Adapted from a lecture by Dr. John Kleinig.
Written by Steve Rogers.

Some time ago, I was speaking with a young man at work about how the death and resurrection of Christ brought us the promise of salvation. He agreed with me and began telling me that he believed in God and that he reads the Bible and prays. Naturally, I invited him to attend Church with me the following Sunday. He just looked at me and said, "Just because I believe in God, you think I should go to Church? That's just a mystery to me!"

He didn't see that God was with the Church any more than anywhere else. Though, he was right about one thing, worship involves mystery. Most central to the mystery is the presence of the risen Lord with His people in worship. The Lord is risen, He is alive and He is here in His Church.

In 988 A.D. prince Vladamir of Kiev (the capitol of the Ukraine in Russia), decided the ancestral religion of his people was to outdated for them. They were a new modern technologically developing state. Vladamir began looking for a new and up to date religion. After doing some research, Vladamir came up with three options: Islam, Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism.

Vladamir sent out three groups of ambassadors, one to each of the centers of the three religions. The ambassadors that had gone to Mecca returned first, due at least in part to the terrible conditions in Mecca because it is desert. The ambassadors were enthusiastic about the simplicity of the Islamic religion. There is one god, Allah and one prophet, Mohammed. This makes the religion easy to understand and practice. Prince Vladamir was excited, but decided to await the return of the other ambassadors.

The ambassadors that had gone to Rome were the next to return. The ambassadors were impressed by the organization of the church, and the liturgical discipline of the church. The ambassadors were, also, greatly impressed by the wonderful works of charity that the Roman church was famous for. Prince Vladamir thought that this would be better than Islam, never the less, he decided that he would wait for the third group of ambassadors that had gone to Constantinople.

When the ambassadors returned from Constantinople they were ecstatic. They had arrived on a Sunday and attended the "Temple of Wisdom", which is one of the great buildings of the world. The ambassadors gave a glowing review of Orthodoxy. The report said: "We did not know weather we were in heaven or on earth, for surely there's no such splendor or beauty anywhere on earth, we cannot describe it to you. Only this we know, that God dwells there among men and their worship surpasses those of all other places."

Prince Vladamir burned all of the idols and adopted Orthodoxy for Kiev and later on, for all of Russia. (An interesting note is that the 1000 year celebration of Orthodoxy in Russia was in 1988, the year that communism fell.)

I would like to focus on two phrases of the report given by the ambassadors to Prince Vladamir about Orthodoxy. The first phrase is: "We did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth." Christian worship is HEAVEN ON EARTH or EARTH IN HEAVEN. It is that or it is nothing. The second phrase is: "God dwells there among men." Christian worship is heaven on earth because, in and through the divine service, God dwells among us.

When we read the Old Testament (Exodus 33:1-3), we see that the people were fearful of the possibility of God being in the midst of them, and rightfully so, but they still desired to have God among them (Exodus 33:4-5a).

One of the founders of the Missouri Synod Wilhelm Loehe said: "In its worship, the congregation is as close as it can be to its Lord. They are as close to the Bridegroom as it can get. It leads a heavenly life on earth and an earthly life in heaven."

So, what is divine worship? We hear great discussion about the form of worship. Should it be traditional or contemporary, should we use the TLH or LW, or something else? This discussion is taking place within the Missouri Synod. Outside of the Missouri Synod we see such things as the "Toronto blessing" and a similar type of service in Pensecola Florida and through out the United States. The "signs and wonders church", that has given rise to the "Promise Keepers", and other churches use psychology developed for marketing to grow congregations and on and on it goes.

In response to this, many theologians, pastors and laity have embarked on intense discussion as to what worship is. It is a number one topic, because you can't discuss how to worship until you know what worship is. And, what happens in worship is utterly amazing. The problem is, we have forgotten what worship is. Our view of worship has become far too small and far too "this worldly". We see worship as this little thing when it is really THAT BIG. (Look at the outstretched arms of the Crucifix) Worship has to do with heaven on earth and because of this it is a mystery.

The best way to describe "Mystery" would be to contrast mystery with a secret. If I were to ask you what I ate for dinner last night and I wouldn't tell you, that would be a secret. But, as soon as I told you what I ate, the secret would be over and gone. With a mystery, the more you are initiated into it the mysterious it becomes. An example might be "life", something everybody knows a lot about. You see a plant you can pretty much tell if it is dead or alive. This would be the same with animals and people. Simple really! But, the more you study life, the more mysterious it becomes, whether it's botanical life, animal life, but most especially human life. Life is a mystery, the more you study it, the more you experience it life becomes more mysterious.

