the future of worship by nathan byrd

7/30/2019 The Future of Worship by Nathan Byrd

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TheFuture

ofWorshipPreParing the ChurCh For

a Tsunami of Change

n a t h a n B y r d


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Copyright 2012Nathan Byrd

All rights reserved. Tis book is protected by the copyright laws o theUnited States o America. Tis book may not be copied or reprintedor commercial gain or prot. Te use o short quotations or occasional

page copying or personal or group study is permitted and encouraged.Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identied,Scripture quotations are taken rom the New King James Version.Copyright 1982 by Tomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. Allrights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken rom theHOLY BIBLE, NEW INERNAIONAL VERSION, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 International Bible Society. Used by permis-sion o Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations markedKJV are taken rom the King James Version. All emphasis withinScripture quotations is the authors own.

DESINY IMAGE PUBLISHERS, INC.P.O. Box 310, Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310Promoting Inspired Lives.

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For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 / 16 15 14 13 12


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dediCaTion

Tis book is dedicated to the journey that each o usmust embark on i we intend to end up where God has

destined or us to be.


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very once in a while there comes a changein the course o humanity that revolutionizes

everything we have previously thought about anarea o lie; this is one o those times.


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ConTenTs

foreWord ...............................................................13

inTroduCTion ........................................................17

ChaPter 1

four Words............................................................23

ChaPter 2

mulTi-dimensional Worship ..............................45

ChaPter 3

mulTi-dimensional musiC ..................................61

ChaPter 4

The Threshing floor of ornan ........................81

ChaPter 5

TransiTioning from mounT giBeon

To mounT Zion .......................................................95

ChaPter 6

The rise and fall of The Temple ....................... 113


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ChaPter 7

The franChising of The JeWish Temple.......... 131

ChaPter 8The foundaTion of

sanCTuary Worship ........................................... 151

ChaPter 9

The signifiCanCe of

The TaBernaCle of david .................................. 169

ChaPter 10

The Who, WhaT, When, Where,

and hoW of Worship ........................................185

ChaPter 11

applying heavenly aTTriBuTes

To our earThly Worship....................................231

ChaPter 12

The fuTure of Worship .......................................239


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foreWord

the Future o Worship is a provocative paradigm shi in how weview worship. In it, Byrd tests our belies and shakes us at the

very core o our theological thinking concerning worship. We seehim deal with the synagogue, the sanctuary, the temple, and the tab-ernacle. Te book incites us to think beyond the traditional scopeo what worship is, merely thinking that we gather and li ourhands to worship. We are taken through a study o the connectionbetween modern Christianity and our Hebraic roots. I believe thatwhat Byrd writes about is not only a paradigm shi, but also that it

is applicable to where we are and where we are going in terms o anevolving present-day worship. Tis book is not or you i you are aChristian who only wants a simple blessing, i you just want to walkin the shallow end o the worship pool. Instead, i you are lookingor a greater understanding o how worship is applicable to us in thetwenty-rst century, this book is or you.

In every age and season, when God is up to something new andresh, He begins to release that message through His vessels. In thepast, there was an emphasis on the oce o the evangelist, thenon the pastor and the teacher, and in recent decades a heightened


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TheFuture ofWorship

awareness o the prophet and now o the apostle. As we move intoa new season in the Church, the meaning o worship is going to be

the prophetic picture we see changing. I believe Nathan has pennedthe uture o worship or us. I believe that this apostolic work willprovoke the Church to look at worship againat what we do, howwe do it, and why we do it. It is resh, deep, and revelatory.

One aspect o the book that the reader will absolutely enjoy isthe link between the tabernacle o Moses and the New estamentchurch. My mentor oen speaks o the powerul association o pat-

terns and truths in the Old and New estaments, and Nathan Byrdbuilds a case or that assertion and masterully so. O course, thereare some things that the New estament cancels rom the Old,but there are also some things to which the New estament bringsillumination. Ten, too, there are things o which there is a continu-ation in the New estament rom the Old. Byrd does a wonderuljob o illustrating each o these dynamics.

Tere are three major points the reader will benet rom in thisbook. Te rst is the Hebraic connection to contemporary Chris-tianity or the contemporary Christian. Te second thing is thethree dimensions o worshipthe Outer Court, the Inner Court,and the Most Holy Placeand their application and relevance inthe New estament Church. Te third benet is the discussion othe shekinah glory and how that glory must be the pursuit o the

New estament Church. Te Church is challenged to take anotherlook at its present worship model. For instance, many ministries arepastor or personality-centric or program-ocused/directed instead obeing ocused on the maniest presence o the Living God. You can-not escape that we are being asked to look at the death o personalityand look to the living personality o the glory o the living Christ inour worship services.

So I challenge the reader to explore this book with an open heartand mind. Yes, you may be challenged theologically and in terms oyour corporate worship; however, I would caution you not to view


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Foreword

your ministrys practices with deep criticism or disdain, but ratherto engage in prayer and intercession that we would catch the power-ul revelation o this three-dimensional worship Byrd expounds onand entreat others and stir them through the love o God to begin tosee that there is another acet o worship in God. I believe that thetruths in this book will play an integral part in the bigger picture othe next move o God in the Earth, bringing us back to the ancienthighways, getting us back to the pure pattern o worship.

Bishop Victor Powell

Rhema Word International


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inTroduCTion

at Te Worship Center o St. Albans, where I serve as seniorpastor, we hold thematic Bible studies every three months or

so. At the end o a segment o study, we take some time to digest theinormation that the Holy Spirit has dispersed to us and incorporateit into our regular worship experiences as well as into our lives. Wehave been doing this or some years now, and as I look back over thepast ew years o study, I have recognized a very intentional journeythat the Lord has had us on.

We had just come through several studies covering such topics

as: Te Hebraic Connection o our Faith, Te Ark o the Cov-enant, Te en Commandments, and Personal Sanctication,when I stood in my oce aer a study had concluded and heard theHoly Spirit say specically to write down our words. So I picked upa pen and a memo pad and wrote the words He gave me that eve-ning, not knowing what was in store or us in days to come. I put thepiece o paper in my pocket and went home.

Te our words I wrote down that evening were tabernacle,temple, synagogue, and sanctuary. At the time that I wrote themdown, I did not see any specic connection or understand why He


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TheFuture ofWorship

told me to write them down. So I said to the Lord, What do thesewords mean?

He simply said, I will tell you in a ew days.A ew days later, while I was in the shower, the Holy Spirit

started speaking emphatically about the words I had written downa ew days earlier. He said to me that these are the our major eras oworship in human history. Each one represents a period o worshipbased upon particular circumstances in the spiritual lie o Israel.Each one has major components that make worship authentic,

and certain aspects o each era should have been maintained andcarried orward to this day. Ten He said, I want you to researchthese eras and let Me show you how authentic worship should beexperienced today.

From that day until now, my perspective o worship has changedalmost one hundred percent. o a large degree, I eel today that myprevious worship was ignorant, uninormed, and inappropriate.

Having spent the past orty years walking in salvation, there havebeen many days that Ive elt cheated by the experiences o the pastthat did not yield a more tangible experience with the Presence.Most o my church experiences have been supercial in that theywere mostly acquainted with a eeling or an attempt to get some-thing rom God by my praise and worship, rather than the simple joyo being in His presence or ellowship and His pleasure. My experi-

ences were also diminished because there was never a tangible placeor symbol o His presence, just people and pulpits or stages that werethe centerpiece o my attention during worship.

I will also take a moment to note here that a subsequent studyon the history o the Christian Church, which took place aer theabernacle to emple, Synagogue to Sanctuary study, becamemore relevant and served a greater purpose in Te Worship Cen-ter because we were able to see and understand when, where, andhow the Church got o course, particularly as it related to the cor-porate worship experience. When you see how early in the lie o the


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Introduction

Christian Church we were separated rom our Hebraic roots andhow the Roman inuence overwhelmed the Christian culture, it

is easy to see how we have arrived at our present state o conusionand disillusionment regarding our worship gatherings. Without atangible connection to the worship that was introduced to Israel byYHWH Himsel, there is no way to assemble and perorm a genu-ine corporate worship experience today.

My analysis o what we now call worship, which will be evidentthroughout this book, aligns with the assessment Jesus levels upon

the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Ive read this story andheard it taught hundreds o times, and at no time have I heard anyonehighlight the strong criticism that Jesus articulates in verse 22. Jesussays, You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship,

or salvation is o the Jews.Tere is no way to get around the actthat Jesus is making it clear that it is impossible to understand andparticipate in authentic, YHWH-pleasing worship without Hebraic

components. In the absence o such, Gentile worship is utile, igno-rant, and in many cases, oensive to the Father.

