Daily Dose of Hope
October 16, 2025
Scripture – John 7:25-53
Prayer: Holy God, Help us sit and reflect on your presence. Jesus, we need you. We go through our days distracted, sometimes even forgetting to pray or acknowledge you. Help us to be aware of your presence, knowing that you walk with us every step of the way, guiding us and leading us in all our words, actions, and decisions. We belong to you, Lord. Amen.
Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan. We are currently doing a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts. Today, we are finishing up John 7.
Today's reading is challenging. We are still in Jerusalem at the Festival of the Tabernacles. If you remember from yesterday's reading, Jesus has come to the festival later, trying to be discreet, but after a few days, he does begin to preach and teach. The comments are flying.
I want to draw our attention to several verses that might be easy to skip over. Verses 37-39 read, On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."c]">[c] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Let's talk context. According to the Mishnah, part of the oral tradition of Jewish law, water ceremonies are an important part of the festival celebrations on the last day. A priest would draw water from the pool of Siloam, with a special golden pitcher and then take it back to the temple to pour into a silver bowl next the altar. As the water was poured out, the priest would pray to God to send rain. In some traditions, the water-drawing at the Festival of Tabernacles was interpreted as the drawing of the Holy Spirit. So please know this was a really powerful moment.
It is hugely significant that Jesus, on this same day, says that whoever is thirsty should come to him and drink. He continues that anyone who believes in him will have rivers of living water flowing within them. Basically, and make sure you get this, Jesus is saying that those who drink of the water he gives will become sources of this living water. It is similar to what he told the Samaritan woman in chapter 4 when Jesus tells her that those who drink of the water he gives will never be thirsty because he offers water that leads to eternal life.
In chapter 6, if you recall, Jesus called himself the bread of life. Now, he offers living water that leads to quenches the deepest spiritual thirst.
What's kind of fascinating to me here is John's comment about the Spirit. He makes this connection between water and the Spirit. John makes other connections between water and the Spirit (remember his discussion with Nicodemus in which he spoke of being born of water and the Spirit.). John says in this passage that up until this time the Spirit had not come because Jesus hadn't been glorified. But John makes this strong suggestion that the living water Jesus is referring to is the Holy Spirit which is to come. Believers will soon have the Holy Spirit in their physical body and that will fulfill all spiritual thirst.
Think about that. If you have said yes to Jesus, then that means that the Spirit of the Living God is in you. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in you. That means the Spirit that fulfills all spiritual thirst is in you. How does that sit with you? Do you see how huge that is?
One small but important note. Just because the Spirit had not yet come did not mean the Spirit did not yet exist. We know that the Holy Spirit was with God in the beginning. As the third person of the Trinity, the Spirit was present at creation, we see his presence throughout the Old Testament, and we see him descend like a dove on Jesus during his baptism. But he would not be offered to the church until after Jesus was glorified and ascended into heaven. Of course, it was on Pentecost, Acts 2, in which the Spirit comes, making an incredible scene, and indwells the believers.
As the chapter progresses, we see the Jews are debating amongst themselves. We can sense the conflict rising between those who reject Jesus and those who believe he is Messiah. The true conflict boils down to who is the most accurate in their scriptural interpretation. We see this back and forth debate. John, as author of this Gospel, is basically joining the debate, defending Jesus and making it clear that he is Messiah.
But the Jewish leaders are frustrated. They want him arrested. They want him out of their way. They feel incredibly threatened by Jesus' claims and they want to shut him down.
More tomorrow.
Blessings,
Pastor Vicki
