The Character of David's Worship

April 19, 2017

Worship: O Come to the Altar by Elevation Worship

Are you hurting and broken within

Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin

Jesus is calling

Have you come to the end of yourself

Do you thirst for a drink from the well

Jesus is calling

O come to the altar

The Father's arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

Leave behind your regrets and mistakes

Come today there’s no reason to wait

Jesus is calling

Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy

From the ashes a new life is born

Jesus is calling, oh

O come to the altar

The Father's arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

O come to the altar

The Father's arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

Savior, what a Savior

Oh what a Savior

Isn't He wonderful

Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen

Bow down before him

For He is Lord of all

Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen

Oh what a Savior

Isn't He wonderful

Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen

Bow down before him

For He is Lord of all

Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen

O come to the altar

The Father's arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with, oh

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

O come to the altar

The Father's arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with

The precious blood of Jesus Christ, oh

Thank You, Lord

Bear your cross as you wait for the crown

Tell the world of the treasure you've found

Written by:

Chris Brown, Mack Brock, Steven Furtick, Wade JoyeRead more: Elevation Worship - O Come To http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Elevation_Worship:O_Come_To_The_Altar

Video: https://youtu.be/PtFdQofPyfU

Witness:

My mind is a jumble with what to say tonight. Yesterday was certainly a trial dealing with taxes and my wife. God was with me through it, all and the personal pain that it inflicted, but I choose to leave it there.

Instead, I will speak of the Grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Love of the Father. In His great mercy, He cleanses us from our sins through the precious blood of Jesus Christ our Savior. In my study of Psalm 26, I have come to the altar in verse 6. This led me to seek a song of worship about the Altar. How thankful I am for the open arms of my Father and the cleansing I receive because of the precious blood of Jesus. Our blood only stains. We cannot wash anything in it. But the blood of Christ washes away the stains that come from our sinfulness (Eph. 1:7; Rev. 7:14) and opens up the holy of holies (Heb. 10:19) so that we can enter with songs of praise and thanksgiving. From it, we gain access to the throne of grace (Heb. 4:14-16) where in His presence there is eternal joy (Ps. 16:11). Through it, we also gain access to the life of holiness (1 Peter 1:13-21). Through it, the saints of God conquer the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10-11). By it, we have become a kingdom and priest of God the Father and shall reign with Christ (1 Peter 2:5,9; Rev 1:4-6; 5:9-10; 20:6). Glory to God the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Rev 1:5b-6 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
ESV

WORD:

Ps 26:4-8 4 I do not sit with deceitful men, nor do I consort with hypocrites; 5 I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked. 6 I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, O Lord, 7 proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. NIV (’84)

Ps 26:4-8 4 I do not spend time with liars or go along with hypocrites. 5 I hate the gatherings of those who do evil, and I refuse to join in with the wicked. 6 I wash my hands to declare my innocence. I come to your altar, O Lord, 7 singing a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your wonders. Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

Ps 26:4-8 4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. 5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked. 6 I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord: 7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. KJV

Ps 26:4-7 4 I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. 5 I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. 6 I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O Lord, 7 proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds. ESV

In my previous study, I ended on a note of self-examination when approaching the LORD in worship. Returning to the present passage (v. 6) we can apply the first part to our lives in this way:

The sense of the passage is, that he would endeavor to make himself pure, and would thus worship God. He would not come, practicing iniquity, or cherishing sin in his heart. He would banish all from his mind and heart and life that was wrong, and would come with true love to God, and with the spirit of a sincere worshipper.(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.) 

Having prepared for worship he now proceeds to describe how he worships:

and go about your altar, O Lord,

proclaiming aloud your praise

and telling of all your wonderful

deeds. NIV (’84)

Before I proceed to the content of his worship, I want to first note the character of his worship. I have already touched on the purity in which he desires to worship now I want to touch on the passion he has to worship. Perhaps one could infer such passion from the words as they appear here in English, but if we look at the phrase “go about” in the Hebrew, we will see that there is more here than meets the eye.

