Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.

 Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.

 

John 7:37-38 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me (ho pisteuton eis eime), as the Scripture has said, out of his belly (koilia) will flow rivers of living water."

At the end of the holiday, the Jews held a ceremony to commemorate Moses breaking the rock in the wilderness after the Exodus and bringing out water, and they performed a ceremony of pouring water on the altar in the temple. Then Jesus came to me and told me to drink water (the Holy Spirit). Jesus described the water as a river of living water.

Jesus said, "As the Scripture has said, out of your belly (koilia) will flow rivers of living water." The Greek word koilia means belly, breast, and womb (uterus). Matthew 19:12 "For there are eunuchs who were born from their mother's womb (koilia), and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Let him who is able to accept it accept it."

Therefore, in the Korean translation, a person's belly means a belly with a placenta, and it becomes the water of life that conceives and raises a child. Jesus said, "Whoever believes in me, come." Regarding the word believe, in John 7:39, "He spoke this 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)", and the river of living water means the Holy Spirit.

『(For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)』 When Jesus said this to the Jews, it was at a time when he was about to do his work on the cross, so he was saying this with the resurrection in mind. He was going to die on the cross, be resurrected, and receive glory, and when he was resurrected, he would give the Holy Spirit to those who were united with him (baptism in the Holy Spirit), and they would be resurrected in the same way.

This word is said to be a word spoken in the Bible. The Bible means Ezekiel. Among the visions that the prophet Ezekiel had, the content of chapter 47 verses 1-12 is a vision of water flowing from the temple. In the vision that Ezekiel had, the stream of water began to flow from the temple and continued to flow without stopping, and the water gradually increased and became a deep river. Ezekiel watched where this water flowed and continued to follow it. This stream of water flowed eastward, went down to the desert of the Arabah in the lowlands, and flowed into the Sea of ​​the Arabah, or the Dead Sea. “He said to me, ‘This water flows eastward and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when it flows down, the waters of the sea will be healed.’” This water flows into a low place, into the land of death. The meaning of this vision is that the gospel flows to souls who have died because of sin. It reaches out to lowly sinners. The gospel proclaims the death and resurrection of the cross.

The water that flowed from the temple reached and passed through, and wherever it went, a history of revival and restoration of life took place. The Dead Sea means dead sea, but it was originally a salt sea. It was called that because the water was so salty that no living thing could live there. However, when the water from this temple flowed into it, the dead water came back to life. The water that no fish could live in now attracted fishermen because of all kinds of fish. After passing through the barren and dry wilderness where not a single blade of grass could live, it entered the Sea of ​​Death, and now on both sides of the river filled with the water of life, all kinds of fruit trees grew and bore fruit without end. And wherever this water flows again, everything there came back to life.

The gospel that began with Jesus Christ revives dead souls. The spirit that died in sin is revived with resurrection life, and the water (Holy Spirit) that symbolizes the resurrection life bears abundant fruits of resurrection. Those who have received the resurrection life from Christ will spread the gospel to all corners of the world and revive the spiritual lives of all people. As it is written in John 3:16, whoever believes in Christ will not perish but have eternal life. Faith is believing in dying with Jesus Christ and resurrecting with Him.

This vision that Ezekiel saw is connected to the vision that the apostle John saw. In Revelation 22:1-2, "Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down 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. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

If the river flowing from the temple filled with the glory of God that Ezekiel saw is the beginning of the resurrection life and restoration through the glory of God, the river of the water of life in the Book of Revelation shows the completed appearance of salvation and resurrection life through the grace of God. This river symbolizes the gospel of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ that started from Jerusalem and spread to the whole world. This gospel is spread to all people to heal the world, heal wounded souls, and give them eternal life.

The holy water flowing from the temple becomes the gospel that gives life, and the gospel brings life, restoration, fruitfulness, and healing to all the places it reaches. And now, the wall that separated Israel and the Gentiles has been torn down, and the two have become one without discrimination in the gospel. Romans 10:11-13 says, “The Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Just as the belly with the womb is the center of the body, the temple in the soul signifies the depths of the spirit. The temple of the Holy Spirit is created in the depths of the spirit, and so the living water (the Word) flows from the Holy Spirit. 『Ho pisteuton eis eime (ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ)』 means those who come into me and believe. Those who enter into Jesus Christ signify a life of union with Jesus Christ. Union means believing in dying on the cross with Jesus and being resurrected with Christ. Resurrection is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit, and those who are baptized in the Holy Spirit receive the life of resurrection. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is given to the saints and they become new creations. Romans 8:2 says, 『For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.』

In John 1:12, it says, “Yet to those who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the power to become children of God.” The Holy Spirit comes into those who are born from heaven. The power to become children of God is authority in English. If you are not born of water and the Holy Spirit, you cannot obtain this power. In John 3-7, it says, “Those who have received the power to become children of God will have a spring welling up that will never thirst.” The fullness of the Holy Spirit is expressed as a welling up spring. This is the life of resurrection.