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John 4: “The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Right here in this passage Jesus identifies the new, only way (“must” from v24) we worship the Father. So what does it mean to worship in Spirit and truth?
Worshiping in Spirit and in truth is all about God’s presence.
The most foundational insight to worshiping in Spirit and truth is understanding that these two things (He provided for worship) are actually His very presence. God is Spirit, as verse 24 states. We know the Spirit proceeds from the Father (John 15:26). The Spirit is also revealed to be the Spirit of Christ (Galatians 4:6). So the Spirit is God Himself. Scripture also reveals that truth is God Himself. The Spirit is the Truth (1 John 5:6). Jesus Christ is the truth and the Word made flesh (John 14:6, John 1:14). The Father is true, though every man is a liar (Romans 3:4). Therefore, to worship in Spirit and in truth is to connect to God’s presence.
The surface topic of this conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is the physical location of worship. Jesus blows her concept of worship out of the water by saying worship is not actually about a physical location. This is earth shattering because of the Old Covenant’s understanding of God’s presence. All throughout the Old Testament God’s presence dwelt most specially in a physical location, like in the ark of the covenant, in the Tabernacle, or in the Temple. Only certain people, in certain ways and at certain times could access this most holy presence of God. Jesus is telling her that communing with God’s presence is no longer constrained in these ways, but elevated to only be through Spirit and truth.
All these old ways were but a shadow, whereas the substance is Christ: He is ALL we need (Colossians 2:16-17)!! When we understand worship as communing with God’s presence, the freedom Jesus brought will be awe inspiring. All barriers that kept us from His intimate presence are broken; He tore the temple curtain (Hebrews 10:19-20; Matthew 27:51). And He declares He will live in us when we submit to Him (Ephesians 1:13).
Where once worship culminated in a physical space and time (temple or mountain), now, because of Jesus, God freely gives His presence (He is Spirit) to be with believers at all times.To worship in Spirit and truth is to be one with His presence at all times, in every place because He lives inside of believers.
In the conversation of changing where we worship, Jesus is more deeply addressing the means by which we worship. In large part, location was important because of the means by which the Old Testament law called for worship: festivals and sacrifices, ordinances which were in place because God’s presence needed to be mediated. In Christ, it is no longer yearly gatherings or rhythmic sacrifices which bring us into God’s presence but rather His cleansing blood. What Jesus is really saying is that worshiping in Spirit and truth is worshiping by God’s powerful presence, not your own strength to attend festivals or make sacrifices; these things never were the point, nor powerful enough to actually accomplish the worship God desired from us (Romans 3:20, Hebrews 10:1-10, Colossians 2:16-17). Where once worship was rote, constrained to following laws with a heart of stone, God has given us the power to worship through a heart of flesh. Amen!!
Ezekiel 36: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
Everything we need for worship, God provides in giving the new heart of flesh (v26) and in giving His Spirit (v27). Philippians 3:3 explains this picture of worship by telling us true worshipers are those who “worship by the Spirit, boast in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh,” and NOT those who follow the Old Covenant law of circumcision. Both of these Scriptures tell of a worship that is done through God Himself, not of anything found in ourselves. It is a humble, contrite worship that knows we bring absolutely nothing acceptable to offer God AND that He provided everything (His presence) needed to worship Him (Philippians 4:13)! He seeks us to worship Him and He wants to give Himself to us because he rewards faith (John 4:23, Hebrews 11:6). He joyfully provided the Spirit and truth for each of us who respond in faith to Him! So ask for them.
What does receiving His presence truly look like? It looks like marriage. It looks like life. It looks like intimate communion of knowing and being known. Communion with the presence of God is our worship, for eternal life is to know Him (John 17:3). Intimacy with God, or ‘knowing’ Him, is salvation and salvation is the goal of our faith (1 Peter 1:9). As we look to eternity to see the fulfillment of worshiping in Spirit and in truth, it is marriage with God (Revelation 21:1-14). It is from the identity of being a bride that we will finally worship God without hindrance when our marriage with God is fully consummated. Marital intimacy with God is the covenant Jesus proposes when He extends the cup of His blood (History Article). Worship in the New Covenant is a marriage relationship. This is what God chose would glorify Himself, so press in. He’s worthy of your devotion that flows not from legalism or apathy, but from intimate love.
