Recalling The Hope of Glory PDF

Recalling the Hope of Glory deals expertly and thoroughly with worship in the
Bible. What is most refreshing: it is not at all ideological. It contains no worship-

war polemics, but just sets forth straightforwardly what the Bible says. People
of all persuasions will find it valuable as a reference work. It also gives us a large
perspective on worship that is likely to moderate the current discussion.
—JOHN M. FRAME
Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy,
Reformed Theological Seminary
Ross presents an in-depth analysis of biblical wisdom about worship from the
book of origins to the anthem of the redeemed around the throne of the Lamb
in glory. Along the way stereotypes are exploded, assumptions challenged, as the
awesome, tri-personal God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is shown to be the
true object of all creaturely confession, adoration, and praise. This is not only a
study of worship; it is a book designed to lead Christian believers into worship.
I commend it heartily to God’s people everywhere.
—TIMOTHY GEORGE
Dean and Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School
Executive Editor, Christianity Today
This is a book that needed to be written a long time ago. Recalling the Hope of
Glory is instructive, setting forth the biblical teaching on worship; practical,
challenging the church to properly integrate biblical teaching into contemporary
worship issues; and inspirational, bringing the reader to a posture and place of
worship. This book should become foundational for the church.
—DAVID TALLEY
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology,
Talbot School of Theology
Allen Ross takes his readers back to the Bible itself to paint a colorful picture
of worship that is spiritually vibrant, theologically sound, and focused on
Christ. His passion for worship that glorifies God and his thorough knowledge
of Scripture are obvious throughout. For the western church, which needs
desperately to recover its biblical and theological roots, this book will be an
extremely helpful resource.
—DANIEL I. BLOCK
Professor of Old Testament,
Wheaton College
It is remarkable that so many books about worship have so little to say about
God. This book is a welcome exception. Through its patient reflection on specific
biblical texts and themes, the book evokes a vivid awareness of the God of glory.
By developing the theme of glory, the book hones a vision of worship that is at
once luminous, transcendent, and inexhaustible.
—JOHN D. WITVLIET
Director, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Professor of Worship, Theology, and Music,
Calvin College
Stunning in scope, Recalling the Hope of Glory provides a historical-theological

study of worship from creation to the new creation. The logic of Allen Ross’s
ranging exposition across the flow of biblical history will challenge every reader
and grace every church, regardless of tradition. Here is dazzling substance for
recovery of robust worship of our sovereign and holy triune God. Sure to be a
standard work.
—R. KENT HUGHES
Pastor, College Church in Wheaton
Series Editor, Preaching the Word commentary series
The publication of Recalling the Hope of Glory is a splendid addition to the growing
number of works on biblical worship. Not only is this work a comprehensive
theological vision of creation, incarnation, and re-creation, it is also a genuine
work of praise.
—ROBERT E. WEBBER
William R. and Geraldyne B. Myers Chair of Ministry,
Northern Seminary
Recalling the
Hope of Glory
Biblical Worship from
the Garden to the New Creation
A llen P. Ross
Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden
to the New Creation
© 2006 by Allen P. Ross
Published by Kregel Publications, a division of Kregel, Inc.,
P.O. Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by
any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording,
or otherwise—without written permission of the publisher,
except for brief quotations in printed reviews.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from
the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright ©
1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by per-
mission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked nasb are from the NEW
AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®. Copyright © 1960, 1962,
1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman
Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations marked nkjv are from the New King
James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked kjv are from the King James
Version.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ross, Allen P.
Recalling the hope of glory: biblical worship from the
garden to the new creation / by Allen P. Ross.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
1. Worship—Biblical teaching. I. Title.
BS680.W78R67 2006
264—dc22 2006028903
ISBN 0-8254-3578-1
Printed in the United States of America
06 07 08 09 10 / 5 4 3 2 1
For Jan,
whose insight and inspiration
made an immense contribution to
this book.
Contents in Brief
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Hebrew Transliteration Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Greek Transliteration Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Part 1: Worshipping the God of Glory

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
1. The Revelation of the Holy Lord God of Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2. Worship as Celebration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Conclusion for Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Part 2: The Memory of Paradise

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3. The Memory of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4. The Memory of the Center of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5. The Perversion of Paradise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Conclusion for Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Part 3: Worship with Proclamation: The Development of True

Worship in a Religious World
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6. The Religious World in Antiquity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7. The Worship of the Lord in the Life of Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
8. The Worship of the Lord in Abraham’s Descendants . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Contents in Brief
Part 4: Worship with Sacrifice: The Establishment of

Sanctity in Worship
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
9. The Patterns of Worship at Sinai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
10. A Holy Place for Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
11. Sacrificial Ritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
12. Qualified Worship Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Part 5: Worship as Praise: The Provision for Celebration

in Worship
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
13. Seasonal Celebrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
14. A Place for Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
15. Musical Guilds, Sanctuary Choirs, and Congregational Singing . . 253
16. The Psalms in Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
17. Offering the Sacrifice of Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Part 6: Worship Reformed: Prophetic Rebukes and Reforms

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
18. Qualifications for Worshippers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
19. The Prophetic Denunciation of Corrupt Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .308
20. The Prophetic Rebuke of Hypocritical Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Part 7: Worship Transformed: The New Setting of Worship

and the New Covenant
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
21. The Need for Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
22. The Change in Worship: The Focus on the Word of God . . . . . . . . . 356
23. The New Center of Worship: The Incarnate Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
24. The Turning Point of Worship: The Last Supper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Contents in Brief
Part 8: Worship in Christ: Patterns of Worship in the Early

Church
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
25. The Circumstances of Early Christian Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
26. The Essentials of Worship in the Early Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Part 9: The Perfection of Worship in Glory

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
27. Christ in Glory with Choirs of Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
28. The Glorious Celebration of the Fulfillment of the Promises . . . . . 489
Part 10: Basic Principles for More Glorious Worship
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
Scripture Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Hebrew Transliteration Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Greek Transliteration Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Part 1: Worshipping the God of Glory

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
1. The Revelation of the Holy Lord God of Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
The Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
The Holiness of the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
The Glory of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
The Response to the Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Immediate Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Essence of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Fear and Adoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Confession and Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Ritual Acts and Religious Observance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2. Worship as Celebration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
The Need for a Working Definition of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Diverse Forms of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Diverse Definitions of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Developing a Working Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Conclusion for Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
11
12 Contents
Part 2: The Memory of Paradise

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3. The Memory of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Creation and Redemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
The Creation of the Sanctuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
The Construction of the Sanctuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The Arrangement of the Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The Completion of the Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
The Fulfillment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
The Completion Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Symbolism in Solomon’s Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4. The Memory of the Center of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

The Garden in Eden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Features of the Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
The River of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Gold and Precious Gems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
The Trees of the Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The Tree of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil . . . . . . . . 102
The Image of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Placed in the Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Serving in the Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5. The Perversion of Paradise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

The Serpent in the Sanctuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
The Savior in the Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Part 3: Worship with Proclamation: The Development of True

Worship in a Religious World
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6. The Religious World in Antiquity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Contents 13
A Survey of Worship in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

In Abram’s Homeland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
In the Major Centers in the East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
In the Land Promised to Abram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
In the Land of Bondage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
A Comparison with Israel’s Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
7. The Worship of the Lord in the Life of Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Abraham’s Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
God’s Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Abraham’s Belief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Yahweh Was the Living God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Yahweh Was the Sovereign God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Yahweh Was the Righteous Judge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Yahweh Was the Gracious God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Yahweh Was the Faithful God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Abraham’s Sacrificial Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Background of Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
The Offerings of Cain and Abel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
The Sacrifice of Noah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Abraham’s Sacrifices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Abraham’s Proclamation at the Altar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Proclaiming the Name of “Yahweh” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
The Knowledge of “Yahweh” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Other Worshipful Acts That Proclaim the Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Solemn Oaths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Tithes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Intercessory Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
The Rite of Circumcision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Commemorative Thanksgiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Burial with Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
8. The Worship of the Lord in Abraham’s Descendants . . . . . . . . . . . 152

