King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Monday, October 06, 2025
Chapters: John 2-4
Message: John: Jesus, Nicodemus, And The Samaritan
Hello My Friend,
As we continue in the reading of the Gospels, we learn of the first miracle that Jesus and that you must be born again in order to be received of God and see His kingdom. We also learn that Christ is the living water and meat that every soul needs that sustains it. I do not care what your stance on life is, every person wants to see a miracle take place in their lives. We need to understand that miracles from God are everywhere, but in order to see them we must look to Jesus with eyes of faith, [1 Corinthians 2:9-10 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.]
Yesterday, we learned that Jesus began His ministry by preaching in the synagogues, He healed a few people, but as far as they were concerned He was still the carpenters son, who appears to have passed quite some time ago. All of that was about to change when He and the five disciples that He acquired so far we called to a wedding. Mary, His mother was there as well as His earthly brothers and sisters.
[John 2:1-5 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. 5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.]
The question came across my mind yesterday of what Jesus must have been thinking after He had received His divinity. You know how we get when we learn we can do something, but if we are not careful pride can rear its ugly head and ruin a good thing. In a sense, I believe that is what Jesus was telling His mother. I am sure that He wants to heal every person, raise all the dead, save every soul, and keep His faithful from the wicked, but He will not allow Himself to mess with freewill nor use His divinity to prove to the wicked what He is capable of, [Psalms 78:19-22 Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? 20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? 21 Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; 22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:]
Nevertheless, Jesus, did go ahead and follow through with His mother’s request, [John 2:6-10 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. 7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. 9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.]
[Wine: The fermented juice of grapes; the juice, fermented or unfermented, of various other fruits or plants;]. There are so many people who believe that this was actually alcohol and I literally had someone mock me when I said that Jesus would not produce something that would lead to drunkenness, but man would use what God produced to do so. It did occur to me that Moses got drunk off drinking wine when he discovered the hard way that it fermented after the flood when the juice sat too long, [Genesis 9:20-21 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.]
Have you ever been to an all you can eat buffet where they bring you the refills? They keep bringing less and less each time and it does not taste as great as that first serving you get. This man, well aware of the customs of giving the quality wine first then any refills would be the cheap stuff, points out that the new wine tastes even better. Well, think about it, there is nothing better than fresh squeezed juice from the fruit, I do not know what fruit Jesus used, but it must have been the best coming from His hands. And since Jesus gives us the very best, we ought to give Him our very best, [Isaiah 1:18-20 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.]
Sin through ignorance is one thing, that is what teaches us repentance, deliberate sin is another thing, even if one believes that they are ignorant to it being sin. There were three Jewish based religious groups in Jerusalem, the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducee’s, neither one of them followed the Law of Moses, but were convinced that their ways pleased God. They were even so kind as to have a market for people to buy the sacrifices they needed to make atonement and peace with God as they were heading up to the temple to worship God (I am being sarcastic here). Well, Jesus and His earthly family went into Jerusalem for the Passover, when He arrived, He was appalled by what He saw.
[John 2:12-16 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. 13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.]
Both the world and religion are blind to the truth, the leaders of the Jews made a huge profit off of the sacrifices that they people were bringing to God. The reason why Jesus was so angry was that redemption and atonement can never be bought for any price. When we come to God, we must come to Him willingly and bring the proper sacrifice, and today, that is something that can only be obtained by the grace of God through ones faith in Christ, [Romans 3:24-25 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;]
Of course, these fools did not take too kindly to Jesus wrecking their enterprise and wanted to know where He got that information from, which was actually written in the Scriptures, [Malachi 3:1-3 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ sope: 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.]
This is referring to John, the Baptist and Jesus coming after him to purge out the sin that was taking place in the temple. However, Jesus did not answer them with this reference, He said something else to them, [John 2:18-21,23-24 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,]
Right there, Jesus foretells of His death, burial, and resurrection, but their since their eyes were not open to what Jesus had to say, of course they responded the way they did. Jesus, knew their heart, which is why He did not waste His time speaking to them any longer. However, there was someone in the crowd listening to every word He said, he was a leader of the Pharisees and after the crowd settled down he secretly came to see Jesus.
[John 3:1-4 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?]
Now, right here, Jesus, is referring to the spiritual part of man since the kingdom of God is not a physical or even a heavenly place, but rather spiritual. This is why He goes on to state that in order to be a part of the kingdom of God one would need to born a second time, [John 3:5-9 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?]
Nicodemus, still thinking through his flesh, could not get it past his head that Jesus is speaking spiritually here, and even goes on to ask him why he does not understand what He is saying, [John 3:10-13 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.]
In other words, Nicodemus, was supposed to be knowledgeable of the Scriptures and ought to know what He is talking about to some extent as all Jews ought to. The truth is, the only books that the Jews are allowed to read are the first five, which are the Law, also called the Torah. The Jews are no different than the Catholics or other religious groups who hide the Scriptures from the people and write some kind of book for them to follow that has Scripture in it, claiming that only “qualified” scholars are able to understand the Old Testament and Bible. The only qualification to understanding the Bible is being saved, [Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.]
