Worship Through the Ages

Vernon M. Whaley

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781433672576
• eBook ISBN: 9781433673719
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Christianity

Through the Ages provides a practical, historical and philosophical study of the Great Spiritual Awakenings as related to the worship of evangelicals around the globe. This is a fascinating story that reveals a unifying, unbroken thread of events whereby one can trace the development of worship practices through the ages. With each move of God came a change in the way people worshiped. New paradigms were created, debated, accepted and passed on to the next generation. Narrative for this study is energized by telling "the story" of engaging personalities, influencers and movers and shakers. Emphasis is given to changes in worship practices from the Early Church, Reformation, the Great Awakenings, revival movements, large evangelistic crusades of the 1940s and 1950s, Jesus Movement, and the Praise and Worship movement. A chart tracing the development of worship from Genesis 4 to thetwenty-first century is included.

Chapter 1

Worship in the Old Testament, Part 1

This is the story of Christian worship—not Hindi worship, Islamic worship, or the worship of man. This is the story of how the God of Israel moves and works through the ages to make his will and purposes known. In one sense, this is a documentation of God’s work for each generation as he makes himself known to man. The immediate human response to God’s revelation is always worship. Christian worship, as we know it in the evangelical community, is deeply rooted in the past. Much of what we believe today about worship and many of the practices we employ in our worship traditions were derived and shaped by the events, leaders, teachings, theology, and even worship traditions of the Old Testament.

Worship before the Creation of the World

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1 CEV). The word heavens is an all-inclusive term that refers to the atmosphere, the stratosphere, and the abode where God lives. While it includes all we can see with the naked eye, it also includes God’s throne in heaven and the angels who live in heaven to worship God. Before the world was shaped and formed, God created worshippers and a place where worship would reside.

“Where were you when I made the earth’s foundation? Who marked off how big it should be? Who stretched a ruler across it? What were the earth’s foundations set on, or who put its cornerstone in place while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted with joy?” (Job 38:4–7 NCV).

God asked these questions of Job and revealed that the very first act during God’s creative process inspired worship. The angels worshipped God for his mighty acts. They worshipped him for the beauty of his creation. They worshipped him in his holiness.

Because worship is about God and not about the worshipper, the angels were given a free choice to exercise their worship. One angel, the mightiest and most spectacular of them all, Lucifer, chose not to worship God (Isa 14:12–15). Instead, he wanted to ascend into heaven to exalt himself above God’s throne, above the stars, above the angels of God, and above the clouds, to “be like the Most High” (Isa 14:14 NKJV). Because Lucifer turned praise and adoration upon himself, God judged him, saying, “But you were brought down to the grave, to the deep places where the dead are” (Isa 14:15 NCV). The angels who followed Lucifer were likewise judged.

What of the angels who chose to continue worshipping God? Today, they serve at God’s pleasure. They sing around God’s throne, “Holy, holy, holy” (Isa 6:3). Night and day they worship him, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. He was, he is, and he is coming” (Rev 4:8b NCV). The Bible says that these angels number as many as the stars in heaven.

Worship and Creation

With each stroke of his mighty paintbrush, our great God created a masterpiece for all to enjoy. He called his creation, “good.”1 He created an environment so wonderful, so natural, so perfect that he chose to walk on the earth in the cool of the day and take pleasure in all that he had created. He chose to fellowship with his best creation, man and woman.

Deep inside the heart of man, he created a desire for worship. Absolutely nothing would ever satisfy humans but worship of the living Lord. Men and women, however, would not have access to Heaven as did the angels. They would be limited to one of the tiniest of all planets—Earth. They would move one step at a time. They would be limited to human flesh that needed to sleep, eat, and grow.

Human beings were the crown of God’s creation, created in his image. “You have made him [man] a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps 8:5 NKJV). “In the image of God He created them. He created them male and female. God blessed them and said, ‘have many children and grow in number. Fill the earth and be its master’” (Gen 1:26–28 NCV).

The fellowship between God and man continued each day. “They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen 3:8 KJV), they had fellowship with him, and they enjoyed his presence.

Soon the rebellion of Lucifer also found its way into man’s and woman’s heart. Adam and Eve broke their relationship with God by openly disobeying his commands. For the first time they felt guilt, need, burden, restlessness, and shame, and the penalty for this sin was death.

Even so, God still wanted a vibrant relationship with his best creation. He desired to dwell with those he loved. He wanted them to know him and desired to have communion and fellowship on a level reserved only for best friends and comrades.

Adam and Eve still had a deep desire and eternal need to worship God, to love him, and to enjoy his presence in their lives. What was the solution to this dilemma? God provided a way for man and woman to worship and for the penalty of death to be satisfied. Thus began what we know today as Christian worship.

