#34. Unseen Worship
One reason we might keep children separate from what the adults do at church, is that we have a rather down to earth, non-worship view of Sundays. It’s easy to forget the grandeur of what’s going on because most of what we see is pretty ordinary. Plenty of grown-ups think it’s boring, we expect kids to be bored by it, so we plan something more exciting for them elsewhere (and then when they grow out of these alternatives, we often struggle to persuade our older children that Sundays are worth the effort).
If we paused to hear the Bible’s explanation of what’s happening when we gather for worship, we might stop being bored. When we only see what we perceive with our eyeballs, we’re missing the best bits. A glimpse of the heavenly activity going on out of sight will make worship more precious to us. We’ll then be better positioned to help our children know, and delight in, what is unseen.
What follows is a quick Bible pageant, giving us a few of the significant Bible scenes which build up a picture of worship. Think of it as a taster plate rather than a complete menu. I’m plating up samples from all across the Bible’s story, far more than an article can probably bear. I’ll risk it anyway, even if the breadth, depth and heft of this sampling breaks the plate. An imploding article, or an imploding brain is probably a good metaphor for what happens when we try to pin such wonders down. We can’t master worship, so I shan’t pretend this article does.
Worship happens when God comes near
We often think of worship primarily as us bringing an offering to God. God-honouring worship happens, not when people go to God, but when God comes to people. Unless he chooses to come near to us, God is completely beyond our reach. He makes a way for us to be with him and the only way to enjoy nearness with him is to come on his terms. Responding to God’s nearness in God’s way is called worship. He tells us how we may safely approach him. We don’t get to make things up. We know God’s terms for worship only because he’s told us in his Bible.
God saved us for worship together
God redeems people to be worshipers. God rescued the Israelites from Egypt so they could worship him (Ex 9:1). They were saved to be a holy nation and a royal priesthood (Ex 19:6). That’s worship language. Jesus achieved the greater exodus, to redeem worshipers. The New Testament uses the same worship language for Christians,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Notice that the imagery Peter uses (borrowed from Exodus) is corporate imagery; a people, a nation, a priesthood. We are individuals saved to a life of worship, but we are saved for gathered worship. The goal of our salvation is not worship alone, but worship together. True worship together will fuel our everyday worship when we’re apart. Old and New Testament alike,, God’s people are to be worshipers who call others to join in the worship.
Worship is dangerous
Worship is about coming near to the God who first comes near to us. When God brought Israel out of slavery, as his own precious possession, his plan was to dwell among them. He was present among them in a way he wasn’t anywhere else. He blessed them with his nearness in a way even Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had not known (Ex 6). It was the most dangerous and the safest place in the world. Transgressing God’s terms was lethal. Living within his provision was security and blessing. If they didn’t worship God’s way, his very nearness was the death of them.
The LORD’s proximity to his people echoed the nearness Adam and Eve enjoyed with God in the garden of Eden. The problem outside of Eden is sin. Defiled by sin, no one can come directly near the way Adam and Eve did. For God’s ancient people, only the high priest could enter into the place where God’s glory settled, the Holy of Holies. He went there to mediate for the people, once a year and never without blood. God’s name dwelled among the Israelites, showing his presence with fire and smoke, but to come too near was deadly. You only need to read the book of Leviticus to see how costly worship was. Costly because nearness to God is precious.
In the Old Testament, God’s presence among his people was represented by the ark of the covenant. The ark was the central object in Israel’s worship. It held God’s words, reminding the people that God’s words defined everything about them and their worship. It would be fun to write a biography of the ark, since it almost functions like a character all of its own in the Old Testament story. It certainly travelled far and was at the centre of many an adventurous drama (1 Sam 4-6). The ark was an object which held such significance and power that many people tried to superstitiously manipulate it (1 Sam 4). When Eli and his daughter-in-law were dying, their greatest grief wasn’t the death of sons and a husband, but that “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured” (1 Sam 4:18-22). When the ark was captured by the Philistines, it caused them (and their god Dagon) all manner of trouble (1 Sam 5). The ark was dangerous even while it brought blessing (2 Sam 6). The Israelites were devastated to lose it because it represented God’s dwelling with them and his blessing towards them. No ark meant no access to God. On the occasions when the ark was restored to Israel (which needed to happen more than once), the rejoicing was colossal (eg. 2 Sam 6, 1 Chron 16).
God dwells among his people as King
That special box represented God’s presence and his blessing on his people, but it also represented his enthronement among them. The LORD was their true king. When his people despised the tabernacle system by worshiping idols or twisting worship into what was right in their own eyes, they were actually despising God’s word, despising his presence and despising his rule. How they handled worship revealed what they believed about God’s right to rule them in every part of their life. When worship drifts from God’s design, so does everyday obedience. When everyday obedience drifts, so will worship.
At their best, Israel’s kings recognised they were only a deputed authority under the heavenly King. King David wanted to build a permanent house for the ark, a fixed dwelling for God’s name (after all, why should the throne of the True King remain in a tent when his human representative had a palace?). Instead of David building a temple to house the ark, God promised to build a house for David, with an eternal king to come from it (2 Sam 7). When that king, that son of David eventually came, he was Immanuel, God dwelling among us. A king through which God came near to his people. In his body he “tabernacled” among us. Creator among his creatures. Doubly qualified for kingship because he is God and a man in David’s line.
Jesus replaced the ark of the covenant. God has appointed his Son as King and the object of worship. Are some of the pieces falling off your plate yet? Jesus resolves all the elements of the old covenant—like the ark and the tabernacle and the kingship—in himself.
