We continue to see in these chapters a wonderful picture of what it really means to worship God – and to have no other gods but him. He is the supreme authority – He alone is worthy of our praise. The early church was set in a pagan culture and against the backcloth of the imperial cult – with pressure to worship Caesar as ‘god’. In AD156 Polycarp (Bishop of Smyrna) refused to do so and was martyred as a result. He famously said of his allegiance to Christ: “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong; how then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”. 

Perhaps Polycarp was inspired by this passage. Its language evokes imagery connected to the imperial visit of the Caesar of the day. He would be accompanied by his officials, since Domitian numbering 24; he would be greeted by elders who would fall down before him; rulers would cast their crowns before him; acclamations would be repeatedly sung to him as he entered the city. Here, it is very clear that supreme allegiance belongs to the Lamb who was slain, the lion of Judah who is above all and worthy of it all.

In this passage we see that the Spirit is the gateway to God’s presence; worship in truth demands our total surrender to Him; worship leads to an encounter with God which involves all our senses. As we worship Him we receive a clearer perspective not just of God’s position but of our own. We are described as kings and priests. We are called to rule and reign in His image; to do the things He did, to behave like Him, to represent the world before him and to reflect His character and ways in the world around us.

It is His kingdom we seek to build, His will we seek to do, His presence we seek, His love we seek to be filled with, His name and renown we seek to glorify, His life to emulate. This is something of what it means to worship Him in spirit and in truth. To lay ourselves down and lift Him high.

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Questions:

Is your ‘world’ marred or tainted? Perhaps sickness, frailty, weakness, sin – your own or that of others, loss? Our God reigns. It may not look like it, but He has plans and purposes to deliver all of creation from all that spoils and mars it, to re-establish His sovereign rule, His kingdom on earth as in heaven. One day. In the meantime, He is intimately involved in your world and He is with you.

Whilst you wait make your contribution to the golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints (v.8).