One of the great motifs of Scripture is worship is warfare. When Abraham went into the land of promise, he built altars everywhere he went, worshiping the Lord and claiming the land by faith. Centuries later, the people marched around Jericho shouting and blowing trumpets until the walls fell down. Even the promises of the tabernacle and temple were that as Israel worshiped their King, He would fight for them, He would drive away their enemies. And while the nation often forgot God and turned to idols, whenever a King repented and turned to the Lord, God delivered them from their enemies.
In the book of Revelation, John sees a vision of the worship happening in Heaven and judgments are poured out on the nations of men. The elders are falling down before the Lord, the angels are blowing trumpets, and the congregation of saints is shouting praises before the Lamb who was slain. And cups of judgment are poured out on the earth.
But do not think that we cannot join that worship until we die. No, Hebrews 12 says that we have already joined that Heavenly worship service. When the minister says: “Lift up yours hearts” and you respond “We lift them up to the Lord” we are saying that we are ascending into the presence of the Lord by faith, by the working of the Spirit. We are joining that worship service. And that means that we believe that what we do here in prayer and song and word and sacrament is part of what John saw. It is part of the great war against sin, death, the Devil, and all darkness.
Therefore, the exhortation is to sing like you are in the heavenly choirs: because you are. Sing loud. Sing exuberantly. Belt it out. Is there injustice in the land? Are there people plotting against God’s people? Then sing out. And related to that: One of our practices here is to say a hearty “Amen” at the end of our hymns and prayers. “Amen” doesn’t mean “we’re done now.” “Amen” is a holy oath that means we believe what we have said/sung with our whole heart and we are asking God to make it completely so. Do it, Lord, in our lives and in the world. So don’t mumble your oath. Let it thunder like we are an army of worshiping saints. Because we are.
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash
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