Isaiah 66:1-4 – What constitutes true worship?

The focus in this closing chapter of the book of Isaiah is on worship. Here true worship is contrasted with false worship. As we think about worship, we are reminded of what the Lord Jesus said in John 4:23. We are living in days where God is looking for worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. It is such people that the Lord is looking for.

Isaiah 66:1-2 provide for us the reason why God deserves our best in worship. The very first verse tells us that our God is great and magnificent. Heaven is His throne and earth His footstool. In comparison with man, He is far more superior and far more splendid. So boundless is God that earth, man’s habitat, is only fit for Him to rest His feet. The two rhetorical questions in verse 1 are intended to tell us that man, for all his intention, can never build a place on earth grand enough for God to dwell. For it was Him who had created all the materials which were needed to build a temple. How then could a temple build from the material that He had created be worthy of His greatness? Here we also see that had God not chosen to reveal Himself, how could man ever know Him? In His magnanimity, this prodigious God condescended to make Himself known to those who humble themselves and honor and respect His Word. To such humble and contrite people, God makes Himself known.

 As we reflect on verses 3-4, we are reminded of what God said in 1 Samuel 15:22-23:

“Does the Lord have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice,
And to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as reprehensible as the sin of divination,
And insubordination is as reprehensible as false religion and idolatry.
Since you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He has also rejected you from being king.”

A true worshipper must approach God with a humble and contrite heart, one that is set to obey Him wholeheartedly. Without these qualities, any act of worship would be hypocritical. They would be as abhorrent as murder or offering the blood of a swine. In worship, God looks at our hearts and not at what we do. If our worship is to be acceptable to God, we must approach Him humbly and be willing to obey His Word. Apart from that, our worship will at best be hypocritical. We will leave God with no choice but to reject us.  When we approach God be sure to approach Him with a humble, contrite, and obedient heart. At the heart of worship must be our desire to please God!