from John chapter 7, beginning
in verse 37, reading through verse 39. This is an interesting
event. It is the Feast of Tabernacles,
and as we read in verse 37, 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. He that believeth on me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Now look at verse 39. But this
spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should
receive, for the Holy Ghost, or Spirit, was not yet given
because that Jesus was not yet glorified. Now, in Acts chapter
2 and verse 33, Peter says this, Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Spirit, He has shed forth this which you now see
and hear. Now let's keep these two verses
in our mind. Now, perhaps we could agree in
the very beginning, as we look at the Bible and all that is
contained in it, that the central truth, the grand truth of the
saving purpose of our God and of His Christ is in the atoning
death that our Lord died upon the cross. That the atonement
is the plumb line of theology. And by that I mean that all things
that are true line up with the atonement. The atonement being
a plumb line Therefore, all things going out from that must line
up with the atonement of our Lord. It is the wheel in the
middle of the wheel. It is the heart, the circle,
and the focus of the redemptive work of God. For example, It
is only by the atonement that God is propitiated. It is only
by His death that the justice of God and the wrath of God is
propitiated, and it is only upon the ground upon which forgiveness
is extended even to the ill, because Christ died and bore
their sin, therefore they may be forgiven. By the atonement
is the only way to destroy the power of the devil. By the atonement
is eternal life. Through the atonement of Christ
is the right to regeneration, that the spirit regenerates based
not just upon election only, but the fact of Christ's great
redemption. And let me say that it was the
atonement of our Lord that decided once and forever the judicial
process of the world. And so as a reward for his suffering
and his death, Christ was highly exalted to the right hand of
God and given great glory, sovereignty, and power. Now, in this particular
study, we are pledged to consider a special relationship, and that
is the connection, if you will, between the death that Christ
died His atonement and the exaltation of Christ and the pouring out
of the Spirit of God on Pentecost. We'll start using the two texts
that we read, John 7, 37 through 39, Acts chapter 2, verse 32, Now, the first one is said with
a view to the coming death. It is said before Christ ever
died. The second one is after the Lord
had died been resurrected and exalted. When he received the
Spirit of promise, as Peter said unto them, and he shed him forth
in the day of Pentecost upon his church and his people, called
Pentecost. Now, let's begin with that passage
in John chapter 7 and muddle around in it a little bit. A
little background, I think, in order to set the context of this
word of our Lord in John 7. We read, for example, that the
incident occurred in verse 37 through verse 39 in the last day of the great
feast. We see back in the second verse
of that chapter that the feast meant there was the Jewish Feast
of Tabernacle. And up to his death, We remember
that the Lord, as a Jew after the flesh, made under the law
reverence the Jewish institution and the Jewish ceremony, and
he kept them. For example, the Sabbath, the
Passover, the Holy Days, and such like. And the Feast of Tabernacles,
so say some, was the longest feast celebrated by the Jew in
the year. It lasted seven days, and by
its name, Tabernacle, the Jews built temporary tabernacles,
or some have just called them booths in which they would dwell
and where they would sleep and where they would eat during the
Feast of Tabernacle. And it was among one of the most
distinguishing of all of the festivals in the Jewish year. It culminated on the last day,
so say historian, with a great assemblage of the people in,
around, and about the temple in Jerusalem. And John Brown
wrote concerning these festival days that each day at the time
of the morning sacrifices, one of the priests who was ordained
would go and bring a golden vessel filled with water out of Siloam
and pour it upon the altar there that was before the temple. And as for this solemn rite was