If you were to speak to the person around you that had been married the longest time, and were to ask them if when they first got married, they thought that they knew all there was to know about love and their spouse. The answer would probably be yes. Then ask them if they had learned anything about love and their spouse since that time. Then stand back and make way for roaring laughter. The wonderful thing about a mystery is that once you are initiated into a mystery, you never exhaust it. The more it becomes a mystery, the more you are drawn into it, the more wonderful it becomes. Worship has to do with our participation in the mystery of our risen Lord Jesus.

Worship appears to be very simple, but let us examine this mystery a little further. Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my Name". Do you notice the passive in this statement, "are gathered together"? Who does the gathering? The Father does the gathering. So, where God the Father gathers together two or three in and through and by the name of Jesus, Jesus is there present with them.You can't get any simpler than that. That is the heart of Christian worship, our participation in the mystery of the risen Lord Jesus. This is explained well in Colossians 1:25-27. Paul proclaims the mystery of Christ present with His people. There is no access to the presence of Christ through the eye or the emotions or through the intellect. It is only revealed through the WORD. Paul says that the mystery is Christ in you or Christ among you.

So, the heart of the Christian message is that when we are gathered together at any given Christian worship service, there Christ is present among us there. That is mystery.

When we are gathered together at any given Christian worship service, Christ is present among us, Christ is present in us." That is the mystery. The mystery is hidden to outsiders. When anyone who is not a Christian comes to Church, what do they see? An odd array of people gathered together doing funny things. But, Christ really is there, fully, with the congregation. To put it another way, Jesus was more present with you last Sunday than He was with Peter, James and John 2000 years ago! He was closer to you last Sunday than He was to them! That is the center of the mystery, Christ was present with us, Christ was present among us, Christ was present in us.

Who is this mystery revealed to? The saints. Who are the saints? All believers. We can say the word "Saints" and it doesn't mean that much to us. Paul's most common term for believers was "brothers" the second most common was "Saints". But, to Paul's immediate audience to call human beings saints was nearly scandalous. Who in Paul's time would have been called "Saint" or "Holy One"? Angels! So, we, through baptism and faith have the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that gives us angelic status. That means that, like the angels, we have access to the presence of God, and, in worship we join together with the angels. This mystery is revealed to us through the Word of God, which Paul, here, proclaims as an Apostle.

As an Apostle traveled and seeded new Christian congregations, the Apostle, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, placed men into the position that would be vacated when the Apostle would move on. This would be a successor to the Apostle. Pastor is what we call these men. So, every pastor that performs the apostolic ministry of Word and Sacrament, initiates people into the mystery of Christ's presence through the Word of God.

A summary of this point would be: The mystery of Christian worship, involves the presence and our participation in the risen Lord. This mystery is hidden to outsiders, but is revealed to the saints in the Church through God's Word and the Holy Spirit, and it has to do with the presence of the living God with us, and our participation in His glory.

Where are we when we worship? Where does the divine service take place? You might say, what a silly question, it is quite simple, it takes place in the Church building, in the congregation. Yes, it is there, but to understand worship more fully, we should start by looking at the background or history or worship. Let's start by looking at the Temple in Jerusalem.
At the left end of the building we can see the "Most Holy Place" or the "Holy of Holies", surrounded on three sides by double walls and separated from the "Holy Place" by double curtains one of wood. Within the Most Holy Place was the Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat on top of the lid of the covering box and Cherubim flank the Ark.

Just inside the Holy Place in the center was the Altar of Incense and to the side were the 10 lamp stands and 10 tables with the "bread of the Presence", this would be for the Presence of God. Then there would be the entrance way and the bronze pillars, "Jakin" and "Boaz". Just outside of the pillars is the area where the "Levitcal Choir" would stand and sing all of the Psalms. Then there is the stairway to ground level where the basin for "baptism" and the basins for ceremonial washings would have taken place and, of course, the Altar. Beyond the picture, to the lower right would have been the Court of the Men, then the Court of the Women and then a wall and beyond the wall the Court of the Gentiles.

