He who believes in Me... out of his heart will flow rivers of living water

John 7:38
He who believes in Me... out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

The analogy that can be used here is that of a river being the believer. Sometimes there can be obstacles in the path of the river. With God's caring for us, He will either take us around the obstacle or enable us to overcome it. As long as we keep looking up to God, the obstacle should not stop us at all. In this way, we can be used to be living water for others where God Himself is the source of the river.

Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep

John 4:11
The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?

Just continuing from the previous post, we often forget who Jesus or God is. Miracles are so rare that, even when it happens, it seems such an extraordinary thing. If we get used to the idea that Jesus is Almighty, then the miracles would not be surprising at all. In fact it would be surprising if God's deeds are not miraculous. So do we really know God to the point that whatever he does, we would not be surprised by it? So if Jesus says he will give us living water, just take it and be thankful - he has a lot more from where that came from.

Where then do You get that living water?

John 4:11
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?

There must be several times in our lives for us believers, when we questioned God's promises. It may be like the seemingly innocent question of the woman at the well. We meant no hostility towards Jesus when we ask those questions. We earnestly wanted to know how Jesus could do something for us which seems so incredible.

Therein lies the danger in which we are actually doubting our Lord's divine ability. It is not wrong for us to not understand or comprehend how Jesus can do remarkable things for our benefit, because our minds and intellect are very limited. However when the question arises from doubt, then it shows that our faith in our Lord has wavered because we are doubting His divine nature. If He said He can do it, He surely can do it.

No man ever spoke like this Man!

Jesus remained in Galilee, knowing that people were plotting to destroy Him if He goes to Judea for the Feast of Tabernacles. His brothers still had some unbelief, and they urged Him to show Himself in Judea as well as working some more miracles to convince people. However, Jesus knew His timing and decided to stay in Galilee while He told His brothers to go.

When His brothers went to Judea, Jesus also went in secret and started to teach in the temple. Again, the people were amazed at His teaching, that He knew Scriptures so well, even though He was clearly not one of the religious leaders working there. Then Jesus told them His doctrine is directly from God the Father. He challenges them that they accepted Moses and the Law and also the circumcision done on Sabbath during Moses time, yet they seek to destroy Him for healing on the Sabbath.

Some people thought He may be the Christ, while others wanted to destroy Him but dare not catch Him yet. On the day of the Feast, Jesus spoke boldly about Him being the source of the living water which is the Holy Spirit. More people were convinced that He was the Christ as other people wanted more to destroy Him. Some said they knew where Jesus is from, so they could not believe that He is the Messiah.

The authorities, perhaps the temple police, questioned the Pharisees why they did not bring Jesus to them. They knew Jesus was not ordinary from the things He spoke about. It is not clear if the authorities wanted to arrest Him or questioned why the Pharisees did not bring Him to join them. Anyway, the Pharisees rebuked the authorities for marvelling at His teaching and saying that none of the Pharisees were listening to Jesus. However, Nicodemus the Pharisee who received teachings from Jesus before, asked his fellow Pharisees not to judge Jesus until they heard from Him or understand His works first. The Pharisees answered that no prophet has ever come from Galilee.






John 7
Jesus’ Brothers Disbelieve

1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews[a] sought to kill Him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 3 His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5 For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

6 Then Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to this feast. I am not yet[b] going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.” 9 When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

The Heavenly Scholar

10 But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. 11 Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?” 12 And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.” 13 However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?”

16 Jesus[c] answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”

20 The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?”

21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. 22 Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

Could This Be the Christ?

25 Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to kill? 26 But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly[d] the Christ? 27 However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”

28 Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. 29 But[e] I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

30 Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31 And many of the people believed in Him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”

Jesus and the Religious Leaders

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. 33 Then Jesus said to them,[f] “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. 34 You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.”

35 Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing[g] in Him would receive; for the Holy[h] Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Who Is He?

40 Therefore many[i] from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.”

But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people because of Him. 44 Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Rejected by the Authorities

45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”

46 The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”

47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

50 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night,[j] being one of them) said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

52 They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen[k] out of Galilee.”

An Adulteress Faces the Light of the World

53 And everyone went to his own house.[l]

For we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world

Interesting note that Jesus Himself did not baptize but His disciples baptize others. The Pharisees heard His influence was greater than John the Baptist's and so Jesus went to Samaria on his way to Galilee. Jesus stopped at Jacob's well and offered the Samaritan woman His living water. Jesus had a long and fruitful conversation with the woman. The woman became interested to accept the living water offered by Jesus. Jesus revealed that He knew about her many husbands and she asked if He was a prophet. Then Jesus taught her that true worship must be to God the Father and done in spirit and in truth. She talked about the Messiah and Jesus admitted that it is Him.

The disciples found Jesus and were amazed why He was talking to a Samaritan. Jesus explained that it is part of His Father's work. Jesus also told the the harvest is ready and then He taught about the principle of reaping where someone else had sowed. This is much more than the principle of reaping what you sow. In practice, we should be ready to sow and allow others to reap, as well as reaping where others have sown before.

The woman who had gone back to town to tell others, resulted in many Samaritans coming to hear Jesus and believing in Jesus. They accepted Jesus is the Messiah and were overjoyed that they asked Him to stay with them. Jesus stayed in Samaria for two days before going to Galilee.

Jesus said that a prophet is not honored in his own country, when he returned to Galilee. Nevertheless, people came out to see Him and believed because of the things He did in Jerusalem. Then a nobleman also came to request Jesus to heal his son. When he found that his son was healed at the same time that Jesus spoke healing on his son, the nobleman and his entire household believed.




John 4
A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah

1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.

5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

16 Jesus 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 well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

The Whitened Harvest

27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

The Savior of the World

39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word.

42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ,[a] the Savior of the world.”

Welcome at Galilee

43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.

A Nobleman’s Son Healed

46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”

49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”

52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.

54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.