Living Water and the Spirit

On the feast’s great day Jesus cries that the thirsty should come to him and drink. John explicitly interprets the promised rivers of living water in relation to the Spirit, who would be given after Jesus was glorified. The formula “as the scripture hath said” is difficult because no single Old Testament verse exactly matches John’s wording; Isaiah 44, 55, and 58, Ezekiel 47, and Zechariah 14 form a strong scriptural field. The honest conclusion is therefore a composite or thematic scriptural background, not a fabricated exact quotation. The crowd divides over whether Jesus is the Prophet or the Christ.