Rivers of Living Water
W. Carl Ketcherside
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Is it ever possible to fully understand or appreciate something that is said or done, apart from the circumstances which gave birth to it? Does a picture reveal its full beauty when ripped from the frame which was designed for it, or a diamond reflect the glow of its inner fire as brilliantly when it is pried from its setting?
The address of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg causes the heart to pulsate a little faster when the details of its preparation and delivery are known. The invention of the incandescent light bulb becomes more interesting when one knows of the relentless search by Thomas Edison for a filament which would withstand the heat generated.
And thus it is with the words of Jesus, and with his deeds also. They were not isolated from life or divorced from daily happenings. Instead, they grew out of the constant struggle of those caught up in the human predicament. They were sparked by incidents and involvements, and lighted by encounters with persons and places. And the historical context lends richer value to the content.
This is illustrated in one case which is vibrant with meaning. John records it in these words: "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying. If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified)."
There is no problem in identifying the feast. John tells us it was the feast of Succoth, or tabernacles. This was the third of the three annual pilgrimage festivals, and an account of its origin is given in Leviticus 23:33-43. It was a harvest celebration which lasted for eight days. During this time the people lived in outdoor shelters or booths which were constructed of boughs and branches cut from various kinds of trees. This rugged experience, which was always a picnic for the children, was to memorialize the wilderness wanderings when the families of Israel had been freed from the bondage of Egypt.
In the days when Jesus was upon earth the feast was celebrated for seven days with great pageantry, and the octave, or eighth day was a day of strict sabbath rest. During the week all of the priestly families were serving, and the offerings required the services of 446 priests, with an equal number of Levites as assistants.
On the last day of the feast the worshipers arose before daybreak and dressed in their best garments. They left their booths when the sound of the trumpets announced the dawn. Each carried in his right hand three branches of myrtle, willow and palm tied together. This
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The huge crowd was divided into three segments. One remained at the temple in preparation for the morning sacrifice. Another went outside of Jerusalem to gather branches of willow which they carried into the temple area to erect a huge canopy, or tabernacle, enclosing the sacred altar. The third company formed a procession which marched from the temple behind a priest bearing a golden pitcher of about one quart capacity.
To the accompaniment of music they went to the Pool of Siloam where the priest solemnly filled the pitcher, and the crowd marched back, timing their arrival at the temple at the time when the sacrifice was being placed upon the altar. A triple blast upon the trumpets signalled the arrival of the priest at the Water-gate on the south side of the Temple terrace. Immediately another priest carrying wine for the drink-offering fell into step with him.
The two of them ascended the slope to the altar, turned left and halted before two silver funnels with narrow openings leading down to the base of the altar. At a signal the wine was poured into the one on the east and the water into the one on the west. This was a meticulous ceremony, in which not a drop of either liquid was to be spilled upon the ground. Upon one occasion when the high priest Alexander poured the water upon the ground, the multitude became enraged and attacked and beat him with the branches they were carrying. In the riot which ensued six thousand persons were killed in the temple precincts. (See Josephus' Antiquities, 13.13.5).
As soon as the water was poured out the great Hallel began. This was a chant of Psalm 113 to Psalm 118, to the accompaniment of the flute. The Levites chanted a line at a time and after each line the multitude responded with "Hallelujah," waving or shaking the Lulabha toward the altar. It was probably at the close of this great demonstration that the voice of Jesus rang out loud and clear, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
Many who were present may have resented what seemed to them a fanatical outburst and interruption. They may have regarded the one who cried out as an opportunist seeking for notoriety. Few understood what he was saying. Twenty centuries have passed and few yet understand.
Throughout the old covenant scriptures the deepest longings and yearnings of the human spirit are referred to as thirst. Just as the outer man becomes dehydrated, so the inner man, when deprived of the refreshing draught of God's presence, languishes and dries up. "I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God" (Psalm 69:3).
Man can no more live spiritually without the fellowship of God than he can exist physically without water. "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek for thee: my soul thirsteth for thee: my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is" (Psalm 63:1). "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" (Psalm 42:2). The invitation of God to the weary and heartsick is, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters" (Isaiah 55:1).
