The Spirit and Christ | Selections from John
Brian Hedges | April 27, 2025
Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to John 1, and we’re actually going to be in several different passages in the Gospel of John this morning.
A number of years ago, Billy Graham in one of his books said,
“Man has two great Spiritual needs: one is for forgiveness, the other is for goodness. Consciously or unconsciously, his inner being longs for both. God heard that first cry for help, that cry for forgiveness, and answered it at Calvary. God sent his only Son into the world to die for our sins so that we might be forgiven.”
Over the last number of times in worship together, we’ve been reflecting on that, the work of Jesus Christ at the cross, last week we focused on the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday, and the great gift of forgiveness that comes to us through the gift of God’s Son. But listen to what else Billy Graham said.
“God also heard our second cry, that cry for goodness, and he answered it at Pentecost. To the great gift of forgiveness God also adds the great gift of the Holy Spirit. He gives us the power to be truly good.”
I think Billy Graham is right. There are two great gifts of God. There is the gift of his Son and there’s the gift of his Spirit—the gift of his Son, by whom we are redeemed and forgiven and justified from our sins, made right in the sight of God; and the gift of his sSpirit, who comes to indwell our hearts and through whom we are transformed, our hearts are changed, and we actually become different kind of people.
It’s important that we focus on both of these great gifts. Now in our church, Redeemer Church, we focus a lot on the work of Christ. We are a Christ-centered church, so every week we are trying to orient our hearts to God’s great work through Jesus Christ, his incarnation, his death, his resurrection, what Christ does in our hearts and our lives. And it’s right that we should do that. But it’s also right that we should attend to the work of the Spirit, to the gift of the Spirit, and what God continues to do in our hearts and lives through his Spirit. In fact, the two cannot be separated. There is an unbreakable bond between the Spirit and the Son, and in the next seven weeks—from now until Pentecost Sunday—we want to focus on the Spirit and his work. We’ve just completed a series on the King and his cross. Now, the next seven weeks, the Spirit and his work.
What I want us to do over these seven weeks is just take a topical approach where we look at the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in a number of passages in the New Testament and just kind of survey the work of the Spirit and the implications of that for our lives today.
Today our focus is going to be specifically on the Spirit and Christ, as we look at this unbreakable bond between the Spirit and the Son.
I want to do that by looking at three passages primarily in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is just full of the Holy Spirit. In fact, we might think the most natural place to go is the upper room discourse, John 14-16, where Jesus spoke of the Comforter, the advocate whom he would send. But I’m not going to actually focus on those passages as much as three other passages: a passage at the beginning of John’s Gospel, a passage closer to the middle, and a passage at the end.
We’re really seeing Jesus in three different scenes, and each one conveys something different about the ministry of the Spirit. We see Jesus shortly after his baptism at the Jordan River, then we see Jesus preaching in the temple, and then finally we will see Jesus in the upper room after his crucifixion and resurrection. In each case, we learn something important about the relationship between Jesus and the Spirit.
I want to begin by reading from John 1. I’m going to read John 1:29-34. It’s recalling for us the ministry of John the Baptist and how John the Baptist testified to Christ, was a witness to Christ. This is right after, of course, the baptism of Jesus, which is recorded in the other Gospels. So John 1, beginning in verse 29.
“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.” I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John bore witness: ‘I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.’”
This is God’s word.
I want us to note three things about Jesus and the Spirit.
1. Jesus Bears the Spirit
2. Jesus Promises the Spirit
3. Jesus Gives the Spirit
Now this is pretty simple. It’s a simple progression. We see the progression in the Gospel of John in the three passages we’re going to focus on this morning.
1. Jesus Bears the Spirit
In this first one, in John 1:32-33, we see that Jesus bears the Spirit. Now look at these verses again, and I want you to notice the verbs that are used to describe what the Spirit does in relationship to Jesus.
“John bore witness,” and he says in verse 32, “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.” Then again in verse 33 he quotes what was said to him: “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”
So we see the Spirit doing two things: the Spirit descends on Jesus, and the Spirit remains on Jesus. This took place, of course, at the baptism of Jesus, recorded in more detail in the other three Gospels.
