In addition to what we read from 2 Chronicles chapter 20, I will also read from Acts chapter 16. I will begin in verse 16. “Now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and us and cried out saying, These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. And they brought them to the magistrates and said, These men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city and they teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans to receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called out with a loud voice saying, Do yourself no harm for we are all here. Then he called for a light, ran in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.”
And then also from Revelation chapter 8, verses 1 through 5. “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. And there ends our reading. This is the word of the Lord.”
Let’s pray together. Father, we do pray that you would bless the reading and now preaching of your word this day. That you would give us hearts to believe. That you would give us wills to repent. That you would renew our minds to the proclamation of your truth. Father, that you would help us to live lives that are faithful and obedient in everything you call us to do. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.
John Calvin said that in prayer, we are bidden to ask for and expect what the Lord has promised. He said it is absolutely true that it is by prayer that we dig up treasures. See, if you were to ask Calvin, what is prayer? He would say, prayer is a treasure hunt. To pray is to go on a treasure hunt. See, that’s entirely true. That’s one perspective on what prayer is. To pray is to dig. It’s to dig up the gold and the silver and the precious jewels of God’s promises. How do we see God’s promises come to realization? How do they come to fruition and to fulfillment? Through prayer. We pray down the promises of God into our lives and into history.
Psalm 106 and Ezekiel 22 give us yet another perspective on prayer. In Psalm 106, we’re told that had Moses not stood in the breach or had Moses not stood in the gap between Israel and God and turned away God’s wrath by his prayers, Israel would have been destroyed. In Ezekiel 22, you have something similar. God there is going to bring judgment on Israel. And he says, I have sought for a man who would make a wall, who would stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I would not destroy it. But I found no one. And that is indeed why judgment fell on Israel. Judgment fell because there were no intercessors. There was no one who in prayer stood as a wall or who in prayer filled in that gap between God and his sinful people who through prayer turned away the wrath and the anger of God against his people.
See, this is another perspective on prayer. In fact, it points us to the prayer ministry of Jesus, which is going on in heaven right this very minute as Jesus himself now is the ultimate intercessor, standing in the gap between we Christians, we who belong to God, but yet are still sinful, and God himself and all his holiness. This is also what our pastoral prayer in the liturgy is all about, the prayers of the people. That prayer is preceded in our liturgy by the Kyrie, where we call upon God to show us mercy, not just to show mercy to us, but to show mercy to all peoples. Or during some seasons of the church here, it’s preceded by the Agnus Dei, where we call upon God to remember his Son, who is the Lamb, who has taken away the sins of the world through his sacrificial death. And again, it’s a way of calling upon God to remember his promises, to show mercy to us and to all peoples across the face of the earth.
In the pastoral prayer, we serve the good of the church, we serve the good of the world by calling upon God to do as he has said he would do. To show mercy, to forgive, to bless, to heal. We seek to stand in the gap, to build a wall through our prayers between a holy God and a sinful world. We seek to stand in the breach.
But there’s yet another perspective on prayer that we find in the scriptures. Prayer is warfare. Prayer is holy war. It’s a form of liturgical warfare, you might say, against that triumvirate of enemies that the scripture identifies for us. The world, the flesh, and the devil. And in fact, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, in Acts 16, and in Revelation chapter 8, these are three of many passages we could look at, we see this played out, this perspective on prayer.
Let’s start with that passage in 2 Chronicles. This is a historical account of what took place during the reign of Jehoshaphat, who was one of the good and courageous kings of Judah, who walked in the ways of the Lord. And during the reign of Jehoshaphat, up to this point, God has been protecting the people. God has kept their enemies at bay. He has protected them from their enemies. But here in this chapter, we find that God cuts loose the Moabites and the Ammonites, so that these pagan peoples come against Israel.
And so Jehoshaphat realizes he’s under attack. He’s about to have to go to war. And so what does he do? How does he respond to this crisis? Well, in verse 3, we find that Jehoshaphat sought after the Lord. He called a fast. He assembled the people together for prayer. This is what he did in the face of this cultural and social crisis. He gives a liturgical response. Prayer and fasting, assembling for worship.