The Patriarchs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
The Worship of Isaac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
14 Contents
Sacrifice with Proclamation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Oaths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Oracles of Blessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
The Worship of Jacob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Worship at Bethel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Invocation with Covenants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Rites of Confirmation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Worship for the Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Sacred Burials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Israel’s Ancestors in Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Worshipful Responses to Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
The Burning Bush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Signs for the People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Sacrificial Pilgrimage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Passover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Celebrating Redemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Part 4: Worship with Sacrifice: The Establishment of Sanctity in

Worship
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
9. The Patterns of Worship at Sinai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Meeting with God at the Holy Mountain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
The Indisputable Word from God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
The Vision of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Obedience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
The Power of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Epiphany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Celebrating Covenant Peace with God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
The Call to Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
The Consecration of the People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Proclamation of God’s Words (Exod. 24:3a) . . . . . . . . . 177
Contents 15
Response by the People (Exod. 24:3b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Recording the Law (Exod. 24:4a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Sacrifices by the People (Exod. 24:4b–6) . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Reading the Covenant (Exod. 24:7a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Response by the People (Exod. 24:7b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
The Consecration by Blood (Exod. 24:8) . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
The Communication of God’s Approval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
The Vision of Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Communion with God (Exod. 24:11b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
The Hope of Greater Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Restoring the Ruined Relationship with God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Corruption of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Restoration Through Intercession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
10. A Holy Place for Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

The Heavenly Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
The Purpose of the Tabernacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
The Nature of the Tabernacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
The Parts of the Tabernacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
The High Altar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
The Laver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
The Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
The Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
The Altar of Incense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
The Ark of the Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
11. Sacrificial Ritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

The Sacrifices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
The Purification Offering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
The Reparation Offering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
The Burnt Offering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
The Dedication Offering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
The Peace Offering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Purification Rites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Washing with Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
The Rite of the Red Heifer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
16 Contents
The Ritual of the Birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Tithing and Sacrificial Giving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
12. Qualified Worship Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Elders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Priests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Their Calling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Their Consecration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Washed with Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Clothed with Priestly Robes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Anointed with Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Sanctified by Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Consecrated to Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Their Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Teaching God’s Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Making Intercessory Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Providing Access to God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Taking Care of Holy Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Levites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Musicians and Singers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Ministering Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Servants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Prophets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Part 5: Worship as Praise: The Provision for Celebration in

Worship
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
13. Seasonal Celebrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Scheduled Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Worship and Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Holy Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Appointed Seasonal Festivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Festival Worship in the Spring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Worship in the Early Summer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Contents 17
Worship in the Fall Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Unscheduled Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Spontaneous Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Special Occasions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
14. A Place for Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Preparation by David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
The House of the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Solomon’s Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
The Basic Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
The Furniture and Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
The Art and the Symbolism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
The Impression of God’s Dwelling Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
The Majesty of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
The Salvation of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
The Kingdom of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
15. Musical Guilds, Sanctuary Choirs, and Congregational Singing . . 253

Music in Ancient Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Musicians and Music in Israel’s Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Singing in Israel’s Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
16. The Psalms in Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

The Development of the Temple Hymnbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
The Use of the Psalter in Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Reflections of Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Set Prayers and Praises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
17. Offering the Sacrifice of Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Anticipation of and Preparation for the Worship of God . . . . . . 270
Celebration and Communion in the Presence of the
Living God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
To Give Thanks to the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
18 Contents
To Pay Vows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

To Offer Praise to God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
To Proclaim Their Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
To Behold God’s Power and Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
To Pray to the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
To Renew the Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Divine Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Faithful Commitments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
To Receive the Lord’s Blessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Part 6: Worship Reformed: Prophetic Rebukes and Reforms

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
18. Qualifications for Worshippers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
True Worshippers Are Faithful Believers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
They Are to Profess Their Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
They Are to Proclaim Their Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
They Are to Demonstrate Their Faith by Their Works . . . . 301
True Worshippers Are Confessing Believers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
True Worshippers Follow After Holiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
True Worshippers Are Spiritually Motivated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
19. The Prophetic Denunciation of Corrupt Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .308

Warnings Against Idolatry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Israel’s Refusal to Heed the Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Anticipation of Idolatry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Early Defection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Growing Apostasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
The Lord Judged Solomon’s Disobedience . . . . . . . . . . . 314
The Man of God Denounced Jeroboam’s Idolatry . . . . . 314
Rehoboam Defied the Word of the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Elijah Challenged the Worship of Baal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Elijah Condemned Inquiring of Baalzebub . . . . . . . . . . 316
Jehu Purged Israel of Baalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Jehoiada Restored Yahwism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Isaiah Exposed the Unbelief of Ahaz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Contents 19
The Prophets Announced the Doom of Samaria . . . . . 317

The Beginning of the Samaritans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Hezekiah’s Reforms of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
The Final Undoing of Judah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
The Reform of Josiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Final Abominations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
20. The Prophetic Rebuke of Hypocritical Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Prophetic Denunciations of Sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
The Rebuke of Amos: Injustice and Immorality . . . . . . . . . . 330
The Exhortation of Isaiah: Care for the Needy and
Oppressed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
The Charge of Hosea: Unfaithfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
The Condemnation of Ezekiel: Self-Indulgence
and Perversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Rejection of Hypocritical Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Prophetic Preaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Amos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Isaiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Jeremiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Instructions in the Psalms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Part 7: Worship Transformed: The New Setting of Worship and

the New Covenant
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
21. The Need for Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Worship After the Destruction of the Temple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Worship Among the Ruins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Worship in the Exile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Worship in the Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
The Edict of Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
The Restoration of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Spiritual Direction for a New Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Ezra and the Exposition of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
20 Contents
Nehemiah’s Glorious Celebration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Malachi’s Rejection of Worthless Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
22. The Change in Worship: The Focus on the Word of God . . . . . . . . . 356
Worship in the Synagogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Prayers and Benedictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
“Hear, O Israel” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Benedictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Sectarian Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Samaritans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Major Jewish Sects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
The Pharisees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
The Sadducees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
The Essenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
23. The New Center of Worship: The Incarnate Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Jesus’ Ministry in Worship Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Jesus’ Rebuke of Worthless Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Ostentatious Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Almsgiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Fasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Legalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Hypocrisy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Jesus’ Instruction on True Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
True Worship Is “in Christ” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
True Worship Is Worship of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
24. The Turning Point of Worship: The Last Supper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

The Last Passover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
The True Passover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Contents 21
The Interpretation of the Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

The Interpretation of the Wine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
The Memorial of the Lord’s Supper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Memorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Proclamation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Consummation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
The Passover Hymn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Part 8: Worship in Christ: Patterns of Worship in the Early

Church
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
25. The Circumstances of Early Christian Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Places for Christian Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
The Times for Christian Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
26. The Essentials of Worship in the Early Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

The Beginning of Participation in Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Faith in Christ as the Basis of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Identification with Christ in Baptism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Empowered by Christ for Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Private Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .424
The Word of God in Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
The Public Reading of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Teaching and Exhortation from the Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
The Responses of the People in Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Creeds or Confessions of Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
The Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
“Jesus Is the Christ” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Early Hymns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
The Incarnation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Marana tha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Trinitarian Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
Individual and Congregational Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
22 Contents
Offerings and Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Vows and Commitments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
The Table of the Lord in the Worship of the Early Church . . . . . 455
The Breaking of the Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
Apostolic Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
Communal Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
The Development of the Liturgy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Faithful Obedience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Part 9: The Perfection of Worship in Glory

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
27. Christ in Glory with Choirs of Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
The Vision of Christ in Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
The Vision of the Heavenly Choirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
The Throne of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
Worship at the Throne of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
The Praise of the Four Creatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
The Acclamation of the Twenty-Four Elders . . . . . . . . . 482
The Praise of Saints and Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
The Creatures and Elders Sing a New Song . . . . . . . . . . 484
Myriads of Angels Sing in a Loud Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
All Creation Worships God and the Lamb . . . . . . . . . . . 486
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
28. The Glorious Celebration of the Fulfillment of the Promises . . . . . 489

