Page 70 - The Poetic Books - Student Text

I have often noticed that in settings where praise choruses are even taken from the
psalms, it is a snippet and almost always excerpted from the second or third section
without the first. Instead of starting with the Good News of God’s mighty acts, we start
with our response: “I will praise you,” “I love you, Lord,” I will serve you,” “I bow down
and worship you,” etc. But this means that we are encouraging faith in faith, confidence
in our own experience and praise, rather than faith in Christ as the amen to God’s
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promises…Rehearsing God’s deeds takes a back seat to expressing our zeal….

We should be dazzled by God and by his Son. Our attention cannot be on our feelings of awe of God.
Through all eternity future, we will each day be struck in fresh ways of the greatness of our Lord and our
Father and the Spirit. Our worship now should have the same focus as our worship in eternity. Feelings
can be overwhelming, yet feelings point to the One who overwhelms us in this life and in the next.

Just think what our worship will sound like. In revelation 5:11-13, angels crowd before
the throne, “Numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten
thousand…. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive
power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
Every time I read that verse, I recall a marvelous experience at the Moody Pastor’s
conference. I was told that the singing would be out of this world. And it was. When I
wheeled onto the platform and parked near Dr. Joel Stowell and the other speakers, I
scanned the auditorium of 1,800 men and got the jolt of my life. Somehow, it escaped
me that I would be amongst so many, many men.
The song leader had the men stand up, spread out into the aisles, and fill the stage.
When they held hymn books high and broke into a rousing chorus, a jet blast of sound
hit me head-on. A pastor held a hymnal close so I could sing along, but I only managed
half the first verse. Something forced me to stop, close my eyes, and just listen.
Never had I been so utterly surrounded by sound. It was pure and powerful, clear and
deep, enveloping me, resonating through my bones, and shaking the chair in which I sat.
A thunderous waterfall of bass and baritone, so passionate it made my heart break.
Through tears I tried to join in the second verse, but my wispy soprano voice sounded
thin and frail. I was a tiny leaf carried helplessly along a surging current, spilling over and
splashing with joy, all joy and music.
It was a moment of ecstasy, so serendipitous and God-anointed, that I had to step
outside myself and be carried heavenward. I could do nothing but laugh through my
tears and enjoy the ride. If this earthly choir moved me, how much more when our
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voices blend with the angels!

114 Michael Horton, Christless Christianity, 155.
115 Tada, Heaven, 84-85.
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