performed, they say, cymbals would sound or play, trumpets
would sound out very loudly and there would be sung, so some
say, they would sing the song from Isaiah, with joy shall we
draw waters out of the well of salvation. Isaiah chapter 12
and verse 3. Well, be that as it may, it was
at this time, during this feast, in fact, upon the last day of
it, that the Lord makes that solemn proclamation that we read
about in verse 37 and verse 38. And the Lord chose this occasion,
we may surmise, for two possible reasons why our Lord spoke as
He did here. Number one, the pouring out of
the water that we mentioned, how the golden vessel upon the
altar gave an opportunity to declare a spiritual truth using
water as a spiritual symbol of the Holy Spirit and of eternal
life as it is in the Scripture, as he had done with the sinful
woman of Samaria at the well in John 4. verse 10 through verse
25. He used water there as a symbol
of the Spirit and of eternal life. Or the Lord might have
chosen this time because it was the last day of the feast and
a great many Jews had come from all quarters and were gathered
there at the temple, and if we might use John's expression,
the fields were quite under-harvest. So let us, if we might, hear
again the proclamation of our Lord in John 7, the last part,
and verse 38, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come unto
Me and drink. He that believes on Me, as the
Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Now note the words of the Lord. in verse 38, as the Scripture
has said. Meaning, of course, the Old Testament
Scripture that, as John Gill said, they spoke of grace and
of everlasting life. And under the metaphor of water,
the Holy Spirit, using figurative expressions here, our Lord refers
to those things. Again, as He did to the woman
at the well of But John, look at verse 39 now, John chapter
7, which is our focal point to give us a leap over into the
book of Acts and our connection here to the effusion of the Holy
Spirit poured out, shed out, given forth at Pentecost. And I'd like to read verse 39
again. Notice, in the King James at
least, that it is in bracket or in a parenthesis, and it says,
But this he spake 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. Now, in this particular verse
of the scripture, verse 39 contains what John Brown referred to,
quote, as an expository note of the evangelist, unquote, that
is, of John. For they are not the words of
Christ. These words are not the words
of Christ appended unto that great declaration that he had
made. Instead, they are explanatory
words of the author John, for which we are thankful. Otherwise,
without them, we might be confused and error and fall into some
occasion of heresy. By the way, as you read the Gospel
of John, this is a trademark of John and of his Gospel. That he would add some explanatory
clause to something that he had written. One of the greatest
and earliest example is that in John chapter 2 and verse 21
where the Lord said, destroy this temple and in three days
I'll raise it up again." And the Jews were mystified. And
John adds, this he spake of the temple of his body. You can see that of John chapter
12 and 33, chapter 18 and verse 32, that John is often careful
to add an explanatory clause that we might understand what
he's talking about. Now, John says here in verse
39 that he spoke of the Spirit. The Lord had in mind the Holy
Spirit. In regard to concerning the Spirit,
our Lord spoke these words. Now John explains to us here
that water was an emblem of the Holy Spirit which believers were
soon to receive, which George Hutcheson wrote and said, quote,
was suspended till the glorification of Christ, unquote. That's in
accord with our text. Jesus, or the Spirit, not yet
given, for Jesus was not yet glorified. Now here are some
points to look at them in verse 39. Number one, it was to be
the experience of every believer, and I emphasize every. Every
believer. We see that again in the book
of Acts. They were all filled with the
Holy Spirit. We'll say more on this when we
study in the book of Acts again. Secondly, we notice something
else here not to miss. That is, it was a future coming
blessing. It was something that was to
come. Number three, it was contingent
on dependent upon the coming glorification of Christ, that
Christ would be glorified before this event would take place.
