“Praise God in the great congregation, the LORD in the assembly of Israel”
- Psalm 68:26
“We shall assemble on
the mountain, we shall assemble at the throne, with
humble hearts into his presence we bring an offering of
song”
-
Twila Paris[1]
“We Shall
Assemble” is one of our favorite songs. While resonating with many disciples,
some ask, “Does this song speak of a meaningful reality?” The Edification paradigm asserts that these
types of songs are misleading in the Christian assembly because they introduce
a Jewish understanding in the mindset of contemporary believers.[2]
This poisons a truly spiritual understanding of worship (according to that, in my opinion, misguided view).
Alternately,
we believe that we do come “into his presence” in the gathering of the people
of God. The theology of presence in the
Hebrew Scriptures provides a partial ground for so thinking. The New Testament authors draw on this
theology and thus Christian assemblies share some continuity with the
gatherings of their spiritual ancestors.
A Christian theology of the assembly, then, begin with Israel’s understanding of
assemblies as sacred space.
Presence
in the Garden
In the
beginning the Triune God created the heavens and the earth. On the earth God cultivated a paradise tailored
for those fashioned in his own image.
The garden was a place of abundance and harmonious relationships. In Eden shalom characterized the relationships within all God’s created
order. Humans and animals; male and female;
and human and divine all shared holy relationships. So wonderful was this place that Ezekiel even
called it “the garden
of God” (31:8-9).
This garden
was the original holy place. Frequently
biblical writers describe creation in architectural imagery. The imagery paints the picture of a palatial
temple with the effect that the whole of creation is the holy dwelling place of
God with his creatures. In Job, the Lord speaks out of the whirlwind and asks
(Job 38:4-6, 8, 10, 22)
Where were
you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if
you have understanding.
Who marked
off its dimensions? Surely you know …
Who
stretched a measuring line across it?
On what
were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone …
Who shut up
the sea behind doors …
When I
fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place …
Have you
entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail? (38: 4-6, 8, 10, 22)
Elsewhere, the Old Testament speaks of the foundations of
the earth (Ps 18:15; 82:5; 102:25; 104:5; Pr. 8:29; Isa 51:13,16; 2 Sam
22:8,16; Zech 12:1; cf. 2 Sam 22:8), the pillars of the cosmos (1 Sam 2:8; Job
9:6; Ps 75:3; Job 26:11), heavens’ windows (Gen 7:11; 8:2; Isa 24:18; Mal 3:10;
2 Kgs 7:2; Ps 104:2), a canopy/tent (Isa 40:12,22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; 48:13;
51:13; Jer 10:12; 31:37; 32:17; 51:15; Amos 9:6; Zech 12:1; Job 9:8; Ps
102:25), and storehouses (Deut 28:12; Jer 10:13; 50:25; 51:16; cf. Ps 33:7;
135:7). The Lord declares “Heaven is my
throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?” (Isa. 66:1).
To what do
these images refer? Cornerstones, doors,
bars, storehouses, pillars, canopy – they all describe the common experience of
Israel. In the Ancient Near East these words were
understood as a temple or palace (temple and palace are the same Hebrew word, hekal).[3] God
had already fashioned a temple with its own garden when he created the heavens
and the earth.[4] The
created cosmos is his sanctuary.
Life in the
garden was life in the presence of God who dwelt within his temple. Just as Adam and Eve were naked before each
other they were also unhindered in their relationship with God. No barrier existed to a free relationship
with the Creator. There were no holy
places, temples, or altars in Eden—there
was no need for such. The original
couple lived in the temple palace of the King. Indeed, they were made his
co-regents; humans were crowned with glory and honor as they were given dominion
over the earth. They lived within the royal
palace as benevolent stewards of the King’s creation.
Rebelling
against the Creator, Adam and Eve, were driven from the sacred space of Eden. Genesis 3 narrates
the vandalism of God’s shalom and the
desecration of his temple. Once Adam and
Eve were as free as children in the home of their Father, but now they felt the
terror of the Holy One. The first couple
was banished from God’s holy communion, exiled from the temple of God—from
the paradise of his presence. They were exiled from the temple of God—from
the paradise of his presence.
