Notes

John 4:39-45

• Our witness of Christ matters!
• 2 Corinthians 5:17-20
  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
• 1 John 5:20
  And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
• John 5:24
  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

• Mediterranean culture hospitality was vital.
• 1 Kings 18:4
  for when Jezebel [a]destroyed the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.)
• Neh. 9:26
  “But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to You, And they committed great blasphemies.
• John 2:23
  Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing.

John 4:46-54

• Jesus deals with sign seekers.
• Matthew 12:38-39
  Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the [d]sign of Jonah the prophet;
• Luke 11:16
  Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven.
• 1 Corinthians 1:22
  For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;

Thus an experience of the power of one word of Christ, may settle the authority of Christ in the soul. The whole family believed likewise. The miracle made Jesus dear to them. The knowledge of Christ still spreads through families, and men find health and salvation to their souls.

Matthew Henry and Thomas Scott, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997), Jn 4:43.