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DEVELOPING A MODEL TO DEEPEN SPIRITUAL INTIMACY IN WORSHIP
AT HOLLAND VILLAGE METHODIST CHURCH,
SINGAPORE
A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY
OF THE ROBERT E. WEBBER INSTITUTE FOR WORSHIP STUDIES,
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF WORSHIP STUDIES
BY
NOEL D.Y. GOH
JUNE 2018
Copyright © 2018 by Noel D.Y. GohAll rights reserved
APPROVAL FORM
DEVELOPING A MODEL TO DEEPEN SPIRITUAL INTIMACY IN WORSHIP
AT HOLLAND VILLAGE METHODIST CHURCH,
SINGAPORE.
NOEL D.Y. GOH
Approved by:
___________________________________ (Thesis Director)
___________________________________ (Thesis Supervisor)
___________________________________ (President)
Date: _________________
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................................................vii
ABSTRACT........................................................................................................viii
CHAPTER
1. THE MINISTRY CONTEXT...................................................................1
Introduction....................................................................................1
Ministry Context............................................................................1
Ministry Concern...........................................................................3
Purpose and Goals of the Thesis Project........................................6
Conclusion.....................................................................................7
2. BIBLICAL, HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION.....8
Introduction....................................................................................8
Biblical Foundation........................................................................8
Genesis 17..........................................................................9
Exodus 25.........................................................................13
John 17.............................................................................20
Theological Foundation...............................................................30
Forgiveness.......................................................................30
Holiness............................................................................35
Worship............................................................................41
Historical Foundation...................................................................47
John Wesley.....................................................................47
John Sung.........................................................................51
iv
ACS Clock Tower Story..................................................56
Conclusion...................................................................................59
3. PROJECT DESIGN.................................................................................61
Introduction..................................................................................61
Project Context.............................................................................61
Project Design..............................................................................63
Project Implementation................................................................66
Session 1 and 2 on Monday 1 January...............................66
Session 3 on Wednesday, 3 January..................................69
Session 4 on Tuesday, 9 January.......................................69
Conclusion...................................................................................70
4. PROJECT EVALUATION......................................................................71
Introduction..................................................................................71
Evaluation Results........................................................................71
Analysis of the Pre- and Post- Course Survey...................72
Analysis of the Session Surveys........................................76
Summary Analysis of the Interview Sessions....................80
Conclusion...................................................................................81
5. PROJECT ANALYSIS............................................................................82
Introduction..................................................................................82
Reflections on the Project............................................................82
Reflections on the Goals..............................................................84
Implications for Worship Studies................................................87
v
Conclusion...................................................................................89
APPENDIX
A. THE FOUR-SESSION TEACHING OUTLINE......................91
B. PARTICIPANT’S MESSAGE OUTLINE...............................93
C. EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRES.....................................97
D. THE INVITATION LETTER.................................................102
E. EVALUATION RESPONSES................................................104
BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................115
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As the only institute in North America exclusively designed for graduate studies
in worship with the commitment of forming servant leaders in worship renewal, it has
been a rare privilege in my own personal journey of worship renewal to have passed its
portals. The depth of insight, the commitment to excellence and the example of godliness
has been a very enriching experience for me.
I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Jack Van Marion and to my thesis
director, Dr. Vaughn CroweTipton for their guidance and support to help me meet the
deadline. Through them, this thesis project is itself like a redemptive journey for me.
I wish to thank my hosts, the Garmus’s for most of my sessions at IWS. Their
hospitality has been a sweet home-away-from-home and they will remain lifelong
friends.
It has also been my honour to journey with a number of fascinating cohorts
beginning with Psi and ending with Iota 2.
Special thanks must also go to my ministry support group, especially to Dr. M.Y.
Ng and the leadership of Holland Village Methodist Church as well as the participants of
the project.
My wife continues to be God’s most special gift to me and with her our two adult
children.
All thanks be to our great Triune God for surrounding me with these gifts of
resources, family, and friends throughout this journey.
vii
ABSTRACT
Despite the loss of intimacy through disobedience, God’s desire for intimacy with
people endures. It is, however, the people’s consciousness of his longing for us that is
less enduring. Therefore, to be more intentionally conscious of his love and desire for us,
this thesis project introduces a model that is based on the Tabernacle God had provided
through Moses. By way of the three parts of the Tabernacle, the model offers a pattern of
progressive access from the Outer Court, through the Holy Place and into the Holy of
Holies where God’s people can enjoy intimacy with him.
viii
CHAPTER 1
MINISTRY SETTING AND CONCERN
Introduction
Despite the loss of intimacy through disobedience, God’s desire for intimacy with
people endures. It is, however, the people’s consciousness of his longing for us that is
less enduring. Therefore, to be more intentionally conscious of his love and desire for us,
this thesis project introduces a model that is based on the Tabernacle God had provided
through Moses. By way of the three parts of the Tabernacle, the model offers a pattern of
progressive access from the Outer Court, through the Holy Place and into the Holy of
Holies where God’s people can enjoy intimacy with him.
Ministry Context
In 1985, I responded to God’s call to full-time ministry as a pastor in the
Methodist Church of Singapore after a number of years as a project manager in the
construction industry. A number of appointments to local churches followed, culminating
at Holland Village Methodist Church (HVMC) as my last appointment. HVMC was
unique for me, because the church, located in the premises of Anglo-Chinese School
International, has as part of its ministry an outreach to international students that make up
nearly fifty percent of the thousand-strong student population. This represented an
opportunity to explore God’s third call for me to go to the nations.
9
The first call was to pray for the salvation of my classmates when I was a student
at Anglo Chinese School (ACS). This was carried out with three other classmates. The
second call was to fulltime ministry. However, as I was still a student, my response to
become a pastor came only fifteen years later. After thirty years as a pastor, the third call
was to go to the nations to help the global church “worship the Lord in the beauty of
holiness” (Psalm 96:9, KJV) in preparation for Christ’s return. In mid-2016, I took early
retirement to pursue this call but remained attached at HVMC as a retired elder to
continue exploring opportunities to reach-out to the nations through the international
students found at her doorstep.
HVMC began as an educational outreach mission of the Methodist Church in
Singapore, which was to plant churches within each Methodist school campus in land-
scarce Singapore. In July 2007, the start of a new school in the housing estate of a suburb
in Singapore presented such an opportunity. Barker Road Methodist Church, the
sponsoring mother church mobilized twenty-six of her members to pioneer this endeavor.
Their mission statement was: “Where Loving God and Loving Others Matter.”1 As a
result of their efforts at pursuing this mission in the community of the school as well as in
the neighborhood, their membership reached 178 in 2017 with an average worship
attendance crossing 200. Leadership of the church is currently led by a team of fulltime
staff consisting of two pastors and six staff assisted by an executive committee of elected
lay volunteers.
The pastors of the church were also appointed chaplains of the school to conduct
weekly chapel services for students ages thirteen to eighteen. Members of the church
were also mobilized to host overseas students to help them feel at home through activities 1 http://www.hvmc.sg/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Bulletins-19-Nov.pdf.
10
jointly organized with the school, such as sight-seeing tours of places of interest in
Singapore, celebrations of cultural events like the Lunar New Year and the showing of
special evangelistic movies. The church is also actively involved in the weekly school
Christian Fellowship group.
A church-wide emphasis for the year 2017 sought to promote reverence for God
through the ministry of worship and prayer. I had the privilege to help launch the
inaugural year-long Discipleship and Nurture program with a half-day workshop on
“Worshipping in the Beauty of Holiness.” This workshop was subsequently repeated in
the annual church camp that had worship as its theme.
Ministry Concern
God’s intention in creating humankind in his own image was for the purpose of
intimacy. Although intimacy with humankind was lost through the disobedience of Adam
and Eve, God’s love for intimacy expressed itself throughout history. The church exists
as a community of people with whom God has a relationship of restored intimacy and
through whom his offer of intimacy is extended to others.
HVMC's mission statement: “Loving God and Loving Others Matters” reflects
such a desire for intimacy with God and to have this intimacy extended to others as well.
This love and desire for intimacy with God, however, can and often does weaken and
cool down over time and for varied reasons. This decline in intimacy with God is
certainly true for most, if not all, churches at some stage of their growth, and therefore,
the church stands in need of being revived and renewed in the consciousness of God's
desire for intimacy with us.
11
HVMC is no exception even though she is currently still the newest congregation
in the Methodist Church of Singapore. The cooling down of the first fires of passion and
love for God is inevitable. The pressures of limited time and the demands of various
responsibilities in life has led many to a stagnation of the heart’s yearning for intimacy
with God. Signs of such stagnation are subtle but eventually become noticeable as apathy
and indifference set in. Other accompanying signs are a critical disgruntled spirit
assessing the value of things from purely a selfish, narcissistic orientation.
One of the most noticeable areas in the church community where such signs are
detected is in the area of public worship. Instead of becoming more God-conscious while
worshipping together with his people, many, including myself, have found ourselves
easily distracted by the physical things around us through our senses of sight, sound,
touch, taste and smell. Some examples can be quite trivial but irritating nonetheless, such
as the sound system being either too loud or too soft, the air-conditioning being too cold
or not strong enough, the lighting being too dim and a host of many other details that can
cause us to be upset and critical. People are also a source of distraction. There are the
loud whisperings among worshippers when they should be quiet and listening, loud
singing which is unfortunately out of tune, personal dislike of the style of the worship
leader, discomfort with differing styles of worship and the occasional snore. All these
dominate and overshadow our primary pre-occupation and consciousness of the God we
have come to worship.
Besides the domination of the outer external world around us, there is also the
inner, internal world within us that can be equally distracting and dominating. Behind the
friendly and smiling countenance of well-dressed worshippers, some have struggled,
12
within themselves, with a sense of unworthiness to come into God’s presence. It could be
due to guilt or shame or failure or a general sense of sinfulness and un-holiness so that
they are more conscious of themselves than they are of God. Some have also confided, in
our times of prayer and counselling, that they have felt distant from God because of anger
with God or disappointment, frustration, resentment and impatience at God for not
granting them their requests. These feelings can also be the result of actions or words
originating from people around us in our families, office, neighbors or even with fellow
church members. Inevitably they too overpower our consciousness of God in worship.
While we cannot totally eradicate the domination of world-consciousness and
self-consciousness, the concern lies in how to increase and deepen the consciousness of
God in our worship as well as in our daily lives. Such a concern translates into two
questions: Can God-consciousness be stronger and more dominant in our lives? Can it
restrain and minimize these two other very powerful and dominating influences in our
lives, at least enough to keep the fires for God from cooling down? These are the issues
that this thesis strives to resolve, namely to revive God-consciousness and to restore
passion in worship among the members of the congregation of HVMC.
This issue is in fact not new. Some leaders at HVMC were quick to notice the lack
of passion in congregational singing. This was also pointed out by a number of members
of this congregation. Accordingly, the pastors and the leaders decided to make reverence
for God in worship their focus for the year 2017. Through this focus, their intent was to
help check any consumeristic attitude in worshippers and to restore a hunger within them
for intimacy with God. My ministry concern was therefore to contribute to these efforts in
13
promoting a greater reverence in an “everyday worship”2 that springs from a fresh
awareness of God’s desire for spiritual intimacy with us.
Purpose and Goals of the Thesis Project
The purpose of my thesis project was, therefore, to assist participants in a project
that seeks to deepen their consciousness of God’s desire for spiritual intimacy with them.
Spiritual intimacy speaks of a relationship with God restored and reconciled on the basis
of what Christ has done. Through Christ’s death on the cross, God offers us salvation
from sin that had separated us from a holy God. Reconciliation and salvation, therefore,
speaks of God’s desire for intimacy. Hence, the rationale of this project was to bring
about a greater realization and consciousness among believers of what God has done and
will do for them. Remembering his faithfulness in the past seeks to strengthen our faith in
him. Remembering what he has promised us in the future strengthens our hope in him.
Such an awakening is best effected through cultivation within believers of God’s desire
to have a close relationship with him. This, in turn, inspires within the believer a
responding love which finds expression in worship. Recapturing this passion is essential
as all believers were created to worship and worship is the highest form of intimacy that
humankind can experience with God. My ministry and personal learning goals will be
patterned on this premise and are as follows:
My Ministry Goals
2 This is a phrase taken from a paper presented by the Pastor-in-charge, Reverend Joel Yong to the leadership in a meeting held 10 September 2015. In the paper, Direction 2020, Reverend Yong enunciated his vision for members of the church to make worship a way of life as opposed to being merely a Sunday activity.
14
1. To enable participants to articulate God’s desire for spiritual intimacy from Scripture.
2. To enable participants to understand what God has provided to enable us to experience God’s intimacy with us.
3. To enable participants to experience the intimacy of worshipping the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
My Personal Learning Goals
1. To deepen my own understanding and experience of God’s desire of intimacy theologically and biblically.
2. To have greater clarity in communicating this understanding to others.
3. To equip participants to communicate and share the understanding of God’s desire for intimacy with others.
Conclusion
In this chapter, I have set out to convey my ministry context and concern from
which was derived the purpose and goals of this project. The benefits of accomplishing
these goals would be a deepening consciousness in both the participants and myself of
this central theological truth that God desires intimacy with us. In the next chapter, I shall
lay out the biblical, theological and historical foundation that undergird this central
theological truth.
15
CHAPTER 2
BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
Introduction
Intimacy is generally a reference to feelings of close interpersonal relationships
developed through confidential disclosure of knowledge and experience. Where the
communication between parties is more open and honest, intimacy will be greater. The
result of an intimate relationship is an exclusive sense of bonding and belonging together.
Spiritual intimacy with God can, therefore, be simply defined as a closeness in
relationship that is personal and exclusive. It is such a spiritual intimacy that God desires
for us. This chapter will explore the biblical, theological and historical foundation to
ground this central theological truth.
Biblical Foundation
In the biblical narrative, God’s desire for spiritual intimacy can be seen going
back to the time of creation. He created us in his image for the purpose of enjoying
intimacy in relationship. Disobedience, however, led to estrangement from God and
expulsion from his presence in the Garden of Eden. Nevertheless, evidence of God’s
relentless pursuit of intimacy as a central theological truth is pervasive throughout the
biblical record. Three selections have been made that are germane to this central
theological truth. They are Genesis 17, concerning God’s ratification of a covenant
relationship with Abraham; Exodus 25, concerning the Tabernacle as a provision and
16
17
pattern for access into God’s presence; and John 17, concerning Jesus’ high priestly
prayer for his disciples. The text and their respective contexts will be examined to address
the question of how the Bible speaks to the legitimacy of this central theological truth and
thereby, provide a biblical foundation for this thesis.