The Celebration of the Redeemed in Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
Union with the Lord of Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
Worship in the New Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
Part 10: Basic Principles for More Glorious Worship

1. The revelation of the exalted Lord God in glory inspires glorious
worship and fills us with the hope of glory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
Contents 23
2. The evidence of the Lord’s presence makes worship a holy

convocation in a holy place that calls for holiness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
3. Sacrifice is at the center of worship as the basis and
expression of it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
4. Sound biblical proclamation informs all worshipful acts. . . . . . . . . 505
5. The ministry of the Word, an act of worship itself, is the key to
coherent, corporate worship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
6. Individual public praise and thanksgiving is the evidence of the
spiritual life that is alive in the church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
7. Singing, chanting, playing musical instruments, and dancing done
to the glory of God are a part of the praise of the people of God. . . 507
8. Worship is the response of people to the divine revelation. . . . . . . . 508
9. Worship prompts moral and ethical acts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
10. Great festivals preserve the heritage of the faith, unite believers,
and gather resources for greater worship and service. . . . . . . . . . . . 509
11. The household of faith preserves the purity and integrity
of worship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
12. Worship possesses a balance of form and spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
13. Worship is eschatological. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510
14. Prayer enables all the acts of worship to achieve what
God intended. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
15. Worship transcends time and space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
General Works on Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
General Theological Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
The Holy Lord God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
Israelite Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
General Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
Specific Topics or Passages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
Polemics and Pagan Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Holy Places of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
Christian Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
Liturgy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538
Creeds and Confessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
Reading and Preaching the Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
24 Contents
Holy Communion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Sacred Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
Music and Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
Art and Symbolism in Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
Worship in Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Variations of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
Supplementary Subjects on Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
Commentaries Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
General Reference Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
Scripture Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Preface
This book is as much the product of my personal pilgrimage as it is
years of study. I suppose growing up in a pastor’s home had me thinking
at an early age about what went on in public and private worship. But
my experiences in that church, a German Baptist Church, were only the
beginnings of a pilgrimage that has taken me through many denomina-
tions and many different churches within the major denominations. And
in the process I have been exposed to the major forms of worship. Then,
when I began to speak in different churches, I was able to see firsthand
the great variety of activities that go under the heading of worship. My
experiences with churches and my teaching in the areas of the Psalms,
Leviticus, Jewish backgrounds to the New Testament, and studies in wor-
ship itself, inspired even greater research into the subject. This book has
emerged from this lengthy process.
I have written this book to inspire and encourage Christians, and
therefore congregations, to study Scripture more closely on this subject
in order to discover all that worship can and should be. There are many
good works on the various aspects of worship, but none that focus almost
entirely on the biblical passages that are concerned with the subject. To
study Scripture with such a designated purpose enables Christians to see
how much the Bible has to say on the subject, and how far we are from
exhausting all the revelation of God on it. I am not trying to get people
to change their denominational affiliation, although that might happen;
but I am trying to change their thinking on the subject of worship so that
they might begin to follow more of the principles and patterns of worship
that are found in the Bible, which various groups have implemented ef-
fectively. If people will study the Bible with this in mind, it will be a life-
long study, but it will be rich and fruitful—their worship activities will
flourish in accordance with their discovery of what has happened in the
25
26 Preface
history of the faith. Their worship will become much more glorious, and
their spiritual service will be raised to a much higher level.
The focus of the book is primarily on communal worship, though
most of the principles can be easily used in private worship as well. But
since worship is a communal activity, all the private acts of devotion will
find their greatest expression and their divinely intended purpose in the
assembly of believers. And when communal worship is glorious, it will in
turn inspire greater private worship.
There have been far too many people to enumerate who have inspired
or helped in significant ways in the writing of this book—pastors, teach-
ers, students, and congregations. But I would like to mention my students
especially, for in taking the courses and interacting with the material
as it was being developed, they proved to be a valuable testing ground.
Especially, I would mention Ross and Lauren Blackburn, who have been
such an encouragement to me for even getting started. I am grateful also
to Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama,
for its generous provision to enable me to finish the work. But most of all
I thank my wife, Jan, who has been enthusiastic and encouraging about
this project from its beginning and has contributed a good deal to the
development of the ideas and the way they have been presented.
Abbreviations
Standard Resources
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament
BDB Brown, F., S. R. Driver, C. A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English
Lexicon of the Old Testament.
GKC Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar
LXX Septuagint
MT Masoretic Text
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.
Rabbinic Literature
Ber. Berakot
Dem. Demai
Eduy. >Eduyyot
>Eruv. >Eruvin
Kid. Kiddushin
Makk. Makkot
Meg. Megillah
Mid. Middot
Neg. Nega>im
Nid. Niddah
Pes. Pesa˙im
Shab. Shabbat
She˚. She˚alim
Sot. Sotah
Suk. Sukkah
Tos. Tosephta (Tosefta)
Yad. Yadayim
27
Hebrew Transliteration Key
Consonants Vowels
a < ; a
bB bv
… å
gG g
dD d h: åh
h h ] á
w w
z z , e
x kh E ∑
j †
ye ê
y y
%kK k / é
l l
. ë
~m m
!n n I i
s s yI ª
[ >
P p : o
@p ph o ø
#c ts
A ô
q q
r r | ó
f ∞
U u
v sh
tT t W û
accents @
29
Greek Transliteration Key
a a
b b
g g
d d
e e
z z
h ∑
q th
i i
k k
l l
m m
n n
x x
o o
p p
r r
s s
t t
u u; often y
f ph
c kh
y ps
w ø
J (rough breathing mark) h
; ` v (accents) @
31
P a r t 1
Worshipping the God

