SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/5/2016
10:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The
Circumstances
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 4:1-6
Message of
the verses: “1 Therefore when the Lord knew that the
Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than
John 2 (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), 3 He
left Judea and went away again into Galilee.
4 And He had to
pass through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar,
near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6 and Jacob’s well
was there. So Jesus, being
wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the
sixth hour.”
We have mentioned that the ministries of John the
Baptist and Jesus went on at the same time and this was probably for about six
months. We also remember that when we
first meant John the Baptist back in the first chapter of John that some representatives
of the Pharisees came to question him, and the reason was that there was
jealously in the hearts of the Pharisees because God was honoring the ministry
of John the Baptist in an amazing way as many, many people were coming to him
to be baptized, to confess that their lives were sinful and to repent and make
themselves ready for the coming of the Messiah.
Well as we begin this first part of the fourth chapter of John we see
that Jesus was on the move, leaving Judah, and Jesus was there for about six
months teaching His disciples, preaching to the crowds and surely doing
miracles that we do not read about, but we can be sure He was doing them. In comes the Pharisees as we see in verse
one as they knew “that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
(the Baptist).” Once again we see the
jealously of the Pharisees as they thought that there way was the only way and
they wanted to control all of the “religious” things that were going on in
Judah. We know that Jesus’ time was
something that was planned out by the Father and there would come the time when
it was planned for Him to complete His ministry on earth by dying on the cross
for the sins of those who would accept that pardon He offers, but this was not
the right time for that to happen and so we read that “He had to pass through
Samaria.” Jesus was leaving Judah for He
did not want to, at this time get into a conformation with the Pharisees and
besides that His plan was to go to Galilee. Now there was two ways that He
could have gone through Galilee, and most Jews would take the long way in order
not to go through Samaria for the Jews hated the Samaritans because they were a
“half breed” of people or probably better stated “mixed breed.” In 722 when the Assyrians defeated the Northern
Kingdom that place became a breeding ground of mixing Jews and Gentiles and
because the name of the capital of the Northern Kingdom was Samaria the name
stuck for these mixed people. However to
Jesus this was a mission field as we will see as we move through this forth
chapter of John.
This is not the first time that Jesus would be
ministering in Galilee as the very first miracle “sign” He did was in Cana of
Galilee where He turned the water into wine, but as first stated He must go
through Samaria. John MacArthur comments
on the different routes that could have been taken: “It was not geographic necessity that
compelled Him to do so, despite the fact that it was the most direct of several
routes. The road through Samaria was
shorter than the coastal road or the road on the east side of the Jordan, which
is why many Jews traveled on it, especially at the time of the major religious
festivals.” He goes on to mention why
the Jews did not want to go through Samaria, something we already
discussed. The distance that Jesus and
His disciples traveled the day of their journey was around twenty miles, a
difficult journey of up and down hills so Jesus and His disciples get there
about noon “the sixth hour” and we see a part of Jesus’ humanity coming into
play as the text says that He was wearied from His journey. The word in the Greek for being wearied is “kopiao,”
and its meanings is “to labour with wearisome effort, to toil, to grow weary,
tired, exhausted, of bodily labour.” We can see from this definition that Jesus was
very tired from the up and down walking of those 20 miles. Now His journey takes He and His disciples to
a place called “Sychar,” and we read that this is where Jacob’s well was.
MacArthur writes that it was “located on the slope of Mount Ebal, opposite Mt.
Gerizim.” Moses writes the following in
Deut. 11:29 “"It shall come about, when the LORD your God brings you into
the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the
blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.” Joshua writes in 8:33 “All Israel with their
elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark
before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD,
the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount
Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of
the LORD had given command at first to bless the people of Israel.” Can we dare say that when we look ahead to
Jesus’ talking to the woman at the well that He would speak of both the
blessings of God through salvation and also the curses of God as He brings up
her sinful ways, having five husbands and actually living with a man at that
time without being married?
If one wants to know as to the position of the well
in relationship with Sychar MacArthur writes “According to well-attested ancient
tradition, Jacob’s well was about half a mile south of Sychar. The precise location has been well
established by tradition, and the well sits today near an unfinished Orthodox
church. It was a deep well (approx. 100
feet), fed by a running spring (the word translated ‘well’ in vv. 11-12 refers
to a cistern or dugout well, while the word used here denotes a spring or
fountain).”
MacArthur concludes “The stage was set; Jesus was in
the right place at the right time for an encounter in God’s will. He was in reality keeping a divine
appointment that He Himself had made before the foundation of the world.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: As mentioned in an earlier SD, I cannot help
but think of the encounter that I had with the risen Lord through His Spirit in
January of 1974 as circumstances to the salvation of this woman were very
similar with the circumstances of mine.
My Steps of Faith
for Today: Be thankful of the mercy and grace that God has given me through the
salvation He provided for me through His Son.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Deuteronomy.”
Today’s Bible question: “How did Elisha help a poor widow whose sons
were about to be taken as bondmen?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/5/2016 12:00 PM
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