What is the meaning of John 7:39? He was speaking about the Spirit Jesus had just cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). By immediately clarifying that He “was speaking about the Spirit,” John removes any doubt about the source of that living water. • Earlier, Jesus told Nicodemus that believers must be “born of the Spirit” (John 3:5–8). • He will later teach, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63). • Even in the Old Testament, the promise of God’s Spirit bringing refreshment is clear—“I will pour out My Spirit on all people” (Joel 2:28), a prophecy Peter later links to Pentecost (Acts 2:16–17). In every case, the Spirit is the divine Person who imparts the life Jesus offers. Whom those who believed in Him were later to receive The Spirit is not for a select spiritual elite; He is promised to “those who believed in Him.” • At Pentecost, every believer gathered in Jerusalem “was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4), exactly fulfilling this promise. • Peter assures the crowd, “Repent and be baptized… and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). • Paul echoes the same certainty: “Having believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13). So the gift is both universal to all who believe and personal to each individual. For the Spirit had not yet been given John writes from the vantage point of years later, looking back on a unique moment in salvation history. • Jesus warns the disciples, “Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). • Before His ascension He instructs them, “Stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). • Acts 1:4 records that they waited just as He commanded. The delay was deliberate: God timed the outpouring of the Spirit to coincide with the completion of Christ’s redemptive work. Because Jesus had not yet been glorified “Glorified” points to Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension—one unified event in God’s plan. • Jesus Himself links His forthcoming death to glory: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). • In His high-priestly prayer He says, “Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:5). • After the ascension, Peter explains that Jesus, “exalted to the right hand of God… has poured out what you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). • Paul later declares that because He humbled Himself to death, “God exalted Him to the highest place” (Philippians 2:8-9). Christ’s glorification unlocks the Spirit’s full ministry to the church. summary John 7:39 assures us that Jesus’ promise of living water is the promise of the Holy Spirit. At the time Jesus spoke, the Spirit’s indwelling was still future, awaiting Christ’s completed work and exaltation. Once Jesus was glorified, every believer—beginning at Pentecost and continuing today—receives the Spirit as the abiding, life-giving presence of God. |
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