Verses 6-12, we have the content of what he prayed. And it’s a beautiful prayer, a glorious prayer. He acknowledges at the beginning of this prayer that God is sovereign over the nations. That God rules over all peoples and over all of history. He recalls the history of his own people, how God has acted on behalf of this church. God has acted on behalf of Israel. He’s fought for them in the past. In verse 7, he talks about how in their past history, God drove the Canaanites out of the land. So that the Israelites could dwell there securely and safely. How he gave the land to Abraham’s descendants in accord with his promises. Jehoshaphat recalls the building of the temple. This is, after all, where you go in times of trouble, in times of crisis, in times of need and affliction to get help. This is where God dwells among his people. This is where God has pitched his tent or made his home among his people.
Then finally, in verses 10 and 11, he describes to God the current situation, their fright. Here they are as the people of God facing an invasion. And in verse 12, he pleads for help. He says, Lord, you know we have no power against this great multitude that is coming up against us. Nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
See, what does prayer do? Prayer directs our eyes away from the crisis that surrounds us. And focuses our eyes. It fixes our eyes on God and on his power, on his sovereignty, on the way he’s worked redemption for his people in the past. So that we have confidence he’ll do so again in the future. See, this is how you pray in times of spiritual battle.
And we’re told the fact it wasn’t just Jehoshaphat. Verse 13 says that all of Judah joined in his prayer. It says they’re little ones. They’re babies. They’re small children. It says they’re wives and they’re older children. They all gathered together and stood before the Lord and joined their hearts together. They were one accord. This is corporate prayer led by Jehoshaphat.
Well, how does God answer their plea for help, their cry for rescue? Help comes from the throne of grace. God sends his spirit. We see the spirit always comes and answers the prayer. He sends his spirit. What does his spirit do? His spirit inspires a prophet to speak. A prophet who will speak and give them comfort. God’s spirit inspires a prophet to say, do not be afraid. Do not fear because of this multitude for the battle is the Lord’s. The prophet says you don’t need to fight. God himself will fight for you. Just stand and watch the salvation of the Lord.
That’s a theme again and again in Israel’s history. That when they call upon God and God fights their battles, they don’t do anything. They just stand and watch as God brings the deliverance. And when Jehoshaphat and the people heard this, when they heard this declaration, this promise from God through the prophet, what did they do? They bowed down. They worshiped. They fell on their faces before God. They said, Lord, we are helpless. And God responded by saying, I will help. I will do the work. I will give you what you need.
And we’re told that as the people worshipped, the Kohathites and the Korahites, members of the tribe of Levi, stood up to praise the Lord in song. It’s interesting. If you go back and you ask, who are these people? Why did they stand up and begin to lead the people in song? If you go back and look at who these people are, back in 1 Chronicles chapter 6, we find that these are the people that David put in charge of the service of sacred song before the Ark of the Covenant. When David set up his tent with the Ark of the Covenant to house the Ark of the Covenant, he reorganized the priesthood. And one of the ways he did this was by setting aside certain members of the tribe of Levi to be church musicians, you might say. To be leaders of the church as a singing assembly. This is the choir. These are the leading church musicians.
And all of a sudden, as the Korahites and the Kohathites are leading the people now in song, Jehoshaphat realizes how God will win the battle. And so what does he do? The next day he stands up and he calls on the people to believe the Lord. He exhorts them to trust the words of the prophet. To believe these promises that have been given. And then in verse 21 we really have the key. The key to this whole battle scene. What does he do? Yes, he gathers the people together for war. But he puts the singers on the front lines. Those who would sing to the Lord. Those who would praise the beauty of his holiness. He puts them out in front of the army. And they went forth singing a song about God’s mercy. Calling upon God to remember his covenant promises through song.
And verse 22 says when they began to sing and praise. And it’s very clear. As soon as they began this singing to God. This ministry of sacred song before the Lord’s face. The Lord set ambushes. Against the Ammonites and the Moabites. And they were defeated. It says in verse 24. The ground was covered with their dead bodies. Not one escaped. They were rallied. God gave them the victory.