Jesus said, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink." All of the craving and the desire to be what one was destined to be without the blight and tragedy of sin is realized in Jesus. The need for forgiveness, the passion for identity, the eagerness to recapture the one-
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The invitation is not limited by race, nationality, sex, status, or previous condition of servitude. The only condition is that one realize that he is parched and tarnished and that there is no other fountain, no other place to which he can turn for hope. "If any one thirst!" "Let him come to me!"
To drink is to partake, to imbibe, to share in. And to drink of Christ is to partake of his life which is eternal life. Almost the final plea of Jesus is, "Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). God has provided for our need. There is no need for soul-thirst to go unassuaged. He is a fountain open for all.
This is but part of the story and if it ended here it would all be quite selfish. We would come and drink and go our way rejoicing in the personal refreshment and re-vitalization. But it does not work that way for eternal life cannot be contained. We become fountains. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
The believer is to be the channel through which the Holy Spirit abundantly flows to accomplish all that rivers were intended to accomplish in the universe. There is to be cleansing, purification and refreshment. There is to be power and motivation, and this is to well up within the innermost being, the secret chambers, the subterranean caverns of the heart. Just as a river gushes forth from a cave in the hillside, fed by an unseen spring in the bowels of the earth, so the indwelling Spirit sends forth the rushing stream of love, peace, and all of the other elements of purity.
The key which unlocks this power is faith, or belief. It is not faith in a system, an institution or an organization, but in a person. "He that believeth on me." But this is an unfortunate translation for the word translated "on" is the Greek eis, and this signifies action from without to within. It is literally, "He that believeth into me."
This is a great deal different than believing on one. To believe on one requires only intellectual assent to historical facts related to his existence, life and work. It involves an acceptance of the testimony that what is alleged actually happened and the person is who he claimed to be. But to believe in one, or into one, is to become identified with him, to enter into a relationship so intimate that the two become a unit.
One does not become a fountain to bless humanity merely by believing on Jesus. He must believe in him and this requires the loss of selfness, the crucifixion of human nature and the embracing of the divine nature. So long as one insists that he is going to be himself regardless of what happens the Holy Spirit can never send rivers gushing from his inner depths.
The stream of holiness produced by the Spirit of holiness was not a last minute arrangement of God. He revealed it long before the Lord died. "As the scripture hath said." So we have Isaiah declaring, "And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought...and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not" (58:11). The rabbis had a saying, "When a man turns himself to the Lord, he shall be as a fountain filled with living water, and his streams shall flow to all the nations and tribes of men."
"But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive:
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From this we learn several things about the Holy Spirit. Let us mention some of them. (1) The Spirit was to be a gift. (2) He could be received only by those who believe in Jesus, that is, who are identified with him. (3) The Spirit, in this sense, could only come after Jesus was glorified. (4) We can only become channels of blessing by receiving the Spirit. Without the Spirit we are dry, dusty and despondent in heart. We are like cisterns without water and clouds without rain. We promise much but deliver nothing. We have a form of godliness but are devoid of power. We are like an automobile without battery or sparkplugs, or like a boiler without steam. Our lives are sterile, routine and stagnant.
Those who seek to reach us in the hope that they will find an oasis are disappointed to see only a dry stream bed, cracked and arid. There is no substitute for the Spirit. Nothing else can cause the river to flow from within. Nothing else can produce living water. Regardless of what else one may have, if he does not have the Spirit, he can never truly bless others.
Because of the transformation which the Spirit works a great many people would like to explain away John's explanation. They want to limit it, circumscribe it, fence it in and control it. We must face up to the fact that there are those who want to eat their cake and have it too. They want to surrender only partially to Jesus, holding in reserve those desires and inclinations which they would gratify in the flesh. Others are caught up in the grip of legalism and seek a righteousness which is by law rather than through faith. So we are told that Jesus was here speaking only of the apostles. This we cannot accept. Jesus stood up publicly and proclaimed to thousands of pilgrims, "If any man thirst, let him come to me...He that believeth on me..."The promise of the Spirit was to every believer, and it has never been revoked. It is the boon to believers now as it was when the gift was first given. The rivers of living waters will flow as freely as they ever have.