When I look at the evolution o worship, even in my lietimeover the past orty years, I agree with Jesus; in most cases, we haveno idea what we are doing. We have gone rom the priests being theonly ones who understood the liturgy to black stages with coloredstrobe lights and smoke, rom quiet non-participatory services tolively energetic services that are governed by the countdown clock.We have gone rom the Lords house to houses o worship, places oreuge to places people reuse to come to any longer. We have triedhard today, but there still seems to be no happy medium. We stillhave not agreed on the activity and work o the Holy Spirit in theBody o Christ. Te issue o denominations and their relevancy stillimpacts how the world views Christianity, and without us realiz-ing it, all o these divisions divert rom the purpose o our corporategatherings toworship the Father in spirit and truth; or the Fatheris seeking such to worship Him(John 4:23).


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TheFuture ofWorship

Te purpose o this book is to do just that, supply inormationthat will equip the saints o the Most High to worship Him and give

Him what He wants. Tere is a dramatic paradigm shi coming tothe Church that will hit like the tsunami o 2004. Anyone who hasbeen alive and aware over the past ten years can attest to dramaticshis in the way we live and perceive the world around us. Fromterrorism to democracy, rom climate change to health epidemics,rom wealth to economic turmoil, rom the presidency to the coup,rom landlines to texting, things are going through dramatic and

signicant adjustments. Since the introduction o this new millen-nium, we have seen tsunami-like uprisings and shis in countrieslike Tailand, Greece, Iran, Iceland, unisia, Yemen, Jordan, Iraq,and, most vividly, Egypt and Libya. Why should the Church missout on this wonderul climate o unprecedented transition? Whyshould we continue in boredom and predictability when everythingelse in the world is enjoying unavoidable, unpredictable inevita-

bility? Te tsunami that is about to hit the Church will wipe outeverything that was insensitive to the peculiar signs and did notmove to higher ground.

For me, authentic worship is that higher ground. It is the surehouse mentioned in First Samuel 2:35, where the Lord will estab-lish what is in His heart and in His mind. As you read through thisbook, open your heart and prepare your mind and theology to be

challenged. Te challenge is to make dramatic and necessary shistoward truth, relevance, and authenticity. Jeremiah articulates itprecisely as I see it today in Jeremiah 6:16, Stand in the ways and see,and ask or the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, then

you will nd rest or your soulsSome text use the words ancientpaths,suggesting that the paths are so old that it would be impos-sible or this generation to know that there was even a path there.Te path we are looking or has to be revealed by research o ancientdocuments because the trees have grown in the way, and it is nolonger perceptible to the modern age. Tis is precisely what David


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Introduction

did when he realized he was carrying the ark the wrong way. Tis iswhat the modern Church must do i it is to accomplish authenticcorporate worship in this new millennium.

When you nish reading this book, it will be impossible or youto remain complacent in your worship. It will become tangible, alive,and relevant. Whatever your occupation in the Body or your levelo aith is, my goal is to introduce you to the uture o worship. Iyou can begin to perceive where the corporate worship experience isgoing, you will position yoursel strategically on higher ground so as

to avoid the tsunami that will render many worship experiences andpractices orever irrelevant.


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ChaPter 1

four Words

When the Lord began to explain to me that the our words:tabernacle, temple, synagogue, andsanctuary, represented the

our major eras o worship in the spiritual lie o Israel, my rst reac-tion was to do research on these words. My study habit in my lie or

quite some time has been to try not to approach a subject as i I am

amiliar with it already. I always attempt to do my initial research

with an open heart and mind so as to gain resh revelation rom any

subject, regardless o my amiliarity. Tis made researching these

words ascinating. My journey into a new understanding o worship

began in a very simple word study that exploded into spirit-altering

revelations.

It started with the word tabernacle. Tis term is very amil-

iar throughout the beginning o the Old estament. It is typically

associated with the era o Moses and the children o Israel in their

wilderness experience. Te rst time the word is used in the Bible

is in Exodus 25:9. Tere is always great signicance in the rst timea word or concept is revealed in Scripture, and it should not be

taken lightly. Te verse here should be used in context with verse


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8 to understand exactly what YWHW had in mind when He gaveMoses this directive.

And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell amongthem. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern o

the tabernacle and the pattern o all its urnishings, just so

you shall make it(Exodus 25:8-9).

Te rst thing that must be acknowledged is that the concepto a tabernacle or sanctuary (in the Old estament, they were syn-onymous) is basically identical in the eyes o the Father. Te Hebrewword or tabernacle is mishkan, and the Hebrew word or sanctu-ary is miqdash; they obviously share very close denitions. Teword or tabernacle is used to describe a residence, dwelling place,habitation or tent, and the word or sanctuary is used to describea consecrated thing or place; a palace or asylum; a holy place. Teroot Hebrew word qadash means to make, pronounce, or observe

as clean; to consecrate, dedicate, hallow, prepare, proclaim, puriy,or sanctiy. With these two denitions, ound in these two verses,which introduce the concept o the tabernacle to Moses and thechildren o Israel, we can get an introductory picture to what wasintended at the inception o corporate worship. What the Fatherwas prescribing or this nation was a consecrated asylum that wouldbe His residence and place o habitation among them.

Its important that we dont move too ast through this periodo Israels history because there were things happening behind thescenes that set the stage or the tabernacle introduction. Firstly, wemust remember that this was a re-introduction o YHWH to thenation o Israel. Tey had been in bondage or over ten generations,and the G-d o Israel was simply a able or bedtime story to manyin that generation. Most o them had no idea who YHWH was.When Moses came along, they were inundated with Egyptian lie-style and worship, and YHWH had to re-introduce Himsel to Hisown people. Tis is why, in the initiation o corporate worship, the


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Four Words

Ark o the Presence and the tabernacle had such great signicance.Prior to that point, they had no reerence as to what worship is and

how to please the one they were worshiping. When the children oIsrael were delivered rom Egypt and ound themselves in the wil-derness at Mount Sinai, where the glory o G-d was revealed uponthe mountaintop, according to Exodus 19:8, they are very willing todo whatever Moses said YHWH had spoken.

Within the context o the issuance o the en Command-mentsor as I like to call them, the ten standards or successul

living with God and peopleparticular things were established thatset in motion what God demanded rom Israel in order or themto walk in harmony with Him and each other. He began with anintroduction o who He is and what He had done or them already,saying that, thereore, they had no need o any other gods. Ten Heestablished Himsel as the imageless God, saying that they shouldnever attempt to bring the graven image practice o Egypt into this

relationship. Next, He commanded that His name should not beused erroneously or rivolously by Israel, thus setting a precedent orthose who dont know Him to diminish the sacredness o His name.Ten lastly, or the worship context, He commanded that the Sab-bath day should be a day distinguished above the other six. On thisday, Israel would rest and worship. Clearly the en Commandmentsare designed to eliminate any conusion or guesswork as to what

YHWH expected rom His people.Tis sets a standard, beore the tabernacle is introduced, that

YHWH has preset conditions or worship and is not willing toleave those stipulations in our hands or us to gure out with ouringenuity, creativity, and personal preerences. Clearly worship hasuniversal conditions not meant to be reinterpreted by the worshiper.Our only obligation is to ollow what has been prescribed. Tisprecedent must be ollowed i our present-day worship is to haveany meaning rom Heavens perspective. So beore the tabernacle isspoken o, a trend was established that we who are ignorant to what


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TheFuture ofWorship

ellowship with the Father and worship are must be given specicinstructions on how to accomplish this awesome charge.

o urther set the stage or the corporate worship that is tocome, YHWH gave instructions regarding the altars o sacrice,laws o morality, and three eternal easts, which were to be presentedyear aer year orever (see Exod. 2124). Modern Christianity hascompletely ignored these mandates and is mostly ill-equipped onhow to incorporate them into todays Christianity. Due to this igno-rance, we have largely chosen to omit these practices in the Church

today. For example, most Christian churches completely ignore thePassover. Ive oen heard it conused with the Lords Supper or com-munion. New estament communion does not replace the Passover.Te Passover represented a memorial or Israel. Tis was designedso that Israels descendants would never orget the great deliverancerom Egypt, which was wrought by the mighty hand o G-d (seeExod. 19:4). It was not a covenant celebration, as is the New es-

tament communion, but it is a memorial. However, as long as theChristian Church continues to unction in distinct separation romits Hebraic roots, it will omit Passover, Firstruits, and Ingathering(see Exod. 23:14-19) rom its annual celebrations. As a result o theseomissions, the Gentile Church has almost universally substitutedChurch anniversaries, pastors anniversaries, and choir and auxiliaryanniversaries to ll its calendar with special days. Not only are these

things not biblical, but they are commemorating the esh o peoplein the Lords house. I worship is to be accomplished in the Lordshouse, eshly, human-made celebrations should be eliminated.