So it is a future blessing that would follow up on the ascension,
the exaltation, and the glorification of the risen Christ. Now I call
your attention, if you're reading King James, in verse 39, to those
two words should receive, which they should receive. I submit that this means which
they were about to receive in a coming or future time. Here,
for example, are some ways that it is translated in various versions
that I think confirms what we have just said. The NIV has it
where later to receive. The N-A-S-V has it, were to receive. So the A-S-V version of the scripture
and N-A-S-V has it, were to receive. This spake he of the Spirit which
they that believe on him were to receive. Now the word should,
one meaning, includes the idea of an expectation, that there
should be an expectation. The word means to intend, to
be about to be is one way that we might express it. Most sound
expositors understand John here in his parenthetical statement
to be saying or speaking of a future event. And why not? For the next
The very next phrase said, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given,
which they that believed on Him were to receive, for the Holy
Spirit was not yet given, but they were about to receive the
Spirit in days to come. And it is also clear from the
words of the Lord Jesus in Acts here and in Acts 1.4 and Acts
1.8 that even then, after his resurrection, even after He had
been alive forty days and had accompanied with Him on different
times and occasions, that even then He spoke of the coming of
the Spirit of promise as yet future. You shall receive a wait
here for the coming of the Spirit. In Acts 1 and verse 4, wait for
the promise of the Father had not yet come. Acts 1 verse 8,
you will receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come
upon you and you will be witnesses unto me." But we must rightly
divide the statement here in John 7 and verse 39. Look at the words, the Holy Spirit
was not yet given. Now, the mystery deepens when
we notice here that the word given is not in the text, the
Greek text. It is a supplement, though I
think it is the right supplement that might be used in this place
to give us meaning. For without it, the words would
be, for the Holy Spirit was not yet. And that might be confusing
unto many that read. Now there are two errors, I think,
that we must avoid here, wrong conclusions that must not be
drawn from these statements of John. The Holy Spirit was not
yet. Now the first, I think, is that
he does not mean that the Spirit up to this point was non-existent. That cannot be the meaning of
John in his parenthetical point here. It does not mean that the
Spirit was non-existent up until this point. John is not telling
us that there was no Spirit of God until the day of Pentecost. We've already seen that the Spirit
is called eternal, in Hebrews 9 and verse 14, being divine,
the Spirit sharing the same essence as the Father and as the Son,
the Spirit also therefore possesses the attribute of eternality,
has all of the attributes of the other members in the Godhead. So he's not saying the Spirit
was non-existent. You know, there are some that
say that Jesus was a created being, that He did not exist
until God created Him. John's not saying that about
the Spirit. Now, the second era, that we
ought to avoid, I think is more complex and is more complicated
than the first one. But neither is John denying that
the Holy Spirit indwell the saints of God prior to this time, prior
unto Pentecost. He's not saying that the Spirit
was not at work in many people before His mighty coming in power
and majesty on the day of Pentecost. There are many instances in the
old economy that we could cite where the Spirit of God acted
upon and acted through the people of God. How shall we reconcile,
for example, the words of John 7, 39, that the Spirit was not
yet given with that statement in John chapter 20 and verse
22, when the Lord breathed on the disciples and said to them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. For example,
in Exodus 31.3, the Spirit of God gave wisdom to the men who
were building the tabernacle. In Judges 3 and verse 10, the
Spirit of the Lord came upon Caleb's younger brother to judge
Israel even in that day. 2 Kings 2 and 16. They wondered, did the Spirit
of the Lord take up the prophet Elijah, carry him and dump him
down somewhere else over on a mountain? And of course, we remember that
the Spirit of God inspired the Old Testament prophet. They spoke
and they wrote under the influence and the guidance of the Holy
Spirit. Many more examples could be given
that the Holy Spirit was present, in being, and active before the
day of Pentecost. Now, I don't want to take you
round and round in circles and be too repetitive, but there
is that semblance between the coming of the eternal Son to
perform His part of the covenant and the purpose of God, and the
coming of the Spirit to perform His part of the covenant and
the purpose of God. That is, the Father sent forth
the Son, who, by the way, was preexistent and eternal, the