Genesis 17
In the book of Genesis, God’s pursuit of the intimacy intended in creating
humankind is revealed in his call to Abraham to enter into a covenantal relationship.
Walter Brueggemann viewed this call to Abraham as one linked to creation, for the
language found in Genesis 17:6 and 20 “regarding being fruitful and multiply” is similar
to that found in Genesis 1:28.3 He argues that Abraham is, therefore, “the first fruit of the
new creation” and “the bearer of what is intended in creation.” 4 It is this lineage from
Abraham that would eventually connect God’s people to the incarnation of the Son of
God when God came in human flesh to restore to himself the intimacy he had intended
with his people since creation.
Having placed Abraham’s story in the context of the creation narrative (Genesis
1-11:29), which Brueggemann describes as “The Sovereign Call of God,” he then turns to
the beginning of the salvation history in the Abrahamic narrative of Genesis 11:30-25:18
and calls this “The Embraced Call of God.”5 These verses show how God’s salvific call
to intimacy began with Abraham in his embrace of God’s call.
3 Walter Brueggemann, Genesis. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1982), 153.
4 Ibid., 153.
5 Ibid., 8, 9.
18
The Abraham-Sarah narrative begins with Sarah barren (Genesis 11:30) and
concludes with her son almost sacrificed (Genesis 22:14). Brueggemann, in a separate
article, sees Genesis 17 as central, both canonically and critically to this Abraham-Sarah
narrative.6 Sarah and Abraham have no son and therefore no future. Critically, the source
criticism in the Priestly tradition sees Israel as a community in exile facing displacement
and seeking “to establish stability and continuity through socio-cultic institutions.”7 It is
against this backdrop that Genesis 17 offers God’s message of hope and a promise of a
good future in the face of experiences that seem to deny any such possibility. The text is,
therefore, “a powerful, uncompromising act of hope, rooted in God, aimed precisely
against Israel’s despair.”8
In a situation where Abraham and his wife Sarah are helpless and hopeless with
no capacity within themselves for an heir and a future, our text opens with God declaring,
“I am El-Shaddai - ‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will
make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants”
(Genesis 17:1, 2).9 God’s ability to intervene, inherent in the revelation of the name “El
Shaddai” is followed by a command and a promise that created a wholly new situation
over Abraham’s and Israel’s future.10 Moreover, God’s promise is concluded and sealed
with God’s new self-identity: “. . . I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).
Terence E. Fretheim calls this covenant in Genesis 17:2, “the newly intensified 6 Walter Brueggemann, “Genesis 17:1-22,” Interpretation 45, no 1 (Jan 1991): 55.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 All scripture references will be from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise indicated.
10 Ibid., 56.
19
relationship”11 between God and Abraham. He argues that this covenant is not new but a
“formalization of an already existing promise of an ongoing and intimate relationship”12
which was first established in Genesis 12 and 15. It is, nevertheless, the first time that
God specifies the covenant to be an “everlasting” one13 when he says, “I will confirm my
covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is
the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants
after you” (Genesis 17:7).
Hence, the covenant has not only intensified in time, namely one that extends into
perpetuity, “from generation to generation,” but also intensified in intimacy as it is here
that God first declares to Abraham that he will always be identified as his God, the God
of Abraham and as the God of his descendants. The permanence of this newly intensified
covenant is, therefore, expressed in God’s identification with Abraham as well as in the
change of their names from Abram to Abraham in Genesis 17:5 and from Sarai to Sarah
in Genesis 17:15.
Constance M. Cherry explains the term “covenant” as intrinsically a relationship
formalized through a revelation-response dialogue between God-to-people and people-to-
God.14 Hence, the response required for the revelation is formalized in the physical with a
11 Terence E. Fretheim, Abraham: Trials of Family and Faith. Studies on Personalities of the Old Testament (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2007), 40.
12 Ibid., 41.
13 Ibid., 40. Significantly, the word “everlasting” appears three times in Genesis 17 in verses 7, 13, 19.
14 Constance M. Cherry, The Worship Architect: A Blueprint for Designing Culturally Relevant and Biblically Faithful Services (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 10-12.
20
single, simple and direct command: “This is my requirement that you and your
descendants after you must keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. You must
circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder of the covenant between
me and you” (Genesis 17:10, 11 NET). Brueggemann sees this circumcision as a gesture
of distinctiveness for a covenant community in an exilic context to intentionally guard
against syncretism in a dominant culture.15 Kenneth A. Mathews regards circumcision as
indicative of “the permanency of the mark and hence the perpetuity of the covenant.”16
Fretheim calls it “an enfleshed sign of the covenant.”17 Therefore, circumcision is the
people’s act of obedience required as a response and commitment to the revelation of
God’s desire for spiritual intimacy in a covenant relationship..
In summary, the structure of Genesis 17 captures the intimacy God desires for
humanity. First, God extends his covenant with Abraham in perpetuity and accompanies
it with a name change in verses 1-8. This is followed by an introduction of the act of
circumcision in verses 9-14 as a response requirement. In verses 15-22, Sarah’s name is
also changed and subsequently in verses 23-27, the response in circumcision is observed
by the whole household of Abraham as an embrace of God’s call to intimacy.
Exodus 25
Where Genesis ends with the Israelites in Egypt, the book of Exodus continues
with a story of their exit from Egypt in its first fifteen chapters. Victor P. Hamilton
15 Brueggemann, “Genesis 17:1-22”, 57.
16 Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26. An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, New American Commentary 1B (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman, 2005), 205.
17 Fretheim, 43.
21
contends “. . . that the most crucial reason for the exodus is to fulfil a covenantal
promise.”18 This promise refers to the earlier covenant God had made with Abraham. At
Sinai, God continues to fulfil this promise by enlarging the scope of his covenant with a
family to that with a nation. In Genesis, what God started with Abraham as “a friend of
God,” he now completes with the nation of Israel as his “special treasure.”19
Hence, Hamilton rightly sees in the rest of Genesis from chapter 15 onwards, the
raising of “. . . an existing relationship between two parties (Yahweh and Israel) to a
higher and more intimate level.”20 This intimacy of a closeness in relationship that God
desires is evident in God’s act of constituting the covenant identity of Israel as a holy
nation. This constituting of a holy nation through the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai
(Exodus 19-24) is so that the people will be holy as he is holy and thereby represent him
to the nations. A further evidence of this intimacy is especially significant when God
gave Moses the instructions to build a Tabernacle (Exodus 25-31) which will be
developed below. This is followed by the covenant renewal at the Golden Calf hiatus
(Exodus 32-34) before the Tabernacle is completed (Exodus 35-40).
Having set out the context of the book of Exodus, I now turn to examine the text
of Exodus 25. This chapter begins with God telling Moses to invite the people to
contribute gold, silver, multi-colored dyed wool, sealskin . . . in order to create a
sanctuary so that God might, as Jeffrey M. Cohen puts it “descend from [his]
18 Victor P. Hamilton, Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011), xxii.
19 Ibid., xxv. The expression “a friend of God” can be found in Isaiah 41:8, 2 Chronicles 20:7 and James 2:23 whilst the expression “special treasure” can be found in Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:2, 26:18, Psalm 135:4 and Malachi 3:17.
20 Hamilton, xxv.
22
transcendent obscurity and remoteness in the outer reaches of heaven, and become
transmuted almost into a next-door neighbor.”21 This is evident in God’s command in
Exodus 25:8, 9: “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among
them. You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern
I will show you.”
Cohen perceives God’s readiness to dwell among men and have a home next door
as the logical climatic stage of God’s decision to bridge the gap between God and man.
He posits that God’s choice to dwell among the Israelites was a form of therapy which
would enable the Israelites to confront their fears. It was “not in spite but because of
Israel’s irrational fear of any manifestation of God, God viewed it as vital that the
concept of deity, the vagueness of deity, the mystery of deity, be neutralized; that the
terror of deity be calmed, and that the majestic remoteness of deity be bridged.”22 In this
way, the Israelites could experience a God that was “immediate and representational”23
and one who would “compromise his own honor for the sake of bringing Israel into a
healthier and warmer relationship with him.”24
Hamilton concurs with Cohen when he regards the instructions for the building of
the Tabernacle as indicative of God’s desire for intimacy. He asserts that “God desires
not only his people’s obedience but also their fellowship, not only their conformity but
21 Jeffrey M. Cohen, “The Dilemma of the Sanctuary,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 25, no 3 (Jul-Sep 1997): 185.
22 Ibid., 186.
23 Ibid., 186.
24 Ibid., 187.
23
also their communion.”25 It follows that God’s desire is to be with his people in a way
that his presence could be central in their life and worship.
Page H. Kelly identifies the covenant-presence of God as one of the recurring
underlying themes that unifies the Old Testament.26 Such a presence is distinct from the
concept of the natural omnipresence of God and the theophanies which are momentary
and transient manifestations of deity. The covenant that God sought to establish with
Israel was a special relationship “designed primarily for the purpose of overcoming the
distance between Yahweh and his people, to heal the breach created by their sin, and to
bring them into the circle of his power and presence.”27 Kelly points out that “the peculiar
thing vouchsafed to the covenant people was the real indwelling and gracious presence of
Yahweh in their midst.”28 The Tabernacle would, therefore, provide a perfect pattern and
setting for accessing intimacy with God in worship.
Exodus 25 onwards sets out exacting details of how the Tabernacle is to be
constructed. Ralph W. Klein, however, contends that “it is not the details of the
tabernacle account that is significant” but “his divine intention to be present with and for
the believing community in a tangible way.”29 Hamilton concurs with Klein in that “what
25 Hamilton, 447.
26 Page H. Kelly, “Israel’s Tabernacling God,” Review & Expositor 76, no 4 (Fall 1970): 486. Kelly forms part of an existing group of scholars who seek to discover the underlying theme by which the component parts of Scripture are held together. Such a search is valid to prevent the Old Testament from being reduced to a collection of unrelated fragments. Their work stands as a reaction against the fragmentation of textual units in the “scissors-and-paste” method employed by earlier critics.
27 Ibid.28Ibid., 486, 487.
29 Ralph W. Klein, “Back to the Future: The Tabernacle in the Book of Exodus,” Interpretation 50, no 3 (Jul 1996): 275.
24
makes this place of worship so compelling is the presence of God in their midst.”30 For
Kelly, the single most important theological significance is the fact that in Israel’s
existence, God had come to tabernacle in her midst.31 Terence E. Fretheim points out that
as only God could have provided such details appropriate for his worship,32 the
Tabernacle is entirely a divine initiative.33
The theme of worship is indeed pervasive throughout the book of Exodus as
evident in the purposes of the three divisions of the book. In the first 18 chapters, the
account of the ten plagues was to liberate the Israelites from slavery in Egypt for the
purpose of worship, albeit, in the desert. In the second division (Exodus 19-24), the
giving of the law was to legislate a new nation of priests for the express purpose of
defining the conduct and leadership of worship. The purpose in the final division (Exodus
25-40) was God’s provision of a formal and central location for the people to experience
intimacy with him through worship.
Therefore, Hamilton recognizes in the overall Exodus narrative, a two-fold
movement: God moving “from deliverance to dwelling, from saving to staying,” as well
as God moving his people “to having a place where [he] could dwell among them and
meet them.” 34 Indeed, as the place where God meets with his people, Hamilton asserts “it
is now the closest one gets to ‘seeing’ God.”35 Additionally, Fretheim sees a change in the
30 Hamilton, 448.
31 Kelly, 490.
32 Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1991), 265.
33 Ibid., 276.34 Ibid., xxvi.
35 Ibid., 447.
25
way God is henceforth present with his people; from a fixed location on a mountain to a
portable tent; from an occasional appearance to an ongoing continuous presence and from
a remote distance to an intimate presence in their midst.36 Fretheim, therefore, contends
that this represents God’s commitment to intimacy in the midst of their journey through
the wilderness37
The three parts of the Tabernacle represents God’s provision of how he can be
approached progressively from the Outer Court through the Holy Place to ultimately
reach the Holy of Holies where the single most important object in the Tabernacle is
located. The Ark and its cover, the Mercy Seat, located in the Holy of Holies, is regarded
as the throne of God38 and therefore, significant as a symbol of God’s nearness to his
people. It is at this place that God declares in Exodus 25:22: “I will meet with you there
and talk to you from above the atonement cover between the gold cherubim that hover
over the Ark of the Covenant. From there I will give you my commands for the people of
Israel.”
With its Outer Court, Holy Place and Holy of Holies, the Tabernacle reflected the
holiness of the God who dwelt in the midst of Israel. D. G. Peterson suggests that in
concrete form, “it expressed the truth that human beings could not come into his presence
on their own terms. The complex provisions for sacrifice in connection with the
Tabernacle were the cultic means of acknowledging God’s kingship over their lives.”39
36 Fretheim, 264.
37 Ibid.38 Hebrews 4:16 refers to the Mercy Seat as the Throne of Grace.
39 D. G. Peterson, “Worship” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. T.D. Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, eds. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2000): 857.
26
The whole system was therefore designed to keep a sinful people in relationship with a
holy God.
Exodus 25:22 raises the question of divine immanence and transcendence for
Kelly. He queries: “How could Israel’s cosmic and omnipotent God be present in a tent-
sanctuary? And yet how could he fail to be present when the supreme object and benefit
of the covenant relationship was his new nearness to his people?”40 Kelly finds the
answer in the priestly narrative which states that “Yahweh does not dwell on earth, rather
he ‘tabernacles’ or settles impermanently, among men as in the days of the portable
tent.”41
The contents that God chose to place in the Ark,42 however, were all symbolic of
the people’s disobedience and imperfections. Hence, they were hardly deserving of a
place in the holiest part of the Tabernacle. Nonetheless, it speaks of God’s desire to be
intimate with his people notwithstanding their imperfections. As the lid, called the Mercy
Seat covered these symbols of disobedience in the Ark, so his mercy covers all our
imperfections enabling us to approach him.
