Dr. Annamma Abraham
Worship
Worship
In the Old Testament,
worship is a common term used for coming before God to honor Him. In English,
worship means to look at someone’s “worth-ship ". To worship God is to
respect and honor Him for who He is. Man was made for worship. It is a way that
will help us develop a genuine, intimate relationship with God.
Millions of Christians
gather every Sunday to worship God as their Creator and Redeemer. Whether
formal and liturgical or free and spontaneous, church services are occasions to
declare God's worthiness and to give Him praise. But centuries of church
history reveal how quickly worship can degenerate into empty ritualism. This
occurs when God's people harden their hearts and fail to obey His Word.
The psalmist knew this to be
true from Israel's experience. Under the leadership of Moses, they had been
miraculously delivered from slavery in Egypt and had fervently praised the
Lord. But almost immediately they began to doubt God's goodness and
trustworthiness. They ignored his instructions, and their worship became hollow.
This angered God and resulted in their wandering for 40 (forty) years in a
desert which they could have crossed in 11 (eleven) days. And only few among
them were allowed to enter the Promised Land.
Lord, fill us with
wonder and gratitude for our marvelous salvation. Help us to give you the
praise you deserve, and enable us to be faithful in our love and obedience to
you.
Our worship is right
only when we are right with God. Joshua challenged the people of Israel to
worship only the true God. Because He is a jealous God, the Lord will not
tolerate worship of any other.
We too have seen God
work both miraculously in giving us eternal life, and more routinely in His
daily care. So in gratitude to the Lord let us cast aside the false gods” -
anything that competes with our devotion to Him. Incline our hearts toward the
only true God. Our heart cannot feel at home with a foreign God.
Joshua 24:23 Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline
your heart to the Lord God.
The one indispensable
element of a good church service is the celebration of God's great redeeming
acts in the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. The
saving events were the theme of an early church hymn quoted in 1Timothy 3:16,
and they were to be the central in the message, Paul urged Timothy to proclaim.
1 Timothy 3:16 And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness:
He who was revealed in the flesh,
Was vindicated in the spirit.
Beheld by angels,
Proclaimed among the nations
Believed on in the world,
Taken up in glory.
We ought to praise
God joyfully for all His blessings, both spiritual and temporal. We must
also be good listeners to the instruction and challenges of God's word. This
combination of the inflow of God's Word and the outflow of worship is what
makes for a good church service.
God, the sovereign ruler
of the universe, would desire to have an intimate relationship with
those He created. No other faith in the world has such a concept of a God who
is so near to those who call upon Him and so desirous of intimacy with His
creation, dwelling in their presence.
God gave specific
instructions to Abraham regarding how he was to worship Him.
Genesis 22: 1 -12.
God asked Abraham to
take his only son Isaac to the place called Moriah and offer him as a burnt
offering. Abraham and Isaac came to the place where God had told him, and
Abraham built the altar, arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid
him on the altar, on the top of the wood. Then Abraham stretched out his hand
and took out the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him
from heaven and said "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do
nothing to him, for I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son,
your only son from Me.
Abraham worshiped God by
fearing Him, obeying Him, and not withholding from Him his only son who was
more precious to Abraham than life itself- the son through whom God
would make Abraham a great nation.
The burnt offering is
described in Leviticus 1. A burnt offering was a voluntary offering, an
offering by fire that was a soothing aroma to the Lord. The entire sacrifice
was to be placed on the altar. Nothing was to be held back. When the person
offering the sacrifice laid his hand on the head of the sacrifice, it was
accepted to make atonement on his behalf.
Abraham feared God. In
this context fear means, to have reverence toward God, to trust Him, and to
respect Him. God is reverenced when a person respects Him for who he is. A
believer's fear of God is seen when he or she walks in His ways and loves and
serves him in absolute obedience.
God also gave Moses
specific instructions on how His people were to approach Him in worship,
even giving him a detailed design of the tabernacle he was instructed to build.