of Glory
Introduction
The words of worship flow so easily from our lips that we seldom
stop to think about them: we casually talk about knowing the Lord; we
say we talk to God and in one way or another hear from God. We attend
churches on Sundays to have, as we say, fellowship with God and each
other. There we celebrate the belief that he is our God with songs and
hymns, but even these have become so familiar to us that our minds drift
to other, more immediate concerns. And when we approach the Lord’s
Table, to eat with God as it were, we often do not have enough time to
appreciate what it means. In short, our worship services have become
time-bound and routine. We have been so successful in fitting God into
our important schedules that worship is often just another activity. But it
should be anything but routine and ordinary.
After all, this God we say we know is the sovereign Creator and Lord of
the whole universe, the eternal and ever-living God, all wise, all powerful,
and ever present. Our attention to the Lord must not be an ordinary part
of life; our worship of him should be the most momentous, urgent, and
glorious activity in our lives. But we rarely see the splendor, the beauty,
and the glory of worship because we are not drawn out of our world
enough to comprehend this God of glory; consequently, our worship is
all too frequently unexceptional and at times irrelevant.
If we could grasp the incongruity of speaking so casually about God,
we would be overwhelmed and could never again worship comfortably in
the same ways. We would think it too demeaning for God and too flatter-
ing for us. On the one hand, here we are, finite human beings, concerned
chiefly with staying healthy and making a comfortable living. We spend
our days in familiar routines with an array of anxieties and uncertain-
ties threatening our sense of security. We genuinely would like to focus
on worship and service, but more immediate concerns occupy our time.
35
36 Recalling the Hope of Glory
And on the other hand, there is God, the sovereign and ever-living Lord.
He is the inconceivable and incomprehensible source of all existence; he
is the invisible majesty who reigns on high. This God we claim to know is
the one before whom thousands upon thousands of angels and archangels
stand, never ceasing to laud and praise him as the holy and glorious maj-
esty. This Lord merely speaks, as he did at creation, and myriads of angels
wait to carry out his will. He is completely unique, truly glorious and
incomparably holy—there is no one like him, anywhere, at any time. And
there is no measure of the magnificence and beauty of his holiness, for all
his works are amazing, good, and glorious. And we say we know him!
Moreover, by his greatness and because of his grace, this God created
us humans out of the dust of the ground and made us as his image; he
made a Paradise for us and promised us immortality and everlasting joy
in his presence. And even though we, his creation, treated him as worth-
less and relegated him to an insignificant place in our all-important lives,
he still desired that we be with him and he with us. Therefore, he set
about with his plan to bring us to glory. Such was his preoccupation with
us, such was his love for us—who are but dust and ashes—that he pre-
pared this plan in ages past, revealed it century by century, and then at
just the right time in human history came into this little world in human
form to die a humiliating death in our place so that our indifference to
and rebellion against him could be forgiven and that we might still live
with him forever. This incarnate Lord, the Jesus we talk about as if he
were just another man, albeit extraordinary and exemplary, is the one
who made all things. And he is the one who is the radiance of the glory
of the Godhead, and the exact representation of the divine essence. It is
he who bears the world along on its course by his powerful command. It
is he who someday will come in great glory and power to judge the living
and the dead. And it is he who will make all things new, a new heaven and
a new earth, in which righteousness and peace will reign undisturbed.
There is no power in heaven, on earth, or under the earth that can change
his plan, for all wisdom, knowledge, power, and dominion belong to him.
Nothing occurs, or has occurred, or will occur, that he does not know
perfectly well. And because of who he is and what he has done, there is
nothing in all this universe that can compare with his unimaginable per-
fection, illimitable majesty, and incomprehensible glory. Our minds can
scarcely begin to take it in.
Introduction 37
And we say we know him! How can we claim to know him, whose
ways have been from everlasting past finding out, whose essence is be-
yond anything mankind could construct, the one who is infinite?
Well, we do know him, in part. We know him because he chooses that
we should know him and reveals himself to us. We know him if we are
willing to receive his revelation. And as we come to know him more and
more we discover how well he knows us. He knows us, little us; he knows
all about us, our trivial activities, our chief concerns, everything we think
or say or do, even every hair on our heads. He knows us personally, in-
dividually by name. He knows us because he wants to know us, and that
is the wonder of it all. He knows us because he wants us to be with him
throughout eternity, to have immediate access to him as in the begin-
ning, to sing with angelic choirs in glory, and to reign with him forever.
He knows us because he is our God.
How then can we talk casually of this Lord? How can we merely slot
him into our fully scheduled lives? How can we think there might be
more important things for us to do in life than to worship him? If we
even begin to comprehend his glorious nature, we cannot. We will be
caught away from our worldly experience and transported in our spirits
to realms of glory. We will be overwhelmed by the thought of being in his
presence, tremble at the thought of hearing what he has to say to us, and
be amazed at the thought that we can speak to him and he will listen!
How can we not desire to transcend the ordinary routine by entering his
courts to praise and glorify him above the profane things we so eagerly
value? Truly, if our worship, if our spiritual life, is going to rise above this
earthly existence where our minds are fixed on mundane thoughts and
our attention is given to mundane concerns, then we are going to have to
begin to focus our hearts and our minds on the holiness and the glory
and the beauty of the one we say we know and love.
Our churches do not always make this easy. All too often the heartfelt
desires of the worshippers to see God in his glory are frustrated by meet-
ings and programs that often get in the way and jar our spiritual sensi-
tivities. This, in spite of the fact that churches are always trying to make
worship more meaningful. But usually these efforts focus on new meth-
ods and different styles designed to make worship more lively and more
relevant rather than on how to inspire worshippers to see the true and
holy God of glory. In an effort to simplify things and make them relevant,
the meaning and the mystery has been lost. As a result, in many services
there may be almost nothing that is truly uplifting, moving, or even in-
teresting. Efforts to improve worship often start with outbursts of energy
and enthusiasm, but they have little lasting effect, and in time people are
looking for other ways to do it, or for other churches that do it differ-
ently. This cycle indicates that worship needs constant attention—with a
better focus. While many congregations are concerned enough to make
the effort, there are too many that are satisfied that they have worship in
good order and therefore think they need no reexamination. Sadly, some
groups are not even touched by such concerns.
But there is evidence of an increasing interest in improving worship,
judging from the amount of literature that has been written recently.1
Will churches succeed in transforming worship for greater involvement
of the people? Will churches improve praise and music with more rel-
evant and meaningful material? Will they develop greater variety and
spontaneity in their set forms and order of worship? No doubt what has
been written recently on these kinds of details of worship will help bring
about change; the more general works that try to capture the essence of
worship and show how it has been expressed from the early church to the
present are also helpful. But whether they will be able to break down the
centuries-old barriers to more glorious worship remains to be seen.
For any significant change to occur in our worship activities, we have
to get behind forms and methods and changes in style and focus on the
biblical theology that informs worship, because one of the reasons, if not
the main reason, for the lack of proper attention given to worship is the
lack of a biblical, theological understanding.2 That understanding must
begin with a thorough study of the biblical text from the beginning of
creation to the end of the age that traces the unfolding revelation of God’s
1. A decade ago A. E. Hill listed some of the trends in worship renewal: an emphasis on
personal piety and corporate worship, congregational participation through spiritual
gifts, a return to the traditions of worship, a move toward holistic worship involving
all the senses, the attempt to accommodate liturgy to the culture, a connection be-
tween worship and service, and a trend toward ecumenism. These beginnings need to
be developed further, but with proper biblical and theological motivation (Enter His
Courts with Praise, xxii).
2. Saliers says that one cannot divide theological thinking and liturgical participation.
He is concerned with “continuing worship” as a form of theology, but approaches the
subject liturgically (Worship as Theology: Foretaste of Glory Divine, 15).
Introduction 39
design for communion with his people and the cumulative record of their
appropriate responses to Him. Such a study will show how the patterns
of worship have developed along with the outworking of God’s plan of
redemption, culminating with worship in glory in the presence of the
glorified Christ.
Although the material for this study is vast and complex, the organi-
zation and presentation of it must be clear enough for churches to un-
derstand the abiding biblical patterns and principles of worship and to
be able to examine what they are doing in the name of worship. When
the matter is approached from the perspective of biblical revelation, the
greatest changes in worship will take place in the hearts of the worship-
pers, which in turn will lead to the community’s finding better ways of
worshipping.
For worship to be as glorious as it should be, for it to lift people out
of their mundane cares and fill them with adoration and praise, for it to
be the life-changing and life-defining experience it was designed to be,
it must be inspired by a vision so great and so glorious that what we call
worship will be transformed from a routine gathering into a transcendent
meeting with the living God. When that happens, then we will be caught
up in our spirits to join the heavenly choirs of saints and angels who even
now are gathered around the throne of God. Thereafter, our hearts and
minds will be filled with the hope of glory so that we may truly love and
serve the Lord in this life.
Without sustaining a vision of the holy Lord of glory, what some call
the sublime “worship” very quickly digresses from the revealed design
of worship that God desires and becomes routine, predictable, and even
irrelevant. The starting point of any discussion of worship must be the
object of worship, the Lord God himself, who is higher and more signifi-
cant and far more glorious than life itself. This is the vision we need to
inspire our worship; it is the vision that a world lost in sin needs in order
to be reconciled to God.
In his discussion of this idea, John Stott writes that human beings are
aware of a spiritual reality that is “awesomely vast” and transcendent but
that they look for it in unlikely places:
They seek it everywhere, through yoga, Transcendental Medita-

tion, and other forms of Eastern mysticism; through sex, which
Malcolm Muggeridge calls the “mysticism of the materialist”;

through music and the arts; through drug-taking and the “high-
er consciousness”; through modern religious cults and danger-
ous experiments with the occult; and through the fantasies of
science fiction.3
He draws this conclusion:
This quest for transcendence constitutes a challenge to the qual-

