I Went to Church Yesterday

The fifth of an undetermined number in a series on the character and need for corporate worship.

Yesterday was the highlight of my week. Moreover, yesterday is the highlight of my week. There I was gathered with fellow-believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, fellow-members of God's redeemed covenant community, assembled in the very Presence of our Triune God, in order to hear from him, in order to receive his blessing.

It is as we are gathered together in sacred assembly, in church, on Mt. Zion, coram Deo, before the face of God, that the most wonderful encounter takes place, that between God and man. It is here that God reaches out to man and meets him in the preached Word and in the sacraments. It is by this divinely appointed means of Word and sacrament that we hear God speaking to us. It is here that we primarily witness the divine action to and among us. It is here, as in the case of the disciples walking along the Emmaus Road when confronted by the resurrected Christ, our eyes are opened as Christ is made plain to us in Word and sacrament. It is here, the church, the new creation, born as the old of the divine Word and Spirit, that the Lord continues to speak and act with his people... Here, in this stream he has placed in the desert, his bright city in a land of darkness.

Yesterday our covenant God proclaimed to us through the visiting minister, the Rev. Leon Brown of Westminster Seminary, Escondido, Ca., not some “general” eternal truths but particularly and especially, those truths pertaining to his redemptive action in time and history, the truth of his gracious delivering sinners from their sins through his sent Son Jesus Christ, in whom alone we are to place our trust for salvation from sin, death and judgment. Through the minister, God's ambassador, we heard only one message, the message of Christ’s Person and work on the cross for us. Through the minister, God told us his story of redemption, formerly symbolized by an impressive network of types, rites, shadows and figures, all pointing to and “foresignifying” Jesus Christ, in whom they were fulfilled and substantiated. Through the minister, the Lord God reminded us of his manifold blessings in Christ, blessings concerning cleansing from sin, removal of guilt, adoption into his family, assurance of hope and preparation for heaven. Through the minister, God's spokesman, we were told that his story trumps our testimony; his work dwarfs our experiences; his covenant faithfulness infinitely outstrips our inconsistent devotion; his promise defines our word; his metanarrative controls our stories; his grace swallows up our sin.

There, we needed to have the boundless truths of this verbum externum (external Word) applied to our hearts and minds through the Holy Spirit. As God spoke to us by his Word and Spirit, he enabled us to taste and see that he is good, Ps 34:8. He enabled us to delight in him, to relish his goodness, to enjoy him in whose presence "there is fullness of joy; and at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore." Ps. 16:11.

As we, believers and our children were gathered in his presence, we were in truth and in deed rehearsing for that great day when we would see him face to face in that consummate church, the restored cosmic temple of which the garden of Eden is a type and of which the local church is a microcosmic representation. There and at that time, he will gather his elect from all the nations, from the four corners of the world. Then, He will have no need to ask them, where are you? for they will all rush to his holy mountain “clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” " Rev 7:9-10.

Yesterday I visited a miniature heaven on earth. Yesterday I went to the New Jerusalem on earth. Where did I go yesterday? I went to church. I went to the New World. I went to the real world.