“Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10
John 4:1-45; Romans 8:1-17
The cup that Jesus brings us is living.
Jesus IS fresh and flowing over what is stagnant. This living water refers to God’s “Divine Activity,” that God refreshes us. This is about the work of the Holy Spirit upon someone. The water Jesus was offering was not the substance of a drink or to quench a physical thirst; rather, it was the refreshment of eternal life. The Holy Spirit imparts to us the new transforming, cleansing, and spiritual life. This new life impacts us totally, constantly, and continually to usher us into eternity. However, it is still up to us to accept that impact and let it come in contact with our application of life to God, ourselves, our environment, and others (Isa. 12:3; Jer. 2:13; Ezek. 47:1-9; Zech. 14:8; John 7:37-39; 8:24; 11:50-51; 19:19).
Water means life, both in the ancient world and now. Water is everything in life, from the growing and prospering of crops to the cleansing of selves. Without water, everything dies.
Revelation calls, River of the Water of Life what is needed for life, even life itself, comes from God. Living Water is a continual theme used in Scripture, and it also refers to the river that flowed under Jerusalem and to the theme of Paradise and “God with us.” The Greeks saw water and river together to mean “virtue”. John uses this imagery to represent the Spirit and renewal in his Gospel. This also means Jesus is the answer to our thirst in life and for salvation! God is our abundant supply of all we need now and forevermore (Gen. 2:10-14; Psalm 46:4; Prov. 13:14; Jer. 14:3; Ezek. 47:1-12; Joel 3:18; Zech. 14:8; John 4:10-14; 7:37-39; 2 Pet. 2: 17-19; Rev. 22:1-6).
Real, effectual, true worship comes from hearts that truly love God, are grateful for His work, and are dedicated to His Truth.
This is a worship of Jesus, Who is Truth, of Christ as LORD. He is the only Way to God that we are to recognize with our spirit and soul. This is not based on location or liturgy or externals and formalities; rather, it is recognizing Christ our Savior and Lord with proper attitudes and motives. This also means a sacrifice of our hearts over animals and an offering of our praise over burnt offerings. Jesus is emphasizing a manner of heart and obedience from our gratitude over and above ceremonial requirements and orders. This manner recognizes and honors God’s holiness with our grateful hearts for giving us, unearned and unmerited salvation and by placing the Living Holy Spirit in us. This is in contrast to worship services that are merely rhetorical, obligatory, and historical–meaningless ritual and liturgy that just spins one’s pride and/or hides one’s heart (1 Sam. 10:5; 1 Chron. 25:1-6; John 1:18; 3:3:21; 14:6, 16-18;; Acts 4:12; Acts 2:33; Rom. 1:25; 9:4-5; Phil. 3:1-14).
This impact from the Spirit nourishes, invigorates, and empowers us to deal with life here and now. His qualities and character become real in us and are modeled as real to others around us. This empowerment gives us salvation and builds our maturity, so we can have joy and contentment, purpose and meaning. It allows us to know we are deeply loved and makes us able to replicate that love to others. In that way, we can worship Him in power and adoration on a deeper level than we could do without that growth and maturity.
This woman represents most of humanity as she had a thirst and a longing for something real in a life; the yearning left a hole in her that was filled with sin and other things.
She had a desire, perhaps throughout her life, to obtain the Living Water. Before she found the Living Water, though, she found everything meaningless and chose the lust of sin and rebellion as a coping mechanism. Christ fulfilled her desire, and this transitioned her from sin to Him and translated her lust to the willingness to grow, willingness to strive, and to be challenged in the faith. She was able to do so–crossing her fears and hurts in order to know Him, and to grow in Him. The barriers of fear and past hurts is one most Christians may never cross, but they are possible to overcome with His Hand guiding us.
For us, this is a lesson of faith, given to shake us from our false thinking or complacency or bad situations to see what is in front of us. To Know. To ask. Jesus gives.