The Spirit and the truth are intimately connected to our intimacy with God because they literally are the life of God. When we receive the Spirit and the Word (the Truth) as both the intimate presence of God within us, we receive the very life of God (Romans 8:9, James 1:21). We know God is Life (John 1:4). Scripture states that the Word is life (John 6:63) and that the Spirit gives life (John 6:63, Romans 8:10). Therefore, worshiping in Spirit and truth is about sharing in the life (presence) of God. It is growing in receiving His fullness more and more by receiving more of His Spirit and truth until we see Him face to face and reflect Him perfectly (Ephesians 3:17-19 & 5:15-18, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 13:12).
And while intimate life with Christ is us knowing Him, Scripture divulges that knowing God is actually about being known by Him (Galatians 4:9, 1 Corinthians 8:3, Song of Songs 7:10). The kind of ‘knowing’ is like Adam knew Eve and is used in Psalm 1:6 exclusively for how God knows the righteous. Christ became our righteousness (1 Cor 1:30, 2 Cor 5:21) so being known like this is for those of us who have received Christ’s righteousness through faith. Letting God know us intimately, sharing in His very presence, is tied to growing in holiness (Psalm 139:23-24), which leads to more of Him and less of us. Jesus works to perfect those of us who are perfected (Hebrews 10:14).
So the call is to surrender to Christ’s knocking and let Him into the depths of our being so He may know us as a husband knows a wife (Revelation 3:20). The call to be His temple is a call for a one flesh marriage union with Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:15-20). This looks like letting Christ dwell in us to make us His own body and to perfect us as His bride because this is how He is glorified (Ephesians 5:27-30).
Right here in this passage Jesus identifies the new, only way (“must” from v24) we worship the Father. So what does it mean to worship in Spirit and truth?
Worshiping in Spirit and in truth is all about God’s presence.
The most foundational insight to worshiping in Spirit and truth is understanding that these two things (He provided for worship) are actually His very presence. God is Spirit, as verse 24 states. We know the Spirit proceeds from the Father (John 15:26). The Spirit is also revealed to be the Spirit of Christ (Galatians 4:6). So the Spirit is God Himself. Scripture also reveals that truth is God Himself. The Spirit is the Truth (1 John 5:6). Jesus Christ is the truth and the Word made flesh (John 14:6, John 1:14). The Father is true, though every man is a liar (Romans 3:4). Therefore, to worship in Spirit and in truth is to connect to God’s presence.
The surface topic of this conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is the physical location of worship. Jesus blows her concept of worship out of the water by saying worship is not actually about a physical location. This is earth shattering because of the Old Covenant’s understanding of God’s presence. All throughout the Old Testament God’s presence dwelt most specially in a physical location, like in the ark of the covenant, in the Tabernacle, or in the Temple. Only certain people, in certain ways and at certain times could access this most holy presence of God. Jesus is telling her that communing with God’s presence is no longer constrained in these ways, but elevated to only be through Spirit and truth.
All these old ways were but a shadow, whereas the substance is Christ: He is ALL we need (Colossians 2:16-17)!! When we understand worship as communing with God’s presence, the freedom Jesus brought will be awe inspiring. All barriers that kept us from His intimate presence are broken; He tore the temple curtain (Hebrews 10:19-20; Matthew 27:51). And He declares He will live in us when we submit to Him (Ephesians 1:13).
Where once worship culminated in a physical space and time (temple or mountain), now, because of Jesus, God freely gives His presence (He is Spirit) to be with believers at all times.To worship in Spirit and truth is to be one with His presence at all times, in every place because He lives inside of believers.
