God wants us to worship Him, and Satan seeks to gain our worship; there is a battle in the universe for our worship, and Satan has a limited time to cheat us and trick us into worshipping him.
When it comes to the worship of God, however, even the believers in Christ – God’s spiritual people today – do not all worship Him in a genuine way. Many believers worship God “in the way of Cain”, that is, in a way that is invented by man according to his convenience, and not in the way ordained by God.
We need to worship God according to the way He ordained in the Bible, that is, with Christ as the offerings, based on the Lord’s precious blood, and through the cross. Worshipping God according to the divine revelation in the word requires that we admit that God is God and we are men, that He is God and we are nothing – we are crossed out, and in Christ, we can approach God.
Sadly to say, Christianity as a whole is filled with “the worship of God” (that’s how they call it) that is NOT according to the divine revelation in God’s word, and many genuine believers are misled into thinking they worship God but actually they don’t.
Today we want to see a word of warning and a word of encouragement concerning worshipping God: we need to be warned not to worship the golden calf, and we need to worship God by beholding God by eating and drinking God!
May the Lord remove any scales of religion, traditions, preferences, and opinions from our eyes so that we may be shined on by God through His holy word and see what is the genuine worship of God and how can we worship Him today in a way that is pleasing to Him.
Warning: Worship God and Not any Golden Calf as an Idolatrous Replacement of God!
While Moses was up on the mountain receiving the divine revelation concerning what was on God’s heart and how to worship God, the people of Israel grew impatient and asked Aaron to make them a god for them to worship it.
The golden calf built by Aaron was not a “foreign idol” that was forced on God’s people by some pagan nation – it was an idol built by Aaron, a high priest of God, and the children of Israel worshipped it as if it were a true God (see Exo. 32:1-6).
While Moses was tarrying on the mountain, God’s people began to worship the golden calf idol…Today the situation in Christianity is the same: while the Lord Jesus is tarrying in the heavens, many His people on earth are worshipping golden calves that their leaders have fashioned.
The golden calf was not a pagan idol, for it was made by Aaron, a genuine priest appointed by God; the golden calves that replace God in Christianity today are not foreign idols but are made by genuine believers in Christ.
After Aaron made the golden calf, God’s people worshipped it in the name of Jehovah their God and in the way ordained by Him – with burnt offerings and peace offerings (see Psa. 106:19-20; Rom. 1:23). Then, after they presented offerings to it, they sat, danced, and ate and drank.
A calf is not for work or labor in the field but for feasting (see the fattened calf in Luke 15). In Christianity today there is much amusement and entertainment in the name of worshipping God.
There are elements of God and the Bible in there, but there are also elements of idolatry; the general situation in Christianity is of mixture, in which genuine believers are led to worship a golden calf instead of worshipping God – there’s a time of “worshipping God”, there are verses from the Bible being read, there are songs with spiritual words, but the atmosphere is of entertainment, people are soulish, outward things are displayed, and the music is worldly.
Instead of worshipping God through the cross and with Christ, there is much music, loud instruments, shouting, praise and worship band on the stage, dancing, rhythm, and amusements and entertainment – all in the name of worshipping God.
We need to be warned by this and realize that idolatrous replacements of God are creeping into the church life also. We will NOT worship an idolatrous replacement for God, and we will not come to meetings for amusement and entertainment and fun!
We are not afraid to release our spirit, praise the Lord, sing to Him, and worship Him, but we will not be driven by drums, electric guitar, amusements, heavy metal music, and other replacements for God! We choose to worship God in purity, with Christ Himself as the sacrifices, and through the cross – the way of worshipping God as revealed by Him in His word!
May all our meetings for worship in the church life according to the divine revelation and full of Christ! May we heed the warning in Exo. 32 regarding worshipping an idolatrous replacement of God yet thinking we worship God!
Lord Jesus, save us from worshipping any idolatrous replacement of the genuine God. Save us from being led astray from the genuine worship of God to worshipping a golden calf set up by other believers in Christ. Lord, may all our meetings for worship be absolutely according to the divine revelation in the word of God and full of Christ! We want to worship God in purity, with Christ as the reality of all the sacrifices, and through the cross! Oh Lord, we want to worship You in the way ordained by You to be Your genuine and true worshippers!
The True Worship of God Consists of Beholding God and of Eating and Drinking God
In Exo. 24:1 God told Moses to take Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and come up to Him to worship Him. Later in vv. 10-11 of the same chapter, however, when they up on the mountain to God, there’s no mention of worship but only of seeing the God of Israel, and under His feet there was something like a paved work of sapphire, and they beheld God and ate and drank.
To worship God is actually to see God, behold God, and eat and drink God.
The atmosphere in Exo. 24 is wonderful: the sky was clear and beautiful, and Moses with the others saw the God of Israel and something like heaven itself for clearness under His feet (human words cannot describe the marvelous sight they saw). While they were beholding God, they ate and drank.
