In John 7 we have the Holy Spirit sent down consequent on the exaltation of Christ, for what characterizes Christianity is the ministration of the Spirit. In the feast of weeks we get, in a certain sense, the coming of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost came in as a kind of annex to the feast of the firstfruits, only there was leaven in it. Then after the harvest and after the vintage came the feast of tabernacles, when they were to keep not only seven days, but eight, which brings in heavenly things. When Christ comes, the Jews will literally get their rest, and they will celebrate the grace which has given them all this blessing.
The unbelieving brethren of Christ wanted Him to show Himself. He says, “I cannot do that; I can die, but I cannot show Myself to the world; My time is not yet come; I cannot keep the feast of tabernacles in any true sense.” And so there is no such thing in the present time as keeping the feast of tabernacles; there is no antitype of it. Jesus says, “Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast” (John 7:88Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come. (John 7:8)). (That word “yet” should not be there.) He just goes up privately afterwards to teach the people. Then on the eighth day He says (for there was an eighth day), “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” (John 7:37-3837In 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. 38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (John 7:37‑38)). This brings in the Spirit. He gives us the Spirit now instead of the feast of tabernacles — a full, flowing stream. This is our portion until He comes.
The Holy Spirit
Then, in view of all this, what is my responsibility? My responsibility is now that I should represent Christ. He represents me before God, and my responsibility is to represent Him before the world, and that is where failure comes in. I have to ask myself, Shall I be an epistle of Christ or not, in doing this?
“Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” — out of his inmost affections — out of what a man is in the bottom of his heart, as we say, shall flow streams of refreshment to others; the poor vessel is so full that it overflows. We cannot bring it out as it is in heaven, of course, but we can bring it out as the Holy Spirit brings it in to us here, and then we have the feast of tabernacles. When the Lord comes again, the feast of tabernacles will be literally come; there will be the harvest and the vintage, and then the full blessing, but, until it comes, we have the Holy Spirit instead of it, and our place is that of waiting for Christ. We are converted to wait for God’s Son from heaven.
Until then, what characterizes the Christian is that he has the Holy Spirit. He has made us the habitation of the Spirit; our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, so that all that God is, in its right time and place and measure, flows out from us as refreshing streams in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. That is what a Christian is, and may God give us to walk faithfully and lowly and humbly with Him in it to His glory.
J. N. Darby, adapted from
Collected Writings, 34:351