What are the building blocks of worship?
Synthesizing an essential definition of worship is a perennial problem. Many have tried, several
have given us very helpful definitions, yet few are fully satisfactory. Part of the problem is trying
to develop an understanding of worship thatencompassesthe essence of worship regardless of
religion but that also incorporates a particularly biblical/Christian flavor as well.
One way to narrow in on a good understanding of worship is to trace the idea of worship through
the storyline of Scripture, which is what I intend to do over the next few weeks.
Creation provides the foundation for understanding not only the nature of God and mankind, but
also the essence of their relationship in worship. God, the sovereign Initiator, publicly revealed
himself through what he made. The creation itself displays his nature and glory (Ps 10:1; Rom
1:20–23), but he revealed himself in a unique way by creating Adam and Eve in his own image
(Gen 1:26–27). Thus God’s self-revelation provides the fundamental basis for worship.
Yet God created Adam and Even not simply to be a revelation of himself; he created them in
order to nurture a relationship with them, to dwell with them in perfect communion. In order to
do this, God created the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:8) as a sanctuary in which he could walk with
Adam and Eve (cf. Gen 3:8).1Man’s purpose in this sanctuary was to “work it and keep it” (Gen
2:15). Hebrew scholars note that the underlying terms in this statement mean far more than a
gardener’s task, a fact which the absence of thorns and weeds at this juncture in human history
makes clear. For example, Alan Ross notes that the first verb, avid, is “used frequently for
spiritual service, specifically serving the LORD (Deut 4:19) and for the duties of the Levites (see
Num 3:7–8; 4:23–24, 26).”2Likewise with the second verb, shamar, “its religious use is that of
observing spiritual duties or keeping the commandments (Lev 18:5).”3With this in mind, Ross
observes,
In places where these two verbs are found together, they often refer to the duties of the Levites
(cf. Num 3:7–8; 8:26; 18:5–6), keeping the laws of God (especially in the sanctuary service) and
offering spiritual service in the form of the sacrifices and all the related duties—serving the
LORD, safeguarding his commands, and guarding the sanctuary from the intrusion of anything
profane or evil.”4
Thus basic ideas about the nature and function of what would later become formal, corporate
worship were established in the Creation event: God reveals himself through his creation and
places Adam and Eve in the sanctuary of the garden where he dwells with them and walks with
them in communion as they serve him and keep his commandments. This relationship between
God and man does not exist somehow for its own sake, but rather it brings glory to the Creator
(Isaiah 43:6–7). As the image-bearers walk with him and obey his commands, they evidence a
complete satisfaction and trust in him, thus giving him ultimate praise.
Adam and Eve’s fall into sin—their disobedience of God’s commandments—was essentially
failure to express complete dependence and satisfaction in their Creator and bring him
glory,5and thus it was a failure to worship him acceptably. This broke the communion they
enjoyed with God and propelled them out from the sanctuary of his presence. After they sinned,
and they heard God walking in the garden, “the man and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the Lord God” (Gen 3:8)—they recognized their unworthiness to walk with him.
Their sin created a separation between them and their Creator, and they were forced to leave the
sanctuary (Gen 3:23–24), never again able to draw near to the presence of God. Yet before God
drove them from the garden, he initiated a solution to the broken communion. First, he enacted a
covenant with them wherein he promised redemption (Gen 3:15). Then, he pictured that
redemption through atonement by slaying an animal and covering Adam and Eve’s guilt with its
skin (Gen 3:21). This atonement restored the broken relationship and once again enabled
communion with God, although now limited. Timothy M. Pierce provides a helpful explanation
of how “atonement” is directly connected to restoring communion with God:
The English word “atonement” originated in the sixteenth century. It was not borrowed from
another language, but was created in order to express an idea for which no word existed. The
combination of the words “at-one-ment” expressed the idea of reconciliation whereby not just
agreement was achieved, but essential unity was acquired.6
Thus in the Creation/Fall event each of the essential elements of worship appear in seed form: (1)
God reveals himself and initiates a relationship with his people; (2) God forms the boundaries of
the relationship with his commandments; (3) the nature of worship consists in this relationship of
communion between man and his Creator; (4) this worship takes place in the sanctuary of God’s
presence; (5) failure to obey the commandments of God prohibits communion with him; (6) God
provides atonement whereby man is once again enabled to walk in communion with him.
