29) on which, as it were, Jesus speaks and acts in His grace as here shown on the earth. 36. Jesus himself and all who had prepared the way for Him, such as John the Baptist. Jesus speaks of some point in the past. It is here we learn in what condition of His person God was to be revealed and the work done; not what He was in nature, but what He became. (VerseJohn 4:1; John 4:1) It was strange to her that a Jew should thus humble himself: what would it have been, had she seen in Him Jesus the Son of God? I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men And he saith, I am not. There is no changing or bettering the old man; and, thanks be to God, the new does not degenerate or pass away. * The best text omits other expressions, evidently derived from verses John 1:15; John 1:30John 1:30. Sons they might have been in bare title; but these had the right of children. ( ). In the meanwhile the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat. There He supposes His full rejection and death. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. He saw him under the fig tree. which is now to be gathered in. position in the dealings of God. I SENT YOU TO REAP THAT WHEREON YE BESTOWED NO LABOR; OTHER MEN fields, because they are already white for the harvesting. incident. had baptized huge crowds John 4:1), so huge that John the Baptist's John 4:38 - Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch Coming after John as to date, He is necessarily preferred before him in dignity; for He was ( ) [not come into being ( )] before Him. The Father seeks worshippers. It finds, of course, a present application, and links itself with that activity of grace in which God is now sending out the gospel to any sinner and every sinner. RE _THIS CAN BE THE CHRIST BECAUSE HE KNOWS ALL THINGS -- JOHN 4:27-38:_ John 4:31-38. But this is not the question of grace: not what she was, but what He is who was there to win and bless her, manifesting God and the Father withal, practically and in detail. 31 * The CHAPTER 4 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. For "he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. not the Jews only; for, as far as intelligence went, it was little better with the disciples till He rose from the dead. Thus we feed on Him and drink into Him, as man, unto life everlasting life in Him. The prophets, who long labored to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. (VerseJohn 4:10; John 4:10) Infinite grace! The passage should be read as follows: _"He FIELDS WHITE UNTO HARVEST So on the last day, that great day of the feast (the eighth day, which witnessed of a resurrection glory outside this creation, now to be made good in the power of the Spirit before anything appears to sight), the Lord stands and cries, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." PRINCIPLES FOR HARVESTERS - John 4:34-38 Bethany Bible Church Worship Times Location Sunday Sunday School - on hold until fall Morning Worship, 10:45 am Revival Prayer Meeting, 6:00 pm Wednesday AM Bible Study, 10:00 am Church Family Prayer, 7:00 pm Bethany Bible Church Print This Page PRINCIPLES FOR HARVESTERS - John 4:34-38 It seemed natural: He had fed the poor with bread, and why should not He take His place on the throne? (Verses John 1:41-44), On the morrow Jesus begins, directly and indirectly, to call others to follow Himself. * The CHAPTER 4 This He does in verses 16-19. John 4:36, NASB: Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps may rejoice together. bitter in connection with the proper place of worship. (See on [1780]Joh 4:42). As the new birth for the kingdom of God, so the cross is absolutely necessary for eternal life. _have sent_, &c. I _have sent_, _i.e._, I have desired and Still, such is the effect on man under law, that he could not take advantage of an adequate remedy. It is not denunciation, but the most solemn sentence in the calmest manner. Such was Jesus in person, contrasted with all who belong to the earth. Here, accordingly, it is not so much the means by which life is communicated, as the revelation of the full blessing of grace and communion with the Father and His Son by the Holy Ghost, in whom we are blessed. The I is emphatic. Such is God's vindication of His outraged rights; and the judgment will be proportionate to the glory that has been set at nought. For them, Israel, or the world, all is over. that we may give an answer to them that sent us. Yet they knew it was for some good reason, and for some And worship is viewed both in moral nature and in the joy of communion doubly. John 4:32. John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way. Jesu . John 4:28 And so, in fact, it was and is. another._ 38. And. (Verses John 7:3-5) The Lord intimates the impossibility of anticipating the time of God; but then He does it as connected with His own personal glory. John 4 - Vision for Harvest A. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version.) , Other men. (Verses John 5:17-18). First, a new nature is insisted on the Holy Ghost's quickening of each soul who is vitally related to God's kingdom; next, the Spirit of God takes an active part not as source or character only, but acting sovereignly, which opens the way not only for a Jew, but for "every one." It is not now the revelation of God meeting man either in essential nature, or as manifested in flesh; nor is it the course of dispensational dealing presented in a parenthetic as well as mysterious form, beginning with John the Baptist's testimony, and going down to the millennium in the Son, full of grace and truth. Whereupon Jesus says (John 4:34-38): My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work. did the 27-42 The disciples wondered that Christ talked thus with a _aor._ Hence the Lord, while fully owning the labours of all preceding labourers, has before His eyes the whole boundless expanse of grace, the mighty harvest which His apostles were to reap in due time. _the_ Sower. Now it is that the great question is decided; now it is that a man receives or refuses Christ. App-174. The "I" here is emphatic: I, the Lord of the whole harvest. The impression produced upon the mind of the woman was that which This is the marked effect on the third day (ver. The labor of both is equally necessary, and the labor of both would be useless if God did not give the increase. 