This is the place of God's presence on earth. It greatly limits access of the lay people to the presence of God since only Priests pass beyond the pillars of Jakin and Boaz and only in the performance of duties of the Divine Service. Only once a year the High Priest would be required to enter the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement when he would pass through the curtains with the blood for sprinkling onto the Mercy Seat. More next time. In the mean time, notice the similarities in building layout with "Risen Christ" and please read Hebrews 10:19-22. It was probably Paul who was addressing a Christian congregation assembled for worship, when he said what is written here. He says that when we enter Church, we enter a specific part of the Temple. The Most Holy Place. Do we enter the Most Holy Place in the Temple in Jerusalem? That Sanctuary no longer exists. So, which Most Holy Place do we enter? HEAVEN! We enter heaven itself, here on earth. The Most Holy Place is the very presence of God, thus it is the heavenly sanctuary.

Just take a moment to let that sink in. In worship you enter heaven, without leaving earth, you enter the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly Sanctuary. Jerusalem was built on a mountain, Mt. Zion. It was believed that there in the Temple heaven and earth overlap, because of the presence of God in the Most Holy Place.

Now, if we would read Revelation 21:1-2 we see that, when we are assembled for worship, we don't just assemble in western Arvada, but we assemble in the heavenly realm, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. The heavenly Jerusalem is already here.

Even better than that, back in Hebrews 10:19, Paul says: "We have confidence to enter". The words used indicate a right of access or privileged access or freedom of access. Just as a married person has privileged access to the spouse, just as children have freedom of access to the parent.

Imagine if you would, for a moment, if you had this type of privileged access to the President of the United States. Freedom of access, unrestricted access for what ever you would like, whatever you wanted. You could pop in on the President at any time for any reason. That is what Paul says that we have with God. As Christians, as the brothers of Jesus, we have the privilege of access, the right of access, to God the Father, the new Jerusalem, the heavenly Sanctuary, that's right, to heaven itself. (Hebrews 10:19-20) What is it that gives us access to heaven on earth? The flesh and blood of Jesus! The flesh is likened to the curtain, which was at Jesus death torn open, creating a pathway to the most Holy Place through which we may enter. Also, remember that once a year the high priest would enter the Most Holy Place with the blood for sprinkling, and it is the blood of Jesus that gives us the right of access, within the new covenant.

Then Paul says (vs. 21) "We have a great priest over the house of God". So, who is it that ushers us into the presence of the Father? Jesus, Himself! So, here is a trick question: Who was it that led worship, at the Church, on Sunday? Well, from a human point of view, it was Pastor, the Celebrant. But, if you had eyes to see, it was Jesus. Jesus is the Great Priest, the Chief Celebrant, and the Chief Liturgist. Jesus is the liturgist in the Heavenly Sanctuary and He ushers us into the presence of His Father with His Body and Blood. You can't help, but think of the Lord's Supper in connection with that, can you?

Now, on to verse 22: What gives us sinful, filthy human beings the right of access to "draw near" to God. The writer says: "Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." The part about having our bodies washed, is pretty simple to understand that would be Baptism. Having our heart sprinkled refers to the Lord's Supper. We will get back to that in just a bit, but do you notice anything amazing here? We enter heaven with our conscience and our bodies, both having been cleansed. So, as ones who have been cleansed, both by baptism and washed with the blood of Jesus, we can now enter heaven, right here on earth. That would be the core of the mystery that is Christian worship. If a person doesn't start to understand that, then the liturgy, or anything else done in worship, is not going to make much sense. That is what it is all about.

There was a small church just outside of Adelaide, Australia that had been started by three families. Because of the three families, the church had come to be divided into three factions that could not agree on anything. It was noticed that there were three windows, near the Sanctuary, that would be perfect for stained glass. Everyone agreed! The scene of the women at the open tomb and the angel speaking the words printed on each window, "Who are you looking for?" "You look for the living among the dead". "He is not here". The artist was agreed upon, and he began work. As the work progressed, one group decided that the work, on the scene did not suit them, so they removed the finances that they had pledged for one of the windows, so only two of the windows were completed. So, now the scene reads: "Who are you looking for?" "He is not here." This is, all too often, the case with churches in our midst. Jesus is not there.

Paul addresses the congregation at Ephesus (Ephesians 2:17-18), which contained a mixture of Jews and Gentiles, when he said, "He came and preached" and "Through Him we both have access". Who are the "He" and the "Him" Paul is referring to? Jesus? Take note of when Church at Ephesus would have been established. From a human point of view, Paul came and preached, but it is obvious that Paul was saying that Jesus came and preached and through Jesus we both have access, even though this occurred after Christ's ascension. Also, of note, the preaching was given to those far away and to those who were near. Remember the temple, the courts of the men and the women, who were near, the wall and then the court of the Gentiles, who were far away.

