THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (1)
[p. 261] THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (1)
John 1: 32 - 34; John 3: 1 - 8; John 4: 1 - 14
JT We were looking at the second epistle of Peter in regard to the substantial side of christianity and I have been thinking that we might look at the way the Spirit of God is presented in John’s gospel that we may pursue the subject of substantiality. Peter’s second epistle has in mind the confirmation of the saints in view of the apostasy, and we were observing how substantiality marks the features mentioned in chapter 1 of that epistle particularly. Certain christian qualities come to us through certain other christian or divine qualities. We are enjoined to add one quality to another: “In your faith have also virtue, in virtue knowledge, in knowledge temperance, in temperance endurance, in endurance godliness, in godliness brotherly love, in brotherly love love” (2 Peter 1: 5 - 7). The apostle adds that he and his fellow apostles had not followed “cleverly imagined fables” but had been eyewitnesses of His majesty, alluding to the holy mount.
I thought we might pursue the subject in the gospel of John. He writes obviously in view of the last days, and views the Spirit from the same standpoint of substantiality, not as a mere theory. John the baptist sees Him as a dove descending, a symbol, of course, but still a symbol of what is substantial, not theoretical. Then the gospel presents Him as the Spirit under the figure of wind in chapter 3, and as water in chapter 4. All these are tangible suggestions. We have Him later as water in chapter 7 and as the Comforter, an actual Person, “another Comforter” in chapter 14 and in chapter 20 He is seen under the symbol of breath, the Lord breathing into His disciples. I thought we [p. 262] might look at the first two scriptures particularly this evening in a general way considering the subject as John the baptist speaks of it. John the evangelist is the only one who tells us that John the baptist saw the Spirit coming in this way.
WP Why do you particularly refer to the first chapter with reference to the Lord personally? You are speaking of what is substantial?
JT Yes, the dove; the Spirit is seen under the figure of a dove, seen with the human eye, so as to show that the presence of the Spirit is real and not theoretical.
RS All the substance that is spoken of in Peter’s epistle was originally found in the Lord Himself, was it not?
JT Quite so; and John’s fellow apostles could speak of Him, as John himself particularly speaks of Him, as “that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled” (1 John 1: 1), alluding to substantiality. Luke speaks of the Babe as “the holy thing”, alluding to the same thought, substantiality. He was substantially holy. Now the same principle comes into view in John’s gospel; the dove represents, of course, other things as well, but it certainly represents what is substantial, not theoretical. I am afraid many of us are theoretical in our thoughts of the Spirit.
WK Is that confirmed by Luke’s presentation of the Spirit descending in bodily form like a dove?
JT Yes, Luke speaks in that way, but no one speaks about John the baptist seeing Him, except John the apostle. John the baptist is said to have seen Him here, he is a witness of this great event.
WJH Would you say a little more as to the recognition of the Spirit being theoretical with some of us?
JT I have no doubt you have observed that,
[p. 263] too, especially with young christians. The thought is taken up in a very theoretical way, and we do not examine into the fact that what a believer has is substantial in a spiritual sense.
WJH Was the widow in 2 Kings like that? She had something, but she belittled in her own mind what she had.
JT That is a good illustration. The prophet says, “what hast thou in the house?” (2 Kings 4: 2). It suggests an enquiry as to what a christian has and what use he is making of it. The widow at Zarephath (1 Kings 17: 12) had a handful of meal and a little oil in a cruse, and she was just going to make a little food and die, as if everything was about to finish, but it did not finish; the meal and the oil lasted for a whole year. In 2 Kings 4 it is a question of borrowing vessels, not a few, and shutting the door. The oil only stayed when no further vessels were available. The Spirit will fill us as we give Him scope.
WJH And so she met her obligations with it and lived on the rest. The rest would be substance consciously enjoyed.
JT It would correspond with Romans 8: 4 “that the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit”. That is, all our obligations are met and we are told the Spirit is life as well.
JC Would there be any reality at all apart from the Spirit? Having the Spirit is something substantial; not having the Spirit, if not in the recognition of the Spirit one would be in poverty.
JT That is what we thought we might get at tonight, that young believers might be stirred up to find how far they are in christianity, whether they have come to the substantial side of it.
