Worship around the Throne
What happens when we worship? Are we simply singing songs in our living room, or is our personal worship a part of something far bigger, far more eternal? Throughout history, the Scriptures and the church have always seen worship as the coming together of heaven and earth.
Revelation 4-5 gives us a detailed description of heaven: Jesus on the throne, surrounded by twenty-four elders and four living beings who day and night lift their voices in praise. The picture of heaven is the Lamb on the throne, surrounded by worship.
When David became king, Moses' Tabernacle still existed in Gibeon (without the Ark of the Covenant, which had been captured by the Philistines and later kept in various houses), but it had become a place of ritualistic worship (2 Chronicles 1:3-4). As a shepherd boy, David had spent hour after hour singing in the fields to the Lord, and he knew something of the heart of God. He knew that God wasn't pleased with ritualistic worship; He wanted worship from the heart. And while David was in those fields, he must have also had a vision of heaven. He must have seen what John saw 1,000 years later in the book of Revelation...
...because when David became king, he took that beautiful Ark of the Covenant and didn’t put it back in the Tabernacle. Instead he built a tent, placed the Ark in the middle of the tent, and put worshippers around it... just like in Revelation 4-5.
“So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. David appointed the ... Levites to lead the people in worship before the Ark of the LORD – to invoke his blessings, to give thanks, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel” (1 Chronicles 16:1, 4).
There was no music in Moses' Tabernacle. But David had the audacity to (1) add music and (2) change the layout of the house of God. David had found in the heart of God a love for music, and he had seen the reality of heaven: the Lamb on the throne, surrounded by worship. 2 Chronicles 29:25 tells us that this pattern of worship was "the commandment of David, ... for the commandment was from the LORD."
As we worship today, we are literally worshipping at the throne of heaven. Jeremiah 17:12 says, “We worship at Your throne – eternal, high, and glorious.” Psalm 132:7 continues, “Let us go to the sanctuary of the LORD; let us worship at the footstool of his throne.”
Worship is the coming together of heaven and earth. As we worship, we are coming before the throne of God and joining in the worship of heaven… the Lamb on the throne, surrounded by worship.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.