Fields are a type of the world. We have heard of those called to ‘the mission fields’, and what is a field but land which is ready to receive seed to bring about new growth and be a provision for the season ahead.

This allusion allows Jesus to talk of The Law of Sowing and Reaping — one of the big four ‘immutable laws’*. He tells us clearly here what the world (the field) is like. ‘One sows and another reaps.’, He says. We can see that He sowed seed with the Samaritan woman at the well, and reaped a harvest when other Samaritans heard of Him from her.

And many more believed because of His own word.
Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
[John 4:41-42 NKJV]

He sows the seed in us that we might bear fruit — and that fruit is passing on as seed to others, that they also may bear fruit. This is not our work; this is entirely and completely Jesus at work; we are mere vessels witnessing to His message. There will be a harvest, and we benefit from this amazing gift.

Jesus asks us to ‘look at the fields’; see the prophetic truth of His mission. Those fields are ‘already white for harvest!’; brilliant with the light of those coming to see the purity and holiness of The Lord.

* The main 4 Immutable Spiritual Laws (unchanging principles) in scripture are:

1. The Law of Forgiveness
2. The Law of Judgement
3. The Law of Sowing and Reaping
4. The Law of Idolatry

1 - Sowing the seed by the dawn-light fair,
Sowing the seed by the noonday glare,
Sowing the seed by the fading light,
Sowing the seed in the solemn night:
O what shall the harvest be?

Refrain:
Sown in the darkness or sown in the light,
Sown in our weakness or sown in our might,
Gathered in time or eternity,
Sure, ah! sure, will the harvest be.

2 - Sowing the seed by the wayside high,
Sowing the seed on the rocks to die,
Sowing the seed where the thorns will spoil,
Sowing the seed in the fertile soil:
O what shall the harvest be?

3 - Sowing the seed with an aching heart,
Sowing the seed while the tear-drops start,
Sowing in hope, till the reapers come,
Gladly to gather the harvest home:
O what shall the harvest be?

This is an aside to our study of John’s Gospel, but I feel is very relevant to what He is saying ‘in this hour’. John uses the phrase ‘the hour is coming’ five times, and in the form we see here ‘... and now is’ or ‘... has now come’, three times.

The import of the phrase is clearly ‘now is the hour’, with the emphasis on ‘now’.; this moment; immediately. And what happens now?

• true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth
• the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God;,and those who hear will live.
• that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave me alone.

These are prophetic utterances, each given in full understanding, knowing whose we are. Jesus knows who are true worshipers; who will hear Him, but also that we will be scattered. In other words, He has no illusions about us. He knows that we are fallible and will most likely — in this moment — abandon Him when it comes to the crunch. Are we so easily lost? Jesus goes on to say, in chapter 17:

“Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.
Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
[John 17:7-14 NKJV]

What becomes clear after reading John 17, is that when Jesus talks of being alone, He is meaning His disciples then and now. There will be times when we leave Him alone, but He will not be downcast because He has kept us in Your name. We will want to leave Him alone, but He knows who will repent and return and none of them is lost except the son of perdition.

We are to Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. [Galatians 5:1 NKJV]

We can be eternally free now, when we choose Him.

See also “The Hour Is Come”

This passage from John chapter 4 is a wonderful evocation of the Holy Spirit — indeed the fountain is a powerful Holy Spirit symbol — and we feel refreshed just reading these words.

Again and again, allusions are made to the Holy Spirit — indeed, “in spirit and truth” is mentioned twice here;
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
[John 4:24-26 NKJV]

Water is essential for life. Our bodies are some 70% water and we can survive much longer without food than without water; but no mention is made in this physiological information of the spiritual dimension. How long can we live without spiritual nourishment?

Jesus, as always, provides an answer which transcends the question — not ‘how long can we live without?’, but ‘you will have life everlasting’ — turning a question into a statement. Is it a statement of fact? For the answer to that question, we must travel with Him from Samaria to Galilee.