The prophet Jeremiah recognized the significance of the Mercy Seat, when he
declared, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions
fail not.” (Lamentations 3:22 KJV). The Apostle Paul also acknowledged this
significance of the Mercy Seat when he said, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the
40 Kelly, 491, 492.
41 Kelly, 492.
42 The contents within the Ark are explicitly mentioned in Hebrews 9:4 as three items: 1. the golden urn containing manna – a memorial of God’s provision because the people were ungrateful and grumbling; 2. Aaron’s rod that budded to settle the rebellion started by Korah; and 3. the stone tablets of the covenant which is actually the second edition after the original was destroyed because of Israel’s worship of the golden calf.
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mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1 ESV). Therefore, it is the mercy of the
Lord located in the holiest part of the Tabernacle of Moses that enables our access into
his presence and thereby fulfilling his desire for intimacy with us, notwithstanding our
shortcomings.
John 17
John 17 is a prayer of Jesus that comes at the end of his lengthy farewell discourse
following the Last Supper with his disciples from John 13, and prior to the start of the
Passion narratives in John 18. Archbishop William Temple, calls John 17, “the most
sacred passage in the four gospels.”43 It is indeed, the longest recorded prayer of our Lord
in the New Testament and unique to the Gospel of John. Gerald L. Borchert44 claims few
passages of Scripture come so close to revealing the heart of God’s special agent as these
magnificent twenty-six verses that captures the intimacy of Jesus’ personal relationship
with God.
In addition, John 17 has often been referred to as the high priestly prayer of Jesus.
Harold W. Attridge points out that its priestly nature is not without controversy.45
43 William Temple, Readings in St. John’s Gospel (New York: Macmillan, 1961), 293.
44 Gerald L. Borchert, John 12-21. An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, New American Commentary 25B (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman, 2002), 188.
45 Harold W. Attridge, “How Priestly is the ‘High Priestly Prayer’ of John 17,” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 75, no 1 (Jan 2013).
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Nevertheless, he recognizes three most persuasive points put forward by those who
sought to find some notion of priesthood in John 17.46 Most commentators agree that the
structure of the prayer falls into three major sections in which Jesus offers three particular
petitions. The first was for himself and the completion of his mission on earth and the
second and third was for his disciples, both present and future, respectively. His prayer
begins with a review of his mission of revealing God’s desire for intimacy that would
soon be extended to his disciples. This accounts for his intercession for them. Attridge,
however, concedes that “priestly” elements do exist in the farewell prayer of Jesus but
cautions against the inappropriate theological use of priestly motifs since they “were
designed not as a foundation for later clerical theology.”47
On the other hand, J. Gerald Janzen, sees a stronger support for the priestly
character of Jesus’ prayer from the function of the priestly garment in Exodus 28.48
Exodus 28:9-12 describes the representation of the twelve names of the tribes of Israel on
two onyx stones that were mounted onto the shoulder straps of the ephod. Exodus 28:15-
29 describes the breastplate carrying four rows of three different precious stones to
represent the twelve tribes. Together, they serve as a continual reminder that whenever
Aaron entered the Holy Place in the Tabernacle, he would wear these items in
discharging his priestly function of representing the people before the Lord. Furthermore,
from the thematic context of this prayer in the Fourth Gospel, Janzen draws similar
associations between Jesus and the sanctuary of Exodus 25:8. In addition, he notes that
46 Ibid., 9.47 Ibid., 14.
48 J. Gerald Janzen, “The Scope of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer in John 17,” Encounter 67, no 1 (Winter 2006): 1.
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the scope of Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17 is analogous to the role of the high
priest in Exodus 28.49
Edward Malatesta’s analysis of the Literary Structure of John 17 confirms the
mediatorial prayer of Jesus as “the prayer of the Mediator of the New Covenant,” praying
that eternal life be shared by the disciples, by future believers and by the world.50
Malatesta contends that this New Covenant realized by the glorification of Jesus in the
hour that has come was so that he could dwell more intimately in all who believed in
him.51 In fact, the prayer of John 17 captures the very purpose and promise of the Fourth
Gospel articulated in John 20:31: “But these were written so that you may continue to
believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will
have life by the power of his name.”
Following the above discussion, I now turn to examine the text of John 17. In
John 17:1-5 which is the first of the three particular petitions, Jesus prays for himself
addressing his father in an intimate way. His request is repeated twice in verse 1, “Glorify
your Son” and verse 5, “. . . glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you
before the world began” (NIV). The purpose behind this request is for Jesus to give the
glory back to the Father because as Daniel B. Stevick asserts, the glory of the Father is
the final reality.52As the Father’s appointed agent, the glory of the Son is for the sake of
49 Ibid., 5.50 Edward Malatesta, “The Literary Structure of John 17,” Biblica 52, no 2 (1971):
214.
51 Ibid.
52 Daniel B. Stevick, Jesus and His Own: A Commentary on John 13-17 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011), 325.
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the glory of the Father since earlier in John 8:50, Jesus had declared, “I am not seeking
glory for myself; . . .” (NIV).
Stevick continues that “glory-giving between the Father and the Son is mutual;
each gives and each receives. The act which most fully reveal the glory of one reveals the
glory of both.”53 In verse 2, Jesus continues in the third person, to acknowledge the
Father glorifying the Son by giving him the authority in his mission to bring eternal life.54
Verse 3 defines this eternal life, “And this is the way to eternal life – to know you, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” Hence, following his request
for glorification, Jesus reviews his mission in verse 4: “I brought glory to you here on
earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”
Jesus’ mission would soon be secured through his death on the cross because “. . .
the hour has come. . . ,” (John 17:1). His mission was to reveal the glory of his father’s
love in offering eternal life. Such an offer is in fact, an offer of an intimacy God has
desired ever since it was lost in the beginning through Adam’s fall. Jesus was well
qualified to make this offer because he enjoyed this oneness and intimacy with his Father
from eternity. Hence, the Son, by carrying out his appointed mission, had given glory to
the Father and therefore, makes this request in verse 5: “Now, Father, bring me into the
glory we shared before the world began.” The glory he seeks is not a new condition
freshly granted but a condition that has always belonged to him. He is reclaiming a prior
glory; a shared glory as befits the intimacy between Father and Son.
53 Ibid., 325.
54 Ibid., 332.
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In the second petition (John 17:6-19), Jesus prays for his disciples in verse 9: “My
prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, . . .”. Bruce Milne sees Jesus
making four requests. 55 The first, that they be protected in verse 11: “. . . protect them by
the power of your name . . .”; and in verse 15: “. . . keep them safe from the evil one.”;
the second, that they be united in verse 11: “. . . that they will be united just as we are.”;
the third, that they be delighted in verse 13: “. . . so they would be filled with my joy.”
and fourth, that they be dedicated in verse 17: “make them holy by your truth; . . .”; and
in verse 19: “. . . so they can be made holy by your truth”.
The heart of Jesus’ intercession for his disciples, however, is “that they will be
united just as we are” (verse 11). The reason that this is the heart of his intercession for
them is because of his desire that his disciples would have the same level of unity and
alignment in their mission as he had in his mission for the Father. In that way, as he sends
them into the world, just as he was sent into the world by his Father (John 17:18),56 they
would be similarly empowered to continue the mission and overcome the hostility in the
world. Their mission would also be to reveal to the world, the Father’s love for them in
his desire for intimacy. Therefore, it was important to Jesus that his disciples knew God
as a caring father and a God of love who offered gentle forgiveness, loving kindness and
comfort as would a real father.
Borchert, points out that Jesus reintroduced the necessity of a direct encounter
with God and of reverently referring to God as Father and not some mysterious
55 Bruce Milne, The Message of John: Here is Your King! Bible Speaks Today (London: IVP, 1993), 244 - 246.
56 Janzen, 12 sees this as a centrifugal impetus that is more inclusive as opposed to a centripetal impulse that is more separatist.
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unapproachable deity.57 Jesus wanted to teach his disciples that God was not some
abstract force in the universe but more like a personal caring father. His explanation of
the background is helpful:
Jesus came into a Jewish world that had developed a remote view of God, . . . The people had ceased to use the name of God for fear of taking his name in vain. . . . Into this context of speaking of God by means of surrogate titles, Jesus came and called God his Father. But what was even more astounding was that he taught his disciples to pray “Our Father.” For the Jews of that day such a personal view of God was very degrading of God and akin to blasphemy.58
In this prayer of John 17, Jesus, therefore, modelled for his disciples how to honor and
glorify God through the intimacy of his own personal relationship with God.
Finally, in John 17:20-26, Jesus prays “. . . also for all who will ever believe in me
through their message” (verse 20), and again with three petitions. This prayer for his
future disciples continues the prayers for his first disciples as follows. First in verse 21: “.
. . that they will all be one, . . .”; the second, also in verse 21: “. . . that the world will
believe . . .”; and lastly in verse 24: “. . . I want these whom you have given me to be with
me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me . . .”. The first thing Jesus
prays for in verse 21 is that the unity among his future disciples would be similar to that
experienced by his first disciples. This was, in fact his prayer for them earlier in verse 11.
The importance of this prayer for unity is grounded in the mutual indwelling of
the Father and the Son. It is, however, a unity for the sake of winning a believing
response to his mission from the Father and reveal his desire for intimacy. Verse 22 is
another disclosure of what Jesus had done: “I have given them the glory you gave
me, . . .” The glory Jesus had given to his disciples was the glory of the intimacy and
oneness he had in his relationship with his Father. This glory was given so that his first
57 Borchert, 210.58 Borchert, 187.
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disciples could experience this similar intimacy and oneness among themselves having
seen it modelled in Jesus and his Father. This is evident in the second half of verse 22: “. .
. so they may be one as we are one.”
Verse 23 explains that this intimacy and oneness among themselves is to come
from the intimacy and oneness they are to have with Jesus as he had with his Father: “I
am in them and you are in me. . . .” Succinctly, this is the unity of Christ’s indwelling in
believers and the Father’s indwelling in Christ. In the rest of verse 23: “. . . May they
experience such perfect unity that the world will know you sent me and that you love
them as much as you love me,” Jesus’ prayer articulates his mission that through such
unity the world may know God’s love for them. Here, unity is seen as God’s means of
showing the world that he loved them as much as he loved his Son.
Janzen understands this love as the cosmic scope of Jesus’ high priestly prayer in
John 17.59 He argues that the call to be holy in verses 17 and 19 emanates from a “Holy
Father” (verse 11). The call is not meant to be centripetal but centrifugal in nature. He
maintains that one mark of a disciple “is not to withdraw into a ‘holy huddle’”60 but to
move “outward into the world seeking the oneness of the world in God and in God’s
Christ.”61
Therefore, the prerequisite to understanding the unity among believers in the body
of Christ, is first to understand the unity between the Son and the Father which is defined
by the intimacy of love. This love of God in the Son and consequently among believers
marks them to embody God’s love for a better reflection and communication of it to the
59 Janzen, 22.
60 Ibid., 26.
61 Ibid., 26.
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world. Jesus says that what believers are in relation to him traces back to the relation that
persists between himself and the Father. Therefore, when the world sees in how believers
dwell intimately in the love of the Lord, the way it exists in Jesus and his Father, the
central theological truth that God’s desire for intimacy with humanity will become more
apparent.
It is significant to conclude with the six separate instances in John 17 where Jesus
uses an intimate word Pater to address his Father. The first two occurrences in verses 1
and 5 speak of sharing the glory he had with his father as the second person of the Trinity
and has already been discussed above. The next two references in verses 11 and 21 are in
relation to Jesus’ requests for his disciples’ unity, modelled after his own unity with his
Father and has also been developed in the above discussion. The last two instances in
John 17 are found in verses 24 and 25 and are eschatologically significant. They will now
be elaborated below.
In verse 24, Jesus prays that at the completion of his mission, those the Father has
given him may be with him. He expresses it explicitly as a “want” and a desire: “Father, I
want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. . . .” Milne notes that the
expression “with me” is a language of love that “anticipates the embrace of his beloved
bride in the glory that is to be.”62 Hence, the reference here is to his eschatological glory
revealed at the Parousia, when the intimacy God desires, is consummated in the
celebration of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The intention behind this request is clear
in the rest of the verse: “. . . Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you
loved me even before the world began.” It is Jesus’ longing for his disciples that they be
present with him in his eschatological glory to witness this truth and reality for
62 Milne, 251.
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themselves.
The primeval shared glory of verse 5 surfaces here again in verse 24 as the
genesis of love and intimacy the Father has for the Son. The significance of this repeated
phrase “before the world began” in verse 24 is best explained by Janzen,
If the love between the Father and the Son is a love of mutual indwelling, and if that love, that mutual indwelling, predates the creation of the world ([John] 1:1-2, 17:5), this must mean that the world was created out of the matrix of that love. The love spoken of in [John] 3:16, then, is a love that seeks to reclaim and redeem a world gone astray from that love, and to draw that world back into the sphere of that love.63
Jesus had alluded to this mutual indwelling earlier in John 15 as the branch abiding in the
vine. Hence, drawing from the above discussion, the reference to “. . . all the glory you
gave me because you love me . . .” in verse 24, suggests that glory is defined in terms of
the love and intimacy Jesus experienced from the Father. Love here is intrinsically
centrifugal whereas love that is centripetal, is basically narcissistic in nature.
The final reference to Pater in verse 25 comes with an adjectival descriptor,
“righteous Father.” Gary M. Burge64 ascribes Jesus’ description of God as “Righteous
Father” as a reminder that it is God’s righteousness that forms the basis of his upright
judgement of the world. The problem is not the world’s access to knowing God but that
the world refuses to acknowledge that God can only be known through the Son he had
sent. But for all those who do accept the Son and embrace him and the Father, they will
experience the ineffable love known only between Father and Son. This distinction and
contrast of rejecting and accepting is reflected in the verse: “Righteous Father, even if the
world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me” (John
63 Ibid., 9.
64 Gary M. Burge, John. NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), 469.
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17:25 NET). Burge sums up the position by averring that we are loved by God with the
love he holds for his Son.65 The prayer then ends on the note of a commitment to
continually reveal the knowledge of God’s love in believers attained through their
intimacy in Christ.