See Jehoshaphat’s front line men. Those who were leading the charge. Leading the troops. Were not his best swordsmen. It was not chariot drivers. It was not men on horses. He conquered with a choir. He used the sword of song. To get the victory. To win the battle. The people sang songs of victory. Songs of God’s mercy. And through these songs. God triumphed over their enemies. The human means. That God used to ambush Satan. Was the ministry. Of this Levitical choir. Leading the people in songs of worship. Songs of praise.
Verse 22. It’s so clear. It’s when they began to sing. And praise God. That’s when the Lord. Sets the ambush. That gives them the victory. See how did they win? They went through prayer. They went through song. The real battle. The battle behind the battle you could say. The holy war behind the culture war. The political war. Is fought with these weapons. Praising God. In prayer. And in song.
God uses songs. He uses spiritual songs. And prayers. And songs of praise. To give his people. The victory. And in fact. You see. After the victory has been won. What do they do? They continue praising God. But the whole passage. Is enveloped in. Prayer. And praise. And especially song. After the victory has been won. What do they do? They rejoice before the Lord. And continue praising him. And worshiping him. And they continue singing before the Lord.
Now you see. An interesting new covenant. Counterpart to this. In Acts chapter 16. Paul and Silas. Are involved in a kind of battle. As well. In fact. It seems to be a cultural. Political. Social. Battle. As well. Why are they in trouble? They’re on this missionary tour. They journey to Philippi. And as they began preaching. It turns out. That their preaching. Causes upheaval in the city. There are these men. Who are using this woman. Who was demon possessed. And was a kind of fortune teller. Or a soothsayer. And because of the preaching of. Of you know. Preaching of the gospel. Is bad for business. If that’s your business. And so they want Paul and Silas. Charged with crimes. They’re upsetting. The Roman social society. The social fabric. That’s being torn. By this preaching of the gospel. It looks like a political battle. A cultural battle. That Paul and Silas. Are involved in.
And so what do they do? You know. They’re on this missionary journey. They’re preaching. How do they respond? They’re arrested. They’re thrown into jail. They’re beaten. They’re put into stocks. And how do they respond? You know. They could have gone on a campaign. They could have hired a lawyer. You know. To take this case to court. To fight for the right. Of free speech. They could have. Gone on some kind of political campaign. Organized people. To speak on their behalf. That sort of thing. It’s not that those things. Would have been wrong. We see Paul in fact. Using his Roman citizenship. In certain kind of ways. When he gets into trouble. Like this elsewhere. They’re in acts. But what do we see? Paul and Silas know. That the real battle. Is not against flesh and blood. The real battle. Is not at that. Earthly. Social. Political. Level. The real battle. Is against principalities. And powers.
And so how do they. Talk about it. Well there they are. They’re in prison. And we’re told that it’s midnight. It’s very interesting. Again and again. Through scripture. You see God bringing deliverance. To his people. At midnight. It’s the time of the Passover. For example. When the angel of death. Was turned away. From the houses of Israel. From the exodus. You know. Here they are at midnight. They don’t know what’s coming. The next day. Are they going to be beaten again? Are they going to be hanged? Are they going to be beheaded? What’s going to happen to them? What do they do? They respond. To this battle. That they’re in. Just like Jehoshaphat did. They sing. And they pray.
And look what happens. Verse 25. Since they were praying. And singing hymns to God. Right there in the middle. Of their jail cell. Singing and praying. Of course. Were not just a way. Of trying to make themselves. Feel better about their situation. They understood. Singing and praying. Are powerful. Weapons. Of warfare. And what happens. This echoes. Psalm 18. Which I made reference to. Last week. In fact. It points ahead to. What we’ll see in just a minute. In Revelation chapter 8. They’re praying. And they’re singing. What does God do? God sends an earthquake. Jail cells. Shake open. Stocks. And chains. Are shaken off. They’re free. They’re liberated. Through prayer. And through song. They get the victory.
