Faithful on Fridays Blog

The Woman at Jacob’s Well- Part 2

God gave Jesus a specific assignment to go through Samaria (John 4). Why this particular region and this specific well? To look at this story from a heavenly perspective we have to retreat into the life of Jacob. First of all, this patriarch was chosen by God. This divine election was nothing new, Abraham was chosen from all the people on the planet, Isaac was chosen even though Ishmael was the firstborn, and similarly Jacob was chosen over Esau. This well where Jesus stopped was not just any random place, but a place of remembrance to those who knew Jacob’s story.

Jacob began his life in the womb as an unredeemed man. The name Jacob indicates that he was a deceiver, cheater, and used underhanded tactics to reach his goals. In the womb? Yes, everyone begins his life in the same way: totally depraved and needing a Savior. 

The LORD spoke to their mother Rebekah with a warning and prophecy that the older son would serve the younger (Gen. 25:22-26): a picture of God’s sovereignty. As Jacob’s life progressed he showed himself as a sinner, but God continued to pursue him. Isn’t that true of us all? We’re all born spiritually dead, in sin, unable to pursue God, but Jesus continues His pursuit for us out of love. 

At the end of this wonderful story of redemption we find Jacob visited by God through a physical encounter, dreams and visions, and angelic protection. Jacob’s Well isn’t about just any well: it’s about the God of Jacob‘s Well.

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! Psalms 20:1 

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Psalms 146:5 

Set forth your case, says the Lord; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob. Isaiah 41:21 

Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

Isaiah 49:26b 

Jacob’s Well reminds us that God is an all-powerful King, our source of help, hope, and protection; He was just what this Samaritan woman needed. She was rejected by five men through divorce (women had no rights), the man she was with wouldn’t marry her, she was full of shame, and Jesus had to go to her … now. She didn’t go to the well with the other women in the cooler part of the day, she went at noon in the heat when no one else would be there: but God. 

She wasn’t looking for a Savior; He was looking for her. 

She wanted water; He wanted her.

Believer, you are chosen of God (Eph. 1:4), forgiven of your sin (Eph. 1:7), lavished with His grace (Eph. 1:8), and pursued by Jesus Christ. Let’s walk together with the God of Jacob, remembering His mercy to us when we don’t deserve it either.

Episode Two

Several decades ago I received an assignment in a women’s ministry to travel around Indiana and Ohio teaching about God’s covenant with Israel. The question to be answered was simply, “Why Israel?” Last week we looked at Gen. 3:15 and the perpetual hatred of Satan toward the promised Messiah (Christ) and now we’ll find out why this small nation is his target.

I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you. Genesis 12:2-3 

That verbal promise of God was confirmed and reconfirmed throughout Scripture, especially in Gen. 15 when He, represented by fire, literally walked through a blood sacrifice and cut covenant with Abraham, and his descendants after him. Later, in Gen. 17:1-8 God promised this to be an eternal covenant never to be broken. So why did He choose Abraham to begin this covenant nation?

The Lord did not set His heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and He was keeping the oath He had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Deuteronomy 7:7-8 

Clearly, it was nothing the descendants of Abraham did right, they repeatedly failed Him, but God’s love is eternal. It’s no different for us; Jesus came to earth to die for us and it wasn’t because any of us deserved it. It was simply His unfailing, merciful love. Never forget that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham (Matt. 1:1-2), Paul calls him the ‘heir of the world’ (Rom. 4:13) and those who repent and believe are his offspring. That’s you and me when we share the faith of Abraham.

Moving on, after 400 years of Egyptian slavery God sent a Christ-like figure named Moses to bring deliverance and lead His chosen people back to their chosen land. Satan may have thought he’d gotten rid of them in Egypt, but God’s covenant won’t fail. Satan found a new enemy in the Promised Land called the Amalekites and Moses sent Joshua to fight them while he, Aaron, and Hur interceded in prayer (Ex. 17:8-16). What a fabulous story! Their first enemy, first battle, and first victory was over this pagan tribe that attempted to keep the children of Abraham out of the Promised Land. Sound familiar? Interestingly, the spirit of the Amalekites is still with us today with new names: Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. God promised to erase their memory (Ex.17:15-16) because their fist (violence) was against His throne, but that day hasn’t arrived … so we keep praying.

The Woman at Jacob’s Well: Introduction

The Apostle John had this amazing ability to see beyond the natural realm and into the spiritual: the lower and upper story. His perspective of Jesus often had a mystical or mysterious outlook to it and John inspires us to look at that mysterious, heavenly side of Jesus’ ministry. 