In the petitions of John 17, we, therefore, see Jesus’ mission is to reveal God’s
desire for intimacy as he prays for himself. This mission is now in the hands of his
disciples to continue; hence he prays for them. It is Jesus’ desire that upon the completion
of the disciples’ mission that they will be with him in celebrating the culmination of the
intimacy that God had so desired.
In summation, I have shown that these three biblical texts support the legitimacy
of this thesis. They have also revealed a progression in the central theological truth of
God’s desire for intimacy. In Genesis 17, the intimacy of God’s covenant begun with
Abraham is extended and intensified. Exodus 25 presents the Tabernacle as God’s
provision and pattern of a place for the enlarged covenant community to access his
presence in the intimacy of worship. John 17 reveals God’s desire for intimacy in Jesus’
mission and in his disciples’ successful completion of his mission which will bring
intimacy to a culmination at the Parousia.
Theological Foundation
The three theological foundations selected as a basis for the golden thread that
God desires spiritual intimacy with people are forgiveness, holiness and worship.
65 Burge, 469.
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Collectively, however, these three themes offer an understanding of a progressive
development in the intimacy that God desires: one which commences with forgiveness,
continues in holiness and culminates in worship. Forgiveness is a gift from God that
restores intimacy. Holiness is the nature of God required for intimacy to continue whilst
worship celebrates a culmination of intimacy anticipated at the Marriage Supper of the
Lamb. True to a deliberative reflection for a faith seeking understanding, biblical texts
germane to the above themes will be examined.
Forgiveness
The truth that God desires intimacy with people necessarily causes us to view our
understanding of forgiveness from a divine perspective, namely as a gift rather than a
human practice. Appropriately, Miroslav Volf asserts that “the same love that propelled
God to create by giving, propelled God to mend creation by forgiving.”66 One biblical
passage on forgiveness comes from Apostle Paul stating in Ephesians 1:7: “In him we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches
of God’s grace” (NIV). Traditionally, redemption is understood legally and financially as
an acquittal of the guilt of sin and a remission of the debt of sin. In both cases, the blood
of Christ shed on the cross serves as its settlement and redemption price.
In his article, “Spirituality in Offering a Peace Offering,” Nobuyoshi Kiuchi
examines the symbolic meaning of the offerings in Leviticus, particularly the shedding of
blood required for the peace offering in the Tabernacle sacrifices.67 His study is
66 Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), 141.
67 Nobuyoshi Kiuchi, “Spirituality in Offering a Peace Offering,” Tyndale Bulletin 50, no 1 (1999): 23.
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appropriate to a theological reflection on the significance of blood for forgiveness. The
original requirement of blood in a generic sacrificial ritual came from Leviticus 17:11:
“for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify
you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that
makes purification possible.” Kiuchi explains that blood sacrifices are particularly
intended to bridge the gap between a holy God and a sinful humanity by removing the
general sinfulness of the offerer thus enabling him to approach God.68 He concludes that
true spirituality in an offering requires the worshipper to express his inner attitude
outwardly.69
The importance of blood in understanding forgiveness is also evident in Hebrews
9:22 as a cleansing: “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with
blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (NIV). Jesus
acknowledged this importance of the blood when he made this disclosure to his disciples
on the eve of his death: “this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and
his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many” (Matthew 26:28).
His self-sacrifice was a final fulfilment of the sacrificial system in the old covenant. Volf
explains Christ’s sacrifice this way: “The story of Christ’s death tells us that God doesn’t
press charges against humanity. Instead, on account of Christ’s unity with God, Jesus
Christ bears human sin. No punishment will fall on us. The divine judge was judged in
our place. We are free of the charge.”70
68 Ibid., 27, 28.
69 Ibid., 31.70 Ibid., 169.
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Christ’s death on the cross therefore, reveals both God’s justice which condemns
the sin as well as his love which spares the sinner. Forgiveness, as a gift of God, is thus
understood as satisfying the demands of justice through the substitutionary act of Jesus
on the cross for us. Therefore, Volf acknowledges, “forgiveness is one important element
in the restoration of communion between God and humanity.”71
In his article “On Forgiveness: Human and Divine,” James P. Danaher also
understands forgiveness as that by which one “release[s] from any guilt one who has
caused us harm, in order that a relationship might be restored with that individual.”72 For
Danaher, however, humankind’s cultural concept of forgiveness differs from God’s
concept. He sees that humankind’s concept of justice requires that the guilty pay for any
harm that is done.
This is different from divine forgiveness which he defines as follows: “Despite
being all-knowing, and thus hurt beyond our imagination by knowing what is the deepest
recesses of our hearts and minds, God forgives us and is willing to suffer that hurt for the
sake of the relationship.”73 The proof of such unconditional love behind divine
forgiveness is clear in Romans 5:7, 8: “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—
though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— But God shows his love
for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (ESV).
71 Ibid., 189.
72 James P. Danaher, “On Forgiveness: Human and Divine,” Lexington Theological Quarterly 35, no 2 (Sum 2000): 98, 99.
73 Ibid., 108.
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F. LeRon Shults and Steven J. Sandage74 blend their expertise on theology and
therapy around the unifying motif of the face for a more relational understanding of
forgiveness. Their goal is “to demonstrate the explanatory power of facial hermeneutics
and to illustrate the transforming reality of forgiveness as (humankind) search for
wholeness and salvation.”75 Shults avers that humankind is anxiously searching for “a
faithful face that will never go away.”76 This anxiety finds its resolution through the
divine forgiveness promised in Jeremiah 31:34: “No longer will they teach their neighbor
or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me from the least of
them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will
remember their sins no more’” (NIV). Here, it is that “divine forgiveness takes the
initiative and enables human repentance.” 77
The act of repentance expresses itself in confession as revealed in 1 John 1:9: “If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness” (ESV). According to 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made the one who did
not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.”
Hence, it is more than the experience of cleansing from all unrighteousness that is
received. Through Christ, we have amazingly, become the very righteousness of God.78
Therefore, through repentance and confession, humankind is able to overcome shame and
74 F. LeRon Shults and Steven J. Sandage, The Faces of Forgiveness: Searching for Wholeness and Salvation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003).
75 Ibid., 25.
76 Ibid., 178.
77 Ibid., 132.78 The theme of becoming righteous and holy follows on from here in the next
section.
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guilt and open themselves to a more intimate knowledge of a holy, forgiving God who
longs to be intimate with his people.
John Oswald Sanders avers “there is no sin so bad that it is impossible for the
sinner to be cleansed from the guilt and pollution that would forbid continuing intimacy
with God.” 79 As one continues to walk in continued obedience to God, the blood of
Christ will deal with the person’s subconscious as well as the conscious, cleansing every
aspect of sin. Such unceasing cleansing allows for a walk in unbroken intimacy with
God.80
The above brief delineation of a theological understanding of forgiveness has
been limited to the divine gift rather than the human practice. Receipt of God’s
forgiveness, however, obliges us to forgive others as taught in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive
us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us” (Luke 11:4). Suffice to say,
forgiveness is the key that opens the door for entry into a restoration of any broken
relationship. The approach to this door calls for repentance and confession. The parable
of the prodigal son is a good example of such an approach. This is shown by the son’s
return to request for forgiveness from his father. The father’s anticipation for his son’s
return as evidenced by his continual looking out for him exemplifies God’s longing to
forgive and restore intimacy with us. This restoration of relationship through forgiveness
leads one into a process of becoming holy. This theme of holiness will be considered in
the next section.
79 John Oswald Sanders, Enjoying Intimacy with God (Chicago, IL: Moody Press 1980), 47.
80 Ibid., 48.
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Holiness
Holiness is theologically understood as the intrinsic essence of the very nature of
God. Alan Coppedge is right in asserting that from the eight different portraits he had
examined, “the concept of holiness is one, and perhaps the greatest, overarching tie in all
biblical truth.”81 The first disclosure of this nature of God in the Bible comes with an
explicit call in Leviticus 11:44, 45: “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and
be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves
along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your
God; therefore, be holy, because I am holy” (NIV). This disclosure of how God describes
himself and what he demands, reveals a holy God’s desire for intimacy with a people
who are to be equally holy as well.
In other words, human holiness is not only defined by divine holiness. It is also a
divine requirement for continued fellowship. The importance of such a requirement for
holiness is undergirded by the fact that this disclosure and demand was, in fact, made in
the middle of a discussion with Israel about how they were to come into his presence for
worship.82 Coppedge maintains that by describing himself as holy, holiness was,
therefore, the most important thing Israel needed to know about this One who had earlier
revealed his personal name in Exodus 3:14: “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This
is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you’” (NIV). Therefore,
Coppedge points out that throughout the book of Exodus, the phrases “I AM the Lord”
and “I AM holy” are synonymous.
81 Alan Coppedge, Portraits of God: A Biblical Theology of Holiness (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2001), 53.
82 Worship is, therefore, an important experience and expression in the presence of a Holy God and will be examined in the next section.
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As the Holy One, God acts in judgement against human sin and its consequences.
Remarkably, however, D. G. Peterson83 notes that God also chose to dwell among those
he has redeemed, drawing them into a special relationship with himself. They are
sanctified or made holy by God dealing with their sinfulness. Having been forgiven, the
people of God are then called to live in a way that demonstrates the reality of their
relationship with God and with one another as a holy people of God.
This demand for holiness and its basis is repeated in 1Peter 1:15, 16: “But now
you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the
Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy.’” The call to holiness is, therefore,
not only fundamental to God’s desire for intimacy but pervasive to all of life. It arises
from his essential nature and forms a common basis for a continuing fellowship in a
relationship restored with humankind. Therefore, when Amos 3:3 asks a rhetorical
question: “Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?” it
underscores the need for concord between two people to share intimacy together. For this
reason, the author of Hebrews exhorts his readers in Hebrews 12:14 to “make every effort
to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness, no one will see the Lord”
(NIV).
This leads Bruce D. Marshall to posit that “holiness is ordered toward seeing
God” and that, “to see God is to have an unsurpassable sort of intimacy with God.” 84 The
connection between holiness and seeing God is set out in 1 John 3:2 where holiness or
becoming sanctified is not only necessary to seeing God but also to be like him: “. . . But
83 D. G. Peterson, “Holiness” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. T.D. Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, eds. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2000): 544.
84 Bruce D. Marshall, “A Brief Anatomy of Holiness,” Wesleyan Theological Journal 29, no 1 (Spring 2014): 7, 9.
44
we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he
truly is” (CEV). Hence, the goal of sanctification is Christlikeness. In fact, Marshall
argues that “the more alike two creatures are the greater the intimacy there can be
between them.” 85 1 John 3:3 continues with the motivation for holiness: “This hope
makes us keep ourselves holy, just as Christ is holy” (CEV).
The role of the Holy Spirit in producing Christ-like holiness is fundamental. 2
Corinthians 3:18 describes this process and highlights our role as well: “and we all, with
unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from
one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (RSV).
Hence, Marshall asserts that “Holiness is walking by the Spirit, living a life shaped by the
promptings of the Spirit - the more deeply shaped, the more holy.”86 This means that
there has to be an intimate connection between holiness in us and the person of the Spirit.
To be holy is to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit 87 and our role is to be at least friendly to
the Holy Spirit. Additionally, 2 Corinthians 3:18 states that whatever impedes the activity
of “beholding the glory of the Lord” is to be unveiled.
Pride, is one major impeding veil. This is especially so in the pride of holiness.
This prideful behaviour arises where one professes to be holy on the surface without the
inner surrender of “emptying of self” for more of the presence of God’s holiness. It is
against this attitude of pride that James issues a warning: “. . . God opposes the proud but
gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
85 Ibid., 8.
86 Marshall, 13.
87 Ibid., 10.
45
Hence, to be holy, Andrew Murray exhorts us to “flee to Jesus and hide in him till
we are clothed with his humility.”88 For Murray “humility is the bloom and beauty of
holiness,” 89 and is best exemplified in Jesus who is the holiest and yet the humblest. He
argues that since “there is none holy except God: we have as much holiness as we have
God.” Murray therefore, defines humility as “the disappearance of self” in the vision of
God’s holiness, 90 and believes that humility is the one thing that will allow God’s
holiness to dwell in and shine through us.
This is in fact, “the mind of Christ,” that the Apostle Paul refers to in Philippians
2:6-8, when he advocates Jesus as our model,
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Daniel I. Block concurs with Murray when he states, “entrance into the presence
of God is an incredible privilege, to be accepted with humility and awe.”91 Without
humility, we cannot transcend ourselves and draw close to God’s holy desire for intimacy
with us. Isaiah 57:15 puts it this way: “The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the
Holy One, says this: ‘I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are
contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of
88 Andrew Murray, Humility: The Journey towards Holiness (Grand Rapids, MI: Bethany House Publishers, 2001), 65.
89 Ibid., 61.
90 Ibid., 63.91 Daniel I. Block, “The Joy of Worship: The Mosaic Invitation to the Presence of
God (Deuteronomy 12:1-14).” Bibliotheca Sacra 162, no 646 (Apr-Jun 2005): 148.
46
those with repentant hearts.’” Hence, humility is a not only key to true holiness, it is also
crucial to true intimacy and worship on our part.
This idea of becoming holy or sanctified is also supported in G.K. Beale’s book,
We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry, His main premise is:
“What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or for restoration.” 92 He argues that
because human beings are relational by nature, they necessarily take on the character of
what they venerate. Therefore, being made in the image of God, we are meant to image
God and be progressively “renewed as [we] learn to know [our] Creator and become like
him” (Colossians 3:10). The other option is a reverence of the world and conformity to its
sinful patterns, the very actions that Romans 12:2 warns against: “Don’t copy the
behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by
changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is
good and pleasing and perfect.”
Beale explains that the consequence of such idolatry is of people becoming
similar to the inanimate images they revere: namely becoming deaf and blind. Therefore,
Beale contends that worship is a process of sanctification that transforms the worshipper
to become more like the one worshipped by redirecting our desires and affections to an
exclusive focus of conforming to God’s image in Christ. The result is experiencing a
spiritual intimacy with God through the worship of the Lord “in the splendor of his
holiness”93 (Psalm 29:2).
