(Read John 4:1-43.)
T was when Joseph had come out of prison, but before he was manifested in his position of honor and glory in the land of Egypt, a position only second to that of Pharaoh the king, that he got a very striking name given to him by Pharaoh, —"Zaphnath-paaneah." That name has a very beautiful meaning; in the Coptic language it means “A revealer of secrets;" and in another, I am told, it means "Saviour of the age.”
Joseph is the type of the true Zaphnath-paaneah of this chapter, who is presented to us here in this double character of Revealer of secrets, and the Saviour of the world.
The Samaritan woman found out He was the Revealer of secrets; she found out that He could tell her everything she had done; that though she had never seen Him before, yet He knew every secret of her history, every thought of her heart. Then the moment she was conscious of what He could do, and who He was, she went and invited others to come to Him too.
Her words were the means of the conversion of some, — they believed her testimony; others came and heard from Himself His own words, and believed.
You must, my reader, get these two things together,—i.e., I do not believe you will know Christ as your Saviour till you have known Him as the Revealer of the secrets of your heart; that is, till your conscience has been reached, and you feel in the presence of God that you are a sinner, deserving only judgment. Till you know you are lost, I do not believe you will ever know Him as a Saviour, — know what grace has done.
To this poor woman, who knew nothing, He lets out the secret that the Father seeks worshippers. Worship only flows from a heart that has tasted the grace of God; and when you have learned what God is in perfect grace to you, there will be no need of effort, worship will flow out as the simplest thing possible.
The 4th verse says, “He must needs go through Samaria." The Lord went out of His way to meet this poor woman, and you will see what it is that meets her at first and wins her heart. It was not with her the writhings of a guilty conscience needing relief; but with an empty unsatisfied heart in this scene, she felt herself in the presence of One who could satisfy that heart, and give her that to which her heart was a stranger.
Jesus sat on the well that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Here was the true Joseph. Little did Joseph think when his father gave him that well, that He who was the true Joseph, of whom he was Himself the type, would sit by that well, and win a sin-burdened weary heart for God. A heart that was perfect in guilt, met there a heart that was perfect in grace.
"Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour." It was in the full heat of the mid-day sun. All 1 He knew well that there was only one hour when He would meet this poor woman, because it was the very hour when she thought no one would meet her. Other women came in the early morning, or in the cool of the evening, but she came alone at midday, and she found herself alone with the Saviour.
When her guilt put her in thorough isolation from all else, that same guilt put her by the side of the Saviour. It was her guilt that separated her from all others; it was her guilt that drew Him to meet her, that He might save her.
Was it for a drink of water that He came to that well that day? Ah no He who sat on that well was the One who had caused the water to spring up, and His heart was satisfied that day by winning that poor woman's heart to Himself.
Christ seeks, my reader, to win your heart, by showing you what the grace of His heart is. It is not merely to deliver you from the lake of fire that the Gospel is preached. No. If you believe it, it will assuredly deliver you from that; but the object of the Gospel is to teach you the heart of God towards you, and to win your heart for Him.
The Creator, the Lord of all, the Lord of life and glory, came Himself in human form, and sat on that well that day; and as there came out from Samaria a poor, sin-stained, weary woman, whose last remains of womanly modesty made her come out when she thought no others would be there to see her, that mid-day sun shone down on more than this weary sinner. There was a weary Saviour waiting for her; and it was not she who went to seek Him, it was He who went out of His way to seek her.
The Saviour's eye had been upon her; He met her. I believe her heart was captivated first, and then her conscience was convicted, and then she was converted, and then she was consecrated to Him. She draws near, and sitting by the well she sees a stranger—a Jew; and there was no love between the Jews and the Samaritans. But He turns, and says to her, "Give me to drink;" and that "Give” was not asking a favor, but issuing a command. A favor He could not ask, though it was a favor even to take it from her, had she known who He was; but the demand that fell from His gracious lips, she was rude enough to deny Him.
But now, my reader, it is no longer a weary humbled man that speaks to you, and says, “Give me to drink." The Jesus who sat on the well that day, is on the Father's throne to-day; but His love is the same to-day as then, and He speaks to you. Will you give to Him? Methinks I hear your answered "No." For as in that day the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, so in this day man has no dealings with God. Man does not care to have to do with God.
“Jesus answered and said unto her, 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." He says, as it were, If you only knew what God can give you, and if you knew who I am, you would have asked and got from Me what I alone can give. He asked of her, and He only got in reply a question. My friend, do you know who it is to-day who speaks, and what is the gift of God? I believe the gift of God is the Holy Ghost, and the One who speaks is the Son of God.
