24. God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
It may be human nature, or simply a lack of understanding, but many people tend to think of God as if He were human. Speaking of Him as if He reacts the way we do, feels the way we feel, or responds the way we respond. I often hear people speak about God making someone pay who has wronged them, even politicians they disagree with. As if God is their personal judiciary, obligated to carry out their sense of justice.
Others treat prayer as a one-sided session of requests, wants, and desires, as if God exists to serve them. It is true, God is Judge of all the earth. Yes, He does provide our needs and even our desires according to His will. But is it possible to truly know God and still treat Him like a servant? Can there be a desire to be obedient to God if the relationship is one-sided, and that side continually takes God for granted? How can there be intimacy with God without seeking to know His desires?
Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well: “God is Spirit.” Until we understand what that means we will never approach Him as He truly is. But before we can understand how to approach God, we must first understand who God is—and to know who He is, we must know His name.
In the ancient world, a pagan god’s name determined what the deity depended on. Ra was the Sun god of Egypt. Baal was the Canaanite storm god. Artemis of Ephesus was the fertility goddess. In fact, in Egypt alone, during the days of Moses, Egyptian texts name over 1,400 deities—each tied to a specific force of nature or human need.
But when Moses asked God what name he should give the Israelites, God did not identify himself with the sun, moon, stars, harvest, or fertility. He did not tie Himself to anything created—showing that His being was not dependent on anything created.
Instead God said to Moses: “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.”
With the words “I AM WHO I AM” the God of Israel revealed that He is not defined by creation—He is the creator. Revealing His nature as self-existent, existing before time itself, eternal, unchanging, and independent of all things. These are the very attributes that allow us to begin understanding what Jesus meant when He said, “God is Spirit.”
Because He is Spirit, God is omnipresent—everywhere at all times. David asks in Psalm 139:7,
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?” There is no place where God is not.
Because He is Spirit, God is omniscient—knowing all things past, present, and future. As David declares in Psalm 139:2, “You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.”
And because He is Spirit, God is omnipotent—all‐powerful. The angel told Mary in Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
We cannot understand nor access God on a human level. As such, we must do so on a spiritual level—worship Him in Spirit. Physical worship and fellowship are necessary but should not be the only ways we communicate with and show our reverence for God.