Who to worship and who are the “true worshippers“?

From the time of Genesis, people have been worshipping God(1). While there are “gods many and lords many”(1 Corinthians 8:5), the only true God commanded to be worshipped at that time (Old Testament) was the Almighty God(El Shaddai), Lord (YHVH), Word(Logos) who incarnated to “man Jesus Christ” (see Exodus 6:3; 20:3; John 1:1, John 1:14). Then, the Father God was not known as Father-Son relationship was first officially introduced at baptism in River Jordan (Mark 1:11; Mark 9:7; Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5; Luke 3:22; Luke 9:35; 2 Peter 1:17). Father/God was described as “Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:13). Moreover, at that time, and prior to Pentecost (Acts 2), the “living beings/soul” (nephesh in Genesis 2:7) were worshipping God with the components they were made of. Then, the Holy Spirit/Helper/Advocate was not yet given and therefore they cannot “worship him in Spirit”. It was only given after Jesus was resurrected(John 14:15-17, John 14:26;Acts 1:8). And now, the same Jesus, the Son of God, is directing us to pray and worship the Father (Matthew 6:6-13; John 14:6; John 14:13-14; John 16:23-24; Ephesians 3:14-17) in his name.

This is based on:

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

That being said, who are the “true worshippers”?

John 4:23-24

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers 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 (the Father) must worship in spirit and truth .”

Indeed, “is coming, and now is”…”will worship”.., being futurist. This was prophesied to come only when the Holy Spirit was given to in-dwell in the “spirit-of-man”, (breath-of-life)the “holy-of-holies” the temple not made by hands, in our “mind”. True worship that God acknowledges is from those He in-dwell the Holy Spirit to. The key element to identify “true worshippers” is the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Without it, we are like the “devil who believes” (James 2:19) and classified as “false worshippers”(2 Kings 17:33; Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8-9; Mark 7:6-7; John 4:22; Philippians 3:3). There are many who actually worshipped the God of Abraham at that time and followed him, but not the Father who was prophesied to be worshipped “in spirit and in truth”. However, before in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit, there worship was like “dung” (Philippians 3:8) as “goodness of “man’s works”, did not come as “fruits of the Holy Spirit” and as such, are like “filthy rags”(Isaiah 64:6). Read my posts(2,3).

And, currently people claim they now “worship the Father”. But, is that “in spirit”? Unless, they have in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit, any claim may not be true. Especially in the last days, there will be many who claim that they are “Christians” and may show fake “fruits of the Spirit“. Even the “Beast” will show miracles and restore Temple sacrifices (Matthew 24;15-16, Matthew 24:21; Daniel 9:27; Daniel 8:11-12; Daniel 11:31) and will deceive many.

The point being is that only Jesus himself knows who are in his “body/church” i.e., who he gave the Holy Spirit to. Much as “works” express “fruits of the Holy Spirit“, atheists and non-believers can feign “good works”. Job who actually followed God “to a tee”, did not have yet the Holy Spirit, was “perfect and upright” following the Commandments. The only human who was imbued with the Holy Spirit was the man-Jesus at River Jordan.

The take-home message is that one cannot be absolutely sure and therefore not to judge one whether Christian or not, but leave that determination to Jesus himself. While we can only use our personal and unique good judgment, nevertheless let us not be “judgmental“. Let us look up and not down or sideways “judging one another“. Instead, let us do the best we can and focus on our one-to-one relationship with God. We can “trust-and-verify” but still the reliability of our verification process may still be flawed.

Summary

Before, El Shaddai(God Almighty), Yahweh/YHVH(Lord), Logos(Word) aka Jesus was the one known to be God and was worshipped in the Old Testament. Since the advent of Jesus, he himself commanded us NOW (from the New Testament) to worship the Father, in his name. The “true worshippers” are identified as those with the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit, the key from which “true worship” emanates. We can follow the advice : ” by their fruits you shall know them”(Matthew 7:16). Yes, indeed, but we can be misled. Still, only Jesus himself knows who are in “his body/church” and no one among us can absolutely be certain of the veracity of claims as many are deceivers, especially in the “last days“.

God bless 😇🙏

References:

1. What is God? Retrieved 2/2/19 from http://fact-s.net/2014/06/29/what-is-god-2/

2. Incarnation, are we missing the ultimate purpose? Retrieved 2/4/19 from http://fact-s.net/2019/01/04/incarnation-are-we-missing-the-ultimate-purpose-for-it/

3. Ongoing Creation. Retrieved on 2/4/19 from http://fact-s.net/2018/06/30/ongoing-creation/

Original Post/Hyperlink: February 5, 2019