Come Follow Me LDS - John 2-4 Part 2
Feb 11, 2019
Water, Women and Weddings
- Being born again of water AND the Spirit.
- Ancient Marriage Scene of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well.
- How wells are betrothal scenes, i.e., Rebekah, Rachael, Moses & Zipporah, Mowgli
Raw Transcript
okay and then we move to chapter three
and here we have a story of Nicodemus
and this is very interesting we
oftentimes reduce this down to the idea
that we are talking about a baptism or a
baptism by water and we pair it we
compare that to the metaphor of being
born again and that's right to a certain
extent but there's much more to it and
especially in context with what we've
been talking about with a higher and a
lower law and Jesus bringing in the
mystic priesthood and the fullness of
the gospel so we want to be very clear
on what this really represents because
John is painting a picture that is all
about the spirit of the law about the
higher law about the fullness of the
gospel and macchesney priesthood so
Nicodemus is a bigwig he's a boss he is
a member of the Sanhedrin he is a master
in Israel as Jesus says and he's a
Pharisee and so he comes to Jesus by
night and he says you know I believe you
must be the Son of God who else can do
these all of these miracles and
immediately Jesus comes back to him and
says these words here in verse 3 verily
verily I say unto you that except a man
be born again he cannot see the kingdom
of God so what does he mean by born
again and what does he mean by kingdom
of God we've covered this before the
kingdom of God is the fullness of the
gospel with the Melchizedek Priesthood
so right off the bat he's saying you've
got to have the fullness of the gospel
you have to have everything you are
practicing a religion speaking to
Nicodemus that does not have everything
and in fact you have reduced everything
even with what you have just like a bin
and I was preaching to King Noah you
have reduced everything theologically to
rules and checklists and merit and
that's it that's all that exists your
sacrifices and the law of Moses has
turned it
something completely different because
it's supposed to represent what comes
before Christ is supposed to look
forward to the atonement into Christ and
that's basically what he's implying with
these words here and Nicodemus comes
back to him and says well wait a minute
how can I be born again do I enter a
second time into enter again a second
time into her mother's room here we have
the mention of a woman again here we
have the mention of the mother again
again this is not trivial this is John's
doing this on purpose and again being
born of God also has a representation of
the king coming out of the veil out of
the Holy of Holies through the veil
there's a lot been spoken of about veils
lately a lot of changes that have gone
on good things but I worry about the
loss of the meaning of what the veils
represent and what the veil is I'm gonna
do a podcast on that shortly here so
that we can take a closer look at what
veils are and what they mean to us so
you know do I have to go back into my
mother's womb and be born again how can
I be born again and Jesus answers and
says verily verily I say unto thee
except a man and this is important we
skip through this long except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit and I
can just see Jesus emphasizing the
second half of that and of the spirit he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God
right so it is both baptisms it is the
baptism of water it is the baptism of
the Spirit that he's talking about so he
is laying out here just as John did in
Chapter 1 the higher in the lower laws
the difference between Christ being the
Melchizedek and John being the Aaronic
priesthood Bearer
this is what he's going over with
Nicodemus at this time and then he
follows up in verse 6 and says that
which is born of the flesh is flesh this
is the lower law this is what the
Iranian represents and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit you've got
to be born of both right you
need to be reborn physically with the
baptism of the water and reborn
spiritually with the gift of the Holy
Ghost with by the authority of the
Melchizedek Priesthood and then Jesus
goes down and says you know are you a
master of Israel and you don't
understand this well of course he
doesn't understand it because they have
lost it
they lost it in many centuries before
when they gave up on Christ and put
Moses at the top and the lower law at
the top he then follows up and says I
have told you earthly things
ironic priesthood things temporal things
and he believed not so he's telling them
just like a benedi hey this is he's
probably telling them I'm telling him
what the law of Moses really represents
it's a look forward it's a preparation
for bigger things for the for Christ for
the Melchizedek how shall ye believe if
you don't believe in these earthly
things how should he believe if I tell