The tabernacle and its layout and furnishings provide a picture of how sinful man
comes before their Holy God in worship and service. It also provides a picture
of Jesus and the true heavenly tabernacle which God pitched in heaven. It
illustrates a pattern for how the believer can properly worship God and
experience His presence. The word tabernacle means - to dwell. It was the place
where God met with man and communicated with him. It was there that man could
approach God through a sacrifice.
The one gate way -
Jesus is the door (John 10: 9)
The Brazen Altar -
The Cross of Christ
The Laver -
Sanctification
The Showbread -
Christ is the bread of life (John 6: 35, 48)
Golden Lampstand -
Christ is the light of the world (John 8: 32)
Altar of Incense -
Christ our intercessor
Ark of the Covenant
- Christ is the word personified
Mercy seat - Blood
of Jesus Christ delivers from the penalty and power of sin
Exodus 40: 17-38.
Moses erected the
tabernacle and put all its furniture as according to the pattern God had
instructed Moses. He spread the tent over the tabernacle just as the Lord had
commanded Moses. He took the testimony and put into the ark .The Ark of the
Covenant contains the tablets of law, Aaron’s rod, and a pot of manna. He put
the mercy seat on the top of the ark and brought the ark into the tabernacle
and set up a veil and screened off the ark of the testimony, just as the Lord
had commanded Moses. Then he put a table in the tent of meeting on the north
side of the tabernacle outside the veil and
kept the show-bread - 12 in number, 6 in each raw on it. Then he placed
the lamp-stand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, that is on the south
side of the tabernacle, and lighted the lamp just as God had commanded Moses.
He placed the golden altar in the tent of meeting in front of the veil, to burn
the fragrant incense on it , just as God had commanded Moses. Then he set up a
veil for the doorway of the tabernacle and placed the bronze altar of burned
offering before the doorway of the tabernacle and offered on it burnt offering
and meal offering. He placed the laver between the tent of meeting and the
bronze altar and put water for washing. From it Moses and Aaron and his sons
washed their hands and their feet. The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout their journey when the
cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, they set out their journey. When
the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out the journey. Throughout
their journey, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day and there was
fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.
God told Moses- Exodus 25:
8 Let them construct the sanctuary for Me that I may dwell among them.
The portion of the
tabernacle where the bronze altar and the laver is kept in the outer court; the
tent of meeting where the table of show-bread, the lamp, and the golden altar of
incense are kept is the Holy place; and where the ark of the covenant and mercy
seat is kept is the Holy of Holies. Holy of holies is the inner sanctuary of
the tabernacle where God dwelt and later in the temple in Jerusalem where the
Ark of the Covenant was kept.
Let us consider the
pathway of the priest through the tabernacle and the role played by each piece
of furniture in the tabernacle, in bringing man back into a right relationship
with God through forgiveness of sins.
In Mount Sinai God gave
Moses not only the Ten Commandments and the detailed plan of the tabernacle,
but also the procedures by which Moses was to anoint, ordain, and consecrate
the priests who would minister in the tabernacle.
Man needed a
representative. He needed someone who could mediate for him in the new place of
worship, someone who could deal with the sacrifice in such a way that God would
be satisfied, the offering would be accepted and man would be restored in his relationship
with God. God could then dwell in their midst and they could commune with each
other. The priests didn’t have the liberty to devise or implement his own way.
It must be done in God's way. As we observe the priest and his pathway through
the tabernacle, we will see, the path we must follow to experience the true
worship. The priests related to every part of the tabernacle, and this
foreshadowed Jesus, and this relates to us today.
Leviticus 9: 7 Moses said to Aaron " Come near to the altar and offer your sin
offering and your burnt offering, that you may make atonement for yourself and
for the people ; then make the offering for the people that you may make
atonement for them , Just as the Lord has commanded.
Atonement is often used
for the concept of covering over sin with the blood of a sacrifice that makes
it possible for sinful man to approach the Holy God. Under the Old Testament,
the law, this was accomplished by offering a substitute payment for sin with
the blood of an animal. All who served in the tabernacle and later in the
temple were to come from the tribe of Levi. The priests were to be Levites
descended from the family of Aaron. However in the fullness of time God would
designate another to become a high priest- Jesus Christ.
