For the Christian, the corporate worship service is (ideally) the highlight of the week. Yes, that gathering is a chance to reconnect with close friends and to put “worldly cares” aside. Even more, this is a time when believers hear from and worship the triune God—that essential activity for which we were made and which properly reorients our souls.
Something else is happening in that worship service. We are taking part in a grand rehearsal. Worship is happening in heaven right now and will surely be a central part of life on the new earth. Thus, the elements of the worship service point us forward, signposts of our heavenly business.
I’ve been thinking of Christian hope as the joyful expectation that God will keep his promises. The corporate worship service offers numerous chances for us to look ahead with anticipation.
Singing
There is a lot of evidence in the Bible for heavenly worship (Rev. 4:8–11, 22:3). Singing will certainly play a role.
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. (Rev. 14:1–3)
And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb… (Rev 15:2–3)
Singing engages our emotions and our wills in ways that spoken words do not. As we join in song in corporate worship, we can look ahead and imagine an even greater crowd, a more glorious sound, and our praise unstained by distraction or worldly desires.
Giving
For those who take a purely logistical angle on the weekly tithe/offering, there seems no need for this in heaven. We won’t need to pay a pastor or an electric bill then, will we?
But our giving doesn’t happen on Sundays out of convenience. It is just as much an act of worship for modern Christians as the first fruits of the harvest were for Old Testament believers. Through this lens, it’s not surprising to learn that giving back to God will continue in the coming age.
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Rev. 4:9–11)
In heaven we will fully understand how worthy God is of all we have, including all he has given to us.
Proclaiming the Gospel
The best Christian worship services proclaim the gospel not only during the sermon but through the structure of the liturgy. The gospel is so central and glorious that we will be focusing on it for eternity.
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:9–10)
God Speaks
Hope is meant to sustain us with a vision of joy to come. Our hope may be stoked by sorrow or by joy, but the Christian worship service is another great incubator for this hope.
Many churches rightly feature the Bible throughout corporate worship. God’s people need to hear God’s word. And this is unlikely to stop in the new creation.
He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Rev. 21:3)
God will be with us; we will have fellowship with him; he will speak to us in a way we haven’t fully known here on earth.
No worship service is perfect. But what goes on then is glorious, and that includes training our minds and hearts to long for the world to come.
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