American Loon

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

We’ve come to chapter 4 of John’s epistle where Jesus has caught the attention of the Pharisees. It became known to them that Jesus was baptizing more people than John the baptist. We find in John 4:2 a clarification that Jesus was not actually baptising people, but his disciples were. This may cause some of us confusion, because of our assumptions of what the bible says. Always use your bible as the authority of God’s word if you have questions. 

There are a couple of reasons why Jesus would not actually baptise people, but let his disciples handle that task. 

1. By not doing so He presented baptism as being apart from Him. 
2. People were less likely to put salvation into the meaning of water baptism, as many people have done down through time, including today, and have been misled as to their eternal status. To be saved, one must exercise faith alone in Christ alone, not rely upon some outward act.
3. Christ demonstrated that baptism is not the chief end of the Christian experience.

Jesus had decided to move from Judea in the South, to Galilee in the North. (John 4:3) Making this move, He had chosen to travel through Samaria, which is what most if not all Jews traveling that way would not do. Jews and Samaritans were not friendly to each other. Samaritans were known as half breed Jews and that caused the authentic full blooded Jews to look down on them and travel way out of their way to avoid setting foot in their land. 
These half Jew half Gentiles were actually descendants of the Northern Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who survived the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) by the Assyrians in 722 BC. 

Jesus had none of His people’s prejudices, so took the shorter path and for good reason, He had a woman to talk to. I do not believe that there are any Old Testament prophecies concerning the woman at the well, but God’s plans are His plans. 

Jesus and His disciples had traveled through Samaria and stopped at a well near a town named Sychar. (John 4:6) It is in the lower middle of the map, to the right of Mt. Gerizim. This place is full of history. Mt. Gerizim is where God blessed His people in Deuteronomy 11:29 and the well that they had stopped at was Jacob’s well. Known universally as Bir Ya`qub, the well of Jacob. This is only mentioned in John’s gospel and not in the Old Testament. The traditional site of Jacob’s well cannot be located by finding Sychar, as that city is no longer in existence. However, the site thought to be the biblical Shechem, called Tel Balata by archaeologists, is near a well. This is important because the Bible says Jacob bought land from Shechem and lived at that place for a long time (Genesis 33:19). He would have required a well, and it is perfectly reasonable that he dug one. 

Jesus is hot and tired and since it’s around noon or the sixth hour in the land of Samaria, He decides to stop near a well. (John 4:6) His disciples went off to town to buy food, while Jesus rested by the well. A woman approached the well to draw water and Jesus said to her “Give Me a drink.” (John 4:8) Reading this, 2000 years later, we would think nothing of this, other than Jesus was sorta abrupt with His request for water. Couple of things here; first, the English language quite often gives us a poor understanding of what the bible is actually telling us, and two, our morality is not anywhere close to what it was 2000 years ago. A woman coming to a well is no big thing. Nobody had indoor plumbing back then and since it was the task of women to get water, yes, men and women had different roles to play back then, the reputable women all went together, in the morning, to get water. Here we have a single woman, at noon, coming to draw water. Why she did it then and not with her fellow sisters in the morning will soon be evident. The important thing here is God knew why she was coming for water at noon, just like God knows you and what you do. (Psalm 139:1-24) Is this troubling to you or reassuring?

As for why Jesus was there alone, while His disciples went to get food, God knew that a sinner would be there, a sinner who would accept the conviction of her life and would listen with an open heart. His disciples still had their prejudices and would probably be an interference rather than silent observers. 

The main thing here is, you search for God, God will let you find Him (Proverbs 8:17) and don’t expect to be unchanged, to keep living in sin, once you’ve found what was never lost. This woman had a need for salvation and on some level, knew it. After all she’s in the bible and talking to Christ.