When we get to Exodus 25:8-9, Israel is given the extraordi-nary opportunity to enter into partnership with YHWH to buildthe place where the Shekinah will dwell. It is important that weembrace G-ds perspective in the invitation to let them make Mea sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.G-d is giving them anopportunity to take ownership or the construction o His dwell-ing place so that they will always be endeared to it and connected to


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Four Words

Him through it. I received revelation in taking a pause over verses 8and 9. Firstly, it says let them makeMe a sanctuary,which makes it

very clear that it is not our dwelling place, but His. How has modernChristianity dealt with this matter? We have been building houseso worship or thousands o years or the Lords dwelling, though weonly invite Him to come and visit. We build churches that basicallyaccommodate our purposes completely. We say that they are builtor the Lord, but in truth the concept behind the construction is orus. We build churches because ourcongregation size increases or the

building is old or we need more oce space or we need recreationspace or a childrens church; we build or all kinds o reasons otherthan to accommodate the shekinah.

I want you to take a moment and reason with me along the lineso this basic concept. I the children o Israel were about three toour million in population at the time o their deliverancewhich islarger than any single congregation on Earth todaywhy didnt G-d

have them build a three-million-seat tabernacle to accommodate thecrowd? Te answer is simple. It was not built to accommodate Israel;it was built to accommodate the glory o G-d.

Make Me a sanctuarymake Me a consecrated place, aholy place, an asylumthat I may dwell among them.It would beimpossible or YHWH to simply dwell in any contaminated earthlysetting. So the place o His dwelling would have to be signicantly

dierent rom any other dwelling place in the Earth realm. Keepin mind that the purpose o the sanctuary/tabernacle was so thatHe could come down and establish His presence with Israel on apermanent basis. Tis in and o itsel would distinguish Israel aboveevery other nation. No other nation at any time could claim to housethe actual, tangible presence o G-d. Tis would be an extraordinaryphenomenon that is unique to Israel and could not be duplicated or

competed with by any other people group.According to this verse, there is only one purpose or building

a tabernacleso that He can dwell among us; thats it! Te reason


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TheFuture ofWorship

why this is so signicant in our understanding o corporate worshipis because this is the rst time the concept o a tabernacle/sanctuary

is mentioned in Scripture. It is the genesis o this idea that serves asa oundation or what we call corporate worship today. Corporateworship or worship o any kind, or that matter, was not humanlycontrived; it came rom G-d; thereore, it cannot be creativelyenhanced or adjusted according to our desires or preerences.

o this day, I believe G-d is still in pursuit o a group o worship-ers who will participate in the extraordinary partnership o building

a place where He can come and stay! Te Lords house should neverbe called a place o His visitation; it is the place o His habitation. Iyou are not a visitor in your own home, why would He be a visitor inHis? We are the ones who come and go rom week to week, service toservice. He never leaves. When we depart, He remains, and when weenter, He is already there. We should never pray the prayer, Lord,come by here, or, Be with us in this service, oh Lord, or, Stop

by and show Yoursel strong. Te question then becomes, Whydid He leave? Aer all, it is His house! Te act that we pray theseprayers is a clear sign that, conceptually, it is our house, and we areasking Him to show up periodically to authenticate what we havedecided to do in our houses o worship. Te one and only biblicalreason to build a sanctuary is so that YHWH may have a habitationamong His people or the purpose o worship and ellowship.

What this represents is G-ds original intent in the Garden oEden with Adam. Aer the all o humanity, we get the picture romGenesis 3:8 that Adam had ellowship with G-d on a regular basis,and it was only aer sin that the ellowship was broken. Te intent oSatan was really centered on breaking ellowship more than anythingelse. He understood that G-d enjoyed having intimate, uninhibitedellowship with His creation, just like Satan once enjoyed with G-d.Once that ellowship with humanity was broken, G-ds intent wasto reestablish it based upon certain criteria and under very partic-ular circumstances. Tus the en Commandments, the altars and


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Four Words

oerings, the easts, and the tabernacle were introduced to Israel sothat the worship and ellowship could be reinstated on His terms.

Israel having a tabernacle was similar to Adam having the Gardeno Eden. Te tabernacle represented a place where Israel was guaran-teed to nd the presence o the Almighty.

Next we enter into an even more controversial, yet orgotten,part o this worship processthe pattern o the tabernacle. Verse 9makes it clear that the tabernacle architecture was not being le upto Moses or anyone else to contrive. It had already been designed and

only needed construction. YHWH told Moses to make it accordingto all that He had showed him, that is, the pattern o the tabernacleand the pattern o all its urnishings. G-d said, just so you shallmake it(Exod. 25:9). Te design o His house is not updated everycentury based upon our new innovations and technologies. Hishouse is not contemporary; it is classic. It doesnt need upgrades orcreative adjustments to remain relevant; it is eternal in design.

What we need to reckon with is that there is a divine patternor the Lords house. Tis pattern was clearly dened or us in Scrip-ture. It was clearly given to Moses on the mountain, and it was hisresponsibility to articulate what he saw to the builders. Tere wouldbe no adjustments, and G-d made that very clear in this verse. Noadjustments! Well get back to this in a moment. However, we needto ocus on this simple, yet complicated, issue called the pattern. I

we understand this, we can better understand the eternal nature odivine worship.

Te pattern has to be understood in its Old estament contextand adapted into the New estament worship experience. Te con-tinuing chapters o Exodus describe a three-compartment tabernacledesign. We know it to be the Outer Court, the Inner Court (HolyPlace), and the Most Holy Place (Holy o Holies). Certain activitiestook place in each section o the tabernacle. Te Outer Court wasor the slaying o the sacrices that the people brought, the InnerCourt was the place o the ministry o the priest and Levites, and the


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Most Holy Place was where the shekinah (glory o the Lord) dweltbetween the cherubim upon the Ark o the Covenant. By the unveil-

ing wisdom and insight o the Holy Spirit, I understand this to belikened to three dimensions o worship. Tese three dimensions rep-resent the pattern that is hidden in the Exodus 25:9 Scripture. TeOuter Court is where the worship o the sinner takes place. TeInner Court is where the worship o the saint takes place. And theMost Holy Place is or the worship o the Lord. One o the concretethings that we should understand rom what YHWH instructed

Moses is that this tabernacle has a prophetic pattern, and this is oneo the reasons why it cannot be adjusted. Tus, we conclude that athree dimensional pattern o worship should be consistent in corpo-rate worship eternally.

In the next chapter, I will deal with each dimension o the tab-ernacle as it relates to the pattern described in Scripture. However,what needs to be understood immediately is that the pattern has

never and will never change. Te pattern is prophetic and eternaland must be practiced today in order to experience the ull mea-sure o corporate (and personal) worship. Tis pattern is the actualdesign that Moses was to ollow, as well as a spiritual pattern thatdenes the way to approach the Father in worship. In todays corpo-rate worship experience, we are not inormed as to how to approachG-d. We have some personally-contrived spiritual ormulas, which

we call liturgies, but they are typically insucient in satisying whatG-d has already outlined as an eternal pattern or worship. Tis iswhy we so oen experience hit-or-miss services in church. It is oenbecause G-d is simply merciul to us and blesses us in spite o ourignorance, but He cannot consistently bless us lest we think that wehave arrived at satisactory worship. What He really wants is or usto seek Him until we nd Him and not seek until we have comeup with something creative and unique. Human creativity is killingworship right now. I we knew and understood the pattern that wasgiven to Moses, we would experience the Presence in every corporate


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Four Words

worship experience, all o the time. I realize that this is a bold state-ment, but G-d never intended or us to struggle or success in the

area o worship and ellowship with Him. His desire is or us toexperience Him every time we gather without diculty.

With this in mind, I highlight briey (and elaborate later) wherethe struggle originates or us today. One o the most explanativeverses in the New estament is John 4:22, where Jesus explains tothe woman at the well that she does not really know who she is wor-shiping. What can be legitimately concluded rom Jesus statement

is that, i you do not know who you are worshiping, how could youknow what He wants? Jesus ends that sentence by stating emphati-cally that salvation is o the Jews(John 4:22). Only in one otherplace in the New estament do I see Jesus Himsel make such aclear distinction as to the incapacity o Gentiles as it relates to theirapproach to the Father. With this in mind, I must add that, withoutan understanding o the Hebraic connection o Christianity to our

Jewish roots, it becomes dicult to digest the revelation o what theFather is expecting o us in worship.