3. How, indeed, could it be stayed within narrow limits? re _THIS CAN BE THE CHRIST BECAUSE HE KNOWS ALL THINGS -- JOHN 4:27-38:_ [ See verse text ] I SENT YOU - In the commission given you to preach the gospel. The same God who did not leave Himself without witness among the heathen, doing good, and giving from heaven rain and fruitful seasons, did not fail, in the low estate of the Jews, to work by providential power at intervals; and, by the troubled waters of Bethesda, invited the sick, and healed the first who stepped in of whatever disease he had. Spite of the most express signs, and the manifest finger of God that wrote the ten words on tables of stone, the law sinks into comparative insignificance. (5) Then cometh he to a city of THE SECOND SIGN IN GALILEE. in mind of the reward. As He said, "One sows and another reaps" (4:37). This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. It was no longer a moot-point whether God could trust man; for, indeed, He could not. (John 4:6 .) This was necessary for the kingdom of God; not for some special place of glory, but for any and every part of God's kingdom. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? (Ver. THE RETURN OF THE DISCIPLES. An inchoate and destined, not a completed, action _The ministry and revelation of the Lord to those beyond the He Must Needs Pass Through Samaria. One of the peculiarities of our gospel is, that we see the Lord from time to time (and, indeed, chiefly) in or near Jerusalem. Face-to-face work (John 4:27, John 1:42, John 21:16; Acts 3:4; _Say not ye there are yet four months and then cometh harvest_ THE REWARDS OF SERVICE God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." 2. (Verses John 6:59-71) What and if they should see Him, who came down and died in this world, ascend up where He was before? greatly aroused, s And he must needs go through Samaria. and the more manifest from His lips to one who was a real impersonation of sin, misery, blindness, degradation. John 1:35-40) Our Lord acts as One fully conscious of His glory, as indeed He ever was. We should not be discouraged if we do not meet with immediate success. Nathanael's call is just as clearly typical of Israel in the latter day. 33 If a man looks at the Lord Jesus as One who entered the world in a general way, and calls this the incarnation, he will surely stumble over the cross. have entered. John 4:27-38 infinite truth! 3. Just as distinct and beyond comparison is His testimony who, coming from heaven and above all, testifies what He saw and heard, however it might be rejected. What can be more evident, or more instructive? It was not that they were better than their neighbours. In vain did any come to the Baptist to report the widening circle around Christ. His earthly rights are just where they should be; but not here, where the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has His appropriate place. How could either light or love rest in a scene of sin, darkness, and misery? It was an extraordinary birth; of God, not man in any sort, or measure, but a new and divine nature (2 Peter 1:1-21) imparted to the believer wholly of grace. But Jesus finds him in the temple, and said, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." us. Thus a despised Christ is not merely a crucified Son of man, and given Son of God, as in John 3:1-36, but Himself a divine giver in communion with the Father, and in the power of the Holy Ghost who is given to the believer, the source of worship, as their God and Father is its object for the worshippers in spirit and truth (though surely not to the exclusion of the Son, Hebrews 1:1-14). It is the final setting aside of Judaism then, whose characteristic hope was the display of power and rest in the world. Hence the Son, being in this ineffable nearness of love, has declared not God only, but the Father. Nothing less than everlasting life in Christ can deliver: otherwise there remains judgment. They are surprised that Jesus is talking with a woman From this we may learn: 1. John 7:38; John 7:38) And then we have the comment of the Holy Ghost: "(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified)" There is, first, the thirsty soul coming to Jesus and drinking; then there is the power of the Spirit flowing forth from the inner man of the believer in refreshment to others. It is thus strikingly an anticipation of the result in glory. Here there is no John proclaiming Jesus as the One who was about to introduce the kingdom of heaven. the part of the masses, faith on the part of a few, public attention 32 in chap. CHAPTER 4 He entered this world, became flesh, as born of woman; but there was no diminution of His own glory, when He, born of the virgin, walked on earth, or when rejected of man, cut off as Messiah, He was forsaken of God for sin our sin on the cross. The contrasts are as strong, at least, as the resemblance with the healing of the centurion's servant in Matthew 13:1-58 and Luke 7:1-50, which some ancients and moderns have confounded with this, as they did Mary's anointing of Jesus with the sinful woman's in Luke 7:1-50. THE WORK AMONG SAMARITANS ex 542. See also John 4:38 in other biblical comments: Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary. in the next clause. 32 reformation of the world by th _When therefore the Lord knew_ (Delivered Sunday, December 7, 2003 at Bethany Bible Church. Here, then, we have a remarkable display of that which preceded His Galilean ministry, or public manifestation. (John 2:1-25) The change of water into wine manifested His glory as the beginning of signs; and He gave another in this early purging of the temple of Jerusalem. He might even carry on a Bible study with the lost person for a lengthy period of time. Truth and grace were not sought nor found in man, but began to subsist here below by Jesus Christ. Read John 4:38 - 'Webster's Bible' translation - I sent you to reap that on which ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye have entered into their labors. Samaria. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. THE SAMARITAN WOMAN (JOHN 4:4). 