The Subject Of Messiah

We’re still at the well with Jesus and the Samaritan woman. In tonight’s passage, we get a dramatic picture of conversion and witnessing. Jesus has offered this woman the Living Water, which is salvation. She is still trying to decipher it all in her mind. She has dealt with the matter of her sin, and last week the matter of worship.

Tonight, the Messiah is discovered and she excitedly shares her discovery.

Let’s begin in verse 25. READ. In this verse we see that this woman has a sense, a feeling that Jesus just might be the Messiah. Her heart was burning within her. There was an intense flaming sense of God’s presence.

Think back to the day when you were on the verge of accepting Jesus. Do you remember how you felt? When you knew you were getting close to making a move for Christ, didn’t your heart burn within you? Didn’t you feel God’s presence getting closer and closer? Would anyone like to share?

Well now you have a sense of what she was feeling at this moment. Her sins had been laid out in front of her, she denounced her sin, she has gotten a sense, from Jesus, that she doesn’t have to be in any particular place to worship God, and now she is at the point of admitting that Jesus is Lord. Does this remind you of anything?

The subject of her sin and worship was causing her heart to reach out for God. She was sensing something very, very special about Jesus. No man could speak as He had spoken unless He had a very special relationship with God. Perhaps she says to herself, “Maybe He is the Messiah Himself.”

Notice in verse 25. Who brought up the subject of the Messiah? She did. And in bringing the subject of the Messiah up, she reveals that she believed two things. Can you see what two things she believed in verse 25? She believed that the Messiah was coming. In fact, from the original manuscript of the Bible, the Greek word she used means “coming soon.” His coming was at hand and imminent. Her belief was based upon the Samaritan’s Bible. You might remember that we have already discussed that the Samaritans only accepted the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible. She bases her belief that the Messiah was coming soon on verse like Gen. 3:15; 49:10; Num. 24:17; Deut. 18:15. (Have someone read these).

What was the second thing this woman believed about the Messiah in verse 25? “He will explain everything to us.” He would be the Supreme Authority.

And the point is this: the woman didn’t deny the Messiah; she believed in the coming and authority of the Messiah. Her belief was not a saving belief, not a belief of commitment. What do I mean by that? She only had a mental or intellectual belief, a belief of knowledge. But the fact that she believed in the Messiah made her open to personal belief.

She didn’t reject the witness of Jesus. She wasn’t rude. She listened to Him. So God was able to give her a sense of His presence.

And there’s something we need to note from this. The person who constantly rejects Jesus Christ or claims to be agnostic or atheistic is seldom reached for Christ.

But listen to this. A person who listens to the Scripture and believes intellectually, mentally accepting the facts of God’s promises, stands a much better chance of being reached by God. If there is open mental or intellectual belief then that belief is exposed to God’s Word. So that type of belief is more likely to become a saving belief or a belief of commitment.

But a warning is in order here. A person with only a metal belief can hear and reject so much that he becomes gospel-hardened, that is, so hardened against the gospel that he never trusts Jesus Christ as his Savior.

READ v. 26. And here we have Jesus’ great claim that He is the Messiah. Actually in this verse Jesus makes three claims. 1. He claimed to be the Messiah. “Messiah” is the Hebrew word and “Christ” is the Greek word and they mean the same thing.

This Messiah was thought to be the leader from David’s line who would free the Jewish state and establish it as an independent nation, leading it to be the greatest nation the world has ever known. Militarily, the Messiah was to be a great military leader who would lead Jewish armies victoriously over all the world. Religiously, the Messiah was to be a supernatural figure straight from God who would bring righteousness over all the earth. And personally, the Messiah was to be the One who would bring peace to the whole world. But the names “Messiah” and “Christ” both mean “the anointed One.”