In the conversation of changing where we worship, Jesus is more deeply addressing the means by which we worship. In large part, location was important because of the means by which the Old Testament law called for worship: festivals and sacrifices, ordinances which were in place because God’s presence needed to be mediated. In Christ, it is no longer yearly gatherings or rhythmic sacrifices which bring us into God’s presence but rather His cleansing blood. What Jesus is really saying is that worshiping in Spirit and truth is worshiping by God’s powerful presence, not your own strength to attend festivals or make sacrifices; these things never were the point, nor powerful enough to actually accomplish the worship God desired from us (Romans 3:20, Hebrews 10:1-10, Colossians 2:16-17). Where once worship was rote, constrained to following laws with a heart of stone, God has given us the power to worship through a heart of flesh. Amen!!
Ezekiel 36: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
Everything we need for worship, God provides in giving the new heart of flesh (v26) and in giving His Spirit (v27). Philippians 3:3 explains this picture of worship by telling us true worshipers are those who “worship by the Spirit, boast in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh,” and NOT those who follow the Old Covenant law of circumcision. Both of these Scriptures tell of a worship that is done through God Himself, not of anything found in ourselves. It is a humble, contrite worship that knows we bring absolutely nothing acceptable to offer God AND that He provided everything (His presence) needed to worship Him (Philippians 4:13)! He seeks us to worship Him and He wants to give Himself to us because he rewards faith (John 4:23, Hebrews 11:6). He joyfully provided the Spirit and truth for each of us who respond in faith to Him! So ask for them.
What does receiving His presence truly look like? It looks like marriage. It looks like life. It looks like intimate communion of knowing and being known. Communion with the presence of God is our worship, for eternal life is to know Him (John 17:3). Intimacy with God, or ‘knowing’ Him, is salvation and salvation is the goal of our faith (1 Peter 1:9). As we look to eternity to see the fulfillment of worshiping in Spirit and in truth, it is marriage with God (Revelation 21:1-14). It is from the identity of being a bride that we will finally worship God without hindrance when our marriage with God is fully consummated. Marital intimacy with God is the covenant Jesus proposes when He extends the cup of His blood (History Article). Worship in the New Covenant is a marriage relationship. This is what God chose would glorify Himself, so press in. He’s worthy of your devotion that flows not from legalism or apathy, but from intimate love.
The Spirit and the truth are intimately connected to our intimacy with God because they literally are the life of God. When we receive the Spirit and the Word (the Truth) as both the intimate presence of God within us, we receive the very life of God (Romans 8:9, James 1:21). We know God is Life (John 1:4). Scripture states that the Word is life (John 6:63) and that the Spirit gives life (John 6:63, Romans 8:10). Therefore, worshiping in Spirit and truth is about sharing in the life (presence) of God. It is growing in receiving His fullness more and more by receiving more of His Spirit and truth until we see Him face to face and reflect Him perfectly (Ephesians 3:17-19 & 5:15-18, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 13:12).
And while intimate life with Christ is us knowing Him, Scripture divulges that knowing God is actually about being known by Him (Galatians 4:9, 1 Corinthians 8:3, Song of Songs 7:10). The kind of ‘knowing’ is like Adam knew Eve and is used in Psalm 1:6 exclusively for how God knows the righteous. Christ became our righteousness (1 Cor 1:30, 2 Cor 5:21) so being known like this is for those of us who have received Christ’s righteousness through faith. Letting God know us intimately, sharing in His very presence, is tied to growing in holiness (Psalm 139:23-24), which leads to more of Him and less of us. Jesus works to perfect those of us who are perfected (Hebrews 10:14).
So the call is to surrender to Christ’s knocking and let Him into the depths of our being so He may know us as a husband knows a wife (Revelation 3:20). The call to be His temple is a call for a one flesh marriage union with Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:15-20). This looks like letting Christ dwell in us to make us His own body and to perfect us as His bride because this is how He is glorified (Ephesians 5:27-30).