The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called the Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
Message: Meeting the Messiah
Time: John most likely wrote between A.D. 85 and 90. John's purpose in writing was, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31)."
What the Lord is Saying: I am coming to the end of the discussion Jesus is having with the Samaritan woman. Anytime Jesus speaks I am reminded of the significance of His speech. Jesus has already in this passage confirmed that true life is found in living water and this is taking something from Him that will yield eternal life. It is not water per se but just like water that provides us with the sustenance each day to live, eternal life is just that, eternal life. It is placing our trust in Him, believing and obeying and in the process we receive living water or water that will never cause us to need water again.
Jesus has also exposed this woman of sin. This is something else we see in John 3, exposure of sin and the significance of this in a person that comes to Christ. "I know that I am a sinner."
And then Jesus states that true faith is true worship. And the worship that He is speaking of is not worship based upon location - which was the prevailing thought at the time, but worship, true worship is of the spirit and the truth of who He is. This is another thought that was mentioned in John 3. In being born again, we are born of the Spirit and this Spirit comes to live in our spirit.
And now the woman recognizes that what she has been hearing from Jesus is significant. As a Samaritan her understanding of the things of God are a little jumbled. Previously, she thought that Jesus was a prophet (verse 19).
Tabletalk for today mentions:
Samaritan religion, because it accepted only a corrupted form of the Five Books of Moses (Genesis–Deuteronomy), did not have a fully developed idea of the Messiah as the descendant of David. However, that does not mean the Samaritans lacked messianic expectations. Drawing from passages such as Deuteronomy 18:15, the Samaritans looked for a Messiah who would serve primarily as a prophet and restore the “authentic religion” of the Samaritans to God’s people (they called him the Taheb).
And so the Samaritan woman says that "Messiah is coming" and he will be one that will declare to us what we need to know. Jesus responds, "I who speak to you am He." Here are the long awaited words of Jesus confirming clearly that He is the messiah. The word He is added on this verse as clarification. Jesus says in the Greek, "I am the one speaking to you." It is unclear to me if Jesus is saying, I am to link us to the words of God in saying in Exodus 3:14 "And God spoke to Moses, saying, I am (ego eimi) THE BEING." Or if he really one wants to say He is the Messiah. He is the Messiah and this understanding of Him as Messiah is by the Spirit of God speaking that truth. As a reminder, "To the Jew the Messiah was a conquering king, who would help them to ride on the necks of their enemies, and pay back their persecutions and oppressions (Alexander MacLaren)."
The words are significant in many ways. Jesus is the end all.
Summary: The Samaritan woman knows the Messiah will coming and Jesus states that He is the Messiah.
Promise: Our best arguments will convince no one that Jesus is the Messiah and move them to trust in Him. Only the Holy Spirit can do such convincing.
Prayer: O Heavenly Father, you are the Messiah. That statement maybe doesn't mean as much to me as it should, but you are the one promised from the beginning to come and rescue us from ourselves and rescue us from what we thought was the way to You - only obedience. But we must first place our complete faith in you and follow it up with obedience that you prescribe for me. Keep these truths fresh on my lips. Help me God. I am struggling with feeling like I am not doing enough. I am not good enough. Give me a joy of your salvation and help me to have a boldness to speak of You to others. Not out of guilt but out of love.
Note: If you are interested in other studies/devotions, check out my index of Bible Study's.
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