John 4 tells the seemingly simple story of a woman that Jesus encountered at a well. He had previously spoken to a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who had come to Him at night, and explained the process of being born again: it’s a spiritual birth. Jesus told him, quite mysteriously, that you must be born twice: naturally and spiritually. I’d say that’s pretty mystical.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

John 3:12 

I want to understand heavenly things.

Since Jesus has the Spirit without measure (John 3:34) and was sent from God with purpose, He sensed an urgency, by the Spirit, to leave Judea and travel north to Galilee. That same spiritual drive is experienced when we sense the Spirit sending us somewhere; you may also be sent on assignment from the Father. 

Now He had to go through Samaria. John 4:4 

Different translations use different words in this verse: and, but, or now, suffice to say there’s more behind that little word. Jesus had to; He was compelled by the Spirit to make this trip. It was necessary, inevitable, and must happen now. There’s an emphatic sense to this assignment from His Father and the purpose was salvation. 

A good Jew wouldn’t travel through this half-breed area of Samaria; there was bad blood, but Jesus knew He was on an apostolic assignment, sent by God, and had to take that specific route now.

Why? As we’ll see in the coming weeks, Jesus’ destination of Samaria wasn’t due to convenience: He needed to reach a specific place, at a specific time, to fulfill His divine assignment. Jesus’ mission on earth wasn’t just for the here and now; He always had the Second Coming in view.

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me. 

And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:37-40, 44 

Get ready, next week we’ll look at this story from a heavenly perspective.

Episode One

As Christ followers it’s crucial for our perspective on the war in Israel be Biblical and for that, some research is needed. When I begin Biblical research on a topic God always leads me back to Genesis; of course, that’s the beginning. This topic was no different; scripture explains all of it. 

Gen. 3:15 declares right from the get-go that God promised Satan, that ancient serpent, to send the Offspring of a woman, the Messiah, to crush his head or authority. Satan’s perspective of that Offspring (Jesus) and the woman as his enemy, would be like an opposing party, and he’d experience hostility, perpetual hatred, and fury against them. You see, if Satan can’t destroy God, he’ll destroy those whom God loves.

Then the dragon (Satan) became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Revelation 12:17a-b 

That perpetual hatred of the devil against Jesus, the Seed or Offspring of the woman, is what we call antisemitism. It’s war language against the Jewish Messiah, our Christ, and when Satan comes against Israel, the Jewish people, he comes against Christ’s body or the Church.

Hamas (in Hebrew means violence, cruelty, wickedness, ruthlessness, or with weapons of violence) and Hezbollah (in Arabic means political party of god) are Israel’s physical or lower story enemies. Their stated goal is to wipe Israel off the map using resources supplied by Iran, interestingly, ancient Persia. Their perspective, as Iran’s Supreme Leader has stated, “America is the Great Satan and Israel is the Little Satan.”

Attempting to wipe out the Jewish people is nothing new. Consider the Pharaoh of Egypt, under this antichrist spirit, ordering the murder of all baby boys birthed to Jewish mothers (Ex. 1:22), or the Persian (modern day Iran) named Haman (Esther 3:1-6, 13) who ordered the annihilation of all Jews in one day, or that same spirit of Haman operating in Hitler. His goal was also to kill, steal, and destroy God’s chosen people wiping them off the face of the earth. 

Now we have a Biblical perspective of why Hamas and Hezbollah want to destroy the Jewish people and will go to great lengths to be triumphant. We’ve witnessed from the media the ruthlessness, violence, and fury of the spirit behind them, but we must keep in mind that not every Palestinian is part of Hamas, not every resident of Lebanon is part of Hezbollah, in fact, they are the innocent ones. As Christians our perspective must be God’s as we pray for the innocent, the Body of Christ in both places, and for the Jewish people to remain strong and win this war. Paul, a Messianic Jew wrote,

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Romans 8:31, 33

Where Are You?

I think communication was God’s idea from the beginning. Think about it; we have the spoken word and the written word, God spoke the world into existence and Jesus is named The Word. God is all about personal relationship with Him through communication. I’ve viewed ancient hieroglyphics in Arizona, ancient scrolls in Israel, and I’ve read about the many alphabets that were created all in the name of communication. We live for our cell phones, texting, email, Facebook, iMessages, Snap Chat, and Tik Tok.

Why is that? Maybe it’s because God’s idea of communication is how we develop relationships. Now, I grant you, verbal, face-to-face communication is the best, but sometimes in our busy lives we have to resort to other forms. Welcome to Faithful on Fridays! This was my first post in 2011!

