Here's the record, or part of
the record, of our Lord's encounter with this woman. Verse 19, The
woman said unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this
mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe
me, the hour comes when you shall neither in this mountain nor
yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not
what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit. They that worship
Him must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman said unto
him, I know that Messiah come, which is called Christ. When
he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her,
I that speak unto thee am he. Or literally, I that speak unto
thee am. Now, what we want to consider
having read this text is the various ways and the various
persons by which the Lord did make himself known and reveal
himself to those while he were here in the flesh, those that
he came in contact with during the three years of his earthly
ministry. And it turns out to be and interesting,
though a somewhat complicated and many faceted matter that
we are taking up this evening with this woman. Now the question
was once asked of the Lord, of a disciple, who do men say that
I am? Just out of the blue, our Lord
one day put that question unto His disciples. Matthew chapter
16 and verse 13 is the place where it's found. And they answered
in various ways. They said, some say that you're
John the Baptist. Others say that you are Elijah. Some say you're Jeremiah. Some say you're one of the prophets. Then our Lord said to them, But
whom do you say that I am? And again in Matthew 22 and 42,
Jesus asked the Pharisees, What do you think of Christ? Whose
son is he? Well, they very quickly answered,
the son of David. To which the Lord replied, well,
why then does David, speaking in the spirit, refer to him or
call him Lord? So three questions concerning
the identity of the man called Jesus. born of Mary, living in
Nazareth, crucified on a cross. Number one, the question was,
who do men in general say that he was? Who is it that they took
him or thought him to be? and even religious persons. What
is the opinion of some concerning the real identity of the person
of Jesus Christ? Well, the opinions vary greatly. We want to ask ourselves the
question, who then did the disciples, and we throw in the apostles,
who did the disciples and the apostles say that Jesus was and
is? With this you have the confession
of Simon Peter, which suffices to answer for all of the disciples
and for us as well. For all true believers of all
time, thou art the Christ, the Son, of the Living God. Then thirdly, who did Jesus say
that He was? Who did the people at large say?
Who did His followers say? And who did Jesus say that He
was? And what claims did our Lord
make as to His person and to His identity? Did He ever claim
to be outright the Son of God? Did He ever claim that He is
the promised Messiah written up so often in the Scripture?
Did He ever claim to be very God, an absolute God? Did He
claim a pre-existence? Did He claim that He came down
from the presence of God? Now, the third question is our
point of focus in this study. Christ declaring Himself that
He is the Messiah that the scriptures spoke about and that the prophets
did promise. And we notice, number one, the
occasion of Him making this claim. What was it that led up to the
Lord making this revelation? He did not at first make it. He made talk with a woman, conversation,
and that led up to Him saying who He was. And secondly, we
want to consider also, on this occasion, the person to whom
our Lord made this claim. Would we expect it to be the
high priest of Israel? Would we expect that it might
be the king? Would we expect that the Lord
might make this claim before the priests and the leaders of
the religion of that day? No, not at all. Now to get at
the matter, our text has a direct connection with the encounter
of Christ with a Samaritan woman there at Jacob's well. And the
way the Lord brought her along, if I may use that expression,
and I think it's good, she had retained the dubious reputation,
the woman at the well, the woman of Samaria. And wherever it is
known, she is known and remembered for her immoral way of life. This woman at once had had multiple
husbands, and not by means of one dying and marrying another,
and evidently not even by means of divorce, but she had had five
former husbands. And even on the day of the encounter,
the Lord reveals that she had one who was not really and truly
her husband. Now, this woman, we call her
the woman at the well, or the woman of Samaria. In this passage
of the scripture, we notice she is brought through four stages
with regard to her view and idea of who it is that she has met
at the well to draw water. When she breaks custom, the Lord
does, and asks a drink of water of a Samaritan woman, She addresses
him, in verse 9, simply as a Jew. Thou a Jew, asking drink of me,
while the Jews have no dealing with the Samaritan. Then, a little
later, when our Lord spiritualizes the water, as he speaks about
it, she raises her view of him a little higher. And she says
in verse 15, Sir, addressing him respectfully, when he exposes
her sordid past and puts her life, as it were, out in public,
then she raises her view a little more. I perceive that you are
a prophet. That's in verse 19. And finally, as the Christ. Come, in verse
29, see a man told me all I ever did is not this, the Christ. Now, let's drop back to earlier
verses and see how it is that the Lord led her and revealed
to her that opinion. As she showed her ignorance in
the words, verse 11, You give me living water, she asked of
him. Why, sir, you have nothing to
draw with, and the well is exceedingly deep. Then from verse 12, from
whence have you this living water? Are you greater than our father
David, which gave us this well, and it supplied his family and
his stock, and give water even until this present day? Then
in verse 16, the Lord tells her to go and fetch her husband and
come again. She would dismiss the Lord and
dismiss this subject by saying, I have no husband. And if to make a way, with his
request to bring him, she no doubt think that this will be
the end of the matter, the end of a discussion about her having
a husband. I have no husband. As if that
would settle her martial state once and for all. Now, the Lord's
reply to this woman made the deepest impression upon her that
had been made probably in her life. And in verse 17, the last
part, and verse 18, the Lord said, yes, it is true that you
have no husband at this time, but you have had five husbands,
and the one that you have now is not your husband. And as I
said earlier, not by death and not by divorce had she shed herself
of these husbands." Now this really got the woman's attention.