you of heavenly things and that is the
new law the new covenant that he is
bringing then he talked about being
raised up just as the brazen serpent was
raised up and that the Son of Man will
be raised up as well mmm
so he and then he goes right into the
famous scripture that we see often times
at football games used to all the time
Tim Tebow puts it right here used to put
it right there
and that's John 3:16 which says 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 so you can see as he's
building up this a higher law and
telling him about it well the crux of
that higher law is the sacrifice of the
Son of God and the atonement paying for
everybody's sins because then he follows
it up with for God sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world that was
that would be judgment that's already
there with the ironic priesthood but
that the world through him might be
saved
that's the atonement and then we
followed down a little bit more we
talked about the light and the darkness
kind of referring back to chapter 1 and
truth and light and then we get in it
and then we get an interesting take from
John the Baptist we have some disciples
that are go that run back
John the Baptist who has not yet been
put into prison and they're basically
saying look there's you know Jesus and
His disciples at least are are baptizing
a lot of people and John says great
that's what we want I need to decrease
and he needs to increase so the very
humble approach he knows he is the
preparer of the way he is not the way
but he is the preparer of the way and
then he comes back in John as the
narrator here in the story he said he
gives gives gives John this these words
he says ye ourselves bear witbier me
witnesses this is John's words speaking
to his disciples that I said I am NOT
the Christ but that I am sent before him
he that hath the bride is the bridegroom
so here we have again marriage wedding
right this is the title that is given to
the Messiah is the brand to Jehovah is
the bridegroom but the friend of the
bridegroom being John which stand at
John the Baptist which standeth and
heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of
the bridegroom's voice this my joy
therefore is fulfilled so wonderful
words from John the Baptist as the
preparer letting everybody know that he
is not the monistic that he is not the
Savior and he is not the Messiah okay
and now we're going to move over to
chapter 4 and here we have more water
another woman and yes a marriage setting
this is very interesting the way John
portrays this as Jesus has just been in
Jerusalem with Nicodemus he's now got to
go back to Galilee and on his way to
Galilee he's going to pass through
Samaria and as he's passing through
Samaria with his disciples he ends up
going to a place called Sekar which is
probably a mistake in the with the way
it's written it's probably Shechem this
is a place where Jacob and his his his
family lived for a while here we have
Jacob's Well and here Jesus goes to
Jacob's Well and interestingly enough
the disciples all leave so John sets
this up where Jesus is alone he's by
himself and who does he meet at the well
he meets a woman so this is just Jesus
and just a woman that's important
because this is a marriage type of
setting no this is not Jesus getting
married to the Samaritan woman but it is
a marriage setting so that John can
again show Christ here as the bridegroom
this is how it is set up as you recall
in the Old Testament for example Isaac's
Abraham's servant goes back to her on
and meets Rebekah at a well where she is
going to draw water and bring it back to
her home
and back to her family and she brings
Rebekah back to Isaac and they get
married this is a betrothal here that is
seen this is a marriage scene and then
again with Isaac's son Jacob Jacob meets
Rachel at a well where she draws water
for him and this is a marriage type of a
scene and they and then and then after
they meet and he she gives him water
then they go back to the family and talk
to the family and then with Moses later
on right Moses leaves Egypt and he knows
definitely right where he's going this
is not like the movie The Ten
Commandments where he's wandering around
and he happens to stumble upon Jethro
Jethro is a high priest he has the
Melchizedek Priesthood he gives Moses
the mystic priesthood Moses knows
exactly where he's going and he ends up
at the well at Jethro in Jethro's land
and meets his future wife suppor there
right so same thing is happening so this
is a very common thing so readers know
exactly what this is
back then we don't know that today but
this would be kind of like maybe a a
princess who has fallen asleep and the
Prince comes and gives her a kiss and
she wakes up it's something where you
know the scene
you know what's happening here it is to
show that Christ that Jesus is the
bridegroom that he is Jehovah and that
he is basically married to Israel right
he who is the bride now some of the