WP In the scriptures in John 1 it is the Lord [p. 264] personally. Have you in mind we should be able to take account of what is substantial in Him first?
JT That is the general thought that is presented, that John saw Him. It says of Him, “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”. That is John’s record, and he is recording what is substantial, that there was a visible form seen by him descending, it was as of a dove and abode upon Jesus. His conclusion is that this is the Son of God. He who sent him to baptise with water told him that the One upon whom the Spirit could come in that way is One that would baptise with the Holy Spirit. The word “baptise with the Holy Spirit” is a substantial thought.
RS This substance would not only be taken account of by the eye of heaven, but seen of man.
JT Well, John saw it; he was told beforehand that he was to look for that sign, and at Pentecost there was the evidence of it. Some, in ridicule, said it was new wine; but, inadvertently, they were attesting the very fact we are speaking of, that there was a real thing there, causing a real change. Peter shows it is not wine at all, but that it is something real. He says, “Having therefore been exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which ye behold and hear” (Acts 2: 33). That is a substantial thought.
CWP Is there a sense in which we should see it?
JT There are the fruits of the Spirit which are given to us in Galatians 5; they are a nine-branched tree. Moreover, it is seen in the anointing the change in the believer’s spirit, a change from misery through the conviction of sin, and of the knowledge of sin in himself, to joy; his countenance is changed; he is changed all over.
AS What is the force of the expression, baptised with the Holy Spirit?
JT I think it is seen in 1 Corinthians 12: 13. It is said there “in the power of one Spirit, we have all been baptised into one body”. That is one person speaking of it as experiencing it. It is an immense thing that we have persons in the Scriptures who are examples of what they teach. The apostle was an example of what he taught, he was one who was baptised in the power of one Spirit into one body, meaning that in the power of baptism he merged with the brethren. He came in late as an apostle, but he did not act independently, he went up to Jerusalem to make the acquaintance of Peter. Before that he was with the brethren at Damascus, going in and out amongst them. He merged with the poor followers of Jesus and was there in a satisfied way. In 1 Corinthians 12 we are all baptised in the power of one Spirit into one body, “and have all been given to drink of one Spirit”. It makes for unity. The “one” is 1 merge with the brethren, I am not independent of them, I respect their judgment. We respect the brethren, and in that respect we are to be subject to one another, we do not find the position irksome, we do not wish to pull away from them, we are satisfied. “The trees of Jehovah are satisfied” (Psalm 104: 16). I believe ‘drinking of one Spirit’ alludes to being satisfied.
WJH The thought of being baptised — all baptised “in the power of one Spirit” suggests bodies and volume. The figure in regard to the Lord, the dove, is outwardly small, but the Lord receiving the Holy Spirit in this way is [p. 266] sufficient.
JT He got it uniquely for He must have in all things the pre-eminence. The idea in the dove is not only substantial, but total. No creature could receive the Holy Spirit totally. The Spirit is here in the assembly, and we come into the gain of it as of the assembly; but the Lord, as here on earth in humanity, had Him, in a total sense, not partially.
AH In 1 John 4: 13 it says, “he has given to us of his Spirit;” but here it is the total sense.
JT The Lord had Him as no creature could have Him; He was capable of having Him totally. I believe that is involved in what John saw in the dove.
WK Would coming in the bodily form imply the totality of it?
JT It is the whole thought. He came at Pentecost in the same sense, but there it is as received by Jesus on high; he received Him from the Father, and He came in power, as over against the dove, which rather suggests sensitiveness. At Pentecost He came in power, they heard the sound we are told, as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the house where they were sitting; they would all be sensible of it, what a mighty thing it was. Each one in the company was noted of the Spirit, He sat on each of them in the character of cloven tongues of fire. The symbol is very different, but it is not less substantial; He sat on each of them.
WP Does the Spirit coming in this way on the Lord suggest the pleasure of God?
JT Yes, there was nothing to disturb there.
WP And in its measure answers to the thought in Acts of the hundred and twenty?