Let us see the
picture that God wants us to see in the pattern of the tabernacle. There was only one way to enter the
tabernacle, through the “gateway of the court” which was always to the east.
John 10: 9 Jesus said I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he
will be saved, and will go in and out and find the pasture.
A person cannot worship
God correctly apart from Jesus Christ. The first thing in the tabernacle after
entering the door was the bronze altar. The first nine chapters of Leviticus
cover the seven different offerings that could be offered upon the bronze
altar. Let us consider one.
Leviticus 1 : 2 - 5
When any man shall bring the offering of
animals , from the herd, he shall offer
it a male without defect, he shall offer it at the doorway that he may be
accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering
that may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf.
The priest entered the
gate, went to the bronze altar made sacrifice for himself and people, and
washed in the laver. This shows us the pattern of how sinful man approaches God.
God provided only one way to come to Him and that is through the door - and
Jesus is the door .The door to the tabernacle was always to the east, in the
light of the rising sun. Initially we come to God to be cleansed from our sins
through a sacrifice.
The bronze altar and the sacrifice of the animal becomes
the picture of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Then continue with the
sanctification process of being holy through the cleansing power of His word
and prompt confession of our sins.
Now as we continue going
with the priest, we enter the tent of meeting - the holy place. Here
immediately to his right (north side) is the table of show-bread (bread of presence).
Leviticus 24:9 It shall be for Aaron and his sons and they shall eat it
in a holy place; for it is most holy to him, from the Lord's offerings by fire,
his portion forever.
John 6: 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to
Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
John 6: 48 “I am the bread of life”
Jesus is the bread
of life.
In the holy place
immediately to the left (south side), just opposite the table of show-bread is
the golden lamp-stand, which is the only source of light in the holy place.
John 8: 12 Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who
follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life
".
Ephesians 5: 8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord; walk as children of light.
Then comes the altar of
incense, put in front of the veil, near the ark of testimony and mercy seat.
The holy of holies is the place where God meet with the priest. Aaron the high
priest shall burn fragrant incense on the altar of incense. There shall be perpetual
incense before the Lord throughout your generation (Exodus 30: 1, 6 -10) Read.
Aaron shall take a fire
pan full of coal of fire from upon the altar before the Lord and two handfuls
of finely grounded sweet incense and bring inside the veil. He shall put the incense
on the fire before the Lord that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat
that is on the ark of the testimony, otherwise he will die. (Leviticus 16:
12 - 13)
The high priest only
would enter into the holy of holies through the veil one time a year. That was
on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This happened on the 10’Th day of the
seventh month of the Jewish calendar. Until the Babylonian destruction of the
temple in B.C 586 the glory of the Lord filled the holy of holies. While the
high priest was performing his priestly service, the whole multitudes of people
were in prayer and worshipping, outside.
Everything in the
tabernacle was made after a pattern of things in heaven. Therefore everything
is a picture of how we have to worship the holy God.
Jesus is our high
priest. Jesus, because He abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore
He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He
always lives to make intercession for them.(Hebrews 7:24-25)
Revelation 5: 8
When He had taken the
book, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the
Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the
prayers of the saints.
(1 Thessalonians 5:
17) We are asked to pray without ceasing. Pray without
ceasing is a parallel with the burning of incense continuously and the continuing
work of Jesus Christ right now at the right hand of the Father.
From the pattern of the
tabernacle we have seen that Jesus is the true bread of life.
Jesus is the true
light.
Jesus is our high
priest, our intercessor.
Because the incense on
the altar burned perpetually, so we are never to cease praying, continually
offering up a sweet smelling aroma of the incense of our prayers. This beloved
God is the integral part of our worship.
Let us see the holiest
part of the tabernacle the holy of holies. This is where God dwelt, in the
cloud of presence. This would be the
place where God and man would meet and commune. The veil serves as a partition
between the holy place and the holy of holies. Each furniture in the tabernacle
was a picture of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10: 19 -
23
19. Therefore brethren, since we have confidence to enter the
holy place by the blood of Jesus,
20. by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us
through the veil, that is His flesh.