This woman, who was asked for a drink, must have wondered if this man had been in the sun too long. Surely He must be aware that she is a Samaritan and He is a Jew. (John 4:10) Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” (John 4:10)

Here she starts the negotiations, I am thinking. Sure she’s a woman coming for water at noon and all that that means, but she’s not stupid. She’d like to know where this gift of Living Water is coming from and is talking to Him in a way that a man and a woman that are not family or married, would talk. Pointing out the obvious, (John 4:11) some name dropping and reference to an important person in Samaritain lives, (John 4:12) all this is dancing around what I think she is drawn to. Jesus knows this, after all, it is why He made the trip. He answers her in His very direct way, as there is no need for artifice when talking about salvation. “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again;  but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

Have you ever heard something so astounding, so good that it can’t possibly be true, but you really want it to be? In every other situation it would be too good to be true, but not when God comes calling. She is in this very position, (John 4:15) she asks Him to give her this water, for practical reasons, but as I said, she’s not stupid, I think she is probably tingling with “It can’t be true, but it might” at this point. However there is a condition to this Living Water. This would be the C portion of the ABC’s of salvation. If you’ve not heard, spreading the Good News of Christ can be hard for some people. They claim they don’t know what to say. Funny, prophets of old never seemed to have that problem. If you can’t do it, let the Lord do it through you. Works every time. Somebody somewhere came up with something easy to remember. ABC:
A. Accept Christ as your Savior.
B. Believe that He was crucified, dead and raised again for our sins.
C. Confess your sins.

So, as I said, she was stuck briefly at C. However, a true heart is willing to confess its sins. Jesus asked her to call her husband and come back here. (John 4:16) She confessed to Him that she had no husband. 

I ask you, do you speak the truth? Would you confess to something that was your shame as a matter of course or would you have to think about it? We have such deceitful hearts, we lie even when we are trying to tell the truth. This is what it means to be fallen. She spoke the truth to her Savior.

I think Jesus was pleased with her response. “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true.” (John 4:16-17)

Because of all He has told her, she perceives Him to be a prophet and because prophets know things she asks Him where is the correct place to worship. We worship here at Mt. Gerizim, but your Jews say Jerusalem is where you should worship. I think she is trying to sort some things out in her mind and her cultural mindset is showing that. We worship here, you worship there, what is true? Jesus clears up her thinking and tells her that her people worship what they do not know. (John 4:22) “But a time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

This must have rocked her world. Being told that her people are worshiping what they do not know and salvation is from the Jews. That had to be unhappy news. But a time is coming, even now when the Father will be worshiped in our hearts, not in a place. (Ezekiel 36:26)

I think one of the more interesting things about this dialog between God and His creation is that this harlot had more than conversational knowledge of worship practices and prophecies. Could we say the same of ourselves? If you are one that says you could never give the Good News to somebody because you don’t know what to say, that pretty much says you would not be able to do what this woman had done. Read your bible, all your answers are there, so when the time comes, you will be able to do what your Lord wants of you.

The woman said she knew a Messiah was coming and He would declare all things to us. (John 4:25) Jesus tells her “I am He.” (John 4:26)

There could be no better news. She is standing before her Messiah, as he declared, with a willing and contrite heart. Someday we too will be standing before our Lord and what a glorious day that will be. My wish for you is to take your salvation seriously. Study your bible, for how else will you know how to obey God? This book was not written to be gathering dust on a shelf. It is our users manual, treat it as such. Will you measure up as this harlot did? We can hope so. Go forth and serve your King!

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

I thought, since this is the last Wednesday of the month, we should review what we have learned so far in this Book of John.

Chapter 1: The disciple that Jesus loved, introduces us to what I believe should give you a complete understanding of who Christ our Savior is. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him.” (John 1:1-3) Everything you need to know is right there in those verses.

Then we are introduced to John the Baptist, who was sent as a herald to the chosen one, and came preaching in the wilderness, found in Matthew 3:1. The word was made flesh and walked among us in John 1:14.

Christ then gathers his disciples and goes to a wedding in chapter 2. The wedding is where His mother looks upon her son and sees also her Savior. (John 2:3-5) Jesus changes the water into wine (John 2:7-9) and after that He and his disciples go to the temple for the Passover festival and He cleanses His Father’s house of commerce and corruption. (John 2:15-16) This action caused his disciples to believe (John 2:17) and the Jews to disbelieve at what He told them. (John 2:19-22)

Chapter 3, there came a man named Nicodemus, a ruler and teacher of the Jews, (John 3:1)who was told what he should have known, but found very hard to accept. (John 3:3)
And now we are at the point where we can finish out chapter 3. In my NASB bible, this part of the scripture is known as John the Baptist’s Last Testimony. Yes, John the baptist is still around, still baptizing people and telling them “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) Which is curious, why this man whose whole life was foretold in Isaiah 40:3, which is 700 years before Jesus was born. John the Baptist’s job was to herald the coming of Christ. And He did that job in Matthew 3:13.

