THE HOLY SPIRIT (1)
[p. 11] THE HOLY SPIRIT (1)
JT My thought is that we might, with the help of the Lord, understand how that which the fountain or spring represents is administered. It is good to note that it says, at the end of chapter 3, that, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”. Chapter 4 has to be read and understood in the light of this expression, that is that all things are placed in the hands of the Son, the One who is loved by the Father. This chapter therefore unfolds how the things that are in His hands are made available to men. He says, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”. It is very beautiful and affecting to see the Lord, although He is so great, in such a meek and humble position as sitting weary at the well. But although He was weary and was dependent on the woman for a drink of water, He was there to give living water. While He is seen in the beginning of Acts in His official position as the One whom God has made both Lord and Christ, and, as such, has sent the Holy Spirit from heaven, in this chapter He is the Person, the Son, who gives and distributes. And He is in such a position that one can ask Him for living water. John emphasises the greatness of the Person: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is”.
Ques Does the position that the Lord took here give us boldness, and do we need faith to ask of Him?
JT That gives us another thought, that John has in mind to promote faith in us. He says in chapter 20, that what he has written, and this incident is included in that, was in order that the [p. 12] saints should believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing they should have life in His name. From His outward position one could not see who He was: He says, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is”. The knowledge of the gift and the Person is therefore through faith.
Ques When it says that the Father loves the Son, does that mean the Son as here on earth gives Him occasion to love Him?
JT I think it is so in John. The Son as Man here has given the Father cause to love Him. In another passage, He says that He has found His delight in Him, so that all that is given into His hands is based on what He was here, what appeared in Him as a Man. But the Father also loved Him before the foundation of the world.
Rem It was emphasised that it is the Person, the Lord Himself, who is working here. That is different from Acts where the Spirit is working. Is the Lord working here with the coming of the Spirit in mind?
JT John always presents the truth from the standpoint of His Person, while Luke, in Acts, deals more with the official side. Nothing is mentioned in Acts as to His sonship until Paul comes in. I think it is good for us to see that in the first part of Acts the truth is connected with Christ as the One who has been made both Lord and Christ. That is what He is as the exalted Man in heaven, but John does not deal with what He is made, but who He is, so the Lord says here, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is”. We have to preserve both these features in our hearts.
Ques The thought here is that the woman is attracted to the Person?
JT That is the way in which the truth is expressed here. He does not tell her that He is Christ or the Lord, but presents the truth of who He is; so this gospel is to establish us in the knowledge of the Person, so that our faith should stand related to His [p. 13] Person, and that we should believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that we, in believing, should have life in His name. This woman got the understanding that He was the Christ. She says, “is not he the Christ?” John 4: 29. Even in this the thought in John is the Person Himself. He is the Christ.
Rem As a man He was sitting weary at the well, but His glory was not hidden for those with whom He came into contact. This woman says, “is not he the Christ?”
JT All that He was in Himself was there, but it was concealed. In the ark we see typically what His position was here on this earth. The ark of the covenant was a vessel of relatively small dimensions, but it contained the tables of the covenant. It was the strength of God and the glory of God (Psalm 78: 61).
It was a small vessel outwardly. Thus the Lord was small outwardly, even dependent upon this woman for a drink of water, but inwardly He was God, a divine Person. The ministry of John would open our eyes to the greatness of the Person who was here; as those who thus know Him, we should ask Him for things.
Ques Is the blessing of men the first thing connected with everything being given into His hands?
JT I think that is the thought in chapter 4. It explains this truth to us and shows us the importance of it.
Ques You referred to the ark. Does it not mean that although the people were to understand what the ark contained, it was hidden from their eyes? Have our eyes to be opened in order to see what is in Him?
JT The dimensions of the ark always ended with a half. It was two and a half by one and a half by two and a half cubits, which would indicate that there was more than could be seen outwardly; just as the queen of Sheba said, The half was not told me. The great object in John’s gospel is that we should come to the knowledge of the Lord’s Person, not what He has been made, as in Acts, but what He is. What He is is necessarily greater than what He is made. His manner of life as Man here, qualified Him to be anointed and exalted to heaven, and to be made Lord and Christ. Peter uses this as a basis for his first address: he says, “God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”. But what He is personally must be behind all this. We are therefore here in the presence of His Person, and He gives living water: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”.
Rem John says in chapter 1, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have contemplated his glory”. There were those who saw glory in His Person.
Ques You said that His life here gave Him the right to be exalted to heaven. Does this involve that He showed Himself worthy of it?
JT That is right. Thus we find in the synoptic gospels that the heavens opened to Him when He was thirty years of age, and a voice came out of the heavens: “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. This refers to what appeared in Him here. But we do not find this in John’s gospel. There He is contemplated at once as a divine Person, and thus there was no question of what He showed Himself to be on this earth, but what He was as the One who became flesh and dwelt among us, and therefore He says, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is ...”.
