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STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

—INTERNATIONAL S.S. LESSONS—

SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS DESIGNED TO ASSIST THOSE OF OUR READERS WHO ATTEND BIBLE CLASSES WHERE THESE LESSONS ARE USED; THAT THEY MAY BE ENABLED TO LEAD OTHERS INTO THE FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL.

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JESUS AT JACOB’S WELL

III. QUAR., LESSON XII., SEP. 16, JOHN 4:9-26

Golden Text—”Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.”—John 4:14

As we read these gracious words of the Master, and especially his reply to the woman’s reference to the Messiah, the hope of Israel—”I that speak unto thee am he”—our hearts also thrill with a solemn gladness; for the blessings of his advent and the water of life which he gives have come to us also.

Several points in this lesson are worthy of special notice. (1) Observe the simple condescension of the Lord in thus endeavoring to make plain the way of life to one who had strayed far from the path of rectitude; (2) the natural and earnest manner

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of introducing the subject and pointing the lesson; and (3) the teaching.

He offers the water of life—the refreshing hope of life through faith in him as the Redeemer, which hope would be like a perennial well-spring continually rising up in her heart. (Verse 14.) So it is now; but by and by when the hopes of the believing Church are realized and God’s Kingdom is fully established, these wells will flow together, and a mighty river of the water of life will come forth from underneath the throne of God for the refreshment of all who will partake of it.—Rev. 22:1.

Then—in that Millennial age of glory and blessing—all who worship God will worship him in the spirit of the truth.—Ver. 24.

We who have partaken of the water of life and truth which Christ has furnished us can truly say, It satisfies our longing souls as nothing else could do. And those who are drinking of it have no cravings for the vain philosophies of men which make void the Word of God. We are still drinking; but according to our Lord’s words we shall soon be satisfied (Matt. 5:6)—when we awake in his likeness, in the first resurrection—Psa. 17:15; Phil. 3:11.

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— September 1, 1894 —