Troughout this book, I will make continuous commentarybased on my understanding o this connection. What I understandrom Romans 11, Galatians 3:64:7, and a myriad o other Scrip-tures makes it clear to me that, without an applicable understandingo ourJewishness, we will continue to miss and err in not only our

worship, but also in our interpretation o what G-d is doing in thisday and age with His Body and the world. A Hebraic worldviewneeds to be adapted by the Church in order or it to revamp its the-ology as well as its worship. Tis may begin within my generationwith those who are less indebted to their denomination, traditions,and culture. Tis will begin to change the worldview and theologicalperspective o Christianity at large.

Next we move to the temple and its biblical usage as it relatesto corporate worship. Te word temple is dened primarily by oneHebrew word, heykal, which is used to describe (in the sense o


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capacity) a large public building, a palace, or a temple. A more rarelyused Hebrew word or temple is bayith, having varying applications

such as house, court, palace, place, or even prison. However, thisterm is oen used when the phrase house o Godis used.

In Second Samuel 7:1-17, the Hebrew word bayith is used todescribe a house or our earliest context o the temple concept.Here Davids concept o an earthly house (temple) is inspired bythe comparison o his house to Yahwehs tent, where the Ark othe Covenant rested. It should be noted that Davids inspiration or

the temple came at a time when he was resting rom his enemies.Tis should not be taken lightly. When we are preoccupied with thebattles o lie, our thoughts about worship are vastly dierent romwhen we are at rest rom our battles. During battles, we approachG-d based on our needs as it relates to the battle we are in andaccomplishing victory. When we have rested rom our enemies, ourthoughts tend to ultimately move toward gratitude and what we can

do or G-d based uponHis needs or desires. It is at this point o restthat Davids worship inclinations began to take precedent in his lie,and he sought to please YHWH again.

Additionally, Israel was no longer a nomadic nation. Tey hadtheir own territory, and the Mosaic tabernacle was designed or theirconstant movement. Now that the Ark has been recovered rom thePhilistines and Israel was no longer roaming rom place to place,

Davids worshiping mindset turned toward making a permanentplace or the worship o the Lord. Tough Second Samuel 7 sug-gests that David was concerned about his legacy and the duration ohis inuence among Israel, YHWH guaranteed him that his houseand kingdom would be established orever. However, this durationwould not be dependent upon a building, but upon the Christ whowas to come. Yet Davids son would be honored with the privilege o

building what David had envisioned and provided or.Next, the introduction o thesynagogue concept is very abstract.

It is dened in Hebrew primarily as the place o assembly used by


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Jewish communities, primarily or public worship and instruction,or the assembly itsel. Tere is no mention o the synagogue edice

in the Old estament. Te New estament Greek (sunagoge) bearsthe same meaning. Te origin o the synagogue is virtually impossi-ble to trace. However, it is believed by most scholars that synagoguesbecame the alternative assembly or worshipers who were deprivedo temple worship in Jerusalem. Tis means that synagogues couldhave developed as a result o Babylonian captivity. Tis makes theconcept ascinating. Te synagogue could and may represent the

ranchising o the temple at Jerusalem. Te concept is purely humanand has no divine connotation. In other words, God did not autho-rize the synagogue. Yet and still, aer the temple destruction in AD70, the synagogue became premier to Jewish lie and served as theplace where the Law o Moses and Jewish manners, customs, andbelies were interpreted. In the long-run, it would serve a great pur-pose in preparation or modern Christianity.

Te goal o the tabernacle and temple were to provide a place orthe shekinah to dwell. Tis presence, as I like to reer to the gloryo G-d, was tangibly present between the cherubim above the Arko the Covenant. As Israel grew and spread out in a vast geographi-cal area around Israel, it became impossible or each amily to cometo temple worship on a weekly basis; thus, the synagogue served

the purpose o providing a place or prayer, Scripture reading, andinstruction by a local rabbi. Tis is why, in the New estament, wehave so many stories o people journeying to Jerusalem or the maineasts o Israel. Tis represented the time when everyone elt a man-date to worship at the temple, where the tangible presence o theLord dwelt. He was not maniest in the synagogue in this way. Andthe act o the matter was that there was no Ark in the synagogue.

Tis gives insight to where our Gentile system o local churchescomes rom. In essence they are like synagoguesplaces designed orprayer, Scripture reading, instruction, and some orm o corporate


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worship. Te pattern or design would naturally be more casual andnot be reminiscent o the three dimension tabernacle pattern.

Jesus did not ignore the synagogue, but used it or teaching,preaching, and healing. However, His ministry constantly under-mined what had been happening in those synagogues. He gotoverwhelming crowds; He did not teach like the Pharisees; He sawmaniestations when He taught; and he asserted what should behappening in these synagogues i they had the right leadership. Teindictments that Jesus levied on the synagogue so oen match the

indictments on the Christian Church experience because the twosettings mimic each other.

Te leadership oen reerred to the synagogues as theirs,which is similar to what we see today. Tis creates a sense o sepa-ration or denomination. Tey had strong hierarchy and structure.Jairus was reerred to as a ruler o the synagogue in Mark 5:22.We nd the same types o hierarchies in churches today. According

to Luke 13:10-17, they seem to misinterpret their responsibilities asit related to providing ministry to broken, hurting, or sick people.Jesus considered the ruler a controller and a hypocrite. We see thattoday in many churches everywherepeople who are in positions opower to control the church and at the same time exhibit hypocrisyin their own lives. In John 9:22, we see that the leadership would putyou out o the synagogue i you disagreed with them; this is still true

today in most controlling ministries. Matthew 10:17 makes it clearthat the leadership ruled with an iron thumb. Tey would persecutepeople by trial and scourging by the council in the synagogue. Tispractice is still very active and justied in the Church today.

Tey were also places o unchecked bad theology. wo o manyexamples are ound in Matthew 3:7-9 and John 8:37-59, where theJews relied solely on the connection to ather Abraham as their secu-rity or salvation rather than doing the work o their heavenly Father.Jesus upbraided them or their awed thinking and interpretation oScripture. Some o the theology that we hear o today is very simply


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the result o a tolerance worldview that has arrested the world andis now inuencing the Church. We are so intimidated and araid to

interpret Scripture accurately because we ear what society will sayabout such dogmatic views about the way in which we are to live.Tis is exactly the reason why our theology doesnt hold up undergreat scrutiny. Even the oreathers o the Church seem to have hadmore backbone than we in this modern era. However, truth andstandards will win in the long run.

Lastly, the synagogue turned into a place o pride and showman-

ship, according to Matthew 6:2,5; 23:1-6, 23-27. Jesus reprimandedthe scribes and Pharisees or these actions that became so distractiveto the synagogue that the practice o the prayer, the reading o theScriptures, and the instruction retained no value. Our churches lookjust like this, and this is the main reason why some people chooseto worship at home or have a coee shop ellowship. I could gourther with the improprieties o the synagogue, but Im sure these

examples make clear how the modern Church and the synagogueshare aults and ailures.

Obviously, the synagogue system may have had good intentionsat the outset, but it turned into a place o ear and control in thelong run, just as has many local assemblies today. Tis system ailedprimarily because it lacked the divine mandate, but also because itbecame a place centered on the preeminence o an individual leader

(or leaders) and not the preeminence o the Presence.Finally, we must introduce and discuss the sanctuary era o

worship, o which we are partaking presently. Sanctuary, as previ-ously mentioned, is dened by the Hebrew word miqdash, meaninga consecrated thing or place; a palace or asylum; holy place. Teroot Hebrew word qadash means to make, pronounce, or observeas clean; to consecrate, dedicate, hallow, prepare, proclaim, puriy,or sanctiy. Exodus 15:17 is the rst Old estament reerence usingthe word or sanctuary (Te Song o Moses). Moses envisioned, aerthe exodus rom Egypt, that YHWH would bring His people to a


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sae and secure place. He described it as best he could as an asylumor a place o Your own dwelling. In other words, this great and

mighty deliverance was not a random, abstract work o the Lord. Ithad a very denitive purpose, and that was to bring the people outto the wilderness so that they could sacrice or worship the Lord,as described in Exodus 3:18. I the purpose o the deliverance wasworship, then YHWH would provide a place or that worship, andit would have to be a place that He established and indwelt.