God’s reason for communication was based on His desire to intimately commune with mankind. Do you remember the story in Gen. 3:9? If you don’t have it memorized (smile), let me remind you. God, Adam, and Eve were walking and talking in the Garden. Temptation was eventually presented to them through a serpent and they fell for it. Now, you might think that God would break off all communication with them since they had disobeyed Him, but He didn’t. He said to them, in the midst of their sin, “Where are you?” You have to know that God knew where they were: He’s God. It reminds me of playing hide and seek with my grandchildren. They run and hide and I search for them, knowing where they are. I call out to them, “Where are you?” and they answer, “Here I am, Mi Mi!” We delight in finding each other.

God is speaking to you today. “I know where you are right now, you’re never out of My sight. Your situation is temporary; it will change.” Life always changes, that’s good. He says, “Trust Me, talk to Me about your hopes, your fears, your dreams. I’m waiting for you.”  

Paul said it well,

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of the darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6

The privilege of communicating with the God of the universe is ours\. Our hearts are being drawn by God every day to spend time with Him, be in His presence, and get to know Him in a deeper way. The face of Jesus Christ is another way of saying the presence of God and it’s dependent on your discipline of making time in your busy schedule to sit with Him. Aren’t all relationships like that? Time, that four-letter word, is a gift. Can you begin with 15 minutes in your day to be in God’s presence?

You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Ps. 16:11

Living and Non-living 

Does it strike you as odd that God uses both people and inanimate objects to make His point? Take creation. After He spoke a perfect world into being, created a perfect couple from dirt, He jumped into the story having a conversation with a snake! That strikes me as odd; how about you? If that wasn’t odd enough God told Moses (Num. 20:6-9) and the prophet Ezekiel (Ez. 37:4) to both talk to rocks! 

On the other hand, Isaiah wrote under God’s inspiration that there will be singing mountains and applauding hills when He delivers us (Is.55:12). Likewise, during Jesus’ ministry, when the Pharisees rebuked Him for accepting worship, He strangely answered them,

 “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” Luke 19:40 

While taking a boat ride a great storm came up (Mark 4:39-40) and how did Jesus handle it? He spoke to the wind and sea like naughty children telling them to just calm down. Living or non-living, God uses many ways to help us understand His nature and character, and that’s the point. 

Moses and Ezekiel weren’t the only ones instructed by God to speak to lifeless things and expect something to change. Jesus’ promised His disciples,

I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. Mark 11:23

Or how about this one?

The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.” The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you!” Luke 17:5-6 

I could go on about inanimate objects like Jesus’ prayer shawl (Mark 5:28-34) and Paul’s (Acts 19:11-12) handkerchiefs and aprons that brought powerful healing when people only touched them, or the possibility of the gospel being preached through the stars (Ps. 19:1-5), but I think you get the picture. The Bible is full of odd stories that make you think, find the spiritual significance for your life (the upper story), and get to know God better. He loves hyperbole, that’s when He uses exaggeration to make His point; I doubt if He wants us to go yell at mountains or trees and expect them to disappear, but He does want us to see literal storms, mountains, and trees as obstacles in our prayer and faith walk and command them to leave. God shows us His protective nature, His divine power and provision by using living and non-living examples to evoke a sense of awe in us. I encourage you to read these and many other passages like them to get to know our mighty, sovereign God a little better.

Reformation: Part Three

Halloween is coming, historically the day before the Christian celebration that has become virtually unknown: All Saints’ Day. Isn’t it just like the devil to draw our attention away from remembering and celebrating the lives of past believers and into the occult? It was prophetic time when Luther posted his protests over 500 years ago. Instead of focusing on the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit on this day we have become a culture of the supernatural work of the dark side. 

Luther wrote in his Small Catechism:

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.

In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

Luther understood we are dead in sin and cannot come to Christ on our own, that’s  the first supernatural work of the Spirit: He calls us to Jesus. Once we respond to that invitation He begins the work of sanctification: transforming us into His image. The Spirit empowers us to think and act differently from the world, consequently, our desire becomes pleasing God and loving others. 

The Reformation, this Bible Movement, gave us great theologians and preachers: Calvin, Puritans, Edwards, Whitefield, and Spurgeon, to name a few, who believed in the power of the Spirit and the Word working together. When we neglect the Spirit as it works through the Scriptures we become legalistic.

