That’s what Augustine said a Christian should be: A top-to-toe hallelujah, a body-and-soul hallelujah, a muscle-and-mind hallelujah.

Can’t say I always agreed with this. As a young Christian, worship was a “preliminary” to the main event, the sermon. Singing was like soup or salad: you had to do it to get to the steak. The tantalizing dessert of Christian service followed, the sweet experience of going out into the world with the gospel on lip and in life. By that time the “boring” soup or “tedious” salad was long forgotten.

Twenty-plus years on, worship is often my favorite Christian experience, especially public worship. Although I’m no singer, I just love to sing with God’s people and to lift up my eyes to heaven and believe that God sees and hears and enjoys our joyful noise. It’s just so good for the soul, so comforting, so energizing, so inspiring.

Let all the angels of God worship Him
Recently, while studying Hebrews 1v6, I was stunned to read that when Jesus was born into this world, God said, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” As soon as Jesus breathed his first breath of air, God commanded all the angels, ALL the angels, from all over the heavens and the earth to cease what they were doing and to gather in one place to worship God in baby skin. Cherubim, seraphim, archangels, and all other ranks of heaven’s hosts made their way to Bethlehem to sing, adore, admire, and magnify Jesus. Every single last one of them! What a worship that must have been!

And if the angels worshipped Him, we should worship Him even more because:

  • We have a lower status than the angels
  • We have a lower nature than the angels
  • Jesus took our nature not angelic nature
  • Jesus took our sin, something he never did for the angels.
  • Jesus died for our sin, something his holy angels never needed
  • Jesus has now taken our nature to the highest throne of heaven

No wonder the hymnwriter not only wrote:

Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!’

But also:

Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies’
With th’angelic host proclaim, ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem!’

Yes, let all the angels of God worship Him, but let us also be Halleljuahs from head to foot.

  • http://www.housewifetheologian.com Aimee Byrd

    What a wonder it must have been for the angels to behold God in baby skin! Great article.

    • http://headhearthand.org/blog/ David Murray

      Thanks Aimee.

  • http://homeschoolonthecroft.blogspot.com/ Anne

    Are you taking the word ‘worship’ to mean ‘singing’? I would never think of just singing when I think of ‘worship’ …. in fact (and it may be my culture), singing would be a smaller part of what I’d term my ‘worship’ experience that, for example, the hearing of Christ in the preaching and that moving my heart in praise.

    • http://headhearthand.org/blog/ David Murray

      I agree with you, Anne. Worship is much more than singing. However, over here the “worship” leader phenomenon has led to most people associating worship with singing.

      • http://homeschoolonthecroft.blogspot.com/ Anne

        Okay. Gotcha.

      • http://harvestoc.net James

        We will improve our sermon listening if we view it as a worship act in which we offer ourselves to God by the hearing of His Word.

        • http://headhearthand.org/blog/ David Murray

          Agreed!