Again we are told that the Spirit is identical with the word of God, but it never was, and it is not now. The word of Christ was given and could be received before Jesus was glorified. In the case under consideration what he spoke about the Spirit was the word of Christ, but the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. When he did come he was to bring to the remembrance of the envoys the words which Jesus had spoken.
Before Christ could be glorified he had to leave the earth. If he had not gone he could not have sent the Holy Spirit. "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you" (John 16:7). The Spirit is the divine presence in believers while Jesus is absent for the earth.
He said, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." The term for ever is from eis aiona, to the age. The Holy Spirit as a Comforter could not be given while Jesus was resident among men, but having been given, He will continue to abide with believers throughout the age. This is the era of the abiding Spirit. "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him: for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
Jesus said, "I will not leave you com-
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The Holy Spirit is a personal comforter abiding with us, as Jesus abode with men while he was on earth. The Spirit has been given to believers so that they may become God's channels from within, sharing the water of life with others in a weary and sinful world.
But what about the objection that the promises contained in John, chapters 14 through 16, were made to the apostles. This is true because they were present as listeners, but it must be remembered that theirs was a dual role. They were both disciples and apostles. Whatever applied to them specifically as apostles and in view of their official function, belonged only to them. But whatever applied to them as disciples is equally applicable to all disciples of our Lord.
It will be noted that those who seek to restrict what Jesus said to the apostles, have no hesitancy about quoting profusely from the same speech and applying it to all believers in our day. For example, there are the words spoken directly to Thomas, "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." Again, there are the words addressed to Judas, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."
The life of the believer is the life of the Spirit. And the Spirit is not a sanctimonious impulse, a righteous motivation, or an influence of one's own converted will. The Spirit is not a glorified "it" or a disposition to do good. He is personal. Jesus said, "If I depart I will send him unto you." The body of the believer is the tabernacle of the Spirit. It is the Spirit within who certifies that we are God's children, the sons of God. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ. he is none of his" (Romans 8:9).
These are the true circumcision and they have three distinctive qualifications. They "worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3). Ponder these items carefully. They identify those who have no righteousness of their own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
Worship by the Spirit is not confined to ritualistic acts performed at certain times upon certain days. It knows no shrine except the contrite heart. It has no special holy days for every day and hour is holy. It has no special holy places, no dimly lighted piles of brick and stone. It is not confined by a program, regulated by a code, or captured in an agenda. All of these are wineskins which must explode when the wine of the Spirit ferments and expands and seeks room for expression of praise and glory.
Glory in Christ Jesus is bathed in denial of self and in recognition that in the flesh dwelleth no good thing. It is the response of the heart stricken with a sense of the futility and frustration of trying to achieve righteousness by law when an unseen hand reaches down to snatch one from the yawning jaws of death and despair. It is the relaxation of the frightened child in his father's arms, the choking sob of the slave set free, the trembling
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No confidence in the flesh! None! The Spirit lifts one out of the shame and scandal, the dishonor and disgrace which always attend the life that revels and glories in the flesh. All of those things which were regarded as imposing, superior and splendid, are seen for what they are--the icing on a cake that is poison in the center, the skin graft over a putrid wound, the paint over a rotten post. The things of which we boasted belong in the garbage can of life. They are flung on the dunghill, never to be picked up again.
Those who have a partnership in the gospel have the Spirit within as another Comforter since Jesus went away. The word parakletos is so rich and full of power that, as Albert Barnes writes, "No single word in our language expresses fully the sense of the original." The verb form means to call one to us, then, to summon one to aid us.
It was used of an attorney who stood beside one in court to present his petition, make a plea, or offer a defence. It was used of a teacher who stands beside a pupil to point out the true meaning of a lesson. It was used of a helper who suddenly appears by the side of one to help him shoulder a load with which he was struggling. It is also used of a friend who comes to sit beside one to comfort or console by suggesting reasons for hope in the midst of grief.
We now know what Jesus meant when he said that he would not leave his followers orphans. The Comforter would abide with them to help and strengthen and to supply their needs. As an advocate he would present their petitions before the throne of God in the language of heaven (Romans 8:26). As a teacher he would stand beside the earnest student in the school of Christ, to provide insights into the text which seemed so puzzling and difficult.