The woman, as she hears the Lord, as she would say in verse 29,
tell me all things that ever I did. When she ran into the
city, come, come, see a man who has told me all that ever I did. A man that could tell her past. A man who could open up to her
her immoral life. One who could expose and knew
her sin. Bring her face to face with her
immoral way of life and of her path. This convinces her that
she has encountered a prophet. a prophet of some kind, a man
able to discern and to know her past, a man able to tell her
and to know what she had done, a man able to reveal the secrets
and lives and hearts of men and of women. Now this pleased the
Lord, this placed the Lord rather in her mind as more now than
a prophet. And so either to change the subject
from her immoral life or to utilize the gift of prophecy that she
discerns in the Lord, she breaches the subject of the proper place
and manner of holding religious worship that you have in verse
20 through verse 24. There was great disagreement
between the Jew and the Samaritan. There was a strong friction existing
between the two people upon the causes and the places of worship
between the two people. From the Jewish standpoint, there
was the ethnic division among them. The Jews considered the
Samaritans as mongrels, or we might say half-breed, and they
put them actually over in the category with the pagan Gentiles,
and would not accept them as being blood kin. But secondly,
there was also a religious difference. Besides the ethnic difference,
there was a religious difference. Again, concerning then the mongrel,
and for two reasons they looked upon them as mongrel. A, because
the Samaritans only recognized five books of Moses. That's all
the scripture that they recognized. as being authoritative and canonical. The first five books of the Scripture
are all that they used in their worship. Only these did they
recognize as inspired and part of the canon. But then, B, the
Samaritans in rebellion had set up a separate place of worship. Not in Jerusalem, not on Zion's
hill, but at the foot of Mount Gerizim had they constructed
the temple and there the Samaritans worshipped. Thus to this prophet,
who knew the true places and the true times of worship, Not
this mountain, nor Jerusalem, our Lord will soon tell her.
It gives us that very rich passage in verse 21 through verse 24.
that a time of great change in worship had arrived. It had arrived
in, with, and through Christ. When there would be no settled
place of worship from that time forward. When there would be
worship in spirit and in truth, not in place and mountain and
building. There would be no longer a central
place of worship. There no longer will be what
we call the holy land, or holy temple, or holy shrines to which
men might go. Whereas David Brown wrote on
this passage of the Scripture, the worship of the Father shall
soon be everywhere, and that in spirit and in truth. Now coming to verse 25, and verse
26, the discussion of Messiah with this woman. The woman said
to him, Sir, Prophet, I know that Messiah is coming. I know that there is a Messiah
that's coming. He will come, and when He is
come, He will tell or reveal us all things. Notice that she
uses the title here, Messiahs. which appears but twice in the
New Testament Scripture, here in John 4 and verse 25, and John
1 and verse 41, used by Andrew to his brother, saying, Come,
we have found the Messiah. Now John, as was his custom,
in using the Hebrew word Messiah, gives the Greek word with the
same meaning, which is called Christ, meaning the anointed
one, the one anointed by God. It shows that the Samaritans
also did hold a belief in the appearance of a Messiah, and
that he would establish a kingdom among men, and that he would
be great, and that he would do all of these things. She adds
one thing more that we see in our text, when Messiah is come,
he will tell us all things. Now some believe that this belief
and this expression of hers is based upon such Old Testament
text as Deuteronomy 18 and 15, that a prophet like Moses would
come, to him shall you hearken. Then there's those prophecies
that speak of times of great awakening and of times and work
of Messiah. Or the woman may have had in
mind that Messiah, which is called Christ, would, as John Gill wrote,
quote, tell them, the whole mind and the whole will of God, all
things relating to the worship of God and the salvation of men."