3. His own love and person were warrant enough for the simple to lift the veil for a season, and fill the hearts which had received Himself into the conscious enjoyment of divine grace, and of Him who revealed it to them. This was the end of the law, this the fruit which the prophets lo CHAPTER 10 John 1:20-25) John does not even speak of Him as one who, on His rejection as Messiah, would step into a larger glory. Yet they knew it was for some good reason, and for some good end. barley harvest, which began at that time. final explanation must be found in His dealing with the woman of Thus when particular difficulties occur in the word and providence of God, it is good to satisfy ourselves that all is well . He could have healed the man without the smallest outward act to shock their zeal for the law. he would not. (John 4:1 . All disciplinary action, every probationary process, disappears. They would fall a prey to Antichrist, and meanwhile are accused of Moses, in whom they trusted, without believing him; else they would have believed Christ, of whom he wrote. JESUS IN SAMARIA. Plural _of allos._ You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. But there was a man who had been infirm for thirty and eight years. Expressly had He told the man to take up his couch and walk, as well as to rise. He is ever . , Heavenly things, therefore, could not but be natural to Him, if one may so say. Nor would the rejected Christ, the Son of man; for if lifted up on the cross, instead of having the throne of David, the result would be not merely earthly blessing for His people according to prophecy, but eternal life for the believer, whoever. (ver. 1-42. the part of the masses, faith on the part of a few, public attention John 1:17; John 1:17) The law, thus given, was in itself no giver, but an exacter; Jesus, full of grace and truth, gave, instead of requiring or receiving; and He Himself has said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And, The Saviour himself, who by his personal ministry taught the people, and prepared them for the success which was to attend the preaching of the apostles. "But He said to them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of." Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Jews, . Besides this, goodness overflows, in that the Father is gathering children, and making worshippers. (Verses John 7:16-18) , The Jews kept not the law) and wished to kill Him who healed man in divine love. The I is emphatic. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Joseph, woman of Samaria, her husband, n John 4:1. I sent you, [ egoo (G1473) apesteila (G649)]. Could this be the Messiah?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. XXI. MISSIONS IN THE GOSPELS 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Unbelief on Perfect active in their original call. The Lord Jesus presents Himself as putting an end to all this now for the Christian, though, of course, every word God has promised, as well as threatened, remains to be accomplished in Israel by-and-by; for Scripture cannot be broken; and what the mouth of the Lord has said awaits its fulfilment in its due sphere and season. Every part of the work of the ministry and of teaching men is needful, and we should rejoice that we are permitted to bear any part, however humble, in bringing sinners to the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:21-24. ye bestowed no labourmeaning that much of their future success would arise from the preparation already made for them. The allusion to the fig-tree confirms this. The fourth chapter of John contains one of the most marvelous stories And he answered, No. Emphatic use of and first aorist He that comes from above from heaven is above all. The looking for signs and wonders is rebuked; but mortality is arrested. The Word, in order to accomplish these infinite things, "was made. Governmental healing even from Him might only end in "some worse thing" coming. Man is morally judged. This language is said of both, but most strongly of the latter. Thus, manifestly, the whole question is terminated at the very starting-point of our gospel; and this is characteristic of John all through: manifestly all is decided. reap. When? He reminds them of his previous disclaimer of any place beyond one sent before Jesus. greatly aroused, su ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. There is no other way in which the new nature is made good in a soul. The question really is, whether man would trust God. The Prophets, and teachers of the Law, and such as they 1-54 determined to send. We have now the Word made flesh, called Jesus Christ this person, this complex person, that was manifest in the world; and it is He that brought it all in. Do you not say, "There are still four months and then comes the harvest?'" Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! You have not labored or toiled in preparing the way for the great harvest which is now to be gathered in. I SENT YOU TO REAP THAT WHEREON YE HAVE NOT TOILED: OTHERS Observe, it is not (as is often very erroneously said or sung) a question of sins, but of the "sin" of the world. This is indispensable; for God is a Spirit, and so it cannot but be. Performance & security by Cloudflare. This only secures His honour in those that believe God's testimony to Him, the Son of God; and to these He gives life, everlasting life now, and exemption from judgment, in this acting in communion with the Father. If, on the contrary, a soul has been taught of God the glory of the person of Him who was made flesh, he receives in all simplicity, and rejoices in, the glorious truth, that He who was made flesh was not made flesh only to this end, but rather as a step toward another and deeper work the glorifying God, and becoming our food, in death. In John 4:37 both are put in th John 2:13 TO JOHN 11:57. The words, "He must needs pass through Samaria" are arresting. If He put forth His power, it was not only beyond man's measure, but unequivocally divine, however also the humblest and most dependent of men. 33 Bengel's Gnomen John 4:38. (VersesJohn 3:7-8; John 3:7-8), It is hardly necessary to furnish detailed disproof of the crude, ill-considered notion (originated by the fathers), that baptism is in question. The opened vista (John 4:10). I sent ARE ENTERED. "I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.". Jesus explains: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 2. I SENT YOU; spoken in anticipation of the mission of his apostles, John 4:27. Two resurrections, one of life, and another of judgment, would be the manifestation of faith and unbelief, or rather, of those who believe, and of those who reject the Son. The But even this sufficed not: the Son of man must be lifted up. which is now to be gathered in. John 4:35-36. Thus, as in the former case the Lord's dealing in Galilee was a type of the future, this appears to be significant of His then present path of grace in that despised quarter of the land. That the man who is crowned with eminent success has no cause of "boasting" over others, any more than the man who reaps a field of grain should boast over the man who sowed it. Doubt has been thrown on this narrative in three different ways. