Inspiration #24
John 4:22 NLT
You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews.
J.I. Packer writes that underatanding God and His heart takes more than just general revelation. What is general revelation? Understanding God as Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge. Yes, those are the basic skeleton of our God. But truthfully, those features create a hard, stern, non-loving, and unforgiven God. To truthfully see the beauties and heart of our God, you have to get special revelation that comes only through Jesus Christ.
In this scene between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, he was showing her His sovereignty. He starts off by telling her that He would give her living water that would cause her to never thisrt agian and would lead to eternal life. He then proceeds and asks her a question about her husband in which he assures her that her answer was true, revealing the work of the Holy Spirit as a means of knowing the minds and hearts of a man. Finally, he reveals to her that the Samaritans barely know the God they worship. They have general revelation of Him, which is why they argue among the Jews whether Mt. Gerizim or Jerusalem is the holy mountain of God. But- Jesus assured her that the Jews were in a better position than them. Why? Because they're His favorites? No. Otherwise, He wouldn't have even been communicating with her like she asserted at the beginning of their discourse. But- because through Him, salvation had come, that special revelation of God that would reveal His love, compassion, mercy, grace, and truth. “The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus.” This is why Jesus said there's about to come a time (Holy Spirit manifesting through prophecy, seeing that there was going to come a time when not only the Jews were going to have this special revelation, but anyone who believes and receives it) that the true worshippers (Jews and Gentiles-the church) was going to worship God in spirit (with the right mindset, the attitude and disposition) and truth (having that special revelation given through Jesus Christ and believed).
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