Just as a side note here, just note how in the baptism of Jesus you see all three persons of the Trinity, the triune God, at work. You see the Son, Jesus, who is baptized in the Jordan River. As Jesus is baptized, you remember the Father spoke from heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased.” And in the same moment, the heavens are torn open and the Spirit of God descends on Jesus. The Gospel of Luke tells us that the Spirit descended in bodily shape like a dove. And you see the three Persons all at work, all at the same time, in distinct ways, and yet in this unified event where Jesus is anointed with the Spirit. The Spirit descends on him.
It was so important in the formation of the early church that when there were people who doubted the reality of the Trinity, the early Christians would say, “Go to the Jordan and you will see it.”
It’s in that inaugural moment of Jesus’ ministry that we see the Trinity at work, and specifically in this passage, we see how the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove. This is the first great image of the Spirit that we have in the Gospel of John.
The Spirit descends like a dove. Why like a dove? Some have thought it was because of the gentleness of a dove, but I really think the reference is probably all the way back to Genesis 1, the very first two verses. It is the dawn of creation, and Genesis 1 begins in this way: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” And listen to this. “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
That verb “hovering” is the word for the fluttering or the hovering of a bird brooding over its nest. It seems here that the Spirit of God is the agent of creation, hovering over that primordial chaos to bring order into the creation.
That seems to be the image, and when the Spirit descends like a dove, it doesn’t mean that the Spirit was incarnated as a dove. It’s a symbol. But it’s a symbolic reference that shows us that the Spirit, just as he was the agent of the old creation, is now at work in the new creation as Jesus, the head of the new creation, is being inaugurated for his ministry and really anointed for ministry. Jesus is the Christ, the anointed, the Messiah.
But what is he anointed with? Well, when you read the prophecies of Isaiah and see how those are used in the New Testament, it’s really clear, he was anointed with the Spirit. So Jesus comes as the one on whom the Spirit descends.
But notice it also says that the Spirit remains on him—“on whom the Spirit descends and remains.” This is something unique, because in the Old Testament you certainly see the Spirit of God at work, but you’d see the Spirit come and then go. The Spirit would come upon a person for a particular task. The Spirit would come upon a prophet so that he could utter a prophecy, or upon a craftsman so he could build the tabernacle, or upon a king. Think of King Saul, who received the Holy Spirit and even prophesied with the prophets, but the Spirit then left him again. But not with Jesus. With Jesus, this anointed prophet, priest, and king, the Spirit descends and remains.
It’s teaching us here a broader truth concerning the relationship between Christ and the Spirit. There is an unbreakable bond between Son and Spirit.
I think where I first began to learn this was years ago reading in the Puritan writer John Owen, who wrote this volume on the Holy Spirit called Pneumatologia: A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit. It’s actually nine books on the Holy Spirit, where he surveys pretty much everything in the ministry of the Spirit in both Old Testament and New Testament. I’m not going to quote Owen, but what Owen showed me and what just helped me begin to understand the relationship between Christ and the Spirit was that in every aspect of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry, the Spirit was active. Owen really surveyed those, and you can see here just a sampling, as you consider these different aspects of the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Think of the incarnation. Do you remember how the angel came to the virgin Mary? It’s recorded in Luke 1. He said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” That’s why we confess in the Apostle’s Creed that he was “conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” There are ten things said about Christ in the Apostle’s Creed. The very first thing is he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The early church considered this really important. The very incarnation of Christ was accomplished through this mysterious power of the Spirit.
Then, as we’ve just seen in Jesus' baptism, when he was baptized, the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove and came to rest upon him. This is the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
We know that immediately after he was baptized the Spirit drove him into the wilderness (Luke 4 tells us) to be tested, tempted for forty days and nights. It’s recalling the story of Israel, tempted in the wilderness for forty years. Here is Jesus, as the king of Israel, as the new Israel, led by the Spirit into the wilderness, and when he triumphs over Satan in the wilderness, he leaves the wilderness, Luke 4 tells us, in the power of the Spirit.
Then you think about Jesus’ ministry. Peter summarizes it in Acts 10 when he says, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” That’s telling us that every miracle, every healing, everything that Jesus did, he did in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Even in Jesus’ death on the cross, the Spirit was not absent. In fact, Hebrews tells us that he offered himself without blemish to God through the eternal Spirit.
