John 4:21–26 (ESV) —
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
NOTE: When Jesus challenged the woman on her many marriages and her current living situation, the woman changes the topic to 'where one should worship.' The problem is that the woman has a very bad memory or a very bad misunderstanding of what happened to the ten tribes, the Northern Kingdom, also called Israel. Jeroboam, Son of Nebat, the first king after the split from Judah, set up worship sites at the two ends of the kingdom. He used an image of a cow at each site, just like what angered God during the Exodus. Israel should have never worshipped on either mountain or any image.
The good news is those failures are past. The woman again changes the subject to the Messiah who would answer all the questions. Jesus tells her plainly that he is the Messiah. He comes not just for Judah, but for all the tribes, and he comes for the Gentiles. He comes for men and woman. He comes for slave and free. He comes to save the whole world from their sins if they will only believe.
And here we are today, possibly a few years away from his wrath being poured out on the world for their unbelief. We are like the Samaritan woman, stuck in sin, and still putting up excuses. The gospels are very clear. Only the stubborn and rebellious refuse to believe with their made-up arguments. The message still is true: repent and believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
PONDER:
- Do I cling to lies?
- Have I hid behind supposed logic that is really false?
- Have I truly searched the scriptures? (Start with the gospel of John if you don't know where to start.)
PRAYER: Father, we are heading fast into a very dark world. Open our eyes to truth before it is too late.
