The Baptism in the Holy Spirit: Rivers of Living Waters
In the following verses, Jesus was talking about the rivers of living water which characterize
the work of the Holy Spirit in the infilling or the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
JOHN 7:37-39
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.
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow RIVERS
OF LIVING WATER.
39 (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.)
The water in both John 4:13,14 and John 7:37-39 is a type of the Holy Ghost. But notice that
two different experiences are mentioned: salvation and the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
First, to the woman at the well of Samaria, Jesus said, ". . . the water that I shall give him shall
be in him a WELL OF WATER springing up into EVER-LASTING LIFE" (John 4:14). This is
referring to the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation or the new birth. In John 7:37-39, the
reference is to "rivers of living water." Jesus said, ". . . out of his belly [or innermost being] shall
flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). This is referring to the experience of the infilling of the
Holy Ghost in the life of the born-again child of God.
The Same Holy Spirit in the New Birth As in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
I was a member of a denomination and had been healed by the power of God. After that, I
fellow-shipped with Full Gospel people because they preached divine healing, and it stimulated
my faith. You need to fellowship with people of like-precious faith in order to stay strong in
faith.
However, these Full Gospel people also preached the baptism in the Holy Ghost and speaking
with tongues. People in my denomination said, "Those Pentecostal folks are good people and
they're all right in many ways. They preach a lot of good things, and much of what they preach
is true." But I was warned by many who genuinely cared about me to be careful about that
"tongues business" because they said that was of the devil.
However, in the course of time, I was filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking
with tongues. And I know from experience and from the Word of God that the baptism of the
Holy Spirit is not of the devil. I didn't get some spirit that I didn't have before and didn't know
anything about. It was the same Spirit — the Holy Spirit.
The same Holy Ghost whom I became acquainted with in the new birth — the same Spirit who
bore witness with my spirit that I was a child of God — was the same Spirit that gave me
utterance in tongues.
I told my denominational friends, "You said that speaking with tongues is of the devil. Well, if it
is, then the new birth is of the devil too. For the same Holy Spirit who led me to Christ, and the
same Holy Spirit who bore witness with my spirit that I am a child of God, gave me utterance in
tongues."
You see, when you are born again, you don't have all the Holy Spirit there is to have. There is
a further experience; an experience subsequent to the new birth that God desires every one of