In the Old Testament dispensation, man and woman expressed their love to God by making sacrifices. (Much more about these sacrifices later, but for now, they included animals, grain, songs, service, love, and surrender.) The sacrifice God wanted most, though, was that which came from contrite, remorseful, and repentant hearts. God was looking at the motive of worshippers. He was not at all interested in people “going through the motions” of worship. He was looking for worship from men and women who were genuine in their love for him. So, who were these worshippers? The next section will offer a quick overview of some of the early worshippers, and we will see how they expressed their love and devotion to God.

Strategic Personalities in Old Testament Worship

Cain and Abel

These young men were the sons of Adam and Eve, our first parents. Their story about acceptable and unacceptable worship is recorded in Genesis 4. Apparently, they had distinct personalities, but both brought gifts of sacrifice to the Lord.

Cain, the older brother, was a farmer. He tended the fields and grew grain, vegetables, and fruit. I suspect, like many older brothers, Cain was a bit of a know-it-all. Abel, on the other hand, tended the flocks of the field. He was a shepherd.

The Bible does not give record of the quality, value, or preparation process of Cain’s gift. However, God “did not accept Cain and his gift” (Gen 4:3–5 NCV).

In response, “Cain became very angry and felt rejected” (v. 5 NCV).

So, the Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why do you look so unhappy? If you do things well, I will accept you, but if you do not do them well, sin is ready to attack you” (vv. 6–7). God’s invitation for Cain to present an acceptable sacrifice went unheeded. Cain lured Abel to a field and killed him. God reacted by cursing the very object Cain worshipped the most—his work with the ground. God told Cain that even though he would expend great effort to plant and tend crops, they would not grow well. Cain and his family were cursed to wander around on the earth as nomads. After God dealt with Cain and his sin, the Bible states, “Men began to call on the name of the Lord” (Gen 4:26 NKJV).

Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-Cain

According to Gen 4:16–22, Cain’s great-great-great-grandson, Lamech, had two wives. The first wife, Adah, had a son by the name of Jabal. He became the first person to live in tents and raise cattle. The second wife, Zillah, had two sons. Jubal was the first person to play the harp and flute, and his brother Tubal-Cain was the first to make tools out of bronze and iron. These three sons represented the three components of Old Testament worship: (1) animals for burnt sacrifices, (2) musical instruments for the accompanying “sacrifice of praise,” and (3) tools for preparing the sacrifice.

Jabal	Jubal	Tubal-Cain
Animal breeder and farmer	Maker of musical instruments	Maker of tools of bronze and iron

Enoch

This was the son of a man named Jared. The Bible says that Enoch walked with God. Apparently, his fellowship with God was sweet. His love for God was genuine. His worship of God was sincere, and his focus on God was deliberate. Enoch walked with God for 365 years until one day he could not be found “because God took him” (Gen 5:24 NCV).

Noah

God saw the wickedness of man and decided to judge the earth with a flood, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Gen 6:8) because Noah walked with God and worshipped him (Gen 6:9 NCV). This is the same word used in describing the relationship Enoch had with God. Both men walked with God.

Noah did everything God commanded him (Gen 6:22; 7:5). He was obedient. Noah built an ark for the salvation of the eight in his family, and they were delivered from God’s judgment inside it. Immediately after exiting the ark on the top of Mount Ararat, “Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took some of all the clean birds and animals, and he burned them on the altar as offerings to God” (Gen 8:20 NCV).

This is the essence of worship. Noah and his family magnified, praised, and thanked God for saving their lives. When “the Lord smelled a sweet savor . . .” (Gen 8:21 KJV) (the aroma coming from the sacrifice), he received the sacrifice with great joy.

People of Babel

Genesis 11 tells the story of misguided worship. Like the worship offered by Cain, these people refused to revere God. “As the people moved from the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there” (Gen 11:2 N...

Table of contents

• Foreword by Mike Harland
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Worship in the Old Testament, Part 1
• Chapter 2: Worship in the Old Testament, Part 2
• Chapter 3: Pentecost: A New Expression of Worship (AD 30–100)
• Chapter 4: Christianity Sweeps across the Greco-Roman World (AD 100–500)
• Chapter 5: The Middle Ages (the Dark Ages) (500–1500)
• Chapter 6: Reformation (1517)
• Chapter 7: The Awakening in Europe and America (1727–1790)
• Chapter 8: The Camp Meeting Awakenings (1780–1820)
• Chapter 9: The Sunday School and Charles Finney Revivals (1820–1850)
• Chapter 10: The Laymen’s Prayer Revival (1857–1890)
• Chapter 11: The Welsh Revival (1904–1906)
• Chapter 12: The Azusa Street Revival (1906–1908)
• Chapter 13: The Revivalists and Great Evangelistic Campaigns, Part 1 (1890–1935)
• Chapter 14: The Revivalists and Great Evangelistic Campaigns, Part 2 (1935–1960)
• Chapter 15: The Baby Boomer Revival, Part 1 (1965–1985)
• Chapter 16: The Baby Boomer Revival, Part 2 (1965–1985)
• Chapter 17: Moving toward a Twenty-First-Century Great Worship Awakening
• Epilogue
• Appendix: Worship through the Ages Time Line