It has been my experience, speaking with many different pastors, that many of them report that no matter how much time they may spend with a text and writing a sermon, often times the sermon speaks more fully to them at the time they speak it from the pulpit during the worship service. It becomes clear that the Holy Spirit is at work in and through the sermon. Thus, it is clear when Paul says, "Through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit." By the Holy Spirit, through the Son, we have access to God the Father. So, not only does worship give us access to heaven, but also through worship we are drawn into the Trinity! Drawn by the Holy Spirit, through Jesus we have access to the Father, thus we have fellowship with the Holy Trinity and participate in the divine Life. How wonderful is that? Christian worship is always Trinitarian, otherwise worship would not make much sense and how could it be true Christian worship. Imagine a person taken from a very remote and backward area of the world, let's say a previously undiscovered island. This person is picked up and flown to America and just as he is being settled into a hotel room, a strange device, sitting on a table, begins making an awful noise. The person's protector goes to the device, picks up part of it, puts this part to the side of his head and begins speaking into it. The person sees what is happening and can hear what is being said and may even understand the words, but he would have no idea of what is going on here. Only being able to perceive and understand part of what is going on this activity would not make much sense.

When we are assembled for worship, only a small part of what is happening is revealed to our naked eyes. Most of what is happening in worship is invisible to us. It is mystery. There is no way that you can see what is going on in worship.

So, what is happening in worship? In the book of Hebrews the writer has described the character of the revelation of God, and worship of God at Mount Sinai, then in Hebrews 12:22-24 he lists seven invisible mysteries of worship. The first invisible mystery we have already talked about. That is where we assemble for worship, the heavenly Jerusalem.

Second, we do not see most of the beings around us. A person comes to Church and what do they see? A group people doing odd things and being led by a funny guy parading around in a gown, but there are far more beings present. The writer says thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. We worship together with the angels and angels at times have been called "liturgizing spirits". They assist us in our worship, such as in music and especially with singing; we join together in our worship. There are two spots in particular that we join together with the angels in their adoration and praise of God. The "Sanctus" or "Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth", or hosts or armies was the vision of Isaiah. This would be a song of praise to the pre-incarnate Jesus. Then there is the "Gloria", the song the angels sang at the incarnation of Jesus. So, now in songs that we join with the angels to sing, we have the two natures of Christ, the pre-incarnate and the incarnate. It is after this point in the liturgy that is the site of the Doxology, because the glory of God is in Christ Jesus. The glory is not in the divine Son but the Son of man, in His humanity. But, we join with the angels to sing the Doxology in the presence of the incarnate Jesus. This is a proper place for angels, involved with us in worship, and since the surround us, if we have difficulty singing we can remember we have the angels to help us out in the heavenly Sanctuary.

Next we have "The Church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven." The Church is always a liturgical assembly, that is, the assembly of those gathered around the altar of the Lord. We worship, not just together with our local assembly (our congregation) but we worship together with all Christians through out the whole world because all Christians are united together in the heavenly Sanctuary. So, next Sunday we'll be worshiping in western Arvada, but we will be joined with the Christians in Denver, California, Russia, Mexico or where ever in the world that Christians are gathered. Christian worship is worldwide; it involves the whole of the church of God, together assembled in the heavenly Sanctuary. This is the Holy catholic Church that we confess in our "Creed". This is the real mega-church.

The fourth invisible reality is; "You have come to God, the judge of all people". This sounds like very bad news, but it is good news. Through the work of Jesus and the drawing of the Holy Spirit we come into the presence of God the judge, but because of the above He pardons us, justifies us, absolves us and approves of us. Every Sunday, if not more often, as an inaugurite you come into the presence of God, you confess your sins and you receive absolution. That absolution comes from God the judge, both from public or private confession, and this is the absolution that God will pronounce at the last judgment. You've already got the last judgment out of the way and the judgment is "I forgive you, I pardon you, I am well pleased with you". Isn't that wonderful?

