the Scripture has said (7:38). Jesus pointed back to God's promises. Through Isaiah, God promised to pour water on the thirsty and His Spirit on the children of His people (Isaiah 44:3). Through Joel He said, “I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28). Out of his heart. The word translated heart here means the innermost part of a person. The Spirit's life begins deep inside a believer and then flows outward. Living water. In the Bible, living water means flowing water from a spring, not still water stored in a tank. The Spirit is not a still pool to keep for yourself. He is a river that keeps on flowing. A Person (7:39). John says the Spirit is the One “whom those believing in Him would receive.” Jesus calls Him “another Helper” and “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17). He is God, equal with the Father and the Son, not a power or a feeling. Glorified. The Greek word is doxazō (say: dox-AHD-zoh), to glorify, to show someone's greatness. In John, Jesus is glorified through the cross, the resurrection and His return to the Father. “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified,” He said, and then He spoke of a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies (John 12:23-24). Not yet given. The Spirit had not yet been given to live in every believer. That gift waited for the cross. Once Jesus had paid for sin, risen and gone back to the Father, the Spirit came at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). In you, then out. Jesus told His disciples that the Spirit “dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17), and that they would “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). The Spirit who lives in a believer also flows out through him: love, courage and the words to tell others about Jesus. Application. The Holy Spirit is not a prize for super-Christians. Jesus said those believing in Him would receive Him. If you belong to Jesus, ask the Spirit each morning to fill you and to let His life flow out to someone else that day.

Jesus made a big promise. Rivers of living water would flow out from His people. John tells us what Jesus meant. The living water is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, just like the Father and the Son. He is a Person, not a thing. But the Spirit had not been given yet. First Jesus had to die, rise again and go back to heaven. Soon after that, the Holy Spirit came, just as Jesus promised. Today He lives in everyone who believes in Jesus. He helps us love others and tell them about Jesus. His love can flow out of us like a river.

Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to everyone who trusts Him. The Holy Spirit is God. He lives in God's children and helps them.

Many opinions. When the crowd heard Jesus, some said, “Truly this is the Prophet” (7:40). Others said, “This is the Christ” (7:41). Christ means the Anointed One, the King God promised. The Prophet. Moses had promised that God would send a Prophet like him (Deuteronomy 18:15). Some people hoped Jesus was that Prophet. He was, and He is far more than a prophet. The wrong place? Others asked, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee?” (7:41). They knew the Scripture said the Christ would come “from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem” (7:42). Both were true. Jesus grew up in Nazareth in Galilee, but He was born in Bethlehem, and He came from David's family. Joseph went “to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4). Divided. “So there was a division among the people because of Him” (7:43). Some wanted to take Him, “but no one laid hands on Him” (7:44). God was in charge of Jesus' timing. The guards' report. The officers came back with empty hands. When the leaders asked why, they said, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” (7:46). What this means for you. Everyone has to decide who Jesus is. John wrote his book “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).

The Prophet (7:40). “Truly this is the Prophet.” This points back to Moses' promise that God would raise up a Prophet like him (Deuteronomy 18:15). Many in Israel were waiting for that Prophet. The Christ (7:41). Christ means the Anointed One, the King God promised from David's family. Some in the crowd were ready to say that Jesus was that King. An objection (7:41-42). Others knew their Scriptures: the Christ “comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem.” Micah had written of Bethlehem, “Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel” (Micah 5:2). Right facts, wrong conclusion. They spoke as if Jesus came only from Galilee. But He was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1) to a family from David's line (Luke 2:4). Jesus had just warned them, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (7:24). Division (7:43). The Greek word is schisma (say: SKIZ-mah), a split or a tear. English gets the word schism from it. Jesus still divides people, because no one can stay in the middle about Him for long. No one laid hands on Him (7:44). Earlier John said, “no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come” (7:30). Those who wanted to seize Him could not move Jesus one minute ahead of His Father's plan. Sent back empty-handed (7:45-46). The temple officers had been sent to arrest Him (7:32). They came back and said, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” Men trained to carry out orders were stopped by His words. Application. Some people decide about Jesus from a distance, by what others say. The officers listened to Him for themselves. Read His words in the Gospels and let Him speak to you. Peter once said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

People had many ideas about Jesus. Some said He was the Prophet God promised. Others said He was the Christ, God's promised King. Still others said the Christ would not come from Galilee. But they judged too quickly. Jesus really was born in Bethlehem, just as God said. God always keeps His promises. Nobody could grab Jesus before God's time. God was in charge of everything that happened to Him. The guards listened to Jesus with their own ears. His words stopped them from arresting Him. You can listen to Jesus too, in the Bible. Then you can decide what you believe about Him.

The people did not agree about Jesus. The guards said no one ever spoke like Him. Jesus is God's promised King.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

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