Two Lessons from Messianic Jewish Worship • Deshen Daily

And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” (1 Kings 18:39 ESV)

God has not called us(gentile believers) to become Jews or adopt the Jewish style of worship, but there is something about messianic Jewish worship that I believe we will do well to learn. Their worship is centered on God and His throne and is unashamedly physically expressive. As expected, this pattern of worship is a legacy of Old Testament practices.

Worship for the Jew was centered on Yahweh seated upon His throne. Just as you read in the Old Testament, including the Psalms, the Israelites were always in awe of God’s power, His majesty as King of heaven and earth, His mercy and grace, His glory, etc. They were lost in their worship of God. They also knew about making petitions to God in prayer in their troubles. And yes, as I have written before, they learned about worship and praise as weapons of warfare. But for the Jew, worship was, and is about one and only one—Yahweh on His throne.

Besides their Yahweh-centeredness, messianic worship reminds us of the physically expressive worship of the Old Testament. A common misconception has frozen scores of believers in worship: many mistakenly believe that God cares only about the heart and not the body. On the contrary, worship that touches God’s heart is the worship that involves the whole person: spirit, soul, and body.

God has no commands etched on stone on how to worship Him. So rather than creating traditions or religion out of this (how our flesh loves to do so), we should allow His Spirit to move us to worship Him as He pleases.

Meditate

Have you ever wondered why we sing and say, “we bow before the throne” but never really bow before that throne?

Apply the Word

You will never know the depths of true worship until you lose yourself in God’s presence. Allow the Spirit to delight the Father’s heart with your worship.