As a child, I remember struggling with the concept of worship. Part of the struggle involved the fact that my parents were members of a Germanspeaking church in Manhattan. The people were very nice to me, but everything that happened there was a bit foreign and strange. The strangeness was mitigated by the fact that worship in a German church was a fixed routine that never changed. There was always the doxology, with everyone standing at just the right time to sing it, followed by an invocation prayer. The offering came at a predictable time, and the recessional was always the same. The sermon was a time to tune out and whisper with my friends in the back row, as long as we did not disturb anyone. I remember it all very well, because by the time I was 11 years old, I was one of the regular organists and had to know the routine by heart.
But what were we really doing there? What does it mean to worship? Is it mainly a setup for the preacher to tell people what to do? Is it a great opportunity to meet people who believe as you do and nurture relationships? Is it an event that a pastor would travel a thousand miles to preach at but might not cross the street to attend? What is worship, really?
Worship in the book of Revelation
As a scholar of Revelation, I have learned that the clearest place to go for an answer to these questions is the last book of the Bible. Revelation is filled with strange symbols and scary beasts. But it is also filled with scene after scene of glorious worship. What can we learn about worship from this book?
The best place to begin is in chapters 4 and 5. Revelation 4:9–11 is a powerful description of worship: “And whenever the living creatures express glory and honor and thankfulness to the one sitting on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before the One sitting on the throne and worship the One who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, because [Greek hoti] You created all things, and on account of Your will they came into existence and were created.’ ”1
There are two things I want to highlight here. First, worship is described in Revelation with two key Greek words. One of them is translated “fall down” (pesouontai, from piptô), and the other is translated “worship” (proskunêsousin from proskuneô). Second, the worship in Revelation is focused on what God has done. The “one sitting on the throne” is worthy of worship because He created all things. The focus of worship is not on what we have done or should do, worship is focused solely on what God has done.
The same pattern can be seen in Revelation 5:8–10: “And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each of them having a harp and golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, ‘You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals, because [hoti] you were slain and purchased for God with your blood, people from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them to our God a kingdom and priests, and they will reign on the earth.’ ”
In this passage, we once again note a word for worship, “fell down,” followed by three reasons for worship (after the “because”). The four living creatures and the 24 elders “fell down” because the Lamb was slain, “purchased” the people of the world with His blood, and has elevated them to the highest political and religious status. Once again, worship is focused, not on what people have done, but on what God has done.
Though several more worship texts exist in Revelation, three witnesses suffices to show the consistent pattern in all these worship scenes. The third witness is 11:16, 17: “And the twenty-four elders, who are sitting on their thrones before God, fell [epesan] upon their faces and worshiped [prosekunêsan] God, saying, ‘We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, because [hoti] you have taken hold of your great power and begun to reign.’ ” Once again we have the language of worship followed by “because,” which introduces the grounds for the worship. In this case, the reason for worship is that God’s reign has begun.
The pattern in these texts is not based on an accident of translation; it is clear in the original language. In these texts there are two clear points about worship: (1) Worship is all about God, focused on God rather than on His creatures. (2) The act of worship itself recalls and retells what God has done.
In other words, worship is not the place for telling people what to do. It is not a social gathering for the purpose of meeting people who believe as you do and for nurturing human relationships. Those are important activities, but they are not worship. According to the book of Revelation, the reason and purpose for worship is because of what God has done.
Worship in the Old Testament
Why does the book of Revelation exhibit this pattern of worship? Because Revelation’s language, theology, and practices are built on those already found in the Old Testament. While Revelation has several scenes of worship, the Old Testament has scores, if not hundreds, of such scenes. The fundamental principle of worship seems to be stated in Psalm 111:4: “He [the Lord] has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful.”2 In both the Hebrew text and the Septuagint Greek, the word for “remembered” (Hebrew zechar, Greek mneian) appears first in the sentence, making it the point of emphasis. The mighty and wonderful works of God are designed to be remembered by His creatures. Worship is the place where remembering becomes reciting and retelling.
To build a solid biblical foundation for worship, let us look at three of the many worship texts in the Old Testament. We will begin with Psalms, the songs of Israel’s worship.
First, Psalm 66:3–6: “Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.’ Selah. Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him.’ ” In this worship song, God’s people are clearly instructed to recount the awesome deeds of God. They are to point people to what God has done. They are to tell and retell His mighty acts. And for Old Testament Israel, the greatest story of God’s mighty acts was the Exodus, which is hinted at in verse 6.
The pattern seen in Psalm 66 is worked out with an additional element in the worship song of Psalm 78. The psalmist first recounts a specific historical incident (78:9–13, perhaps Deuteronomy 1:26 or 1 Samuel 4:10, 11): “The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle. They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law. They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them. In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.”