Then the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we considered last Sunday together, again, we see the Spirit at work. Romans 1:4 tells us that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.”
Now I know these are things most of us know and probably assume and take for granted. We’ve read over these verses many, many times. But I think it’s helpful seeing them together, because you begin to see a theme. You begin to see that there is a connection between the Son and the Spirit; that Jesus came in the power of the Spirit, he lived by the power of the Spirit. The Spirit descended on him, the Spirit rested upon him, or, to use the words of theologian Sinclair Ferguson, who helped clarify all this for me, “From womb to tomb to throne, the Spirit was the constant companion of the Son.”
This is important for us for this reason: as a result, when he comes to Christians to indwell them, he comes as the Spirit of Christ in such a way that to possess him is to possess Christ himself.
There’s an unbreakable bond between the Son and the Spirit. The Spirit descends and rests upon Jesus.
Then John also says something that Jesus does in relation to the Spirit. He says, “This is he who baptizes with the Spirit.” He baptizes with the Holy Spirit. This, of course, corresponds in some ways to John’s baptism. He came baptizing with water. He was plunging people into the River Jordan. But he says that there’s a different kind of baptism. There’s a baptism with the Spirit. I think he means that there is a giving of the Spirit that is so powerful, so effusive, so cleansing, so transforming that it’s like a baptism. It’s like being flooded, immersed, submerged in the Spirit. There’s going to be this great outpouring of the Spirit, and Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Spirit.
Now, I know this probably feels like heavy theology at this point, but there’s a very practical lesson to be learned from this: Beware of any spiritual experience that bypasses Jesus. There’s an unbreakable bond between the Son and the Spirit, and you can be sure that if your spiritual experience is not leading you to Jesus then it’s not actually the Spirit of Jesus, it’s some other kind of spirit.
Jesus said in John 16, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” Notice this, verse 14: “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore I said he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
This is the role of the Holy Spirit: to testify to Christ, to glorify Christ, to teach us the things of Christ. One of the things this means is that in the New Testament, this unbreakable bond between the Son and the Spirit is one of the primary tests for discerning the authenticity of spiritual experience.
Listen to John in his first letter. In 1 John 4 he said, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.”
There’s a connection. Do you see it? There’s a connection between Christ and the Spirit. There are all kinds of things that are called spiritual today, both in the world and in the church, but we need to beware and be cautious about any kind of spiritual experience that doesn’t take us right back to Jesus. You know that the Spirit is working when Christ is being glorified.
That’s why Paul can say, “Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, ‘Jesus is accursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12).
I think we could just put it in a formula that maybe will be memorable for you: no Jesus, no Spirit. The opposite is also true, the converse is also true: no Spirit, no Jesus. You don’t get one without the other. You don’t get Jesus without the Spirit, and you don’t have Jesus if you don’t have the Spirit.
One more verse here, Romans 8:9. “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” The only way to get the Spirit is to get Jesus, and the only way to have Jesus is through the Spirit. Jesus is the one who bears the Spirit. He is the quintessential Spirit-filled person. And if you want the Spirit in your life, you only get the Spirit from Jesus.
2. Jesus Promises the Spirit
So Jesus bears the Spirit, and then secondly, Jesus promises the Spirit. For this passage, I just want to look at three verses in John 7—John 7:37-39.
Here’s the context. It is the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths. It’s one of the great annual feasts where Israelites would go to Jerusalem, they would camp out in tents, and it was a reminder of the history of Israel and their pilgrimage from slavery in Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land. They would remember that journey, and there would be a ceremony—extrabiblical literature tells us about this—a ceremony with jars of water, when every day the priest would draw a golden pitcher full of water from the pool of Siloam and lead a procession to the temple, followed by people who were singing a song from Isaiah 12, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
It’s in that context that, on the very last day of the feast, Jesus stands up. This is what happens; John 7:37.