92 G.K. Beale, We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008), 16.
93 The related theological significance of worship will be considered in the next section.
47
In summation, we have begun with God’s desire for intimacy in his call, “to be
holy, for I am holy.” Janzen recognized this call as commonly reiterated 94 behind
Matthew 5:48: “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” as
well as Luke 6:36: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (NIV). In short,
holiness, perfection and mercy all belong to God and it is that which sets God apart from
all that is not God. Holiness marks his name, the place where his presence dwells and the
people who dwell in his presence. It also marks the activity where acceptable worship is
offered to him both in the context of praise and thanksgiving as well as throughout every
sphere of life.
Worship
A theological understanding of worship is foundational to spiritual intimacy
between God and humankind because it describes the experience of worship that occurs
in his presence. The word “worship” in the English language is derived from “worthship”
denoting the worthiness of an individual to receive special honor in accordance to his
worth.95 Therefore, the nature of our experience in his presence is ascribing to him the
worth that is due to him in worship, praise and thanksgiving in a range of worshipful
activities. The writer in Hebrews 12:28 stresses this very point that acceptable worship
must be reverential: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be
shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe”
94 Janzen, 53.95 E.F. Harrison, “Worship” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Walter A.
Elwell, ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1984), 1192.
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(NIV). A number of perspectives will be considered to help understand what constitutes
acceptable worship.
First, in Exodus 20:1-17, known as the “Ten Commandments for the Covenant
Community,” God laid down the terms of the relationships between himself and the
Israelites and the pattern for acceptable worship in the traditions associated with Mt.
Sinai. Peterson avers that it was important that this be laid down in great detail as God
had brought them out of the land of slavery and consecrated them to himself. Israel’s
relationship with God was not to be at the level of the mysterious and irrational. Israel
was to enjoy a personal and moral fellowship with God. Accordingly, acceptable worship
called for an exclusive devotion to God which involved not only the commands to avoid
idolatry, sanctify God’s name and observe the Sabbath (found in the first five
commandments laid out in verses 1-11), but also the demand for obedience to God in the
everyday relationships of family and nation (set out in the remaining five commandments
found in verses 12-17). It followed the greater the devotion in observing these acts of
worship as a way of life, the greater the intimacy enjoyed.
The terms of the relationship between God and his people were laid down.
Peterson96 notes that, the God who had brought them out of the land of slavery had
consecrated them to himself. Peterson avers that it was important that the terms be set out
in great detail and in accordance with the pattern for acceptable worship laid down at Mt.
Sinai.
Second, in Deuteronomy 12:1-14, Moses illustrated the fundamental character of
true worship as a response to God’s gracious revelation of himself. Daniel I. Block argues
96 Peterson, “Worship”, 857.
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that verses 2-7 is Moses’ invitation to the Israelites “to worship Yahweh in His
presence.”97 This is followed by a description of true worship in verses 8-12 where
“worship is presented as a spontaneous response of all members of the Israelite
community who personally entered God’s presence.” 98 The mood of worship in
Yahweh’s presence is connected with the verb “to rejoice.” It follows that in the intimacy
of his presence, rejoicing is a celebration of gratitude for Yahweh’s favor.99 However,
such worship is not individualistic in nature. True worship celebrates not only the vertical
relationship between God and man but also manifest itself horizontally through works of
charity toward the marginalized and the economically disadvantaged.100
Robert E. Webber adds another perspective of worship with this claim: “Here is
what biblical worship does: It remembers God’s work in the past, anticipates God’s rule
over all creation, and actualizes both past and future in the present to transform persons,
communities, and the world.” 101 In other words, worship in the present must be an
encounter with a God who is essentially holy and who calls us to be holy. Such an
encounter, however, occurs best in a worship that enacts his saving action in history as
well as what he has promised to do in the future. It is in this encounter in the present that
transformation and becoming holy occurs, necessarily so, since the one encountered is a
holy God. This transformation helps prepare the global church as the bride of Christ for
the spiritual intimacy that God desires at the eschatological Marriage Supper of the 97 Block, 134.
98 Ibid., 147.
99 Ibid., 147.100 Ibid., 148.
101 Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2008), 43.
50
Lamb. This is worship in its ultimate, celebrating a culmination of intimacy anticipated in
his eschatological presence.
In his earlier book, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the
Christian Year,102 Webber reiterates this point. He asserts that “Sunday worship that is
true to what the Christian faith is points to the hope of the world--the expectancy that
Christ will come to deliver the ultimate blow to all the powers of evil, destroying them
forever.”103 Worship should point to the hope of the world when Christ returns. Biblical
worship expresses three truths: a remembrance of God’s saving action in history; an
experience of God’s renewing presence; and an anticipation of the consummation of
God’s work in the new heavens and the new earth.
In his book, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life,
Webber104 introduces the divine embrace as an integral part of worship. God’s desire for
spiritual intimacy is best seen in his embrace of the world by way of Christ’s incarnation,
death and resurrection: “In the embrace of God and man in Jesus Christ (accomplished by
the Spirit) humanity is united once again to God and God’s vision for the world.”105
Webber vividly portrays the picture of such an embrace by inviting the reader to imagine
the voice of God saying to him:
Through my Son Jesus and by my Spirit, I have embraced you so that now, united with me, you may embrace me as a child learns to embrace a mother because the mother first embraced the child. Now go and live the spiritual life, embrace me
102 Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2004).
103 Ibid., 174.
104 Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006).
105 Ibid., 140.
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and my purpose in creating you and putting you in this world to be the priests of my creation. Make your life and this world the theater of my glory.”106
The imagery of an embrace captures a graphic visual of an intimacy that God seeks to
unite humankind to himself in order to redirect our lives to fulfill his original purposes in
creation.107 To enter this union through Christ, one needs to embrace him with a
contemplation of who God is as well as to participate in his vision for life in this world. It
starts with a divine initiative (what God does to make us spiritual) which in turn calls for
a reciprocal response on one’s part through a reception of the union. It is such
contemplation and participation that constitutes worship of God. In short, Christian
spirituality is “God’s passionate embrace of us; our passionate embrace of God.”108
In addition, Webber cautions against the danger of a narcissistic worship which
“names God as an object to whom we offer honor, praise, and homage.”109 Such worship
originates in the self and is situated in the worshiper. It is opposed to biblical worship that
is situated “in the action of God that the worshiper remembers through Word and
Table.”110 Biblical worship prevents worship from becoming a program, a show and an
entertainment. Believers are hence to avoid a self-centered and presentational approach to
worship.111
Webber goes on tot stress the importance of worship that does God’s story. He
maintains that a worship that is God-oriented is one where we join ourselves into God’s
106 Ibid., 142.
107 Ibid., 17.108 Ibid., 16.
109 Ibid., 232.
110 Ibid., 233.
111 Webber, Ancient-Future Worship, 25.
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story as opposed to bringing God’s story into our story. 112 Worship that does God’s story
glorifies God and results in a “delight that produces an ongoing participation in the
purpose of God in life.”113 As God is the subject who acts upon the worshipper, the
worshippers’ participation is not reduced to verbal response or singing but towards living
a life in the pattern of the one who is revealed in worship.
Since intimacy is primarily a language of love and a desire of the heart, James K.
A. Smith rightly argues for “a vision of Christian worship as a pedagogy of desire.”114 He
proposes the term, “pedagogy of desire” because of the understanding that our hearts are
oriented primarily by desire. Therefore, what defines us is what we love and a matter of
the heart. Consequently, he contends that education, spiritual formation and discipleship
should all be “shaped from the body up more than from the head down.”115
Therefore, this pedagogy of desire is “a hearts and minds” strategy that “trains us
as disciples precisely by putting our bodies through a regimen of repeated practices [in
worship] that get hold of our heart and ‘aim’ our love toward the kingdom of God.”116
This leads to a worship from the heart that is more holistic, affective and embodied.117
The result is a deeper spiritual intimacy that God desires that is both culturally formative
as well as cognitively informative.
Forgiveness, holiness and worship are the three theological foundations germane
112 Ibid., 23.
113 Webber, The Divine Embrace, 238.114 James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview and Cultural
Formation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 37.
115 Ibid., 25.
116 Ibid., 33.
117 Ibid., 24.
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to the truth that God desires intimacy. These themes can also be viewed as progressive
stages that can be found in a believer’s journey towards meeting God’s desire for
intimacy. The journey begins with forgiveness which restores broken relationships,
continues with holiness which rebuilds fellowship between God and man and culminates
in worship which is redefined as the apex of intimacy celebrated at the eschatological
Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Hence, they pave the way in the next section for reflection
on the historical precedents of the central theological truth that God desires intimacy with
his people.
Historical Foundation
History is replete with episodes where God’s desire for intimacy can be recounted
through its impact. Whenever a greater consciousness of God’s gracious desire for
intimacy is awakened, it has often led to a renewed hunger for his presence accompanied
by prayer and repentance. This awakening has spawned renewal movements with its
corresponding impact on religious and societal transformation throughout history. Three
such movements of a revived consciousness of God’s unrelenting pursuit of intimacy has
been selected from eighteenth century Industrial England in the time of John Wesley;
from the mid-twentieth century Singapore in the time of John Sung; and from the early
1970’s story of the ACS Clock Tower in Singapore. Their respective socio-economic and
spiritual contexts will set the backdrop for the recounting of what happened and its
subsequent impact.
John Wesley
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Charles Yrigoyen Jr. notes that the life and ministry of John Wesley, which
spanned from 1703 to 1791, encompassed almost the entire eighteenth-century. This
period saw major economic and social changes arising from the Industrial Revolution as
well as the American War of Independence.118 The eighteenth-century was also a century
known as the Age of Reason where Deism rooted in reason and scientific experiment was
increasingly replacing truth known through revelation and the supernatural. On the other
hand, the established church that Wesley grew up in saw her mission as one of
“maintaining the status quo and urging people to accept their place in God’s scheme of
things.” 119 It was against this historical backdrop of widespread poverty (especially in
cities), social inequalities and its accompanying social needs that Wesley brought
sweeping social change in eighteenth-century England based on a life of holiness.
For Wesley, the impetus of this change began with an awakened consciousness of
God’s gracious desire for intimacy. He was a minister in the Anglican Church with an
earnest desire for God which he believed could be attained through acts of piety such as
prayer, fasting and sacraments. He was so disciplined and methodical in his approach that
his Oxford contemporaries derisively labelled him “Methodist.”
Dissatisfaction with his efforts to be intimate with God, however, became acute
during a storm on a ship headed to a mission in a new colony of Georgia in America. He
was struck by the confidence and deep faith the German Moravian Pietists had in God in
the midst of the storm compared to his own faith that was plagued with doubt and
uncertainty. His failed mission in Georgia further deepened his quest for “a faith that
118 Charles Yrigoyen Jr., John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1996), 10-12.
119 Ibid., 26-27, 11-12.
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completely trusted God.” 120 On 24 May 1738, Wesley had a defining moment as
recorded in his journal entry:
In the evening, I went unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for my salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sin, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. 121
John Cobb describes this heart-warming experience as one “of being pardoned or
knowing ourselves as pardoned. . . . It is not just the knowledge that Christ has taken
away his guilt. It involves also becoming experientially free from that guilt.” 122 This new-
found assurance enabled Wesley to enjoy a restored relationship of love and confidence
with God.
Henry D. Rack sees this psychological reassurance as also giving Wesley “the
strength and dynamic confidence for his life of evangelism.” 123 Wesley’s confidence
stemmed from an awakened consciousness of God’s gracious desire for intimacy, which
in turn led to a desire to bring about a thorough change of heart and life from sin to
holiness among the people throughout the land. This is evident from his declaration: “I
continue to dream and pray about a revival of holiness in our day that moves forth in
120 Ibid., 15.
121 John Wesley, The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M, Vol. I, ed. Nehemiah Curnock. (London: Charles H. Kelly, 1909), 475-476.
122 John Cobb, cited in John H. Tyson, “John Wesley’s conversion at Aldersgate,” in Conversion in the Wesleyan Tradition, eds. Kenneth J. Collins and John Tyson (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2001), 37.
123 Henry D. Rack, Reasonable Enthusiast: John Wesley and the Rise of Methodism (London: Epworth Press, 1992), 146-147.
56
mission and creates authentic community in which each person can be unleashed through
the empowerment of the Spirit to fulfil God’s creational intentions.” 124
Wesley A. Chambers notes that the Aldersgate experience had turned Wesley’s
preaching “one hundred and eighty degrees. Instead of preaching the necessity of our
love to God in terms of 1 Corinthians 13:3, he now preached God’s love to humankind
from Romans 8:32.”125 It was, henceforth, a message of God’s love that, in a moment,
issued in Wesley the change from sin and fear to holiness and happiness. For Wesley, the
Gospel became the good news to proclaim rather than a duty to be enforced.
While Wesley travelled widely to preach the Gospel and to invite both the well-
to-do as well as the poor into the Kingdom of God, he made a point to reach out in some
practical ways to assist people in need. He came up with a term “social holiness” because
“he [knew] of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness.”126 Throughout his
life, he advocated by his own example, the cultivation of inward holiness through “works
of piety” together with outward “works of mercy” that would touch and enrich the lives
of others. He believed that God had raised such a movement to spread scriptural holiness
throughout the land. The legacy he left behind is the Methodist Church not only in
England but around the world. Outside of the global Methodist Church, he was also
known as the Father of the Holiness Movement.
John Sung
124 John Wesley, quoted in How to Pray: The Best of John Wesley on Prayer (Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour Publishing, 2007), 70.
125 Wesley A. Chambers, “John Wesley and Death” in John Wesley: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. John Stacey, (London: Epworth Press, 1988), 157.
126 John Wesley cited by Daniel K.S. Koh, “Social Holiness: A Wesleyan Faith in the Public Square,” Church & Society in Asia Today 12, no 1 (2009): 30.
57
In the middle of the twentieth century, another more recent account of a revived
consciousness of God’s desire for intimacy can be seen in John Sung and the spiritual
legacy left behind in Singapore, Scott W. Sunquist 127 posits that there had been a shift of
global Christianity in the twentieth-century from the North Atlantic to the Southern
Hemisphere and Asia.128 As one such example of this shift, he introduces John Sung
hailing him as one of the greatest Asian evangelists of the century.