21 .and since we have a great high priest over the house of
God,
22. let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water
23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for He who promised is faithful.
The Ark of the Covenant
with the mercy seat was situated in the holy of holies. On the top of the ark
was the mercy seat, which had above it two cherubim of gold, one at each end. In
the ark was a golden jar holding manna, Aaron's rod which budded and the
tablets of covenant.
Leviticus 16: 11-
17
11. Aaron shall offer
the bull of the sin offering which is for him and make atonement for himself
and for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering
which is for himself.
12. He shall take a fire pan full of coals of fire from upon
the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground sweet incense, and
bring it inside the veil.
13. He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord that
the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the ark of the
testimony, otherwise he will die.
14. Moreover he shall take some of the blood of the bull and
sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; also in front
of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger 7 (seven
) times.
15. Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering
which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its
blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat
and in front of the mercy seat.
16. "He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of
the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in
regard to all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which
abides with them in the midst of their impurities.
17. " When he goes to make atonement in the holy place , no one
shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out , that he may make atonement
for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel.
Leviticus 17:
11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have
given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the
blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.
Let us see this with
reference to Christ
Hebrews 9: 11 - 12,
24 - 25
11. But when Jesus appeared as a high priest of good things
to come , He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made
with hands that is to say not of this creation.
12. and not through the blood of goats and calves, but
through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained
eternal redemption.
24. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands , a
mere copy of the true one , but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God for us ;
25. nor was it that He should offer himself often ,as the
high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood not His own.
1 John 2: 2 Jesus Himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for
ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
Because Jesus was able
to pay for all our sins in full, God's holiness is satisfied. Jesus is our
mercy seat - the propitiation for our sins - the full payment, which is
sufficient for all time.
When we see all this it
makes us want to bow low before Him, to worship Him, adore Him, and to give Him
your all.
Hebrews 10: 19 - 23
19. Therefore brethren, since we have confidence to enter the
holy place by the blood of Jesus,
20. by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us
through the veil, that is His flesh.
21. and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 . let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water.
23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for He who promised is faithful.
Mathew 27: 51 and behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top
to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.
Josephus a Jewish historian
wrote that the veil in the temple was so thick that it would take two teams of
oxen putting in opposite directions and pull, to tear it. We are told the veil
was torn from top to bottom, not vice versa.
John 14: 6 Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to
the Father, but through Me.
Because of the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are cleansed once and for all and are now
able to enter into the very throne room of God and find grace to help in the
time of need.
What can you do but bow
before Him in worship , presenting your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,
acceptable to God ,which is your
spiritual service of worship .(
Romans 12 : 1) Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews
4: 16)
The enemy of our soul
will do everything he can, to keep us from worshiping God in spirit and truth.
He offered Jesus all the kingdoms of this world if He would only bow down and
worship him.
When we forget the
greatness of our God, and the so -great - a-salvation he has wrought for us,
our worship will become mechanical just as the Israel did. They worshiped God
only with their lips, while their hearts were far away from Him. True
worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth and in the beauty of holiness.
Let your speech, your behavior, your character, your dress, all testify that
you are a true worshiper of the one and only true God.
Psalm 96 is a call to worship the Lord, the righteous judge.
God is praiseworthy. He
doesn't need to do anything to prove His greatness. He has already given us an
incredible display of His power in His creation .He has made the ultimate
sacrifice to purchase our redemption. Through His power, He has conducted the most
miraculous transaction known to mankind - He brought us from spiritual death to
spiritual life. Praise flows naturally from a grateful and joyful heart. God
demands our praise and worship. Let everyone that has breath praise the Lord.
There are many ways to worship God, but only one God to worship.
A sense of awe should
fill us with reverence, gratitude and love when we worship God. Reverence,
because God is not to be trifled with. Gratitude, because He reached
down in grace to save us. Love, because
by loving us first, He enables us to love Him in return. In a world of
superlatives, only God is the greatest.
