This is the third in a series of posts about John 4 – the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at Jacob’s well.

Hopefully, if you’ve read the last few posts, you now have a better understanding of the historical and spiritual back story of this short meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar as detailed in the Gospel of John chapter 4.

My contention has been that there is more to the story as written in John 4 than just a short conversation between a sinful woman and the Messiah. In this post I shall attempt to show how this conversation and Jesus interaction with the Samaritans as a people sets in motion the fulfillment of an ancient end times prophecy.

The Prophecy – I Will Make Them One Nation

What in the world does John 4 and the woman at the well have to do with Ezekiel 37? I recommend you read the full chapter of Ezekiel 37 which speaks God’s promises to Israel which clearly is an end times prophecy which has elements that have been fulfilled already. But the specific connection of John 4 is with Ezekiel 37:15-28. As you read this, keep in mind 1 Kings 11:11-13, the Lord’s judgement against Solomon for his idolatry. The judgement was to split Solomon’s kingdom into two entities as I discussed in a previous post.

Ezekiel 37:18-28 describes the reunification of the house of Israel, something that would be completed in the end times and would be accomplished by God Himself. Now who is Messiah? Is he not the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col 2:9)? Is he not the King of kings? Then it makes total sense that, as the King, he would personally reunite Israel into one nation just as prophesied by Ezekiel and over which he himself would rule when his kingdom has been established on the earth. It is the King who builds the Kingdom.

The final Kingdom as prophesied in Daniel in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is the “stone was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands” [sic], that destroys all other kingdoms, smashing “the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold into pieces” (Daniel 2:45). The iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold represent the kingdoms of the world that would exist throughout history, even to this very day and into the near future (see Daniel 2). Clearly the Lord builds His own Kingdom personally.

Despite all the nonsense being presented in the church today about the church building the Kingdom of God, people do not build the Kingdom of God – not even the church. This notion that the church builds the kingdom of God on earth as a prerequisite for the Lord’s return is a false, unscriptural belief in the apostate church usually found in large, seeker sensitive churches which have “gone off the rails” of biblical faith. The church does not build God’s Kingdom, the church does not rule over it through self anointed prophets and false apostles, or through Roman Catholicism. The role and mission of the church is to help populate the kingdom of God by advancing the gospel of salvation and making disciples of Christ, knowing that only the saved, those who have repented and received the offer of eternal life will enter into this inheritance, together with Israel as spoken of in Ezekiel (and through other biblical prophets). This is the biblical mission given to the church. We need to get back to it. But I digress…

There are many aspects of the coming Kingdom of God which have been communicated through the biblical prophets. There is actually a lot of information about the Kingdom (part of the final reality as I call it). Part of this is the prophecy in Ezekiel 37, God’s commitment to reconstitute the nation of Israel as it will exist in the fullness of the Kingdom of God and of the Lamb. That’s why this passage in John 4 is so crucial to the Lord’s commitment to Israel as articulated in Ezekiel and as initiated in this short conference at Jacob’s well.

Of course, the Ezekiel 37 prophecy is not yet fulfilled completely. There was a long history of hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans that persisted long after the ministry of the Lord on Earth. But the process has begun and this meeting at the well and the next few days the Lord and his disciples spent with the people at Sychar was a start.

Before reunification of the tribes could begin, a long standing rift would need to be resolved and relationships between the Jews and Samaritans reestablished – at least a beginning. Remember, the disciples started this whole episode at Sychar not even wanting to be there, much less spend time with these people. That was taboo. They would have much rather persisted in their hatred and arrogance. That’s so natural for people isn’t it? But the Lord is the author of reconciliation. This is why the Lord, and importantly, his disciples stayed with the people of Sychar for several days.

The next post will be about the resolution of a centuries old dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans. A rift that would have to be put to rest once and for all. This resolution would come instantly by the Lord through one of the most important revelations he would make during his time on the earth – one that affected not only the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans but would also be crucial to the establishment of the church and the advancement of the gospel.