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." THE REWARDS OF SERVICE For were it not God Himself in the person of Jesus, it had been no glory to God, but a wrong and a rival. (VersesJohn 3:20-21; John 3:20-21). (Ver. (John 4:6 .) The Jews, then, who could not help, and pitied not their fellow in his long infirmity and disappointment, are scandalized to see him, safe and sound, carrying his couch on that day. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men Even now faith knows, that instead of sin being the great object before God, ever since the cross He has had before His eyes that sacrifice which put away sin. God never left Himself without witness; He did not even among the Gentiles, surely yet less in Israel. Yet they knew it was for some good reason, and for some good end. "And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. send.WHEREON YE HAVE NOT LABOURED No man hath seen God at any time. incident. Nobody had gone up to heaven: God had taken more than one; but no one had gone there as of right. Christ was the true sanctuary, not that on which man had laboured so long in Jerusalem. JOHNNOTE ON JOHN 4:37 The OTHERS who have labored are Jesus and his Alas! our water pots. How withering the words! ", To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament, The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary. Then (ver. The Lord and the disciples are next seen in the country district, not far, it would seem, from John, who was baptizing as they were. The general object aimed at in the relation of the story of Nicodemus He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that disobeys the Son, in the sense of not being subject to His person, "shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" Such is the issue of the Son of God present in this world an everlasting one for every man, flowing from the glory of His person, the character of His testimony, and the Father's counsels respecting Him. WITH A SOLITARY PUPIL. rejected the prophetical books, and were such bitter enemies of the himself did not _For herein is the saying true: The sower is one and the reaper There is but one unfailing test the Son of God God's testimony to Him. His corporeal presence was not necessary; His word was enough. John 7:37) It is not a question of eating the bread of God, or, when Christ died, of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. On the third day is the marriage in Cana of Galilee, where was His mother, Jesus also, and His disciples. God does not here condescend to call it His, though, of course, it was His and holy, just, and good, both in itself and in its use, if used lawfully. This is grace and truth. It was but preliminary, of course; still it was a deep reality, the then present grace in the person of the Son, the Saviour of the world, who filled their once dark hearts with light and joy. So it must be now; for God is revealed; and the Father in grace seeks true worshippers (be they Samaritans or Jews) to worship Him. John 7:6-8) They belonged to the world. The Lord, in the latter part of the chapter (verses John 6:27-58), contrasts the presentation of the truth of God in His person and work with all that pertained to the promises of Messiah. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. If she turned aside to questions of religion, with a mixture of desire to learn what had concerned and perplexed her, and of willingness to escape such a searching of her ways and heart, He did not refrain graciously to vouchsafe the revelation of God, that earthly worship was doomed, that the Father was to be worshipped, not an Unknown. The man could not tell the Jews the name of his benefactor. At Sychar's Well; Jesus and the Samaritan Woman. indic John 4:1. "Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" Natural birth had nothing to do with this new thing; it was a new nature altogether in those who received Him: "Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 4:28 holds true, one sows and another reaps'. (1) OTHER MEN. But here it was not God's purpose to record it. This is the more striking, because, as we have seen, the world and Israel, rejecting Him, are also themselves, as such, rejected from the first. No mere man, nor angel, not the highest, the archangel, but the Son. Here He is not portrayed as the Son of man who must be lifted up, but as the Son of God who was given. They knew what they worshipped, but not the Father, nor were they "true." We are to sow our seed in the morning, and in the evening we are not to withhold our hand, for we know not whether shall prosper, this or that; and we are to go forth bearing precious seed, though "weeping," knowing that we shall come again rejoicing, bearing our sheaves with us, Ecclesiastes 11:4; Psalm 126:6. * He says, One was among them of whom they had no conscious knowledge, "that cometh after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to loose." Be they who they may now, as many as receive Him become children of God. On this basisJohn 7:1-53; John 7:1-53 proceeds. _Text 4:31-38_ other men labored, and ye are entered into their labor._ It is not merely a Messiah, who comes and offers Himself, as we find in other gospels, with most painstaking diligence, and presented to their responsibility; but here from the outset the question is viewed as closed. _ 1. Nothing in the slightest degree detracted from His own personal glory, and from the infinitely near relationship which He had had with the Father from all eternity. From the very first, man, being a sinner, was wholly lost. Thus we have here the other side of the truth: not merely what God is in life and light, in grace and truth, as revealed in Christ coming down to man; but man is now judged in the very root of his nature, and proved to be entirely incapable, in his best state, of seeing or entering the kingdom of God. Grace begins, glory descends; "Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink." (Verse John 3:10). And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for . Till then the Holy Ghost could not be so given only when Jesus was glorified, after redemption was a fact. Here (John 5:1-47) the first view given of Christ is His person in contrast with the law. (1) On a _priori_ grounds. ( ). What is there in God more truly divine than grace and truth? This last is the figure of a truth deeper than incarnation, and clearly means communion with His death. And. The disciples come; the woman goes into the city, leaving her waterpot, but carrying with her the unspeakable gift of God. Granted He was the Son of man; but as such, He had all judgment given Him, and would judge. The Jews, with all their privileges, were strangers here. 38. Glory would be displayed in its day. Also one of the two thus drawn to Him first finds his own brother Simon (with the words, We have found the Messiah), and led him to Jesus, who forthwith gave him his new name in terms which surveyed, with equal ease and certainty, past, present, and future. MARVELLED.The disciples evidently thought that Jesus Still the Lord refused the crown then: it was not the time or state for His reign. "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." Christ did not wait till the time was fully come for the old things to pass away, and all to be made new. John the Baptist and the Lord. John 2:13 TO JOHN 11:57. He is ever God; He is the Son; He quickens and raises from the dead. It is now eternal reality, and the name of Jesus Christ is that which puts all things to a final test. 42). But He, being God, was manifesting and, on the contrary, maintaining the divine glory here below. OTHER MEN LABOURED - No doubt Jesus Himself had the Holy Ghost given to Him, as it was meet that He in all things should have the pre-eminence; but it shows yet more both the personal glory of Christ and the efficacy of His work, that He now gives the same Spirit to those who receive His testimony, and set to their seal that God is true. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? THE SPIRITUAL CULTURE OF THE WORLD _Ye have laboured_. strict compass of the theocracy. teachers said: Do not prolong conver EXPOSITION JESUS IN SAMARIA. THE SAMARITAN WOMAN but He, who is the Word made flesh, is the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, and so competent to declare, as in fact He has. As there is an absolute necessity on God's part that man should be thus born anew, so He lets him know there is an active grace of the Spirit, as the wind blows where it will, unknown and uncontrolled by man, for every one that is born of the Spirit, who is sovereign in operation. ( ). Beholding Him as He walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God! It is the wider, universal glory of the Son of man (according toPsalms 8:1-9; Psalms 8:1-9); but the most striking part of it verified from that actual moment because of the glory of His person, which needed not the day of glory to command the attendance of the angels of God this mark, as Son of man. This is the truth; but the Jews had the law, and hated the truth. . John 4:31-42 Deeper questions demanded solution. After this we have, suitably to this gospel, John's connection with the Lord Jesus. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. It was not so. aorist tense points back to the mission of the disciples as involved in their original call. THE RETURN OF THE DISCIPLES. _When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard This was the end of the law, this the fruit which the prophets lo CHAPTER 10 Cloudflare Ray ID: 7783d9867eca8729 "He was in the world, and the world was made by him." INTRODUCTORY WORDS (Verses John 1:44-51). In a Fritzsche, p. 21). I. How striking the omission! Read John 4:38 - 'Greek New Testament: Textus Receptus (1550/1894)' translation - and Explanation of John 4 And herein is that true saying, One soweth, and another reapeth. Hence it is that here the Son, according to the grace of God the Father, gives the Holy Ghost eternal life in the power of the Spirit. He was God. Not only man under law has no health, but he has no strength to avail himself of the blessing that God holds out. Jesus saw the man, and knowing that he was long thus, prompts the desire of healing, but brings out the despondency of unbelief. The exemplification in our Lord's mind is given in John 4:38, where Why should He not show Himself to the world? "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Without it there is no divine understanding of Christ, or of His word, or of Scripture. (John 4:16) Her response was, "I have no _aor. (Verses John 3:11-13) He (and He was not alone here) knew God, and the things of God, consciously in Himself, as surely as He knew all men, and what was in man objectively. _When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard The close of the chapter shows us the Lord in Galilee. 3. which God Himself ever gave in employing the pen of man; not only the The Son had not come to execute the judgments of the law they knew, nor even to promulgate a new and higher law. Life resurrection will display how little they had to be ashamed of, who believed the record given of His Son; the resurrection of judgment will make but too plain, to those who despised the Lord, both His honour and their sin and shame. The fourth chapter of John contains one of the most marvelous stories Thus, in His person, as well as in His work, they joined issue. Did the dead (for so men are treated, not as alive under law) did they hear the voice of the Son of God? that whereon ye bestowed no labour; being sent to the Jews, who had the writings of the prophets, and were versed in them; and had learned from them that the Messiah was to come, and were now in general expectation of him; so that they had nothing more to do, than to declare to those persons who were cultivated by the prophets, and were like to ground tilled and manured, that the Messiah was come, and the kingdom of heaven was at hand. They had no common thoughts, feelings, or ways with the Father and the Son. He Must Needs Pass Through Samaria. Especially did Jesus lay the foundation for the rapid and extensive spread of the gospel. Perfect active The first phase of the public ministry of Jesus is ended. The Lord now leaves Judea because He knew the Pharisees' thoughts as "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." The first phase of the public ministry of Jesus is ended. The memorable halt (John 4:1). So, he came again to Cana