The Lord Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water” (7:38). In 4:14 the Lord said that whoever drinks of the water that He gives us will have in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life. In chapter seven the Lord goes somewhat further, saying that anyone who drinks of Him will have the flow of the rivers of water of life. The Lord did not speak of just one flow but of rivers. The unique river of living water is the Holy Spirit. Out of this unique river, many rivers will flow out. These “rivers of living water” are the many flows of the different aspects of life (cf. Rom. 15:30; 1 Thes. 1:6; 2 Thes. 2:13; Gal. 5:22-23) of the one unique “river of water of life” (Rev. 22:1), which is God’s “Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2). One river is the river of peace, and other rivers are joy, comfort, righteousness, life, holiness, love, patience, and humility. I do not know how many rivers there are. These rivers of living water flow out from the depths of our being. This is Christ as life. In the principle set forth in chapter two, this flowing of the rivers of living water is also the changing of death into life. Death is of the source of the tree of knowledge, and life is of the source of the tree of life.
What would happen if we came to a meeting and we all sat there without the flow of living water? It would surely be a dead meeting. If no one had anything to flow out, death would be prevailing. However, if everyone would flow with some rivers, eventually the meeting would be flooded over. It would be full of life. This is the changing of death into life.
Verse 39 says, “But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Many Christians do not understand the words “not yet” in this verse. The King James Version adds the word “given” in italics, showing that the translators were troubled by this verse. But verse 39 does not mean that the Spirit “was not given”; it means that the Spirit was “not yet.” The Spirit was not there yet. The Spirit of God was there from the very beginning (Gen. 1:1-2), but the Spirit as “the Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9), “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:19), was “not yet” at the time the Lord Jesus spoke this word, because He was not yet glorified. Jesus was glorified when He was resurrected (Luke 24:26). After His resurrection, the Spirit of God became the Spirit of the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Jesus Christ, who was breathed into the disciples by Christ in the evening of the day He was resurrected (John 20:22). The Spirit is now the “another Comforter,...the Spirit of reality” promised by Christ before His death (John 14:16-17). When the Spirit was the Spirit of God, He had only the divine element. When He became the Spirit of Jesus Christ through Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, He had both the divine and human element, with all the essence and reality of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ. Hence, He is now the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ as the living water for us to receive.
We have seen that Jesus was glorified when He was resurrected. In resurrection, the Lord became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). The last Adam, who was Christ in the flesh, became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection. Since then, the Spirit of Jesus Christ has both the divine and human elements, including the reality of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ.
In Genesis 1 we have the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is just God Himself coming out to reach His creation. At the time of Genesis 1, within the Spirit of God there was only divinity. One day God became incarnated to be a man who was Jesus Christ. Thirty-three and a half years later, Christ was crucified. After crucifixion, He passed through resurrection and ascension, and the Spirit of God became the Spirit of the incarnated and resurrected Jesus Christ. Now the Spirit of Jesus Christ is reaching out to touch human beings. Formerly, it was the Spirit of God reaching out to touch God’s creation only with divinity, but now the Spirit of Jesus Christ comes out to reach human beings with divinity, humanity, the effectiveness of His all-inclusive death, and with the element of resurrection. Before Christ was resurrected, such a Spirit was “not yet.”
We may use the illustration of a glass of pure water into which many other ingredients are added. The pure water passes through one stage, and the milk is added. It passes through other stages in which honey, tea, and salt are added. Eventually, it becomes an all-inclusive drink. Before the pure water passed all these stations, such a wonderful drink was “not yet,” although the pure water in the glass was there already. Now it is an all-inclusive drink. Likewise, the Spirit promised by the Lord Jesus in 7:39 and 14:16-17 is not the Spirit with only divinity as His content, but the Spirit with divinity, humanity, the all-inclusive death, resurrection, and ascension. Now we not only have the Spirit of God, but also the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It is such an all-inclusive Spirit that gives us the flow of the rivers of water of life.
Sometimes when a child needs medicine, his wise mother will hide the medicine in a drink. When the child takes the drink, he gets the medicine. There is medicine in the all-inclusive Spirit. This medicine is the killing death of Christ that is in the Holy Spirit today. The more you say, “O Lord Jesus,” the more you receive the all-inclusive Spirit. After a few minutes, you may feel the Spirit killing your temper, pride, selfishness, and other negative things. Have you ever tried to reckon yourself dead according to Romans 6? If you have, then you know that the more you reckon yourself dead, the more you are alive. However, within the all-inclusive Spirit is the killing of the cross. The death mentioned in Romans 6 is now included in the Spirit as revealed in Romans 8. So, this all-inclusive Spirit constantly puts you on the cross as mentioned in Romans 8:13. The killing effect of the death of Christ is not merely on the cross, for, if it were, it would not be prevailing for us. That killing effect today is in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. As this Spirit moves within us, the killing effect of the cross penetrates into our being. He will kill every negative element in our being. Furthermore, in this all-inclusive drink there is the nourishing ingredient. In this Spirit is all that we need.
In 7:40-52 we see the division caused by the Lord’s appearance. Jesus was truly a troublemaker. He caused divisions. Today, the life-seeking people will also make trouble and cause divisions. Christ, the seed of David, was born in Bethlehem (7:42; Luke 2:4-7), but He appeared as a Nazarene from Galilee (7:52). Although the Lord was born in Bethlehem, He was raised in Nazareth, a town that was despised by the people of that time. He was the seed of David, but He came as a Nazarene (Matt. 2:23). He grew up as a “root out of dry ground,” having “no form or comeliness,” “no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men” (Isa. 53:2-3). So we should not know Him according to the flesh (2 Cor. 5:16), but according to the Spirit. Because the Lord was raised in Nazareth, people did not consider Him as one born in Bethlehem.
Some comprehended Christ according to His outward appearance (7:27, 41-42, 52) by taking the tree of knowledge resulting in death (Gen. 2:17). Listen to their talk. “Does then the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” (7:41-42). This talk is simply the exercise of the mentality. This mental reasoning is in the principle of the tree of knowledge. However, some apprehended Christ according to His inward reality (7:40, 50-51) by taking the tree of life resulting in life (Gen. 2:9). Do not pay attention to the outward appearance. You must see what is inside. Is there Christ within? We all must know Christ according to the inward reality and not according to the outward appearance.
The Gospel of John as a whole gives us a very impressive picture. One day the Lord Jesus went to Bethany and stayed in a little house with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary (John 12:1-2). In Jerusalem at that time was the temple. In that holy temple were the priests dressed in their priestly robes offering the sacrifices on the altar and burning the incense in the proper way. Everything in the temple was attractive. But in that little house in Bethany there was nothing—no priests, no priestly robes, no altar, no offerings, and no incense. There were just two poor sisters and one brother. At that time, was the very God in the temple or in that little house? He was in that little house. Suppose you were seeking God at that time. Where would you have gone—to that little house or to the temple? We all would have gone to the temple. Probably none of us would have gone to that little house. However, Jesus, the very embodiment of God, was not in the temple but in that little house. Eventually, there would have been a division among us with a large number going to the temple and a small number going to the little house where Jesus was. Those who went to the temple would have thought it foolish to go to that little house to find God. Thus, we must learn to follow the Lord Jesus according to the inward reality and not according to the outward appearance. This principle will remain forever. Praise the Lord that He is with the lowly.
While the Lord was on earth, He did not have an attractive appearance. Today in the church life in His recovery it is the same; there is no attractive appearance. However, if you get inside of the church life in the Lord’s recovery, you will see the beauty of Christ there. He is not the Nazarene—He is the seed of David. This is Christ! Hallelujah!