Unquote. The words of Gil. So let us pause
to know, the woman speaking of worship and of Messiah is not
at the time a devoted follower of Messiah. This woman is one
who had lived a contrary life. She had lived a life of shame
and immorality in the recent past. She had not been subject
to religion or greatly religious. She could make conversation about
the Old Testament Messiah and the Restorer of all things, as
He sometimes was called. Still, she was not a Jewish. Not even a holy woman would we
call her. She was described as this unlearned
but sin-laden ordinary unnamed in the country and district despised. That is, in Samaria, unquote. Not a Jew, but a Samaritan. Not in the holy city or the holy
country, but yonder in Samaria. For too many in all ages have
lived in sin. And yet we find strangely, many
of those have a religious streak in them. We often meet people
who are living in sin and they're willing to have a discussion
about the Bible or about God or about Jesus or salvation. The woman in Proverbs 7 is a
good example of that. A harlot who went and performed
her vows and then went out to snare her paramours. in her web,
what we might have called Saturday sinners and Sunday saints. I think we might have heard that
expression. But coming to that great text
in the 26th verse, which in response to the woman's confession in
verse 25, I know Now, it is not we know, but I personally know
and believe that Messiah comes. I know. He now makes a great
revelation to that woman. I am He. You know, that's strange
when we consider the character of this person, the background
of this person. I am the one. I am the Messiah. I'm the one that's speaking unto
you. I am He. All I can say is what
a claim, what a claim did our Lord make, or what a revelation
did our Lord make unto this woman. How blessed are the ears that
hear and believe such a thing. I am He. Again, casting a glance
back over the chapter, we see how the Lord enlightened the
woman more and more, up to this point to bring her to become
and be a believer on Him. Now He saves this great revelation
unto the last. Though He might have said in
verse 7, Woman, I'm the Messiah. Give me a drink." He might have
said that to her and it would have been the truth. Or, I'm
the Messiah. I'll give you water unto everlasting
life and you'll never, ever thirst again. He might have said to
her, I'm more than a prophet. I that speak unto you am the
Messiah come from God. He had given her a strong hint
in the tenth verse as we look back there to that particular
place in their conversation. Thou knewest the gift of God,
who it is that said, Give me to drink. You would have asked,
He would have given you living water forever. and forever."
Yes, He gave her a very strong hint that He was more than a
Jew, and more than Sir, and more than a prophet. And so, He saves
this revelation up till now, when her heart is made ready,
when her heart has been prepared. If you knew, you would have asked,
I would have given you living water. But they're speaking spiritually
about that. In the 26th verse, He is plain. I am He. To this one person,
to a solitary woman, in her ears only, with no one else present. Our Lord says to her, I am He. My point? You would expect such
an important proclamation to have been shouted somewhere from
the housetop or in the gathering and the hearing of hundreds and
of hundreds. But yet, out yonder, solitary
at Jacob's well, to a woman of sin, our Lord says, I am He. Now let's look at the sovereign
favor which the Lord did bestow upon this woman to reveal himself
to her as the Messiah. On this Matthew Henry did write,
quote, Christ did never make himself known so expressly unto
any as he did to this poor Samaritan, unquote. Matthew Henry. And to
the blind man in John 9 and verse 37, for that man he said, it
is he that talks with you, is he that will do these things.
This woman says plainly, I am he, says the Lord unto her. Now let's compare some other
instances of our Lord's claims. to people that he met, John 10,
22 through verse 25. It was the feast of dedication
in this particular time, which most agree was this was the festival
feast that was kept in memory of the cleansing of the dedication
of the temple from the profanations of those of old. And the feast
festival was instituted, some said, by Judas Maccabees and
kept in the year December. And Christ came, but the thing
of interest in the passage is found in John 10 and verse 24,
when the Jews said, How long do you keep us in doubt? How
long will you hold us in suspense? Literally rendering it how long
or when Will you lift up our soul on this question or this
matter? How long do you hold us here
in suspense and in doubt? Are thou lifting up our soul
out of its suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us
plainly, openly. Declare it without hiding it
in symbols or parables. unto all of us." Notice the response
that our Lord gave to them. In verse 25 through verse 30,
I told you, you saw the works which I did. They witness of
me, but you believe not. And the reason you do not believe
not is because you are not My sheep. Again, that's in John
chapter 10. In John 8 and verse 25, some
Jews asked the Lord, Who are you? And by the way, compare
the same question when it was put to John the Baptist in John
1, 19 through 24. And in John 8 and verse 25, the
Lord answered, I am even as I said unto you from the beginning. In neither instance does our
Lord give them an open unmistakable, clear, definite word as He did
to the Samaritan woman. I am He. I am the Christ. I am Messiah. The reason may
be because the Jews asked not in order that they might honor
Him or worship Him, but that He made such claims in the presence
of them and in unbelievers. and implacable enemies always