Ques Does it make the gift all the more wonderful when it comes from such a Person? Could we say that the gift was worthy of such a Person?
JT Just so, and therefore the Lord develops this subject here. He says, “the water which I shall give him”; it is not only the water, but He says, “the water which I shall give him”; He shows how great this is, and continues, “shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”. The heart is in this way attracted to the Person and the gift is characterised by the Person. Therefore it is not only that the Lord is working for God in giving living water; it is God Himself who gives.
We need to put ourselves into the position this woman was in and thus contemplate who He is. What is involved in what He is entered her soul. The christian life is really made up of this question — who it is. The Lord presents this to all, as He says to the disciples, “Who do men say that I the Son of man am?” But then He says, “But ye, who do ye say that I am?” Matthew 16: 13, 15. It is not only what I am thinking, but what I am saying. “Who do ye say that I am?” People like to speak of great persons and heroes, but do we speak of this great Person? It is not only what He has done, but who He is.
Ques Is this the same thought as in John 17: 3”And this is the eternal life, that they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent”?
JT There it says, “that they should know thee, the only true God”. That is not quite the same because “Jesus Christ” is more the order of man which shone forth in Him. We could say that eternal life involves knowledge of the true God and the true Man. This scripture speaks of the true Man whom God has sent. This involves, of course, that His Person is behind it, but we have to discern what the Scriptures discern. Jesus Christ is what He was as Man here on earth. But when He says, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is”, then it is the Person Himself. In the light of this we receive much instruction as to the order of the Man who shone out [p. 16] in this world in the Person of Christ, so that we have the true God and Man in relation to Him. This knowledge is connected with eternal life.
Ques Does the thought in chapter 17, being in relation with God as Man, mean that it is in the knowledge of this that we have eternal life?
JT “And this is the eternal life, that they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent”, John 17: 3. It does not say there, ‘the Son whom Thou hast sent’, but “Jesus Christ”. It is the same Person, and is the Person we turn to, but He is a Man.
Rem She must have felt her sin but He does not condemn her.
JT What I think we can see is that she was deeply affected by what came forward. The Lord, as the One who has everything in His hand, made the matter a reality in her soul. We see in Hagar and Ishmael examples of persons who outwardly have part in the system of grace, but who are not affected by it in a lasting way; in contrast, this woman leaves her waterpot. From this we understand that she got the gain of the Lord’s remarks that she should be a vessel containing living water. She went to the men, and proved by what she said that, in principle, she had the real thing in herself, the living water, so she could say, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done”. If she had had a son, she would not be like Hagar and take a wife for him from Egypt, from the world. The Lord knew her sinful life, and He touched her inwards when He said, “Go, call thy husband, and come here”, and in her words to the men, she proves that she was fully searched by the Lord’s words to her.
Rem A person who comes into touch with the Lord must necessarily be searched by what He says.
Ques Are not Hagar and Ishmael more connected with the kingdom of God? Here in John [p. 17] we have another side, the intimate side; He was Son of God.
JT That is what is coming forward here. What Hagar saw was ministry by the angels under the ordering of God, but although she was the object of such a service, it does not say that she got the reality of what was available for her. I think she is typical of persons who avail themselves of blessings in an outward way but who are not affected inwardly. She goes to Egypt to take a wife for her son; he dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. At the end of Genesis we see that the archers provoked Joseph. Hagar and Ishmael are cast out of the house of faith, but grace meets them. But they do not return to the house of faith; they go in the direction of Egypt. Hagar filled the flask with water and gave the lad to drink without it having any moral effect, and they continue to walk towards the world. But here in John 4 is the principle that the woman understands that she herself is the vessel because we read that she left her waterpot; she does not go back to her old customs; she does not go back to Egypt. She goes to the men and tells them of Christ, which is something quite different from what Hagar did. And notice that it is not only to speak about Christ and leave it at that, but she says, “Come, see a man”. There is nothing like this with Hagar. There is no thought with her about coming, but of going away; Yea, to the world.
Rem It is beautiful that the woman in John 4 left her waterpot and that she herself was the vessel to be filled.
JT Yes, this is the principle. A great change had taken place in this woman, and she goes to the men; she went to the men who knew her, not only to the inhabitants of the city. What power there must have been in her, because they went out to Him. It says, “But many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him because of the word of the woman [p. 18] who bore witness, He told me all things that I had ever done”, John 4:39. And they said, “We know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world”. Such was the result. We can understand that if she had gone back into the city, and continued in her old way of living with all the light she now had, then her latter state would be worse than the former. But instead of that she went to the men, and they came to Christ so that a new order of things is brought in, an order in which He can remain; it says that He remained there two days.
Ques And is that eternal life?
JT From this we will understand the principle. We are separated from this world and are on the way to the enjoyment of eternal life. Eternal life is a gift in Christ and this chapter teaches us that the believer reaches this by the Spirit. The living water springs up into eternal life.
Rem She seems to be marked by perfect liberty in her conversation with the Lord. She brings in the subject of worship, and even the question of the Christ.