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’ [Then John adds his commentary in verse 39.] Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
So this whole feast is a reminder of the exodus and the events when the people of Israel journeyed through the wilderness. Remember, they’re in the wilderness and God provides water out of a rock (Exodus chapter 17). Moses struck the rock and water gushed out. So this whole water ceremony, all of it’s a reminder of that. It’s in that context that Jesus says all this. “If anyone’s thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”
He’s promising something, and John tells us he’s promising the Spirit. So here it’s another image of the Spirit. The Spirit is water. And it’s one of the great images in the Old Testament of the Spirit of God who will come down like rain, the Spirit who will be poured out by God on his people. Even the baptism of the Spirit is using this imagery. The Spirit is water. And what does this water do? It quenches our souls’ thirst, and water cleanses us from sin. It’s the nourishing, satisfying, cleansing, transforming aspects of water. The Spirit is compared to that.
But what’s interesting here is Jesus makes this promise, “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water, anyone who believes in me.” But John says this is about the Spirit, who had not yet been given. And, actually, the English Standard Version kind of cleans it up a little bit. It literally says in the Greek text, “the Spirit was not yet, for Christ had not yet been glorified.” The Spirit was not yet. What in the world does that mean? “The Spirit was not yet.”
I think we could safely say it does not mean that the Spirit of God did not exist. It doesn’t mean that, because we already saw the Spirit in Genesis 1, and there are many other Old Testament passages that talk about the Spirit of the Lord, even a couple that name him the Holy Spirit. We already know from the Gospel of John that the Spirit is in existence, because the Spirit has descended and remained on Jesus. It doesn’t mean that the Spirit did not exist; it’s, rather, a comparative statement. It means that something is about to take place, that the Spirit was about to be given in a way that is so much greater by comparison, that it was like the Spirit wasn’t present before.
I thought maybe an illustration that would help us would be to think about the first iPod in comparison to the iPhone today. Do you remember this? The very first iPod. There it is. Anybody ever have one of these? Let me see your hand if you had one of these. Okay, few of you did. I had the third generation. You know, I still remember—this happened—I remember being on the porch, my backyard, when someone first told me about an iPod. “There’s just kind of this amazing thing that you could have this little device and there’s like a thousand songs on this device.” This sleek little—although that one’s pretty chunky. They got sleeker as it went. And it just seemed like this amazing technology. I mean, I remember the Walkman, you know, where you have to carry around cassette tapes and you get like sixteen tracks! But here you get a thousand songs in your pocket to listen to! It just seemed like the most amazing thing.
But nobody carries iPods around anymore. Now we have the iPhone, and this is the newest one; this is the iPhone 16 Pro, alright? In contrast to the five gigabytes on the iPod, this has one terabyte. It can hold up to one terabyte of data. Not just music; this stream high-definition movies. You can make a movie with an iPhone. You can read books on an iPhone. The iPhone is a portal to a world of information, almost infinite information. It’s so much greater than the iPod that we don’t even think about the iPod anymore, even though there’s some continuity between these two devices.
What I’m suggesting to you is that the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the new covenant, in comparison to the ministry of the Spirit in the old covenant, is like the contrast between the iPod and the iPhone. It’s so much greater. It’s so much more, because Jesus has come, and Jesus being glorified now gives the Spirit to the church, and he gives the Spirit in such fullness that it’s like a flood, it’s like a deluge, it’s like a baptism, and it changes everything!
Again, there’s a practical application to this, and the practical application is that if you find yourself maybe a little uncomfortable with this language or even a little disillusioned in talking about the powerful, transforming ministry of the Holy Spirit, if you feel like you haven’t really tasted that, you start hearing, you know, your pastor talk about the Spirit in this way, and maybe there’s something in your mind that’s like, “Uhh, is Brian becoming charismatic? Like, what’s going on here?” You just feel a little bit of caution.
Let me just say, don’t make your past experiences with the Spirit the gauge of what is possible in your relationship with God, because he can do more than you ask or think. He can do more than you have experienced so far, and we should be seeking for more.
One reason I think we should be seeking for more is because the Bible teaches us to do this. Read Paul’s great prayers in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3. In Ephesians 1, he is praying that the Spirit of wisdom and revelation might be given to you so that you know God better, you know the hope to which he’s called you, you know the riches of his inheritance in the saints, you know the exceeding greatness of his power, that raised Jesus from the dead is now working in us who believe.