The foundational act of God in Israel’s history was the Exodus, their deliverance from Egyptian slavery. From verse 12 to verse 72, the psalmist retells the story of the Exodus. The additional element here is that remembering or forgetting what God has done is at the core of faithfulness to the covenant. When people remember what God has done, they stay faithful to Him. When they forget what God has done, they tend to wander away. Human faithfulness itself is never what worship is about. Worship is about the mighty works of God. But recounting the acts of God is not a dry or sterile act. It is also powerful in the lives of the worshipers.
This is illustrated by a powerful worship story. In 2 Chronicles 20, the people of God are facing what seems like a hopeless crisis. Three countries have allied together to invade the kingdom of Judah. To deal with the crisis, King Jehoshaphat gathers all the leaders of Judah to the courtyard of the temple to seek the help and guidance of God (2 Chron. 20:1–4). When the assembly has gathered, the king leads the assembly in prayer. How would you and I pray at a time like this? It would probably sound a lot like whining, “O God, please help us, we’re in trouble, do something, anything!”
But Jehoshaphat, instead, begins by recounting the mighty acts of God for His people in the past. “ ‘O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?’ ” (2 Chron. 20:6, 7). Instead of whining or pleading, Jehoshaphat starts recounting the Exodus, the mighty way in which God delivered His people from Egypt. He responds to the crisis, not with petition, but with worship
Jehoshaphat continues (2 Chron. 20:10–12), “ ‘And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy—behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.’ ” Jehoshaphat not only recalls God’s mighty acts during the Exodus, he reminds God that the nations now attacking them were specifically spared by God at that time. The very existence of these enemy nations is by God’s grace. So rather than taking up arms against them, Jehoshaphat chooses to rely on God. A prophet most of us have never heard of (Jahaziel) confirms Jehoshaphat’s approach and tells them they do not need to fight in this battle. God will be with them and fight for them (vv. 14–17).
Jehoshaphat not only recalls God’s mighty acts during the Exodus, he reminds God that the nations now attacking them were specifically spared by God at that time. The very existence of these enemy nations is by God’s grace. So rather than taking up arms against them, Jehoshaphat chooses to rely on God. A prophet most of us have never heard of (Jahaziel) confirms Jehoshaphat’s approach and tells them they do not need to fight in this battle. God will be with them and fight for them (vv. 14–17).
Jehoshaphat then has a brilliant idea. If the coming battle is about God, and not about them, why not continue the worship service all the way to the battlefield (vv. 18–21)? So he puts the choir at the head of the army and has them singing all the way. And they were not singing “Trust and Obey” or “Onward Israeli Soldiers,” as appropriate as those might be for marching into battle. Instead, they sang “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever” (v. 21). The focus of the singing was on God. And the outcome of the battle was better than they could have expected (vv. 22, 23).
This story underlines what we have already learned about worship from the book of Revelation. Biblical worship is (1) all about God and (2) consists of recounting the mighty acts of God. But Psalm 78 and the story of 2 Chronicles 20 add an additional element that can serve as motivation to worship. When one recounts the mighty acts of God in the past, the power of the original act is brought to bear in the present. When you recount the mighty works of God in creation, the power of the original creation is reactivated. When you recount the mighty works of God in the Exodus, the power of the Exodus is rekindled. When you recount the mighty works of God at the Cross (1 Cor. 15:3–9), the power of the Resurrection is rekindled in your life and in your community.
Lessons for worship in the twenty-first century
An elder in a large Adventist Church was discouraged. He felt that his prayers were going nowhere, and the worship service no longer seemed to help. He was about to give up entirely when he felt impressed to give worship one more try. So he went to another nearby church. Much to his chagrin, the pastor was away and a deacon was appointed to read some dusty sermon from the distant past. The deacon read that sermon with no feeling or emphasis, and the elder was sinking into despair. Then suddenly, as if impressed by the Holy Spirit, the deacon paused in his reading to say, “I don’t know about that point, but this I do know, God is able.” He continued reading for five minutes or so, paused again, and said once more, “I don’t know about that point, but this I know, God is able.” After that happened the third and fourth time, the elder found his heart strangely warmed. Although briefly spoken, the deacon’s heartfelt emphasis on God and His mighty power kindled something inside of the elder. The power of the Resurrection warmed his heart and rekindled his faith.
Many, today, lament the lack of spiritual power in the local church. But the biblical remedy for that lack of power is not to focus on the lack but to encourage genuine worship. To worship God is to recount His mighty acts. To recount His mighty acts is to rekindle the power of the original act in one’s present experience. This is the secret of worship. This is the secret of spiritual power.
In many ways, the book of Revelation is the finale of the biblical symphony. This is as true for worship as it is for prophecy. When the end comes, God’s people will have learned by experience, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty” (Rev. 15:3).
1 All translations of Revelation verses and emphases mine.
2 All Old Testament texts are from the English Standard Version of the Bible. All emphases mine
