He that believeth on me
Which explains what is meant by coming to Christ, and drinking;
for these acts are no other than for a man to go out of himself
to Christ, and live by faith on him, and his grace. To which what
follows is a great encouragement;
as the Scripture hath said:
some refer these words to the preceding clause concerning
believing in Christ, which the writings of the Old Testament
speak of, as in ( Deuteronomy
18:15 ) ( Isaiah 28:16
) ( Habakkuk
2:4 ) , and the sense is, that he that believes on Christ,
the object of faith the Scripture points at, and in him, as that
directs and requires; that believes in him as the mighty God, and
as the prophet, priest, and King, and as the only foundation of
the church, and lives by faith upon him, as just men do, then
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water,
though rather they belong to what follows; and do not design any
particular place of Scripture; for no such one is to be found,
where the following passage is expressed in so many words; but
all those Scriptures which speak of grace, under the metaphors of
water, and abundance of water, as rivers and floods of water, and
of the effusion of the Holy Spirit, under such figurative
expressions, such as ( Isaiah 41:17
Isaiah
41:18 ) ( 43:20 ) (
44:3 ) (
58:11
) ( Joel 2:28
) . Hence the Syriac version reads in the plural number, "as the
Scriptures hath said"; referring to more than one: "out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water"; the grace of the Spirit
of God is signified by water, because it is of a cleansing and
purifying nature, as faith and hope are, having to do with the
blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin; and because it
fructifies and causes the saints, as trees of righteousness, to
grow, and bring forth fruit; and especially because it is cooling
to those who are scorched with the heat of a fiery law, and very
refreshing to thirsty souls: and it is called "living" water,
because by it dead sinners are quickened, drooping saints are
revived, and comforted; spiritual life in them is maintained and
supported, and it springs up to, and issues in eternal life: and
it is expressed by "rivers" of living water, because of the
abundance of it in regeneration, justification, and pardon; it is
grace for grace, abundance of grace believers receive from
Christ; and from him, in whom those large measures of grace are,
they "flow out" again, even "out of his belly": from within him,
out of his heart, the seat of it, by his lips, both in prayer to
God, and in conversation with the saints, to whom he communicates
his rich experiences of grace, to their comfort, and the glory of
God: for grace is of a diffusive and communicative nature; out of
the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh: and also it flows
out by his life and conversation, which is sober, righteous, and
godly; and this the grace of God teaches and influences: and this
grace, as it is permanent and lasting itself, even perpetual, and
always abiding; so it continues to flow, and to show itself in
its acts and effects, in one way or another. The Jews ought not
to find fault with Christ's using such expressions, mystically
understood, since they, comparing Moses and the Messiah together,
say,
``as the first Redeemer caused a well to spring up, so the last Redeemer shall cause waters to spring up, according to ( Joel 3:18 ) F5.''