The Source of Living Water Revealed John 4:16-26
Living Water for sinners is not physical water but rather, it brings spiritual eternal life by the regenerating gift of God through the Lord Jesus, the Word and the Spirit so that we live eternally to the praise and Glory of our Great and Gracious God! In our last study in John we heard Jesus’ conversation with the nameless Samaritan woman at the well. In Verse 10, Jesus said: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman could only conceive of this water on a physical level at this time, even though her response in verse 15 was, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water," shows that the Father is drawing her to the Truth even though she does not yet fully understand.
Jesus responds to her in an unsual way that examines her heart in a way that she did not expect in verse 16 (NAS): “He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." 17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband'; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly." 19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.”
Jesus demonstrates that He is fully God and man
This might be a natural reaction if a STRANGER walked up to you and he knew all your immoral past. You’d probably say: “How did you know; I just met you?” The truth is that a mere man could not possibly know those things about her, but at this point she probably only saw Jesus as a gifted person, perhaps a prophet because of His knowledge of her, but certainly not the Messiah. But in Jesus’ response He demonstrates that He is fully God and fully man in His knowledge of the nameless woman.
She responds, changing the subject from her own immorality to a religious point of contention which separated the Jews and Samaritans for hundreds of years: “Which is the correct and genuine place of worship, Gerazim where the Samaritans worship or Jerusalem where the Jews worship?” She says in v.20: "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people (you Jews) say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
Jesus answers her religious comment in three parts
Jesus answers the woman in three parts; 21(one) “Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” 22 (two) "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 (three) "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
First of all, from verse 21: “An hour is coming”, after Jesus’ death, resurrection and exaltation, Gerazim and Jerusalem would be obsolete places of places of worship. Gerazim was where Moses blessed the children of Israel on two occasions, and the Samaritans believed that many other important events took place there during the time of the Patriarchs. It is interesting that while the woman and Jesus spoke, “Mount Gerazim may have been in full view from Jacob’s well; they may even have been able to see the temple’s ruins, perhaps turning to look at them when the woman mentioned the place.” (A. Kostenberger, “John”, p. 154) After the Jewish temple would be destroyed in 70A.D. neither of these places would be present as places of worship; instead the Holy Spirit would dwell in believers, making the physical place of worship irrelevant, but it would NOT mean that believers would not or should not gather for worship.
Jesus mentions that “you will worship the Father”, which was Jesus’ usual address for the God of Abraham of the Old Testament. Many times Jesus refers to God as “My Father”, emphasizing again the unique one-of-a-kind relationship that Jesus has with God. Jesus also taught us to address God in the same way, but THE FATHER is first and foremost the Father of the Only Begotten Son, Jesus. When Jesus said, “BELIEVE ME”, He was not denoting faith in Jesus, but emphatically and imperatively giving credence and acceptance to what he is stating as being absolutely true.
Secondly in verse 22, Jesus states: "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” Since the Samaritans only accepted the books of Moses, their knowledge of God and His Truth were limited compared to that of the Jews. The Bible teaches that salvation comes from God through the Jewish people as revealed in all of the Old Testament Scripture. The woman may have been very sincere in her belief, but she lacked the completeness of God’s revelation.
Jesus said: “We worship what we know”, implying that the Jewish people, God’s people of Israel in the OT are in the “flow” of God’s revelation for the coming of the Messiah. Salvation would appear through the line of David. SALVATION is a word throughout the O.T. which referred to deliverance from many earthly enemies, but “salvation” would be fulfilled specifically in Messiah Christ as the promised SPIRITUAL DELIVERER from the realm of sin and death into the fullness of the Kingdom of God for those who are believing, born from above, and standing firm in the God-provided faith and truth of Salvation in Christ alone.
Thirdly, in verse 23, Jesus says: “An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Jesus is explaining that the Nature of True Worship transcends the physical: The place of worship is not relevant at all but the nature and essence of worship is absolute, “An hour is coming and now is.” This most assuredly is about to happen as Messiah Jesus would bring His Life, Death, Resurrection, and exaltation for the redemption of His people. When Jesus would accomplish God’s Plan, the privileged position which the Jewish people enjoyed throughout the OT era would soon be dissolved and the Gospel of the Kingdom would spread throughout the entire world as the Holy Spirit would indwell believers who would share the Gospel and the news of the inevitable RETURN of the Lord Jesus and the consummation of God’s Kingdom. TRUE WORSHIPERS would not be identified with a location or a particular shrine but by the worship of the Father through Jesus the Son.
True worship is to prostrate oneself before God in Spirit and Truth. True worship is to pay tribute and homage from one’s very heart. It is to bow one’s heart and life before the Great Almighty God, Creator of all things, who hates sin and yet has extended mercy and grace to sinners who would receive new hearts by faith, being permitted to enter His Perfect Eternal Kingdom because the Perfect Son paid the exact and full price for their sins. Human tongue can just BEGIN to tell the privilege of bringing worship to this Great God!