Then in Ephesians 3 he’s praying that we would be strengthened by the Spirit in our inner being so that Christ would dwell in our hearts by faith, and we would know the dimensions of the love of God—how high and deep and wide and long is this love that surpasses knowledge!
You read the New Testament, the way it describes the experiences of God’s grace in our lives, it talks about love that surpasses knowledge, peace that passes understanding, joy that is inexpressible and full of glory. That’s something more than a lot of us have experienced. But the New Testament holds it out and says, “You pray for this. You seek this, because Christ promises this,” rivers of living water. It’s a baptism with the Spirit. It is an experience of the Spirit more, perhaps, than what you have experienced yet in your life. Don’t let the smallness of your experience keep you from seeking more. Instead, if you are thirsty, come to Christ and drink. Come to the one who promises this water to quench your thirst. Seek him and ask him for more. Jesus promises the Spirit.
3. Jesus Gives the Spirit
But there’s more. Point number three, Jesus is not only the one who bears the Spirit and promises the Spirit. He is, number three, the one who gives the Spirit. One more passage, John 20:19-22. This is Jesus now in the upper room. We’ve seen him at the Jordan. We’ve seen him in the temple. Now Jesus is in the upper room after his crucifixion and resurrection, one of the great appearances of Jesus. It’s fitting for us to consider this one week after Easter. Verse 19:
“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
It’s another image for the Spirit, the Spirit as breath. Jesus literally breathes on his disciples and says, “Receive the Spirit.” It seems that the best commentaries agree that this is something of an enacted parable, as Jesus breathes on his disciples, then says, “Receive the Spirit,” pointing to the greater outpouring of the Spirit that will happen just a few weeks later on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit is poured down on the church. Of course (many of you probably know this), both in Hebrew and Greek, the word for “spirit” is the same word for breath or for wind. So the Spirit is the breath of God, the wind of God. Jesus breathes on his disciples. Then, on the Day of Pentecost, there will be a mighty rushing wind that blows through this congregation as the Spirit is given to the church.
It’s pointing us once again to the gift of the Spirit, the definitive gift given on the Day of Pentecost, but with abiding implications for us today.
Jesus gives the Spirit, and that means we need to ask this question: Have you received the Spirit? Have you received the Spirit?
You might wonder, “How would I know? How would I know if I’ve received the Spirit? What is the sign that I have received the Spirit? Does it mean being slain in the Spirit or falling down? Does it mean speaking in tongues? Does it mean I have some kind of ecstatic experience? Does it mean I have visions? Does it mean I have dreams? Is it an out-of-body experience? Is it like falling into a trance? What is it? What is the indisputable sign that you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit? How would you know?”
I’m going to answer by quoting one more theologian now. This is J.I. Packer from his very helpful book, Keep in Step with the Spirit. I think Packer’s right on the money here. He asked this question:
“What is the essence, heart, and core of the Spirit’s work today? Is there a single divine strategy that unites all facets of his life-giving action as a means to an end? I think there is. The Spirit makes known the personal presence of the risen, reigning Savior in such a way that three things keep happening. First, personal fellowship with Jesus becomes a reality of experience. Second, personal transformation of character into Jesus’ likeness starts to take place. Third, the Spirit-given certainty of being loved, redeemed, and adopted through Christ into the Father’s family makes gratitude, delight, hope, and confidence—in a word, assurance—blossom in the believer’s heart.”
Now that’s really good and that’s helpful. This is a helpful test. So ask yourself this: are you growing in fellowship with Jesus, transformation into his likeness, and assurance of his grace? Listen, these are the marks of someone who is a recipient of the Spirit. It’s fellowship with Jesus, experienced in prayer and in worship and in the word and at the table and in daily abiding, our walk with him. Is Christ present to you through the Spirit? There’s this bond! The Spirit mediates the presence of Jesus. You know you’ve got the Spirit when you’ve got Jesus in your heart and in your life.
So one of the great indications that you are a person of the Spirit is that you’re a person who is oriented to Jesus. You’re thinking about Jesus. You’re loving Jesus. You’re walking with Jesus.