“The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." That let out the whole of her sin. How was the well so deep? The longer you go on in sin, the longer must be your rope before your bucket can reach the water of the pleasures of this world, which you hope will give you satisfaction. When you first started in life, you thought, If I could but reach this, it would give me satisfaction. But you reached it, and it did not satisfy you; and you tried again, going ever deeper and deeper. No, nothing this world can give will fully satisfy the cravings of the human heart.
“Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." That must be written over the portal of every scene of earthly joy. I draw near to this world's spring, and as the water flows, this note is heard in all the music of its rippling, “Shall thirst again—shall thirst again!" I turn to Christ, to the water that He gives, and this is its unchanging note, “Shall never thirst—shall never thirst!”
Ah, my reader, you will carry your sins down to hell with you, but not your pleasures. You will thirst and thirst again in that dread place; there you will ever thirst. In hell there is thirst, but no water. With Christ there are "living waters," but no thirst,— there is the difference.
On the one side of that fixed gulf, of which Jesus speaks in Luke 16, there is thirst but no water; on the other side, living waters but no thirst. Which side will you be for eternity?
This was the most wonderful discourse this woman had ever listened to. “A well of water springing up into everlasting life." A well is what always goes on. People say, “Must we not have a little joy?" No, I say, a little will not do for me. I must have something that goes on forever; I must have an inexhaustible supply. The Christian treads his way with a joyful heart, in spite of all the troubles of the scene, because he has that which satisfies.
“The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." She wants to get out of her troubled circumstances, but the Lord does not propose to us to take us out of our troubled circumstances, but to raise us above our circumstances,— to give us something, in the circumstances in which we are, that will make us different people altogether.
The Lord says to her now, “Go, call thy husband, and come hither." This is, as it were, putting His finger on her conscience. She says, "I have no husband." This was the truth, but not all the truth. He says, “Thou hast well said, I have no husband; for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband." And she stood before Him a convicted sinner.
“Sir," she says,” I perceive that thou art a prophet." A prophet is one who knows all about one. Why does she not fly? Ah she could not. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." All the grace had been coming out when He spoke of the gift of God, and the living water, the well springing up into everlasting life. And now the truth comes out, and she is a convicted sinner in His presence; the Holy One, and the unholy, have met face to face. Though truth has convicted her, grace has already captivated her, and she remains quietly by the Lord.
What does the Lord now say? As it were, I propose to myself to turn the worst sinner into the first worshipper in Samaria. She says, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." The devil is always trying to hinder a soul getting blessing; he will bring in even religious difficulties to get a soul away from Christ.
The Lord is not to be daunted. He says, “Believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." Wonderful news! God is seeking worshippers; and where does He get them from? He finds worshippers in the ranks of His enemies.
He meets them in their enmity, and breaks them down; turns His foes into His friends, and then out comes worship. If grace comes down from God to you, you will turn round and thank Him, praise Him, worship Him.
You cannot worship, till you know you are a child of God. Do you say, “How can I become a child of God?” “We are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." The truth of God comes to you, you become a child of God by believing it. You are met, and blessed by God; and, as water finds its own level, you will turn round and thank and bless and worship God.
The devil has another hindrance now to throw in the woman's way,— ignorance. She says, " I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." As though she would say, " I do not understand about these things, but when the Messias cometh, He will tell us all things.”
“Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he." That is, He reveals Himself to her as the true Zaphnath-paaneah,— not only the Revealer of Secrets, but the Saviour of the world.
She had stood before Him a convicted sinner when He said to her, “Go, call thy husband, and come hither." Now He had revealed Himself to her, and she was converted. She was lifted right out of her circumstances. She forgot her circumstances,— left her watering-pot, forgot who she was, and, now consecrated to His service, ran into the city, crying “Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
And I say to you, my reader, " Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did;" that revealed myself to me, that showed me my sins in their true light; but more than that, who told me that on the cross He died to put those very sins away, that there He suffered, the just One in the place of the unjust, to bring us to God.
“And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did." The very fact that He had revealed all the secrets of her life to her convicted them, and they believed before they came out even.
And when they came to Him then many more believed because of His own words, " And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” The Lord's own ministry, His speaking Himself to the heart, is sweeter far than anything any one can minister about Him even.
And now, my reader, may you know what it is to be captivated by His grace, your heart won—convicted by His truth; your conscience reached—converted by the revelation of Himself to you; lifted above your circumstances, and made a worshipper, may you be consecrated entirely to Him and His service,— your testimony to who He is, and what He can do, winning others to Him!
W. T. P. W.