See. They put singing. On the front line. They fight through song. They fight through prayer. Prayer. And through. Their songs. And their prayers. God puts on display. His power. He hears them. From his heavenly temple. And he answers. By shaking. The earth. They’re set free. The jailer. Who is responsible. For Paul and Silas. Is about to kill himself. Because he knows. They’re going to kill him. Anyway. These prisoners. Get free. He comes and asks. Paul and Silas. What must I do to be saved? When he realizes. That these men. Have something. He doesn’t. And they preach the gospel to him. And he and his household. Believe. He washes. Their stripes. Where they have been beaten. They wash away his sins. In the waters of baptism. He and his household. Are saved.
Now. We can ask the question here. You know. How does this work? Why is it that prayers and songs. Are so powerful? What does the Bible say. About sacred song. That would explain this? Well it’s interesting. All throughout scripture. We find that music. Is associated with. The Holy Spirit. Music. Glorifies words. That’s what music is about. It’s with. Beautifying. Or glorifying. Speech. About glorifying words. What does the Holy Spirit. Come to do? He comes to glorify. We’re told in John’s gospel. The word. The word incarnate. There’s this analogy. Between what music does. To words. And what the Holy Spirit. Does to. The word. The wall. Jesus Christ. The eternal. Son of God.
Ephesians 5. Is one place where you see this. Play out. In Ephesians chapter 5. Paul says. That the way to be. Filled with. And empowered. By the Holy Spirit. The way to be swept up. Into the Spirit’s work. What does he say there? It’s through. Song. It’s to speak to one another. In psalms. Hymns. And spiritual songs. These. Songs of the Spirit. As we sing these songs. This sacred music. As we speak to one another. In this way. Paul says. The Spirit. Flows between us. We’re filled with the Spirit. And the Spirit. Flows. From one to another. As we speak to one another. In this way. As we sing. These songs. Paul says. That the Spirit. Filled person. The Spirit. Empowered person. Is a person. With a melody. In his heart. That the Spirit. And music. Go together.
Remember. Jesus cast out demons. By. The Spirit. The Spirit. Is the agent. Of warfare. Against Satan. The Holy Spirit. Is the agent. Of our warfare. Against evil. But how does the Spirit. Fight this battle? We see again and again. In scripture. Ephesians 5. These other passages. The Spirit. Fights. Through Saul. And this is something. God’s people. Throughout the ages. Have understood.
One. Missionary to China. And of course. It’s always on the mission field. We see this battle. Rage. In its most intense form. She said. I sing the doxology. And dismiss the devil. Any time she felt. The spiritual attack. Coming on. She would sing the doxology. And send the devil away. The missionary. Amy Carmichael said. I believe truly. That Satan. Cannot stand it. And slips out of the room. When there is a true Saul. Being sung. When Satan is attacking. The way to fight back. Is through this ministry. Of Saul.
Martin Luther. Echoed all this. In fact. He’s worth quoting. At length. From this. He said. Music is a fair. And lovely gift of God. Which has often. Wakened. And moved me. To the joy of preaching. So he said. It’s music. That gets me ready to preach. He said. Music drives away. The devil. And makes people joyous. Next. After theology. I give. To music. The highest place. And the greatest honor. I would not change. What little. I know of music. For something great. Experience proves. That next to the word of God. Only music deserves. To be extolled. As the mistress. And governance. Of the feelings. Of the human heart. We know. That to the devil. Music is distasteful. And insufferable. My heart bubbles up. And overflows. In response to music. Which has so often. Refreshed me. And delivered me. From dire plays.
Think about. The spiritual battle. That Saul was involved in. And the only time Saul ever got. Peace. In his own spiritual battle. Was when David. Played the harp. That’s when the Holy Spirit. Would drive away. The evil spirits. That were tormenting Saul. It’s through music. See. Satan has no chance. When God’s people. Join together. In songs of praise. And thanks. To God.