Worship Roots
Creation is the very basis of and foundation for worship. The central principle of biblical worship
is the fact that it is God-initiated and based upon his self-revelation. There would be no worship
had he not created humankind and revealed himself to them. Indeed, this is the very purpose for
which man and woman were created (Rom 1:20-21; Ps 19:1).
God himself expressed this purpose in Genesis 2:15 when he put Adam in the garden to “dress
and keep” it. Often we interpret these terms to meant that Adam’s purpose was to be a gardener,
but remember that this was before the Fall, and thus there was no need to till the ground or pick
the weeds. Rather, most Old Testament scholars note that the Hebrew terms translated “dress and
keep” are most often used by Moses later in the Pentateuchto describe the work of the Levitical
priests in the Temple. Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden—the perfect sanctuary of God—
to literally “worship and obey.” This purpose for humankind is expressed elsewhere in Scripture,
such as in Isaiah 43:7. God created Adam and Even in order that they might serve as priests in
his Holy Sanctuary.
What did this worship entail? Several clues give us early indication of what worship is all about.
First is the nature of the relationship between God and his image-bearers in the Garden. Each day
God “walked” with them in the cool of the garden. His desire was to fellowship with them, to
commune with them, not as equals, but as the Creator with his creation. This idea of communion
with God in his sanctuary as revealed by him distills the essence of worship as it is developed
through the entirety of Scripture.
But other elements appear in the early chapters of Genesis that help to fill out our understanding
of biblical worship. For example, this communion with God was on his terms. He set specific
boundaries and limits to what that communion would entail, and disobedience of his instructions
would result in death—separation from this communion in his very presence.
And, of course, Adam and Eve disobeyed. Their sin broke the perfect communion they had
enjoyed with him in his holy sanctuary, and thus God expelled them from his presence. Before
he did, however, God himself provided the solution to that broken communion. By slaying an
innocent animal and covering Adam and Eve’s nakedness with the animal’s skin, God was
already picturing the means by which he would restore the broken communion. He made a
promise to Adam and Even in the form of a protoevangelium—a “pre-gospel” in Genesis 3:15.
In this way, two key elements of worship that would be developed later appear in the
Creation/Fall narrative, namely, atonement and covenant.
Thus all the elements that later describe biblical worship are already available to us in these early
pages of Scripture: worship entails drawing near to communion with God himself in his holy
sanctuary. This communion is on his terms and it is initiated by his revelation to his people. Sin
breaks this communion, however, and erects barriers that prevent people from drawing near to
God’s presence. God responds to this terrible situation by establishing a unilateral covenant with
his people and providing atonement by which they can draw near to (for now) imperfect
fellowship with him.
Constructing Hebrew worship
In this series I have suggested that the building blocks of worship were established in the first
few chapters of Genesis. To review, those building blocks are as follows:(1) God reveals
himself and initiates a relationship with his people; (2) God forms the boundaries of the
relationship with his commandments; (3) the nature of worship consists in this relationship of
communion between man and his Creator; (4) this worship takes place in the sanctuary of God’s
presence; (5) failure to obey the commandments of God prohibits communion with him; (6) God
provides atonement whereby man is once again enabled to walk in communion with him.
These elements persist throughout Scripture even as their external manifestations become at
times more complex and specific. The Exodus of Israel and the establishment of the Mosaic Law
in a sense codify these elements that had been established at Creation. Once again, God was the
initiator of the contact through his self-revelation in the burning bush (Exod 3:1–2). The purpose
of this meeting was to reestablish a relationship between God and his people (Exod 3:7–8), but
sin prevented Moses from fully drawing near to God’s presence—God commanded him, “Do not
come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy
ground” (Exod 3:5). God accomplished his people’s deliverance from bondage through
atonement in the Passover event (Exod 12:1–32). He lead them out of Egypt with his own
presence in the form of pillars of cloud and fire (Exod 13:21–22) to the foot of Mt. Sinai, where
he revealed himself to them (Exod 19:9), “all the congregation drew near and stood before the
Lord” (Lev 9:5), and God spoke to them “face to face” (Deut 5:4). Because of the sinfulness of
the people, however, God placed clear limits on how closely the people could draw near to him
(Exod 19:12–13, 21–25), Moses alone serving as a mediator between the people and God (Exod
24:2).