According to Leviticus 19:30, the sanctuary was a place or G-d

to be revered. In this verse, the Hebrew wordyare is used to describeto ear, revere, or righten. In the Old estament there was a greatear regarding entering and serving in the Presence. Te priests andLevites understood that they should never take or granted their sinand imperection when standing beore a holy and awesome G-d.Tere was extensive preparation spiritually and naturally that pre-ceded their daily service. Tis kind o reverential ear is no longer

ound in our worship services. Tis tragic disregard or the Lordshouse is the reason why our churches are now reerred to as houseso worship. Te ear in Leviticus is directly related to being in thetangible presence o the Lord, and there is no one in Scripture whoapproached the Presence without ear and reverence. Revelation1:17 says that John ell at His eet as dead; the power and awe othe experience o being in the same space as Jesus Christ is beyond

words. Do we take the Lords sanctuary lightly? I would say we do.Tere needs to be a greater reverence or the sanctuary o the Lordand the presence o G-d.

In contrast, Leviticus 26:2 uses the Hebrew word shachah todescribe reverence, meaning to depress, prostrate, or bow (sel)down in reection to royalty or as a sign o worship. Clearly, this isnot the depiction we nd in most worship today. It is heartbreakingto me to see churchgoers miss the signicance o this holy place oworship and exhibit such deance to the purpose o the environ-ment. I oen wonder why anyone would subject themselves to such


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an environment i they have no intentions o submitting to the spirito worship. Periodically, I get a strong desire to protect the atmo-

sphere by encouraging them to worship or leave. I know that seemsextreme. Yet in Exodus, Moses and the Levites were instructed notto let any strangers into the tabernacle at all.

According to Psalm 63:2, the sanctuary should be a place wherewe desire to see the power and glory o G-d on display. Te psalm-ist says that he has looked or the Lord in His sanctuary. Tis isan expression o the desire, thirst, and longing that typically pre-

cede maniestation. Tere must be an expectation and anticipationbeore we see the move o G-d in His sanctuary. Tere must be inten-tion on our part and ocus on Him; otherwise, we tend to give theglory to the wrong person. At Te Worship Center (WC), whereI am senior pastor, we once spent almost hal a year just ocused onthose two words every time we came into the sanctuary. We wouldremind ourselves that we expected G-d to do something while we

were gathered. We also would praise and worship in anticipation o asupernatural maniestation. Entering the sanctuary to worship withthis attitude changed everything about the experience. We would notbe in a rush to do the next thing. We lingered in worship; we becamemore open to the spontaneity o the Spirit. It was and remains ourapproach to every worship experience. I believe the Father is seekingsuch to worship Him in this way, and He gets excited and moves

quickly to inhabit the praises o His people. Te maniestations thathave come as a result are too numerous to mention, and we believethe best is yet to come.

Scripturally, the sanctuary has always been a place o praise andcelebration o the Lord. Tough we have decided it is okay to praiseand celebrate everybody in His house, it was never so. Psalm 134:2makes it clear that the sanctuary is the place where we bless andcelebrate the Lord or what He has done. As a part o this celebra-tion, our hands should be lied, our voices should be raised, and ourposture and presentation should be reminiscent o the greatness o


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our G-d. What has happened to this reverence or the Lords housein recent years? We have based what we call worship upon cultural

inuences and denominational mandates, and in order to do this,you must ignore Scripture.

Scripturally, the sanctuary has been a place o proound under-standing. In Psalm 73:1-17, there is a wonderul portrayal o thedilemmas that ace the saints as we look at the lives o the rebellious.We all periodically wonder about how they can live so contrary tothe will o G-d and seem to prosper. Te psalmist almost seems to

be pained by all that he sees as opposed to what the righteous areexperiencing. However, when he gets down to verses 16 and 17, theresolve comes as a result o his sanctuary experience. Going to thesanctuary should answer lies dicult dilemmas and set the heart atease, not create greater diculty o understanding. We should nothear a message and walk away bewildered. We should get prooundanswers that give us peace and help us to comprehend the end or

the bigger picture. We should experience clarity and resolution aerwe have worshiped. Te Holy Spirit must have ree course to minis-ter words o healing, strength, and comort to the saints when theyhave given their all in worship. In essence, we must leave dierentrom the way we entered. Tat is the end result o having been in thesanctuary. When reality rules the psyche, there is a remedy or therighteous: the sanctuary.

In understanding the issue o the Lords sanctuary as it relatesto New estament worship and the era we now exist in, I mustintroduce some additional inormation about the sanctuary thatwill serve as a oundation or the ramework o what this worshiplooks like.

Te reason why modern worship comes up short has muchto do with our understanding o the pattern o the Mosaic taber-nacle as well as the true tabernacle that is described in Hebrews8:1-2. I stated earlier that, according to Exodus 25:9, there is a pat-tern that was not only applicable in the Mosaic tabernacle, but is


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prophetic and genuine or todays worship blueprint. In act, thispattern is unchanging, primarily because when YHWH introduces

it to Moses, He states emphatically that it must not be adjusted orchanged one iota.

Tis intrigued me during my initial research because I wantedto know why G-d was so specic and denitive about the patterno this worship acility. Why was it so important not to changeor amend anything rom the design that was given to him on themountain? Was it just G-d being G-d, or was there some other spe-

cic reasoning behind this mandate. As it turns out, this is wherethe revelation o the tabernacle/sanctuary comes alive. Apparently,the writer o Hebrews (by the Holy Spirits inspiration) wanted usto knowwhere our High Priest is seated. Tis where is not gu-rative, but literal, since Christ is real and alive. He describes thelocation as a seat at the right hand o the throne o the Majesty inthe heavens(Heb. 8:1). So we have a specic location, and it is not

in any way earthly.Hebrews 8:2 then states that He is a Minister othe sanctuary

and o the true tabernacle,which the Lord erected and not people.Now this is ascinating i you keep the context literal. Te writer isvery clear that the location o the Christ is in a literal sanctuary, andthis sanctuary is in act the true tabernacle because it is the originalone that was designed and erected by YHWH Himsel. What must

be understood here is that the Greek word (hagion) in context isinterpreted as a sacred holy place; in act, it suggests this is the holi-est place o all places in all the creative works o the Creator. Tereis no place holier than this place. Tis place was not only pitched(penumi) by YHWH, but the design has no human origin.

We are dealing with something that is beyond human capacityand creativity. Te connection to the Exodus 25:9 mandate is oundright here in Hebrews 8:5, where it states that the Mosaic taberna-cle and its design served as an earthly copy and shadow o whatalready existed in the heavens. Tis is the reason why Moses could


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not adjust what was divinely instructed on the mountain. He hadto make it according to the pattern because all he was doing was

making a copy o what already existed in Heaven, where the Fatherand the Son presently dwelled in all splendor and glory.

I you have digested that, you now have a oundation uponwhich you can begin to understand the prescription or worship inthe New estament Church experience. Tere is one prophetic pat-tern that must be used i G-d, by His Presence, will come down tothe Earth realm and stay or corporate ellowship; under any other

circumstances, He will only visit us. What we must reckon with isthat our sanctuaries do not ollow the divine pattern naturally orspiritually, and in both cases, it becomes counterproductive to thesustained Presence. I will elaborate more on this particular acet oworship in the chapter on real sanctuary worship.

Te earthly worship service is only a copy or example o the

unseen (mysterious) sanctuary worship in glory. What we see in ourworship services is a gross misrepresentation o such a glorious heav-enly experience. Tere is a spiritual pattern that must be ollowedin order to draw near to the Presence. I this protocol is not under-stood or is ignored, then we have missed the point o our worship.Most worship services are centered upon the parishioners eelinggood when it is completed, but the worship should be centered upon

YHWH being satised when it is done. Once the objective o wor-ship is shied away rom us and back to making the Father happy,then we will begin do things dierently in our sanctuaries. Tisradical approach to worship is going to revolutionize the Churchand cause the glory o God to return to the sanctuary. When wereturn to the protocol o the Outer Court, Inner Court, and MostHoly Place, then G-d is compelled to be in the midst o His people.Returning to the original purpose or the sanctuary (so that I maydwell among them) will cause us to experience the tangible and, inmany cases, visible Presence o the Lord.


