Gospel of John [16:28-31]. Implications of the glorification of Christ [part 3]. Joh 7:37-39; 4:5-26.

Title: Gospel of John [16:28-31]. Implications of the glorification of Christ [part 3]. JOH 7:37-39; 4:5-26.

 

JOH 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father.

 

JOH 4:22 "You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews [Messiah from Judah].

 

JOH 4:23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

 

The change from the Law to grace, meaning all the gifts that would come by means of Christ, would incur a drastic change in the relationship of believing man to God the Father.

 

People like rituals because they can get them over with. People don't like relationships where the laying down of certain things (sacrifice) is necessary for its intimacy.

 

A proper intimacy in a proper relationship takes sacrifice and virtue. A good husband and a good wife demands sacrifice and virtue from both. The same is true in friendship, in work relationships, in parenting. People have been fooled into thinking that a proper intimacy can arise without these and it is a proper lie.

 

ROM 8:15-17

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

 

Could a believer be fully intimate with Christ if he never understood and experienced Christ's sufferings? How could a believer say he knows Christ fully when he has never experienced this huge part of Christ's life?

 

GAL 4:6-7

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

 

 Could a believer be fully intimate with Christ if he never understood and experienced the inheritance of Christ? How could a believer say he knows Christ fully when he has never experienced this huge part of Christ's life?

 

JOH 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father.

 

JOH 4:22 "You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews [Messiah].

 

JOH 4:23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

 

"Is coming and now is." The Lord indicates that it has begun in Him yet its culmination will begin at His glorification.

 

It is possible that when He says "now is" He is referring to Himself. Remember, He prayed for us in the CA to receive all that the Father gave Him, including the Spirit of God, and so He, being the prototype has begun this incredible and intimate worship of the Father in Spirit and in truth.

 

The unique, never seen before, worship of the Son of God to the Father is given to the children of God in the same fashion. This worship goes far beyond the Law and animal sacrifices to an intimacy that only a family of royalty could experience. We have all been made royal priests and have been eternally transferred into the kingdom of the Son and so we worship the Father as the Lord did. What a gift! This includes the prosperities of the inheritance as well as the undeserved sufferings of the inheritance. If these are rejected then the believer does not worship the Father, no matter how many church services he attends, no matter how many songs he sings, or how many hours he prays, or how many fellowship meetings he frequents, or how many service hours he puts in.

 

Let's look at the word "worship."

"worship" - proskune,w[proskuneo] = Literally - face to face kiss. It is used of homage, reverence, adoration, deference, and respect.

 

This is not a new concept. Certainly Israel was to revere God and to respect Him. But now it would be as a son and not a member of a nation. Now it would be from an individual believer that was a member of the body of Christ and by means of the Spirit, a devotion would be available in the Church age that was impossible under the Law. "A new commandment I give you that you love one another as I have loved you," is one of the finest examples of this. Christians who have fallen into the way of the Galatians and gone back to the Law have denied this and attempted to worship the Father from a source of condemnation and fear rather than under the riches of His surpassing grace from a foundation in Christ as sons.  

 

Spirit and truth: God the Holy Spirit and the spirit of the new creature in Christ and the revealed truth of the NT. This is the living water!

 

JOH 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 

 

JOH 4:25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us."

 

To the Samaritans, who only accepted the Torah, the Messiah was not the Son of God but a prophet like Moses whom they called Taheb.

 

DEU 18:15

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.

 

Taheb means restorer and it was believed that he would reveal the place where the sacred vessels of the Mosaic tabernacle had been laid up in hiding.

 

JOH 4:26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

 

He confirmed that He is the fulfillment of DEU 18:15. He is the One promised who would be a prophet like Moses but be much greater than Moses. He is the Savior of the Jews, the Samaritans, and the Gentiles.

 

The woman left her water pot behind and entered the city and told them that the Messiah was there. They came to Him and He spoke with them for two days and many Samaritans believed in Him.

 

It is interesting and not at all coincidental that the Jews called Him a prophet as did this woman before she came to believe in who He was. She thought Him to be a prophet as the Jews had when He fed the 5,000. He is a prophet, like Moses in typology, but far greater than Moses.

 

It is interesting that the Jews and Samaritans hated each other, but looked upon the Messiah very similarly.

 

It is difficult to discern if the Jews of Jesus' day believed that the Messiah would be the Son of God and also, what to them the phrase "Son of God" even meant.

 

MAR 3:20-21

And He came home, and the multitude gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. And when His own people ["nearest to Him amongst His kinsfolk"] heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses."

 

The nation of Israel was called the son of God and we can imagine that many came to believe that the Messiah, who would be King, would be called the Son of God.

 

EXO 4:22

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord," Israel is My son, My first-born.

 

1CH 17:11 And it shall come about when your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your descendants after you, who shall be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

 

1CH 17:12 He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

 

1CH 17:13 I will be his father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you.

 

1CH 17:14 But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever."

 

In verse 11 He is described as one of David's sons and in verse 13 God calls Him, "My son," whose throne will be established forever. As interpretations of things in the Bible span a wide range in our day, one can imagine the interpretation of this, in the schools of Israel being interpreted in several ways and the most popular interpretations being inaccurate.

 

PSA 2:6-7

"But as for Me, I have installed My King

Upon Zion, My holy mountain."

"I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord:

He said to Me, 'Thou art My Son,

Today I have begotten Thee.

 

One can see that these could be interpreted as a son who is a man only, David's son, and not deity, but then other passages would have to be interpreted loosely.

 

PSA 110:1

The Lord [Yahwey] says to my Lord [Adonay]:

"Sit at My right hand,

Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet."

 

In the form adonay the word means "Lord" par excellence or "Lord over all," [Vine's Expository Dictionary]

 

And this is the passage that the Lord used to show that He was indeed more than humanity, but the Lord God in the flesh. On day three of the passion week, His busiest of the week, just a few days before His cross, the religious crowd were peppering Christ with questions and then He asks them a question.

 

He made this sound like another theological question, when in reality it was the most important personal question they would ever face.

 

MAT 22:41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,

 

MAT 22:42 saying, "What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of David."

 

MAT 22:43 He said to them, "Then how does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying,

 

MAT 22:44 'The Lord said to my Lord,

"Sit at My right hand,

Until I put Thine enemies beneath Thy feet"'?

 

MAT 22:45 "If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his son?" 

 

MAT 22:46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.

 

My question is why has this question not been settled in every generation in Israel and in the famous schools that exist at this time in Jerusalem?

 

ISA 9:6

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.