In chapter four of When Heaven Invades Earth, Bill Johnson continued to explain why he believes that “Faith provides eyes for the heart.” Now he described how faith enables us to see into the unseen realm of the kingdom of God through worship. Learning how to see the unseen realm is not the purpose for worship, but it is a byproduct. He said: “As we learn to worship with purity of heart, our eyes will continue to open.”
In a previous article, “Faith in the Unseen,” I challenged the validity of Johnson’s sense of seeing into the unseen realm. Now, almost as an aside, he briefly commented that when we seek the Presence of God in worship, God enables us “to see what He wants us to see.” However, Johnson tends to misinterpret or misapply Scripture to support his theological worldview, and also gives terms a nuanced, unique theological understanding and significance. Let’s see if that’s the case here.
He began the section “Worship and the School of Faith,” by commenting that God is committed to teaching us how to see, and the Holy Spirit is our tutor. Johnson did not say explicitly what the Holy Spirit teaches us to see, but the context suggests it is the unseen realm of the kingdom of God. He had just said at the end of the previous section of the chapter, that the Bible instructs us “to turn our attention toward the invisible.” And then added how this was “the secret to the supernatural realm that we want restored to the Church.” For more on this topic, see “Is Repentance All About Seeing the Kingdom?”
What followed was something like a stream-of-consciousness series of statements and Scripture references knitted together by Johnson. Citing John 4:23-24, Johnson said those who worship in spirit and truth “learn to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead.” Disjointedly, he then said, “His realm [the Holy Spirit’s] is called the kingdom of God.” And the throne of God—which becomes established upon the praises of His people, “is the center of that Kingdom.” The phrase “praises of His people,” has a footnote for Psalm 22:3. Johnson said:
It’s in the environment of worship that we learn things that go way beyond what our intellect can grasp [Ephesians 3:20]—and the greatest of these lessons is the value of His Presence. David was so affected by this that all his other exploits pale in comparison to his abandoned heart for God. We know that he learned to see into God’s realm because of statements like, “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved [Psalm 16:8].” The Presence of God affected his seeing. He would constantly practice recognizing the Presence of God. He saw God daily, not with the natural eyes, but with the eyes of faith. That priceless revelation was given to a worshipper.
Worship In Spirit and Truth
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24, ESV).
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24, KJV)
John 4:23-24 is an excerpt from the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. After acknowledging Jesus as a prophet, the Samaritan woman appears to want Jesus to explain why the Samaritans worship the Presence of God on “this mountain,” (Mount Gerizim), while the Jews say the place where people should worship God is in Jerusalem. Jesus replied the time was coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem, “will you worship the Father” (John 4:20-21). True worshippers will worship God in spirit and truth, and are not required to seek the Presence of God at a particular place; or with a prescribed ritual. D.A. Carson said in his commentary on John:
The point is that with the coming of the ‘hour’ the distinction between true worshippers and all others turns on factors that make the ancient dispute between the conflicting claims of the Jerusalem temple and Mount Gerizim obsolete. Under the eschatological conditions of the dawning hour, the true worshippers cannot be identified by their attachment to a particular shrine, but by their worship of the Father in spirit and truth.
To worship the Father ‘in spirit and truth’ clearly means much more than worship without necessary ties to particular holy places (though it cannot mean any less). The prophets spoke of a time when worship would no longer be focused on a single, central sanctuary, when the earth would be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The Apocalypse concludes with a vision of the consummated kingdom, the new Jerusalem, in which there is no temple to be found, ‘because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple’ (Rev. 21:22). The fulfillment of that vision has not yet arrived in its fullness. Even so, Jesus insists, through his own mission the hour was dawning when the principal ingredients of that vision would be set in operation, a foretaste of the consummation to come. ‘God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship him in spirit and truth.’
