What are the foundational convictions that mark Presbyterian worship? One of the most important is the truth that the church is God’s worshiping assembly.

When Jesus said to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Mt. 16:18), he used a term that was quite familiar to the disciples. It is the Greek word eccle­sia. The word means “assembly”. Israel, the Old Testament people of God, was called “the assembly of the Lord” (Deut. 23:3). The term describes God’s people as they come together to stand before Him.

Israel’s first great assembly was the his­toric gathering before God at Mount Sinai. God had delivered Israel from slav­ery in Egypt; but He did more than liber­ate them: He brought them from serving Pharaoh to serve Him instead. God’s demand to Pharaoh was, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilder­ness” (Ex. 7:16). To serve God meant that Israel would be his people, in covenant with Him. More specifically it referred to the service of worship, the sacred feast at Sinai to which the Lord called Israel from Egypt (Ex. 5:1).

The assembly of Israel at Mount Sinai was not a town meeting in the desert. It did not take place because the tribal chiefs had decided that it was time to get the refugees organised. On the contrary, it was God who summoned the people to appear before Him (Deut. 4:10). God came down on Sinai and Israel stood at the foot of the mountain, trembling before the Lord. This was the climax of the Exodus deliverance. God said, “I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself” (Ex. 19:4). No wonder this event was later referred to as “the day of the assembly” (Deut. 9:10; 10:4; 18:16). Sinai became the throne of God; assembled around Him were all the holy ones of heaven; gathered at His feet were His saints, the holy ones of earth (Deut. 33:3).

Yet for all the wonder of that scene at Sinai it did not represent the grand finale of God’s dealings with his people. God led his people on from Mount Sinai to the land that He had promised to give them. God said that He would choose a place there for His name: a place where His house would be built, where He would dwell in the midst of his people. At Sinai God gave to Moses the pattern for the tabernacle, a portable sanctuary for God’s presence in the midst of a people on the march. At Mount Zion in the land of Canaan God would give the pattern for the temple, His fixed residence in the midst of the settled nation.

The assembly at Sinai was the gathering at which God entered into covenant with His people (see Ex. 19:16-25; 24:1-8). There were later assemblies for covenant­ing with God. After Israel entered the land Joshua led them in covenant assembly. Throughout the history of Israel there were similar assemblies for covenant renewal, often after long periods of apos­tasy. After the exile, under Ezra and Nehemiah, there was an assembly of the returned captives. This became a model for the later synagogue assemblies. In all these gatherings the word of God was spoken or read.

In addition to the gatherings for covenant renewal there were assemblies at the feasts of Israel. Three times a year the people of Israel were to appear before the Lord on Mount Zion, bringing their offerings and worship. The feasts were the Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23). These gatherings before the Lord were not incidental to Israel’s life or worship. The assembly at Sinai brought Israel into existence as a nation. Before that time the descendants of Jacob were only a rabble of rescued slaves with a mixture of other refugees. At Sinai they were all incorporated into the Lord’s assembly.

So, too, the later assemblies for covenant renewal dramatized what Israel was called to be: the people of God who stood before Him, those on earth who could enter the assembly of the Lord of the heavenly hosts. The feasts taught the same lesson — the peo­ple of God could enter His courts, appear before His face and together praise His name. When the prophets of the Old Testament look forward to God’s final salvation they too see an assemble, a gathering of the people of God to a great feast in God’s holy mountain, a feast to which the heathen nations are also called (Is. 2:2-4; 56:6­-8).

The writer of Hebrews points us back the scene at Sinai (12:18-29). He tells us that we have not come to Mount Sinai with its fire, darkness, tempest and trumpet (12:18, 19). Instead we have come to the mountain that was the goal of the desert pilgrimage — to Mount Zion. The Zion to which we come, however, is not the earthly city where Herod’s temple stood. No, we are come to the Zion above, to the assembly of God in heaven itself. There are gathered all the holy ones, the thousands upon thousands of the saints and angels. The picture of Sinai and of Zion is now fulfilled in the reality of the heavenly assembly.