Recovering
Presence at Sinai
The
expulsion of Adam and Eve from God’s sacred space did not mean the end of
humanity’s connection with God. Yahweh
graciously provided a way back into his presence. God pursued the expelled to draw them back
into communion with him. Calling Abraham out of the paganism of his native Ur, God intended to
restore the intimacy of the garden. He
promised (Gen 12:2-3):
I will
make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be
a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever
curses you
I
will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed
through you.
In light of Yahweh’s gracious promises it is not surprising
that when Abram arrived
in the promised land, he worshipped. When the Lord appeared
to Abram and renewed the promise of grace, Abram built an altar to commemorate
the experience of God’s holy presence (12:7).
Throughout his journey Abraham continually built altars to God—at Bethel (Gen 12:8; 13:4), Hebron (13:18) and Moriah (22:9). Building these altars was analogous to
planting a flag and reclaiming the land for the Lord.[5] The
altar of sacrifice carved out a space where God and humans could once again
come together in communion. They were a
little bit of Eden
in the fallen world.
But the
patriarchal altar was only an ad hoc
solution to the problem of our living outside the sphere of God’s holy presence.
Scripture narrates how Yahweh moves progressively closer to his goal of restoring
the loss of sacred space in his world. God does not intend to bless only a
single human with his fellowship but a community of people. As the plot thickens we learn that Pharaoh,
not the Lord, who is the Unmoved Mover.
Though sin has vandalized the shalom
of God’s creation, God is deeply involved in redeeming his world. He heard the cries of the suffering slaves in
Egypt
and moved to redeem them (Ex 2:23b-25)
The
Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help
because of their slavery went up
to God. God heard their groaning and he
remembered his covenant with
Abraham … God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
The Exodus
is not simply a tale of the great escape of Israel from Egyptian slavery. The goal of God’s redemption was not mere
liberty but rather a life of worshipful communion with Yahweh (3:12). The Exodus story does not conclude with the
defeat of the self-absorbed Pharaoh but with the Tabernacle being filled with
the glorious presence of God in the heart of Israel.[6] The
Exodus is a journey, borne personally by Yahweh, into the divine presence. This movement is seen in God’s own speech to Israel at Mount Sinai
(Ex 19: 4-6)
You have
seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’
wings and
brought you to myself. Now therefore, if
you obey my voice
and keep my
covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the
peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you
shall be for me a priestly
kingdom and
a holy nation.
This text is laden with theological weight for Israelite
faith.[7] In highly personal terms Yahweh claims the
initiative: “I did;” “I bore you;” “I brought you to myself.” Israel’s journey was one beyond
redemption to communion, a journey to life in the presence of God. Israel’s vocation is also revealed
here. Israel will live a sanctified life
before the Lord. Her very existence is a
living sacrifice. Israel is not
called to a mere devotional attitude toward the Lord but to be a kingdom of
priests. All the people of God, not just the Levites, are priests. Israel is set apart (sanctified) from
the world for a specific purpose. This
phrase, kingdom of priests, indicates Israel’s unique role to exist for
the sake of the world—to be a blessing to all peoples. They exist in the world to declare God’s
praise (Isa 43:21; cf. Eph 4:12). Israel’s purpose is to ultimately
lead the world into the praise of Yahweh.
Israel
is on display before the nations as a demonstration of what it means to experience
the holy presence of God as restored shalom.
They not
only lead nations into his praise they are themselves the praise of God in the
world. They are a people dedicated to holy life and gathered worship. Moses’
initial charge was to lead the Hebrews into the wilderness so they could “sacrifice
to the LORD our God” (Ex 3:18). Yahweh’s
plea to Pharaoh was “let my son go, so he may worship me” (4:23; cf. 12:27). God intends to lead Israel to
himself—to bring them into his presence. Ultimately, he brings them to the
mountain.