Father sent forth the Son, so they both sent forth the Spirit,
who was existent prior unto that, though they both were operative,
the Lord and the Holy Spirit, before their earthly ministry. Now the Lord said it was necessary
that he go away, necessary that he depart, that he go to the
Father else the Comforter would not come. John 16 and verse 7. But the Lord also said, If I
go, I will send him unto you. While in John 14, And verse 26,
the Father will send him in my name. And in John 15 and verse
26, whom I will send unto you from the Father. By this going
away, The Savior does not mean that He would just vanish, poof,
into thin air and to disappear, or that He would revert back
to His pre-incarnate state, or that He would go on a journey,
or that He would go hide Himself somewhere where He could not
be found, or remove Himself completely from the equation from then on. His going away, His going to
the Father, involved His suffering and His shameful, painful death
on the cross, His laying in the grave three days and three nights,
and His resurrection and ascension again to the right hand of the
Father. as Luke 24 and verse 26. Christ must suffer prior to entering
into His glory. He must die but arise again. He must arise to enter into His
glory. The glory that He had with the
Father before the world ever was. And according to the text
in John 7 and verse 39, the Holy Spirit would not enter the next
phase of His work until the Lord was risen and was glorified in
heaven at the right hand of God. He would not come, the Spirit
would not, in the manner of Pentecost until Christ was dead, risen,
ascended, and glorified. And even then, there was perhaps
an approximate 10-day interval between His ascension and pouring
out of the Spirit. Now John makes it clear, the
coming of the Spirit was contingent. Let me rephrase that. The coming
of the Spirit in the manner of Pentecost was contingent upon
Jesus being glorified. And His glorification, His entering
into His glory, Luke 24, 26, and restoring again to the original
glory that he had with the Father before the world, John 17 and
verse 5, included his death, his dying, his making atonement,
his giving a sacrifice. George Smeaton is a man who wrote
a book entitled The Atonement According to Christ and the Apostle,
and it includes a short chapter that is entitled, quote, The
Influence of the Atonement in Procuring the Gift of the Holy
Spirit." That's a little short chapter. He makes a couple of
points in this chapter that the presence and the operation of
the Spirit were procured by the atoning sacrifice of Christ,
which would only follow His glorification. Again, the redemptive work of
Christ is the ground, or shall we say the meritorious cause
by virtue of which the Spirit of God is restored to man. Only by Christ's death can that
be. To which we might add, in both
regeneration and the fullness of Pentecost depend upon the
atoning death of our Lord. And though the Spirit was operative
before He came on Pentecost, Yet Pentecostal coming awaited
the death of the great sacrifice. On this Christ is crystal clear. If I go not away, the Comforter
will not come. But if I go, I will send him
unto you. Thus the coming and the work
of the Spirit commenced at Pentecost as a result and a fruit of the
atonement of our blessed Christ. Smeaton again said that, quote,
one of the greatest fruits of his death and mediation in behalf
of a fallen world, unquote, was that blessed procuring of the
gift of the Holy Spirit. Except Christ die for the elect,
they have neither part nor lot in the saving work of the Spirit
of God. But now, let's switch our focus
to that passage in Acts chapter 2 and verse 33. The words being
here apart, of the Apostle Peter's Pentecostal
sermon to that crowd gathered on Pentecost that day. Verse 33 we can see is a conclusion
of some sort and of some degree made concerning the one the Jews
knew as Jesus of Nazareth. Now the Apostle had just referred
to the 16th Psalm in preaching to that crowd in verse 8 and
through 11 of the 16th Psalm. He quotes it here in Acts chapter
2. that it spoke prophetically of
the fact that Messiah would come from the grave without seeing
corruption. For Acts 2.31, David was speaking
of the resurrection of Christ. In the 16th Psalm, that is. David,
Peter said, was speaking of the resurrection of Christ. And in verse 32 of Acts 2, this
Jesus has God raised up whereof we are all witnessing. Now verse 33 answers some questions
that might arise, such as Acts 2.12. What is the meaning of
this, they said, when they saw the events following Pentecost,
or on Pentecost? That was a great question. Murmured
throughout the crowd. What is it? What means it? What's
happening? What is this? What is going to
be? What is this? What will this be? Perhaps we
could say from the language. Now, another question that might
come to mind is this. If this Jesus of Nazareth is
risen, if he is come back from the dead, what then is become
of him? Where Is He now? Now the answer to the first question,
what is this? Peter said, this is that prophesied
by Joel. You'll find it in Joel chapter