Carson noted the KJV translation of God is a Spirit in John 4:24 was incorrect. Jesus was not suggesting that God was one out of the many spirits, nor was he simply saying He was disembodied, nor was he defining His metaphysical properties. Rather, by saying God is spirit, Jesus was characterizing what God is like, “in the same way that flesh, location, and corporeality characterize what human beings and their world are like.” God is spirit, and worshipping God, seeking His Presence, cannot be tied to a particular place; nor can it be tied to a specific form of worship, which I believe Johnson implied here.
The Praises of His People
Disjointedly Johnson cited Psalm 22:3, and said the throne of God, which is established on the praises of His people, is the center of the kingdom of God. But Psalm 22 is a psalm of lament, not praise. According to Tremper Longman in his commentary, Psalm 22 is a psalm “by a person who does not feel the presence of God in the midst of suffering, but rather experiences fear in the face of persecution by enemies.” The psalm is often quoted in the Passion Narratives of the New Testament, and Jesus cried out the first verse of the psalm to express his feeling of the Father’s abandonment while on the cross (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34): “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from my words of groaning?”
Given that Johnson goes on to say that in the environment of worship we can learn things beyond what out intellect can grasp, like the value of the Presence of God, I wonder why he didn’t quote from Psalm 145 or Psalm 103, which are psalms of praise. He could have even cited Psalm 22:22: “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.” It seems he cited Psalm 22:3 because it contained the phrase praises of His people without thinking of the context in which it was used by David.
As Johnson continued his stream-of-conscious teaching on worship and faith, he said: “It is in the environment of worship that we learn things that go way beyond what our intellect can grasp [citing Ephesians 3:20]—and the greatest of these lessons is the value of His Presence.” But Ephesians 3:20 is part of a doxology, a short spontaneous ascription of praise to God, and does not explicitly refer to worship or the Presence of God: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” It seems Johnson has misapplied the verse to support his theological worldview on the environment of worship and experiencing the Presence of God.
There is further evidence of this as he turns to what he said about David, how “David was so affected by this [the Presence of God in worship] that all his other exploits pale in comparison to his abandoned heart for God.” Citing Psalm 16:8 to support his point, Johnson said, “We know that he learned to see into God’s realm because of statements like, ‘I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved’” (KJV). Johnson went on to say, “the Presence of God affected his seeing.” Supposedly, David was constantly practicing how to recognize the Presence of God. “He saw God daily, not with the natural eyes, but with the eyes of faith.”
I Shall Not Be Shaken
Psalm 16:1 opens with a plea for help or protection in the midst of crisis. David said, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you” (16:2). Tremper Longman noted David identified with the saints of the land, those who set themselves apart because of their relationship with God (16:3). Yes, there are those who run after other gods, but David will keep himself from their ritual actions and words (16:4). “The psalmist distances himself from such pagan activity, since he knows that, while the worship of the true God brings good things (v. 2b), the worship of false gods brings suffering.”
He affirms his loyalty to the Lord and is confident of the security he finds in him (16:5). He intends to stay loyal to the Lord who gives him counsel and instruction (16:7). Returning to the crisis he asked for protection from in verse 1, David said: “I have the Lord always before me; because he is my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (16:8). Peter Craigie noted in his commentary on the Psalms that David’s crisis very well could be the possibility of death because of the phrase “I shall not be shaken.” In support of this, Craigie cited Psalm 13: 3-4, which says:
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
Psalm 16 is not about David constantly practicing the Presence of God; or seeing the Lord daily with the eyes of faith. In faith, he knows the Lord is at his right hand, so he will not be shaken; he will not die. “Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:9-10). Again, Johnson misinterprets or misapplies these Scriptures to support his theological worldview about worship and the Presence of God.
It seems to me that entangled in the middle of his stream-of-conscious teaching on worship and faith, Johnson declared his primary point about worship. Namely, how in the environment of worship, we can go beyond what our intellect can grasp. Like David, we can experience God’s presence. Johnson said: “That priceless revelation was given to a worshipper.” In part 2, we’ll look at how this has been put into practice by Bill Johnson at Bethel and others as they attempt to reshape the Church’s experience of worship.
