The Flow of the Spirit

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, 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. (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)” (John 7:37-39).

What was happening on that last day of the Feast of Tabernacles when Yeshua spoke those words? Here is a description of how the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated during New Testament times from a Jewish source:

“Rams’ horns wailed and bands paraded through the narrow streets of the Holy City. In the courtyard of the Temple three giant candelabra blazed with such intensity that their light illuminated the entire city. Holy men and scholars sang and danced, accompanied by choruses of priests. Great rabbis performed pushups, hand stands and acrobatics on the Temple Mount. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel, head of the Sanhedrin, juggled eight flaming torches; he was accompanied by thousands of musicians playing flutes, harps, castanets and drums. In a climactic finale, thousands of Levites sang the 15 Songs of Ascents from the Psalms - one for each large stair...

“This was the special Simhat Beit Hasho’eva ceremony held during Hol Hamo’ed Succot, the Intermediate Days of Succot. It is said that whoever did not see this ‘Celebration of the Water-drawing Place’ never saw a real celebration (Mishna Succa 5:1)...

“This was part of the Succot supplication-for-rain ceremony (Rosh Hashana 16a), which had become formalized by the 5th century BCE. At that time, the Men of the Great Assembly instituted the prayer for rain that is today said in the synagogue on the last day of the festival, Shemini Atzeret.

“The water-libation ceremony began at the Spring of Shiloah or Gihon (in the City of David), where the kings of Israel were anointed. Water was carried up from there through a special entrance on the southern side of the Temple called the Water Gate. From there the water was taken to the altar and placed in special flasks as everybody cheered, sang and danced. It was then poured on the altar’s southwest corner as the shofar sounded...” (“Water music,” Jerusalem Post International Edition 9/21/91, p. 16A).

David Stern, in his Jewish New Testament Commentary, says: “It was in the midst of this water-pouring, trumpet-blasting, palm-waving, psalm-chanting and ecstatic joy on the part of the people seeking forgiveness that Yeshua cried out.”

When Yeshua cried out and drew attention to Himself, in effect He was proclaiming: “I am the answer to your prayers. You have been praying for physical water to sustain life in the earthly realm, but what you need even more is spiritual water for life in the heavenly realm.”

Yeshua promised that after He was glorified, people would be able to receive the Holy Spirit and thereby experience rivers of living water flowing out of their belly. The Greek word translated “belly,” koilias, can refer to the stomach, the womb, the uterus, or the heart. Men do not have a physical womb or uterus, but they nonetheless can “give birth” to a fresh new flow of the Spirit from their innermost being when their spirit is united with the Spirit of God.

This flow of the Spirit bubbles up from deep inside and brings “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet. 1:8), an experience too wonderful for words, a joy that cannot be adequately expressed in any human language. It can only be expressed in a heavenly language. Therefore it normally flows out by speaking in an unknown tongue.

Praying and praising in an unknown tongue springs up like water gushing out from a fountain of living water. It brings spiritual rest and it refreshes the soul, as it is written, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people, to whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they will not hear” (Isa. 28:11f, quoted in 1 Cor. 14:21 as a reference to speaking in unknown tongues).

Unfortunately, there are still people today who will not hear. They reject this source of rest and refreshing. They want nothing to do with speaking in an unknown tongue, and they thereby fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy concerning those who will not hear.

Speaking in unknown tongues is not an end in itself; it is not the full and final manifestation of “the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4f). But it is evidence that the promise of the Father to baptize with the Holy Spirit has been fulfilled. When people are baptized with the Holy Spirit, it is not the final pinnacle of their spiritual experience. Rather, it is the beginning of an exciting walk with the Lord. It is like the early rain in its season that assures us that the latter rain will likewise come in its season, causing the fields to ripen for the final fall harvest.

Speaking in unknown tongues is like the breaking of water in a pregnant woman’s womb before the full manifestation of the baby. The flow of water from a pregnant woman’s womb is a signal that the baby will soon emerge and be fully revealed. When the water flows from a woman’s womb, it announces: “The baby is on its way! Get ready for the arrival of what we’ve all been waiting for!” When we speak and sing and praise and pray in tongues, this flow of the Spirit announces: “Something new is on its way! Something wonderful is coming! Get ready!”

It does not matter if no one understands the words we are speaking, because the Bible says “he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries” (1 Cor. 14:2).

Even though we do not understand the details of those mysteries that we speak in unknown tongues, we are still edified by speaking in tongues. We know this because the Bible says “he that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself” (1 Cor. 14:4).

Some people never experience this flow of the Holy Spirit because their hearts are cold and frozen. They need to get alone with the Lord and let Him melt their frozen hearts and cause the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow upon them so the waters can flow, as it is written, “He sendeth out His word, and melteth them: He causeth His wind [ruach, spirit] to blow, and the waters flow” (Ps. 147:18).

In the fall of 2000, I was sitting in a circle praying with a small group of friends when I had a vision. I saw myself and my friends as a circle of burning candles. As we prayed, we melted and gradually got smaller and lower, each of us like a candle slowly burning down. As we melted, the wax from each candle flowed toward the center of the room, like the spokes of a wheel heading for the wheel’s hub. In the center of the room was a great candle rising up. Our melted wax was absorbed into this great candle, causing it to become even greater and to be elevated even higher and to burn even more brightly.

We burn more brightly united with other believers than we do by burning alone as individuals. As we pray and humble ourselves before the Lord and let the word of God melt us, we will experience the reality of what is described in Psalm 147:18. God will cause His ruach, His Spirit, to blow, and the waters will flow from our innermost being, like rivers of living water.

Like that great candle I saw rising up in the center of the room, Yeshua will be exalted in the earth as we all melt and flow toward Him. In the words of John the Baptist, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Yeshua spoke about this promise of the Father at the Feast of Tabernacles. This year as you celebrate the Feast, remember Yeshua’s promise of living waters flowing from your belly. If you have never received this promise of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, let this year be the year you receive it. It might not cause you to do pushups, hand stands, and acrobatics like great rabbis did at the Feast of Tabernacles in New Testament times, but it will bless you, empower you, and equip you for a closer walk with the Lord. And this flow of the Spirit will bring greater fluency to your prayer life.

| DB

Image: Psalm 65 by Daniel Botkin from his Psurrealistic Psalms art gallery. See all Daniel’s art pieces on his art website, DanielBotkin.com.