JT There was something to disturb in Acts, and that is why the thought of fire is added, the fire would deal with anything of the flesh that acted. The dove is very sensitive. There was nothing at all to disturb in Jesus. The coming [p. 267] in of the Spirit would imply the coming in of what is spoken of in Colossians.
WP I was wondering if the pleasure of God is suggested in giving the Holy Spirit to them.
JT Yes, and reconciliation too, but potentially as in us seen down here, there is what would disturb and hence the thought of fire.
WK In regard to the Lord, it says the Spirit descended on Him, but He baptises with the Holy Spirit.
JT The word Holy is relative in view of what we are.
JC Does the dove suggest complacency?
JT I think so. There is the idea of sensitiveness. There was not anything in Christ to cause the least suggestion of unrest or disturbance. The idea of the dove begins in Genesis 8, and there is there the suggestion of the affection between it and Noah, representative of God. It found no rest for the sole of its foot; it was different from the raven, it is the idea of sensitiveness. It required something on which it could rest with satisfaction and with assurance.
WJH Whilst the Spirit of God was active after that in many ways, the dove character disappears; it says the dove was from heaven.
JT Yes, and then it descended. Stress is laid on the descending; it descended with a definite object in view. What delight the Deity had in the movement! The voice from heaven is not given in John’s gospel. The point is what was here substantially, which John was cognisant of; it is what is here in a substantial way seen by a creature, seen by John.
JM Is your thought that what is substantial is what you can take account of definitely in the movements of the Spirit?
JT What you can realise in your own soul and observe in others, as substantial spirituality. The [p. 268] person is different from what he used to be; his face shines; it used to be hard and repulsive, but now it is attractive.
FC He says “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”.
JT Jesus is to be known spiritually, by spiritual means. John the baptist was his cousin after the flesh; he was born six months before Him; he thus had the means of knowing the Lord, and who He was. People talk about a historical Christ and leave it at that. It is not a historical Christ. It is the Christ that now is. Not that there is any difference in the Person, but there is a difference in the condition. Paul says “if even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer” (2 Corinthians 5: 16). It is the Christ that is in heaven that is the foundation for us. It is from heaven that the Spirit is sent, and that implies that Christ died and has been raised from among the dead, and is known here in spiritual condition. We have a further thought which John speaks of, “We shall see him as he is” (1 John 3: 2). It is the Christ of christianity. There is no change in His Person, but a very great change in His condition. He is a real Person, real humanity, but a new kind of humanity.
WK The Spirit descends as a divine Person.
JT He is a divine Person with a definite objective here on earth, and that objective was a Person, a Man, and another man could see it. The lesson is we are to understand christianity by the Spirit; it is substantial; it is not Christ after the flesh any more; it is Christ as He is.
AH Would you say, speaking of sensitiveness,
[p. 269] that the Spirit is still sensitive? We read in Ephesians 4:30 that we should not grieve Him.
JT That is the word, neither to grieve nor to quench the Spirit; He is very sensitive, He retires. While that is true as regards the dove character, we must bear in mind that the other side is the cloven tongues as of fire, enforcing divine rights, and dealing with the flesh in me in a most drastic way.
JC Would spiritual manifestations be something substantial?
JT Well, if you are alluding to 1 Corinthians 12: 1, I suppose the word is not ‘manifestation’, it is “spiritual” (see New Trans.). Substantial, spiritual gift is what is meant; and the apostle’s exercise was that there should not be demoniacal conditions; the demon was a substantial being. Paul was concerned that the Corinthians in their desire to be great in the assembly should not come under the power of a demon, but that the power should be truly spiritual and given by Christ. Demoniacal conditions are very real. John does not deal with them; he does not refer to them. We are not so much harassed by them as the saints were in the early days; the apostles had to deal with heathendom and that implied demoniacal conditions. He says, “I do not wish you to be in communion with demons” (1 Corinthians 10: 20). The heathen worshipped demons, they sacrificed to demons, real beings, and the christians were apt to come under the power of that. The test is given in 1 Corinthians 12: 3 “No one, speaking in the power of the Spirit of God, says, Curse on Jesus; and no one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit”. A demon would never say, “Lord Jesus”.
WK He says no one can call Jesus Lord save by the Spirit.
