I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. – Isaiah 6:1
When we enter a large Church building we sense the greatness of the God who is worshipped. For those who have never been in a large stone Church building this is an experience that you are missing. I remember when studying at College I would go into an very old large Anglican Church on my way back home. I stayed in there for an hour or more, reading the Bible, praying and spending time in silence. It was a powerful way to put God back into my thoughts and have a sense of his presence. The building itself gives you the sense of God, in the very high ceilings you get the sense of what the prophet Isaiah felt. Church buildings can be a representation of what we think of God and worship. Many modern Church buildings lack any grandeur, holiness or reverence for God, sadly this speaks for the people who also worship in them. A.W. Tozer stated that in his day he felt the evangelical Church had lost worship. What I believe he meant is that we lost the conception of the great holy God we worshipped and therefore lacked the ability to worship this God appropriately. We see another important aspect of this passage of Scripture, Isaiah is being given a glimpse into the heavenly worship in the throne of God. Some wonder what we will do in heaven, or what is happening in heaven right now, in this passage and in Revelation 5 we see the picture of heavenly worship of angels, elders, and songs of worship and praise being given to God.
In some older Churches the intention and design of the church is trying to imitate heaven and give a sense of its holy atmosphere. In some older Churches the use of incense is there to give the sense of a holy atmosphere as Isaiah says, “the temple was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:4). The focus of early Church worship was Jesus Christ and his death for mankind. We see in the heavenly throne room as the focal point: “A Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne” (Revelation 5:6). Some Churches when you go to them the main figure if the charismatic speaker, worship band, but in the early Church they put the Holy Communion as the centre and focus of the worship. There were Scripture readings, Short messages, but the focus was on the Lord Himself. When a Christian service begins do you feel yourself joining in with the holy angels in worship of the Lord? Paul the Apostle was pleading with the Church in Corinth to get their eyes off of men and onto the Lord, “Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:13). Essentially Paul was saying if we elevate Christian speakers too highly we end up taking away glorify from Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. May God help us recover that sense of the holiness of God in our modern Churches. Francis Chan a famous evangelical speaker recently helped preach in a large evangelical Church for many weeks, he put a communion cup and bread on a table at the front of the Church. He stated that though teaching was needful that having the elements there visibly would remind the people why they are going to this Church weekly to gather, it is to meet with the Lord and remember His death.
