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THE WORSHIP OF GOD

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 24, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 52.

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THE WORSHIP OF GOD.

By L. A. S.

The only true view of God is obtained by faith. The Second Commandment strictly forbids making any likeness of the supreme Being whom men are to worship, and who alone is entitled to their worship; because the attempt to worship God through a man-made representation of Him would surely lower man's conception of his Creator, and so pervert man's worship, and lead to the most evil results. How much depends upon a correct conception of God in the mind of the worshiper, is demonstrated by the awful picture presented in heathen lands, where the systems of worship have led men to the lowest depths of error, sin, and degradation.
The worship of God in spirit and in truth elevates man to a higher plane of life; it brings man nearer to, and makes him in character more like, the divine Being. But this result comes only from the worship of God in truth, and the worship of God in truth means a true conception of Him on the part of the worshiper. If this is lacking, the result which follows will be just the opposite; the worshiper will not be elevated, but degraded.
But it is not enough on our part to have no graven image nor likeness of God before our faces as the medium of our worship. We must not merely look not at the forbidden image, or likeness, but we must look unto Him. This He instructs us to do. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” “Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” And how can we look unto God, “whom no man hath seen, nor can see”? Faith solves the problem. By faith we, like Moses, endure “as seeing Him who is invisible.” And “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” His word is the truth. And therefore the view of God which is obtained by faith—that is, by His word—is the true one. And seeing Him thus by faith, we can worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Let us not therefore attempt to carry on the worship of God apart from the word of God. A special season of prayer and devotion must mean, if it is understood aright, a special season of study of the Scriptures. If we are to be changed into a closer likeness to the divine Pattern, it must be by beholding Him, through the revelation of himself that He has given us.
If we would worship God in truth, we must see continually “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
L. A. S.