JT That is the test; and this early passage in John’s gospel is to help young christians to see what christianity is. It is a real thing; the presence of the Spirit of God here is as real as anything can be; it is as real as the incarnation was, only He operates through christians, through believers. Jesus had a body prepared for Him.
WP Would you say that Nicodemus was able to take account of something substantial when he says, “We know that thou art come a teacher from God” (John 3: 2).
JT I think that is right. He has something in him, enabling him to take account of this matter, and I believe that is why the Lord opens up so much to him as to new birth.
CWP What is suggested in that the sound filled the house?
JT Everyone in the house was affected by the power of the sound; the sound filled the house. This helps us as to sounds. The apostle Paul speaks of the different sounds in the world (1 Corinthians 14: 10). Christians are to distinguish between the different sounds. I believe that sound would enable christians to understand the spiritual sound that is of God. It was initial, you know. The whole house was filled with that sound; you would not listen to any other sound. It alludes to the ear and to the power christians have of discerning the sounds. The world is full of sounds, which are largely turned into music; radios carry them through space, these unholy sounds that come from the pit. The Spirit of God came in at the beginning and the sound filled the house where they were sitting. What a difference from these worldly sounds! What subdued feeling, reverential feeling there was in that house! All natural feelings would be withered up by it.
JM Would the dove, the wind, and the water suggest normal characteristics of the Spirit?
JT [p. 271] The wind is the next great feature. In chapter 3 it is brought in by the Lord; it is not seen, but it is felt and heard too. What is there is not for the eye, but for other senses, particularly the sense of feeling. We have five senses, and manhood according to God implies the development of these senses. God addresses us through the senses. So the senses of feeling and hearing come in in regard to the wind.
AH In christianity all the senses are active so that we may discern between good and evil.
JT Quite so. This symbol of wind — every one knows something about it — may represent evil, as sound may represent evil of any kind; but we have to understand that, in this context it alludes to the Holy Spirit acting sovereignly and freely; there is no power that can interfere with Him. “Thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it comes and where it goes”. That alludes to inscrutability.
JM We get in that way the normal work of the Spirit.
JT It is the supremacy of wind; everybody is conscious of wind. It is doubtful if the true thought of wind is ever understood; it is inscrutable.
WK It is “where it will”.
JT Yes, it is beyond you to make out. There are great thoughts about wind, but this would show that it has an inscrutable character and symbolises the Spirit of God. He is operating sovereignly and dominantly, He cannot be interfered with from this point of view. It is only God who can gather up the wind in His fists.
WP Is this the way the Spirit of God works initially in souls?
JT Yes, you are made to feel that you are being acted upon by some supreme, sovereign, omnipotent thing and that there [p. 272] is a result.
WP The result may be unhappiness and self-judgment.
JT Yes, you are conscious that something has happened; you are not what you used to be, you feel you have sinned, and you have to do with God. That proves that some great change has taken place.
JM That was the state of Nicodemus; he was uneasy because he was outside the kingdom.
JT He was affected in this way. It is so with most persons; they can see there is something there, but they cannot tell you intelligently. The Lord made a difference between him and the others.
AH Does such a soul need enlightening?
JT It is remarkable how the Lord opens things up to him. He had to know that even such a man as he had to be born anew. It had already taken place, but he did not know it. There are many like him in whom you can see the change, but who go on with the world, perhaps in religious belief; Nicodemus still remained a ruler of the Jews. There are many like that who stay on and go on as before, though interested in the things of God; they are not scoffers, not modernists. They need teaching; it is the greatest need of today.
WP And would teaching enable one to distinguish between flesh and spirit?
JT It is not easy to bring things home to a man of distinction, like Nicodemus. He makes a great deal of his position. The Lord had a fine opportunity. Nicodemus came to Him by night; not looking about like a thrush afraid of the cat after him. If the Lord had met him in the street he might have been ashamed or afraid to be seen; but at night he was secluded and the Lord had a fine opportunity and used it. The Lord says to him “Thou art the teacher of Israel;” apparently he was a great person in Israel. The Lord virtually says to him, ‘You do not know the Scriptures too well; you ought to [p. 273] have known these things; you should not have to ask me about this’. The Lord put it to him that he should have known something had happened in his soul. Why did he think so differently of Christ from the rest of the Pharisees? What made the difference? He said to the Lord, “thou art come a teacher from God”.
