The Story of Worship
The Bible is all about worship. That’s because the Scriptures are an unfolding drama about the Triune God dwelling with His people in the world He created. From creation to consummation, the purpose is a people that glorifies and enjoys their Creator. I love the way one author puts it:
“Worship is the right, fitting, and delightful response of moral beings - angelic and human - to God the Creator, Redeemer, and Consummator, for who he is as one eternal God in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and for what he has done in creation and redemption, and for what he will do in the coming consummation, to whom be all praise and glory, now and forever, world without end.”
This week, let’s explore worship through the lens of the Story of the Bible. My thoughts here were shaped largely by Jonathan Gibson’s excellent book, Reformation Worship. Here’s the skinny.
Since the beginning, heaven and earth have sung the beauty, glory, and worth of the Triune God. Throughout the Scriptures, we catch a glimpse into the activity of heaven and discover the sights and sounds of worship. In Isaiah 6, the seraphim sing “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts; the whole earth is fully of his glory;” angelic creatures call to each other: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Revelation 4:8). The rhythms of worship characterize heaven. As it is in heaven, so also on earth. Day and night, the skies, land, and seas declare God’s glory (Psalm 19). All creation is designed to praise its Maker (Psalm 148). Like Aslan’s creation of Narnia, God sang the galaxies into existence and they echoed back the love song of their Maker.
When God made human beings, He made them in his image. The image was an invitation to reflect His glory and reproduce to fill the earth with the knowledge of God. You were created to join the song of the stars and the seas! Adam and Eve were made homo liturgicus for the purpose of hearing and speaking God’s word, guarding God’s Eden sanctuary, and extending God’s reign and blessing over the earth. This commission was summarized in God’s prohibition to Adam to fast from the tree of testing so that he and his family might feast at the tree of life. So the first call to worship is made to Adam through covenantal oath. God’s call and invitation should have brought forth a wholehearted response from Adam resulting in a fellowship meal with his Creator. For Adam and all his descendants, a liturgical pattern is infused into our DNA: God’s call - humanity’s response - a fellowship meal. In short, a covenantal meeting with God through word and sacrament.
But tragedy strikes. Adam neglects his priestly responsibility to guard the Eden sanctuary, and allows the serpent to enter the holy place. What follows is an alternate liturgy where the serpent calls Eve and Adam to ignore God’s word and listen to the serpent’s lies. This counterfeit liturgy is the worship of a creature rather than the Creator. So Adam’s sin was false worship: listening to the call of the serpent, believing its lies, and taking a meal that was prohibited. But instead of becoming like God, humanity found themselves ashamed, alienated, and ultimately banished from God’s sanctuary; cast out from God’s presence.
The theme of worship is carried through the entire Old Testament: God’s people are given the hope time and again that one day a son of God would lead all creation in worship of the true Lord. As the Last Adam, Jesus is God’s Son who fulfills God’s commission. He listens to the Father. He speaks God’s word in the face of the serpent’s lies. He echoes back the song of the sea and the stars in a life of beauty and truth. He offers up wholehearted devotion and purity, and then gives his own life as a sacrifice on the cross. He brings heaven on earth, the Kingdom of God, the dwelling of God to people.
The story of the Bible and of all human history is the story of worship. Our worship is led either by the first Adam who failed in the Garden sanctuary, or by the Last Adam who is seated at the right hand of God. Just like Adam who was made homo liturgicus, we are worshiping creatures. However, apart from God’s rescue, we are bent towards a fallen liturgy - the worship of the creature rather than the Creator. We listen to the lies of the serpent; believe that we are on our own; seek and take security and satisfaction in idols. So we experience shame, isolation, and separation from God. Yet, through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, God has opened a way back into communion with Himself. So now we gratefully and obediently respond to God’s call to worship. Through His grace, we worship Him in Spirit and in the Truth. Because of the work of Christ, we experience a foretaste of the ultimate fellowship meal. We look with expectant hope on the great Wedding Party of the Lamb.
