For you have not come to what may be touched

When we assemble for worship, there is so much more going on than what we physically see.  Consider what the inspired writer says in Hebrews 12:18-24:

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 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, 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, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

The Hebrews writer shows us that when Jesus’ followers assemble, it is different than what happened under Moses.  Old Testament worship placed a major emphasis on the physical.  This was to teach us, serving as a “shadow of good things to come instead of the true form of these realities” (Hebrews 10:1, cf. Galatians 3:23-29).

Now that Christ has come, our worship is about spiritual realities.  It’s not about geography or buildings.  As Paul preached in Athens, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man” (Acts 17:24).  The only physical thing we truly need to worship Jesus is the bread and the cup, and this is to proclaim the reality of His death until He comes (cf. I Corinthians 11:23-26). 

Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20).  Worship is about coming into God’s presence and being together, united in Jesus’ name.  This frees us to worship anywhere –living room, church building, campground– without needing “what may be touched”, things like big buildings, fancy robes, or musical instruments.

Let us seek to see worship the way God does:  “the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven”.  May we all see the beauty of simple, personal, Christ-centered worship!