Scripture Reading: John 4:3-34, 39-42
Our purpose in this book is to pay attention to the signs in each chapter of the Gospel of John, regarding them as extracts of this mysterious book of divine things. In chapter 4 there are two signs. One is a well, and the other is a mountain. The well is Jacob’s well, and the mountain is Mount Gerizim. Have you ever regarded these two matters as the signs and extracts in this chapter? If we do not know these two signs, we cannot know this chapter in a deep way.
For years, I have treasured chapter 4 of John because it contains two matters that are wonderful and mysterious. The first is the living water, and the second is the worship in spirit and in truthfulness. Even when I was a youth, I came to know about these points in John 4. However, I did not know the real significance of this chapter.
The signs in the first three chapters of John are all genuine and typical. In chapter 1 we have six signs: the Word, the tabernacle, the Lamb, the dove, the stone, and the house of God, Bethel. None of these signs is traditional. In chapter 2 we have two genuine, typical signs: the changing of water into wine and the raising up of the temple. In chapter 3 we have three genuine and typical signs: regeneration, the bronze serpent, and the bride. Although the signs in chapters 1, 2, and 3 are typical and genuine, the two signs in chapter 4 are traditional. In a sense, the signs of the well and the mountain in John 4 are a mixture, for they are related to the territory of Samaria.
Samaria was the leading region of the northern kingdom of Israel and the place where its capital was (1 Kings 16:24, 29). Before 700 B.C. the Assyrians captured Samaria and brought people from Babylon and other heathen places to the cities of Samaria (2 Kings 17:6, 24). From that time the Samaritans became a people of mixed blood — heathen blood mixed with Jewish blood. History tells us that they had the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses) and worshipped God according to that part of the Old Testament. But they were never recognized by the Jews as part of the Jewish people.
Originally, Samaria was a good region, and it included the parcel of land that Jacob bought in Genesis 33:19. In that territory was located the mountain of blessing, Mount Gerizim, the place where six of the twelve tribes of Israel declared the blessing of keeping the law (Deut. 27:12; Josh. 8:33). Opposite Mount Gerizim was Mount Ebal, where the other six tribes declared the curse of disobeying the law. Mount Gerizim, therefore, was a mountain of blessing. At that mountain there was a double blessing because it was a gift of the forefather, Jacob, and it was the place of God’s blessing.
We have seen that during the time of the kings, the people of Samaria became mixed with those who were pagans. Furthermore, the pagans brought in idol worship and mixed their worship with that of the worship of God practiced by the Jews. In this way Mount Gerizim became a place of mixture in worship. On Mount Gerizim the people practiced idol worship under the name of the Jewish God, Jehovah. They mixed their pagan worship with the worship of the genuine God.
Much of the worship among Christians today is also a mixture. In principle, it is the same as that practiced on Mount Gerizim: it is a mixture of pagan things with worship in the name of the true God. That mixture in worship at Mount Gerizim in Samaria was carried out by pagans and by pagan authority. Likewise, the mixture in traditional worship in Christendom was also first carried out under pagan authority.
The signs in John 4 are related to matters that are not pure. Yes, Jacob’s well was in a portion of Jacob’s land given to his beloved son Joseph (Josh. 24:32). That was something pure. However, it was used by Samaritans, an impure people. Although the Samaritans claimed to be descendants of Jacob, they were a mixture. This was the reason that the Jews in ancient times would not recognize them or have any dealings with them. This was true even up until the time of the Lord Jesus. John 4:9 indicates this: “The Samaritan woman then said to Him, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, who am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)”
What does the well of Jacob in John 4 signify? It signifies that tradition cannot satisfy man’s thirst. We all know that water is necessary for human life. Water is even more important than food, for thirst is more serious than hunger. You may go without food for several days and still live, but you cannot go nearly as long without water. In the Old Testament there are a number of stories that point out how crucial water is for human life (Gen. 21:15, 19; Exo. 15:23-24, 27; 17:6; Num. 20:8). In the Bible the record of man’s need of water to quench his thirst is found again and again. The well in the land of Jacob is a sign that traditional things cannot quench the thirst in human life. No matter how genuine or typical a tradition may be, as long as it is a tradition, it cannot satisfy man’s thirst. This is the significance of the sign of Jacob’s well in John 4.
The sign of Jacob’s well should lead us to realize our need of something other than tradition, and this is our need for a living person, the Son of God. In John 4:10 the Lord Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” This gift is the Son of God Himself. Isaiah 9:6 says that a Son has been given to us, and John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life. In this God-given gift is eternal life.
We cannot separate eternal life from the gift of God. God’s gift to us includes both His Son and His divine life. These two are one gift, for the divine life is in the Son, and the Son actually is the divine life (14:6). Therefore, 1 John 5:11 and 12 say, “God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” The thirst in human life cannot be satisfied by tradition. Our thirst can be quenched only by a living person, the One who has been given to us to be our eternal life.
The Samaritans had fallen into the error of trusting in traditions. The Samaritan woman in John 4 was trying to get water for her living from that traditional well, and she spoke to the Lord Jesus about worship on that traditional mountain. Her trust was altogether in these two traditions, in the well for human living and in the mountain for the worship of God.