The construction of the phrase “spirit and truth” in the Greek text tell us that these two words are inseparable when it comes to true worship. God is Spirit, not a Spirit, He transcends the physical; what is referred to here by “spirit” is NOT A spirit: God’s essential essence and nature IS SPIRIT NOT FLESH LIKE MAN. When we worship we must worship on a deeper level of the human soul with a humble spirit which expresses adoration, gratitude, and a contrite spirit before our Great and Mighty God who has revealed Himself through the God-breathed out Words of the Bible and who has given us HIS Holy Spirit to prompt us and direct us in worship according to the character of God. The Holy Spirit intervenes in our inner man “on the basis of God’s self-expression in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word, who is the Truth...God must be approached in worship on the basis of, and consistent with and agreement toward His essential nature,” which is Spirit. (G. Boesenecker, John 4 Exegetical notes, 2000)
Worshiping in “truth” pertains to “God’s very reality as revealed, occurring IN Jesus. Worship must be in conformity with the divine reality as revealed BY JESUS. Worship is consistent with the essential nature, revelation and working of God.” (G. Boesenecker, John 4 Exegetical notes, 2000, p.9) Worshiping God in Spirit and Truth are not different characteristics of true worship but they are complementary: Worship must be totally God-centered, which is only possible by the help and intervention of the Holy Spirit in our inner man, but it is solely on the basis of GOD’S SELF-EXPRESSION IN THE PERSON OF JESUS, The Word, who is the Truth. We often forget that God is the audience in worship.
The last part of 23 says that, “The Father seeks such to be His worshipers.” First of all it is the Father who SEEKS, draws and renews those who will be His worshipers because sinful man is powerless to do so. It is not what we do to make our way to God but what God has done to come to us and save us through Jesus Christ. The Son of man came to us, sought us, and saves those who are lost. After Jesus’ redemptive work on earth would be completed worshipers would be identified by “spirit and truth worship” of the Father through the Saving Messiah Son. True worshipers are all those everywhere who worship God THROUGH the Son and from a heart born from above, a heart born of a “heavenly birth.”
In Verse 24, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Jesus is saying that there is NO OTHER WAY to worship God except in this way. It is the worship that God seeks and demands. D.A. Carson says that this worship is “essentially God’-entered, made possible by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in personal knowledge of and conformity to God’s Word-made flesh, the one who is God’s ‘truth’, the faithful exposition and fulfillment of God and his saving purposes…The worshipers whom God seeks worship him out of the fullness of the supernatural life they enjoy (‘in spirit), and on the basis of God’s incarnate Self-Expression, Christ Jesus Himself (who is the Word {my add}) through whom God’s person and will are finally and ultimately disclosed (‘in truth’) and these two characteristics form one matrix, indivisible.” (“Gospel of John”, D.A Carson, p.225-226) I can only say it simply: There is no other way because of WHO God IS, and God DEMANDS such worship.
Lastly in vs.25, the woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." The woman knew from Deut 18:15-19 (read in the call to worship) that there would be a prophet like Moses who would come to speak the Words from God, but the Truth of that text about what God had promised had not yet been fully revealed to her. But now Jesus responds.
26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." In the Greek text the word “He” does not appear and so Jesus actually says: “I “I am”, the one speaking to you.” Jesus testifies to Himself as Messiah by using an affirmation of the name evoked in Exodus 3:14 when God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM "; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.' "Jesus is agreeing that He, too, has existed in uninterrupted, boundless, timelessness indicating the very being and essence of God.
Those who worship Jesus in Spirit and Truth have received life, forgiveness, eternal life from this very Source of the Eternal Living Water. Jesus is saying: I am God’s Savior sent from Heaven, the Promised Messiah who is being revealed to you, woman. I am the One.
Jesus still testifies the same news through His Word and Spirit today. He comes to you and says: I AM from all eternity. I AM the Son of the Living God, sent from Heaven to be the exact payment, the atonement for your sins. I have come to you so that you might have LIFE in me. Believe in me and trust in me with all your heart for the forgiveness of sins, for new life, and follow me. Jesus said in verse 14: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
OUTLINE: Intro to True Worship: Jesus demonstrates that He is fully God and fully man in His knowledge of the nameless woman. (16-18)
I. Jesus testifies to her religious comment in three parts:
Vs. 21: After Jesus’ death, resurrection and exaltation, Gerazim and Jerusalem would be obsolete places of places of worship.
Vs.22: Salvation comes from God through the Jews as revealed in Scripture.
Vs. 23-24: The place of worship is not relevant but the nature and essence of worship is absolute.
1. True worshipers worship the Father through Jesus the Son.
2. True worshipers “prostrate themselves” (worship) before God in Spirit and Truth: GOD IS THE AUDIENCE IN WORSHIP.
3. The Father SEEKS such to be His worshipers: True worshipers are those everywhere who worship God THROUGH the Son from a heart born from above.
4. There is no other way because of WHO God IS, and God DEMANDS such worship.
II. Jesus testifies to Himself as Messiah:
Vs.25: The woman understood SOME about Jesus by her limited understanding and knowledge. Deut. 18:15-19)
Vs.26: The Source of Living Water, the Messiah, is Revealed: “I “I am”, the one speaking to you.”— The Great and Grand “I Am” revelation in the flesh: Your wait is over.