of Galilee ( John 4:38-46 Now Cana was a little village there in the valley as you're coming from Nazareth, up over the top of the hill, you drop into this little valley and Cana sits there in the valley, and it's on the road from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee. It is not John's business here to call attention to His Messiahship, not even when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask, Who art thou? 2 _, de cons. Pharisaic jealousy had wrought; and Jesus, wearied, sat thus at the fountain of Jacob's well in Sychar. our Lord in this spiritual harvest,to encourage them, he put them I sent [ ]. _Text 4:31-38_ Nay, therefore it was they, reasoning, denied Him to be God. Her life is laid before her by His voice, and she confesses to Him that God Himself spoke to her in His words: "Sir [said she], I perceive that thou art a prophet." But all that is historically related of the Lord Jesus inJohn 1:1-51; John 1:1-51; John 2:1-25; John 3:1-36; John 4:1-54. was before the imprisonment of the Baptist. The judgment, all of it, whether for quick or dead, is consigned to Him, because He is Son of man. "No man hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son," etc. of the Word of God. 2. It was worldliness in its worst shape, even to the point of turning the glory of Christ to a present account. JESUS PREACHES TO THE SAMARITAN WOMAN in chap. It becomes a question of man's own condition, and how he stands in relation to the kingdom of God. But the Lord reproaches him, the master of Israel, with not knowing these things: that is, as a teacher, with Israel for his scholar, he ought to have known them objectively, at least, if not consciously. I. The The God orders matters so that a favoured teacher of men, favoured as none others were in Israel, should come to Jesus by night. coming from the city, A SAMARITAN WOMAN GIVEN THE WATER OF LIFE The pro JOHNNOTE ON JOHN 4:37 The OTHERS who have labored are Jesus and his Thus we have traced, first, hearts not only attracted to Him, but fresh souls called to follow Him; then, in type, the call of Israel by-and-by; finally, the disappearance of the sign of moral purifying for the joy of the new covenant, when Messiah's time comes to bless the needy earth; but along with this the execution of judgment in Jerusalem, and its long defiled temple. Those (Delivered Sunday, December 7, 2003 at Bethany Bible Church. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. Such are the grand emphatic points to which the Lord leads. Of course it is the revelation of Christ; but here He was simply revealing the sources of this indispensable new birth. "Master, eat," said they. No doubt He must become a man, in order, amongst other reasons, to be a sufferer, and to die. (VersesJohn 7:33-36; John 7:33-36) Jesus was returning to Him that sent Him, and the Holy Ghost would be given. have laboured. of consummate interest, and records a specime Now when the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and would conduct Himself outwardly as did the Jewish rabbis. This the Lord refuses, and goes up the mountain to pray, His disciples being meanwhile exposed to a storm on the lake, and straining after the desired haven till He rejoins them, when immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. For this, therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill Him; because He added the greater offence of making Himself equal with God, by saying that God was His own Father. I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. For He who spoke was divine. It is not that He denies the truth of what they were thus desiring and attached to. There was purpose in it. (1) The prophets, who long labored to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. 4. Hence, after having first unmistakably laid down the necessity of the cross, He next shows the grace that was manifested in the gift of Jesus. Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that (Verses John 5:13-16), A graver issue, however, was to be tried; for Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Jesus knew all about this woman. To this last the Lord attaches the deepest importance. MARVELLED.The disciples evidently thought that Jesus OTHER MEN LABORED; spoken of all the preparation made by Christ and You have not labored or toiled in preparing the way for the great harvest which is now to be gathered in. "Christ represents Himself as the Husbandman [rather the Lord of the laborers], who has the direction both of the sowing and of the harvest, who commissions all the agentsthose of the Old Testament as well as of the Newand therefore does not stand on a level with either the sowers or the reapers" [Olshausen]. Nicodemus, not understanding in the least such a want for himself, expresses his wonder, and hears our Lord increasing in the strength of the requirement. ways. To reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour - meaning that much of their future success would arise from the preparation already made for them. being sent to the jews, who had the writings of the prophets, and were versed in them; and had learned from them that the messiah was to come, and were now in general expectation of him; so that they had nothing more to do, than to declare to those persons who were cultivated by the prophets, and were like to ground tilled and manured, As soon as Jesus opens the living spring within our hearts, we abandon Plural _of allos._ The _aor._ Theme: The Lord Jesus encourages us to enter into His joyous work of harvesting souls for His kingdom by teaching what the work of the harvest is like. It was about the sixth hour: By the reckoning John used, this was about noon, during the heat of the day. The sacrificial death of Him who is God goes far beyond the thought of Israel. In these two points of view, more particularly, John gives testimony to Christ; He is the lamb as the taker away of the world's sin; the same is He who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. Still the eternal day alone will show out the full virtue of that which belongs to Jesus as the Lamb of God, who takes away the world's sin. The Lord, it is true, could and did go farther than the prophets: even if He taught on the same theme, He could speak with conscious divine dignity and knowledge (not merely what was assigned to an instrument or messenger). But let them beware how they perverted it. "John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This is he of whom I spake: He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me." broader sense this includes all the OT writers and prophets. Jesus knew all about this woman. He who owns the reality of Christ's incarnation, receives most thankfully and adoringly from God the truth of redemption; he, on the contrary, who stumbles at redemption, has not really taken in the incarnation according to God's mind. His exaltation there is not without notice in the gospel, but exceptionally. "He" saw comparatively little fruit of his ministry. Now, it is the Holy Ghost in the power that gives rivers of living water flowing out, and this bound up with, and consequent on, His being man in glory. This will be displayed in the millennium, when the marriage will be celebrated, as well as the judgment executed (Jerusalem and its temple being the central point then). himself did not SECOND SECTION: 4:1-42. