The time is coming, yes, and has already come, when true worshippers will worship in spirit and in reality. Indeed, the Father looks for men who will worship Him like that. (John 4:23 Phillips)
Jesus said to the woman, "the hour cometh, and now is." Then
He dismissed the whole system that had existed up to that time. It was the whole
system of Judaism according to the Old Testament. In one sentence, He dismissed
the whole dispensation. And He introduced an altogether new order of things.
What did He mean?
Because when He said the hour cometh, and now is, He did not mean literally just
an hour and so many minutes. He meant that it was the first hour of the new day.
With this hour an altogether new day has come. What is the new day? If you would
have asked Jesus to put it into a short sentence, He would have said, "Well, I
am here." The hour is not just a matter of time but a matter of PERSON. The new
dispensation is the dispensation of Jesus Christ. Christ is the new
dispensation. "I am here," He said. You go through that Gospel of John. He is
centering everything in Himself. "I am the Way; I am the Truth; I am the Life; I
am the Shepherd; I am the Vine; I am the Resurrection." It is a Person. It is
that which lies behind everything. Christianity is Christ. Christ is
Christianity. That is where it all begins and it never departs from HIM. The
development of the Christian life is only the development of Jesus Christ in the
life.