When God
carried Israel
on eagles’ wings to himself, he gathered them before his mountain in what the
Torah calls the “day of assembly” (Ex 19-24; Deut 4:40; 9:10; 18:16; cf. Acts 7:38).
On that day Israel
meets her God (Ex 19:17) in a way she never had before. Here the people gather
before the mountain and they experience a transforming numinous encounter with
the One who redeemed them. On the third day thunder, lighting and a thick cloud
descended upon the mountain (Ex 19:16-17). No one was to violate God’s holy presence
upon pain of death (Ex. 19:12-13). Israel is
shaken physically, mentally and spiritually by this encounter with the Holy One
of Israel. But it was not a negative
experience.[8]
This coming
before God is not a danger from which to escape but a joy to approach as nearly
as possible. Thus when the Lord invites
redeemed Israel
to be his kingdom of priests and his holy nation, they embrace the covenant (Ex
19:7-8). The Torah integrates the whole
of life into this kingdom. Every moment
and every aspect of their lives was lived out before the presence of the Lord. The
covenant stipulations, summarized in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20), provide the
outlines for a holy life lived in community with a holy God.
Yet God’s redemptive
goal had not been reached. He sought a
restoration of Eden’s
intimacy. Holiness and obedience were
the traits of those who were privileged to enter God’s holy presence (cf. Pss
15, 24). The goal of holiness is not
self-fulfillment as if holiness is its own raison
d’etre. Rather,
holiness—accomplished by divine forgiveness and transformative power—conditions
our ability “see” God, to experience his presence. “Without holiness no one
will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14).
Exodus 24
is the climax of the “day of assembly” that founded Israel.[9]
This text makes profound claims of what it means to gather as the people of God
in his presence. The narrative recalls Yahweh’s
promise in 3:12 that Moses and Israel
would worship on the mountain.[10] Divine presence is crucial to understanding
the experience of God among the gathered people in Exodus 24. Yahweh had promised repeatedly to “come down”
to deliver his people (Ex 3:8). He promised his presence “with” Moses and Israel during
the Exodus (Ex 3:12; 13:18-22). He
promised to make his dwelling, not on the mountain, but among the people (Ex
15:17). Later in the narrative the Lord
threatens to remove his presence in the wake of the gross breach of covenant loyalty
in the fashioning of the golden calf (Ex 33:3, 14-15). Ultimately Yahweh makes his dwelling with Israel
in the tabernacle. The imagery of the
tabernacle recalls the world as it was intended to be—it is a microcosm of
creation (Ps 78:69) [11]
He built
his sanctuary like the
high heavens,
like the
earth, which he
has founded forever.
The dedication of the tabernacle occurs on the new year’s
day (Ex 40:2,17) which commemorates the day of creation in Israel’s festival calendar. The Exodus’
goal is the renewal of Eden’s
intimate fellowship. In essence the tabernacle is a renewed earth, a little
heaven on earth, where the divine presence dwells. That presence is the center
of life for the people of God (Ex 29:43, 45-46)
I will meet
with the Israelites there [at the tent of meeting], and it shall be
sanctified
by my glory; I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar;
Aaron also
and his sons I will consecrate, to serve me as priests. I will
dwell among
the Israelites, and I will be their God.
And they shall know
that I am
the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of
Egypt
that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God.
Yahweh
promises his presence among the Israelites evocative of the lost privileges of Eden. God “will put [his]
dwelling place” within Israel
and he will “walk among” them. They will be God’s people and he will be their
God (Lev 26:11-13). This theme of divine
presence bursts forth in the gathering depicted in Exodus 24.
Israel gathers
in the presence of the Lord so that he may “bless” them (Ex 20:24). This theme
of divine presence bursts forth in the gathering depicted in Ex. 24: 1-11.
Exodus 24:1-11
is arranged in chiastic structure. This highlights
emphasis of the text.