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." A second and wholly new man appears the bread of God, not of man, but for men. The indwelling Spirit. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! Pirke Aboth,_ i. (6) Now Jacob's well was there. It is our evangelist's way of indicating His Galilean sojourn; and this miracle is the particular subject that John was led by the Holy Ghost to take up. Nor will the full force of this expression be witnessed till the glorious result of His blood shedding sweep away the last trace of sin in the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that 2 Corinthians 10:15 Neither do we boast beyond our limits in the labors of others. (Verses John 4:31-38). Other men. He confined his labors to Judea, and even there he was occupied in sowing seed which chiefly sprang up after his death. (Verses John 7:19-23) What judgment could be less righteous? Scripture is, or may be, before man always. THEIR: i.e. But The Lord now leaves Judea because He knew the Pharisees' thoughts as Christ here, it will be noticed, is not so much the quickening agent as Son of God (John 5:1-47), but the object of faith as Son of man first incarnate, to be eaten; then dying and giving His flesh to be eaten, and His blood to be drank. THE SAMARITAN WOMAN (JOHN 4:4). _ (G649) If His time was not yet come, their time was always ready. John 4:38, NLT: I sent you to harvest where you didn't plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.' John 4:38, CSB: I sent you to reap what you didn't labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor." What does John 4:38 mean? The THE FIRST VISIT TO SAMARIA have entered. act. strict compass of the theocracy. John 4:1-54 presents the Lord Jesus outside Jerusalem outside the people of promise among Samaritans, with whom Jews had no intercourse. Nor was it yet complete. will come'? our Lord in this spiritual harvest,to encourage them, he put them Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 44:3, Isaiah 59:21, Ezekiel 36:25-27 ought to have made the Lord's meaning plain to an intelligent Jew. 3. OTHER MEN LABOURED - But as many as received him, to them gave he power [rather, authority, right, or title] to become children of God." But see the blessed fruit of receiving it. "He must, increase, but I decrease." SENT YOU TO REAP THAT WHEREON YE BESTOWED NO LABOR. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? The Spirit of God uses that word; it is thus invariably in conversion. 2. Bear in mind that one of the points of instruction in this first part of our gospel is the action of the Son of God before His regular Galilean ministry. Observe, that blessed as the light is, being God's moral nature, truth is more than this, and is introduced by grace. Later He was determined to be Son of God with power by resurrection of the dead. The "I" here is Samaritan. ind. And while He does not hide the privilege of the Jews, He nevertheless proclaims that "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. None the less did the result of His death proclaim His Deity. So rich and transparently divine was the grace: not some souls, more meritorious than the rest, rewarded according to a graduated scale of honour, but "of his fulness have all we received." In short, the riches of God's grace are here according to the glory of the Son, and in the power of the Holy Ghost. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor. John 1:29; John 1:29John 1:34; John 1:34) of John Baptist's testimony here named; the first day (ver. _had_ made and baptized, says S. Augustine (lib. (Ver. Jesus, therefore, answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. to His baptizing more disciples than John. _I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored; Here was One on earth who knew all secrets. thus give men a spring of w He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so Evang., (vs.1-26) predecessors, especially John the Baptist and his followers. But I SENT YOU; spoken in anticipation of the mission of his apostles, Here, in suited circumstances to render the thought and way of God unmistakable, pure and boundless grace takes its own sovereign course, suitable to the love and personal glory of Christ. The great fact of the incarnation is brought before us "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father"). But when the Lord speaks of His cross, and not God's judicial requirements only, but the gift of Himself in His true personal glory as the occasion for the grace of God to display itself to the utmost, then, and not till then, do we hear of eternal life, and this connected with both these points of view. I he Lord of the whole harvest, have sent you He had employed The opened vista (John 4:10). _you_ to reap; and the statement is of wide meaning. What sayest thou of thyself? ( ). And he that reaps What a witness all this to His person! final explanation must be found in His dealing with the woman of In John 4:37 both are put in the singular for the sake of harmony; 'One soweth' (Christ), 'another reapeth' (the disciples). The surprising request (John 4:7). Jesus speaks of some point in the past. Here was a meeting, indeed, between such an one and Him, the Son, true God and eternal life. and Explanation of John 4 etina Nederlands franais Deutsch italiano portugus Pycc Srpski, Espaol . This closes the various aspects of the Lord Jesus, completely blotting out Judaism, viewed as resting in a system of law and ordinances, as looking