Read John 4 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
My outline of chapter 4:
4:1-43 Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well
4:44-54 Jesus healed the nobleman’s son at Cana (and its Chiastic Structure)
Joh 4:1-43 Chiastic Structure:
The surrounding elements of the Structure, of which there can be no doubt, force the B pair together. So the question is, what is living water, and spiritual worship, and how do they pair?
This is the first time “living water” is mentioned in the Greek Testament, but not its first mention in Scripture.
As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. Lev 14:6
I know the English translation says “running water,” but the Hebrew says “living water.” Two other mentions of “living water” in Lev 14 are in vs. 51 and 52. (The living bird ceremony is prophetic of Messiah).
A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. … A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Son 4:12-15 (The Song is prophetic of Messiah. We will get to it …)
“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jer 2:13
“Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken YHVH, the fountain of living waters.” Jer 17:13b
(Two matching pairs in a Chiastic Structure! This is going in my notes …)
And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur. Zec 14:8
The Hebrew Root Word for “living” is Strong’s H2421 חיה chayah, meaning, “to have life.” The ancient pictographs are chet + yud + hey:
chet ח = the wall, thus outside, divide, half
yud י = the closed hand, thus work, throw, worship
hey ה = man w/ raised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
The parable: The outside (chet) work (yud) a man does provides food, thus breath (hey) or life, for himself and his family.
The living water that Jesus gives is from an internal well that bubbles up and provides a continual supply to the individual. It isn’t H20. It is that which gives life. Jeremiah tells us the fountain of living water is YHVH Himself. YHVH is Father, Son, and Spirit. He is the source of that which is life-giving. Water is a Natural Picture portraying a spiritual truth. As natural water, H20, is life-giving for the earth, the environment, and for the body of every living thing, so living water is life-giving for the spirit of man. This living water, supplied to the spirit of man, produces spiritual life, and spiritual worship, and this is how the B pair pairs.
Do you need living water? Jesus told us, if we ask Him for it, He will give it. So, ask!
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