2, I think 28 along in there. The answer to the second question
is, being raised from the dead, where is He? He is exalted to
the right hand of God the Father. He has been exalted into heaven. Now, sadly, this is where many
cut off their Christology, as if Christ is returned to heaven
just to wait for all the votes to be counted and find out the
final decision. But having finished the work
which the Father gave him on the earth, John 17 and verse
4, he has been exalted, he's been elevated, if you will, He
has been lifted up. Yea, He has been glorified. And by the way, this glorification
includes the glorification of the humanity of our blessed Lord. It was not left behind. It was
not cast off. It was not shed like a cocoon. And the Lord went up bodily in
the first chapter of the book of Acts. Now, this exaltation
has a prominent place in the Christology of the New Testament,
that the resurrected Lord is indeed set down on the right
hand of God the Father. Listen to that. Hebrews 1 verse
3, Having purged our sin, He sat down on the right hand of
God. Philippians 2 and verse 9, how
precious. Wherefore God also, in view of
his suffering and death, has highly exalted him, given him
a name that is above every name that At the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow and every tongue should confess. He's put all
things under His feet. Psalms 8 and verse 6. 1 Corinthians
15, 25. Ephesians 1, verse 22. Put all
things under His feet and given Him to be head over all things
to the church. Yes, says Peter in Acts 2, He
is made Lord. and Christ. And says the Apostle
Peter in Acts 2.33, the last part, he shed for this which
ye now see and hear. His work being accomplished,
he is raised and exalted. The Lord Himself has finished
the work the Father has given Him to do. And being exalted
to the right hand of the Father, watch our verse now, Acts 2.33,
He has received of the Father the promise of the Spirit and
has shed forth this which ye now see and hear. His promise
is the reality. The accomplishment, and as Manton
put it, when Christ came to heaven, he received from the Father the
fulfilling of the promise and he shed it forth, having merited
it by his death. He hath the honor, given the
honor of God, to shed it forth. to pour out the Spirit upon His
people. He hath the honor to send forth
that precious gift of God unto the church and upon the church. You consider Psalm 68 and 18,
it's quoted by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 4, something
like this, Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast received gifts
for men. In Ephesians 4.10, He has ascended
far above all heavens that He might fill all things." The Lord
Jesus Christ not only died for His church, but He went up to
heaven and He received from the Father the things merited by
His death, namely, the blessed promise of the Spirit of God
and shed them forth. As Peter said, it is He that
has shed these forth. And this, in closing, is a source
of comfort and assurance to the people of God in any time, in
that, number one, It confirms that full satisfaction has been
made by Christ. Full satisfaction, the accomplished
work, God is satisfied. He has taken great delight and
full delight in the work of the Son. That gives us great comfort,
that he is exalted to the right hand of God means satisfaction
has been made for the priest did not enter into the holy place
until he had made a suitable atonement. Secondly of all, It
gives forth the Spirit to the Son's stewardship to be dispensed
unto all of the church. The Spirit hath stewardship,
as it were. Christ is not here personally
to go from place to place. As we owe all to Christ, so we
owe Him praise. for the gift of the Holy Spirit
given as it was." Now, there's much more to say. Don't think
I'm cutting it off. We'll get to it when we come
to our next study, I think, about the Spirit prior to Pentecost
and after. hold that in our mind. But let's
close with this condensed thought, which we will have to expand
on, bring up again in another later study, which is the coming
of the Spirit at Pentecost was in no way, in no way given. His coming was not contingent
in any way on any action, on any wishes or on any prayer of
the disciples and apostles in that day. It was instead a sovereign
work of God in Christ. And when He came, He came unexpected. He came unasked for and He came
unprayed for, if you read your Bible carefully, and He came
unmerited as to the disciples themselves upon the earth. For
as we shall see, there was a set time for this great work. And we'll have to trace out the
Old Testament festivals to put that in line. But there was a
set time, and very clearly Acts 2.1 said, when the day of Pentecost
was fully come. As there was a time for Christ
to come, there was a time for the Spirit to come, and He came
not, not in regard or as a result of anything done by the people
of God upon the earth. A great gift because Christ died. He merited for us, for his church,
the Spirit of God. He received that promise of the
Father, shed it out exactly as the promise had been given unto
them.