JT He told her wonderful things, but then all believers have the opportunity to hear all these things. It is possible to hear all these things, and to have part in them outwardly and yet go back into the world worse than you were before. If I carry all this wonderful light into the world I will only help to cover its iniquity, but when I say, ‘Come’, then I condemn the world and call people out of it. It is also seen that her testimony is in conformity with what the Lord said afterwards. They said to the woman, It is no longer on account of thy saying that we believe, for we have heard Him ourselves. They had heard Him themselves, and found that it was in conformity with her testimony. It is a principle in John that if the light of God reaches my soul through some vessel then I am not satisfied with that, but [p. 19] desire to go to the Originator of the light, and if the vessel is of God, the one who is thus used will not seek to make himself a centre. Such a one would say, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done”. We need to hear Him for ourselves.
Ques When the Lord speaks, He speaks both to the conscience and the heart. When John the baptist says, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1: 36), is that speaking to our hearts? He points to the Person.
JT It is very beautiful to contemplate in the beginning of John how John the baptist made Christ the centre, a thing that goes through all this gospel. John says, “In the midst of you stands, whom ye do not know, he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose”. And then he says, “A man comes after me ... because he was before me; and I knew him not; but that he might be manifested to Israel, therefore have I come baptising with water. And John bore witness, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not; but he who sent me to baptise with water, he said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God”, John 1: 30 - 34.
And then he sees Jesus coming, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God”, and two of his disciples heard his words and followed Jesus. Jesus is the centre to which they are drawn. When my ears hear such a voice I am affected by it so that I desire to follow Jesus. One of these two who heard this word of John and followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, and he finds his brother Simon and brings him to Jesus. Jesus then finds Philip and Philip finds Nathanael, and Philip’s word is “Come and see”. That will settle everything.
Ques Is it a result of the need to go through [p. 20] Samaria that this woman was saved, and the result of her going to the city that others also are saved?
JT Just so. This is now a place where Christ can remain; He remained there two days. The ministry in this dispensation is really “Come and see”. When we come and see, we make room for Christ as they did in Samaria.
Ques Is it right to say that this principle of coming and seeing is based on the three previous gospels?
JT I think that the three synoptic gospels refer to God drawing near to man in a Man who has been tested in this world. That is the principle in them. The public testimony which was given by the apostles is based on this. The fourth gospel tests the reality of the work because not all are genuine in professing christendom. The real come to Christ; they move. The Lord says in chapter 3 that “he that practises the truth comes to the light”. Such a one is not frightened of coming to the light. He comes to it so that his works may be manifested that they are done in God. In our time people rest in humanly organised religious systems, but the thing is to come to what is of God, and that is the same as having to leave these systems.
Ques What is the thought in verse 34: “My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me, and that I should finish his work”?
JT Another point in John is that things are to be completed. It is said of Sardis, “I have not found thy works complete before my God”, Revelation 3:2. That is to say, protestantism has never reached the counsel of God. It is not marked by completion, but the ministry of John leads us to complete things, so he quotes the words of the Lord: “I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it”.
Rem The Samaritans came to the Lord out of all [p. 21] parties.
JT This woman would, from her natural feelings, displace Jerusalem. There had been much national rivalry between the Samaritans and the Jews, but all such disappears when we receive the knowledge of this Person. Therefore the gospel of John is specially important now for each believer, whether he is a Lutheran or one belonging to any other system. All true believers find common ground in the Person of the Christ; we should be able to be unified in the Person of the Christ. Then we have what He says. We surely can act upon His words and be guided by them.
Rem So we are liberated from all these things by following the Person.
JT Usually the best way we can help our brethren in the different human organisations is not to ask them what they think of the doctrine of Luther but what they think of Christ.
Rem That is living water.
JT Just so. You receive it from Him. When you have come to Christ, the next thing is that you are content to keep His word. That is the way to recovery. It is along these lines that God is working.
Ques I have been thinking of how the Lord in this way gets an entrance into the heart. This woman is moved to search her heart as to her connections. Could this have its application in a religious way?
JT Therefore if anyone comes to Christ he will be searched as the woman was. The Lord said to her, “Go, call thy husband, and come here”. That means that, in His goodness to us as well as in faithfulness to God, every matter related to us must be solved.
Rem You were mentioning that this principle of coming and seeing is seen throughout this gospel. At the end of the gospel we have, “Come and dine”, and Pilate said, “Behold your king”.
JT But Pilate did not invite anyone to come to Jesus. This woman said, “Come”. She did not say ‘Go, and see Him’, but “Come, see a man”. Many gospel preachers are like road signs. They tell us how to go but do not go themselves.
Rem All that transpires in connection with this woman is the result of the Lord going through Samaria; that she went to the men is the result of that. John makes us evangelists in that sense. Go and invite them to come. Andrew is the great example of this. After having been with the Lord for a few hours, he finds his brother Simon and leads him to Jesus.