John 4:19-21

drive the sinner into despair. It is then that grace must much more abound.

A question as to true worship: V. 19. The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet. V. 20. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. V. 21. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father.

The revelation which Jesus had just made astonished and disconcerted the woman. She had probably never given the matter of her loose living a serious thought, since the marriage-tie at that time was considered anything but binding.

Yet Christ's way of putting it in such a naked, unvarnished way struck her conscience with peculiar force. Her words were therefore a confession of guilt, though veiled to some extent.

She states, first of all, that she now understood and had the conviction; I see that a prophet Thou art. His knowledge of her sins compelled this admission, but she is sensitive upon the subject and would rather not go into details. Not that she was not conscious of guilt, for she had already shown some degree of longing for salvation.

Her question rather showed how deeply she was moved. Since this man was a prophet with the Spirit of omniscience, he would surely be able to give the solution of the standing problem of Samaritan religion, one which had now been bothering them for almost six centuries. She wanted to know where the living God was to be found and which was the true worship. She knew that forgiveness was to be found only with the living God. It was the question of a serious seeker after truth.

The Samaritans had for centuries worshiped their god, whom they also called Jehovah, on Mount Gerizim, which was situated near Shechem and Sychar. There had formerly been a fine temple on this mountain, which, however, the Jewish ruler Hyrcanus had destroyed in the year 125 B.C. Since that time the temple had not been completely restored, the Samaritans being satisfied to worship in the ruins.

But, on the other hand, as the woman correctly states, the Jews claimed that Jerusalem was the only place where people should worship, Ex. 20, 24; Deut. 12, 5; Num. 9, 5; Deut. 16, 3. 6. Now she wanted to know who was right, the Samaritans or the Jews.

The Lord answers with one of the greatest and most far-reaching announcements of all times, earnestly inviting the woman, at the same time, to give full credence to His weighty words. The time was coming, was even now dawning, when the old earthly, outwardly visible forms of worship would no longer be reckoned as essential. Both places of the Old Testament cultus, that of Mount Gerizim and that of Jerusalem, would then be forsaken. This took place shortly after Christ's ascension. Then the apostles went out and founded a great many congregations, not only in Judea, but also in Samaria. Then the Samaritans that came to faith deserted Mount Gerizim and worshiped the true God in Jesus Christ the Savior.