ity of Christian public worship. Does it offer what people are
seeking—the element of mystery, the sense of the numinous, in
biblical language the “fear of God,” in modern language “tran-
scendence,” so that we “bow down before the Infinitely Great” in
the mixture of awe, wonder, and joy called worship?4
The answer to this question is “not very often.”
3. John R. W. Stott, “The World’s Challenge to the Church,” 124. Bloesch also discusses
the importance of a proper perception of God in Essentials of Evangelical Theology,
1:24–50.
4. Stott, “The World’s Challenge to the Church,” 125.
C h a p t e r 1
The Revelation of
the Holy Lord God of Glory
The Revelation
The greater our appreciation and apprehension of the majestic God
whom we say we worship, the greater will be our reverence, adoration,
and service. This is the effect that we find in the biblical records when-
ever people received fuller revelations of the God of glory. One primary
example of this is in the account of the calling of Isaiah, which tells how
the prophet saw a vision of the glorious, holy Lord that transformed him
into a devout and dedicated servant. Isaiah saw the Lord
seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe
filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings:
With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered
their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling
to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord1 Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook

and the temple was filled with smoke. (Isa. 6:1b–4)
1. The standard representation of the divine name Yahweh with the substitute title
“Lord” will be followed in this book, apart from the places where the exact name
“Yahweh” is required to understand the passage fully.
41
This overwhelming sight could not have been timelier. The beloved
King Uzziah had died; but Isaiah now saw “the King” (v. 5). Earthly kings
come and go, but the Lord sits enthroned forever. This heavenly king is
not earthbound: he is not subject to the fears and failures of this life as are
pagan gods and mortals; he is neither human nor the product of human
invention. He is the Sovereign Lord God, the eternal King of Glory.
God’s heavenly court was filled with angelic choirs that praise him
endlessly for his holiness and his glory. Here Isaiah saw the seraphs, ma-
jestic angelic beings with wings and hands and voices, who are occupied
with praising God.2 These are either a form of cherubs or a separate order
of angels; they have the appearance of fire and the function of praising
God and supporting and guarding the heavenly throne.3
The glorious vision given to Isaiah enabled him to put into perspective
the immediate troubles in his land and thus inspired the proper submis-
sion and adoration of worship. Consequently, this vision prepared him
for the special task that God had in store for him. And likewise today, if
people respond to the revelation of the Lord as did Isaiah ages ago, they
too will be transformed into devout worshippers and dedicated servants.
We may not see exactly what he saw; but we have far more revelation than
he had. And the revelation that we have focuses on the same glorious
Lord Isaiah saw.
The Holiness of the Lord

The angelic praise Isaiah heard has become a standard acclamation
among the faithful: “Holy, holy, holy4 is the Lord of hosts.”5 And it will
2. The plural noun seraphîm, perhaps related to såraph, “to burn,” is often transposed
into English as “seraph,” an angelic being. See Robin Wakely’s study in The New
International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 3:1289–91.
3. According to Ezekiel 1:10–28 and 10:2, 20, there were four creatures or cherubim at
the throne of God. They were composite creatures with four wings, two of which ex-
tended up and supported the throne and two of which extended down to cover them.
Their appearance was of burning coals of fire, and between them fire flashed back and
forth. They were ever watchful (full of eyes) and always moving (with their wheels).
4. In the church this is often called the trisagion, “thrice holy” (hágios in Greek is “holy”).
This will be discussed in the study of the early church, but for helpful information see
Flusser, “Jewish Roots of the Liturgical Trisagion,” 37–43; and Werner, “The Doxology
in Synagogue and Church,” 275–351 (esp. 292–307).
5. “Hosts” refers to angelic hosts, but may include earthly armies; they are all at God’s
disposal.
The Revelation of the Holy Lord God of Glory 43
be their song when they join the angelic choirs in glory (see Rev. 4:8).
The brief acclamation expresses the essence of God, who is praised and
adored forever—he is incomparably holy!
What do we mean when we say God is “holy”? By itself the word
translated “holy” (qådôsh) simply means “set apart, unique, distinct.”
Theologians have tried to improve on the translation, but we have noth-
ing better than “holy.”6
The word for “holy” has a wide array of uses in the Bible, but essential-
ly it describes anything that might be set apart for a specific reason.7 For
example, a bowl set apart for use in temple ritual would be called “holy”
and could not be used for ordinary or common meals (see Dan. 5:23). The
understanding of the word is helped by a study of its antonym, “profane”
(khøl, from khålal), which refers to anything that is common, ordinary,
or secular—not set apart.8 What is common may be good and useful in
various aspects of life—but it is not “holy,” or set apart for God’s use.
To say that God is holy is to ascribe a uniqueness to him that is al-
most incomprehensible. It indicates that he is set apart from all that is
creaturely and corrupt, that he is distinct from this physical and fallen
world.9 It affirms that God is not like humans, angels, false gods, an-
imals—or anything in existence. In short, we may say that there is no
one like God, even though that statement has the obvious limitations of
a negative sentence—it does not by itself say what he is. But when we
6. One suggestion is the translation “other.” It does make people stop and think in a dif-
ferent way, but it too needs clarification. See further Otto, The Idea of the Holy.
7. Many words are etymologically related to qådôsh, “holy.” There is the noun qo%desh,
“apartness, sacredness,” the nouns qeœdesh and miqdåsh, “sanctuary” and “sacred
place” respectively, and place names like Kadesh, a sanctuary city. All these words in
their contexts point to the meaning of separation from common use for a specific
purpose.
Of course the primary use of the word holy has reference to God. For example,
places set apart for the worship of God were called holy. Similarly, times were declared
holy when they were to be devoted to God. And people were set apart to God and his
service; they were to be “sanctified” to God: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God,
am holy” (Lev. 19:2; cf. 1 Peter 1:16).
8. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, profane is derived from a variant of
the Latin profanus, pro meaning “before (outside)” and fanum meaning “temple”—
outside the temple, i.e., secular. It has come to be used to describe vulgar and base
things.
9. See further Trevethan, The Beauty of God’s Holiness.
describe the holiness of God, we must think of his uniqueness. Isaiah

records God’s own description of his holiness: “For this is what the high
and lofty One says—he who lives forever [inhabits eternity], whose name
is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite
and lowly in spirit’” (Isa. 57:15). This is what makes communion with
God so marvelous—he is high and exalted, separate and unapproachable,
but he delights to dwell with us. It is the greatness of God that makes his
grace so amazing; or to express it in terms of his grace, the way to God in
the highest heaven is through the lowest contrition, for those of a contrite
heart may know that God dwells with them, and they will dwell with him
some day in the highest holy place. In Isaiah’s vision this God is called
“holy,” incomparably holy, as the threefold repetition stresses.10
In what ways is God distinct (i.e., holy)? To answer this we have to
think of the numerous attributes of God revealed in the Bible, for they
represent God’s holiness, or uniqueness, in specific areas.11 For example,
God is all-powerful (omnipotent; see, e.g., Gen. 18:14; Pss. 33:9; 115:3;
Matt. 19:26). His power is revealed in his mighty acts, such as creation,
salvation, and judgment. No one else has power like that, no one on earth
or in heaven. Angels are created beings and not divine; humans are weak
and frail; and the pagan gods, even with spirit forces behind them, are
impotent and worthless. But God is different; he is not weak or depen-
dent. So with respect to power, God is holy.
The Bible also reveals that God is all-knowing (omniscient; see Pss.
139:1–6; 147:4–5; Matt. 10:29–30; Rom. 11:33). He knows everything—he
knows all that has happened, all that will happen, and all that could hap-
pen. No one else has that kind of knowledge. So, with reference to knowl-
edge, God is holy.
God is also everywhere at once (omnipresent; see 1 Kings 8:27–29; Ps.
139:7–12; Jer. 23:23–24; Acts 17:27–28). Who in heaven or on earth can do
this? Who can even understand it? So with regard to space, God is holy.
He is also eternal; he is without beginning and without end (Ps. 90:1–2;
Isa. 43:10–13; John 1:1–2; Rev. 1:8, 17–18). He alone lives forever—in fact,
10. With the threefold repetition of the word holy, some have suggested there is a hint of
the fullness of the Godhead, especially in view of the later verse in Isaiah 6 in which
“we” and “us” form part of the word from God. But to say Isaiah understood that
would be difficult to prove.
11. See Packer, Knowing God; and Arthur W. Pink, The Attributes of God.
he is alive in a sense that we cannot begin to understand, for he is the giver

