“But whosoever drinketh 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 4:14)
These are the words that Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman. The Samaritans were half Jews. They were a mixed race of Jews and the Assyrians who had conquered Israel. The Jews who returned to Samaria and the Jews of Judah shunned them and didn’t consider them true Jews. We see that Jesus did not shun them but made a specific effort to bring the Gospel to them.
In His conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus talks about water metaphorically to mean the Holy Spirit which we receive at salvation. The woman talks about water in natural terms, but Jesus speaks to her about the Living Water that He gives to us. When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives indwells us. Jesus taught this at the Festival of Booths. On the last day of the feast, He states, “He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (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.) (John 7:38-39) The people who heard Jesus’ words didn’t understand as the Samaritan woman didn’t understand. She wanted this water so that she would never thirst again. (John 4:15)
What is this thirst that Jesus mentions several times? “...As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalms 42:1-2) David wrote of his heart’s desire for God. This is the thirst of which Jesus spoke. The whole world is seeking God whether they know it or not. They just don’t know that it’s God Who they are seeking. They think it’s peace or happiness. But that void in their human spirits only God can fill and satisfy. It’s a yearning that can’t be identified in the natural state. David knew it was a longing for God. It’s that thirst for God that Jesus satisfies when we come to Him, when we believe in Him and receive Him as our Lord and Savior. That void is filled with the Holy Spirit bringing that peace that only the Lord gives. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
We never thirst again because God the Holy Spirit is with us, living in us. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1Corinthians 3:16) The Holy Spirit indwells us and gushes His Goodness out of us in 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) The world, meaning unbelievers, don’t possess this fruit. They see the fruit of the Spirit, but don’t understand it. They may even want it and try to create it, but they can’t sustain it because it’s not real. It’s not coming from the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said this water would be springing from a well. This well will never dry up. It lasts up to eternal life. (John 4:14) When we go into eternal life, we will not have our natural bodies anymore. The Holy Spirit will not continue to dwell in our bodies, but we will be in God and God in us, as Jesus prayed. “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.” (John 17:21-23) Our entrance into eternity will be the culmination of God in us and us in God.
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