Many Christians also put their trust in traditions. Much of their theology, doctrines, and teachings is traditional. Their rituals, regulations, formalities, and holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, also are traditional. There is an interest among some Christians in returning to the so-called historic church, that is, in returning to traditional things.
Christians, however, should not care for traditions. Instead, we need to be renewed and refreshed by a living person with the divine life. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is never traditional. He is always new, renewing, and refreshing. If we experience Him daily throughout our Christian life, we will find that He is always new.
Our well is not Jacob’s well, a traditional well; our well is the Son of God. We have received Him, and He has become a fountain of water springing up within us into eternal life. As He springs up within us, we are brought into eternal life. This springing up of the Lord within us quenches our thirst. I can testify that He springs up within me again and again. Whenever He springs up in me, I am brought into eternal life, and my thirst is satisfied.
Do you know the difference between the Lord as a fountain and the Lord as a spring? When the Lord is objective to us, He is the fountain. But when He is subjective to us, He is the spring. When we were in the Holy Land some years ago, we visited the source of the river Jordan. At the foot of Mount Hermon, we saw a strong spring welling up. We were told that underneath the mountain there was a fountain, which was the source of that spring. That fountain was in the depths, whereas the spring was on the surface.
On the one hand, the Lord Jesus is the fountain of living water; on the other hand, He is the spring. In God, the Lord is the fountain, but in us He is the spring. According to our experience, we know that the Christ who is in God is the source, the fountain. But when He enters into us and dwells in us, He becomes a fountain springing up into eternal life.
We should not trust in our Bible knowledge, in our past experience, or in traditional teachings that we have received from others. All such things may be a “Jacob’s well” to us. Daily we need to remember and realize that we have a living spring within us and that this spring is a divine person, the Son of God, who has been given to us by God as a gift. Praise the Lord that within us we have a spring that is the gift of God!
However, in their experience many Christians still have a traditional well and not a living spring. If you speak with them about the Spirit or eternal life, they may argue with you according to their tradition. Christians who trust in their traditions are like the Samaritan woman in John 4. I was such a Samaritan woman about fifty years ago. But I no longer put my trust in a traditional well. How about you? Do you have a “Jacob’s well,” or do you enjoy the living Christ? It is possible to be a Samaritan woman with a traditional well even in the Lord’s recovery. You may regard the books and the messages in the recovery as your traditional well.
We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that no well, regardless how genuine, typical, and ancient it is, can quench our thirst. Our thirst can be quenched only by the living person of the Son of God, who has been given by God to be a fountain springing up within us.
It is possible for us to take a Christian leader as our Jacob and his teachings as our well. Lutherans have done this with Martin Luther and his teaching concerning justification by faith. They may know about their “well,” but they may not know the living person, Jesus Christ, as the living water within them.
Let me tell you an actual story involving a Lutheran pastor in China. This particular man was an opium smuggler while he was a pastor. One day a Norwegian woman evangelist came to the city where that pastor lived and began to preach the gospel. She did not preach about any kind of “well,” and she did not preach justification by faith in an old, traditional way. Rather, she preached regeneration by the living Spirit. After every message she would go immediately to the main entrance of the chapel and talk with those who were passing by. She would ask the same question of each person: “Have you been regenerated? Have you been born again?” That Lutheran pastor tried unsuccessfully to avoid her. She stopped him and in front of a number of people asked him if he had been regenerated. He answered that he had been regenerated. However, she said, “Look at you! You have never been regenerated!” Because this was spoken in the presence of members of his congregation, he was offended.
Insulted by the way this evangelist had spoken to him, the Lutheran pastor went home and spent much of the night plotting how to kill her. But at a certain time the Spirit of God began to point out to him how sinful he was. The Spirit said to him, “How evil you are! You are an opium smuggler. Because this woman rebuked you, you were offended, and now you are thinking of a way to kill her. Don’t you realize how sinful you are?” As a result of the Spirit’s work, he thoroughly repented and was truly saved and regenerated. The next day he attended the meeting and testified of what had happened to him. His testimony brought in a genuine revival. The experience of this Lutheran minister illustrates the difference between trusting in some traditional well and enjoying the renewing, refreshing person of the living Christ, the Son of God.
Although traditional teaching does not count for anything as far as the living Christ is concerned, many Christians continue to depend on traditional things. In some cases their knowledge, including the knowledge of the Bible, is traditional. The Bible itself is not traditional, but it is taken in a traditional way by many Christians. Some may claim that they know all about the seed of the woman in Genesis 3 or about the names of the Lord in Isaiah 9:6. Yes, they may know these things, but they know them in the way of tradition, not in the way of life. In their way of handling the Word of God, there is no life, no freshness, no renewing.
We can testify that we truly love the Bible. However, we do not love the Bible in a traditional way. On the contrary, we love the Word because in it we can meet the living person of the Son of God. He is the real gift of God with eternal life.
I am very concerned for some of the saints in the Lord’s recovery. They come to the meetings again and again, but what do they receive? Do they receive more traditional teachings, or do they contact a living person? When you listen to a message in a ministry meeting, do you receive a living person as eternal life, or do you take the ministry as something traditional? We all must learn not to put our trust in any traditional well but learn to experience Christ daily as the living water springing up within us into eternal life.
