Читать книгу Worship That Touches the Heart of God - Nina Gardner - Страница 32

In this Most Holy Place David experienced the greatest joy he had ever known. In Psalms 16:11 David says, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” David understood that the pleasures forevermore begins right now, he didn’t believe we should wait for heaven to experience this fullness of joy. I personally believe David experienced the magnitude of the Lord’s presence by these two following scriptures, “The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel” (Psalms 68:8). “The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth” (Psalms 97:5). His joy must have been running over in the presence of the Lord!

The presence of God inside David shifted worship from duty to the heart. Moses’ pattern was still the pattern, only better. What was liturgical was now joyful; what was solemn was now jubilant; and what was a task was now a celebration of God’s presence. The pattern given to Moses was perfected in motion; but the pattern of David was perfected in the heart. In Matthew 21:16 Jesus refers to David’s writing saying, “… Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” God longs for us to step into that perfected praise like suckling babes.

Once again, David was before his time because the worship he instituted ushered in the grace dispensation. Even though there was a mercy seat upon the Ark of the Covenant, there had formerly been no grace extended to anyone, including the high priest, if they violated the pattern of entering into the Most Holy Place to experience the tangible present God. But because of the true worship, God extended grace to the worshipers, granting them unmerited favor and access into His Most Holy Place to experience His glory. This grace still applies today. We see many people coming in to worship God that have not repented of their sins, but God gives grace and waits for their time of repentance.

David’s pattern was the shadow of things to come because it defied the laws of sin and death to worship around the Ark of the Covenant. Although this pattern of worship is eternal and cannot be contained in an era of time, the fullness of time changes its dimensions. We have now received that fullness of God’s grace through Jesus Christ. That principle alone changes the dynamics of everything concerning how worship manifests. Therefore, we can expect to see God’s glory manifesting in inexplicable ways that exceed our former experiences.

As great as the glory was in the Old Mosaic Tabernacle, it could not be compared to the experiences of David and his Levitical priesthood. Greater still, how much more glory is for our day than for all the days of David? God is waiting to meet with us today, and forever to manifest Himself in our worship! O how gracious is God to make us His tabernacles to fill us with the glory of His presence!