Jesus is worthy of
adoration and praise of all beings. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to
receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and
blessing! (Revelation 5: 12)
In Revelation 5: We read John's description of a
widening circle of praise to the Lord. It begins with “four living creatures
and the twenty four elders (v 8). They are joined by angels numbering "
ten thousand times ten thousand" (v 11) .But that is not all. Every
creature in heaven, on earth, and in the sea will one day sing “Blessing and honor
and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever
and ever (v13). He is worthy of our praise right now.
An idol is
anything that takes the place of God. Imagine burning incense to the portrait
of human being. That is idolatry at its worst. We don't think ourselves as
idolaters, of course, but are we in subtle ways disobeying God's commandments.
You shall have no other
gods before Me. (Exodus 20:13 We would never dream of bowing down to a
picture of any mortal, however famous or powerful they were. But who is on the
throne of our hearts? Are we giving a loved one first place in our lives? May
be we are worshipping money. Or perhaps our job is our top priority.
Jesus said "You
shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve". (Luke 4: 8) Are we worshipping and serving
only Him? Spend some time alone with God to examine your heart. Make sure that
you haven't become an idolater. Unless we worship only God, our lives cannot be
truly free; for we were made for Him alone. All else is but idolatry.
Look at Job. His
calamities were enormous. He humbled himself and worshiped God.
Job 1:20. Job arose, tore his robe and shaved his head; and he fell
to the ground and worshipped God.
How can anyone worship
while caught up in the fierce winds of adversity? The answer is clear. By
anchoring our faith in the love and wisdom of God, we can say through our tears,
"The Lord gave; the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the
Lord". When you are swept off your feet, land on your knees.
Why worship. Who
needs worship anyway? We need to
worship God because we are unique creatures made in the image of God. We are
made for God, so we can’t fulfill our purpose unless we develop a right
relationship with Him. And worship helps us to do that when we focus on the
Lord.
As we join the
worshippers in the church, our hearts are lifted out of this temporal world
into God's eternal world. In worship the conscience is quickened by the
holiness of God, the mind is fed by the truth of God, the
imagination is purged by the beauty of God, the heart is opened to
the love of God, and the will is devoted to the purpose of God.
1 Chronicle 16:
31 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; and
let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
All creation is
rejoicing in His goodness. All nature is a grand symphony conducted by the
creator.
Revelation 5: 8
they (the four living
creatures and the twenty four elders) fell down before the Lamb, each having a
harp and golden bowls full of incense.
Since Old Testament days
the harp has been an instrument of worship. Psalms were often sung to the
accompaniment of a harp. The golden bowls filled with incense, sent up the
aroma that was pleasing to God. The rising smoke represented prayer- the
prayers of the saints rising up to the Lord.
Singing and prayer are
integral parts of the Christian’s worship. Through songs and prayer we can
express our adoration to the Almighty God. A heart aflame with worship begins
with the kindling of songs and prayers.
God is not impressed
with a full house at religious gatherings if people come with empty hearts. God
wants worshippers with hearts so full of love for Him that they overflow in
good deeds for others. The heart filled with praise brings pleasure to God.
Jesus! No other name
draws people together so closely, while at the same time evoking hatred in
others. People all over the world who love Christ, to them, His name mean love,
joy, peace, hope, and forgiveness. Some people can't stand Jesus' name, is that
they don't want to be reminded of their sins.
Philippians 2:9 -
11
9. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on
Him the name which is above every name.
10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those
who are in heaven, and on earth and under the earth.
11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of the Father.
Jesus is the way, the truth,
and the life (John 14: 6). One who saves us from our sins. (Mathew 1:
21) .People who refuses to ask for forgiveness from sin cannot love the
name of Jesus." Yet His name is above every name “and one day “every
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Philippians 2: 9, 11) We
honor God's name when we call Him our Father and live like His children.
When King David
worshiped the Lord exuberantly, his wife called him shameless. He said “I will
be even more undignified than this
and will humble in
my own sight." (2 Samuel 6: 22)
He knew that being God conscious couldn't coexist with
being self-conscious. Taking worship seriously means taking ourselves less
seriously.
We can never worship God
too much.
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