There are
times when I let my imagination run wild and speculate what the worship of
heaven will be like. When all those created beings, human and celestial - some
redeemed from sin and some who have never known sin - gather around the throne
of God it will be truly awe inspiring. I’m quite sure it will be different than
anything that any of us have ever experienced. Will we sing in one language or
will we sing in the language of the nation and tribe from which we come? Will we
stand and raise our hands in overwhelming joy, or sit in stunned silence?
Perhaps we will be so overwhelmed that we will just lie prostrate on the ground
– as low as we can in front of the one who redeemed us.
A quick
perusal of the Old Testament gives us a few instructions as to how the ancient
Hebrews were to worship.
Psalm
100:2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful
songs.
Psalm
29:2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of
his holiness.
Psalm
95:6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
Psalm
109:30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.
The New Testament gives us less specific
instruction for worship in the church of Jesus. One of the most profound is
when Jesus instructs the woman at the well in Sychar.
John
4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers
will worship the Father in spirit and
in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and
his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
It is the reveled truth of God, found in his
Word, that should frame our thoughts and inform our expressions of worship; and
it is from our spirits – the inner core of who we are – that our worship comes to
the Father who created us and redeemed us.
Have you ever seen unrestrained worship? Look
at a stadium full of fans as they cheer on their team. Hands in the air; voice
shouting at the top of their lungs; expressions of adulation for the one who
just made the scoring play. Or look at a little child who instinctively claps
his hands when he is happy or dances when she is moved by joy.
Most of us have been told that in church you
are to sit still and be quiet. But Jesus said, “Let your worship come from a
knowledge of the truth about God and from that deep, inner place of who you
really are.” (A loose paraphrase of Jn 4:22-23) Now some of you reading this
will say, “Oh no – Steve wants us to become some wild crazy dancing church.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I’m not asking for anything
or expecting anything. I’m just saying that our worship needs to flow from a
place of release in our spirit and our expression should be overwhelmed with
the truth of God’s divine revelation to us. And when someone near you folds
their hands and lets a tear role down their cheek or raises their hand toward
God or does a little side step in the pew next to you, smile with the
recognition that just maybe God is receiving exactly what he has been looking
for – a true worshipper. So when I think about the worship before the throne in
heaven I sure hope my soul won’t be surprised but will rather find a brighter,
sharper experience of what I have already known in His presence here on earth.
