Joh 4:13-14 | KingComments | STEP | In His respond, the Lord tells the woman about God Who has a gift. He says it in a way that awakens in her a longing for that gift. The Son does not present God as One Who demands, but as a Giver. If she knew the gift of God, which is eternal life in Him Who now speaks to her, she would reverse the roles. She would have asked Him a drink and He would have given her living water. God is the source of living water ( ; ) and as God the Son He now offers that living water to men. With this offer He wants to provide for her spiritual need, her spiritual thirst. He is able to quench that thirst. To this end He points to Himself as the Humble One Who is also the Son of the Father, yet Who has bowed down so deeply that He can ask a sinful woman for water. This is how close God has come to man in His Son, in Him Who is the true God and eternal life. With the words “who it is who says to you” He points to Himself as the weary and thirsty Man Who asks her for a sip of water and Who at the same time is the eternal Son of God. He is truly the gift of God to men. Can God reveal more clearly that He is a Giver? The fact that she has no idea at this time doesn’t change the fact of that great gift of God. If she had any notion of it, she would have asked living water from Him. It is the question of the life-giving Word of God that presents God to the hearts of those who long for this living water. If we have that desire, it becomes active in our heart and connects us to the Lord Jesus and all that is to be found in Him. The woman, like Nicodemus in the previous chapter, can only think on a natural level. Consequently, she limits the Lord’s words to the human resources on which she would depend to receive that living water. She asks Him where He can get the living water from. And is He perhaps greater than that which is of old, that has always met the needs, previously met the needs of Jacob and his family and possessions, and now meets her needs as well? When there is no awareness of the glory of Christ, tradition is always an obstacle to accepting what comes from God. A great name and great gifts and a long tradition, blind us to God’s work in Christ. As a result, the true Great is not recognized in His greatness. The Lord is in the process of breaking through her traditions. He first points her to the water of the well. That water refreshes for a certain period of time, but after that there is thirst and the need to drink again. Water from a natural well quenches thirst for a while, but not forever. This is how God has ordained it for the creature. This is different for those who are given to drink from the Holy Spirit. That is what Christ then speaks about with regard to the water He offers. The water He gives not only delivers from restless search for peace, but gives so much more. That water is a source of joy that someone receives in his innermost being and that he will never lose. There is even more connected to it. That well in a person is connected to eternal life. By this the Lord refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit which He gives in the believer to become a fresh well of Divine joy in his innermost being ( ). In John 3, the gift is the only begotten Son Whom God has given to the world ( ). Here the gift is the Holy Spirit Whom God gives us through His Son enabling us to enjoy all that has been given to us in the Son. All that God has given us can be summed up in: “Eternal life.” Eternal life has two aspects. It is both the Lord Jesus Himself ( ) and knowing the Father and the Son, which is also called eternal life ( ). Possessing such a well that enables us to enjoy eternal life leads to lasting fulfillment. Where that well is present, there will be no need for anything else forever. These are the wonderful things associated with the gift of God. The woman has already understood so many of the Lord’s words that she yearns to possess what He speaks of. Yet she still connects it with the natural well, where she will no longer have to go in order to quench her natural thirst.

‏ John 4:13-14

The Gift of God

In His respond, the Lord tells the woman about God Who has a gift. He says it in a way that awakens in her a longing for that gift. The Son does not present God as One Who demands, but as a Giver. If she knew the gift of God, which is eternal life in Him Who now speaks to her, she would reverse the roles. She would have asked Him a drink and He would have given her living water. God is the source of living water (Jer 2:13; Zec 14:8) and as God the Son He now offers that living water to men.

With this offer He wants to provide for her spiritual need, her spiritual thirst. He is able to quench that thirst. To this end He points to Himself as the Humble One Who is also the Son of the Father, yet Who has bowed down so deeply that He can ask a sinful woman for water. This is how close God has come to man in His Son, in Him Who is the true God and eternal life. With the words “who it is who says to you” He points to Himself as the weary and thirsty Man Who asks her for a sip of water and Who at the same time is the eternal Son of God. He is truly the gift of God to men.

Can God reveal more clearly that He is a Giver? The fact that she has no idea at this time doesn’t change the fact of that great gift of God. If she had any notion of it, she would have asked living water from Him. It is the question of the life-giving Word of God that presents God to the hearts of those who long for this living water. If we have that desire, it becomes active in our heart and connects us to the Lord Jesus and all that is to be found in Him.

The woman, like Nicodemus in the previous chapter, can only think on a natural level. Consequently, she limits the Lord’s words to the human resources on which she would depend to receive that living water. She asks Him where He can get the living water from. And is He perhaps greater than that which is of old, that has always met the needs, previously met the needs of Jacob and his family and possessions, and now meets her needs as well?

When there is no awareness of the glory of Christ, tradition is always an obstacle to accepting what comes from God. A great name and great gifts and a long tradition, blind us to God’s work in Christ. As a result, the true Great is not recognized in His greatness.

The Lord is in the process of breaking through her traditions. He first points her to the water of the well. That water refreshes for a certain period of time, but after that there is thirst and the need to drink again. Water from a natural well quenches thirst for a while, but not forever. This is how God has ordained it for the creature. This is different for those who are given to drink from the Holy Spirit. That is what Christ then speaks about with regard to the water He offers. The water He gives not only delivers from restless search for peace, but gives so much more. That water is a source of joy that someone receives in his innermost being and that he will never lose.

There is even more connected to it. That well in a person is connected to eternal life. By this the Lord refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit which He gives in the believer to become a fresh well of Divine joy in his innermost being (Jn 7:39). In John 3, the gift is the only begotten Son Whom God has given to the world (Jn 3:16). Here the gift is the Holy Spirit Whom God gives us through His Son enabling us to enjoy all that has been given to us in the Son.

All that God has given us can be summed up in: “Eternal life.” Eternal life has two aspects. It is both the Lord Jesus Himself (1Jn 5:20) and knowing the Father and the Son, which is also called eternal life (Jn 17:3). Possessing such a well that enables us to enjoy eternal life leads to lasting fulfillment. Where that well is present, there will be no need for anything else forever. These are the wonderful things associated with the gift of God.

The woman has already understood so many of the Lord’s words that she yearns to possess what He speaks of. Yet she still connects it with the natural well, where she will no longer have to go in order to quench her natural thirst.