John Series Part 17 The Offer of Living Water John 4:1–14
(4:1–42) DIVISION OVERVIEW: Salvation: Jesus offered the Samaritan woman living water, and she showed an intriguing interest. However, there were some matters that she had to straighten out before she could ever have the living water. There was the matter of sin in her life, of worship, of the Messiah, and of laboring for God. Therefore, Jesus began to discuss these subjects with her one by one.
(4:1–14) Introduction: this is one of the most profound revelations of Jesus: He is the Living Water, the water which men can drink and thereby never thirst again.
1. Jesus left Judaea (vv.1–9).
2. Living water is truly alive (v.10).
3. Living water is from a Person much greater than a religious father (vv.11–12).
4. Living water is the only water that will quench thirst (vv.13–14).
1 (4:1–9) Jesus Christ, Mission: Jesus left Judaea. Note two significant facts.
a. Jesus left Judaea out of necessity. He left for John’s sake. The crowds were leaving John and coming to Jesus, and the religionists were using the fact to downgrade John’s ministry (see note—Jn. 3:22–26). Jesus did not want to create a competitive scene that would damage John’s ministry, so He left the area to return to Galilee.
Note the words, “He must needs go through Samaria.” The word must (edei) means necessity, compulsion, destiny. Jesus was driven to go through Samaria for the sake of His mission. Samaria needed the gospel as much as other areas. (The word must is so often used in connection with Jesus’ mission that it makes an excellent word study. See Jn. 3:14; 9:4; 10:16; 12:34; 20:9.)
b. Jesus left Judaea to confront a Samaritan woman. He entered Sychar, a city of Samaria He sat on the wall of a well, for He was both tired and thirsty from His journey. While sitting there, one of the events for which He had come into Samaria happened: He confronted a woman with the claims of the Messiah.
She came to draw water, and He initiated a conversation by asking her for a drink of water. She was shocked, for the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. She asked Jesus why He would ask her, a Samaritan, for a drink. It was this question, this subject of water, that Jesus used …
• to discuss one of the greatest truths of spiritual life, that of living water
• to present the claims of God upon a life
DEEPER STUDY
(4:5) Samaria—Samaritans: Samaria was the central part of Palestine. Palestine was a small country, stretching only 120 miles north to south. The country was divided into three sections:
? Judaea, the southern section
? Galilee, the northern section
? Samaria, the central section, lying right between the two
There was bitter hatred between the Jews and Samaritans. Two things in particular caused this hatred.
1. The Samaritans were mongrel or half-Jews, a mixed breed by birth. Centuries before (about 720 B.C.), the King of Assyria had captured the ten tribes of Israel and deported a large number of the people, scattering them all throughout the Media empire (see 2 K. 17:6–41). He then took people from all over the Assyrian empire and transplanted them into Samaria to repopulate the land. The result was only natural. Intermarriage took place and the people became a mixed breed, a breed including …
• the transplanted people
• the weak of the land who had been left behind
• the outcast and irreligious who had intermarried with the original Samaritans
The fact of a mixed breed, of course, infuriated the strict Jews who held to a pure race.
2. The Samaritans were mongrel or half-Jews, a mixed breed by religion. The transplanted heathen, of course, brought their gods with them. Eventually the God of Israel won out, but the Samaritan religion never became pure Judaism. Three things happened to cause this.
a. When Ezra led the Jews back from exile in Babylon, the first thing the Jews did was to start rebuilding their temple. The Samaritans offered to help them, but the Jews rejected their help, declaring that the Samaritans—through intermarriage and worship of false gods—had lost their purity and forfeited their right to worship the only true God. This severe denunciation embittered the Samaritans against the Jews in Jerusalem.
b. The Samaritans built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim to stand in competition with the Jewish temple at Jerusalem.
c. The Samaritans twisted both the Scripture and history to favor their own people and nation.
? They twisted Scripture in that they accepted only five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. (Just imagine! They missed all the richness and depth of the Psalms and prophets.)
? They twisted history in that they claimed three great events took place on Mt. Gerizim that set it apart as a place of worship. They claimed it was the place where Abraham offered Isaac, where Melchizedek met Abraham, and where Moses built his first altar after leading Israel out from Egyptian bondage.
DEEPER STUDY
(4:5) Sychar: little is known about the city; however, three significant Biblical events happened there.
? Jacob bought a piece of land in the area (Ge. 33:19).
? Jacob, as he was dying, willed the land to Joseph (Ge. 48:22).