symbolism that happens here is pretty
important so this is a scene where this
happened all the time anciently and not
just in the Middle East think about the
movie at least Jungle Book right with
Mowgli at the very end where is he at
when he sees the girl and he kind of
gets that look on his face like wow what
is this and what does she have she has a
vase or a water container that or she's
coming to draw water right it's the same
thing same type of scene and then we
have the symbolism of the water which is
really interesting in Genesis in the
story of the Garden of Eden you have
coming from the Garden of Eden for
rivers or streams they're coming out the
representation of this is that the
gospel is coming out to all four corners
of the world and the water there
nourishes the Tree of Life
so that's why the woman would be very
involved there because the woman is also
a representation of the Tree of Life
just as the king is as Christ is and and
she's also a representation of the water
and so anciently you'll find in temples
often in the Middle East and other
places you will see a woman in a temple
setting perhaps actually in the temple
with a water container and from that
water container is coming out streams of
water this is this is a very common
theme that you would see it sometimes as
a man as well and sometimes it's a woman
but there are there is this water that
is coming out of the temple and this is
a reference that is made often times
with Ezekiel and with Isaiah where you
have these waters and so Christ is
coming to the Samaritan woman and she
says
you know who are you that you're dealing
with me you're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan
why are you even talking to me which is
a separate point but he's saying I am
the living water the water you're giving
me you're gonna thirst again but I am
the living water that is the flowing
water that is coming out of the temple
that is coming out of the Garden of Eden
in the Gilbert temple in Arizona for
example you'll see on the south side
you'll see four streams of water coming
out as a representation of those four
rivers that are coming out of the Garden
of Eden so he is this living water the
water and the Tree of Life are basically
the same thing we see that in in
Lehigh's vision also and then Jesus says
to the Samaritan woman you know go get
your husband and she says I don't have a
husband and he says well you're right
you don't
he says you have had five different
husbands and now the man you're with is
illegitimate Lee your husband he's not
really your husband how many is that
that's six so who is Jesus he is the
seventh he is the seventh bridegroom
he's not marrying her but he is again
John is portraying it this way where he
is the seventh bridegroom here to make
everything complete and make everything
right and he does and the woman of
Samaria there at the well becomes the
first evangelist the first missionary
for Jesus that we are that we read about
and he she goes back speaks to her
family and others in the village Jesus
goes back there for a couple of days and
many of these Samaritans are converted
and which is pretty interesting because
in other parts of the Scriptures we read
that Jesus's mission is to the Jews but
here he is preaching to the Samaritans
and this is an example of Jesus's
Melchizedek Priesthood where he is going
beyond to the family beyond the lineage
that would come down through the Aaronic
priesthood and he is going to the entire
world and he is going to the Samaritans
and then later on Peter eventually
realizes he
used to go to all of the gentiles into
the whole world we read in the Book of
Mormon everywhere and in Isaiah about
the Gentiles and how they are involved
with the fullness of the gospel because
the fullness of the gospel does not come
through a lineage the priesthood of
Melchizedek does not come through a
lineage it is for everybody so here in
conclusion we have water women and
weddings and these are rich symbols that
John uses throughout his entire book and
as we can see he is portraying Christ as
the new Melchizedek and the restoration
of the gospel in each one of the cases
here in each one of these chapters with
the marriage at Cana he has going from a
lower level of water turning that to a
higher level and turning that into wine
in the story of Nicodemus he goes from a
lower level and earthly things to a
higher level with heavenly things and
talking about being born again not just
of water but of the Spirit also and then
lastly we have the water that the
Samaritan woman is offering Jesus as a
lower-level something you're gonna
thirst for again it's a temporal thing
but Christ is offering something much
higher a water that is an eternal ever
flowing living water and that is what
John is basically trying to get across
worse there are two laws and Christ is
bringing in the higher law for us
we'll talk to you next
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