The fifth invisible reality of worship is that you have come "to the spirits of righteous men made perfect." Who are these people? These are the saints that have gone before us. We worship together with friends, relatives, King David, Solomon, Luther and a host of others that have gone before us. Jesus and the liturgical service is what link us. These people may be dead to us, but they are alive in Jesus and through Jesus we are in contact with them. Later in Hebrews the author compares the Christian life to a relay race. You receive the faith in view of those who have gone before and they hand the baton to you, you will run the race and pass to baton off to others. The race of faith is not complete when one finishes, but only when whole team finishes, and the ones who have finished are back in the stadium cheering us on. They surround us like a cloud on all sides and they encourage us as we run. The "Communion of Saints" is what we call them and they surround us and are involved with us in worship.

Now we come to the 6th and 7th invisible reality of worship and they are the most wonderful. You have come "to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant". Back to the heart of Christian worship, the presence of the risen Lord Jesus, who in the Lord's Supper, mediates the new covenant, the new system of worship.

In the Old Testament and old covenant, worship had to do with the sacrificial ritual, performed at the Temple, and involved the burning the remains of an animal on the altar. In the new covenant, Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper. He gives us His body and blood, He mediates the new covenant to us and He leads us in our worship. The essence of Christian worship is the Lord's Supper. If you want to take it even more wonderfully, the heart of Lord's Supper is number 7.

Notice that this is the last thing and is the final core of the mystery; you have come "To the sprinkled blood (or the blood for sprinkling) that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." Now, to better understand the phrase "The blood for sprinkling or sprinkled blood", you need to know something of the old covenant use of blood.

The blood of the sacrificial victim would normally be splashed out over the altar. On special occasions the blood would be applied to the horns of the incense altar. The blood could be sprinkled onto the curtain (separating the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place), and on the Day of Atonement the blood would be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat. Blood was not normally sprinkled onto human beings with two notable exceptions.

In the book of Exodus, God, after calling His people out of Egypt, calls them to Mount Sinai where He wants to make of them a Holy Nation, the Royal Priesthood. God gives them the Ten Commandments and then in Exodus 24:5-8 Moses performs what seems to us a strange and mysterious ceremony. The sacrificial blood is separated into two bowls, one bowl is poured out onto the altar and the other bowl is used to sprinkle blood over the people. The significance of using the blood sacrificed to God (no longer belonging to the animal but to God) is that it removes impurity, it sanctifies and it makes holy. By the sprinkling of the blood upon the people, they become God's Holy and Priestly nation to serve Him on earth.

The other occasion when a human is sprinkled with sacrificial blood is at the consecration of a priest. The blood of the ram of ordination was mixed with oil, sprinkled on the priest's vestment and some would be applied to the right ear, right thumb and right foot of the priest. All of this to cleanse the body of the priest and to hear the Holy Word of God, to handle Holy things and he was to walk on Holy ground. So, all in all, the sprinkling of blood has to do with the purification from sin and the consecration of priesthood.

Now, Jesus produces a major shock to His people. The flesh of the sacrificial victim was often eaten and the blood was almost always used in one way or another, but one would never drink the blood! It was astonishing, counter-cultural and nearly scandalous for Jesus to say; "Take drink, this is the blood of the new covenant (echoing Exodus 24) that is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins."

To move on a bit, I have a bullet hanging on my wall. It is live and real and it is one of the bullets that I carried in Viet Nam. It reminds me of where I was and how far I have come and because of this, it is important to me that it is real. If it were a reproduction, it would still be a reminder, but it would not be a part of what is to be remembered. This is, also, the essence of what Jesus says when He said, "Do this in remembrance of me." We not only remember that Jesus bled and died for us, but we remember that He is alive and in the cup for us. So, for us Christians what is sprinkled with the blood? By drinking the blood our hearts have been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. What would this mean to us? That the whole of us is made Holy all the way through and we are covered with the purity and holiness of Jesus. When God looks at you, what does He see? Jesus! This can only be accomplished with the blameless sacrificed blood of humanity that is of the union of God and Man. When we drink the blood of Jesus we are totally cleansed and sanctified way beyond what is described in the Old Testament, which is sanctification for service on earth. In the new covenant we serve God in the heavenly Sanctuary.

In conclusion: Every Christian person has been cleansed, and is cleansed by the blood of Jesus and is sanctified for divine service in the heavenly sanctuary, together with the angels, together with all the saints that have gone before us, together with all Christians through out the world and together with the assemble congregation. Christian worship therefore involves this great mystery and once we can recover something of this, we will once again begin to appreciate what actually happens in worship.

Risen Christ Lutheran Church is a member of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.