The Seventh Man
Author: Frank Tunstall
Jesus ended His first visit to the temple knowing the rulers did not want the new life He offered Nicodemus (in John 3); they even saw it as blasphemy. The Lord headed north with His disciples, telling them He had to “go through Samaria” (John 4:4).
Israel’s Messiah was certain He could not depend on the temple system of worship to develop His international ministry. Jesus was fully aware He had to bypass the temple and make a new beginning. But what a scary thought! May we never see the day when Jesus will need to bypass us to achieve His vision.
In Samaria, Jesus met a woman at Jacob’s Well who had five husbands in her past and the man she was living with was not her husband. Jesus, her Messiah, was the seventh man in her life. He made her the same offered Nicodemus rejected, “living water.”
In their conversation Jesus led her to the new form of worship the Heavenly Father seeks, and she embraced it. Her heartfelt statement, “Sir, give me this water” said it all (John 4:15). An outcast Samaritan was the first recorded person in John’s Gospel to experience the new birth and drink the living water that saves the soul.
This unnamed woman did not need to offer a lamb as a sacrifice to cover her sins. The seventh man was the Lamb of God. No blood was shed. None was needed.
Jesus explained it in two simple sentences:
“Believe me woman…. A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).
That statement forecast the new paradigm of worship and it would replace the Jewish temple.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the worship began to sprout. No more sheep or goats, nor doves or pigeons, nor lambs or rams. No more spilling the blood of animals would be needed to perpetuate this new order of worship. Jesus’ one sacrifice of His own holy blood became the atonement for the sins of all people who repent and accept Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus’ offer of “living water” to this day includes Jews and Gentiles; “whosoever will, let Him drink the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).
“God is Spirit,” and He wants sincere worship that is heartfelt, springing from a person’s inner soul. This adoration must also be wrapped in truth, genuine honesty, and pure integrity. This kind of heartfelt worship grounded in repentance before God and empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit is what the Heavenly Father seeks.
An unnamed woman who had five husbands and was living with a man not her husband was hungry for a new beginning, and she found it in the seventh Man. He was the most important person to ever come into her life. How many times men had manipulated and used her, even abused her, but not the seventh Man. He identified Himself as her Messiah who loved her for all the right reasons, and she believed Him.
Her testimony continues to circle the globe.
This new worship form was boldly launched three years later after the seventh Man’s death and resurrection when the Holy Spirit filled the 120 on the Day of Pentecost (John 1:29-34).
A new era of divine purposes dawned in Israel, and a fresh paradigm of worship was formed. John the Baptist’s prophecy was also being fulfilled. The seventh Man made all the difference.
About 37 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jerusalem fell to Rome’s legions, but the Lord’s Church continued to blossom across the Empire. The Holy Spirit had already constructed a new temple in the place of the one Herod built.
The temple of the heart became the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and this nameless woman with the checkered past drank deeply its living water. It was meant, in fact, for people just like her.
This Gospel, empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit has indeed gone to the nations, including all languages and ethnic groups. And today, the new paradigm of worshiping the Heavenly Father in Spirit and in truth continues to thrive – worldwide.
It’s all because of the sacrifice of the seventh Man.
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1My thanks to Rev. Wyatt Cook, pastor of Restore Church in West Columbia, SC, for giving me the phrase, “the seventh man.”
Author: Frank Tunstall
Jesus ended His first visit to the temple knowing the rulers did not want the new life He offered Nicodemus (in John 3); they even saw it as blasphemy. The Lord headed north with His disciples, telling them He had to “go through Samaria” (John 4:4).
Israel’s Messiah was certain He could not depend on the temple system of worship to develop His international ministry. Jesus was fully aware He had to bypass the temple and make a new beginning. But what a scary thought! May we never see the day when Jesus will need to bypass us to achieve His vision.
In Samaria, Jesus met a woman at Jacob’s Well who had five husbands in her past and the man she was living with was not her husband. Jesus, her Messiah, was the seventh man in her life. He made her the same offered Nicodemus rejected, “living water.”
In their conversation Jesus led her to the new form of worship the Heavenly Father seeks, and she embraced it. Her heartfelt statement, “Sir, give me this water” said it all (John 4:15). An outcast Samaritan was the first recorded person in John’s Gospel to experience the new birth and drink the living water that saves the soul.
This unnamed woman did not need to offer a lamb as a sacrifice to cover her sins. The seventh man was the Lamb of God. No blood was shed. None was needed.
Jesus explained it in two simple sentences:
“Believe me woman…. A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).
That statement forecast the new paradigm of worship and it would replace the Jewish temple.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the worship began to sprout. No more sheep or goats, nor doves or pigeons, nor lambs or rams. No more spilling the blood of animals would be needed to perpetuate this new order of worship. Jesus’ one sacrifice of His own holy blood became the atonement for the sins of all people who repent and accept Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus’ offer of “living water” to this day includes Jews and Gentiles; “whosoever will, let Him drink the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).
“God is Spirit,” and He wants sincere worship that is heartfelt, springing from a person’s inner soul. This adoration must also be wrapped in truth, genuine honesty, and pure integrity. This kind of heartfelt worship grounded in repentance before God and empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit is what the Heavenly Father seeks.
An unnamed woman who had five husbands and was living with a man not her husband was hungry for a new beginning, and she found it in the seventh Man. He was the most important person to ever come into her life. How many times men had manipulated and used her, even abused her, but not the seventh Man. He identified Himself as her Messiah who loved her for all the right reasons, and she believed Him.
Her testimony continues to circle the globe.
This new worship form was boldly launched three years later after the seventh Man’s death and resurrection when the Holy Spirit filled the 120 on the Day of Pentecost (John 1:29-34).
A new era of divine purposes dawned in Israel, and a fresh paradigm of worship was formed. John the Baptist’s prophecy was also being fulfilled. The seventh Man made all the difference.
About 37 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jerusalem fell to Rome’s legions, but the Lord’s Church continued to blossom across the Empire. The Holy Spirit had already constructed a new temple in the place of the one Herod built.
The temple of the heart became the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and this nameless woman with the checkered past drank deeply its living water. It was meant, in fact, for people just like her.
This Gospel, empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit has indeed gone to the nations, including all languages and ethnic groups. And today, the new paradigm of worshiping the Heavenly Father in Spirit and in truth continues to thrive – worldwide.
It’s all because of the sacrifice of the seventh Man.
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1My thanks to Rev. Wyatt Cook, pastor of Restore Church in West Columbia, SC, for giving me the phrase, “the seventh man.”