Well, if he did not believe what Jesus said in regards to his spirit, then perhaps something he did know would so Jesus starts speaking about something he would know about, and that was Moses, [John 3:14-18,21 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.]
Jesus, was speaking of when God sent poisonous snakes to the Israelites when they were blaspheming Him, and had Moses make a bronze serpent on a pole and anyone who looked to it would be saved from death, [Numbers 21:8-9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.]
The key to their being healed was not actually looking at the serpent, it was their faith in the promise. There are people all over the world praising Jesus and all the things He has done, but they are not true worshipers. Why? One can know who Jesus is, and even believe in His death, burial, and resurrection, but unless they personally receive Him as their Saviour, then they are not born of the Spirit, which Jesus goes on to explain.
[John 3:16-19,21 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.]
I just noticed something that I have never seen before, the Light of Christ shines upon those who sincerely accept Him as their Saviour though their works, which increases and spreads over to others as they become more obedient to God. This is why the world cannot look true Christians in the eye, the Light of Christ shines through them so brightly that they are afraid to approach Him, [Exodus 20:18-20 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.]
Let me tell you, it truly is a joy to see someone bow their head and trust Christ as their Saviour, it gives you a spiritual high that nothing else on earth could give you. These people witnessed the miracles that Jesus performed the entire time He was here in the flesh, yet refused to believe and get saved. This is exactly why Jesus opened the door to salvation to the Gentiles, and He did not wait until He resurrected. In fact, He purposely went through Samaria to reach them with the Gospel.
[John 4:1-7 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And he must needs go through Samaria. 5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.]
The sixth hour means that it was about noon, it was hot, this woman, no doubt a public disgrace, waited until she knew no one else was there to get water only to find Jesus sitting there. She did not hesitate to go near Him, because from her eyes all she saw a Jew who would never speak to her. That was why she was so shocked to hear Him as her for a drink of water. She even asks Him why He is even talking to her.
[John 4:9-11 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?]
This actually goes with our having to be born of water and Spirit. No one born of the flesh is worthy to stand before God, which is why she questions why Jesus is even talking to her. Jesus, did not care what race or nationality she was, all He cared about was her soul. When Jesus first talks about living water, she is thinking about the water in the well, that was until He explains what He is talking about.
[John 4:13-18 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.]
This woman eagerly wanted this life giving water, but before telling her how to receive it, He asks her to go get her husband, which then opened up the reason why she was at the well in the heat of the day. Well, that prompted her to say something else.
[John 4:20-24 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth.]
In other words, the woman is saying that whether she believed Him or not, they still have to go to Jerusalem to get right with God and since Samaritans were not allowed it was not possible. Do you see how Jesus responded as He did Nicodemus? Jesus, just approached her in a different way. There is only one Gospel, and there is only one way to eternal life but not everyone responds the same way, which is why we are to teach it in a way that they can understand it, [Mark 9:38-40 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. 39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. 40 For he that is not against us is on our part.]
I use to be like the disciples about this in regards to other Christian religions, but since Charlie Kirk I understand what Jesus is talking about here. It is not for us to judge other religions who preach the true Gospel as many do, but with that said we to use righteous judgment and discernment because not all Christian based doctrines are true, [1 John 4:1-2 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:]
Do you see the difference? Again, it is all about the Spirit or spirit. Well, with a response like, the woman immediately wonders if His is the Messiah that they have all been waiting for and admits that she has been waiting for Him, [John 4:25-29 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. 27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?]
Wow! All the woman had to hear was, [I that speak unto thee am], and did hesitate to run home and get her family. Meanwhile the disciples came back with food, urging Jesus to eat something, [John 4:31-36 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? 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.]
Jesus, was probably too hot to eat, I know when I get hot I am unable to eat, but He was right, there are people all over the world just ready to come to Christ, they just need us to show them the right way. And just like that, not only did the woman return, she brought all she knew and they even encouraged Jesus to stay.
[John 4:39-42 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his own word; 42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.]
God, started with the Jews, very few accept Him still today because they refuse to believe God’s own Word. He chose the Jews to show the rest of the world that there is only One Living God, but He has always accepted all who came to Him. Now, we learn that His fame was getting beyond the Jews when while on His way back home, a man ran up to him who was an officer to Herod.
[John 4:47-53 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. 48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. 52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.]
Many people believe in the existence of Christ, but do they actually believe that He is the Son of God, and God Himself? Most religions paint Him as a prophet or some mere preacher man who was martyred for His faith, and sadly, that He is still dead. People want to see a miracle before they fully believe in Christ, but I tell you what, all miracles come from God, they happen every day, religion is too blind to see them because they really do not seek Christ for who He is, rather just to be fed, [Hebrews 4:2-3 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You for the gift of my salvation, I know that it is not by my own works that I am saved from death and hell for my sins, but by Your finished work. You died a sinless death, was buried, and arose from the grave three days later. And You not only saved me from an eternity in hell, You assure me that I have eternal life with You. Lord, it can be hard to worship You in spirit and truth when I get overwhelmed with life, lead me and guide me, fill me with Your grace, love, and wisdom to do whatever it is that You call me to do. I love You Lord and ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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