The Samaritan Woman (8)

My friends, what think ye of Christ? It is a very important question for each one of us. Every day of our lives, as we pass through this life, it is an important question. It is certain that without Jesus we will go lost. We need to know Christ as the Savior of our soul. Many only know Him intellectually. But the devils also know Him that way, and they tremble. They tremble because they know that they will never be saved. Do you know Him, as a lost sinner having received that heart-renewing grace? Do not be satisfied with a contemplative knowledge. Also, do not rest in some outward convictions. A person with true soul concern cannot find rest in knowing his misery. True rest is found in knowing Christ. The knowing of Christ is always a gift of God. The Lord always makes room for that Gift in the heart of His people. It is a special time in their life when the Lord reveals His Son to them.

Before the revelation of Christ to the Samaritan woman there came a time of preparation. The preparation always takes place before the revelation, because God does not waste those revelations. In the life of a sinner, the Lord is never in a hurry. When the Lord is making room for something as precious as a revelation of the Savior, then it always goes step by step. Notice how He brought this woman to the place where He was, at Jacob's well. There was that drawing power from heaven that brought her there. She was not seeking to meet Jesus. The Lord provided that she might come to the Word, and that the Word might come unto her. That is still something that takes place in our days, also. He comes in His Word. He comes to stand among us with His Word, Sabbath after Sabbath. Value the means that the Lord gives. Value the preaching and reading of the Word. Come faithfully to the place where the Word is proclaimed. He is still willing to come and bless those means of grace. Notice how deeply He was willing to bow in the life of this woman as He talked to her. Later, when His disciples came and saw Him speaking to her, they were somewhat disappointed in their Master because He was speaking to such a woman.

The Lord Jesus addressed this woman, in verse seven, and asked her for a drink of water. Oh, this was preparation. He still does that. He humbles Himself so deeply amongst us by calling unto sinners, “Turn ye, turn ye unto Me.” But that hard heart that lies within us stands in the way. Jesus spoke unto her again, in verse ten, saying, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.” When He spoke in this way of preparation, then a desire was awakened in her heart. Has God awakened something in your heart, in your life, upon the way unto eternity?

“I know that Messias cometh… when He is come, He will tell us all things.” In these words she said that everything else was closed off for her. She did not know the way anymore. But in these words she pointed unto that only avenue, the Lord Jesus Christ. There she stood with empty hands. There the Lord was making room for the Savior. “He will tell us all things.” She spoke of a promise: God's promise. The wonder is that there was a promise, and that she laid her finger upon that promise. There was nothing left anymore: no place to worship, no place to bow. But she might look unto that promise from God. “He will tell us all things.” Here she confessed that the law could not help her anymore. No one could help her but Christ Jesus alone.

What a wonderful Savior, my dear friends! Soon He would reveal Himself to her. She was a sinner who did not know Him yet. All she knew was that there was a promise, and that God had made that promise. That she knew. She had come to see herself as totally lost. Every avenue was closed for her, but she might point to the promise that the Lord made: there is a Savior, and He will come, in His own time. Can you see them standing there together at Jacob's well? There was that Savior, in all His holiness, and the Samaritan woman as an uncovered sinner. Standing there was that Messiah, the Christ, carrying out the mandate of His Father, to deliver wretches out of the power of the devil and to bring them home unto the kingdom that was lying above.

We read in Scripture the wonderful words that the Savior spoke unto this woman: “I that speak unto thee am He.” There He revealed Himself in the life of this woman. “I am that Savior. I am your Savior. I am all that is needed for your hungering and thirsting soul. I am the living water, and I have brought you unto the living waters. You may now drink of these waters, because that fountain has been opened also for you.”

This was a simple revelation. We do not need to be a student of theology to understand this. We only need to be a simple, humbled sinner before God to understand this. I am He, I am the One who has come to seek and to save.

Blessed, blessed people who may hear and experience such a revelation as this. Then those people know that the Savior came to suffer and to die so that their souls will be set at liberty. They will be given a place at the Father's table in glory.

When He reveals Himself, then the enemies must stand back. God's people have many enemies. But when Jesus Christ reveals Himself unto their soul, then the enemies have to go away, because there is then no room for them. When Christ comes to a soul, then the soul may embrace Him by faith. By faith they may put their arms around Him and know Him as their Savior. When there is that much light, then the devil flees away; he can roar loudly only when it is dark. The devil had nothing to say to this woman when Christ revealed Himself to her. Jesus Christ had come and spoken, saying, “I that speak unto thee am He.” Oh, then the world loses its value. I know that the world has so much power in our life. But when the Lord comes, and when there is so much peace in the heart, then we do not need the world anymore.

What think ye of Christ? Without any knowledge of Him, there is no eternal life. Without Him, we cannot meet a righteous God. Where do you find rest? You cannot rest in your experiences, for they are not Jesus. You cannot rest in your convictions, for they are not Christ. Are you crying and begging to know Him? That already gives a little rest and a little comfort. Ask of Him that He may speak unto you, “I that speak unto thee am He.” Remember, He leads in a way that is unknown and, in many ways, not desired. But He will come in His own time. He has promised that He will not leave them. Unexpectedly He will come “leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.”

to be continued

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