In the short span of his life from 1901 to 1944, his ministry was limited only to
the east, in China and in the overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Hence, few
outside this region would have heard of him. Sunquist, however, suggests that by 1936,
more than one hundred thousand had been converted in China before his major overseas
work in Southeast Asia had even begun.129
Michael Nai-Chiu Poon concurs with Sunquist and asserts that “more than anyone
else, Sung defined the character of Southeast Asian Christian Spirituality in the second
half of the twentieth-century.” 130 The first of his five evangelistic tours overseas was at an
invitation to Singapore in 1935. Building on his impact in China, their stated aim was to
start revival fires everywhere. The local newspaper headlines underscored the resounding
success of his first meetings131 as the story of John Sung captured the imagination of
127 Scott W. Sunquist. The Unexpected Christian Century: The Reversal and Transformation of Global Christianity, 1900-2000 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015), 50-52
128 Ibid., xvii. 129 Ibid., 52.
130 Michael Nai-Chiu Poon. “Interpreting John Sung’s Legacy in Southeast Asia,” Trinity Theological Journal 21, (2013): 134.
131 Ibid., 136-137 cites “A Chinese John Wesley: Revivalist who speaks to 2,000 People a Day,” The Straits Times (8 September 1935).
58
many who were recent migrants and compatriots from his Fujian province in China. The
legacy of the two institutions that started as a result, still survive today: the Singapore
Christian Evangelistic League (founded in 1935) and the Chien Lien Seminary (founded
in 1937).132
Poon recognizes that Sung’s passion originated from his time at Union
Theological Seminary (Union) in New York where he experienced new birth and as a
consequence was admitted to a mental hospital. Union was an international environment,
with a number of foreign students and furloughed missionaries. Jonathan A. Seitz regards
Sung as its most famous dropout, leaving only after a half-year’s study when he
experienced a simultaneous conversion and paranoid schizophrenic attack.133 His psycho-
spiritual battle at Union baptized him into a new identity. With this experience, “Sung
self-consciously rejected his earlier scientific training in favor of a conversionistic
ministry.”134
Seitz’s account of Sung’s five or six months of uncertainty at Union is the most
succinct: “He wrote, ‘I found that though it had the name of “theological” it had no
spiritual atmosphere at all. The students received a little head knowledge, but no spiritual
insight.’”135 During this time of confusion, Sung decided to attend a revival service with
his friends and was surprised by the image of a young lady in her twenties instead of a
learned theologian. The meeting was, nevertheless, so charged with the presence of the
132 Ibid., 139, 134.
133 Seitz, Jonathan A. “Converting John Sung: UTS Drop-Out, Psychiatric Patient, Chinese Evangelist,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review 62, nos 1-2 (2009): 78.
134 Ibid., 92.135 Ibid., 82.
59
Holy Spirit that Seitz claims that this image of the lady established a reversal at the heart
of Sung’s story and led him to rediscover his call. In a letter to an unnamed friend, he
questioned his call: “How can one preach the gospel to others when he himself has not
been baptized with the Holy Spirit?” Like John Wesley, he doubted the clarity of his call
because he felt he lacked the required conversion experience. Seitz points out that, it was
at this juncture that he made up his mind to seek this blessing.136
According to Lim Ka-Tong, 137 Sung’s experience of a breakthrough when he was
on the verge of a total breakdown took place on the evening of February 10, 1927. It was
an intense time of confession and prayer for deliverance and he record his experience as
follows:
My heart was greatly sorrowed and I finally knelt at the foot of the cross, asking the Lord to cleanse me of all unrighteousness through his blood. I kept on besieging until the clock struck midnight. Hallelujah! All my sinful burdens were suddenly cast off and I rose to dance and sing praises to the Lord. Whereupon I heard the voice of the Lord, ‘Son, thine sins be forgiven thee’.”138
In addition, Seitz notes that Sung heard God telling him “From now on, you shall be
named John.” Like the Apostle John was a trailblazer for Jesus’ first coming, Sung felt
that he had been commissioned to announce the second coming of Christ. Sung saw this
experience as giving him his portion of the Spirit, a new biblical name and a prophetic
mantle.139 After the next few days of bold radical behavior “not caring how [others] might
136 Ibid., 83-84.
137 Lim Ka-Tong. The Life and Ministry of John Sung (Singapore: Armour Publishing, 2012), 65.
138 Ibid. Cited from John Sung, My Testimony (Hong Kong: The Belmont House, 1995).
139 Seitz, 85. Prior to this new name John, Sung was known by his Chinese name Song Shangjie.
60
respond,” Union finally took action to transfer him to a quiet place. The reason given by
Union was that Sung was suffering from too much stress and strain due to his attempt to
complete a three-year Master of Divinity course in one year.
The quiet place turned out to be Bloomingdale Hospital where he was admitted
for mental illness. According to Sung’s autobiography, My Testimony, the decision to be
institutionalized was “read as a mixture of paternalism and deception, divine agency and
a personal need for rest.”140 Of his 193 days in the hospital, Sung wrote that it was
“actually God’s personal Bible school for [him]” and that his stay “comprised the most
significant page of my life.”141
Sung’s experience at Union was a spiritual awakening arousing in him a focus for
revival. As a result, Sung was instrumental in bringing about a spiritual awakening
among the Chinese in mainland China and Southeast Asia. Lim attributes the secret of
Sung’s success to his prayer life: “It was through prayer and deep immersion in the spirit
that he encountered the Holy Spirit’s power.”142 Sung prayed as if Christ was an intimate
friend found in the room with him. For Sung, faith was watching God at work while
being on one’s knees. The revivalist impulse which he received in his personal encounter
with God was one of the core ingredients accounting for the explosive growth of Chinese
Christianity in the second half of the twentieth century. Seitz records that “within his
fourteen years of ministry, he spread the ‘living flame of gospel zeal’ and was believed to
have converted more than 100,000 Chinese to be witnesses for Christ. He was believed to
140 Ibid.
141 Ibid., 86.
142 Lim, 277.
61
have travelled more than 50,000 miles, covering at least thirteen of the Chinese provinces
and many Asian countries.143
It is helpful at this time to draw commonalities between the spiritual awakenings
of Wesley and Sung to understand the emotions and feelings which stirred in them and
which spurred them to carry out their subsequent endeavors. Both Wesley and Sung went
through times of spiritual upheaval and frustration. Wesley recognized his own lack of
faith and fruits of faith whilst Sung’s zeal led him to lose strength, openness and clarity
such that Union suspected him of madness and admitted him to the hospital. It was in the
midst of such spiritual upheavals that both men experienced supernatural awakenings and
healings. Yu Chin-Cheak describes it as such,
For both Wesley and Sung, spiritual awakening [led] not only to individual salvation and self-enjoyment, but also to [a] relationship with Christ and the building up of the church. This awakening in Wesley also contributed to the building up of community, through good works, philanthropy, and protests against injustice; for Sung, the focus was revival.144
After having perceived their own lack of faith and knowledge for comprehending
the grace of God, both were awakened to a deeper awareness of God’s mighty presence
and salvation. Their awakenings were connections to God and awakenings to the needs of
the world which enabled them to relate to God’s mission to the world.
A study of the lives of Wesley and Sung showed that the success of their missions
was due in no small measure to the spiritual awakening that each personally experienced.
For both there was an animation of their inner lives which pushed them towards a
143 Seitz, 37 cites Yu Chin-Cheak, “Uncovering Seeds for Awakening and Living in the Spirit: A Cross Cultural Study of John Sung and John Wesley,” unpublished PhD diss., Claremont School of Theology, 2001.
144
Yu Chin-Cheak, “Christian Religious Education for Awakening and Living in the Spirit: As Inspired by John Wesley and John Sung.” http://old.religiouseducation.net/member/04_papers/yu.pdf
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deepened awareness of God. It was this fresh revelation of God’s desire for intimacy and
an assurance of his grace that ignited the revival fires that were to follow. Close to home,
a similar spiritual awakening occurred in 1972 which initiated the beginnings of a
charismatic renewal in Singapore. It is to this that we now turn.
The ACS Clock Tower Story
The third account of a revived consciousness of God’s unrelenting pursuit of
intimacy can be seen in the Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) of Barker Road, Singapore in
1972. This incident in 1972 took place at the time when I was a student in the school. It
was also in the wake of Singapore’s abrupt independence from Malaysia in 1965, causing
a moment of personal anguish for the then Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. The years
that followed were, therefore, frenetic in the restructuring of the economy for the
demands of surviving an unexpected nationhood.
Georgie and Galven Lee notes that in this milieu “the spiritual climate bore
witness to the innate restlessness in the nation’s soul.” 145 Hence, campus-based student
ministries attracted large numbers of the baby-boomer generation and flourished “with
the same vigor and diligence as the government when it exhorted the populace for its
secular nation-building purposes.”146 Students in the youthful nation were looking for a
purpose in life and the 1972 outpouring of the Holy Spirit on some ACS boys, commonly
termed “The ACS Clock Tower Story,” opened the door for reviving a greater
consciousness of the intimacy God has desired since creation. The influence of this
145 Georgie Lee and Galven Lee. Unfolding His Story: The Story of the Charismatic Movement in Singapore (Singapore: Armour Publishing, 2015), 3.
146 Ibid., 4.
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spiritual awakening of revived purpose and passion spread spontaneously to a number of
other schools and eventually reached some mainline denominational churches as well.
Michael Nai-Chiu Poon147 regards “The ACS Clock Tower Story” as an
unexpected and inexpressible gift from God to the young nation. It marked the beginnings
of a charismatic renewal that would shape Singaporean Christianity.148 Although Poon
asserts that it was an inexpressible gift, it proved also to be an inconvenient truth.149 This
inconvenient truth was in part due to the phenomenon being misinterpreted and
generalized by the press as one of moral decay and social disorder arising from youthful
self-indulgence and fascination with a cult/drug related culture.
Furthermore, as a premier Methodist educational institution, the expectation of the
young nation’s destiny was seen as resting on the shoulders of these teenagers. The
students’ expectations (which was to seek a greater reality of intimacy with God through
the Holy Spirit) ran contrary to the expectations of the Christian leaders in Singapore at
that time. Hence, this difference resulted in a general unease over the nation’s direction
and more specifically, insecurity among Christian leaders about the future of the
Singaporean church in fulfilling its social role in nation-building.
The ACS Clock Tower Story of 1972 was in fact, precipitated by an earlier prayer
movement where students gathered spontaneously and regularly at the clock tower to
pray for their classmates’ salvation. They were motivated by verses such as Jeremiah
147 Michael Nai-Chiu Poon. “The Clock Tower Story: An Inconvenient Truth, an Inexpressible Gift,” in The Clock Tower Story: The Beginnings of the Charismatic Renewals in Singapore. CSCA Occasional Paper Series, eds. Michael Nai-Chiu Poon and Malcolm Tan (Singapore: Trinity Theological College, 2012), 3-17.
148 Ibid., 13-17.
149 Ibid., 4-13.
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33:3: “Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you
have not known” (ESV). This verse was viewed as God’s invitation to intercede for a
greater consciousness of God and his desire for intimacy in the lives of their fellow
classmates.
The prayer movement sparked many small groups of committed Christians to
pray earnestly for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the school, the churches and the
nation.150 One of the younger students, Tan Khian Seng, had this to say, “so here at the
clock tower was where the fires of revival were being poured out.”151 God had used the
simple faith of students to revive a consciousness of his desire for intimacy that then
shaped Singaporean Christianity.
Lana Yiu-Lan Khong traces the origins of the charismatic renewal in Singapore to
the ACS Clock Tower Story of 1972. In his introduction to a later publication of her
work, Michael Poon acknowledges her efforts as the first sociological study on the
charismatic movement in Singapore ,152 Her accounts were first-hand experiences of some
students from her class in 1972 that had been involved in the ACS Clock Tower Story.
From ACS, the movement began to spread out rapidly to a wider scale, resulting in
charismatic renewal within churches of the Anglican, the Methodist, the Lutheran and the
Catholic denominations.
The above survey of the three historical events showed clearly that the revivals
originated from the individuals’ personal encounters with God. Each encounter began
150 Poon and Tan, 26-28.
151 Ibid., 32.152 Lana Yiu-Lan Khong. A Study of A Thaumaturgical Movement in Singapore:
The Christian Charismatic Renewal. CSCA Historical Reprints Series (Singapore: Trinity Theological College, 2011), 2.
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with a consciousness of God’s forgiveness of their sins resulting in a restored relationship
with God. This spiritual awakening of God’s unrelenting pursuit for intimacy gave them
the impetus, strength and confidence to believe that God desired to bring about this
spread of revival in their respective eras and spheres of influence.
Conclusion
From the three biblical narratives examined, first in the covenant with Abraham,
then in the provision of the Tabernacle and finally in Jesus’ prayer for his disciples, it is
clear that God’s desire for intimacy is scripturally central to the very mission of God. The
broad theological foundation of forgiveness, holiness and worship have helped to define
the growth of a progressive consciousness of God’s longing for us. The examples of
John Wesley, John Sung and the ACS Clock Tower Story provide the historical support
for the contention that God desires intimacy with his people.
Through the exploration of these biblical sources, theological foundations and
historical examples, the central theological truth that God desires intimacy with people is
unmistakable. God does desire intimacy with people. The next chapter will describe how
a greater consciousness of God’s desire for intimacy can be developed at Holland Village
Methodist Church through a course entitled “Journey to Holiness.”
CHAPTER 3
PROJECT DESIGN
Introduction
This chapter will analyze the ministry context at Holland Village Methodist
Church in greater detail than its introduction in chapter one and propose an intervention.
It will also provide a discussion on the project’s design and execution.
Project Context
Since 2016, HVMC has adopted the following five values captured in the
acronym of A. R. I. S. E.153 to define herself as a church where “Loving God and Loving
Others Matter” by “building an intentional community of disciples who are disciplers.”
Each of these five values would provide the key emphasis for each year. In 2017, the
focus was on the value of “R”, for Reverence in worship, to emphasize that worship is an
attitude that encounters God every day instead of an activity that happens only on
Sundays. Hence, a keen interest on how to deepen intimacy with God in worship was
generated from the pulpit, courses, seminars, regular small group bible studies as well as
the annual church camp, the theme of which was “Deeper in Worship.”
One of the challenges at HVMC has to do with limited availability of time in the
busy schedule of her members. Despite their love for the Lord, their many and varied
153 A for Accountability, R for Reverence, I for Integration of the Word, S for Sharing as a Family and E for Encouragement to Service was derived from Isaiah 60:1 and cited recently in HVMC First Local Conference Report, 21 February, 2018, p 10.