So what’s a prophet to the coming of the Lamb of God to do once he’s done his job? This is an important lesson to us all. He continued doing what the Holy Spirit called him to do. Preach the word, continue being an example to those that see you. (1 Peter 2:21) Convict those that need conviction, come alongside those that need it. Our calling to Christ is a lifelong endeavor. (Micah 6:8) We shall be tested and refined, (1 Peter 1:7) to be more Holy as our God is Holy. (Ephesians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9) John the Baptist still had use, just as we still have use, those of us old, or disabled, no longer in our prime. God uses weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) so whatever we do in His name, with meekness and humility, true to His word and Law, that the unbelieving would know that it was God, not us that did this thing. This is all over the bible. Think of Noah, (Genesis 6) or Pharaoh and all the miracles performed to convince him to let Moses’ people go. (Exodus 4-12) Think of Paul, who had first persecuted the church, and ended up writing a lot of our New testament. He was said to be unimpressive in appearance, but was able to do signs and wonders (Romans 15:19) and convert many, many people. He is probably responsible for much of what we know of as Western Civilization. Not really him, but God using him. And God uses us too. (Matthew 28:19)

So John was still doing what he was born to do and still had disciples following him, as was the custom of that day. There came a dispute from John the Baptist’s disciples, pertaining to a certain Jew about purification. The Pharisees had instituted so many useless and petty rules over purification, washing hands, or do this when you do that, especially on the Sabbath, we see what happened in Matthew 12:1-2. John MacArthur put it this way, “Keeping the Sabbath was still a binding ceremonial duty for the Jews of Jesus’ day, but most of them had little idea of God’s original purpose for the day. Instead of being a day of rest, it had become a day of burden with thousands of man-made restrictions. Ironically it became harder to “rest” than to work the other six days.”

So it is no wonder that John the Baptist’s disciples had a question over purification with a certain Jew. We don’t know exactly what the question was, as the scripture does not say, but it brought up a larger issue and I think this is the whole reason for this part of the scripture. John the Baptist’s disciples I think were wondering why John was still baptizing people when He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, He also is baptizing people and all the people are coming to Him. (John 3:26)

A little jealousy perhaps, feeling maybe that they were following the wrong guy. The scripture does not say that, in so many words, but you can read between the lines pretty plainly here. John sets them straight, he tells them that a person can receive not even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven. (John 3:27)

I want you to ponder upon that. Not one thing can come to you, unless heaven is involved, not one. Look around you and see all that you have. Then think again how this came to you. Not by your hands or work, your status in life or paycheck. Your very life was given to you by God. (Job 33:4)

Now expand your thinking out and look at our country. We have been blessed greatly and have prospered, but no longer. We have, for the most part, kicked God out of our lives. What’s more, we’ve been smooth talked by the government, them telling us that they will take care of us, give us things, and look out for our best interests. We are in the un-envious position of that frog being boiled in water. We swallowed their smooth lies, and lies they were. The next thing you know, not many of us at all believe that God takes care of us, gives us our daily bread. (Matthew 6:11) Most of us, by our willingness to listen to the government, will and have done what the government has said for us to do. Who are we serving here, God or Man? I would ask you to ask that of yourself, and please be honest, for as we know, God will know the truth of it.

Getting back to our scripture, John the Baptist told his men, well, I’ll just let John speak for himself. “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the groom; but the friend of the groom, who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.

He who comes from above is above all; the one who is only from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of this He testifies; and no one accepts His testimony. The one who has accepted His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God sent speaks the words of God; for He does not give the Spirit sparingly. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:28-36)

John’s joy has been made full, because Christ must increase and he must decrease. I have found in my life, all that I was, all that I was so proud of, must and has decreased. I still fight with my pride and self sufficiency. I have not often walked with humility, so I find I am way out of practice. But I rejoice in what He has removed from me and am very grateful that I can breathe, swallow and think. For what He wants me to do, that is sufficient. Consider yourself sufficient in your current condition, to do the Lord’s work.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9