This is why things like. Children’s choir. Are so important. That we begin. At the earliest of ages. Training our children. In this ministry. Of sacred song. What are we doing? We’re training them. For warfare. Their troops. Who are. Who are being thrilled. How to fight. As we teach them. How to sing. These songs. See. Holy music. Is incredibly powerful. We don’t sing. In gathered worship. Just to pass the time. Or just because. We want some kind of. Aesthetic experience. Lord knows. A lot of times. It’s not much of an. Aesthetic experience. Sad. We sing. Because it’s one of the ways. In which God. Gives us. The victory.
See. These are songs of war. These are songs. Through which the spirit. Fights. These songs. Are connected. To the ministry. Of the spirit. These psalms. Hymns. And spiritual songs. You want to be involved. In the spirits. All out. Assault. On evil. In the world. Give yourself. To the singing. Of psalms. Hymns. And spiritual songs. Put that right. At the forefront. Of your battle. That’s how we’re to fight.
Now. You know. We could ask the question. Do you think Satan. Is aware of this? Well yeah. He certainly is. You know. Why do you think. He hates. Holy music. So much. Because he knows. This is one of the greatest weapons. We have in our arsenal. And this is why he does so much. To attack it. As well. See. It’s why he doesn’t want us. To sing together. In church. And it’s why. Outside of. Church. He wants us. To fill our hearts. And our minds. With unholy music. Worldly music.
And I’m not proposing. A legalistic solution. To this problem at all. I’m not saying. You can’t listen. To other music. What I am saying. Is we need to understand. The power of music. The role of music. In our lives. The role of music. In this spiritual warfare. We need to understand. The importance. And the centrality. Of sacred song. In the life of the Christian. In the life of the church.
See. Satan doesn’t stand. A chance. Against the spiritual songs. Of the church. But Satan also. Does a pretty good job. Of driving those songs. Out of our lives. I mean. Think about it. It’s the book of songs. That is really. The central hymn book. Of the people of God. Not that we’re limited. To that. But that’s central. How many Christians. Today know. The 150 songs. At least the monks. We all thought. Things that were wrong. With the monasteries. At least the monks. Knew the Psalms. You know. We might have. 150. Advertising jingles. That we know. But we don’t know. The 150 songs. The Psalms. God has given us. A hymn book. And yet we ignore it. We don’t focus on it.
See the Psalms are important. Not only because they’re God’s songs. But because they’re songs. About things that we usually. Don’t want to sing about. Things we don’t want to pray. About. They’re songs about enemies. And cries for vengeance. You know. You read the Psalms. You find that the Psalms. He’s always engaged in some kind of battle. What does he do. When he’s in the midst of battle. He writes a song. About it. Because he knows. This is how you fight back.
There are Psalms that are full of. Cries for vengeance. Cries for justice. And for judgment. There are Psalms. In the Psalms. That are about. Trusting God. From infancy. Psalms about. Trusting God. Staying faithful to God. Through intense suffering. Psalms about. Worshipping God. In reverence. And fear. And joy. And the beauty of holiness. Psalms. Psalms about. God. Claiming. Creation. As his own. Establishing his kingdom. Among the nations. Making the nations. His possession. The possession of his son.
See. The Psalms are the heart. Of biblical piety. And the fact that they seem so foreign to us. So unfamiliar to us. Shows how far we’ve drifted away. From this center point. So we’ve got to recover. The Psalms. They train us. In how to be. A new kind of human being. The kind of human beings. That God wants us to be. The kind of men and women. Who are mature enough. To go and fight the Lord’s battles. And to stay true to God. And suffer. And to become wise. And mature. So we know what to do. When we’re faced with conflict. Or with difficult issues. With crises. Crises. In our lives.
So that’s Psalms. But what about prayer? You know. We’ve seen Jehoshaphat. He sang before God. The people assembled. They prayed together. They sang together. That’s Psalm. We see that worked out. In connection to the Holy Spirit. What about prayer? You know. You’ve got Jehoshaphat. And Paul and Silas. Also engaged in a ministry of prayer. Why is prayer so powerful?
