Thursday, November 26, 2009

22nd Meeting - Millennium Discussion Continued.

We are continuing our tour of Bible Prophecy, we have finally gotten to the New Testament. John 4:21 came up in this list. This is taken from the story of the woman at the well. If you are not familiar with this story, Jesus was being pursued by the Pharisees and they were trying to kill Jesus for His teachings. Jesus and His disciples fled to the area of the Samaritans, because he knew the Jews would not pursue Him in this territory. He meets this woman at the well, and starts talking to her. During their conversation, the woman asks Jesus which place is better to worship the Lord. Her people the Samaritans (worshiped on Mount Gerizim) , and the Jews worshiped in the Temple at Jerusalem. Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is here, when you will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:21 - 24. Jesus is telling this woman a lot in this passage, she knew that the Messiah was coming, the Jews and the Samaritans were both looking for the Messiah. The story of the Samaritans was foretold in Deuteronomy chapter 28. The Northern 10 Tribes were dispersed first for their unbelief, and were conqured by the
Assyrians. This dispersion was different than what the Babylonians did. After the Assyrians dispersed the Jews they put them in a land that was not their's, and they took those people, whose land it was and put them in the Northern Tribes territory. These people intermarried with the Jews that remained and combined their religious practices. This is why the Jews looked down on the Samaritans. The Jews considered them unclean, and would avoid them.

The Jews and the Samaritans knew that when the Messiah would come, He would be both High Priest and King. For this to happen worship as the Jews and Samaritans knew it would have to change. This is what Jesus was telling her when He said the Father is looking for people to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

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