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Imagine or a moment that you leave your house and go on along journey to a oreign land. You arrive, and your host picks you up

rom the airport and takes you to his house, where you will be lodg-ing or a month. When you get there, you notice that the yard andexterior o the house have a strange resemblance to your house backhome. As you get closer, you nd that the shape, structure, and sizeare the same as your house. Ten you enter, and as you enter beyondthe door, you see that the main oor set-up is exactly the same asyour home. You are eeling strange now. Ten you go upstairs to the

guest room, you discover that it is exactly as yours is at home. Sud-denly, the eeling that comes over you is that you eel like you are athome. In act, you are so comortable that you dont even eel theneed to return to your home. Well, the concept is exactly the samewith G-d. In order or Him to come down to Earth and stay, Hemust eel at home. Everything about His dwelling place on Earthmust match His dwelling place in Heaven i He is to come and eel

comortable enough to stay. Moses only obligation was to make itexactly the same so that when He descended rom glory there wouldbe no dierence in His dwelling place.

G-d is not impressed with the size or the user-riendly state-o-the-art unctionality o the church building. I it does not makeHim eel at home, Hes only going to visit rom time to time. Asthe Church weighs its relevancy and inuence in the Earth today, it

must ace the reality that the primary reason or our existence is tobe His praise in the Earth. Te single most important thing a churchcan do is provide an environment where the Lord is comortable andan atmosphere o worship or those who enter its gates. I it does notprovide that, why does it exist? We must return to original intentand serve the purpose or which we have been le on the Earth. Wemust do whatever it takes and risk the ridicule o our peers so that

we can accomplish the will o G-d.Tese our words which represent the eras o worship through-

out the history o humankind are the backdrop o all that will be


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discussed in this book. Tese initial denitions serve as a platormupon which we can build a tangible and relevant theory o what

worship should look like today. When the Lord originally gave methese our words, He said that in each era o worship there are thingsto be maintained and things that are no longer applicable. Part omy instruction was to search the Scriptures and, by the help o theHoly Spirit, decipher what should still be practiced to authenticateworship today. Each era contains ingredients that should be carriedorward, and i they are practiced today, we should experience the

Presence without ail.As a nal thought on this process o discovery, the Lord gave me

Jeremiah 6:16. It says,

Stand in the ways and see, and ask or the old [ancient]paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will

nd rest or your souls.

One version says, Stand at the crossroads and look(NIV). Forme, this represents an opportunity or the Church to contemplateand make a good decision as to its direction and destiny. However,upon urther research and study, I ound that the text was suggest-ing something more. When I rst read and understood that I wasstanding at a crossroads, I thought it meant that I should be making

a decision based on two choices ahead o me. But the Holy Spiritrevealed that, in the place where the Church stands today, there arevisible roads o recent history and popular opinion ahead o us. Butthe road that the Lord has or us to walk on is ancient. It is not vis-ible to the naked eye, and in act recent history and popular opinionshed no light on this particular road. Tis road is so old that it ispresently indistinguishable to the eye. It is indeed ancient. Great big

trees have now grown in the path, and this generation is completelyunaware that a road even existed in this area. So none o the roadswe are looking at represent the true choices o today. Te only way to


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discover what the Lord is reerring to is to go back to ancient litera-ture (the Bible) and revisit its mysteries.

My search was or something I had not known or experienced.My search had no predetermined markers. My search would uncoverinormation that neither this generation nor several generationsbeore had ever come to discover. Tis would be the only way Iwould arrive at a resh truth. My search would also put a mantle anda mandate on my lie to cut down the colossal pine trees o theologi-cal dogma so that the good way o revelatory relevance could again

be tread on. So I stood at the crossroads and ound that neither exist-ing path was sucient to satisy the desire o Adonai. As a result, Ihave taken the risk to orge ahead down a road o ancient truth to seei we have orsaken some valuable revelation along the way. Hope-ully, what has been discovered will not only change the lie o theindividual saint, but also the Church o the Living G-d universally.


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mulTi-dimensional

Worship

i

n the previous chapter, I stated that the tabernacle consists o a

particular pattern or design. Tis pattern is crucial in our under-standing o corporate worship. In Exodus 29:42-46, there is adescription o what would take place on a continual basis within thetabernacle. YHWH says that He will meet and speak with the chil-dren o Israel there at the tabernacle on a consistent basis. Tis meansthat the primary purpose o the tabernacle was as a meeting place.Tis meeting place is not or us to meet with ourselves obviously. It

is or us to meet with YHWH; this is an essential o the tabernacle.Additionally, the sons o Aaron would minister to the Lord there,and YHWH would conrm His relationship and commitment toHis people. Te question becomes, How does this design serve toaccomplish this task continually, and is it still relevant today?

I make the assumption that there is no dispute as to the purposeo the tabernacle (meeting place) then and now. YHWH still desiresto meet with us on a consistent basis, and He still desires to conrmHis relationship with His people. Tat being established, we beginby taking a closer look at each dimension o the Mosaic tabernacle


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because it represents YHWHs original intent and the originationo corporate worship. Our goal is to extract rom the ancient what is

still relevant today and to understand how to incorporate it into ourNew estament or modern corporate worship experiences.

Now lets urther describe what we are dealing with in eachdimension. Te Outer Court, or rst dimension o worship, is theplace where theguilty brought an honestsacrice to the Lord. TeOuter Court deals with the (sinul) esh o humanity. Tis is thereason why I call this dimension the worship o the sinner. Te

rst step in the corporate worship is designed or personal acknowl-edgment o sin and guilt, and in this case, the animal sacricerepresented repentance and asking or orgiveness. Tis dimensiono worship is signicant and necessary or us to begin our approacho the Almighty. Tere should be no dispute that this step is stillnecessary in the lie o the New estament Church today. Unor-tunately, most worship experiences today only take us to this point.

Most dont take you much arther than the acknowledgment o sinand the need or repentance. Tis is an imperative; however, i theministry only brings you to this point, it will, in the long-term, bedecient. Tere are two more dimensions that you the worshiper arenot being exposed to.

We can see a similar concern in Acts 19 when Paul meetswith some disciples in Ephesus. Aer a ew days o observation,He asked them, Have you received the Holy Spirit since youbelieved? According to their response, they had not even heardo the Holy Spirit. Evidently, the ministry that had introducedthem to salvation had le them at the baptism o John to repen-tance and gave them nothing more. Tis is where many ministriesand denominations have dropped Christians o, and those sameChristians have become disillusioned with their aith. In the samecontext as Paul in Acts 19, what I have noticed is that most worshipleaders and pastors are not aware o another dimension o worship.Tis is understandable because, just as in the case o the disciples


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at Ephesus, whoever introduced them to the aith did not have anyurther revelation themselves.

It is important to note that i you are open to deeper and moreinvolved levels o understanding regarding worship, you are aboutto be introduced to dimensions that will transorm your worshiporever. Tis will start you on a journey o untold and unsearchableplateaus o praise, thanksgiving, singing, and asylum with G-d. I wecan acknowledge that the worship most Christians experience todayis equivalent to the Outer Court o worship, then we must pursue

with humility and anticipation the next comparative dimensions oworship. Based upon our understanding o the Mosaic tabernacle(YHWHs original intent or earthly worship), we must investigateat least two more dimensions o corporate worship.

Te second dimension o worship is the Inner Court or the HolyPlace. Tis is the place I reer to as the worship o the saints, andit deals with the souls o people. In Moses day, it was the place o

priestly preparation. Tis dimension is designed to minister to theChurch. All o the urniture and xtures typiy the Church, such asthe table, the candlestick, and the showbread. Te table represents aplace o learning or instruction. Te candlestick represents illumina-tion or revelation, and the showbread represents divine nourishmentor sustenance. It is the place or instruction, obedience, and devel-opment o the Body o Christ. It is impossible to enter the Most

Holy Place without going through a season in the Inner Court. Itrepresents a place o maturity and seasoning. Tis is where we areprepared or worship, praise, and intercession.

What should happen each week in the local church is that theteaching, preaching, and ministry activities should be preparing theindividual worshipers to enter the Most Holy Place on their own, intheir own time. Most ministries are not aware o this reality, and asresult, i they bring the worshiper to the Most Holy Place, it is acci-dental, unexpected, and almost shocking. I say that to capture whathappens in some churches when they have a phenomenal worship


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service. Sometimes people leave the sanctuary saying, Te Lord surestopped by today, or, What a move o G-d that was today, almost

as i they didnt know how it happened, what precipitated it, or howto experience it again. In this case, the ministry only leaves you want-ing more and not knowing how to accommodate that desire. Tenext week you come to church with a sense o expectation, only to bedisappointed when the service simply ollows the printed programor typical ormat o worship. Tis is spiritually unhealthy.

