Out of Whose Innermost Being?

some thoughts on the gift of the Holy Spirit

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” John 7:37–38, NASB95

During the Feast of Tabernacles/Booths, the priests would parade a jar of water from the Pool of Siloam to the temple and around the altar.¹ This would happen once a morning for six days. One the last day, the great day of the feast, this parade would allegedly happen seven times.

Being one of three festivals recommending pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the city was densely populated during these days, and the inhabitants lived in makeshift booths or tents as they had done in the Exodus. This feast day not only looked back to God’s presence in the wilderness, but it looked forward to God’s realized presence during the reign of the Messiah.

It was on the last day of this feast that Jesus stood up and made his proclamation: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

This invitation to “whoever is thirsty” (and which of us isn’t thirsty?) is similar to his offer to the Samaritan woman.

Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” John 4:13–14

It’s also reminiscent of his conversation with Nicodemus.

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5

And, of course, his first miracle.

When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine… John 2:9

As the Rock of our salvation hung upon the cross, from his innermost being flowed both water and blood (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:4).

But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. John 19:34

This water, as John goes on to clarify, is the Holy Spirit.

But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39

And so Jesus gives us the Spirit as drink, but this is not a privatized blessing meant for our own personal enjoyment. Instead, whoever drinks of this free fountain of life then becomes a wellspring of life themselves. From our bellies, our innermost being, our own hearts flows the river of water of life for the world.

We are truly blessed to be a blessing.

This gift of the Spirit is intended for “all flesh” as Acts 2 and Joel 2 teach. Yet, we dam up the river of life by viewing salvation as an individual enterprise or one meant only for those who believe/live/worship as we do.

Two passages in the Prophets that speak of the living waters of the Holy Spirit are Zechariah 14 and Ezekiel 47.

And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. Zechariah 14:8

“By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” Ezekiel 47:12

The river of life flows from Jerusalem to the rest of the world. It turns salt water into fresh water, and the life it gives persists through every month and every season.

This prophetic theme is picked up in Revelation 21-22, a passage filled with references to the feast days of Israel, specifically the Feast of Tabernacles.

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1–2

Notice the shift here from John 7.

In John 7, the river of life is said to flow from the innermost being of the believer.

In Revelation 22, the river of life flows from the presence of God.

So…where is the throne but in the innermost being of you and me?

When the Father spoke the world into existence, the Son and the Sprit were present.

When the Son took on flesh, the Father and Spirit were present.

And when the Spirit dwells with us, the fullness of God, including the Father and the Son, dwells with us.

What do we do with this?

Can God be in the presence of sin? Will our brokenness somehow taint the holiness of God? Do we need spiritual perfection in order to earn this sort of radical presence?

The very fact that the Holy Spirt dwells with people like you and me challenges the entire concept of what the holiness of God is.

The holiness of God is not something that works against God’s long-suffering, mercy, grace, or love. It’s not like God’s holiness is watching God’s love from the corner waiting to be tagged in when God’s love proves to be ineffective in squashing us.

But God is holy in that God is Love. God’s patience is holy. God’s grace and mercy are holy.

And the Holy Spirit dwells in us, not because we have any holiness of our own to boast of, but because of God’s infinite grace.

My friend Summerlee Staten wrote her Master’s thesis on how the holiness of Jesus reverses the flow of holiness and impurity. Instead of impurity infecting the most holy place, Jesus’ holiness infects the desecrated places, induing them with his holiness. One of our lecturers at St. Stephen’s, Jess Knight, called this eucontamination.

When we follow Jesus to the cross and our sides are pierced by insults, abuse, gossip, or some other evil, we too can be agents of eucontamination. We too can reverse the cycle of uncleanness/holiness because the Holy Spirit flows from our innermost being to water the world with life.

The Spirit, together with the church, echoes Jesus’ invitation:

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. Revelation 22:17

To close, here’s line from Wendell Berry:

There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

p.s. if you attend North Broad and have just finished reading the article, please pretend that the sermon tomorrow is new to you. You might even offer a hearty “amen” after line thirty-seven.

1. I’m naturally skeptical of these biblical background insights, so here’s a source for this one: Borchert, Gerald L. John 1–11. Vol. 25A. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996.