Jesus, wearied with His journey from Jerusalem, was sitting at noon by the well of Jacob, near the city of Sychar in Samaria, while His disciples were in the city in search of food. As He sat there a woman of the city came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me to drink. ... Then said the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water. The woman said unto Him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; from whence then have you that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again; But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:7,8-14)
Truly it is no wonder that the woman said to Jesus, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." (John 4:7,15)
As yet she did not realize the nature of the water which Jesus promised. But afterwards when she found out just what He meant, she was still as willing to receive of it. What that water is, which Jesus gives is made very clear by His words on the last day of the feast of the Jews: "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of hisbelly [out of his very being] shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38)
Here we have the promise of living water, the same as He promised to the woman of Samaria. Here, as there, the water is to be in the very being of the one receiving it. And here we are told that that water of life is the Spirit of God, which is given to every believer in Christ.
Let us now read another statement. The Spirit of God through the apostle Paul said, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you." (Romans 8:8-11)
Here we have a parallel to the statement that the water that Christ gives will be in the believer a well of water springing up into everlasting life. It is life itself, because it is righteousness. The apostle has said that to be spiritually minded is life in peace. "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8:6)
And we have also read that "the Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8:10)
This, then, is that birth of the Spirit, which makes one an entirely new man; it makes the sinner a righteous man, a keeper of the law of God. "For we know that the law is spiritual." (Romans 7:14)
That is, the law is of the nature of the Spirit of God. This is further shown by the fact that those things that are in harmony with the law of God, are the fruit of the Spirit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23)
So the reception of the Spirit of God makes the sinner another person, with a different nature. It makes him living a different life. The Spirit is the Spirit of God, and its righteousness is the righteousness of God, and that is expressed in the ten commandments. The Spirit ministers this righteousness to the man, and lives in him. His character is then the character of God, because he is one with God, he has been made a new creature, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. "[He has] put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (Ephesians 4:24)
This is the beginning of eternal life, for the life of the Spirit of God is eternal, and it is that life which the man now lives. This is the life of Jesus manifest in mortal flesh. "For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." (2 Corinthians 4:11)
It is of this that the beloved disciple speaks in his epistle, when he says that he who confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is born of God: "Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God." (1 John 4:2)
God dwells in that man as truly as His life was manifest in Jesus of Nazareth. Not because there is anything in the man himself comparable to Jesus of Nazareth, but because Jesus, who was the fullness of God dwells in him. "Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." (1 John 4:13)
This life is received by faith, and must be retained by faith. So long as a man keeps the faith, so long as he lives the life, for "the just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:17)
He may go to the grave, but nothing can affect his eternal life. That is "hid with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3)
As it was not possible that the grave should hold Jesus, "Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be held of it." (Acts 2:24) so it is not possible that the grave should hold him. When he breathes his last he is just as sure of eternal life as he ever was. For Jesus said, "The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14)
And again, "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you." (Romans 8:11)
The power of the life that is given to the man at conversion, raises him from the dead, if he dies in faith. But let us read further as to the nature of this life which may be drank in as water.--Present Truth, December 15, 1892.