You know. When I talk about the Spirit. And Psalm. In Ephesians 5. In Ephesians chapter 6. Paul goes on to talk about the armor of God. You know. We’re clearly engaged in a battle all the time. He talks about the armor of God that we’re to wear. To defend and protect ourselves in this battle. Things like the belt of truth. And the breastplate of righteousness. These other pieces of armor. That God supplies us with. In the gospel. But then he caps off that list of armor. You know. What he does. You’ve got to rush into battle. You’ve got all this armor attached to you. What’s the key to it all? What holds it all together? It’s his prayer. Last of all. But most important of all. Paul says. To pray. To pray at all times.
When Paul was going to go preach the gospel. He told people to pray for him. And not even so much to pray for what he would say. But to pray that he would have courage. Because he knew that was a battle. And he wanted him. He wanted his ministry to be undergirded by prayer. He knew that was the only way he could have any success. See. You rush into this battle. By dropping to your knees. That’s how we fight.
But to really understand the effectiveness of prayer. In our spiritual warfare. To really understand why prayer is so important to the advance of the gospel in the world. We really need to have a sort of behind the scenes look at things. And thankfully that’s just what God has given to us in the book of Revelation.
In fact in Revelation 8. That’s what we have. Now. Let me give you some context. For understanding what’s going on in Revelation chapter 8. The book of Revelation as a whole. The book of Revelation is many things. But one thing the whole book of Revelation is from beginning to end. Is a worship service. You want to know what worship and the new covenant looks like. The book of Revelation shows you.
It takes place. We’re told at the very beginning of the book. On the Lord’s Day. The first day of the week. The day of Christ’s resurrection. The day that became established as the day for God’s people together. For new covenant worship. It begins with a vision of Christ. That basically serves as a call to worship. This is the one whom you worship. And through whom you worship. Then immediately after that vision of Christ. The seven churches. Which are representative of course of the whole church. Are called upon to confess their sins. In light of this vision of Christ that exposes that they’re not who they ought to be. And so in these seven letters to the seven churches. They are called upon to confess their sins. And to repent.
And then after this confession of sin. What happens in chapter four. John as a representative of the church. Ascends up into heaven. The door of heaven is open. And John enters in. Now see this is just what happens in our liturgy. This is what the surs and pori is all about. When we cry out. We lift our hearts up to the Lord. We really need. We are ascending up into the heavenly sanctuary. That the door of heaven stands open. And we enter in. Just as in chapters two and three. They confess their sin. And then John enters into heaven. That’s the pattern. That’s the liturgical pattern. We really and truly enter heaven itself in worship. New covenant worship. Takes place in the sanctuary of heaven itself.
And what do we find going on in heaven? There’s this bowing. And this singing back and forth going on. There are these trumpets that blow. Which seems to correspond to preaching. You have the marriage supper of the Lamb after that. Which of course is the communion meal. That’s what communion is. It’s marriage supper of the Lamb. And then at the end of the book. There is this commissioning. The church is the New Jerusalem. You see at the end of the book. The New Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven. The New Jerusalem is being commissioned for service. And ministry out in the world. The church descends and comes down out of heaven. After the service. Yet worship is over. And so now what are we going to do? We go out into the world. And we live as salt and light. We go out into the world. To colonize the world with the kingdom of heaven. To bring the culture of heaven into the world. Into earthly history.
There’s a lot more to it than that. But basically from beginning to end. That’s how Revelation works. It is a worship service. Now in chapters four and five. God, as John ascends up into heaven. He finds himself before the throne of grace. He is in the heavenly holy of holies you might say. We talked about in the book of Hebrews last week. How in prayer and in worship. We come before the throne of grace. We draw near to God. In the heavenly most holy place. John in Revelation four and five. Shows us what that looks like. You can’t see it with your eyes. But that’s what’s going on. In gathered worship.
And this explains some interesting things. We find elsewhere in the New Testament. Just one little tidbit here. At the beginning of 1 Corinthians chapter 11. That first part of that chapter. Usually people want to focus on. What is all that stuff about women. And head coverings. And that kind of thing. That’s interesting. And I don’t think the passage is nearly as hard. As some make it out to be. But Paul says that women ought to have a sign. Of submission. And he says they ought to do so. In gathered worship. Because of the angels. Or you might think. What are angels doing in church? Well. What are angels doing in church? Hebrews 12 answers. Hebrews 12 says that when you come to church. You come to the heavenly Mount Zion. The city of the living God. The heavenly Jerusalem. To an innumerable company of angels. We reflect this in our liturgy. Right before the Lord’s Supper. With angels and archangels. And all the company of heaven. And we join in the song of heaven. The saint is holy. Holy. Holy.
