টীকা বর্তমানে শুধুমাত্র ইংরেজিতে উপলব্ধ। বাংলা অনুবাদ চলছে।
John 7 — If Any Man Thirst, Let Him Come Unto Me, and Drink
His brethren do not believe; they say go to Judaea. My time is not yet come. He goes up to the feast secretly. The middle of the feast — He teaches. My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine. The last day of the feast — 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. This spake He of the Spirit. Division among the people. The officers — Never man spake like this man. Nicodemus — Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him?
“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. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
— John 7:37-38
- v.1-13 The brethren's unbelief
- v.14-36 Teaching at the feast
- v.37-44 Rivers of living water
- v.45-53 Division; Nicodemus speaks
If any man thirst. The condition is felt need. The thirsty are invited; the satisfied refuse the invitation by not feeling it.
Come... and drink. Two simple verbs. Salvation is not complicated; the wonder is that thirsty people would refuse the spring.
Out of his belly. The believer becomes a fountain — not just satisfied, but overflowing. Water flows through him to others.
The next verse identifies the rivers as the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's indwelling makes the Christian a source of life to those around him.
The arresting officers came to take Him and returned empty-handed, struck by His teaching. The voice they could not suppress with chains they could not deny was unlike any they had heard.
A line that has echoed across centuries of skeptics who have encountered the Gospels. Never man spake like this man.
Verse 37's invitation requires no special qualifications. If any man thirst. The condition is felt need; the cure is coming and drinking. Christianity is not for the spiritually self-sufficient. If you have stopped feeling thirsty, ask why. He invites the thirsty.
John 7 is the long debate around Christ's identity at the feast. The crowds are divided; the officers are silenced; the leaders are frustrated; Christ stands and offers Himself to anyone who thirsts. The chapter's many voices fall away in the face of His; never man spake like this man.
A test for the religiously skeptical. The proof of the doctrine's origin is the doing. Those willing to obey will discover whether the teaching is from God.
The verse cuts past philosophical evasion. Truth is verified in the trying. Christianity is not first an idea to be examined; it is a path to be walked.