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Last week we looked at the two biblical pictures of the worship of heaven that revealed fundamental principles about the nature of worship. What, then, is the relationship between this eternal worship of the world without end and the worship taking place here on earth, both as it was in the beginning (OT worship) and as it is now (NT worship)? This is critical for us to understand since throughout church history, many of the errors that have crept into Christian worship resulted from a mistaken understanding of the proper biblical relationship between worship as it was in the beginning, as it is now, and the true worship of the world without end.

Hebrews

This brings us to the book of Hebrews. One of the key truths that the book of Hebrews reveals is that the proper relationship between worship as it was in the beginning and worship as it is now is found in our present relationship to the worship of world without end.

The climax of the author’s argument is found at the end of chapter 12:

¹⁸ For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. ²⁰ For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ²¹ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” ²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁵ See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. ²⁶ At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” ²⁷ This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:18 –29 ESV

Notice the presence of all three of our temporal periods in this climatic text. The author begins with worship as it was in the beginning, what may be touched—the physical forms of Old Testament worship as represented by Mt. Sinai. Then he moves into worship as it is now in verse 22 when he says, “But you”—present Christians—“have come to Mt. Zion.” And yet, his description of this mount to which they have come points directly to the world without end: “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” This is the heavenly temple Isaiah and John envisioned, the place where God himself dwells, surrounded by joyful angels, “the assembly of the firstborn,” and “the spirits of the righteous made perfect” (vv 22–23). To this heavenly city where God dwells Christian worshipers come to him rather than he coming down to them as in the Sinai experience and his presence in the tabernacle and temple.

The author of Hebrews contrasts these locations of worship in a number of ways throughout the book. He distinguishes between “the true tent that the Lord set up” in heaven and the one set up by man on earth (8:1–2). This heavenly tent is “greater and more perfect” since it is “not made with hands, that is, not of this creation” (9:11 ). He calls the earthly places of worship and all that they entail “copies of the heavenly things” (9:23 ) and “copies of the true things” (9:24 ). The OT Law in general is “a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities” (10:1).

In other words, the author of Hebrews is explicitly correcting those who define the essence of worship by the OT shadows rather than understanding what those shadows represent—the true worship of heaven.

Present Participation in Heavenly Worship

But you have come, the author of Hebrews tells Christians, to the reality—to the true worship of heaven itself. Paul describes this reality for Christians in Ephesians 2:6 when he states that God has “raised us up with [Christ] and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Christ is seated in heaven, and since we are in him, we are with him there. And he tells us how just a few few verses down in Ephesians 2:18 : “For through [Christ] we . . . have access in one Spirit to the Father.” We have access to the Father because in one Spirit through Christ, we are actually there, in the presence of God, in heaven. This is why we give glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, for each person of the Tri-unity of God plays an active roll in what makes worship in God’s presence possible for Christians.

This reveals the essential connection between the gospel and the theological pattern of heavenly worship—through Christ in the Spirit we have access to the presence of God. The goal of the gospel is to enable us to draw near to the presence of God, in his heavenly temple, where we are then able to worship him. In other words, we Christians no longer come to the shadows, in and through Christ, by the Spirit, we now come to the reality of the worship of the world without end. The problem with much of medieval worship, and a danger even for worship today, is if we chase after shadows rather than the truth form of reality.

Spiritual Participation

But there is a danger that we must be careful to avoid if we do not properly understand the nature of our present participation in the worship of heaven. On the one hand, we no longer worship by means of the shadows, we recognize that we are joining in the real worship of the world without end. But on the other hand, although this is a very real reality, we must also recognize that it is not yet a physical reality. Our bodies are still here on earth, while we really are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. What this reveals is the important spiritual essence of our participation in the heavenly worship of God through Christ.

As Paul says in Ephesians 2, we have access in one Spirit. The Spirit of God is the agent who makes this possible because it is a spiritual reality. The church is God’s temple, the place of his dwelling, but this temple is not a physical location or literal building, but rather a spiritual reality. And it’s not even that the physical gatherings of the church are God’s temple; rather, the true temple is in heaven, and we are spiritually part of that real temple.

The problem is that physical human beings naturally tend toward defining the essence of our communion with God in physical terms. This is one reason Christians have often gravitated toward the external forms of Old Testament worship—they “feel” more real. And this is why Christians often gravitate toward an experiential focus in worship where we define the presence of God in physical, sensual terms. We know that the Bible teaches that we are seated in the heavens with Christ, we know that we are God’s temple, we know that we have access to the presence of God through Christ in the Spirit, but we want physical proof of these spiritual realities. We want to be able to “feel” God’s presence; we want to tangibly experience communion with God.

And so, when we’re asked the question, how do you know that you’ve worshiped, we want to be able to say something like “I felt God.” I experienced his presence.

But here’s what we need to remember: while we truly are in God’s presence through Christ, it is in the Spirit, and it is not yet a physical reality. It will one day be a physical reality. Paul says in Colossians 3:4, “When Christ who is your life appears [bodily], then you also will appear [bodily] with him in glory.” But that time has not yet come. We are already there spiritually, but not yet bodily.

Worship by Faith, not Sight

This is why faith is necessary for communion with God in this already/not yet relationship between worship as it is now and worship of the world without end. Hebrews 10:22 says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” Faith is the means by which we are able to draw near to communion with God through Christ in the heavenly temple, though we do not yet experience that communion in physical ways. The author of Hebrews defines faith in chapter 11 as “the assu