A Moses and
the elders are invited into the sacred presence (24:1-2)
B Words of the covenant are spoken with
affirmation by people (24:3)
C Words are written down by Moses
(24:4a)
D
Sacrificial ceremony (24:4-6b)
C’ Words are read by Moses (24:7a)
B’ Words of the Lord are spoken with
affirmation by people (24:7b-8)
A’ Moses
and elders ascend to worship and eat in the presence of God (24:9-11)[12]
Three themes dominate this passage. First, the passage begins and ends with the
invitation and then the experience of divine presence. Second, the word of the Lord both spoken and
written is shared. Third, both altar and
table are present.[13]
Through
this assembly/Gathering Israel
sees her God and her place with in the world.
Moses proclaims the word of God to the congregation. The congregation, exhibiting a unity of
heart, responds through faithful affirmation, “everything the LORD has
commanded we will do” (24:3). After this
service of the word Moses led Israel
to the sacrificial altar. First, he
sacrificed whole burnt offerings. The
whole burnt offering was an acknowledgement of the destructiveness of human sin
and divine atonement (Lev. 1).[14] It dedicated of whole of life to God just as
all the animal was given to the Lord. Second, Moses led the gathered people in
a peace offering. This sacrifice
testifies that God has restored their well being—they are holy before the Lord
and are at rest in him. In the fellowship offering only the fat portion is
burned upon the altar (Lev 3:16) while the rest of the animal is eaten by the
people. What is offered to God is
symbolically understood as “food” consumed by Yahweh (Lev 3:11) and the people
sit at God’s table. Finally, Moses, Aaron and the seventy elders of Israel, as
representatives of the people, ascend the mountain to eat and drink in God’s
presence (24:9-11).
What
happens when Moses and his congregation of elders reach the top of the mountain
is quite shocking! Exodus reads 24:9-11 (NIV):
Moses and
Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went
up and saw
the God of Israel. Under his feet was
something like sapphire,
clear as
the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders
of the
Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
The astounding statement “they saw God” is not stated once
but twice. The translators of the Hebrew
Bible into Greek found this so unpalatable they interpreted the text so that it
read “and they saw the place where the God of Israel stood” (LXX). What happened that day, while the people gathered,
was something that was beyond description.
The text
captures the unbelievable truth that God’s holiness did not consume these
humans who came into his presence. Earlier
Israel was warned to not
even touch the mountain
of God but now this assembly
“sees God” and no harm comes. Instead of
death Israel
found joy, friendship and a meal. The
meal was the remainder of the fellowship offering that Moses brought. He led Israel to the table of God to enjoy
fellowship with him and with each other.
This
assembly echoes Eden. Adam and Eve were not afraid of God and
neither were Moses and the elders. Sin
that had raped the garden of its shalom
has been removed through the altar (atonement).
This expiation allowed the restoration of peace and harmony. God’s gracious provision created sacred space
in which the Lord and his people could commune in a way not experienced since
expulsion from the garden.
Exodus 24
was corporate or communal worship. On the great day
of assembly Israel
heard the word of God and sacramentally encountered God at the table. Assembled before the face of God, Israel
embraced and understood her vocation in the world. That “day of assembly” was a sacramental encounter that molded,
shaped and under girded Israel’s
life of worship before Yahweh. The
gathered people experienced anew the blessed shalom that was lost in the garden.
The assembly “saw God” and in seeing God they saw the world that Yahweh
intended and promises to restore. Through assembly, Israel’s vision was corrected and
their role in the world became clearer.
The
theology of Exodus 24 extends into the new covenant. This very text set the
tone for Jesus’ last supper with his disciples.
Jesus’ describes of the cup as the “blood of the covenant” (Mark 14:24)
alludes to Exodus 24:8.[15]
Bread symbolizes the presence of the Lord (Ex 25:23-30; Lev 24:1-9). The cup recalls covenant and sacrifice. Just as Moses and the congregation ate the
fellowship offering in the presence of God, so Paul asserts that Christians
likewise enjoy the real presence of the risen Christ while eating at his table
(1 Cor 10:14-22). Thus the sacramental
encounter enjoyed by Israel
at the table on the mountain is shared by Christians today as we gather in
assembly around the table of God.