King Jesus, God with us
With Jesus’ birth, the divine King was no longer represented by the ark, but in his human body (Jn 1, Lk 1). Jesus’ flesh achieved a new way of worship, his crucified body atoned for sinners, dealing with the sin which keeps people far from God. Jesus’ body is where God’s people are joined to the Father and each other. The site of worship is no longer where the ark of the covenant is in a tent or a temple. The torn curtain proved that Matt 27:51. Worship now happens in Christ Jesus.
Jesus is the Temple, destroyed and raised again (Jn 2:13-24). He is the sacrificial lamb, slain for the forgiveness of sin (Jn 1:29). His body is the bread and his blood, the wine through which we feed on his life. He is the great high priest, who will never be surpassed because he will never die again (Heb 5). He mediates for his people, anchoring us in the holy of holies in heaven, the true throne room of God in the true temple in heaven (Heb 6:19-20). Jesus comes to us, bringing us to God—the righteous for the unrighteous (1 Pet 3:18). Jesus is the reality to which every Old Testament picture points. He is King David’s greatest son, the king forever (Acts 2). God does not welcome worship outside of Jesus Christ, since that is the one way he comes to us and brings us to himself. Jesus not only deserves our wholehearted worship, he provides the means of it. A Sunday church service which isn’t about Jesus isn’t Christian worship.
In King Jesus we are qualified to worship confidently
When Jesus’ blood-bought people gather in human history, in our small, ordinary, imperfect ways, we are meant to be remembering the holiness and majesty of God. We’re to remember how little qualified we are to have him come near to us, or us to ascend to him. We’re to remember how thoroughly Jesus has provided for our forgiveness, cleansing us with his blood; how he has dressed us in his own righteousness, so we can come before the Father with confidence (Heb 4:14-16). In Christ, we are welcomed to pray and sing like the psalmists, in exultation, praise, confession, lament, longing and anticipation. We’re to remember that, when we gather in his name, he is present with us, unseen (Matt 18:20).
King Jesus is worshiped now in the true temple in heaven
The local church is not the only place of worship. Behind the scenes of history, true worship is happening all the time in heaven. Jesus is the lamb who was slain, now seated on the throne of heaven, whose name is the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5). He walks amongst his churches (Rev 1). The prayers of his people are offered up with the incense at the golden altar before the heavenly throne (Rev 8). These prayers have something to do with God’s purposes being brought about in history. The saints who have spilled blood testifying about Jesus are hidden under the altar of that true temple in heaven (Rev 6), while they wait for everything to be made right. Worship offered in Christ is stored up, made complete by Jesus and counted as precious, in the true temple in heaven. Worship on earth has a heavenly echo. Jesus makes it effective in the heavenly realms.
From his throne in heaven, Jesus has sent his Spirit to his people. This is now how God dwells with us, marking us as his own, a deposit guaranteeing the inheritance to come (2 Cor 1:22, 2 Cor 5:5, Eph 1:13-14). When people who were once hostile to each other are joined together in Christ, God is building a new temple where his Spirit dwells in us corporately (Eph 2, 1 Peter 1). When we gather to worship, we are a dim fragment of a picture of how things are in heaven. In this new temple (the local church), the plan has always been that “the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Eph 3:10). When we the church gathers, the angels—who are surely hard to surprise—gasp with awe. They see the triumph of God in bringing hostile parties into unity through Christ. They see wonders we cannot.
Life is a worship war
Human history is a worship war. Here on earth, Satan mimics and tries to deceive people with his replica of heavenly worship (read Revelation and see that every true mark and sign that God uses is copied by the beast). The triumph of the lamb has already happened in his death and resurrection. We’re just waiting for that victory to be made plain once the full number of saints have come to faith in Jesus. While we wait, we’re to hold fast, truly worshiping the true King of kings and Lord of lords.
We need to remind ourselves and each other of what is unseen because our temptation is to wander away, thinking nothing much is going on at all. Hebrews has a lot to say about drifting (eg. Heb 3:12). Why did Jesus, and the New Testament writers give so many warnings about wandering away from Jesus and his people? Because we are in the veiled age, where appearances don’t match reality. We need to explicitly remind ourselves, each other and our children of what’s really happening because it isn’t obvious. It’s tempting to find churches where the glimmers of glory seem to sit closer to surface, through soaring architecture, bells and smells liturgy, an aesthetic to our taste, atmospheric music, shows of slick strength and mastery. But, really, all the true glory is out of sight. We need to worship with the eyes of faith, taking God’s word for it.
Worship to come
When we dwell with God in the new creation, we will worship rightly. The shadow pictures will fall behind the substance. God’s nearness, his holiness, the true nature of worship will be unveiled. In the new creation, worship on earth will finally be as it is in heaven, in plain sight, unmediated.
Listen to what John tells us is coming, in the last chapter of Revelation:
‘Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ‘
The day is coming where Jesus’ glory will be made visible, when his Bride will be adorned and without spot, wrinkle or blemish, when the temple is finally redundant because we will be in the unmediated presence of God. When we remember the unseen and the day of seeing which will come, then our esteem for gathering with the local church now will grow. We’ll approach it with reverence, awe, trembling and rejoicing. We’ll be less flippant, more delighted and more eager for our kids to be part of the most remarkable thing in the universe happening in our little local churches. The opposite of boring.
If you’d like to think more about worship, but without reading a heavy tome, “What Happens When We Worship?” by Jonathan Cruse is clarifying.
