Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 2 Study # 7
April 14, 2024
Broadlands, Louisiana
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Thesis: Jesus' promise of "leaping water" has a beginning much like the initial seepage when a well is being dug.
Introduction: In our study last week we considered how Jesus led the progression of His conversation with the woman so that her resistance to His promise of "living water" was gradually eroded to the point that she became willing to ask for it.
Before we go into the rest of the conversation, we need to get a handle on just what Jesus was promising. He calls it the flow of "rivers of living water" in 7:38, but in 4:14 He calls it "a well of water leaping up to eternal life". The question we need to answer is, what is this "leaping water"?
- I. Our First Consideration.
- A. The promise is about both "an immediate impact upon thirst" and "future impacts that develop over time".
- 1. The "immediate impact" is a complete cessation of the "thirst": 4:14.
- a. That means that we must understand just what the "thirst" is.
- 1) In this text/context the "outcome" of drinking the water Jesus gives is "water that leaps up to Eternal Life".
- 2) This has to mean that the "thirst" is for a true experience of God: 17:3.
- a) Jesus' definition of "Eternal Life" is "knowing both The Father and the Son" in a true "experience".
- b) In accordance with 1:12, the beginning of that "knowledge" is at the point of "believing into Jesus" with the immediate result of being born into the family of God (this is also reaffirmed in 7:38 where the same phrase is used ("believes into Me") a particular Greek construction that John uses to communicate the same truth Paul established in Romans 10:9-10 (i.e., this is not anything more or less than a values-shift at the heart level in which "believing" results in obtaining the righteousness of God and the mouth is moved to "call on Him" for salvation).
- c) Because the promise is, ultimately, the true experience of Eternal Live, this has to be what one "thirsts for": the Promise is always made to address the "problem".
- b. That the thirst ceases as soon as the water is swallowed is clear both from the promise that it will never be felt again and from the Aorist tense of the verb "if he/she should drink".
- 1) It is clear from the woman's request for this "water" that she understood that it was a "once forever" drink -- she wanted it so she would not have to come to the well anymore.
- 2) It is also clear that Jesus meant a real and unbreakable union between the drinker and God would be accomplished (Romans 8:35 and 11:29).
- 2. The future developments that arise from the cessation of the thirst.
- a. That there are "developments" is indicated by Jesus' promise that the "water" will become...
- b. The same promise in 7:38 is "futuristic".
- c. And even 7:39 says we must understand that these future developments are dependent upon the coming of the Holy Spirit which was not a reality in the time period when the promises were made.
- d. Thus, the picture drawn by Jesus is a "beginning" accomplished by the Spirit even before His indwelling the person and a gradual development after He takes up residence in the believer.