… who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor. 3:6

The Reformation of 1517 reminds us that God’s Spirit is sent to ‘enlighten us with His gifts’. We cannot pick and choose them, but we learn to trust Him:

… to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, … Eph. 4:12

Let’s remember why God began His Reformation of the Church: the  Holy Spirit and the Word of God working together to sustain us every day, regardless of  our circumstances. How much more do we need His power and gifts today to live for Him? Paul taught in 1 Cor. 12:11, 31a

All these (gifts) are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills. But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

As Spirit-filled believers let’s focus on the supernatural work of the Spirit empowering us with His gifts and bringing light to the Scriptures in order to encourage, comfort, and build people up in faith. That’s true reformation. 

Dead Men Walking: Matt. 27:50-53

Last year Americans spent 10.6 billion dollars decorating for Halloween; that outspends Christmas which includes buying gifts! What fascinates us to decorate or dress like something from out of a scene from Thriller? I think it’s the unknown, unexplainable, and even supernatural, so let’s dig into this story.

The Lord Jesus was unjustly executed on a cross and finally, after voicing a mega-piercing scream, ‘yielded up His Spirit’. Jesus was dead, but it wasn’t over yet since His holy, innocent blood needed to be offered on the heavenly Mercy Seat. Without the blood sacrifice there is no forgiveness of sin (Heb. 9:7-8), therefore, the indwelling Spirit of Christ was released at His last breath. 

So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With His own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Hebrews 9:11-12 

Matthew is overwhelmed as he witnessed Jesus’ death, but records the veil of the Temple in Jerusalem being split in half from top (heaven) to bottom (earth). This earth-shaking event was cataclysmic; tombs were split open and graves unearthed as they vibrated. It’s no surprise that this Thriller scene came to life as dead saints, believers in the coming Messiah, woke up from the sleep of death, and walked around the city in full view! What?!!! Could they have been Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, or even King David? We don’t know, but this odd story is vital to our understanding of the return of Christ since these people are a foreshadow of our future resurrection promised by God,

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

1 Corinthians 15:20 

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 

Why was this odd story included in the Bible? Consider the outcome of this evidence of resurrection; one of the Roman centurions and his battalion of 100 soldiers saw it all and were awestruck. Without thinking they blurted out, “Truly, this was the Son of God!” and Luke records, “Certainly this Man was innocent!” 

We should be thanking God every day for the hope, confident expectation, of our future resurrection when we’ll be reunited with Him at His Return. I don’t know exactly what it’ll look like, but I do know it’ll be good.

Check out Lauren Daigle on YouTube: Still Rolling Stones, https://youtu.be/LTy64xm7jwI?si=j8I_UP_1QBlCQ8I_

Reformation: Part Two

The Spirit of Christ illuminated Martin Luther’s heart that the Church’s interpretation of grace was in error, consequently, needed reform. Grace, by definition, is the undeserved and unearned favor and delight of God freely given to a believer.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph. 2:8

While comparing the Church’s teaching with Scripture he realized change was needed: reform. With the building of St. Peter’s Basilica unfinished, church leaders needed money and the doctrine of purgatory, a place of temporary punishment and purging of sin, lended itself to that goal. 

As Luther studied the Scriptures he realized that Christ had paid the penalty for our sin: past, present, and future, consequently, purgatory didn’t line up with that free gift of grace. When indulgences were sold to the common people of Germany it was the final straw that broke Luther. Indulgences were a receipt, in effect, that bought you or your family less time in purgatory. They were an attempt to buy God’s kindness and favor, hence indulging His people. 

Information Technology began right there in Germany; Gutenberg invented a way for mass production of printed materials. The printing press was truly a forerunner to the Internet today and Luther’s reform unknowingly began. He posted 95 statements of change on the community bulletin board that, in his opinion, needed debate. Written in Latin, as targets for academia, this powerful medium of printing was utilized to produce pamphlets of Luther’s points in German; the fire was ignited. God had begun a Back to the Bible Movement and the people were ready.

Being an Augustinian monk, priest, and teacher brought Luther back to God’s Word and his realization that we’re all born into spiritual slavery, dead in sin, and under the wrath of God. He knew the truth from Scripture that we are unable to change that state and his pastor’s heart was breaking for his parishioners hence he brought them back to God’s Word; we are declared righteous in God’s sight by the Cross and faith in the Cross alone. 

For our sake He made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21

It’s all about Jesus, the Word made flesh, and worship of Him and Him alone. Luther remained at the foot of the cross and there met God’s beauty in the grace He freely gave. Luther was led by the Holy Spirit to bring correction and restore the knowledge of God’s free gifts to the people.

At the end of his open ministry he was arrested and stood before the political and religious leaders in Germany. “Will you recant?” They asked. He answered them, “Here I stand; I can do not other.” The courage of Martin Luther is to be admired and his life to be appreciated and celebrated.