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responsibilities make demands on the limited availability of their time. Priorities are,
therefore, often conflicted and constantly challenged.
As a result, one member confided that he thinks the exhortation “to pray without
ceasing” in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is more doable for people in full time ministry or in
monastic settings. I had to disagree with him from my experience as a fulltime pastor.
There were just as much time demands on those in fulltime ministry. Furthermore, my
personal experiences of silent retreats and conducting them for others (that may be akin to
his reference to monastic setting), have convinced me that “praying unceasingly” is still a
challenge. The external surrounding stillness does not guarantee an internal stillness
enough “to pray without unceasing.” I was then reminded of John Bevere’s experience
that prayer is a two-way conversation that involves listening to God instead of merely a
one-way activity of asking God for things.154 This insight has been helpful to me as well
as to this member and points to a greater God-consciousness in our daily lives.
There was therefore, a growing awareness and desire amongst leaders and
members for the first fires of passion for intimacy with God to be restored on a daily
basis. This restoration will in turn lead to the Sunday worship becoming a more vibrant
corporate experience of intimacy with God for all worshippers. The historical foundation
in the previous chapter has shown that revived fires of passion for God can be stoked by
awakening a greater realization of God’s unrelenting pursuit of intimacy with his people.
Project Design
154 John Bevere, Drawing Near: A Life of Intimacy with God (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2004), 7, 8.
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The stated purpose of my thesis project from chapter one is to assist participants
to deepen their consciousness of God’s desire for spiritual intimacy with us at HVMC.
Hence, the model I have developed towards this end is based on the Tabernacle of Moses
in the wilderness from the book of Exodus. I see the three parts of the Tabernacle as a
helpful pattern of a progressive journey from the Outer Court through the Holy Place to
the place of intimacy in the Holy of Holies.
The whole course of four sessions with a minimum of two hours each session,
could also be called “A Journey Towards Intimacy with God” or simply “Journey to
Holiness.” The material is drawn from the biblical and theological foundation of the
previous chapter. A teaching outline 155 is as follows:
Session 1. An overview of the course introducing God’s desire for intimacy and his provision for fulfilling it in the three parts of the Tabernacle of Moses.
Session 2. Intimacy begins in the Outer Court.
Session 3. Intimacy deepens in the Holy Place.
Session 4. Intimacy culminates in the Holy of Holies.
The first session provided an overview of the eight-hour course and introduced
God’s desire for intimacy as a call to holiness: “Be holy because I am holy” (Leviticus
11:45, 1 Peter 1:15, 16). The relevance of the Tabernacle for today was then established
and located in the context of the book of Exodus followed by an overview of the three-
part structure and their significance in the subsequent three sessions. An “aerial” view of
the furniture layout revealed the pattern of the cross, foreshadowing the work of full and
final redemption accomplished by Christ at Calvary. The Tabernacle, therefore, offered a
model appropriately suited for deepening the intimacy God desires, because it is
155 See Appendix A for a more detailed description of each session.
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Christologically centered, eschatologically focused as well as appropriately relevant to
us. We are, individually, temples of the Holy Spirit and corporately, the Bride of Christ.
The first session concluded with an invitation to make a commitment to continue this
journey in the remaining three sessions.
The second session focused on the Outer Court of the Tabernacle to commence
intimacy in a relationship with God through the Brazen Altar and the Brazen Laver.
These two furniture pieces serve the purpose of providing the cleansing required for
restoring a relationship with God that was lost in the Fall. Blood is used at the Brazen
Altar because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22
NIV). As a people forgiven by God, our relationship is restored vertically with God.
Receiving forgiveness from God should in turn result in us forgiving others.
The third session brought us deeper into the Holy Place to build upon the
relationship that was restored with God. Experiencing greater intimacy with a holy God
involved all three faculties of our human personality: mind, will and emotion. The three
furniture pieces are the Golden Lampstand, the Golden Table of Shewbread and the
Golden Altar of Incense. They are analogous of our mind, will and emotion respectively
and represent practical areas in our lives to form Christ-like holiness. Such a
transformation helps prepare the church to be pure and spotless as befits a holy bride in
anticipation of the return of her bridegroom king.
Finally, into the heart of the Tabernacle, the Most Holy Place provides for an
intimacy that culminates in a worship redefined. Worship is redefined through an
understanding of the significance of the Mercy Seat and the Ark located behind the veil.
Access into God’s most holy presence behind this veil is restricted to only once a year
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and only by one person. At Christ’s death on the cross, however, this veil in the Second
Temple period was torn to make possible access into the Holy of Holies for all.
Realization of this access as well as the contents of the Ark covered by the Mercy Seat
led to expressions of grateful worship that will continue into eternity as the primary pre-
occupation of the bride before the throne of the Lamb, her bridegroom king.
The conduct of these sessions was based on PowerPoint presentations supported
by message outlines distributed at the outset of each session. The message outlines
assisted participants in following the course of the instruction by filling in the blank
spaces of key words.156 Songs were interspersed within the teaching segments to help
participants internalize what they have heard and to respond more reflectively in
prayerful worship. Opportunities for ministry and prayers were made available as well.
Online surveys,157 before and after the course as well as at the end of each session
were used together with personal interviews to help assess the efficacy of the project.
The results of these evaluation tools will be discussed in the next chapter.
Project Implementation
156 See Appendix B for the four message outlines with answers provided for the blank spaces which are only available to trainers conducting the course.
157 See Appendix C for the list of questions used in the various surveys.
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An invitation to participate in this project was sent to 24 potential participants on 8
December 2017.158 They were invited on the basis of their leadership roles, their roles in
worship, as well as possible connections with their overseas country of origin. The two
pastors of Holland Village Methodist Church were also included. Due to the Christmas
and the school holiday period, a number of people were either travelling overseas or had
prior year-end commitments. Hence, we began on Monday, 1 January, 2018 with 16
participants159 who were willing and able to complete two sessions from 2:00 p.m.
followed by another session at 4:30 p.m. with a break in between. It was also agreed that
we complete the remaining sessions on Wednesday, 3 January and Tuesday, 9 January.
Sessions 1 and 2 on Monday, 1 January
In session one’s overview to the whole course, I began by introducing God’s desire
for intimacy in his call for us to be holy (Leviticus 11:45). I then quoted John Wesley’s
“dream and prayer for a revival of holiness in his day,”160 mentioned in the historical
foundation of chapter two, to challenge participants to follow the example of Wesley’s
response to God’s call. I made the case that a fresh revival of holiness could well happen
in our day when we respond to God’s call for holiness and take this journey towards him.
The hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy,” considered the grandest hymn that celebrates the holiness
of God, was appropriately sung at this stage to initiate a greater consciousness of God’s
transcendent essence and identity. This hymn, written by Reginald Heber in 1826 drew
158 See Appendix D for the invitation letter.
159 See Appendix E for a list of the participants. 160 John Wesley, quoted in How to Pray: The Best of John Wesley on Prayer
(Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour Publishing, 2007), 70.
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inspiration from the scene of angelic worship around the throne of heaven in Revelation
4:8-11. The next song “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord,” turned this awareness of God
into a longing in prayer for a fresh revelation of his holiness, since, “without holiness, no
one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14, NIV). Participants first prayed for themselves
and then with and for another person.
With that as an introduction, I launched into a discussion about the relevance of the
Tabernacle with three questions to establish: first, the greatest need in human hearts;
second, the greatest experience of this need; and third, the greatest provision for the
experience of this need. The greatest provision is, of course, the Tabernacle, which is the
first model God has revealed for us to experience our greatest need of the intimacy in his
presence. The key verse for the whole course was taken from Exodus 25, which
expressed God’s desire to dwell amongst us. The theme song chosen for this course is a
response to God’s desire to build a sanctuary in our midst, “Lord, prepare me to be a
sanctuary.”
Next, I drew from the biblical foundation in chapter two to show that the theme of
the book of Exodus is more than just about a departure. It is intentionally an “exit to
exalt.” The worship theme is, therefore, the primary purpose of the book of Exodus.
Since it was the eighth day in the season of Christmastide, we responded with the carol
“Angels from the realms of Glory,” especially its chorus “come and worship, . . .”
Moving away from the context of the key verse, I began the study of the
Tabernacle proper and pointed out that making the journey towards the Holy of Holies is
about becoming more God-conscious of the intimacy God longs for with us. Becoming
more God-conscious, however, calls for learning how to overcome the domination of
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world consciousness, as denoted by the Outer Court. Becoming more God-conscious,
however, also calls for learning how to overcome the domination of self-consciousness,
as denoted by the Holy Place.
I then presented an overview of the respective purposes of each of these three
parts of the Tabernacle, which would be examined in greater detail in the subsequent
three sessions. From an “aerial” view of the furniture layout, I highlighted the pattern of
the cross, which is significant as foreshadowing the work of Christ at Calvary. Hence, the
Tabernacle is a model aptly suited for the purpose of this thesis project, which is to
deepen the intimacy God desires with his people. The Tabernacle as a model, is, I argued,
not only Christologically centered, eschatologically focused, but applicably relevant
because we are, individually, temples of the Holy Spirit and corporately, the Bride of
Christ. I concluded this session with an invitation for participants to make a commitment
to continue this journey in the subsequent three sessions.
After the break, session two focused on the Outer Court for the two furniture
pieces God had provided for his people to restore their relationship with him. Blood is
used at the Brazen Altar because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”
(Hebrews 9:22 NIV). Water at the Brazen Laver is “to make her holy, cleansing her by
the washing with water through the word” (Ephesians 5:26, NIV). Both are cleansing
agents needed to begin a journey towards God. I concluded this session with a teaching
on forgiveness and challenged participants to be as forgiving of others as they had been
forgiven by God.
Session 3 on Wednesday, 3 January
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Due to some last-minute work commitments and a car breakdown for one, 13
participants were present for session three. A visual aid of the Tabernacle layout helped
explain the orientation of the three furniture pieces to each other and their significance in
this session on the Holy Place. I argued that the purpose of the Golden Lampstand, the
Golden Table of Shewbread and the Golden Altar of Incense is analogous to our mind,
will and emotion respectively, and that such an analogy served to build a balanced and
full fellowship with God. I then challenged the participants to commit themselves to
developing Christ-like maturity in all these three practical areas of their lives. The
collective result of developing Christ-like holiness in these areas of the mind, will and
emotion is a transformed bride, pure and spotless, and ready for the return of her
bridegroom king.
Session 4 on Tuesday, 9 January
With 13 participants and 3 visitors present, we explored the Holy of Holies, the
heart of the Tabernacle, where intimacy with God culminates in worship. I made the case
that worship is redefined when we realize that the holiness of God is only approachable
once a year and only by an adequately prepared and appointed high priest in the Old
Testament era. On the other hand, when we ponder the significance of God keeping the
three “less than holy” items in the ark in his holy presence, we become aware that God
recognizes our imperfections when we stand before him but covers them with his Mercy
Seat because of his longing for us. Realizing such an amazing and gracious provision of
God, participants were then led into a time of grateful worship with suitable songs.
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Since this worship continues into eternity, I raised the question whether our
worship now should take on a greater pre-eminence and priority in our preparation for
such an eventuality. I asked, should we not stop seeing Sunday worship songs as merely a
preliminary option before the sermon? I concluded the session with a challenge for
participants to continue their personal journey of intimacy with God even after the course
has ended. One suggestion was to share this journey with others and thereby continue as
well as deepen their own personal journey.
Conclusion
These sessions have been developed and implemented to help deepen a greater
consciousness of God’s desire for spiritual intimacy with his people at Holland Village
Methodist Church. In the next chapter, I will analyze the responses of the participants and
evaluate the effectiveness of this model called “Journey to Holiness” in the light of the
specific goals of this project.
CHAPTER 4
PROJECT EVALUATION
Introduction
The purpose of the project design was to increase awareness of God’s desire for
spiritual intimacy with his people in worship at Holland Village Methodist Church
through a 4-session course called “Journey to Holiness.” This chapter will evaluate this
intervention and measure its results.
Evaluation Results
Participants’ assessments were gathered from the online surveys at the pre- and
post- course stage as well as after each session. Detailed online data of these evaluation
responses are found in Appendix E. The third source of data came from the personal
interviews. The extent of this project’s intervention can be ascertained when these three
sources of data are triangulated around the three broad overarching questions:
First, knowledge-focused questions targeted how this project model has helped participants gain understanding and awareness of God’s desire for intimacy.
Second, growth-focused questions, targeted how this course has helped participants grow in their experience of God’s desire for intimacy in their worship.
Third, analysis-focused questions, targeted the usefulness of this course compared with the participants’ own understanding and experience of God’s desire for intimacy.
Difficulties in the data collection, however, occurred on the first day. Difficulty in
accessing the internet on site caused a delay to the pre-course online survey which was
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eventually combined with the two end-of-session surveys at the end of the day. Two
major problems resulted. One, responses from the first end-of-session survey was
captured but not connected to the respondents. Two, the survey after the second session
failed to capture responses from two-thirds of the participants. The pre-course survey,
however, as the third one conducted at the same time was successful. The problem was
quickly addressed for Session 3 but resurfaced for the final end-of-session survey.
Strangely enough, it did not affect the post-course survey which was also conducted at
the same time. Within these constraints, the online data in Appendix E were analyzed.
Analysis of the Pre- and Post- Course Survey
Table 1, as found in Appendix E, enabled me to compare the pre- and post- course
survey data, showing the scores of seven respondents. They were selected for completing
both pre-course and post-course returns and offered a more consistent observation of
change at a personal level. The numbers in front and behind the slash at each column of
the Table represented pre- and post- survey scores respectively for each respondent with
the score of 1 valued as strongly disagreed and 5 valued as strongly agreed.
Table 1. A Comparison of the Pre- and Post- Course Survey DataRespondents: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
“Z” “I” “M” “S” “LS” “R” “MY”Q1 on familiarity 4/4 4/4 5/5 5/5 5/5 4/4 5/5Q2 on interest/help 5/4 5/5 1/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 4/5Q3 on consciousness 5/4 4/4 4/5 5/5 5/5 3/4 4/5Q4 on experience 4/4 4/5 4/5 5/5 4/4 4/4 4/4
The questions germane to the discussion on change observed are reproduced here
from the pre- and post- course survey questionnaires in Appendix C as follows:
Q2 pre-course: I am interested in how this course can help me. post-course: I have found this course of help to me.