of life, the sustainer of life, and the restorer of life—he is life! In the aspect
of time and eternity, he is holy.
God is righteous (Gen. 18:25; Pss. 7:9–12; 145:17). All his acts are right
and just. He commits no iniquity and will leave no iniquity unpunished
or any good unrewarded. People may have the capacity to do righteous
things but not continuously or characteristically. And because their righ-
teousness does not measure up to God’s standard, they must admit that
they are unrighteous next to him. The pagan gods were certainly not righ-
teous; they had all the vices and imperfections of the people who served
them. But God is perfect and right in all his ways; in this too he is holy.
Even when we consider the attributes that God shared with humans
at creation, we find that there is still a vast difference. For example, God,
who is merciful and compassionate, gave people the capacity to show
mercy and compassion. But our mercy and compassion is limited by our
human nature, and consequently we can only reflect these divine attri-
butes in an imperfect way. If we continued down the list of all the attri-
butes—his faithful love, goodness, wisdom, and the like—we would find
the same thing. There is no one like him—he is holy.
So while the word holy retains the basic idea of being set apart, it takes
on a greater, more positive meaning when it is fully understood in refer-
ence to God. Holiness is not one of many descriptions of God; it is the
summary designation of all that God is and is known to be in contrast
to all of creation.12 Therefore, the Bible speaks of the holy Lord as the
one, true and living God Almighty—not a god, not Israel’s national god
in competition with other national gods, and not one holy being among
many, but the Holy Lord God, as we see in Isaiah 44:6–8:
This is what the Lord says—

Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened since I established my ancient people,
12. See Labushchagne, The Incomparability of YHWH in the Old Testament.

and what is yet to come—

yes, let him foretell what will come.
Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.
The connotation of holy ultimately goes beyond negative descriptions

to affirmations of positive power and perfection.13 Accordingly, when
anyone or anything is set apart to God, that person or object comes un-
der the dominion of a power that is life changing, dangerous (if violated)
or beneficent (if received).14
The revelation of the exalted holy Lord was given to Isaiah to change
the way people respond to God for all time. That is why the prophet re-
corded his vision of the sublime15 and the words of the angels around
the throne, crying “holy, holy, holy.” The impact of such a revelation is
overwhelming: it causes people to tremble and fall down before him. The
prophet and countless others after him have been inspired to devout ser-
vice by the revelation of the power and perfection of the Lord.
The Glory of God

In Isaiah’s vision the angels also proclaimed, “The whole earth is full
of his glory” (Isa. 6:3b). In the Scriptures the “glory of the Lord” is the
most dramatic manifestation of the presence of the Lord. To talk about
God’s holiness is to speak of his essential nature; but to speak about God’s
glory is to declare his importance or the display of that importance in
history and in creation.
The noun translated “glory” (kåvôd) is related to a verb “to be heavy”
(kåv∑d), which by extension means “important.”16 It can be used for the
human soul, that is, the real person, the essential life (Ps. 30:12).17 In
13. Eichrodt describes it as a “marvelous power, removed from common life and bound
up with particular objects.” The connection of the word with the idea of morality
came with the preaching of the prophets (Theology of the Old Testament, 1:271).
14. E. Jacob, The Theology of the Old Testament, 86.
15. The word sublime means “exalted, lifted up, preeminent.”
16. The word can describe anything that is literally heavy, such as a man (1 Sam. 4:18)
or a rock (Isa. 32:2); but it can also be used figuratively to describe blindness (eyes
this sense kåvôd is what gives a person “importance.” Everyone has this
kåvôd, this inner glory or importance, but the Lord has a quality of it
superior to everyone else.18
The word glory came to refer to all the trappings that reflect the im-
portance or greatness of someone. Joseph, for example, told his brothers
to inform their father of his glory (kåvôd; niv: honor) in Egypt (Gen.
45:13). When this meaning is applied to the Lord, as in “the glory of the
Lord,” it refers to all the manifestations of his powerful presence, such as
the stars of the heavens (Ps. 19:1), or the brilliant, luminous cloud at the
sea and in the wilderness (e.g., Exod. 14:19–20, 24). Moses saw that, but
still wanted to see God’s “glory” (Exod. 33:18). He wanted to see past the
bright cloud and the fire to the real person: “Show me your glory.” The
Greek version chose to translate this verse using a pronoun rather than
doxa, the Greek word for “glory”—“Now show me yourself.” This transla-
tion captures the precise connotation of the word in Moses’ request.
When the Bible uses the word “glory” or “glorious” with reference to
the Lord, it is basically saying that he is the most important or preeminent
person in this or any other universe. And when the Bible refers to the
“glory of the Lord,” it is usually referring to all the evidence of God’s pre-
eminence. It may speak of him as the Creator by focusing on the heavenly
hosts of stars and galaxies as the glory of the Lord; or it may reflect his
powerful presence by displaying the brilliant luminous manifestations
usually accompanied by angels; or it may refer to his mighty saving works
that are “heavy”; Gen. 48:10), or unbelief (a heavy or hardened heart; Exod. 9:7), or
wealth (“heavy” with silver and gold; Gen. 13:2). The related meaning, “important,”
arises because what has weight was perceived as important (like our idiom of “throw-
ing one’s weight around”). So things or places or people that are important, such as
the temple (Hag. 2:3), or priestly robes (Exod. 28:2), or even a forest (Isa. 10:18), are
described with words related to kåvôd. Paul captures this meaning in 2 Corinthians
4:17 with a word play based on the Hebrew background of the Greek words “the eter-
nal weight of glory. A derived form has the meaning “to treat as important, to honor”
(kabb∑d). To honor the Sabbath day (Isa. 58:13) meant that people were to treat it as
more important than the other days. Parents were to be honored, that is, given their
proper (weight of) authority (Exod. 20:12). If people honor God, they will demon-
strate his importance in their lives by obedience (Mal. 1:6) and praise (Ps. 50:15).
17. The word for “liver” in these languages is a related noun, for the liver is the heaviest
organ and therefore thought to be the most important, or at least at the center of the
human life.
18. Jacob, The Theology of the Old Testament, 88.
as evidence of his glory, his true nature. All such manifestations are prop-
erly called “the glory of the Lord.”19
To speak of God’s “holiness” is to say that there is no one like him,
that he has absolute power and perfection; to speak of God’s “glory” is
to say that he is preeminent in existence and that the whole universe is
filled with evidence of his importance and sublimity. And while it would
take some time to draw from Scripture all the details that describe the
nature of the Lord, these two expressions, holiness and glory, have come
to be used by the worshipping communities down through the ages to
describe God’s nature as praiseworthy, inspirational, and authoritative.
The New Testament records the final revelation of the sublime in the
person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who, the writer to the Hebrews
says, is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his
being” (1:3).20 John explains that although no one has ever seen God, the
only begotten Son has revealed him (John 1:18). And John claimed that
he and others were privileged to behold his glory (John 1:14). On the Isle
of Patmos, John received the revelation of the risen Christ in glory, a vi-
sion that brought together the many revelations of the Lord given down
through biblical history. In fact, when John reported how Jesus fulfilled
the suffering servant prophecy recorded in Isaiah 53 as well as the min-
istry described in Isaiah 6, he explained that “Isaiah said this because he
saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him” (John 12:41). It was the second
person of the Trinity in glory, the preincarnate Christ, who was revealed
to Isaiah as the holy Lord, high and lifted up.21 And now that the Son of
God has taken on mortal flesh (John 1:14) and fully revealed the Father
(Matt. 11:27; John 1:18; Heb. 1:1–4), all true and complete worship must
focus on the full revelation of God in Christ.22
But to the degree that a vision of the sublime has faded from the con-
19. See D. F. Coggin, The Glory of God.