JC His coming to Jesus would show that the Spirit was working there. It was not so much the responsible side.
JT “No one can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him” (John 6: 44), and “It is the Spirit which quickens, the flesh profits nothing: the words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life” (John 6: 63).
WK How far does the first step go? “Except anyone be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God”.
JT That is right, it is a question of what you see; if you are not born anew, you do not see it. The second step is entering into it; the water is added the second time by the Lord. You will find that if you come to the Lord and ask questions, as Nicodemus did, He will tell you more than you expect. He always pays attention to a believer who asks questions.
RS Elijah says to Elisha, “If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so” (2 Kings 2: 10).
JT Yes, vigilance is needed in regard to these things; that is the great lack, we are not vigilant. Scripture speaks of certain things, and we are not watching for them.
WP Were you going to say something more about seeing and entering?
JT Seeing is the first thing. That requires vigilance. There is something here, the kingdom of God; it is not of this world, it is not something that can be taken account of as men take account of [p. 274] things. It is a moral thing, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It may be all around you and yet you do not see it unless you are born anew. There may be young people in families where the fathers and mothers are spiritual and possibly brothers and sisters too; the thing is all around them, but they do not see it. The secret is they are not born anew. It is a terrible thing to awake to the fact that one is not born anew, that God has not operated in you at all.
WP Is the seeing suggested in that they can see love, joy and peace in activity in others?
JT That is right, it is a moral thought. It is the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of heaven here. It is a question of how God is here at the present time in the saints on earth.
WP Would the person who is not born of God be able to regard the people of God as merely upright, honourable people and not be able to take account of the kingdom?
JT That is true. As soon as you see a young person turning round and pricking up his ears and asking questions you may be sure something has happened; that is the thing to watch for in young people. Soon they will come to the meetings, and you will see them draw near when spiritual things are spoken of; you may be sure it is an evidence that something has happened.
The next thing is entering in. The Lord says, “Except any one be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”. There is a substantial thing there.
EAM Is this the sovereign operation of the Spirit?
JT That is what is alluded to here. The symbols all point to that fact. Nothing can stay the wind;
[p. 275] you may succeed in keeping it out of the house, but it is blowing all round; it is dominant.
WJH Yet absolutely invisible; you referred to the young people, you cannot see what is going on, but there is something going on by an invisible power.
JT Quite so.
FC You cannot see the wind, but you can see the effect of it.
JT Yes you can see how powerful it is, you can see its effect on the ships, the waves, or the trees blown down, but you cannot see it. It is as real as can be, real as water, or stones. Two senses are affected by it, the senses of feeling and hearing.
WK What do you say as to the water?
JT It is the element of purification in the company of the people of God. There must be the element of purification; it is enlarged upon as the gospel is received, for it develops into the full thought of the death and resurrection of Christ. He came by water and blood. The water would be the effect of the word used of God. Some conception of the death of Christ must enter into it. There is no purification otherwise.
WK Does it correspond in any way with the blind man in chapter 9?
JT That is a fuller thought of course.
WP Would it come to light in the reception of the gospel?
JT That is the proof. The greatest proof is that one accepts the truth. Instincts may be there, young people may be holding back, but when they definitely believe the truth there is the proof of it.
AH Believing on the truth, the seal of the Spirit comes on that.
JT Quite so, it is God laying hold of the christian and putting His stamp upon him. That is the next thing, the water. The water is to be asked for, and that implies that I am conscious of need in my [p. 276] soul. Asking is because I have need, but how real a thing it is. The Lord 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”. So that in this feature of the Spirit we have the great thought of the Deity in a Person, “Who it is”. You are now in the presence of what is infinite. “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is ... thou wouldest have asked of him”. The great Person who gives the Spirit, is God.
WK If thou knewest God’s giving, is not that the idea?
JT Yes, and who it is.
AH Is the asking a very important matter?