? Joseph’s bones were buried there (Jos. 24:32).
2 (4:10) Water, Living—Jesus Christ—Salvation: living water is truly alive. To the Jew, living water was water that was always flowing and moving along, such as a creek fed by springs or a lake with both an inflow and an outflow. Dead water was stagnant water such as ponds or pools that were always sitting still with no inflow or outflow. However, when Jesus spoke of “living water,” He meant much more than living streams and lakes.
a. Living water is “of God.” It is of Him who is living, always has and always will be living. The water that God gives is the most alive water there is. No other water, no matter how alive it may be considered, can compare with the living water that is of God.
“For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Ps. 36:9).
b. Living water is “the gift” of God. The word “gift” means it is freely given, is not earned and is not deserved.
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Is. 55:1).
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ep. 2:8–9).
c. Living water is given by asking for it. Note what Jesus said: “If thou knewest … thou wouldest have asked.” The woman had never received living water because she had never known about it and had never asked for it. It was now available simply by asking for it.
3 (4:11–12) Water, Living—Jesus Christ: living water is from a Person much greater than a religious father. The woman saw clearly that Jesus was making an unusual claim. She did not yet understand what the claim was, but she knew He was alluding to something. She noticed He had no leather pouch with which to draw water, so she asked two significant questions.
? From where did He get this living water?
? Was He greater than Jacob who was one of the great religious patriarchs of the Samaritans? Jacob had to dig the well in order to secure water for his family. Was Jesus greater, able to do more than Jacob did?
The point is this: the woman recognized something most people do not. Jesus was claiming to be greater than one of the greatest religious fathers, Jacob himself. He was claiming to have access to a much better water for quenching the thirst of men.
Thought 1. Throughout Scripture Jesus claimed to be …
• greater than the temple (Mt. 12:6)
• greater than Jonas (Mt. 12:41)
• greater than Solomon (Mt. 12:42; Lu. 11:31)
• greater than Abraham, “before Abraham” (Jn. 8:53, 58)
• greater than Jacob (Jn. 4:11–12)
• worthy of more glory than Moses (He. 3:3; Jn. 5:45–47)
“He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all” (Jn. 3:31).
“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18).
“For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house” (He. 3:3).
4 (4:13–14) Water, Living—Jesus Christ: living water is the only water that will quench thirst. Men have two thirsts: a physical thirst and a spiritual thirst.
“As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Ps. 42:1).
“In that day there shall be a fountain opened … for sin and for uncleanness” (Zec. 13:1).
Men know immediately how to quench their physical thirst, but their spiritual thirst is a different matter. Within their hearts men sense a thirst for …
• purpose
• meaning
• significance
• satisfaction
• fulfillment
• something that is missing
• something to fill the void, the emptiness and the loneliness
• deliverance from a sense of being lost
• freedom from undue anxiety, stress, and pressure
Men have a problem, however. They usually misunderstand the spiritual thirst and try to quench it with the stagnant waters of the flesh and of this world. The result is poison and death.
? The stagnant waters of the flesh are such things as lust, immorality, drunkenness, indulgence, and pride.
? The stagnant waters of the world are such things as the love of money, cars, houses, lands, clothes, extravagant living, position, and power.
The stagnant waters of the flesh and the world never quench a man’s thirst. They are like salt water; they only make a man crave for more and more.
“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Je. 2:13).
Note several facts about the living water.
a. The living water comes from Christ. He and He alone is its source.
“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” (Jn. 7:37).
“And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely” (Re. 21:6).
b. The living water keeps a man from ever thirsting again. His inner thirst is gone forever. It is quenched and fully satisfied.
“In that day there shall be a fountain opened … for sin and for uncleanness” (Zec. 13:1).
“And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not” (Is. 58:11).
c. The living water is “a well of water” placed “in” the man. The well is not placed outside the man, not placed anywhere out in the world, not in his home, nor in his business. It is placed “in” him.
“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive)” (Jn. 7:38–39).
d. The living water springs up and continues to spring up and bubble, flowing on and on. It is ever in motion.
“Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” (Is. 12:3).
e. The living water springs up into everlasting life. It will never end.
“For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Re. 7:17. See Eze. 47:1–12, the river of life.)
“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Re. 22:17).
(Note: Jesus interpreted what He was saying in Jn. 7:37–39. All five of the above facts are seen fulfilled in the Holy Spirit.)
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (2004). The Gospel according to John . Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
