Answer
John 4 records a divine appointment between Jesus and a Samaritan woman. Weary from traveling, Jesus rests by a well when a woman from the nearby village arrives to draw water. Perceiving her desiccated spiritual condition and need for salvation, Jesus initiates a dialogue. In the course of the conversation, He says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13–14). At first, the woman thinks Jesus is offering natural water to quench her literal thirst. But He has something entirely different and otherworldly in mind.
Inside every human heart exists a God-induced craving—a spiritual thirst—that only He can satisfy (Ecclesiastes 3:11; Psalm 42:2; 63:1). He made us that way so we would seek to know Him. Physical thirst is used throughout the Bible to depict this profound human privation. Isaiah speaks of the Lord supplying flowing water to satiate this spiritual thirst: “The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I will answer them. I am the Lord, the God of Israel. I will not abandon them. I will open rivers on the barren heights, and springs in the middle of the plains. I will turn the desert into a pool and dry land into springs” (Isaiah 41:17–18, CSB; see also Isaiah 12:2–3; 35:6–7; 49:10; 58:11).
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is revealed to be the fountain of living water (John 4:4–26; 7:37–39; cf. Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13; Zechariah 14:8–9). Early in His ministry, Jesus taught, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6, ESV). Then in the book of Revelation, we are given a glimpse of redeemed believers surrounding God’s throne in heaven. They “no longer thirst” because the Lamb of God guides “them to springs of the waters of life” (Revelation 7:13–17, CSB).
Jesus Christ is the only satisfactory source to quench our dry and thirsty souls (1 Corinthians 10:3–4). Faith is the key to partaking of the fountain of the water of life. Jesus told His disciples, “Whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35, ESV). He explained in detail, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him” (John 7:38). This soul-quenching fountain of living water flows from Jesus Christ to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 7:39).
Along with food, air, and light, water is one of the most essential elements to sustain physical life. On a spiritual level, Jesus is all of these—He is the “bread of life” (John 6:48), the “breath of life” (Genesis 2:7; John 3:8; 20:22), the “light of all mankind” (John 1:4), and the supplier of “living water” (John 4:10).
Jesus offers unlimited refills. Anyone who believes in Christ, receives His salvation, and abides in Him will never thirst again because that person drinks from an inexhaustible supply of pure and “living water” (John 4:10). The prophet predicted, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). The living water Jesus spoke of represents eternal life, and Jesus Christ is its sole supplier (John 14:6; 17:3; 1 John 1:1–2; 5:20; 1 Corinthians 15:20–22). Later, Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die” (John 11:25–26, NLT).
John’s account of Jesus and the Samaritan woman emphasizes that Jesus “had to go through Samaria” (John 4:4). Jesus could have taken another route on His journey back to Galilee. Instead, He went through Samaria because of a divine appointment with a desperately thirsty woman who needed salvation. As a result of her encounter with Jesus, many Samaritans will never thirst again because they believed in Jesus, drank from His well of living water, and received the gift of eternal life (John 4:39–43).
At Scripture’s close, Christ’s invitation continues to ring out: “Both the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ Let anyone who hears, say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17, CSB; see also Revelation 21:6). Through Christ’s redeeming sacrifice on the cross and subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit, believers can experience intimate and eternal fellowship with God. Only in a restored relationship with the Father is the soul’s craving satiated, allowing believers to never thirst again.