JT It is, because it brings out that God has effected a sense of need in a man’s soul. He has need of spiritual things; he has drunk of this world and has not been satisfied. Spiritual things are available; the Spirit of God is available. It is all based on “if thou knewest”. That is teaching, if thou knewest. Meetings like this have that in view that we might ask if we have not got it. We can search our own hearts as to whether we are thirsting. If we are, the thing is to fall back on this, if thou knewest.
WP Is there a significance in the fact that it was an unsatisfied person and that the Lord was speaking to her.
JT A very great significance. She was a picked sort of person, the Lord ordered it that she should be there, and alone, too. There is so much entering into it, it should be seen in all its greatness.
WP So that it would be a voice to all of us who have been seeking satisfaction in other things and have not found it.
JT Here is a person who sought satisfaction after the flesh, and has not found it. The Lord knew about it, and He would bring it out. When she asks for water, He says, “Go, call thy husband”. That is another great matter that we are shallow in regard of the moral question, in regard of sin; it discloses the meanness of our natural hearts.
CE It would be the normal consequence with the woman; if she knew the gift, she would have asked him for it.
JT Yes, if she knew. She did not know, but she was conscious of need; but there is a moral question, and the Lord says, virtually, ‘This question has to be settled; call your husband and come here’. That brought out the whole story of her life.
WK Is that where the prophet comes in? I perceive that thou art a prophet.
JT Yes, she is gradually being illuminated, she gained by his teaching; she leaves her waterpot and goes away into the city. She understood that the Lord meant the living water was to be in her, that she was to be the vessel of it. She was herself, now, the vessel of living water.
AH That is substantial.
JT Quite so. She went to the men and said to them, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done” (John 4: 29). She does not say anything about the living water; it is the moral question that needed settling. They came to Him, and they believed in Him, and in a far wider way than she did, that He was the Saviour of the world.
CE The woman made very happy progress spiritually.
JT She did, she is a special sample for us. One lesson you learn is that you have to get to the Lord yourself, go into your closet, and speak to the Father secretly, get into touch with the Lord by yourself, and have everything out with Him.
WP Does the woman in that way set forth what might apply to all of us as seeking satisfaction [p. 278] in anything apart from God, though we may not be as degraded as this woman?
JT That is what is meant.
AH The evasion of moral questions is the root of much unhappiness.
JT I am sure it is. This shows the skill of the Lord, “Go, call thy husband, and come here”. You see how that would work as light from God in her soul. “Man’s spirit is the lamp of Jehovah, searching all the inner parts of the belly” (Proverbs 20: 27).
WK So she says, “Come, see a man who told me all things”.
JT Yes, all things.
JJ Must each of us take this spiritual journey?
JT I think so. The first is the great general position in christianity, the Spirit here in a substantial way, baptising. We have been baptised by Him. Then there is the initial work in each of us by the wind, the water, and the Spirit; and then that which satisfies the heart, the living water, is to be asked for.
JJ I was wondering if that was the spiritual history we must go through.
JT Notice how solitary each case is. Nicodemus alone by night, and the woman alone by day at the sixth hour. Each was alone with Christ.
JM Is this to help us to see how God would give according to Himself?
JT It brings in the thought of who it is; and it is what you would expect in divine teaching; Deity is before you. It is only God who can give the Spirit.
FC So that we carry over what God is in chapter 1 as still with us in this way. The One who sat amongst them was the One who baptised with the Holy Spirit.
JT That is the great general position of christianity.
The Holy Spirit is here, a Person on behalf of God. The word “Comforter” is that He is here alongside of us. Chapter 4 is wonderful because you are in the presence of Deity, for Jesus is no less than God, and though wearied with His journey this is how He speaks, “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is ...” That is, in effect, He asserts His deity.
WJH The Lord’s position is figurative of His spiritual position, typical of sitting in control and ministering to us. The Spirit is available to us.
JT I think that is good, the suggestion is there. In Genesis the thought of the well is very prominent, so that all points to one thing, the Spirit of God. Joseph is said to be the fruitful bough whose branches run over the wall.
WP The greatness of Christ, who He is, emphasises the blessedness of His taking us up individually.
JT There is nothing to be sought more than to be alone with such a Person, especially when you are not clear about things. It is good to ask the brethren, but get to the Lord; He will have the moral question settled, nothing will be passed over.