I the Church doesnt know how to achieve Most Holy Place

worship each and every Sabbath, it will project an image o an incon-sistent idiosyncratic G-d who is completely illusive and unpredictablein regard to His presence. Additionally, i the ministry doesnt gobeyond the Holy Place (Inner Court), it will always depend upona priest (pastor) or all o its spiritual ortitude. It will create a co-dependent relationship which eventually ends up as an exploitedrelationship. I will elaborate on some o these matters in this dimen-

sion urther in the coming chapters.I the pattern or worship has not been dened, then each wor-

ship service takes on its own characteristics based upon the varyingbanners that we gather underor example, Sunday morning wor-ship, anniversary, concert, prayer meeting, or Bible study. What theChurch really needs is to have an understanding o why we havegathered and to become committed to that purpose every time there

is a corporate worship experience. Tis way the tone is set and theFather has ree course to maniest His presence any way He desires;our job is simply to remain open to His direction or that experi-ence. Additionally, it takes the pressure o o the pastor or choiror worship leaders to perorm or the congregation. Once this isestablished, they can take the posture o Aaron and his sons and sim-ply minister to the Lord.

Finally, there is the Most Holy Place. Tis is the third dimen-sion o worship. I call it the place o the worship o the Lord, and itdeals with the spirits o people. Tis is the place where the tangible


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presence o the Lord dwells between the cherubim o the Ark o theCovenant. Te Most Holy Place is an awesome place to enter into. It

is the ultimate experience in worship. It is reaching back to the dayso Adam, when he met G-d in the cool o the day; it is a ace-to-aceexperience with no barriers and no hindrances. It is reminiscent oEnoch walking with G-d.

In Moses day, the priest went in once a year or the atonemento the sins o the nation o Israel. However, because o the blood oChristaccording to Hebrews 10:18we have been given unprec-

edented access to this place (dimension) o worship. It is the ultimategoal and end o all worship. It is the place o the glory (shekinah) oG-d. It is also the place where all attention is on YHWH. Te priestalways went in alone, and there was no other inuence and noth-ing in this dimension to distract him. In our worship services today,we know that we do not enter the Most Holy Place because we arealways being distracted by human beings. In the Most Holy Place,

there was no human inuence; it was just the priest and the Pres-ence. Tis is where all corporate worship should take us. Corporateworship should always end up in a place where no one has to say ordo anything to encourage or embellish the worship. Te worshipersare in the ace o YHWH, and He Himsel inspires the worship.Tis is the dimension o the worship o the Lord!

In the Most Holy Place, there are some signicant urnishingsthat we are aware o, the most important o which is the Ark o theCovenant. It consists o the tablets on which the en Command-ments were written, the mercy seat, and the cherubim that ace eachother. YHWH says, at least eight times, beginning in Exodus 25:22,that He will dwell and speak rom between the cherubim. I under-stand this to mean that the Most Holy Place contains the tangiblePresence as maniest in the Earth realm. G-d makes it very clear toMoses and thus to Israel that they will not have to search or Him orwonder where He is; He is giving them His actual earthy location.Tis is a monumental revelation as it relates to what we have known


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and experienced as corporate today. Tis removes the guessworkrom where G-d is and how to access His presence.

I should also note that the Most Holy Place is a earul placein that the priest went in once a year and served in reverential earbeore the Presence. It has been said that his garment would havebells sewn onto the hem and their jingling would signiy that he wasstill alive and trembling in the Presence. Also a rope was possiblytied to his leg so that i He expired in the Presence, due to inappro-priate preparation or sin, no one would need to go in to get him; they

would simply drag him out by the rope.When the priest went into the Most Holy Place to minister

beore the tangible presence o the Lord, there was no one and noth-ing else in that dimension. All o his attention was on the glory andpresence o the Lord. When he looked upon the ark, each compo-nent o the ark spoke to his lie and the lie o Israel. Firstly, it wasoverlaid in gold. Tis signies the glorious splendor and glamour o

our G-d. Secondly, the priest would see the en Commandments,which were the instructions o how to live a pleasing and satisac-tory lie with the G-d o Heaven and with ellow people on Earth.O course, seeing the Commandments was convicting because hewas ound wanting in regard to these standards. Tirdly, he also sawthe mercy seat, which was comorting because, in spite o his short-alls, G-d would have mercy on him. And then lastly, the cherubim

would remind him o the praise and worship he was obligated tooer beore the Father or His goodness, His mercy, and His lovedemonstrated to the children o Israel.

Tis is what we should be experiencing every single time wegather or corporate worship. Aer we have acknowledged our sin inthe Outer Court, we enter into the Inner Court, or the Holy Place,so that we can receive instruction and revelation about the Father.Aer receiving this instruction, we should nd ourselves prepared tomove on our own (the blood o Christ having made the way) into theMost Holy Place. Once the corporate worship experience prepares


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you or this dimension, you are obligated to go in and worship beorethe ace o G-d without human inuence. Once this happens, we

become accountable to G-d and not to people to ulll what Hehas spoken to us while we were in that dimension. Tis matures thesaints and causes development beyond that o a human discipline.Most Holy Place worship is reminiscent o the personal and inti-mate ellowship o G-d and Adam. Tis was and will always be whatG-d is aer with His creation: personal intimate ellowship.

In most cases, the worship we experience today is designed to

limit our access to either the Outer Court or the Holy Place. Youcan tell i you are in an Outer Court worship experience because allyou eel is a need to repent or you are reminded o your weaknessesor you are reminded o your esh and its problems. Everything romthe music to the message keeps you struggling in the esh realm, andyou never eel like you can get any closer to G-d or have any greateraccess to G-d outside o the priest who laid your sacrice on the altar

and consequently instructed you by inuence not to orget to comeback next week and do it again. A corporate worship experience likethis will limit you rom accessing the Holy Place.

Similarly, you can be in a church that limits you to the HolyPlace. Many o our churches have moved to this level, where youreceive good instruction and revelation as to how to live the Chris-tian lie successully. Tis experience deals with the souls o people;their minds and hearts are challenged to do better and be better.Tese ministries have conerences, trainings, and strategies to helppeople become better Christians. However, they oen hinder yourom entering into the Most Holy Place because, i you do, they earthat you wont need them like you needed them previously. Teyalso ear that they will not be as great and amazing in your eyes iyou begin to see the Father ace-to-ace on your own. As long as youonly see the Father through them, they can exploit and control yourrelationship with the ministry and keep you in submission. Tiswas not and will never be the plan o the Father since He clearly


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TheFuture ofWorship

states in Exodus 19:6 that we would be a kingdom o priests.Tismeans that His desire is or the corporate assembly to have access

to His Presence in a common and universal way. Tis type o inti-macy allows or everyone to be an advocate and an ambassador orthe kingdom in their sphere o inuence. So nowadays our advancedministries do wonderul teaching and development o the soul, buttypically leave us short o being transormed by personal and pureaccess to the Father.

Tree-dimensional worship is not understood because Gentile

worship goes back so ar in history that very ew have taken the timeto re-examine why we worship the way we do. It has basically beenaccepted that the worship we experience today has always been andis by that measure correct. From century to century, we have simplyaccepted the practices o the previous generation as legitimate andauthentic. We have only ventured to update the church experiencebased upon technological modernization, greater social suitability,or as o late, marketing strategies. Very ew, i any, o our updates andadjustments are based on revelation rom the Word o G-d. A revela-tory examination o Scripture would expose the genuine purpose oworship and how to accomplish it in every era o human existence.

What needs to be considered is the pattern that is describedin Old estament Scripture and its spiritual signicance in todays

corporate worship. Oen when I share these concepts with leaderso the contemporary Church, they misinterpret my commentary asinappropriate or inaccurate or the New estament Church becauseo the blood o Jesus. However, it is or that very reason that I ques-tion why we worship the way we do today. odays worship, whetherCatholic or Protestant, still seems to be restricted based upon ahuman mediator. In the Catholic Church, that mediator is thepriest or ultimately the pope. In the Protestant Church, it is sublimi-nally the pastor, bishop, or elders. In both cases, the suggestion basedupon the propagated theology is that you need a spiritual authority


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to advocate or represent you to the Father, thus diminishing the sig-nicance o the blood o Christ.

What Im advocating is that, because o Christ, we have directaccess to the Father (in the Most Holy Place), and with that accesswe have an obligation to be a community o priests among the lost.I the assumption remains that only a ew specially-qualied peoplehave this special access, then the mission o the kingdom o God isminimized by the small representation o prepared saints. Tis couldnot possibly be the paradigm o ministry Jesus promoted during His

earthly ministry. Still, i the concept o corporate worship remainsthat the majority o those who attend are only there to observeand benet rom the giing o a ew leaders who unction rom anextraordinary spiritual capacity, we will never see the need or openaccess to the Most Holy Place.