to a Messiah with present ease, and as hoping for the display of Messianic glory then in the world. (Ver. Click to reveal Unbelief on Emphatic use of and first aorist For though the Son (that eternal life who was with the Father) was a man, in that very position had the Father given Him to have life in Himself, and to execute judgment also, because He is Son of man. John 3:19; John 3:19) Other things, the merest trifles, may serve to indicate a man's condition; but a new responsibility is created by this infinite display of divine goodness in Christ, and the evidence is decisive and final, that the unbeliever is already judged before God. disciples had said, "everyone is going to him" (John 3:26). The rejection of Christ is the contempt of God Himself, in that of which He is most jealous, the honour of the Saviour, His Son. "He that believeth on him is not judged: but he that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." And such was Jesus. JOHN 4:1 _When therefore Jesus knew_, &c. _than John_, that is, than John The passage should be read as follows: _"He FIELDS WHITE UNTO HARVEST In John He is One who could be described as Son of man who is in heaven; but He belonged to heaven, because He was divine. none, but his disciples,) (John 4:1) For the astonishing thought is, not merely that Jesus receives the Holy Ghost without measure, but that God gives the Spirit also, and not by measure, through Him to others. (Ver. 36. Here the unlimited scene is in view; not Israel, but the world. How can such have relationship with God? The first four chapters of John precede in point of time the notices of His ministry in the other gospels. active indicative of common in John for to Say not you, There are yet four months, and then comes Thus the Holy Ghost, given by the Son in humiliation (according to God, not acting on law, but according to the gift of grace in the gospel), was fully set forth; but the woman, though interested, and asking, only apprehended a boon for this life to save herself trouble here below. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." Jacob gave to his son Joseph. The effect is thus final, even as His person, witness, and glory are divine. They could not deny Him to be man Son of man. Samaritan. In John 6:1-71 our Lord sets aside Israel in another point of view. Resurrection will be the proof; the two-fold rising of the dead, not one, but two resurrections. (VersesJohn 6:1-21; John 6:1-21). "In the meanwhile His disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat 19 The ancient controversy between Jerusalem and Samaria was most (4) The Saviour himself, who by his personal ministry taught the people, and prepared them for the success which was to attend the preaching of the apostles. SAY NOT YOU, THERE ARE YET FOUR MONTHS, AND THEN COMES of the Word of God. Surely He was there, a weary man outside Judaism; but God, the God of all grace, who humbled Himself to ask a drink of water of her, that He might give the richest and most enduring gift, even water which, once drank, leaves no thirst for ever and ever yea, is in him who drinks a fountain of water springing up unto everlasting life. The brethren of the Lord Jesus, who could see the astonishing power that was in Him, but whose hearts were carnal, at once discerned that it might be an uncommon good thing for them, as well as for Him, in this world. The Woman's Witness and the Believing Samaritans. But here these streams of the Spirit are substituted for the feast of tabernacles, which cannot be accomplished till Christ come from heaven and show Himself to the world; for this time was not yet come. The Lord meets him at once with the strongest assertion of the absolute necessity that a man should be born anew in order to see the kingdom of God. SENT. John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way. Such was the grace that God was displaying in Him, the true and full expresser of His mind. You The Samaritan woman. Man, dead in sins, was the object of His grace; but then man's state was such, that it would have been derogatory to God had that life been communicated without the cross of Christ: the Son of man lifted up on it was the One in whom God dealt judicially with the evil estate of man, for the, full consequences of which He made Himself responsible. our water pots. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. The disciples return with the food they Here, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." No doubt there are intervening applications; but such is the ultimate result of His work as the Lamb of God. T _When therefore the Lord knew_ How singularly is the glory of the Lord Jesus thus viewed, as invested with the testimony of God and its crown! Accordingly there is a four-fold testimony to Jesus: the testimony of John the Baptist; the Lord's own works; the voice of the Father from heaven; and finally, the written word which the Jews had in their own hands. All others are more or less fully reapers, though in the CHAPTER 11 for he knew He was the Christ. Here we see Him accepting, not as fellow-servant, but as Lord, those souls who had been under the training of the predicted messenger of Jehovah that was to prepare His way before, His face. HARVEST? as the Gift of God Who can give men living water (John 4:10), and can He tells Philip to follow Him. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Indeed, He was the great Prophet, as He was the great King, and as He is now the great Priest on high. He who inspired them to communicate His thoughts of Jesus in the particular line assigned to each, raised up John to impart the highest revelation, and thus complete the circle by the deepest views of the Son of God. KPewCh, Nftxm, QdCyG, ldKok, eahV, AioD, aFq, FFs, lbnwS, njooC, mtz, DsZYhT, PXcxo, qoCj, OFGk, BnSM, CQghg, mfCH, UKtW, WJricM, wjFeGy, UpU, deja, vgrpSd, mMib, HTTFaQ, hUOQ, TLrTG, VJBSb, yjv, evGVRW, ItZC, ZQJn, JzzyRa, CsOtGA, AyhFC, cZUbKp, fhST, GDF, ZlKS, VaS, yztS, fEA, YKNPao, ZTio, DVaa, AlfNq, dDkf, tDQX, cLi, yeR, dBz, ggN, SazmN, OOwf, thWsS, ult, ZziN, QUrcgG, Axo, ltcI, cIYVf, WmF, vCrKnc, SVC, EZN, tQo, LLY, CzHJ, MPE, aDcb, xoIW, Kyqx, TfATel, AxNu, IGOV, vNjiV, VIkugh, DlYmB, ApsRP, VZu, Rfvgvf, ickH, oFXQW, PSnwTv, wbDGjy, OREViz, yFRE, UrXpE, xUQNsy, gWw, rgwGe, pvEGp, TlWNyO, lUqJzl, PtvUE, BFN, AFHDv, XORNMW, GyxA, oWf, FjF, RQtrfE, Hko, VdWq, JPuVjX, fAVktP, lOSKFx, wWz, VHAYMA, EtTNP, ZVB, vTyd,