Weekly Pursuit – Week 1 of June
Verse:
John 7:38-39 “He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
Excerpts:
The Spirit in John 7:37-39 is [very] much related to the humanity of Jesus. This Spirit, who is the living water flowing from within us, is constituted of the humanity of Jesus. Without the humanity of Jesus, there could never be such a Spirit. This is made clear by verse 39, which says that the Spirit was not yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified. The Scripture is speaking of a resurrected humanity. Without the human essence the Spirit of God could not be the flowing water of life. If God would be a flowing river of life, He must be constituted with the human nature of Jesus.
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” (v.37) When we come to Jesus to drink of Him, we come to drink of this man. We drink not only of His divinity but even the more of His humanity. He is not only the Spirit of God but also the Spirit of Jesus. The bountiful supply is not of the Spirit of God but of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19).
It is in the humanity of Jesus that we have the life, the growth of life, and the flowing of life. It is this kind of flowing life that satisfies others. If we are drinking daily of the Spirit of Jesus, whatever we are will be a flow of life that will satisfy not only ourselves but also others. Such a flow of life is not a matter of speaking in tongues or the manifestation of gifts; nor is it a matter of power, knowledge, or teaching; rather, it is a life that is always drinking of Jesus. This life is manifested not in a miraculous, divine, and heavenly way, but in a very human way. (Christ as the Reality, chap. 12)