John 7:38

John 7:38. He that believeth in me, as the scripture said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. The words of John 7:37 remind us of the people who drank of the spiritual rock that followed them (1 Corinthians 10:4), the miracle commemorated in the pouring of the water from Siloam; the last words (‘shall flow rivers') resemble more the promise of Isaiah 12:3, amplified in all its parts. There is nothing incongruous in this union of promises: Isaiah 44:3 includes both, ‘I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.' This is not the first time that we have found ‘coming to Jesus' and ‘believing in Him' thus brought together; see the note on chap. John 6:35. Out of the heart of him that thus cometh, thus believeth in Jesus, shall flow rivers of living water. Not only shall he receive what his thirst demands and be satisfied, but he himself shall become the source of a stream nay rivers of living waters. The water shall bring life to him: the water flowing out of his heart shall bring life wherever it comes. All this is the gift of Jesus, who is set forth as the One Source of the water of Life. But what is meant by ‘as the Scripture said'? Many passages of the Old Testament contain similar imagery, and some of these have been already quoted; but one only appears really to accord with the figure of this verse, viz. the vision of Ezekiel 47. The prophet saw a stream of living water issuing from the temple, and expanding into a river whose waters brought life wherever they flowed. The temple prefigured Christ (chap. John 2:21); the water of life is the gift of the Holy Ghost, pre-eminently Christ's gift (chap. John 4:14). The Lord Himself received into the believer's heart brings the gift of the living water; and from Him, thus abiding in the heart, flows the river of the water of life.