The Dispensational Place of John
Part 6
No.6 The Samaritan woman and
true worship (John 4)
We have seen that Nicodemus was warned that
unbelief concerning earthly things would prevent him from hearing of
heavenly things, these heavenly things being intimately associated with
the Lord's ascension (John 3:12,13). In John 4 a very different
character is introduced, a Samaritan woman, yet to her was made a
marvelous revelation concerning worship. The statement in John 4:21-24
resembles the words of Paul in Phil.3:3: -
"Believe Me, the hour cometh when ye
shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship;.for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the
Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is Spirit; and they that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth " (John 4:21-24).
We are, the circumcision, which worship God in
the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh" (Phil.3:3).
To Nicodemus the "must" concerned the new
birth. To the Samaritan woman the "must" dealt with worship.
In the record of the Lord's dealings with this
poor woman we find that He speaks to her seven times, gently leading on
to the final revelation of Himself as the Messiah. The woman's first
reply was-"How is it that THOU, being a.Jew,
asketh drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?" (v.9).
Upon the Lord's reply she asks: -'Art
THOU greater than our father Jacob? " (v. 12).
Following the conviction she receives
concerning her mode of life, light begins to break in, and she says:
-
"Sir, I perceive that TH0U art a prophet"
(v. 19).
At first sight we may be disposed to think that
the sudden introduction into the conversation of the question of worship
was a ruse adopted by the woman to avoid further reference to her own
manner of life. As we pursue the story, however, it becomes evident that
the simple revelation of her sinful life created a deep impression.
Though the Lord unfolded to her the wondrous prospect of a spiritual
worship that would set aside both Samaria's mountain and Jerusalem's
temple, She says not a word about it but as though still holding on to
the one great fact of the Lord's knowledge of her dark life, she
intedects a further remark concerning the Lord's prophetic knowledge.
And by her use of the title Messiah, it Is easy to see that
already the thought was forming in her mind, "Can this Prophet be indeed
the Messiah?" The woman said unto Him, I know that Messiah cometh,
which is called Christ; when He is come, He will tell us all things"
(v.25). Then comes the Lord's revelation of Himself "I that speak
unto thee am He" (v.26).
The impression and conviction wrought in this
woman's heart abides. It is the burden of her testimony to her friends
and neighbors: - "Come, see a Man which told me all things that ever
I did.- Is not this the Christ? " (v.29).
This simple testimony of a repenting soul was
owned by the Lord: "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed
on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, he told me all that
ever I did" (v.39).
The conclusion of this witness leads once more
to the world-wide aspect of the Saviour's mission: - "We have heard
Him ourselves, and know that this indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the
world" (v.42).
We cannot help seeing in the repentance,
confession and evangelistic testimony of this woman, a contrast with
Israel's lack of repentance, and consequent failure to recognise their
Messiah and to fulfil their ministry among the nations.
The insistence upon the Lord's knowledge of the
human heart is not confined to this chapter. It is found *in chapter I
and prefaces chapter 3. Nathaniel is converted and acknowledges the Lord
largely because of this divine knowledge. "Whence knowest Thou me?" -
and upon his confession the Lord again asserts His intimate knowledge: -
"Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree believest
thou?" (John 1:48-50).
Immediately preceding the conversation With
Nicodemus are the words of John 2:24 - 3:1: - "He
knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of
man: for he knew what was in man. There, was a man of the Pharisees,
named Nicodemus.
In all probability Nicodemus could have
maintained a good argument concerning the question of worship, but he
was not permitted to do so. To this great doctor of the law, the Saviour
speaks of the new birth. To a poor ignorant and sinful woman the Lord
reveals the truth concerning spiritual worship. Whether the Samaritan
woman grasped His teaching is not our concern - let us not miss its
import.
"The hour cometh and now is." - We
have here a period that follows on the destruction of the temple at
Jerusalem, the reference to the place of worship at Jerusalem being read
in the light of Matt. 23:37- 24:2. This passage covers the present
interval.
"True worshippers." - There is no
allusion here to the false worship of idols - John uses "true" and
"truth" many times with the sense of "real": "For the law was given by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1: 17). Here
"grace and truth" means "true grace" or "real grace" in contrast with
the "type and shadow" grace of the law. "My Father giveth you the true
bread from heaven" (John 6:32). Here the use of the words "true bread"
does not mean that the manna in the wilderness was false, but that it
was in itself a type or shadow of the "real bread" - the Lord Himself.
Perhaps the most precious word in the whole
statement is the word "seeketh" - "The Father seeketh such." Is not this
a revelation of the heart of God? The Father seeks the true worshipper
as the Son seeks the lost. The Father goes out to us in our worship
perhaps more than we can ever go out to Him. What a blessed thought,
that as surely as we draw near to Him, He is drawing near to us!
Worship lies behind the original purpose of
Satan's creation and underlies his terrible fall (Ezek.28). Worship is
the first clause in the covenant with Israel. Worship was the desire of
the tempter in the wilderness (Matt.4), and worship is the goal of the
great anti-christian apostasy at the end (Rev. 13).
The church of the mystery, and its association
with heavenly places, is intimately connected with worship. This church
is itself a holy temple (Eph.2). As the true circumcision its worship is
entirely spiritual (Phil.3), and its members, holding the Head,
repudiate any imposition upon them of the worship of angels (Col.2). The
oft-recurring word "godliness" in the epistles to Timothy, literally
means "good or acceptable worship."
If John's Gospel ministers to the needs of
believers who are today on the outer fringe of the dispensation of the
mystery, then the Lord's words to the Samaritan woman are words in
season. Just as the Lord told Nicodemus that to stumble at the
revelation concerning earthly things precluded all reference to heavenly
things, so we shall find that where believers are entangled with places"
of worship, ensnared in denominational jealousies, subscribing to carnal
ordinances, ceremonials and the like, they are very unlikely to hear the
truth committed to the apostle Paul.
(Written by C. H. Welch and published in The
Berean Expositor, Volume 20 - 1930.)
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