The Weekly Perspective

by Burke Shade, Associate Pastor

Recently I preached two sermons on Revelation 4 and 5, which gives the listener a view of heavenly worship as seen through the eyes of John. In that heavenly worship scene Jesus speaks with the voice of a trumpet, from the throne comes peals of thunder and rumblings, there are multiple choirs, the Ancient Ones have harps, and it all ends with the response of “Amen.”

How surprised I was the following Monday, while reading in 1 Chronicles 15-16, to see all those same elements! David, while making preparations to bring the ark into the tent he has made for it in Jerusalem, includes all those same elements as he redirects the Levites from lifting the ark up on their shoulders to lifting up Yahweh in praise. For musical instruments, David has trumpets, harps and lyres, and symbols (rumbly and thunderous). He appoints multiple Levitical choirs. And when the Levites finished singing David’s song of thanksgiving, all the people responded with “Amen”!

What I realized, after noting the correspondences, was that the very thing John saw, is the very thing David saw when God gave him the plans for the temple. Which is the very thing David sought to replicate in the temple worship environment on earth!

Two things to note: As the type of Christ, David was doing the Lord’s will on earth as he saw it in heaven. Jesus blesses that effort in “The Lord’s Prayer.” That’s your task as well.

Secondly, I bring this up to encourage you in the regular reading of God’s word, so that you, too, discover these little gems on your own!