ring into the Holiest of
all with His blood, had there on our behalf _received_ the Holy
Spirit (_Acts ii. 33_), that He could send Him down to us as the
Spirit of the Father. It was when Christ had redeemed us, and we
in Him had received the position of children, that the Father
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts to cry, 'Abba,
Father.' The worship in spirit is the worship of the Father in
the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Sonship.

This is the reason why Jesus here uses the name of Father. We
never find one of the Old Testament saints personally appropriate
the name of child or call God his Father. The worship _of the
Father_ is only possible to those to whom the Spirit of the Son
has been given. The worship _in spirit_ is only possible to those
to whom the Son has revealed the Father, and who have received
the spirit of Sonship. It is only Christ who opens the way and
teaches the worship in spirit.

And _in truth_. That does not only mean, _in sincerity_. Nor does
it only signify, in accordance with the truth of God's Word. The
expression is one of deep and Divine meaning. Jesus is 'the
only-begotten of the Father, _full of_ grace and _truth_.' 'The
law was given by Moses; grace and _truth came_ by Jesus Christ.'
Jesus says, '_I am the truth_ and the life.' In the Old
Testament all was shadow and promise; Jesus brought and gives the
reality, _the substance_, of things hoped for. In Him the
blessings and powers of the eternal life are our actual
possession and experience. Jesus is full of grace and truth; the
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth; through Him the grace that is
in Jesus is ours indeed, and truth a positive communication out
of the Divine life. And so worship in spirit is worship _in
truth_; actual living fellowship with God, a real correspondence
and harmony between the Father, who is a Spirit, and the child
praying in the spirit.

What Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, she could not at once
understand. Pentecost was needed to reveal its full meaning. We
are hardly prepared at our first entrance into the school of
prayer to grasp such teaching. We shall understand it better
later on. Let us only begin and take the lesson as He gives it.
We are carnal and cannot bring God the worship He seeks. But
Jesus came to give the Spirit: He has given Him to us. Let the
disposition in which we set ourselves to pray be what Christ's
words have taught us. Let there be the deep confession of our