Section 14
that the Samaritan woman had a life full of pleas ure and enjoyment? No, but the Lord came into her life, and He changed her. That woman was simply a vessel in which the wine of human enjoy ment had run out. She tried five husbands, but eventually her human enjoyment ended with no wine. She tried her best to enjoy the wine of human pleasures, but finally she felt only emptiness and death. Then the Lord turned that death into life and filled her with the divine wine of His eternal life.
Chapter 5 shows a man who was sick for thirty-eight years. His sickness indicated that the wine was gone, but the Lord came to change his death into life. In the eyes of the Lord, he was not only sick but also dead, because later in verse 25 the Lord said that the dead will hear His voice and will live. He was not only a sick man healed by the Lord but also a dead man raised by the Lord. He was even weak and dead in religion. Although religion may be quite good, it requires energy. How could a dead man have energy? Consequently, he could do nothing with religion, for his wine had run out. But the Lord came to apply the prin ciple of changing the death into life, as seen in the first sign.
We may also apply this principle to the other