He says there in Hebrews chapter 12. You come to the spirits of just men made perfect. We join together with the heavenly host. With the departed saints. We join our worship to theirs. The church militant on earth. Joins its worship to the church triumphant in heaven. See that’s what’s going on. In worship. And that meshes very well with what John. You know that teaching there in Hebrews. In 1 Corinthians 11. That meshes very well with what John sees. And experiences in Revelation. Worship is the connection point. Between heaven and earth. It’s where heaven and earth come together.
Now what we find in Revelation chapter 8. Is the prayer portion of the liturgy. You know you’ve got this surrounded by the preaching of the word. The trumpets that blast. You’ve got the Lord’s Supper. The wedding supper. The marriage supper. The Lamb. Later on in the book. But here in Revelation chapter 8. You’ve got the prayers of the people. And what do the prayers of the saints accomplish? What’s going on? Well in chapter 8 verse 3. You have this angel. And the angel here is probably Jesus himself. Or maybe a pastor who represents Jesus. But this angel takes the prayers of the people. He collects those prayers. He mixes those prayers with incense. And he delivers those prayers to the Father. Those prayers ascend up to God.
And what happens? In response to the corporate prayers of God’s people. The angel throws down fire from heaven. He casts down fire upon the earth. And it says there are noises and thunders and lightnings and earthquakes. It is an earth shattering answer to prayer. See God unleashes his kingdom through the prayers of his people.
What is this fire you might ask? It talks about the prayers going up. The fire coming down. This fire could be God’s wrath. That would be one way to link this with other biblical imagery. All throughout the Bible. And especially in the book of Revelation. You find God’s people asking God to do what he’s already said he would do. Which is to judge the wicked. To defeat evil. To destroy evil doers. That could be what’s going on here. But I think actually in context it seems much more likely that the fire here is the Holy Spirit. This fire from heaven is Pentecost you could say. Or really an extension of Pentecost. Pentecost. Tons of fire fall from heaven and wept on the heads of the disciples. Here are fire falls from heaven as well.
And there are a lot of things that link up. Remember when we looked at Luke chapter 11. Jesus there summarizes his teaching on prayer by saying that the Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to all who ask. Jesus in a way says all prayer boils down to one thing. And that is asking the Father for the Spirit. Because the Spirit comes to a new creation. Anything God gives you, he gives you through the Spirit. The Spirit comes to bring that shalom, that peace, that restoration of the creation.
In Acts chapter 2 what do you find? The disciples there are praying actually for many days. Before the Spirit is finally given an answer to their prayers on the day of Pentecost. The fire falls from heaven. And what does the Spirit do every time he comes? The Spirit comes to shake up and transform the world. To change things. In Acts 16 he brings an earthquake just like it’s mentioned here in Revelation 8.
Now what does all this mean? How do we put all this together? We have to understand that worship is warfare. Prayer and song launch an all out assault of God’s kingdom against Satan’s kingdom. That in worship we are involved. We participate in this great cosmic battle of God’s kingdom against sin and wickedness. Prayer is a battering one. In prayer we charge the gates of Hades. And in prayer we participate in this cosmic battle. We unleash the kingdom of God against Satan’s fortress.
Week after week as we join together in prayer. You see as a congregation of God’s people you are an army. And how do you fight your battles? You fight through prayer and through song. Prayer drives the mission of the church forward. The gospel advances through prayer. Prayer is a missional work. A missionary endeavor. Prayer and song are the means through which the church changes the world. It’s the means by which Christ destroys the work of the evil one. It conquers the world with the gospel.
