Daily Bread - 05/18/07
John 4:42 - And they said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you have said that we believe, for we ourselves hear and we have seen that this is truly the Savior of the world, the Christ.
The sincere faith that was expressed by these Samaritans was simply amazing. Although, they were kinsmen to the Jews they became despised by them because of their intermarriage with Gentiles (John 4:9; 8:48). Yet how is it that they were able to recognize the Savior when those who should have recognized Him could not? Could it be that the Jews became so ensnared by their own self confidence and pride that they had lost their sense of truth? The Samaritans seemed to have an ability to be sensitive to the witness of the Holy Spirit that was flowing forth from Jesus that those of the nation of Israel were incapable of.
It did not take a lengthy discussion and lots of proofs to convince the Samaritans. When they encountered the love and acceptance that Jesus showed these rejected people they were convinced that this is truly the Savior of the world. Surely, they had heard that a great prophet was traveling around the neighboring cities of Judea and Galilee, who some claimed was indeed the Messiah but when they saw Him in His love they were convinced that the Savior had truly come. Somehow in all of their ignorance they understood what even the disciples failed to grasp, that when the Messiah came He would not only be the Savior of the Jewish nation but of the whole world. In fact, this is the only time in the Gospels that Jesus, is called Savior by men.
The only other time that Jesus is called Savior in the Gospels was in the salutation of the angels in Luke 2:11. Even though His very name means Savior, Yehoshua (YHWH our Savior) it was only the Samaritans who had the revelation to utter it. Does God desire to communicate a profound revelation to us by the faith of the Centurion and the Syrophenician woman along with the revelation of the Samaritans (Matthew 8:5; Mark 7:26)? By these examples I believe that the Lord wants us to understand how blinded and insensitive to the Holy Spirit our own self confidence and pride makes us. If we will simply believe the good news and come to adore Jesus having no confidence in our own ability then we will find the realms of glory that we have been invited to (Philippians 3:3; John 15:5; Isaiah 66:1-2; 1 Peter 5:5).
Be blessed,
Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org
About Me
- Carol L
- San Diego area, California, United States
- I started this blog back in 2005, but in 2006 began dedicating it solely for the purpose of posting email messages called, Daily Bread, sent out Monday through Saturday by my pastor, Mark Spitsbergen. These daily emails contain fresh revelation that Mark gets from the Word of God by the Holy Spirit for that day for the church that God has called him to pastor, Abiding Place. 1 Peter 4:11 says, "If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God gives that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen." Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, (John 14:6), and He says, "The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are Life." (John 6:63). For the Word of God is quick (alive), and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).
No comments:
Post a Comment