When burdens seem intolerable and one is ready to faint by the way, the Spirit comes to help lift the load and to walk beside the bearer to keep him from stumbling. In times of grief, when a pall of sadness hangs like a thick gray fog over the soul, and the heart is numb, and the hands are cold, it is the voice of the Spirit which gives hope and enables us to see the stars shimmering through our tears.
One simply cannot make it by trusting in the flesh. The arm of flesh will fail. While we are living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, are at work in our members to bear fruit for death. To set the mind on the flesh is death. The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. "But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really dwells in you" (Romans 8:9). This is my story, this is my song. It is my hope, my only hope. There is no other!
The flesh is selfish, jealous and ambitious. And "where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice" (James 3:16). "For you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men?" (1 Corinthians 3:3). To try to settle differences merely by conference, debate, or purely human dialogue, is to attempt the impossible. It is like putting a patch on a rotten inner tube only to have it puncture elsewhere.
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Now it is evident that those who walk after the flesh will disparage the Spirit. They will seek to cram, crush and contract him into law. Laws can always be manipulated by men. They can be interpreted to bind heavy burdens and free the interpreter from lifting a finger to remove them. They can be made to draw keen distinctions so that if one swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if he swears by the gold of the temple, you can tighten the screws on him and make him come through to the uttermost farthing.
Laws can be loosened to let camels slip by without touching a hair, and then tightened up until a gnat cannot find a hole to go through. Every legalist becomes a camel gulper and a gnat gagger. It is imperative that carnal men stifle the Spirit for the Spirit makes men free--free from bigotry, sectarianism and that species of littleness that only religion can produce. The Spirit enters in and expands, enlarges and dilates the personality which was shrunken by selfishness and egotism. It sets the captive free.
The Spirit pulls back the curtains and throws open the windows of the heart. And the creatures of the night who have burrowed into the sub-conscious squeak and scurry for the darkness. Men simply cannot always keep the Spirit stifled or quenched. The very symbolism employed demonstrates that this is so. The Spirit is like wind and one might as well try to capture a tornado in a toy balloon as to attempt to capture the Spirit in his sectarian shopping bag.
The Spirit is like rivers of living water. No denominational dam can stand against the pressure. It is true that until the fulness of time comes, the dam may stand, but when the time of fulness comes it must give way. All of the frantic efforts of editors, professors and preachers to patch and plaster the leaks will prove unavailing. They will have as much luck as a colony of beavers trying to control Grand Coulee. The Spirit just does not belong to sect or segment, splinter or fragment. He will burst the bends and sweep all before Him.
It is axiomatic in the scripture that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17). The sanctuary of the human heart is sacred ground upon which no other has a right to intrude. Here no outside force can come. No mailed fist can crash down upon the conscience. This is the domain of the Spirit.
But what is liberty? It is necessary that we define it anew in our day, and I know of no better statement than that of Judge Learned Hand, which follows:
"What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit which weighs their interests against his own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lessen it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest."
The community of the reconciled is composed of those who were once separated from Christ as aliens and strangers, having no hope and without God in the world. They have been brought near in the blood of Christ. They have gained access in the one Spirit to the Father. Now they are no longer strangers and sojourners. They are fellow citizens. They are members of the household of God. They are a unit, cemented together as a holy temple in the Lord, built into it
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The community is a divine creation. It is not a human organization composed of elite thinkers who have discovered the golden key of doctrinal knowledge hidden from the eyes of the rest of humanity. It is not a club composed of men of superior goodness, an aristocracy of the sinless, or a confraternity of the perfect. Instead, it is a gathering together of sinners who have nothing of their own of which to boast, and are forced to glory in the person and presence of Another.
Their very cohesiveness must be given. The love which holds them together in spite of errors, frailties, weaknesses and differences, is not produced by their own power. God's love is poured into their hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given unto them (Romans 5:5). It is the love of the Spirit by which they strive together in prayers to God for one another (Romans 15:30). The first fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5:22).
Those who deny the Spirit cannot truly love. They have cut themselves off from the source. "It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit" (Jude 19). "No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit" (1 John 4:12, 13).
If our God wills, we shall present in our next issue a treatise on "Body and Spirit." It will not deal with the human body and spirit, but with the one body and one Spirit, and the mutual relationship which they share. We trust that you will read it with interest and concern.