LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
Tuesday 3rd June 2025
SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE
Scripture Reading: John 4:1-42
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. John 4:21–22
Jesus’s response to the woman at the well was unexpected. The Lord told the woman that God was not impressed with the religious practices of both the Jews and the Samaritans.
Our Lord began by saying, ‘The hour is coming’. That statement referred to the impending death and resurrection of Jesus which would inaugurate a new phase of worship in God’s kingdom. In the Church Age, because of the work of the Spirit, worship is no longer centred in temples like those on Mount Gerizim and Mount Zion.
God does not reside in mountains or in sacred groves. We do not find God in physical places. God is a spirit. As the Samaritan woman sought to know from Jesus where to find and worship God, Jesus laid out the important truth that after His death and resurrection, the basis of relating with God would change. It was no longer going to be about holy mountains or special places of worship.
Jesus noted that the Samaritans worshipped what they did not know. That means they were ignorant worshippers. They were not the vehicle for the salvation of mankind. The Samaritans were partly Jews who over a period in their history developed a corrupted religious belief. Jesus’ verdict about them was borne out of the misguided pattern of worship they had acquired.
When Jesus said, Salvation is from the Jews, He did not mean that all Jews were saved or were especially pious. “Salvation is from the Jews” is in the sense that salvation came through the Jewish people. It became available through Jesus, who was born of the seed of Abraham.
Though God chose to reveal His promise of salvation to the Jews, they did not fully receive the Promised Messiah when He arrived. But it still stands that salvation is from the Jews. The Saviour came to the world through the Jews.
The question ceases to be about where to find God. Jesus’ emphasis was on the hour that was coming and the kind of worship God was looking for beyond the time when the hour came.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, deliver me from spiritual ignorance. Help me to have a real relationship with you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Republished: Sampson Ampiaw Ministry
