THE PRESENT TIME

D. R. Freeman

There are frequent references in John’s gospel to the present day, the time of the Spirit, being anticipated, to which the Lord Jesus looked forward, we might say, with joy because of what it would mean to Himself and to the Father. So to the woman in John 4 the Lord speaks of the hour that is “coming and now is” (John 4: 23). The living water would be a reality in the Spirit’s day and the Father would have worshippers in spirit and truth, already anticipated in the Lord’s words and the satisfaction He received from the lonely woman of Sychar’s well.

In John 7 the water, a type of the Spirit, is not so much springing up as flowing out, the Lord’s words pointing to the Spirit’s day, as the writer indicates—“But this he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7: 39). Note that the word for believing—“he that believes on me”—is continuous present; so do we in faith embrace the advantages and prove the resources of the Spirit’s day?—for the Spirit has now come and here abides. Out of the belly of one believer, one who comes to Christ and drinks, can flow rivers, not just a river or stream, of living water. What an effect one such would have upon others!

Kingston, Ont.