This phrase appears as one word in Hebrew.

 OT:5437 bb^s* cabab (saw-bab'); a primitive root; to revolve, surround, or border
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

This does not give us a clue to what I am trying to get at. The word has different meanings both literally and figuratively. In this context, it most certainly means to march around or go about.

bb^s*

3. march or go about, city (accusative) Ps 55:11 Ps 59:7 Ps 59:15 ; altar (in solemn procession) 26:6(from Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Unabridged, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.) 

However, it is not the action that tells us his motive. Many come to church and go through the motions of worship, but their hearts are far away from the Lord.

The Lord says:

"These people come near to me with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship of me

is made up only of rules taught by men.

Isa 29:13 NIV (See the Lord’s use of this verse in Mt. 15:8)

No, the motive or passion in which David desires to worship the Lord is found in the form of the verb translated “go around.” As I have said before, I do not know Hebrew or its rules of grammar. So, I am relying on the tools I have in my computer software. My interlinear Bible says concerning this word:

Hebrew Verb

Poel

Hebrew Imperfect

Imperfect as Jussive

Cohortative in form and meaning

Hebrew First Person

Common Gender

Hebrew Singular

Copyright (c) 2001 by Biblesoft

In order to see where I am going with this, I am going to look at the words “Poel” and “Cohortative.” Without getting deep into the Hebrew grammar (in which I would drown right now because it is way over my head), the word “Poel” refers to its verb stem. One source says simply that this is in the “intensive stem” (http://kukis.org/Languages/Hebrew4Dummies.pdf). Another source says:

    

§55cc Po±el proper (as distinguished from the corresponding conjugations of verbs uþþu ‎§ 67 l  and Wþþu ‎§ 72 m, which take the place of the ordinary causative Pi±¢l) expresses an aim or endeavour to perform the action, especially with hostile intent, and is hence called, by Ewald, the stem expressing aim (Ziel-stamm), endeavour (Suche-stamm) or attack (Angriffs-stamm); cf. the examples given above from Job 9:15, ‎y ‎101:5, and /y}ou ‎1 Sam 18:9 Q®rê (probably for /y}oum=‎, cf. § 52 s ; § 55 f : seeking to cast an evil eye).(from Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Apparently, the “hostile” aspect is not meant here, but the passion with which one seeks to “perform the action.”

Of the word Cohortative I found this statement:

    

                          §108. Use of the Cohortative.a The cohortative, i.e. according to § 48 c, the Ist pers.1 sing. or plur. of the imperfect lengthened by the ending h  *‎,2 represents in general an endeavour directed expressly towards a definite object. While the corresponding forms of the indicative rather express the mere announcement that an action will be undertaken, the cohortative lays stress on the determination underlying the action, and the personal interest in it.
(from Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Before my head explodes from any further research, let me conclude with this observation. From what I can glean from all this is that David has an intense desire to worship. The outward manifestation of this worship in the form of marching around the altar is done with sincerity and passion. He is not just “going through the motions,” as we would say.

Here then is the litmus test for all true worship. Not so much the form as the attitude in which it is done. The form, of course, must be done with decency and order (1 Cor. 14:40) but more importantly with the right motive as we have seen in the Is. 29:13 quote above. God is not interested so much in the ritual but the right heart in worship. Do I come passionately, expectantly, humbly as one privileged to come into the LORD’s presence only by His grace and yet boldly for the same reason (James 4:6-10, 1 Peter 5:5-6, Micah 6:8, Heb. 4:16)?

This is worship basics 101 but how often we have missed the mark!

Ps 43:3-4

Send forth your light and your truth,

let them guide me;

let them bring me to your holy mountain,

to the place where you dwell.

Then will I go to the altar of God,

to God, my joy and my delight.

I will praise you with the harp,

O God, my God.

NIV