John 7:37-42
 
John 7:37 (KJB)
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.
Cried - To utter in a loud voice
 
This was the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles which would have been the eighth day. Jesus came to the feast quietly and then went to the temple and started teaching publicly. On the last day Jesus had made the declaration that any one who thirsted could come to Him and drink. He was not speaking of the physical water because there would have been much water in Jerusalem but what He was speaking about was the spiritual water or the Gospel which quenches the thirst of the soul. Jesus knew that these feasts were only symbolic and that they pointed to Him. The symbol or the shadow can never satisfy as the real thing. These feasts could not bring salvation to anyone because they were only a remembrance and had no spiritual substance but here, Jesus is telling them that He is the one who can give eternal life where the soul will never thirst again.
 
John 7:38 (KJB)
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
 
(Zec 14:8 KJV) And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. In Zechariah 14:8, we see a reference to the living waters which will flow out of Jerusalem and the living waters is another synonym for the Gospel. When the Lord Jesus Christ died, and was buried, and was raised bodily, He then gave the promise to the disciples to wait in the city and they would receive the promise of the Father which was the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon all the disciples and the living water of the Gospel was now flowing from the disciples to all of Jerusalem and then beyond. Those who were in attendance at the Feast would have known about this passage in Zechariah and would be able to make that connection since it spoke specifically about Jerusalem.
 
John 7:39 (KJB)
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
 
Those who were the true believers in Jerusalem would receive the Holy Spirit who would indwell them and the Holy Spirit would be the source of the Gospel which each true believer in Jerusalem would preach by His power. The Holy Spirit was not given until fifty days after the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, on Pentecost. It would come ten days after His ascension. (Acts 1:8 KJV) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. The power they would receive would be the “dunamis” power which carries with it the meaning of “strength, ability, or force.” So the Holy Ghost would empower these disciples and everyone down through the ages who become truly saved would receive this same power to carry the Gospel to their generation. Once Jesus was resurrected from the grave, He was now glorified and now the Holy Spirit can point to Jesus as the one to look to for salvation. It would be He whom the Holy Spirit would point people to. His resurrection had now proved that He was God and who He said He was has now been confirmed.
 
John 7:40 (KJB)
Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
 
(Deu 18:15 KJV) The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; As the people were beginning to hear the spiritual message Jesus was bringing they started to make an allusion to the predicted prophet recorded in Deuteronomy 18. Jesus no doubt sounded like one of the prophets of old as He taught. Some had equated the prophet of Deuteronomy 18 as the Messiah and were now beginning to consider Jesus as that prophet and Messiah.
 
John 7:41 (KJB)
Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
 
There were some that heard what Jesus was saying and made the declaration that Jesus was the Christ. Then others had contradicted and asked “shall Christ come out of Galilee?” Jesus probably did about two thirds of His ministry in the area of the Sea of Galilee and this is why many had questioned the area where He lived. What they failed to look into was that He was not born in Galilee or Nazareth, but in Bethlehem where the prophet Micah stated he would be born. (Micah 5:2 KJV) But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. If they would have searched the Scriptures, then there would have been an immediate association between the prophesied Messiah and Jesus. They looked at where He ministered rather than where He was born and this was strange since genealogies were very important to the Jews.
 
John 7:42 (KJB)
Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
 
Some had done their Scriptural search and had come to realize that the coming Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and of the seed of David. The lineage of Jesus shows that He was fully of the house of David and He was born in Bethlehem. Then some must have made this comparison and realized that Jesus definitely fit the description of the Messiah. When you factor in the miracles and other deeds He did, then what conclusion can one come to except that Jesus was the Messiah.

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