The
preacher in Hebrews also uses the backdrop of the great day of assembly in
Exodus 19-24 to exhort his own congregation.
Hebrews 9:15-22 presents the work of Christ to the gathered saints as
the basis of a new and better covenant.
Significantly, like Jesus, quotes Exodus 24:8, “this is the blood of the
covenant.” Thus Jesus’ inauguration of
the better covenant is proclaimed with the language of Exodus 24.
Exodus 24
also echoes in the biblical visions of the eschatological banquet that
celebrates the restoration of God’s shalom. Isaiah foresees a time of great joy once
again on the mountain
of God (25:6-8)
On this
mountain the LORD Almighty
will prepare a feast of rich food for all
peoples,
a banquet
of aged wine – the best of meats
and the finest of wines.
On this
mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet
that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
The
Sovereign LORD will wipe
away the tears from all faces;
he will
remove the disgrace of his people
from all the earth.
These images find fulfillment in the wedding supper of the
Lamb and the continued worship of the gathered people of God before the throne
of grace. The picture in Revelation is
once again of a people assembled on a “mountain great and high” (21:3, 10) with
twelve stones representative of the people of God (21:14) basking in the
wonderful shalom of God’s presence.
The “day of assembly” in Exodus 24 anticipated the ultimate day when God would
restore shalom to his creation and
feast with his saints at his table on his mountain.
Israel’s
sacramental encounter with the creator and redeemer of the world left them a
changed people. The day of assembly
testifies to God’s deep and abiding commitment to share his presence with his
community. The day of assembly makes it
clear that corporate worship was necessary for Israel’s vocation in the world—for
their very being. The themes of that
great day—divine presence, proclamation of the word, table, vocational identity,
community—remain significant for the church and ultimately for the assembled
people of God in the new heavens and new earth.
Presence
and the People
The “day of
assembly,” culminating in intimate fellowship with God, was not intended only
for the elite. Moses and the elders
represented the kingdom of priests as a whole.
God sought communion with all his people. Leviticus 9 highlights this point and is
another text that shares the nature of assembly. The narrative describes the inauguration of Aaron
and his sons into the Levitical priesthood.
On that day Israel
gathered to anticipate the descent of Yahweh’s glory. The text can be outlined
in this manner,
I. Glory of
the Lord Promised (vv. 1-5)
II. People
assemble in anticipation of the Lord’s appearing (vv. 5-6)
III.
Preparation for divine appearing through atonement (vv. 7-21)
A.
through the sin offering (vv. 8-12)
A.
through the burnt offering (vv. 13-17)
B.
through the wellbeing offering (vv. 18-21)
IV. Aaron
blesses the assembly (v.22)
V. The
glory of the Lord appears (vv. 22-24)
On the
eighth day of preparation (the first day of the week), Moses summons Aaron and
the elders to come “before the Lord” (9:2).
Israel
gathered at the tent of meeting “before the Lord” (9:4). Aaron leads the “entire assembly” (9:5) in
sacrificial worship as he “draws near the altar” (Lev 9:8). Aaron offers the major sacrifices—burnt
offering, sin and fellowship—on behalf of the people to God.[16] Sacrifice
sanctifies Israel
so that “LORD will appear to you” today (9:4,6). God is coming to be with his people. Moses
assures the people that everyone in the assembly will share the in that
blessing.
After the
fellowship offering Aaron pronounces a blessing upon the congregation
(9:22). Confirming the blessing
pronounced upon the gathered people of God, the Lord came among his people in a
powerful way (9:23b-24)
When they
came out [of the tent], they blessed the people; and the
glory of
the LORD appeared to all the people.
Fire came out from
the presence
of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the
fat
portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted
for joy and
fell facedown.
The
appearance of God’s glory is greeted with shouts of joy. Encountering God demanded, by its very
nature, human response. The joyous
occasion reminds us of the experience on the mountain in Exodus 24. But shouting is not the only worship response
of the assembled people. The people
“fell on their faces” (9:24). God’s
majestic holiness is acknowledged with their whole being. The whole person—body and soul—responds to
God’s presence. As Moses and the elders ate in the presence of the Lord so now
all Israel
eats at the table—and God signals his communion with them by “consuming” the
sacrifice on the altar. Israel
now basks in his glorious presence.
