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Dear BPCWAians, This year, we began to sing “The Lord Is In His Holy Temple” at the start of every Worship Service. The words of this hymn are from Habakkuk 2:20 “But the LORD [is] in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.”

Why did we introduce this? Previously, the pianist used to play this after the preparatory hymn. Some might have thought it was a signal or invitation for the worship leader, interpreters and speaker to go on stage. However, this hymn is actually a call to worshippers to prepare our hearts to worship God. We are familiar with this idea even in our public events. Guests may arrive for a key event without announcement, but when the King or dignitary is about to arrive, the Trumpet Fanfare is often used to herald the entrance. When played, everyone stands to attention, all conversation ceases, and everyone keeps quiet.

Singing with understanding. In like manner, singing “The Lord Is In His Holy Temple” is not merely a ritual, but it serves to remind all worshippers of whom we are approaching. When sung, the very words of this Bible verse helps to focus our minds on the Almighty God that we are now approaching. Just as much as we must read the Scriptures with reverential fear, these words sung, being from the Bible, are the Inspired and Preserved Words of our God and we must sing it with understanding. Without the sung words giving meaning to the tune, we, as well as those new to our worship, may not even have realised the significance of what was being played. This is why we have started to sing it to the tune. Let us now understand more carefully what we are singing.

But the LORD. “But” contrasts God as the living and true God as opposed to all gods who are false. LORD (JEHOVAH) is the reminder of the Covenant God whom we come before in Worship. When He saved us, we entered into a covenant with Him. Genesis 17:7 “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” We are His people. We are saved not merely to be delivered from the punishment of sin. As His people, we are saved for the purpose of glorifying Him and to enjoy Him forever. While we do that in our daily lives, what more fitting occasion to remember that than by our gathering together at our Sunday Worship Service to praise and exalt His Holy Name? In our covenant with our Lord, we are reminded by this call that we and our families must worship the God whom we serve.

In His Holy Temple. At the same time, while we remember the gracious Covenant of God to be our Lord, we do not approach with flippancy. He is the thrice Holy God. In the book of Habakkuk from where these words are taken, it is spoken to the Jews to remind them about the worship that He has instituted, as contrasted with the vain worship of idolaters. While unbelievers worship an imagination of their own hands, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob commands His people to gather in the worship of Him, and instructs them on what is the worship that they must offer. By means of application to us today, we gather in the church, as an assembly of His people, the “house of God.” (1 Tim 3:5). We are coming before His Throne in worship, and the offering that we bring before Him must be holy. We are reminded of the seraphims in Isaiah’s vision of the Lord in His temple. In the presence of the Lord on the throne, “one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isai 6:3). The creatures, covering their faces and feet with their wings, in the presence of the Infinite holiness their Creator.

If the unfallen seraphims serving God in heaven should so do, how should we then come before Him in worship? We follow Isaiah’s response “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isai 6:5). We must deal with our sins in confession and repentance because our Lord is not merely an all-Powerful God, but He is an All Knowing and All Holy God.

Let all the earth keep silence before him. Our Lord is Ruler of the entire earth. Once the judge enters the courtroom, a hush falls upon all present. What more the Judge of all the earth? God is the Rruler of the entire earth. We were never worthy to be called His people. We can only come before Him because we come in and through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is our great privilege, and every soul on earth must bow in humble obeisance to the King of kings.

Furthermore, the finite in the presence of the Infinite must remind us to be silent. It signifies a submission to His Authority, and a readiness to receive His Word in worship and to obey them with the ready diligence that He requires as our Sovereign King. Unlike the noisy and disorderly worship that characterises many churches’ worship today, this is a respectful silence that is based on the fear of the Living God whom we worship. May we be more prepared to worship and reverence the Almighty each week, because the LORD is in His Holy Temple!

Yours in our Lord’s service,

Pastor