Worship is the highest possible exercise of the renewed soul, whether here or in glory. Prayer and thanksgiving are both unspeakably blessed in their place, but while prayer takes cognizance of our wants and spreads them out before God and thanksgiving has in view the blessings of His grace, worship rises up to God Himself, and the heart loses itself in the blissful contemplation of His excellencies and deep perfections. Prayer will cease when we attain to the rest of God; worship is unending and indeed will be exercised in its fullness only when we are with the Lord above.
The Various Dispensations
Worship varies in its character according to the character of the different dispensations and God’s revelation of Himself. In patriarchal times, for example, He was adored as God Almighty. However, we notice a great change in the order when Israel was called out to be the people of God in the earth. God dwelt among them in the tabernacle, an inestimable privilege and blessing unknown by man before. This involved the institution of the priesthood, but necessarily put the people at a distance. The priests acted for them; they dealt with the blood of the sacrifices and presented the sweet incense before Jehovah in the sanctuary.
All this is changed now, for Christ has come. God is no longer hidden behind a veil, but has revealed Himself fully in the person of His beloved Son, so that we who believe know Him as Father. Not only this, redemption being accomplished, Christ has gone back to God and sits at His right hand on high. Hence, the whole character of worship is altered in this period of grace.
The Words to the
Samaritan Woman
In John 4, we have the Lord Jesus dealing with the conscience and heart of the woman at the well. Feeling pricked in her conscience by His word, she sought to avert its keen edge by turning to the subject of worship. To this the Lord graciously responded, “Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:21-2421Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:21‑24)).
Several things must be noticed here. First, the Lord completely sets aside the Samaritan worship. “Ye worship ye know not what.” Second, He vindicates Judaism as intelligent and of God: “We know what we worship.” He then proceeds to show that the hour had come to set both aside that a better thing might be established. There are no holy places in Christianity. To recognize and serve a holy place on earth now is to rob one’s soul of the enjoyment of all that is distinctively Christian. Further, we worship “the Father.” What nearness and affection is implied in this! We stand now in the relationship of children through Christ’s work and can lift up our hearts in worship in the conscious liberty of sons. But this quite shuts out all who are not children of God. For such the gospel is intended; until that is received in faith, none have title to join in worshipping the Father; one must be a child of God to worship God as his father.
The Father Seeks Worshipers
The Father seeks worshipers — precious thought! But He seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. This implies that the inner man is engaged under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and that His truth is known and controlling the soul. This is in direct contrast with mere forms, which require neither God’s truth nor His Spirit, and can never satisfy His heart.
Further, not only does the Father seek spiritual worshipers, but His solemn “must” comes in — “they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” His nature is now fully revealed, and what is suitable to Him is now declared in consequence. Men who come before Him with mere external rites treat Him as if He were as the deities of the heathen; the Christian who has been brought to know Him understands that spiritual worship alone can suit such a God as ours.
The Heavenly Sanctuary
The epistle to the Hebrews introduces to us another line of truth. In it we are regarded as in the wilderness, passing onward to the rest of God. As to worship, we have liberty of access by faith to the heavenly sanctuary. This is all quite different from John’s line of instruction. There, as we have seen, the family relationship is prominent — we are viewed as children, worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth.
Let us examine Hebrews 10:19-2219Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21And having an high priest over the house of God; 22Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19‑22). Under the law, the worshippers could not go into the presence of God; the veil barred the way. But there is no hindrance now. The work of Jesus has so satisfied God’s claims that the veil is rent, and the way into the holiest is now made manifest. Moreover, our consciences are purged, so that we are able to stand in peace before Him. We have the assurance that the one sacrifice of Jesus has removed all our sins and has perfected us forever. His present seat at the right hand of God is the glorious proof that the question of sins has been settled once and forever. If we had not this confidence, we could not worship. A man who is uncertain and unhappy as to his position before God is not in a condition to worship, however upright and good his desires.
The work of Christ being accomplished, the way to God is open, and every believer may draw near with holy boldness. “Full assurance of faith” glorifies God really. If anything depended on ourselves, we might well be filled with fear and trembling, but knowing that our Christian privileges are all based upon the work of the Lord Jesus, we dare not dishonor Him by entertaining a doubt.
Our Imperfections
Yet we do well to remember our present imperfect condition. To be “perfect, as pertaining to the conscience” is not necessarily to be perfect in every other sense. In fact, while we are in the body, every service will fall short of God’s standard and of our own desires. I do not now speak of positive sin, but of the shortcoming which is due to our infirmities. Here the priesthood of Christ comes in as our aid. “Having an high priest over the house of God,” through Him all our spiritual sacrifices rise up to God acceptably. He presents them to God for us, accompanied by all the excellency and fragrance of His ever blessed person and work. How dependent we are on Him, not only for our general need in the wilderness, but even in the worship from our renewed hearts!
When Paul wrote, souls were slow to grasp the blessedness of the new order of worship which Christ had brought in, because of the blinding power of ancient religious prejudices. The same thing accounts for the darkness which covers many minds today. Earthly systems have been reared up in imitation of a judged Judaism form of worship, and the tendency of them all is to keep the soul more or less at a distance from God. May He establish our souls more completely in His own grace and truth.
W. W. Fereday, adapted