“Because of the angels . . .” (1 Cor 11:10). Paul uses this profound and striking phrase in the eleventh chapter of 1 Corinthians, but because of all the issues Paul was addressing in the Corinthian congregation, many of which continued to plague the congregation for at least another century, this little phrase typically gets overlooked.
It is significant because of the context. Paul was addressing how the Corinthian congregation (and all other Christian congregations) ought to conduct themselves when gathered for public worship. Things had become markedly disordered in the worship services of the Corinthian congregation. To set them in order again, Paul reminded them of a profound spiritual reality: when the congregation is gathered they are not alone. Heaven is opened to them such that there are angels present. This is the import of the phrase, “because of the angels.”
Like the Corinthians, we too need this reminder in our time. Like them, I suspect, we have lost track of the profound spiritual realities at play in corporate worship. We are affected by our time, and by our culture and its assumptions. The ceiling above the congregation tends to do more than protect us from the elements, symbolizing our lack of awareness of the ultimate spiritual realities. Theologians use the adjective eschatological to characterize those realities. What we are discussing here is the interplay between heaven and earth. When we gather, it is not just the person to our right and left or before and behind us. There is an above about which we need to become aware. Paul mentioned the angels to remind the Corinthians that worship is unique and it is holy. It is not an ordinary gathering. It is like no other gathering on earth. It is a sacred gathering, conducted in the presence of our holy, holy, holy God (Isa 6:3).
In this we are very much like Elisha’s servant. He too needed to be reminded of the spiritual, eschatological realities behind the things we see and experience with our senses.
He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (1 Kings 6:16–17)
The chariots were always there. They were with Elisha and all of God’s people. It was that Elisha was aware of them and the servant was not. The Lord had to open the young man’s eyes, and when he did, suddenly the young man could see the chariots of fire.
The writer to the Jewish Christians in Hebrews reminded them of the spiritual realities at play in Christian worship, for example, the reality that some who profess faith do not actually believe and thus, though they “have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come” (Heb 6:4–5), they have nonetheless “fallen away,” that is, they have gone back to the Mosaic types and shadows. This person who apostates, says the pastor, has “trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant” (Heb 10:29). Anyone who understands anything about the Old Testament background of this language knows how dire such language is. This is the language reserved for those who have formally entered into covenant with God, who have sworn solemn oaths, and who have broken faith with the God who is a “consuming fire” (Heb 12:29).
In fact, the setting for the book of Hebrews is most likely corporate worship. Certainly it was read aloud to the congregation (in one sitting!) during a worship service. The pastor seems to be envisioning a worship service when he says that we have not come to a mountain that can be touched, “a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them” (Heb 12:18b–19).
Of course, he was invoking images of the terrible presence of God atop Mount Sinai, which implies some continuity. He reminded them about Sinai, which was the paradigmatic worship event in the Old Testament; but he did so in order to draw a contrast.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Heb 12:22–24)
When do Christians come to Mount Zion? What is the picture before us? Is it not quite like the pictures of the heavenly temple that we see in the Revelation? It is almost like we are looking through one of those viewfinders that one sees at national parks, except this one shows us a picture not of the Grand Canyon but something and someone far grander, the ascended and glorious Christ.
Who is seated atop Mount Zion? It was God the Son who was atop Mount Sinai. His holy presence sanctifies both mountains. But now, in Christ, we are invited to come—to touch, as it were—to join the angels and the assembly of all the believers who have gone before us, some of whom are remembered for us in Hebrews 11: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel—and those are just the saints Hebrews names. These are among the “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1) with whom we are joined when we are gathered for corporate worship on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day or the Christian Sabbath. This is why corporate worship is the highpoint of the Christian’s weekly experience. This is why we begin our week entering into our eschatological rest and “begin in this life the everlasting Sabbath” (Heidelberg Catechism 103). Given that we are meeting formally, corporately with our risen and glorified Lord and the heavenly assembly, how could it be anything but the highlight of our week?
Since the Lord has lifted us up, as it were, to his holy tabernacle, and since we are gathered with such an august assembly, how should we conduct our worship services? Our Reformed forefathers gave a great deal of thought to this question, and will consider how the Reformed have answered this question in part two.
©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved.
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R. Scott Clark
R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
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