Now I think this is a real challenge. I want to close with this thought. I think this is a real challenge to the way that we typically look at society and its relationship to the church. See American Christians a lot of times are a lot more American than they are Christian. And we have a tendency to lapse into seeing things and doing things in the way that Americans do without thinking first and foremost as Christians.
And so we think that the way to change society, which of course is something all of us want to do. We think the way to change society is through political activism or a conservative family values campaign. And certainly these tools have their place. I’m not dismissing them all together. Some Christians are called to focus on that kind of work, that kind of ministry in the culture. But that’s not what’s central. That’s one of the spokes from the wheel. That’s not the hope.
What is central is Lord’s Day worship. What comes out on the first day of the week, on the Lord’s Day, when God’s people gather together and everything else flows out of that. The whole rest of your week when you go out there to transform the culture, to fulfill your vocation, to do what God has called you to do. Everything flows out of that. World transformation flows out of worship. Flows out of the liturgy.
You say, what are we going to learn? You can’t reform society by reforming society. You can’t fix the family by fixing the family. You can’t fix education by trying to fix education. You can’t fix education or politics apart from worship. That’s the only way to shake things up. That’s the only way to make things new. The only way to transform the culture is through liturgy. Putting worship at the center. By putting songs and prayers at the center of the agenda.
You know, if you try to fix education and the family without putting worship at the center. You know, just try it. Okay, watch. That’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve been trying it. And it should be obvious it hasn’t worked. The only way to fix these different aspects of our culture is by putting prayer and worship and song at the center. We can’t vote our way to victory. We cannot create a new society in the ballot box. You can only create a new society from the heavenly throne. That’s where you change the world. It’s by entering into the heavenly sanctuary. We pray and sing our way to victory.
You can’t reform society unless you first reform worship. We have to understand that heavenly dominion is what paves the way for earthly dominion. Because in heavenly worship, worship in heavenly places, we tap into the power of Christ himself. The one who has all authority in power in heaven and on earth.
See, we have to understand liturgical warfare. That when our prayers go up, fire comes in. That when our prayers ascend, the spirit descends. See, saints do more to direct history by their prayers than the president or congress or the United Nations or Wall Street or Madison Avenue.
And if we take this seriously, we can change the world. If we don’t believe that, that worship and prayer is really the way to change things. If we don’t believe that, then really we’re acting as practical atheists. We’re acting as though Caesar is Lord and Jesus is not. As though Caesar is more powerful than Jesus. As though he’s stronger than Jesus. That it’s really Caesar’s throne, not the throne of grace, that matters.
See, we need to learn to say our prayers and sing our hymns as if our lives depended upon it. As if the world depended upon it. Because in fact, it does. If we want the Lord to ambush the enemy and rout the wicked, if we want the Lord to send an earthquake, if we want the Lord to transform the world, this is what we have to do. If we want a world filled with shalom, filled with the peace of the gospel that God has promised, filled with justice and righteousness, don’t rush to City Hall. Don’t storm the Capitol building or Washington, D.C. Storm the throne room of heaven. Storm the throne of grace.
Understand that it is worship that ultimately makes the difference. That we direct history under the sovereignty of God. Through our liturgy. Through the prayers and songs of the saints. It all comes down to what I said last week. Prayer in the throne room strikes the winning blow. Service in the world gathers up the results. When we go out and we do have some measure of success in renewing the world, we’re only gathering up the results of things we’ve already obtained through prayer.
See, we gain dominion on earth only after we have gotten dominion in heaven. That’s how it works. Those who are of the world have no answer to this. They have no countermeasure. They have no response to this. If we fight through normal cultural means, they can fight right back through those same means. But when we use these spiritual weapons, there is no answer.
Let’s pray and ask God to help us in these things. Father, we do thank you for the spiritual weapons that you have given to your church. Prayer and song. Father, would you help us to wield these weapons effectively. May we be caught up into the Spirit’s mission of warfare. His all-out assault on evil, on wickedness, on the world, the flesh, and the devil. Father, would you join our prayers to the prayers of the saints in heaven and to Jesus himself. May our prayers arise before you that you might send your spirit down to bring renewal. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.
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