Leviticus 9
highlights the character of Old Testament worship. Rather than being empty formalism or heartless
ritual the Torah reveals the focus of corporate worship—the people of God
coming face to face with the One who carried them on eagles’ wings to
himself. Encountering this God as a gathered
people is a joyous, satisfying, edifying and missional (vocational) experience.
Centuries
later a Preacher would exhort a disheartened congregation to find renewal by
“draw[ing] near” God’s throne with confidence (Heb 4:16; 10:1, 22). The preacher believes the assembly has
renewing qualities precisely because it is God, through Jesus, we come to
“see.”
More in our Next ... For More see A Gathered People by John Mark Hicks, Johnny Melton & Bobby Valentine
[1] Twila
Paris, “We Shall Assemble,” in Songs of
Faith and Praise, ed. Alton
H. Howard (West Monroe, LA:
Howard Publishing Co., 1994), c.v. 718.
[2] Ervin
Bishop, “The Christian Assembly – 5,” Firm
Foundation 90.32 (August 7, 1973), 503.
The actual example given by Bishop is the song “The Lord is in His Holy
Temple.” Mike Root cites the same song as an example, Spilt Grape Juice: Rethinking the Worship Tradition (Joplin, MO:
College Press, 1992), 49. The understanding of the "Jewish" or "Old Testament view" is in this perspective seriously flawed and caricatured as legalism, formalism, external and lacking the "spiritual." This perspective is, in my opinion, flawed to the core.
[3] New International Dictionary of Old Testament
Theology & Exegesis, 1: 1026-1031.
[4] On
creation as temple see Rikki Watts, “Making Sense of Genesis 1,” available
online at http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/Bible-Science/6-02Watts.html;
See also G. J. Wenham, “Sanctuary Symbolism in the Garden of Eden Story,”
Proceedings of the World Congress of
Jewish Studies 9 (1986): 19-25.
[5] Tremper
Longman III, Immanuel in Our Place:
Seeing Christ in Israel’s Worship (Phillipsburg:
Presbyterian & Reformed, 2001), 20.
[6] Thomas
W. Mann, The Book of the Torah
(Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988), 78-80.
[7] Terence
E. Fretheim, “Because the Whole Earth is Mine: Theme and Narrative in Exodus,” Interpretation 50 (July 1996), 231
[8] Cf. Donald Gowan’s Theology in Exodus: Biblical Theology in the Form of a Commentary
(Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1994), 26-40.
[9] David
Peterson, Engaging With God: A Biblical
Theology of Worship (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 34. N. M. Sarna
observes that ch. 19 and 24 form a structural inclusio, cf. N. M. Sarna, Exodus: Torah Commentary (New York:
Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 150,
[10] In
Exodus 3:12 the Hebrew word is abad while 24:1 uses histahawa. The thematic
connections between these texts reveal that Moses did not see a sharp dichotomy
between abad and histahawa that some maintain.
[11] See
Ralph W. Klien, “Back to the Future: The Tabernacle in the Book of Exodus,” Interpretation 50 (July 1996): 264-276;
Eric E. Elnes, “Creation and Tabernacle: The Priestly Writer’s
“Environmentalism,” Horizons in Biblical
Theology 16 (1994): 144-155; Cf.
Terence E. Fretheim, God and World in the
Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation (Nashville: Abingdon, 2005), 128-131
[12] John W.
Hilber, “Theology of Worship in Exodus 24,” Journal
of the Evangelical Theological Society 39.2 (June 1996), 179.
[13] John
Mark Hicks, Come to the Table, (Orange, CA:
New Leaf Books, 2002), 32.
[14]
Longmann III, Immanuel in Our Place,
81-82.
[15] I.
Howard Marshall, Last Supper and Lord’s
Supper (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 43.
[16] Gordon
J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus: New
International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 149.
1 comment:
That's a good article, Bobby.
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