Reply
to Gary B. (22 Jan 2023)
You
said: “Please read ( John 4:34-37 ) , and give your
understanding of the message that Jesus is trying to
convey.
Historical
View:
Jesus departed Judea and was traveling to Galilee.
He chose to take a route through Samaria. Jesus and
his disciples stopped at Sychar which was near Jacob’s
well. Jesus instructed his disciples to go purchase
some food. Jesus is at Jacob’s well and has
just finished speaking with the rejected Samaritan
woman. He has just disclosed to her that He is the
Messiah. His disciples return from the Samaritan
town with some food.
John
4:34-37 states:
34 Jesus
saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that
sent me, and to finish his work.
35 Say
not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh
harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and
look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
36 And
he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto
life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth
may rejoice together.
37 And
herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another
reapeth. (King James Authorized Version)
Doctrinal
View:
- Spiritual
Food: Doing the Father’s work is nourishment for
Jesus which is compared to food for nourishing the
body.
- Spiritual
Drink: Living water in Him.
- Harvest
at the end of the age: We all have a role to play
doing God’s work of introducing Jesus as the “bread of
life” and the “living water”. As in agriculture
there are those who plant seeds, water crops and
harvest. These stages of agriculture are likened
to preaching the good news of salvation, spiritual then
physical.
Prophetic
View:
- This
is a curious chapter considering Jesus’ primary ministry
was to the “lost sheep of Israel”. Perhaps this
women was a lost sheep from the dispersed northern
kingdom of Israel, but………
- Prophetically,
I find it interesting that Jesus and the disciples
stayed in Sychar “two days”. A day is a
1,000 years and a 1,000 years is a day to the
Lord. Two day and 2,000 years ministry to the
Gentiles during this Church Age. Is this a veiled
prophecy as to the duration of the Church Age?
Four
Months:
As to the “four months, and then comes harvest” question
you may be asking.
- The
resurrection occurs in three parts following the
agricultural types: first fruits, the harvest and
the gleanings. This may be associated with the
Levitical festivals of First Fruits, Pentecost and
Tabernacles. (1 Cor. 15:20-24)
- Does
this “four months” have an application to the time
preceding the resurrection/rapture event associated with
Pentecost? Possibly, but I am not sure if we
can support a new doctrine from this alone as some have
suggested.
- The
resurrection/rapture event follows the two-loaf wave
offering of Pentecost/Shavuot of Leviticus 23:17.
The two loaves represent the resurrection of the dead in
Christ and the rapture of the living in Christ.
Jesus was resurrected on the Festival of first Fruits
(Leviticus 23:11, 1 Cor. 15:20) He was the grain
seed which had to die to produce much fruit. (John
12:24) The Church represents the fruit of the
harvest at the end of the age. (1 Cor. 15:23).
Then comes the end when the tribulation saints will be
resurrected into the Millennium. (1 Cor. 15:24;
Revelation 20:4-5) Here are the three
agricultural stages prophetically symbolized in three of
the Lord’s festivals. These three stages represent
the First Resurrection, the resurrection of
righteousness in Christ. The Second resurrection
occurs at the end of the Millennium.
Greg
Wilson