But it’s not just an experience, it’s also transformation. So it means that there’s change happening in your life. You’re bearing the fruit of the Spirit. You’re becoming more like Christ. There’s a growing Christ-likeness. You’re battling against sin. You’re seeking in your character to, you know, sand off those rough edges, to put to death those abiding sins, to deal with all of that so that you could be more like your Lord. As you’re doing all of this, there’s this growing certainty and assurance, as you rest in the promises of the gospel, and you begin to experience that peace that passes understanding, and that joy in your salvation that is inexpressible and full of glory, and knowing God’s love that is beyond our knowledge. These are the indications that there’s something happening in your life, the author of which is the Holy Spirit.
Listen, friends. I’ve never spoken in tongues. I’ve never had a vision. I’ve never heard a voice that’s audible. Now some Christians claim those things, and many of them are genuine believers in Jesus Christ. I have a different interpretation of some of those things. But when you really look at the baseline evidences of the work of the Spirit in Scripture, it’s this stuff: fellowship with Christ, transformation, and a growing assurance of God’s love.
Alright, one more thing. Let me just ask a question to conclude.
So, how is it that we get the gift? How do we get this gift of the Spirit? Let me give you the answer and then tell you why I think this is the answer. The answer is by looking to the crucified Christ, who was wounded for our sake that we might receive the water of the Spirit.
There’s a feature in some of these texts that I’ve not really focused on in this message, but I think it’s here. In John 20, what does Jesus do before he breathes on his disciples and says, “Receive the Spirit”? He shows them his hands. He shows them his side. He shows them his wounds.
Now, why is he doing that? One reason he’s doing that is he’s showing them it’s really him. It’s really the body that was crucified, that has also been raised. He’s giving them proof of his resurrection.
But you connect it with everything else in the Gospel of John, and I think it’s also true to say that they couldn’t even receive the Holy Spirit until Jesus had been crucified for them. The Spirit is given because Christ was crucified for them.
In fact, in John 7:38, when it says, “As the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water,’” there are some commentaries and some theologians who believe that “out of his heart” refers not to the believer, but actually to Christ; that it’s out of Christ’s heart that the living waters flow. The Greek would allow for that interpretation.
One reason I think that is because there’s not really a place in the Old Testament that promises that out of the believer’s heart will flow rivers of living water. But there are lots of places that indicate that the Messiah is going to be the source of the Spirit, and there’s also this great image in the prophet Ezekiel of a temple, a new temple, and out of this temple flows this mighty river. Could it be in the Gospel of John that Jesus is the fulfillment of that temple, and that it’s out of him that the living water of the Spirit flows?
Those who take that interpretation then usually connect it also with John 19:34, where Jesus is hanging on the cross, and one of the soldiers comes up to Jesus and with his spear pierces the side of Jesus, and what comes out? Blood and water. The blood of forgiveness, the water of the Spirit.
Now, whether all of that is necessarily there in the text or not (and I think there are good reasons to say it is), theologically, this is exactly what happens. We can say that Jesus purchased the gift of the Spirit through his death on the cross, that he was the rock smitten in the desert so that the water of life would flow out, so as to give us the Spirit, the water of eternal life.
So friends, let me ask you this morning, do you have Jesus? Are you trusting in Jesus? Because if you’ve got the Son, you also have the Spirit. If you’re looking for more of the Spirit in your life, the way to get it is to look to Jesus. Let’s pray.
Father, we thank you for the promise of your Spirit, given to us in the gospel, a promise that does more than just forgive us of our sins, but also brings transformation and change into our hearts and lives. We thank you for these two great gifts, the gift of the Son and the gift of the Spirit. And we pray that in our own lives, our own experience, that we would know more, that we would experience more of the fullness that you have promised for us and purposed for us. Even as we come to the Lord’s table this morning, we want to come with our eyes on Jesus, but depending on your Spirit, to make the truth of the gospel, which is illustrated for us at the table, and the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ; we pray that the Spirit would make these truths real to our hearts. Lord, this is a work that only you can do, and so we ask you for it. We ask you to draw near to us now as we draw near to you, and be glorified in our continuing worship. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
Brian G. Hedges
