In John 4 we find Jesus sitting at a well talking with a Samaritan Jesus, as always, is not concerned with the cultural taboos that He is . Interacting with a Samaritan was a disgrace, and to be interacting with woman was a double strike. Jesus proceeds to engage her in a discussion about worship. She then brings up a culturally controversial question. Where is the proper place to worship—where the Jews worship or where the Samaritans worship?
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"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem" (John 4: 19-20).
Jesus, always being one step ahead, gives her a totally unexpected answer. He tells her of a whole new location for proper worship. He says that the place ofthe Jew's worship and the place of the Samaritan's worship are both being voided, and a new place is being set up.
Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know,for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-24).
This woman's question concerns the location of our worship. Jesus says that the previous locations of worship, whether on this mountain or in Jerusalem, were no longer going to be used. Then He speaks of a new location of worship that was coming in the future. Worship must take place in spirit and in truth. Because God is a spirit,our worship must be in the spirit realm.
We need to recognize the strong imperative of this statement: "Those who worship Him must..." Our worship is missing a fundamental element unless we gain insight into what the verse is telling us we must do. Take a moment and consider how you have understood this passage in the past or how you have heard it taught. Most people have never been trained to look closely to find out how to properly worship God as a spirit, and yet the key lies right under our nose.
IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH
The word spirit in John 4:24 could refer to the human spirit, the Holy Spirit, or the spirit realm. In Greek there is one word for spirit (pneuma), and it can be difficult to determine which meaning of spirit is being conveyed. To determine the meaning of the word spirit, we must always look at the context. The best way to do that would be to understand what the word truth means.
The prolific author and teacher Watchman Nee gives the following insight into John 4:
What then is spiritual reality? The Lord said that "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness" (John 4:24). The word truthfulness can be translated as reality. (As mentioned in the previous chapter, Vine's Expository Dictionary defines truth [Greek: aletheia] as "the reality lying at the basis of an appearance; the manifested, veritable, essence of a matter.
The Lord also said, "But when He, the Spirit ofreality, comes, He willguideyou into all the reality" ( 16: 13). First John 5:6 says, "The Spirit is He who testifies, because the Spirit is the reality." This shows us that God is Spirit, and everything related to God has to be in spirit. The Spirit of truth is the Spirit of reality. Hence, spiritual reality must be in the Holy Spirit.
Spiritual reality is something that transcends people and things. Only that which is in the Holy Spirit is spiritual reality. All spiritual things are sustained in the Holy Spirit. Once a spiritual thing moves away from
the Holy Spirit, it becomes letter and form, and it is dead. All spiritual things must be in the Holy Spirit before they can be real, living, and organic. The Holy Spirit leads us into all reality. Hence, any experience that we can acquire without the guidance of the Holy Spirit is