In Old Testament times the children of Israel worshipped God in a particular place—Jerusalem. When they went to Jerusalem to worship God, they could not be empty-handed. They were required to go to Jerusalem with offerings for the worship of God. All those offerings were types of Christ. Therefore, the children of Israel worshipped God in the place designated by God and with the offerings required by God. In typology the place chosen by God typifies the human spirit, where God’s habitation is today (Eph. 2:22), and the offerings typify Christ.
In chapter four of John the Samaritan woman said to the Lord Jesus, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship” (v. 20). The Lord Jesus answered, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father” (v. 21). The Lord’s answer indicates that the dispensation was changing. In Old Testament times God commanded His people to worship Him in Jerusalem with the offerings. But the hour has changed, and now is the hour of the Spirit. Therefore, the Lord went on to say that God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit, not in a certain place. This means that in the fulfillment of the typology, the human spirit replaces Jerusalem as the designated place. The Lord also told the Samaritan woman that the true worshippers must worship the Father not only in spirit, but also in reality. Reality here is the Christ whom we experience as the reality of all the offerings. Hence, Christ as the offerings is the fulfillment of the type of the sacrifices used in the worship of God. Today we need to worship God in our spirit and with the Christ whom we have experienced as the burnt offering, meal offering, peace offering, sin offering, and trespass offering.
We need to worship the Father with the Christ who is the fulfillment of the offerings that the children of Israel offered in their worship to God. This Christ is not the objective Christ; rather, He is the subjective Christ, the Christ whom we have experienced. The experience of Christ as the fulfillment of the offerings results in reality. This is the reality in John 4:23 and 24, the divine reality experienced by us and resulting in our virtue. This virtue also is reality.
Suppose two Israelites, one from the tribe of Judah and the other from the tribe of Dan, came to worship God. They both had to worship in Jerusalem, in particular, on Mount Zion, which was in the center of Jerusalem. They also had to worship God with certain offerings; they were not allowed to appear before Him empty-handed. For the proper worship of God they had to come to the place designated by God, and they had to bring their offerings. If they fulfilled these requirements, their worship of God would be proper.
According to the Old Testament, proper worship is not a matter of one’s physical posture before God; that is, it is not a matter of standing, kneeling, or prostrating oneself. Proper worship in the Old Testament is a matter of coming to the right place—Mount Zion in Jerusalem—and with the right things—the offerings. After the offerings were presented to God, those who offered them could also enjoy them with God by eating a portion of them. Therefore, proper worship includes coming to the right place, presenting the offerings to God, and eating the offerings in the presence of God. This indicates that singing, praising, and praying are not the prerequisites for the proper worship of God. The prerequisites are the place God designates and the offerings God requires. After the offerings were offered to God at the place designated by God, they were enjoyed by the offerers in the presence of God and with God. According to typology, this is proper worship.
Now we need to understand how this typology is fulfilled by the proper worship in the New Testament. The proper place for us to worship God is in our spirit. Furthermore, when we worship God in spirit, we must worship him with the Christ whom we have been experiencing.
Do you know what the Christian life is? The Christian life is a life of daily experiencing the Christ we have received. The Christian life is a life of experiencing Christ all the time. This experience of Christ produces the offerings with which we worship God.
As Christians, we should daily experience Christ. Then we should come to the meetings of the church in spirit and with the Christ whom we have been experiencing in our daily living. In the church meetings we should worship God in our spirit and with the very Christ whom we have experienced as the offerings. We may offer Him as the sin offering or as the trespass offering. We may also offer Him as the burnt offering, as the meal offering, or as the peace offering. All these offerings are the Christ whom we experience subjectively.
This subjective experience of Christ is the issue of our enjoyment of the Triune God. When we experience Christ, we are actually enjoying the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Hence, to experience Christ is to enjoy the Triune God. This enjoyment results in a reality that is very subjective and practical. On the one hand, this reality is Christ in us; on the other hand, this is also our reality.
Suppose certain brothers in the church life are indifferent concerning Christ and idle with respect to the experience of Christ. As a result, they do not have any experience of Him. They have believed in the Lord’s name and received Him, and that is all. They do not have any experience of Christ in their daily living. These brothers may be ethical and moral, not committing any gross sins. But because they do not have any experience of Christ in their daily living, when they come to the church meetings, they come empty-handed. They are not able to pray or give a word for the Lord. They may like to sit in the meeting and watch others function. This is an insult to God. This kind of worship is not only rejected by Him—it is condemned.
We should not come to God empty-handed. Whenever we come to Him, we should have something of the Christ we have experienced in our daily living. Do you know what God wants from us in our worship of Him? God wants the Christ we have experienced. His desire is that we worship Him with the Christ we experience day by day.
We have pointed out that in experiencing Christ we enjoy God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. This enjoyment issues in a reality that we may call our personal reality. This personal reality is a matter of having Christ saturating our inner being. When we have this reality, we have Christ in our spirit, heart, mind, emotion, and will. This is the Christ whom we have experienced becoming our reality. Now we should worship God not only in our spirit, but also worship Him with this reality, which is the Christ we experience in our daily living. This is not only the divine reality for our enjoyment; this is also our human reality, our personal reality, which comes out of our enjoyment of the divine reality. This human reality is the issue of the divine reality which we enjoy daily. This is the proper understanding of reality in John 4:23 and 24.
The meaning of truth in John 4:23 and 24 has been either concealed or misunderstood. We have indicated that some Christians have been taught that to worship God in truth is to worship Him in sincerity. Years ago, I heard messages saying that we need to be sincere in our worship of God and that this sincerity is what the Lord Jesus meant by truth in these verses. For example, one may say to the members of a congregation, “You have come to worship God, but your heart is not here. If you are a businessman, your heart may be occupied with your business. This means that you are worshipping God without sincerity. When you worship God, you must forget about other things and worship Him with sincerity. For the worship of God, you need a sincere heart.”
To interpret the word truth in John 4:23 and 24 as sincerity is to expound the Word of God in a way that is natural and religious. This interpretation is definitely not according to the divine revelation. The truth of the divine revelation here is that we need to worship God in reality, which is the issue of our enjoyment of the Triune God as reality. If we experience Christ daily, we shall enjoy the Triune God as our reality. This enjoyment will result in a virtue, and this virtue will become our human reality, a reality that is the outcome of the divine reality. Then we should worship God with this reality. This virtue is nothing less than Christ experienced by us, and this Christ is all the offerings. The Christ we have experienced is our sin offering, trespass offering, burnt offering, meal offering, and peace offering.