God’s instructions concerning the construction of the tabernacle also reveal a visualization of the
worship elements that had been instituted at Creation.1This structure served as a sanctuary for
God’s presence (“And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst,” Exod
25:8)—drawing near to the tabernacle was to draw near to the very presence of God himself, and
each piece of furniture within the tabernacle symbolized both the presence of God and the
relationship of communion that he desired with his people. The table of acacia wood (Exod
25:23–30) signified such communion with God since in the ancient Near East dining with
someone portrayed complete fellowship with that person.2Likewise, the golden lampstand
(Exod 25:31–39) represented the presence of God in two possible ways: first, it reminded the
people of the light that God created and thus symbolized his presence.3Second, Meyers suggests
that the lampstand also symbolized the tree of life, harkening back to the garden sanctuary and
further reminding the people of communion in God’s sanctuary.4The altar of incense (Exod
30:1–5) represented the intercessory prayers of God’s people (Ps 141:2; Rev 8:3–5) and thus also
emphasized dialogue in relationship with him. Finally, the ark of the covenant (Exod 25:10–22)
was the center of God’s presence (“There will I meet with you,” Exod 25:22).
Yet once again, because of the guilt of the people, barriers prevented them from drawing fully
near to communion with God in his presence. The curtain surrounding the outer court prevented
unlawful approach to God’s presence (Exod 27:9–19). Only appointed priests entered the
tabernacle itself (Exod 30:7–10; Lev 24–25). Finally, God commanded that a veil be hung
separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy, the chamber holding the ark and the very
presence of God (Exod 26:33). Only the High Priest was permitted to enter that place, and only
once a year on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:1–19; cf. Heb 9:7). Thus God initiated a system of
sacrifices in order to provide atonement and at least partial and temporary access to his presence
(Lev 1–9).
Thus, God uses the building blocks of worship he instituted at Creation to construct worship for
his people Israel. Next week, we’ll notice that these building blocks are not arbitrary; rather, the
have a basis in transcendentrealities.
1. G. J. Wenham, “Sactuary Symbolism in the Garden of Eden Story,” inProceedings of the
9th World Congress of Jewish Studies, 1986. [ ]
2. Allen Ross,Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New
Creation(Grand Rapids: Kregal, 2006), 105. [ ]
3. Ibid. [ ]
4. Ibid., 106. [ ]
5. All sin is essentially failure to bring God glory (Rom 3:23). John Piper helpfully explains
this: “What does it mean to ‘fall short’ of the glory of God? It does not mean we were
supposed to be as glorious as God is and have fallen short. We ought to fall short in that
sense! The best explanation of Romans 3:23 is Romans 1:23. It says that those who did
not glorify or thank God ‘became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for
images.’ This is the way we ‘fall short’of the glory of God: we exchange it for something
of lesser value. All sin comes from not putting supreme value on the glory of God—this
is the very essence of sin” (John Piper,Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian
Hedonist, Tenth [Multnomah, 1996], 56–57). [ ]
6. Timothy M. Pierce,Enthroned on Our Praise: An Old Testament Theology of
Worship(Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2008), 75n105. [ ]
7. Various interpretations of the symbolism of the tabernacle/temple abound, including
those identifying its structure and content with both Christ and the Church. The present
discussion deliberately avoids such specific allegorical interpretations in favor of
recognizing the overarching, transcendent essential elements of worship. [ ]
8. Ross helpfully explains: “As a consequence of the nation’s dependence on the Lord, they
had a constant need to maintain union with him. And the greatest expression of that kind
of union was in the ritual of a communal meal. Even in secular life, contracts between
people were sealed by sharing a meal together (Gen 31:45–54). To be able to eat at the
king’s table was considered a high honor (2 Sam 9:7; 2 Kngs 25:27–30; Ps 113:7–8)”
(Allen P. Ross,Holiness to the Lord: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of
Leviticus[Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006], 30). [ ]
9. John I. Durham,Exodus(Waco, TX: Word Books, 1987), 362–63. [ ]
10. Carol L. Meyers,The Tabernacle Menorah: A Synthetic Study of a Symbol from the
Biblical Cult(Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press LLC, 2003), 96, 118–19, 133. [ ]
