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have not a husband; for thou hast had five husbands, and he

whom now thou hast is not thy husband—this thou hast

spoken truly. The woman says to him, Sir, I see that thou art a

prophet”. She had to do with the Lord Jesus as Prophet. She

says later, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever

done”. She did not tell Him all things she had ever done— He

told her all things she had ever done, therefore she knew that

she had come under divine scrutiny and all her sinful history

was settled. He told her all things she had ever done; she

faced the exposure of her whole moral course. That is what

the Lord Jesus would help us to do. The Lord as Prophet

would help us to face our whole history, not only to our

satisfaction but to His own satisfaction.

Things she did not have on her conscience the Lord put on her

conscience to settle her conscience; everything she had done

was out. What a great matter this is! She becomes

evangelical; she is able to say to the very men she knew

before, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever

done”. Her heart was filled with Christ. She had experienced

Him as the Prophet. I wonder if we have all undergone this

experience, because it is available for every one of us. It is a

great matter to be settled in our conscience and have a settled

Object for our heart as this woman had. “All things I had ever

done”, are all cleared, “Come, see a man”. All she could speak

about was the Man whom she had to do with individually.

This is the Lord as Prophet when He was here, but He is not

here now. He looks for the very features that were expressed

by Him as Prophet when

here to operate at the present time. In a meeting like this, as is

described in 1 Corinthians 14, we would expect what is

prophetic, which really means a representation of the Lord

Himself.

He is not here personally, but the character of what came out

in Him here is to be found in meetings of this character. It