Title: Number of Samaria/John 4:1-10
Contents The great pilgrimage of life (18) Samaritan number/John 4:1-10
In Christian history, there have been several so-called apologetic philosophers who have attempted to 'prove the existence of God'. Among their dialectical logic was something called (Ontological argument). The representative argument is that if God does not exist, where did the idea of God come from? that is. From the most primitive ancient tribal cultures to the present day, there has been no culture where the notion of God did not exist. If God does not exist, where the hell did this idea of God come from? It is about reaching reality through ideas. In the same vein, philosophers also sought to prove reality through desire. Simply put, this is the story. Hunger cravings or cravings presuppose food. Because food exists, the desire to eat arises. Think also of human sexuality. Doesn't sexual longing presuppose the existence of the opposite sex, the object of desire? (How can men not turn their eyes when there are beautiful women?)
1. We must realize that there is no way to physically quench our thirst.
The Samaritan woman, the main character of the text, in a conversation with Jesus, when Jesus said, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst” (verse 14). Please” (verse 15). At that time, the depth of the well in this area reached 150m, so it was hard labor to draw water using a 160m long rope. So the water this woman thought of was still water from the well. But the truth this woman had to realize was that even if she found a way to easily obtain living water with such water, water for saturating her body, that method could not solve the problem of thirst in the soul forever. No, this woman's existential spiritual thirst, which she tried to solve by changing her husband five times, could never be solved by a physical method. Now this woman had to face this truth.
2. We must believe in the Savior, who is the only source of spiritual and living water.
3. We must seek and long for the river of living water through the Holy Spirit.
To completely quench our thirst, we must not be in a state of just drinking water. Doesn't my being need to be immersed in living water? That is why in John 10:10 Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” He wanted to give us eternal life, a life that is not only a life in which we are saved and avoid hell, but a life beyond that, a life in which we can enjoy abundant life. However, Jesus put the answer on how such a life is possible until he taught the words of John 7:37-38 on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Now let's read the answer together. “On the last day of the feast, on the great day, Jesus stood up and cried, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Bible says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.” See this promise. It is not that a sip of living water will barely wet our thirsty throat, but that a river of living water will burst out of our belly (the deepest part of our being).
In fact, throughout the week during the Feast of Tabernacles, the priests drew water from the nearby Pool of Siloam (the so-called Hezekiah Tunnel, which is about 500 meters long from the Spring of Siloam to the Pool of Siloam, still has a river of living water) and poured it on the altar. If you say the prayer 'Hosanna Raba' and pour out all the water you have brought along with praise, the entire altar will be wetted and the altar will become like a river. Perhaps Jesus gave these promises while recalling the picture of the climax of the Feast of Tabernacles. But the question still remains. How can we actually experience this river of living water? The answer is in verse 39 following John 7:37-38. “This was speaking of the Holy Spirit that those who believed in Him would receive. (Because Jesus had not yet been glorified, the Holy Spirit was not yet upon them.” The fulfillment of this promise was the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
On this day and on this day, Jesus' promise to the thirsty Samaritan woman was fully fulfilled. Read John 4:14 again. “Whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst. That day, the disciples of Jesus experienced the happiness of life welling up in their being.