20. Bloesch says that God’s glory as the shining of his light in a dark world finds its fullest
manifestation in his Son (Essentials of Evangelical Theology, 38).
21. Not only was the Lord high and lifted up in the vision, but at the cross Jesus was also
lifted up to draw all people to himself. Even in his ignominious death he was exalted;
thus, the essence of the sublime nature of Christ includes the glory of the cross.
22. Because Christ Jesus is the incarnate Lord God, the only true and living God, then
it is impossible to conceive of worship without Christ. Worship that is not centered
in Christ completely disregards the final and complete revelation of God in the new
covenant.
sciousness of religious people, adoration and reverence as well as obedi-

ence and service have also been diminished. For worship to rise above
the clutches of a materialistic and secular world, the church must once
again focus on such revelations of the Lord of glory. The revelations of
glory revealed in Scripture will inspire all we do in the name of worship.
Without them we, and our worship, will wither and fade; but with them
we will be able to keep our eyes fixed on what is eternal (2 Cor. 4:16–18).
And as we do so, we shall be changed into that glory, and all our expres-
sions of worship will be more glorious (2 Cor. 3:18). Thus, properly mo-
tivated worship will be transforming.
The Response to the Revelation
The Immediate Response

The apprehension23 of the revelation of the holy Lord God of glory
will bring about an immediate response (Isa. 6:5), which, although
varied from experience to experience in some of its outward expressions,
is essentially one. Those who received such a glorious revelation were
completely overwhelmed. After all, the visions were so glorious, so
otherworldly, that mortals could hardly take them in. But what they
had no trouble understanding in the light of those visions was their own
frailty and sinfulness. When John on Patmos saw the vision of the risen
Lord in glory, he fell to the ground as if he were dead (Rev. 1:17). Earlier
revelations were not as complete as that which John saw, but they still
were overwhelming. When Jacob awakened at Bethel from his vision of
the Lord and the angels ascending and descending on the stairway, he
was afraid. His immediate response was, “How awesome is this place!
This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven” (Gen.
28:16–17). Then he responded with appropriate acts of worship. Job also
was overwhelmed by a direct revelation from God and, although it was
not a vision of the full heavenly court, he responded with reverential fear
and self-disdain, or in the words of Isaiah, humility and contrition (Isa.
57:15). When God spoke out of the whirlwind, Job could only say, “I am
unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I
spoke once, but I have no answer—twice, but I will say no more” (40:4–
23. The word apprehension captures both ideas of comprehending and accepting by faith
what has been understood.
5). Then after additional revelation he declared, “My ears had heard of
you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent
in dust and ashes” (42:5–6).
Not only is there an acknowledgment of who God is, but there is also
a confession. The prophet Isaiah was gripped with fear because he now
realized his sinful condition. “Woe to me!” he cried. “I am ruined! For I
am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and
my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isa. 6:5).
Such revelations were not made to terrify or destroy people but to in-
spire them to greater devotion and service. And as we shall see, throughout
the history of the faith there have developed a great number of appropri-
ate responses to divine revelation, whether that revelation was as excep-
tional as one of these visions or simply the clear revelation of the written
Word of God. Thus, in general terms, “worship” refers to the appropri-
ate response to the revelation of the holy God of glory. More specifically,
Christian worship, whether individual or collective, is the structured and
ordered expression of the proper response of the people of God to the rev-
elation of God in Christ. And in relationship to the whole life of faith,
worship is actually the point of concentration at which the whole of the
Christian life comes to ritual focus, for what we do in worship has a bear-
ing on everything else we do in the faith, and how we live out our faith
will impact our worship.24 The Bible itself does not give a comprehensive
definition of worship; it simply describes things that people have done or
should do when they receive the revealing words and works of God.
In the Old Testament “worship” is the translation of a word that means
“bow oneself down low to the ground” (hishtakháwåh).25 The word can
be used in secular contexts, such as in the accounts of Joseph’s broth-
ers bowing down to him (Gen. 37:10; 43:28). But its meaning in contexts
where people bow before the Lord often includes more than the mere
act of bowing to the ground. For example, in Genesis 22:5 it includes
Abraham’s plans to sacrifice; Abraham told his men: “We will worship
and then we will come back to you.” Also, Job’s troubles prompted him
to worship: he tore his robe, shaved his head, and falling to the ground he
24. Wainwright, Doxology, 8. Some say that the whole Christian life is our worship. In one
sense that is true, but the biblical language of worshipful acts is more specific.
25. The word has been traditionally connected to a root shåkhåh (see BDB), but may
actually be related to khåwåh. See Emerton, “The Etymology of Hi¡ta˙ÿwåh,” 41–55.
worshipped God (Job 1:20). The word also seems to have a wider refer-
ence in Exodus 24:1, where the Lord summoned of Moses and the priests
and the elders to ascend the mountain “and worship from afar”; they were
to participate in a number of acts of worship on Mount Sinai when the
covenant was inaugurated. It also has a more general meaning in Exodus
33:10, which says that the people “stood and worshiped” the Lord from
the doors of their tents. At Solomon’s dedication of the temple, all the
people “saw the fire coming down to the altar and the glory of the Lord
above the temple,” and they knelt “with their faces to the ground and
worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord” (2 Chron. 7:3). Psalm 66:4 par-
allels the verb “worship” with singing praises.26
Likewise in the New Testament one key word for “worship”(proskuneœø)
also means “to bow down” (kuneœø, “to kiss”). The word can be used for
the simple act of kneeling before someone who is respected or revered
(Matt. 8:2; 9:18). But it can also indicate the sense of full worship, as
with the obeisance of the wise men before the holy child (Matt. 2:2, 8,
11), or when the disciples in the boat worshipped Jesus after he walked
on the water (Matt. 14:33), or when the women clasped the feet of the
resurrected Jesus and worshipped him (Matt. 28:9). This is the term used
when Jesus declared that those who worship must worship in spirit and in
truth (John 4:24). The word is used frequently in the book of Revelation,
such as when the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the exalted
Christ (4:10; 5:14; 19:4) and when the company of angels worship (7:11).27
The New Testament also uses sébomai for worship; it has the sense of
giving reverential homage. The verb is used in Matthew 15:9 (and Mark
7:7), “They worship me in vain,” indicating the honor the people gave
with their lips (but not with their hearts).28 When it describes the God-
fearer or worshipper in the book of Acts, sebómenos refers to worship and
26. The verb also can be used for the worship of false gods, for the same posture and ac-
companying mental and physical acts would be involved. It is used in the prohibition
of idolatry (Exod. 20:5; Deut. 5:9) and reiterated with the confirming of the covenant
in the land: “Do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not
serve them or bow down to them” (Josh. 23:7). The verb bow down signifies all that
such an act would represent in worship.
27. It is also used in Revelation to describe unbelievers who worship demons (9:20), or
those who had not worshipped the beast (20:4).
28. It too is used for false worship, as of the Greek goddess Artemis (Diana in Latin, Acts
19:27).
not just reverence. That it has something to do with exaltation may be

seen in the related noun sebastós, “reverend, august” (augustus in Latin),
which indicates an exalted place, usually a sacred place.
Thus both Testaments use words for bowing down and giving homage
to mean worship in general. To bow down before someone, a king or God,
is to show adoration, devotion, submission, and service; and by the physi-
cal act of bowing the object of the veneration appears higher and so is
exalted. And so when the Bible describes people bowing down before the
Lord, it usually means more of what that particular posture represents.
This was one posture that would be clearly understood.
The Essence of Worship

The worshipful response to the revelation of the holy Lord God of
glory will have certain characteristics that may be exhibited in different
ways and with different levels of intensity. But they form the essence of
worship.
Fear and Adoration

