What would you think of a man who should take his stand in the midst of the soldiers who are doing service in South Africa, under a burning sun, which shines with a heat to which they are altogether unaccustomed, and where they often suffer such intolerable thirst that they would almost risk their lives for a drink of cool water, and should call out to them, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink," and then when the men flocked to him should say that he did not mean that they could drink then and there, but that he would give them a drink when they came to a place where there was plenty of water?
You would say he was a heartless man, and you would not be surprised, nor pity him very much, if he received severe punishment for the cruel joke. You would say that the men were warranted in supposing that he meant that he had water for them to drink as soon as they came where he was, and that they could not get any other idea from his words, and that if he did not have any water to give them, he was guilty of a base deception. There surely will not be two opinions on this matter.
Well, one day Jesus stood in the midst of a crowd of people, many of whom had traveled long distances on foot, and cried out, so that all could hear: "If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." (John 7:37)
What if some poor, dusty traveler had come to Him, and had said, "Sir, I am almost famished with thirst; will you please give me some of that water?"
Do you think that Jesus would have given him some real water to moisten his parched lips, and to refresh his whole body? or would He have said, "My dear friend, you are altogether too literal; I have no real water to give to anybody; what I said was meant to be taken in a spiritual sense; sit down here, or find a good place to stand, and listen to the sermon which I am about to deliver, and see if it does not refresh your soul."
The man would surely reply, "I am too thirsty to listen to a sermon, and I would not listen to you anyhow, because you are a fraud; you make sensational announcements simply to get people to hear you, and then you give nothing but words."
And nobody could say that the man's conclusion was not justified.
Don't be alarmed, and think that we are irreverent. We are not laying anything to the charge of Christ, for He never did such a thing as we have been supposing. Jesus never raised false hopes, and He never promised anything that He could not bestow.
But a great many professed believers in Christ do in fact charge Him with just such heartless dealings as in the case that we have supposed; they never think that He has real water to give to any thirsty person, or that He gives here and now anything else that is real and tangible. We should like to have all consider this matter seriously, and see what a charge they are really bringing against the Lord, when they talk about spiritual things as not being literal and real.
We are studying things that are real. This lesson deals with real things. The narrative of Jesus at Jacob's well, as well as every other thing that is told of Him, was written for the purpose of teaching us that the gifts of Christ are something to be taken and enjoyed as really as our daily food and drink. These are the facts:
Jesus was weary with His journey, and was sitting on the ancient well of Jacob to rest. There was a real well there, and it had good, cool, refreshing water.
There came a woman to the well, with a real jug on her head, to draw some water for family use. Jesus was thirsty, and asked for a drink of water. The woman was surprised at His request, not because she could not give Him the water for which He asked, but because she did not think that a Jew, as He evidently was, would receive a favor at the hands of a despised Samaritan.
But Jesus told her that He was so far from despising her, that if she had asked Him, He would have given her living water that was far superior to that in the well. But unless the water that He could supply would do all that the water in Jacob's well would do, and a great deal more, then it was not better.
The lesson to be learned is that Jesus gives water that satisfies every want of spirit, soul, and body.
Nothing Real that is not Spiritual
There was a multitude of people in the wilderness, and they were suffering from thirst. They had large herds of cattle, and it seemed as if both men and beasts must die of thirst. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on, before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, wherewith you smote the river, take in your hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel." (Exodus 17:5-6) "[They] did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them; and that Rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:4) "Then it was spiritual, after all."
Certainly; for there is nothing that God does that is not spiritual; for: "God is Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth." (John 4:24) "Didn't the people and their cattle in the wilderness get any real water to drink?" Indeed they did. "He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers." (Psalm 78:15-16)
It was as real, literal water as any you ever saw or drank; but it was spiritual, nevertheless. There is nothing real unless it is spiritual; all else is only an illusion.
Miracles are God's Daily Work
"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." (Romans 15:4)
The Lord performs miracles, but does not overturn the course of nature. He makes no monstrosities. He does not at any time work merely to create a sensation, and make people stare. He is always the same.
We gaze on His works, and actually see Him at work day after day and year after year, and scarcely ever stop to think that it is God working. Many do not know it. He is a God that hides himself, and we see results, rather than the operations.
But once in a while He removes a portion of the veil that hides His working, and allows us to see more than usual, and then we call it a miracle. A miracle it truly is, but really no more of a miracle than what we see all the time. Miracles are God's ordinary ways of working.
God is so great that no human mind can ever comprehend His works. If we had eyes that could see, and senses acute enough to appreciate the spiritual, we should daily be lost in wonder at the sight of miracles exactly the same as that wrought in the desert. Indeed, we should see the very same thing done again and again.
There is not a drop of water that flows from spring or well that does not come from Christ. Every drink is spiritual drink, coming from the spiritual Rock that still goes with His people; and if we received it as coming from Him, discerning Him in it, we should be made spiritual by it.
This is not speculation or fancy. Just as truly as that water in the desert was real water, exactly like that which men and beasts drink today, so surely is the water that we drink today spiritual drink, just as that was. This is the lesson that the Samaritan woman learned that day, and it is what the Holy Spirit would have us learn.
Avoid Trifles
Human nature is ever the same. Jesus was unfolding to the woman the deepest spiritual truths, vital truths, which would make her entirely new; but as soon as He came to the very heart of the matter, she branched off upon a technicality, and began to talk about the proper place to go to meeting.
Even so it is now. Instead of feeding upon the corn of heaven, and drinking of the water of life, men are spending their time discussing forms and ceremonies. Begin to talk with a person about his soul's salvation, and offer to him that which will make him a new creature, and he will probably, when you are at the most important part of the matter, ask you to give your opinion upon some detail of no consequence whatever.
Thus it is that Satan seeks to snatch away the good seed before it can take root. Do not give place to him. Keep steadily to the all-important matter. "Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness." (Matthew 6:33)--"Jesus at Jacob's Well"--Present Truth, February 8, 1900--International Sunday-school Lesson (not part of the original "Gospel of John" series, but included because relevant)--John 4:5-26.