What made the difference? The work of Jesus Christ. We come to the heavenly Zion because Jesus is there. We no longer sprinkle blood on an earthly altar as priests did in the temple at Jerusalem. Jesus has sprinkled the throne of God with His own blood. He has entered into heaven for us on the basis of His finished atonement on the cross.

As our heavenly high priest Jesus min­isters in the true and heavenly sanctuary (Heb. 9:11, 24). The worship of the heavenly temple is the adoration of the angels and the saints together (Heb. 12:22, 23). This is the last great feast of glory, the fes­tival assembly of all God’s holy ones. That celebration has already begun as the spirits of just men made perfect join with the holy angels in praising the Lord. Notice that the Scripture does not say merely that we shall one day enter that festival assembly. We are now come to it: when we worship God we draw near in spirit to the heavenly Zion (v22). The contrast in Hebrews is not between the elaborate ordinances of Old Testament and no corporate worship at all. Rather, it is between the types and shadows of an imperfect worship and the full reality of worship through Jesus Christ. Our praises blend with the praise of the angels and the hallelujahs of those who have gone on before.

The church is the assembly, not pri­marily because we meet together in assemblies here on earth, but because we have the awesome privilege of gathering with the saints and angels with Christ in glory. Because Jesus our priest is there, we come to Him. God calls His saints to His festival of praise. That feast has already begun in heaven, and to that feast we have now come.

The author of Hebrews warns us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb. 10:25). As we meet in heaven, so we are to gather on earth. Consider what that means. Our gathering together is not incidental — the church is the assembly of the people of God. Moreover, as we gather we stand in the presence of the Lord. We are in the com­pany of the angels and of all believers. We gather with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; with David, Elijah and Isaiah; with Peter, James and John. Above all we come where Jesus our Saviour is.

Because the church is the assembly of heaven gathered already on earth, worship is the first responsibility of the church. Paul describes the church as those “who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place” (1 Cor. 1:2). Peter writes that we are a people for God’s own possession that we “may show forth the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

God who called Israel to assemble at Sinai and to gather for the feasts of wor­ship at Jerusalem now calls us to His fes­tival assembly in heaven. We sing our songs of pilgrimage as we enter the courts of Zion. In worship we can hear with the ear of faith the answering “Amen” of the choirs of angels. Jesus Himself is the heav­enly choirmaster as, in the midst of the brethren, he sings the Father’s praise (Heb. 2:12).

“Man’s chief end” (according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism) “is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever” (Q. 1).

While we must do everything in the name of Jesus and to the glory of God, our highest joy is to lift up the name of Jesus directly. To be the church of God in this world we must be a worshiping assembly.

To worship God together strengthens our faith, renews our love and refreshes our hearts. To worship God also bears witness to the nations.

In the psalms and in the prophets the worship of God in Mount Zion includes a call to the nations to turn from their rebel­lion and join with us in praising the only Savior of the world. “Sing to the Lord ... declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples” (Ps. 96:2, 3). The call to all peoples to praise the Lord is part of the worship of Israel.

The prophets picture the nations streaming to Mount Zion to worship the Lord: God’s house will become a house of prayer for all people (Is. 2:2-4; 56:6-8; 66:18-21). The hymn, “How Great Thou Art” is beautifully adapted to the evange­lism of praise. When a community finds that a church is genuinely meeting to praise God there will be those who will be drawn to say, “God is among you indeed!” (1 Cor. 14:25, Is. 45:14).

Therefore to worship God as a mem­ber of His assembly is like tasting of heaven. It is to be in the Spirit where Christ is and where we shall one day be. By faith we enter heaven in our worship and stand before the Lord, but He also comes to us in our worship. Jesus promised that where two or three were gathered in His name, there he would be in the midst (Mt. 18:20). The church gathers before the Lord and around the Lord and he addresses His word to us. All this is made actual by the presence of the Holy Spirit in whom Christ comes to us and we come to Him. The Spirit unites us to the Father and the Son. The church is an assembly expressing the unity of the Spirit in the joy of worship.