there to question and to rebuke what our Lord had said. Then
again, let's compare the Lord's very clear declaration to the
Samaritan woman with the way He answered John the Baptist,
how he answered one of his servants, one of his beloved servants,
and then how he answered this woman. In Matthew 11, chapter
11, verses 1 through 6, do you remember the occasion when John
was in prison, also Mark 4, and verse 12, and in prison he sends
messengers forth to the Lord to ask the Lord's Christ this
question. Are you He that should come or
do we look for another? In other words, are you the Messiah? Now, if you read the commentaries,
You will find disagreement among the commentators about this as
to why John put the question unto Christ. Had John's faith
weakened as he was cast there in prison? As Spurgeon said,
John did not make a good caged bird, unquote. Was it for the
sake of the disciples, his disciples, as some say, to strengthen them? Or was it, as J.B. Lightfoot
suggests unto us in his book, that the earthly kingdom, is
it about to be set up? Is it that time? The Lord said,
which is not of the plain sort, given the Samaritan woman, I
am he. To John he says this, look, the
blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are clean,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor are evangelizing, given
the gospel. Now to such as John, these things
were confirmation enough. John understood that these things
were indeed marks and signs of Messiah. These were signs and
evidences that this One had come from God and that He was the
Messiah. When Philip asked in John 14
and 8, Show us the Father, and it suffices thus. The Lord answered,
He that has seen Me has seen the Father. I and my Father are
one. Believe me, I am in the Father
and the Father is in me. In John 10.25, they bear witness
of me, the works that I do. John 2.23, many believed on His
name when they saw the miracles which He did. Still, many saw
His great works and believed not. Many heard his claims that
he had come from God, and they did not believe it. They called
him a fraud, they called him an imposter, a blasphemer, and
such like, while the Lord regarded his miracle works as evidence
that he had come from God. But back to the woman of Samaria
again. An impressive thing about the
grace of God that is given unto her on this occasion. and the appearance and the way
that the Lord convinced her that He was the Messiah, which was
not by great works and miracles and healing, but by His words,
I am He. Now the more ordinary way of
confirming His Messiahship was to prove it by signs and miracles
and wonders and such like unto the Jews. The Jews require signs,
they love signs, and demanded them of the Lord. But the Samaritan
woman who has no evidence that she saw any of the mighty miracles
and works of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor did he work any in her presence
in John chapter 4, not even making the water appear miraculously
as he did at the wedding, causing her to believe on him by declaring
himself to be the Messiah come from God. By the grace, let me
call it enabling grace, she was enabled to believe, not based
upon some great work or the words of another or a miracle, but
upon spiritual truth itself. I am he. This caught her attention
by asking her for a drink. He spoke spiritually to her of
water and living water. He began to talk about that water
and she perceived that it was more than a common drink. It
might put one in the mind of the words of the Lord to Thomas. In John 20, 26 through 29, it
was Thomas who said, except I see the print of the nail in his
hand and thrust my finger into his side, I will not believe. And the Lord granted Thomas that
favor. Whereupon Thomas said unto Him,
My Lord and my God, O my Lord and my God. And the Lord said
to him in John 20 and verse 29, Thomas, because you believed
and because you felt, you have believed. Because you have seen
and because you felt, you have believed. Blessed are they who
have not seen and yet have believed. So the Samaritan woman saw no
miracles, which Matthew Henry called the ordinary method of
conviction, but because the Lord, when she said, I am He, perhaps
she looked at Him and saw in Him the excellency of His teaching
and ability to reveal the things of God, He will tell us all things
which ever we did. This woman told that Christ would
be a perfect teacher of the things of God. When He came, He would
know them all. She heard His great discourse
on living water. She heard Him expose her sin.
She heard the futility of resting in the formal worship of a particular
mountain or a particular temple, of the deep revelation that God
is spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth, not in
mountains. and in temple. He indeed told
her all things, all things that ever she had done, who could
know such except he come from God. Who can do these things
except he be with God and God be with him. Said J.C. Ryle,
these words are the fullest declaration which our Lord ever made. of
His own Messiahship, which the Gospel writers have recorded."
And equally amazing is the person to whom the Lord chose to make
such a revelation. Not a holy man, not the head
priest, but a sinful woman. Not a Jew, but a Samaritan. Not
a man, but a woman. not before many, but by an audience
of one, and not in the temple, but yonder at a well where water
is drawn. Blessed are they given a heart
to believe the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and blessed to
believe when He said, I am He. I am the one come from God. And she believed and carried
the message to friends in the city. How wonderful our Savior
manifests in the flesh, tabernacling among men who would expect to
see the very Son of God at a water well. But there he was in all
of his glory and wisdom.