This is a special edition of the Monthly Manna, an in-depth study of Spirit and Truth. Jesus said, “you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (Jn. 8:32) The truth shall make us free to embrace this new dimension that Jesus was talking about.
“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)
There are so many wonderful teachings on this passage of scripture that will lead us to a deeper revelation of praise and worship. However, I don’t believe Jesus was giving instructions regarding the way we should conduct our worship services but rather the way we should conduct our lives. Beloved, worship is not a musical expression. Webster’s dictionary defines worship as the human response to the self-revelation of the triune God. Music is a wonderful way to express worship but real worship is simply a movement of your heart.
So with an Amen in your heart, let us dig deeper into the Word to see what Jesus may have been saying here in this mysterious passage. The word truth is derived from the negative word lanthano meaning; to be hidden. There is no debate that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the preexistent Word who was hidden with God in the beginning and has now become flesh. (Jn. 1:1-18) The Bible is the full truth and nothing but the truth from cover to cover, but Jesus said to worship the Father, truth alone wasn’t enough. Worship must be done in spirit and truth.
The Word of God is designed to become flesh within every believer by being written on our hearts (Jer. 31:33) taking it from head knowledge to heart revelation. The New Testament uses two different Greek words, logos and rhema, to define the word, Word in reference to the Bible. Logos is the message - the written Word of God. Rhema is the communication of the message and is a work of the third person of the Trinity or as I like to say, the Spirit that is behind the Truth, “the Spirit of Truth.” (Jn. 15:26) The Holy Spirit is the one who communicates the written word to us, for we cannot worship what we don’t understand. By definition, rhema is, and I quote, “that which is or has been uttered by the Living Voice.” (Str. # 4487) Dontcha’ just love that, the Living Voice!
Jesus told us another truth, He said that because He goes to His Father all the works that He did and even greater works we would do also. (Jn. 14:12) This is the truth but I think unfortunately we miss it because we over spiritualize Jesus’ divinity when it comes to His works here on earth. We casually chalk His walk up to the fact that He was the Son of God. However, in reality He was just as dependent on the Father as we are. He said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself. He does only what He sees the Father doing…” (Jn. 5:19 NLT) He was the Truth yet He admitted that He could do nothing by Himself. Jesus was dependent on the rhema communication of God to show Him what the Father was doing in heaven and then He simply did only what He saw the Father doing.
If we want to know how to do these greater works, we need to follow His example. Every situation Jesus faced He handled differently. He didn’t respond with the same prayer, the same word or the same action. He caught the wind of the Spirit, the rhema communication so He would know if He was to spit in the mud, plug the ears, speak a command, pray, fast or eat. Jesus needed to go to the source because only the Father, from His view in heaven, knows how much or how little is needed here on earth. Jesus was the Truth but there was more to be communicated to Him. He needed the rhema communication by the Spirit and so do we. In John 16:12-13 Jesus says, “I still have many things to say to you…when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” Seven times in the book of Revelation Jesus said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” O’ Lord, let us hear because the Spirit of Truth still has something so say. Sometimes it is for spiritual union and other times it is for action.
Another work of the Holy Spirit is to anoint us for action. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel…to heal the brokenhearted…to proclaim liberty…and recovery of sight…to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19) The Word of God is the firm foundation on which we stand but the Spirit’s communication of it brings forth an action on our part. Look at John the Baptist, now that was one anointed man! While John was in the wilderness, the rhema word of the Lord came to him declaring that he was the fulfillment of the logos found in Isaiah 40:3:5 which was written over 400 years earlier. The Spirit of Truth told John that he was the one in the wilderness crying out to prepare the way of the Lord. (Matt. 3:3) I don’t know why John was in the wilderness, but he was. The wilderness is never a pleasant place to be, but it was there while he was alone in the wilderness that the rhema word of the Lord came to him and changed his life forever. Something exploded within him connecting all the dots, Spirit and Truth became one within him. Suddenly he had a purpose-driven life to prepare the way of the LORD and by his actions, his life became worship all the way to the end when his head was handed over on a platter to Herodias.
The anointing for action is what I call the “do factor” and I believe this “do factor” is what will move us into the realm of worship. The “do factor” is not the worship, but the actual doing of what you are called to do is where it switches over to worship. Now we will get to the Spirit to spirit connection that releases worship. Up to this point, we have been talking about the word Spirit in the context of God’s Holy Spirit. However, in both Greek (pneuma) and Hebrew (ruah) the word spirit is used interchangeably for God’s Divine Spirit and man’s spirit. Biblical Hebrew defines the word spirit (ruah) as: wind, breath, mind. Everything that that breathes has spirit/breath. However, humans uniquely have God’s breath, God’s Spirit. In Genesis 2:7 God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” Animals are living beings, but they did not receive the breath of God. God is Spirit, and we are created in His image and so we have a spirit as well. Our spirit is the part of us that is capable of engaging with and responding to God. Ps. 150:6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Everything, all of creation praises the Lord, the trees of the field clap their hands; even the stones are able to cry out in a mighty HalleluYah if we don’t. However, praise is not worship. Worship involves an act of free will. Trees don’t have a will, animals don’t, stones don’t, you get the picture. The will is an aspect of creation that was given uniquely to man. Because God has a free will, we too have a free will. It’s no wonder Jesus said that blasphemy against the Spirit was unpardonable. What was designed to be a spirit to Spirit connection becomes a spirit to Spirit rejection at the core of God’s being.
There is even more to what the word spirit means and this is where I believe it becomes worship. The word spirit also means scent, fragrance, aroma, and accept. According to the Theological Word book of the Old Testament, the goal of Old Testament sacrifice was to be a sweet savor, a soothing aroma to God (Gen. 8:21) As we obey the Spirit and the Truth, even though it seems as crazy as spitting in the mud, our spirit releases a fragrance, a soothing aroma which is an acceptable scent in the nostrils of God. At the wedding in Cana, Jesus’ mother Mary said to the servants, “whatever He says to you, do it.” (Jn. 2.5) Beloved, when we do whatever the Spirit behind the Truth says to us, our water will turn into wine and our movements will turn into worship. Worship doesn’t come from our actions; worship determines them. In John 14:15, Jesus is saying, if you love Me, you’ll obey Me. If, is the key word. Jesus didn’t go through all the torture of the cross so we would obey Him; He did it so we could love Him. Worship is the natural byproduct of a heart that is in love with God.
I would like to close where it all began, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Gen. 1:2 KJV) The Spirit of God moved on the waters. Selah… When Jesus was talking to the outcast Samaritan woman at the well, His Spirit was moving over her void waters. As He spoke, she heard the Spirit behind the Truth, the Living Voice, the rhema word of God and within her sprang up waters unto everlasting life. Rhema comes from the word meaning “to pour forth.” Beloved, God has waters in you that He wants to pour forth here on earth, and as you pour them out as an act of obedience it will be a love offering of worship to Him.
“Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out.” (Song. 4:16) Let my Beloved come to His garden in Spirit and Truth. Amen.
