◄ What Does John 4:23 Mean? ►

The Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnate, and His coming fulfilled many biblical prophecies. He had been born of a virgin as foretold by Isaiah, and His birthplace was Bethlehem as Micah tells us. He was called out of Egypt, anointed by the Holy Spirit, and Daniel even proclaimed the exact time of His appearance.

The King of Israel had arrived and the good news of His kingdom was being proclaimed far and wide. The temporary, old covenant was to be replaced with a new, everlasting covenant, and the symbols of earthly worship (the man-made Temple and the old priestly order), were to be exchanged for the kingdom of heaven, where Christ was to reign supreme.

The hour had indeed arrived when true worshippers of God would worship the Father in spirit and truth, not in temples made with hands or buildings constructed of stone, nor on the tops of mountains. True worshippers would glorify and extol the Lord in spirit and in truth, and they were to be instructed by God Himself on the sort of godly living that He requires from all His people.

The Lord Jesus not only came to fulfil the Law of Moses and the prophecies that related to His first coming, but He came to demonstrate in Person, what God desires from all His worshippers.

Although the Lord Jesus Christ was fully God, He showed us how to live our lives as God intended every man to live; in spirit and in truth. He lived His life as a demonstration of how we should live our lives, in willing dependence upon the Father, in humble submission to the indwelling Holy Spirit, and walking day by day in spirit and in truth.

As Jesus spoke to a lost woman at a well in Samaria near the beginning of His earthly ministry, He looked past the shadow of the Cross to that glorious day when the Church would be born. In that day, true worshippers of the Father would worship Him in spirit and in truth, as guided by the indwelling Holy Spirit and in utter dependence upon Himself. And He would give to each believer His own resurrected life, our new-life in Christ as we abide in Him and He in us.

But as the Son of Man Himself walked this earth in humble dependence upon His Father, He could also proclaim that now is the time when true worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and truth. From the beginning to the end of His life, the Man, Christ Jesus, was the perfect example of a worshipper. He lived as God intended man to live; delighting in the Lord, walking in spirit and truth, living in total dependence upon the Father, and in willing submission to the Spirit, for the man who worships God in spirit and truth is the man who is willing to say: "Thy will not mine be done."

Let us choose to imitate the Lord Jesus in how He lived so that we too may worship the Father in spirit and in truth to His praise and glory, as we submit to the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit and trust in Christ Jesus, our Strength and our Redeemer.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the beautiful example of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who lived His life in total dependence upon You and worshipped You in spirit and in truth. I pray that I may learn to depend on You fully and yield to the leading and guidance of your Holy Spirit in willing submission. I pray that I may abide in Christ and He in me, knowing that only as I rest in Him, will I be enabled to worship You as You as You deserve, in spirit and in truth. This I ask in Jesus' name. AMEN.