Tis type o corporate worship has only produced an impotent,ill-equipped, emotional, and needy group o congregants who can

barely survive rom Sunday to Sundaythus setting up a perectscenario or exploitation o the sincere seeker. Tese church-goerspossess very little knowledge, condence, aith, prayer power, andspiritual ortitude to accomplish anything or the sake o the king-dom. Tis is the primary reason why worship in the third dimensionis so necessary. Corporate worship that goes beyond the pulpit per-sonality, the emotion or inspiration o a song, and the protocol o the

liturgy is what people need to walk in a new dimension o kingdompower and authority. In my estimation, it is an essential part o thepreparation or the Body o Christ to be duly suited as a bride or herbridegroom.

Tis is the inevitable change that is coming to the structure andarrangement o this present Church system. It reminds me o theway the high priest and rulers o the synagogue elt when Jesus camealong and spoke things to the community that exposed their inau-thenticity and their ineectiveness. In that case and in ours today, itis important to remember that the work o Christ was not centered


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on the endorsement o a person or a group that previously existed;it was centered on the establishment o the kingdom o G-d in the

Earth realm. Jesus spent His time recruiting, discipling, and empow-ering citizens or His kingdom. Te time has come to disregard theopinions o our constituents and to take a stand or Christ and Hiskingdom agenda.

With this in mind, I would like to walk you through whatmakes this third-dimension worship so transormational and tan-gible or me.

In all o my Christian experience, the corporate worship hasalways been directed toward a eeling o ecstasy or a spiritual high,which is provided by a presumed spiritual leadera pastor, preacher,or singer. Te person providing this spiritual service has always beenthe ocus o my attention and inspiration. Tough I knew G-d wasinvolved in the experience, it was always very closely associated witha human being. Tis is the conceptual understanding o most peo-

ple who walk into a corporate organized worship experience. Whatmakes this third dimension understanding o worship so powerul isthat it is completely separate and distinct rom the service providedby the spiritual leader. It makes the Presence o YHWH paramount,and it gives tangible expression to the location o the Presence. Itmakes it very clear where you can nd the Presence in the corporatesetting, and it sets precedence or how to enter in and enjoy the Pres-

ence. It also puts the onus on the participant or authentic worshipand not just the spiritual leader. It provides a new standard or theaccountability o the worshiper.

In the third dimension, one must remember that it deals exclu-sively with the spirits o people and not their esh. So there is nothingthat can be done in the esh that will be viewed as more pleasingor satisactory to G-d. What this does is release the saints rom anytype o unnecessary emotion or physical demonstration, which weoen see in our worship today. It also releases the saints rom think-ing that there is a spiritual activity that they can do in the natural


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to please G-d more than someone else. Te spirits o people becomeintimate with the Spirit o G-d, and there is an honest, truthul el-

lowship, similar to that o Adam and G-d beore the all.In the Most Holy Place, all o the attention is on YHWH. Soagain, there is no human distraction in this dimension. No onedirects you, no one hinders you, no one says what you can and can-not do; it is a pure and undeled worship o the Almighty. Te thirddimension o worship also creates an unusual anticipation or whatis to come. Since the blood o Jesus has been shed, the veil between

the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place has been rent in two; thistransition creates anticipation like weve never seen beore in wor-ship. Unlike in the Mosaic experience, you can see into the nextdimension. You can see rom the Holy Place where you are goingand anticipate beore you get there. Tis changes the entire contexto the Holy Place. oday we view or unction as i the Holy Place isthe ultimate end o worship. But now, with this dimension revealed

and exposed, we are able to understand that there is another level oworship to be achieved, and we begin to anticipate it beore we getthere. Imagine worshiping in the Holy Place and seeing the Ark othe Covenant and the Presence just a short distance away. It makesthe second dimension a dimension o serious preparation. It changesit rom a place where we just shout and dance and eel good to aplace where we value the instruction that is being given because we

see its importance as it relates to our ability to enter the next dimen-sion with boldness and condence. Tis would remove the jokes andoolishness we so oen see in churches that grieve the Holy Spiritand the Father. It also puts a greater demand upon the spiritual lead-ers to be endowed with spiritual wisdom and revelation so that theymay adequately supply the saints with what they need to successullyenter beore the Presence without shame or doubt.

Once the Church walks into this revelation o worship, every-thing about our corporate worship experience will change. Now thesaint will be able to comprehend what Jesus has provided or us in


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worship and ellowship; however, the access will only be restrictedby whats going on within the believer and not without. I there is

a lack o aith in the nished work o Christ or a lack o condencein the Holy Spirits direction, it will show up when you enter intothis dimension. Just as the priest entered with reverential ear, so thesaint must enter with the same level o respect or the Presence. TePresence o the Almighty cannot be taken lightly or casually. Tistangible connection to the Presence is what the Church needs todayto restore holiness, ear, and respect to the body o believers. It is the

very thing that is missing rom our corporate worship experiencestoday. I believe that i leaders had to minister just a ew eet in ronto the tangible, visible Presence o G-d, they would certainly practicea dierent behavior in and away rom the sanctuary.

Te third dimension o worship allows us to enter into the shek-inah glory and receive revelation as i we were seated in heavenlyplaces with Christ Jesus. In order or the Church to reclaim a place

o prominence and distinction among other religions, we must haveaccess to inormation that the world cannot attain. Spending timein the shekinah will put us in a place o receiving the type o inor-mation that is so powerul that the world would be awestruck bythe depth o our insight and power. Presently, we dont speak withauthority to the world because we dont have exclusive inormation.Our inormation is the same as theirs with a little religious slant to

it; thereore, we are ignored when we speak. What we need is a glo-rious prophetic insight that arrests the world and causes it to takenotice. Access to the Most Holy Place is the missing ingredient inour worship experiences.

Tis may or may not sound controversial and could possiblybe interpreted as going backward to the Old estament. It mayalso invoke an immense theological debate. However, just as Mar-tin Luthers theses nailed to the door o the church at Wittenburginvoked a vehement response in the seventeenth century, the debateis expected. However, the debate must begin with the unattering


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position o Christianity in this millennium as it is compared to thevibrant body o believers that Jesus le to begin the process in the

Acts o the Apostles. Again, we must be orced to examine with-out prejudice the state o much o the Christian Church, the Bodyo Christ, and the supernatural maniestation o the presence oYHWH in the modern disciple. Te divisions, the contemporarytheological perspectives, the powerlessness, the empty worshipexperiences, and the disillusioned believers should serve as the basisor our concern, not upholding our image and reputation to one

another. I we, the Body o Christ, could only humble ourselves andadmit our insuciencies and ailures, it would be a great step towardour renovation.

A new and relevant, yet classic (in terms o the unchangingnature o Christ) dimension o worship must be sought by hungrydisciples who are tired o basic Sunday entertainment experiences.In my travels rom America to the Far East, Europe to Arica and

South America, I have ound the same attempts by the Church tocreate something in worship that excites, inspires, and invigoratesthe worshipers. Whether it comes in the orm o catchy musicaltunes, contemporary dress codes, ancy building styles, multi-mediatechnology, or creative preaching and teaching, nothing is workingto restore the Church permanently to its ormer luster. Everythinghas come up short, only producing temporary enthusiasm. Advertis-

ing and marketing strategies are constantly being devised to drawnew attendees. Pastors are hard-pressed to come up with new thingsor the church to do in the name o the Lord to attract the down-trodden or the less ortunate. Ive recently heard o giveaways inmorning services and a couple o pastors who have resorted to giv-ing out money as an incentive to attend worship. Yet we miss thepoint that YHWH has His own drawing power. His Presence is soirresistible that all you have to do is expose Him to a ew people,and they will run and tell the nations where He is and how to ndHim. Te absurdity o these tactics in light o what worship should


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represent lets me know that it is time or a revolutionary revelationabout worship.

I we can examine the validity o multi-dimensional worship asit relates to the tabernacle pattern, we may begin to please the Fatherin worship. Since the days o Moses, the Scriptures have not beenamended to accommodate our modern times and new theologies.YHWH introduced worship to His people so that there would beno wonder about what He expected us to present to Him in thisexperience. Te Mosaic tabernacle serves as a prophetic pattern, a

xed blueprint that needs no adjustments. Tats why He told Mosesbe sure not to make the slightest adjustment to the pattern basedon personal preerence or the preerence o the people. Furthermore,Hebrews 8:2,5 makes it unquestionable that the earthly tabernaclethat Moses erected was indeed a copy o the true tabernacle tha

the future of worship by nathan byrd

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