People respond differently to the mystery and majesty of God. On
the one hand when there is no appreciation of the mystery and majesty,
people are indifferent, curious perhaps, and at times irritated.29 But the
positive reaction of wonder and reverence, which is the response of faith,
turns into acts of worship, for the revelation moves from evoking a sense
of fear and astonishment to one of self-abasement and adoration. Isaiah’s
response was: “Woe to me! . . . I am ruined.”
It is not surprising, then, that the expression “the fear of the Lord” is
used to describe the proper response of the worshipper. There are some
who are uncomfortable with the use of “fear” for worship, or “God-fearer”
for the devoted worshipper. But even the New Testament refers to the fear
of God as an essential part of piety and service (Matt. 10:28; Eph. 5:21; Heb.
12:28; 1 Peter 2:17; Rev. 14:7). Whenever we come into the presence of God
in worship and truly perceive who it is that we are worshipping, the natural
response will be reverential fear. The absence of reverence in worship indi-
29. Meland’s observations on how the scientific approach to life has dulled our sense of
wonder, though dated, are still relevant today (Meland, Modern Man’s Worship). The
discoveries of science should increase our wonder over the power and the majesty of
God.
cates that we do not think that God’s presence is there in a special way.
The Old Testament word for fear (yår∑<) can mean “be afraid, stand
in awe, reverence.” Accordingly, that which is feared is referred to with
forms of this word that mean “awesome, dreadful, terrifying.” There is
no problem understanding this meaning of fear or dread;30 the difficulty
is relating it to the positive meaning of “reverence.” The English revere
includes the ideas of regarding something as sacred or exalted, of holding
something in deep and usually affectionate or religious respect, or of ven-
erating. The religious sense does not eliminate the basic idea of fear but
turns it into positive devotion. Like the Israelites at the base of the fiery
mountain, we should shrink back from the Holy One because his power
is terrifying—and yet we are drawn to him in adoration and wonder be-
cause his power is glorious. In worship we draw near to him because he
has called us to draw near to him, and we want to be near him, but we
do it with reservation and caution. On the human level the same tension
between the two aspects of the word occurs, for people may be afraid of
certain things and shrink back from them, but they are attracted to them
as well—dangerous animals, tornadoes, or natural wonders. The pres-
ence of God is likewise both attracting and frightening.
For the sinful person who has every reason to fear God, the aspect of
fear will be uppermost in the contemplation of God. But for the righteous
person, who by God’s invitation draws near to commune with God, the
aspect of reverence will be uppermost, reverence tempered by the knowl-
edge that he is the Sovereign Lord of all creation. When John saw Christ
in glory, he fell at his feet as though dead; but then the Lord placed his
right hand on him and comforted him in his presence (Rev. 1:17–18). The
revelation of the nature of our Lord in glory ought to fill us with fear and
wonder too, but that initial fear will turn to adoration and praise because
he has made it possible for us to be with him.
Confession and Commitment

If the revelation of God inspires fear and adoration, it also leads to
spiritual renewal in the worshipper. Here is where the purpose of the
revelation of the glory of God is realized, for the worshipper begins to
30. The basic meaning of the word is to express fear, or terror, as in life-threatening ex-
periences (Jonah 1:5). This meaning also can be found in “religious” contexts, such as
when people are afraid of the Lord’s judgment.
participate fully in that glory. Fear and adoration alone do not constitute
worship. Before the infinite God we must lose ourselves, for we are finite;
but in his presence we find ourselves as we are renewed in our spirits
daily (2 Cor. 4:16). Because the Holy One has made himself known to us
in order to redeem us, and redeemed us in order that we might worship
and serve him, we first must be conformed to his glory. At the outset
there must be a personal acknowledgment, verbal or mental, of who this
God is and of who we, the worshippers, are. This acknowledgment we call
confession: we confess our faith in the Lord, and we confess our need of
the Lord.
Isaiah’s response was: “Woe to me!” When he saw the vision, he was
filled not only with wonder but also with fear because in seeing the Lord
in glory he was made fully aware of his sinfulness—he was unclean, with
unclean lips, and dwelling in an unclean generation. His focus on his “un-
clean” lips was in contrast to the glorious words of praise that he heard
coming from the lips of the angels; he realized that what passed from his
lips was mundane and trivial. Conversely, it may also be said that those
who never envision the holiness of the Lord never truly see themselves
for what they are.31
Isaiah’s confession of his unclean condition led to the removal of his
impurity and his commission to service. Here, then, we see the spiritual
progression that is to be reflected in true worship: revelation: the vision
of the holy Lord of glory overwhelmed the prophet and uncovered his
sinfulness; cleansing: his confession brought direct intervention from the
Lord to remove the sin (6:7); and then commitment: once the prophet
was cleansed from sin, he was able to hear32 the word from God calling
him to greater service. Isaiah’s commitment was the proper and neces-
sary answer to the point of the revelation: The Lord asked, “Whom shall
I send?” and the prophet responded, “Here am I. Send me.” Revelation
demands a response; and commitment demonstrates that the worshipper
has properly understood the revelation and desires to participate in it.
31. Tozer says, “A person who has sensed what Isaiah sensed will never be able to joke
about ‘the Man upstairs’ or the ‘Someone up there who likes me’” (Whatever Happened
to Worship? 74).
32. The Hebrew syntax is very clear on the sequence here: “then I heard.”

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Recalling the Hope of Glory deals expertly and thoroughly with worship in the

Bible. What is most refreshing: it is not at all ideological. It contains no worship-

Stunning in scope, Recalling the Hope of Glory provides a historical-theological

the Garden to the New Creation

Part 1: Worshipping the God of Glory

Part 2: The Memory of Paradise

Part 3: Worship with Proclamation: The Development of True

Part 4: Worship with Sacrifice: The Establishment of

Part 5: Worship as Praise: The Provision for Celebration

Part 6: Worship Reformed: Prophetic Rebukes and Reforms

Part 7: Worship Transformed: The New Setting of Worship

Part 8: Worship in Christ: Patterns of Worship in the Early

Part 9: The Perfection of Worship in Glory

Part 10: Basic Principles for More Glorious Worship

Part 1: Worshipping the God of Glory

Part 2: The Memory of Paradise

4. The Memory of the Center of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

5. The Perversion of Paradise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Part 3: Worship with Proclamation: The Development of True

A Survey of Worship in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

7. The Worship of the Lord in the Life of Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

8. The Worship of the Lord in Abraham’s Descendants . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Sacrifice with Proclamation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Part 4: Worship with Sacrifice: The Establishment of Sanctity in

Response by the People (Exod. 24:3b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

10. A Holy Place for Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

11. Sacrificial Ritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

The Ritual of the Birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

12. Qualified Worship Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Part 5: Worship as Praise: The Provision for Celebration in

Worship in the Fall Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

14. A Place for Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

15. Musical Guilds, Sanctuary Choirs, and Congregational Singing . . 253

16. The Psalms in Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

17. Offering the Sacrifice of Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

To Pay Vows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Part 6: Worship Reformed: Prophetic Rebukes and Reforms

19. The Prophetic Denunciation of Corrupt Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .308

The Prophets Announced the Doom of Samaria . . . . . 317

20. The Prophetic Rebuke of Hypocritical Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Part 7: Worship Transformed: The New Setting of Worship and

Nehemiah’s Glorious Celebration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

23. The New Center of Worship: The Incarnate Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

24. The Turning Point of Worship: The Last Supper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

The Interpretation of the Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Part 8: Worship in Christ: Patterns of Worship in the Early

26. The Essentials of Worship in the Early Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Offerings and Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Part 9: The Perfection of Worship in Glory

28. The Glorious Celebration of the Fulfillment of the Promises . . . . . 489

Part 10: Basic Principles for More Glorious Worship

2. The evidence of the Lord’s presence makes worship a holy

Holy Communion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Scripture Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Worshipping the God

They seek it everywhere, through yoga, Transcendental Medita-

Malcolm Muggeridge calls the “mysticism of the materialist”;

He draws this conclusion:

This quest for transcendence constitutes a challenge to the qual-