Seeing God and beholding God is worshipping God, and the result is that we eat God and drink God. The way for us, God’s people, to worship God is not by prostrating ourselves before Him but by beholding God and enjoying God. God wants us to enjoy Him and to worship Him out of this enjoyment.
However, we need to be warned: we should not make a golden calf or worship a golden calf made by others “in the name of God”, but we should apply the Lord’s blood, experience the application of the cross, offer Christ as the sacrifices, and behold God to enjoy God by eating and drinking God.
We should not worship God out of the enjoyment and amusement in front of the golden calf but out of the genuine enjoyment coming out of beholding God! The worship of God, the true worship to God and the worship which God desires, consists of beholding God and of eating and drinking.
God wants us to spend time with Him, behold Him, be infused with Him, and enjoy Him by eating and drinking with Him in His presence.
But when you go to a cathedral, a chapel, or a so-called “church” many times you have a different impression concerning worshipping God….what the Bible describes as true worship to God is beholding God, eating and drinking God, rejoicing in God’s presence, and enjoying God, but Christianity has made it a “reverent worship” or a “worship to God while listening to music” in a certain place…..
May the Lord make us His true worshippers, those who worship in spirit and truthfulness by beholding God, enjoying God, and eating and drinking God (John 4:24)! May we be those who spend time in God’s presence under the covering of the Lord’s blood and by taking Christ as our offerings, so that we may give Him the worship that He desires.
God wants us to have genuine enjoyment while we worship Him, and we can do this by having a pure heart to see God, having an unveiled face to behold God, and enjoying God by eating and drinking God.
Lord, thank You for bringing us into Your presence so that we may worship You by beholding You and eating and drinking You. We take You as the reality of all the offerings, we apply Your blood, and we come forward to God through Jesus Christ to behold Him with an unveiled face, eat and drink in His presence, and just enjoy Him. Lord, we love to be in Your presence, experiencing a most wonderful sight and being refreshed by eating and drinking. We want to give You the worship You desire by seeing You, beholding You, and enjoying You!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and the Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 173-174 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 10 / msg 10, The Worship of God.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Draw and win and fill completely, / Till the cup o’erflow the brim; / What have we to do with idols / Who have companied with Him? / Captivated by His beauty, / Worthy tribute haste to bring; / Let His peerless worth constrain thee, / Crown Him now unrivaled King. (Hymns #437)
# Jesus, O living Word of God, / Wash me and cleanse me with Your blood / So You can speak to me. / Just let me hear Your words of grace, / Just let me see Your radiant face, / Beholding constantly. / Jesus, living Word, / My heart thirsts for Thee; / Of Thee I’d eat and drink, / Enjoy Thee thoroughly. (Song on Beholding God)
# I come to Thee, dear Lord, / My heart doth thirst for Thee; / Of Thee I’d eat, of Thee I’d drink. / Enjoy Thee thoroughly. (Hymns #812)
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Exodus 24:1 says that those who went up the mountain with Moses were to worship at a distance. But in the following verses nothing further is said about the worship of God. If we read this chapter carefully and thoughtfully, we shall wonder when they worshipped Him. The worship in this chapter consists of beholding God and of eating and drinking. This is true worship, the worship God desires. God does not want us to worship Him by prostrating ourselves before Him. He wants us to enjoy Him and to worship Him out of this enjoyment. Have you ever been in a chapel or cathedral where the people worshipped God by eating, drinking, rejoicing, and enjoying the Lord? This kind of worship is altogether contrary to our religious concept. Yet this is the worship described in verse 11: “They beheld God and ate and drank.” This was the way they worshipped Him. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 938-939)
Amen! Dear Lord Jesus, do open our eyes to see the matter of how You want us to worship You, in the way of worshiping You in spirit and truthfulness. Grant us a pure heart to see God, having an unveiled face to behold the beauty of the Lord our God, in our eating and drinking in of His, so as to live because of Him (John 6:57). Lord Jesus, thank You for Your life in our spirit, renewing and refreshing us daily, to enjoy You as grace divine, imparted into us by Your life-giving Spirit, mingled with our spirit, to be living stones for Your building, the building up of the church, as the home You are longing for, a dwelling place of God in spirit. Keep us Lord Jesus, enjoying You more. Keep us growing in Your grace, cherished in Your shepherding of us, nourished by Your living word, the living bread which came down from heaven, to feed us, those poor in spirit, always wanting more of You. Lord Jesus, we are happy in You, cleans and washed in the blood of the Lamb, clothed in Your righteousness, feed, with the bread of life, watered with the living water, breathing You in as the breath of life, to become one with You in life and nature, but not in the Godhead, for the fulfillment of Your divine economy, the one new man created in Christ, to become Your Bride, leading towards New Jerusalem. Lord Jesus, we want to be Your true worshipers, who worship You in spirit and truthfulness, and with a pure heart, being poor in spirit, being hungry and thirsting for Your righteousness, in the fulfillment of Your heart’s desire, to have the church, the home You are longing for. Thank You Lord Jesus! We praise You Lord and worship You our God. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Amen.