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Q3 pre-course: I am conscious of God’s desire for intimacy with me. post-course: I am more conscious of God’s desire for intimacy with me.
Q4 pre-course: I can experience his presence whenever I worship. post-course: I can experience his presence more whenever I worship.
Two of the seven respondents, “S” and “LS” registered no change in their scores.
The pre-course comment (Q5) for “S,” however, expressed a desire to learn more about
embarking on a Journey to Holiness and the post-course comment (Q5) reflected having
had a better understanding of what it takes to enter God’s presence. The greatest blessing
(Q7) for “S,” available only for Session 3, was learning to engage more fully in
fellowship with God with mind, will and emotion. When triangulated with the interview
and Session 3 survey, “S” commented (Q9) in Session 3 that it “would be wonderful to
extend this teaching to all Christians.” This suggestion was further explored in the
interview.
Likewise, “LS's” pre-course comment (Q5) indicated a desire to have intimacy
and fellowship with God, and the post-course comment (Q9) signified “LS” was
“humbled by the teaching and aspire to a life of holiness.” The greatest blessing (Q7) for
“LS” in Session 3, was “a closer intimacy and understanding of the great God I serve.”
Clearly, for “S” and “LS” had gained in knowledge and grown in experience as compared
to their own prior knowledge and experiences, notwithstanding that their scores had not
registered any quantitative change.
Of the five remaining respondents, only “Z” registered a downward change for
both question 2 (usefulness of the course) and question 3 (greater consciousness of God’s
desire for intimacy). The pre-course comment (Q5) for “Z” was a question “How do I
worship God when I am not inclined to sing?” In the post-course comment (Q9), “Z”
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suggested an additional fifth session of a practical session to experience deeper worship
and intimacy. Reservation with singing combined with a desire for more experience
helped explain the downward scores. These reasons were also confirmed during the
interview. Cross verification of a fuller set of surveys would have revealed more about
the progress “Z” had made in the course. Only Session 3 was, however, available where
the greatest blessing (Q7) for “Z” was in realizing that intercession as represented by the
Golden Altar of Incense was closest to the presence of God in the Holy of Holies.
Furthermore, in the interview “Z” suggested a pre-service time to intercede for a greater
consciousness of God’s desire for intimacy to be awakened amongst the congregation
during the worship service.
Clearly, “Z” was more passionate about intimacy in intercession than through
personal vocal ability in worship. I encouraged “Z” to view singing as a heart expression
of intimacy in worshipping God that can overcome self-consciousness to be more God
conscious. Furthermore, I assured “Z” that God can be trusted to supply the grace for
tunes that could bless and not hinder others in worship. Hence, this interview was one of
the most encouraging with the participants; although “Z” had negative quantitative
scores, the interview attested to the qualitative change that has occurred in “Z”.
The remaining four respondents all registered upward changes with “M” making
the greatest possible difference for question two. The interview revealed that as a Sunday
school teacher, “M” had recently taught the Tabernacle and was wondering if there was
anything new to learn. Nevertheless, despite expressing the strongest possible
disagreement to an interest in this course at the outset (Q2), “M's” pre-course comment
(Q5) expressed a desire to feel more of God’s presence. The post-course score, therefore,
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reflected the greatest change, which was confirmed by a comment (Q5) of thanks for the
teaching on the Tabernacle and its significance in worshipping a holy God. Triangulation
from Session 3 revealed the greatest blessing (Q7) for “M” was in the process of learning
to realize full fellowship with God through the renewal of one’s mind, will and emotions.
As a member of a choir, the upward score for “M” in Q4 (experience of God’s
presence in worship) was confirmed by the post-course comment (Q5) of appreciation for
the experience of having one’s soul drawn deeper in worship. For the most meaningful
song (Q8) in Session 3, “I” had declared that all that were sung had been meaningful,
clearly enjoying singing more than “Z” whose response to the same question was
uniquely NA (not applicable) instead of “nil” by most of the other responses.
“R” gave an explanation in the pre-course comment for a neutral score in Q3
(consciousness of God’s desire for intimacy). There was, however, a readiness for greater
intimacy with God as confirmed at the interview. The comment (Q5) after the course
showed a change in understanding intimacy with God as experiencing a grateful
redefined worship in realizing the covering of the Mercy Seat for one’s rebellion and
idolatry. This change left an impact reflected in the comment (Q9) from Session 3, “I
would like to be part of this ministry.” I explored with “R” this observation during the
interview.
The upward change in Q3 (usefulness) and 4 (consciousness) for “MY” is evident
in the post-course comment (Q5), where this person wrote: “Journey to Holiness provides
a much-desired template of worship to grow deeper relationships with God that is so
much needed today.” The greatest blessing (Q7) in Session 3 for “MY” was learning the
importance of the interplay of mind, will and emotion in worship, and that all was to be
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surrendered to God. This beautiful perspective was captured by the furniture pieces in the
Holy Place.
The over-arching questions focusing on knowledge, growth and analysis were
evident in the above-mentioned analysis of the pre-post survey scores. When these scores
were triangulated with session surveys albeit limited to Session 3 as well as the
interviews, they showed a consistency and reliability in the validity of the results. I can,
therefore, conclude that a favorable change has generally occurred for most participants
as a result of the intervention called “Journey to Holiness.”
Analysis of the Session Surveys
A further analysis can also be made from the survey of the four sessions. The data
is, however, incomplete due to the constraint explained earlier. Hence, the analysis is
limited to an attempt at triangulating the broad percentages of the first two questions from
the four sessions abstracted from Appendix E and presented for each session in Tables 2
to 5. The respondents in percentage terms are compared for question 1 on familiarity of
participants with the material presented in each session and question 2 on understanding
gained beginning with Session 1 Table 2 as follows:
Table 2. A Comparison of Respondents (in %) to the first 2 questions from Session 1Strongly Agree
Agree Neutral Disagree
Strongly Disagree
Q1 on familiarity of the material presented
60% 28.7% 13.3%
Q2 on the ability to name the purpose of the three parts of the Tabernacle
33.3% 33.3% 20% 13.3%
Familiarity with the material presented in Session 1 represented an overall
percentage of 88.7% from 12 respondents. In the second question, however, the
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confidence to name the purpose of the three parts of the Tabernacle as a reflection of their
understanding fell to 66.6% excluding an additional 20% shift to the neutral. One
interpretation to explain this drop could be that the prior understanding had changed. as it
seem to appear in the strongly agree column, registering 60% almost halved to 33.3%.
Most respondents were, however, able to articulate from Scripture God’s desire for
intimacy (Q3).
One question and comment from Session 1 appeared to have come from Session
2’s topic on forgiveness. Nevertheless, they represent real concerns and engagement with
the material presented. Generally, all the comments in this session were favorable and
encouraging as confirmed by the various responses on Q5, the greatest blessing from
Session 1. Most respondents recognized the importance of holiness in worship,
acknowledged the relevance of the Tabernacle of Moses as a pattern of worship, and
discovered God’s desire to have intimacy with them. The most meaningful songs (Q6) in
this session for most was the theme song “Sanctuary” and “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
Table 3. A Comparison of Respondents (in %) to the first 2 questions from Session 2Strongly Agree
Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
Q1 on familiarity of the material presented
40% 40% 20%
Q2 on understanding the significance of each piece of the furniture in the Outer Court
40% 20% 20% 20%
Familiarity in Session 2 represented a total percentage of 80% from only 5
respondents. For the second question, the percentage, however, dropped to 60% with an
additional 20% shifted to a neutral position. Specifically, in the second column,
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familiarity of 40% was halved to 20% suggesting familiarity is not in the details of the
two furniture pieces found in the Outer Court of Session 2.
Generally, all the comments (Q9) were favorable and the greatest blessing (Q7)
from this session was recognizing the need for forgiveness to begin their journey to
holiness. Although all expressed a willingness to forgive those who hurt them, only 60%
were agreeable to ask for forgiveness from those who were hurt by them. There was
none, however, who strongly agreed and 20% even disagreed, confirming the suggestion
by some that opportunity for personal ministry exists. In addition, 80% of the respondents
read the word of God regularly. The most meaningful songs (Q8) had to do with the
heart.
Table 4. A Comparison of Respondents (in %) to the first 2 questions from Session 3Strongly Agree
Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
Q1 on familiarity of the material presented
18.2% 36.4% 36.4% 9.1%
Q2 on understanding the significance of each piece of the furniture in the Holy Place
18.2% 54.5% 18.2% 9.1%
The material presented in Session 3 was comparatively less familiar to the
participants than the earlier two sessions. Hence, a total percentage of 54.6% from 11
respondents is comparatively lower than 88.7% in Session 1 and 80% in Session 2. The
increase, however, in the second question to 54.5% in the second column suggests more
respondents seemed to have gained a greater understanding of the significance of the
three furniture pieces located in the Holy Place. Perhaps the drop from 36.4% to 18.2% in
the neutral column could contribute to this phenomenon. Another possible explanation
could be that participants had two days of reflection after two sessions on the first day.
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Approximately 70% indicated that they relied on the Holy Spirit for an
understanding of God’s word (Q3) as well as rested one-in-seven days as a way of
learning to trust the Lord (Q4). All had a heart to intercede for others (Q5). From this
session, the respondents became aware of the interplay of mind, will and emotions for
engagement in full fellowship with God. They found the song “Let Our Praise to You be
as Incense” to be the most meaningful. One respondent even expressed interest to be part
of this program while another expressed a desire for this course to be extended to all
Christians.
Table 5. A Comparison of Respondents (in %) to the first 2 questions from Session 4Strongly Agree
Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
Q1 on familiarity of the material presented
15.4% 38.5% 30.8% 15.4%
Q2 on understanding the significance of each piece of the furniture in the Holy of Holies
30.8% 46.2% 15.4% 7.7%
The material presented in Session 4 was like Session 3 equally less familiar as
represented by a total percentage of 53.9% from 13 respondents. The trend of increase in
understanding first noticed in Session 3 appears in the final session to both columns 1
(15.4% to 30.8%) and 2 (38.5% to 46.2%). Column 1 had almost doubled whilst
correspondingly, both columns 3 (30.8% to15.4%) and 4 (15.4% to 7.7%) had almost
halved. This could be explained as with Session 3 that respondents had gained a greater
understanding of the significance of the furniture pieces and in Session 4, the two in the
Holy of Holies. Having had six more days of reflection since Session 3 could also have
been contributive.
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The majority of the respondents were sensitive to the Lord’s leading (Q3: 92.3%),
100% were grateful to God (Q4), and 92.3% were interested to share what they had
learned with others (Q5). From responses to the greatest blessings (Q7) and comments
(Q9), participants also received an awareness and appreciation of God’s grace as revealed
at the Mercy Seat. The most meaningful song was “Take Me Past the Outer Court” and
“For your Name is Holy.” Participants were generally appreciative of the sessions that
brought to life the teaching of the Tabernacle with the significance of each furniture piece
highlighted in relation to their walk with God, and they felt that the course had been an
amazing journey into holiness.
Summary Analysis of the Interview Sessions
Unlike the previous two analyses that are more quantitative in nature, interviews
are more qualitative by nature and have served to help in the above cross-verification of
data analysis. Most interviews were conducted face to face, except for two that were done
over the phone. Two questions framed the start of the interview sessions. First, from your
experience of this model presented, how has your spiritual intimacy with God deepened?
This question sought to clarify and elaborate on the overarching questions in the above
analysis discussion. Second, what suggestions would you make to bring your experience
to enhance Sunday corporate worship at Holland Village Methodist Church? The focus of
this question is on what they have learned, rather than on transferring of the course to the
Sunday pulpit.
The responses to the first question were meaningful as each shared further details
of their personal journeys and consolidated the comparison of their own experience and
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understanding with that gained in the course, which is what the overarching questions
sought to establish. A number had found that beginning the year with this subject was
particularly defining. A number had also shared how timely this course was in their
personal quest to be more God-conscious in their life, work and ministry.
Besides the sharing, the interview was also an opportunity to identify the high
percentage of respondents who had indicated interest in helping share this material with
others as a trainer. This is a continuation in their personal journey of intimacy with God
that was proposed in the concluding session. In addition, the interview was also an
opportunity to help clarify a number of questions raised from the sessions.
As for the suggestions to enhance corporate worship from their experience, most
expressed they were unsure, preferring to defer to the leadership in introducing changes.
Nonetheless, the most significant suggestion by a few was starting a short time of
interceding before Sunday worship, for re-awakening a greater consciousness of God’s
desire for intimacy in the pews as well as on stage.
Conclusion
In this chapter, the results of the participants’ evaluation of the course as captured
in the online surveys, albeit with some challenges, as well as at the interviews have been
evaluated and summarized to measure the intervention that had been conducted. In the
next chapter, I will bring the project reporting to a conclusion with my own personal
reflections on both the project and the goals as well as examining the implications this
project thesis has for worship studies in the future.
CHAPTER 5
PROJECT ANALYSIS
Introduction
The Golden Thread for this thesis: God desires spiritual intimacy with us. It
happens to express also an annual church-wide focus of HVMC in promoting a greater
reverence in worship. This thesis project, therefore, represented my contribution to the
church’s efforts in this direction by offering a model to help deepen participants’
consciousness of God’s desire for spiritual intimacy with people. Chapter 2 laid the
biblical, theological and historical foundation that were germane to this central
theological truth. Chapter 3 then built on this foundation and described the
implementation of an intervention model called “Journey to Holiness.” Chapter 4
followed with an evaluation to measure the implementation of this course. This final
chapter now concludes the thesis project with my reflections on the project as well as the
goals that were stated in chapter 1. I will also examine the implications this project thesis
has for worship studies.
Reflections on the Project
In the project intervention of chapter 3, I felt privileged as a recently retired elder
attached to HVMC to be able to contribute to the leadership’s efforts to heighten worship,
having only served six months at this church. It was also an opportunity to draw on the
benefits of an enriching program of studies at IWS. There was also a sense of anticipation
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at the opportunity of inviting for my project church members with overseas connections
from their country of origin, as well as the international students of the school. This
anticipation is in keeping with God’s call on me to go to the nations to help the global
church to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 96:9, KJV) in preparation
for the return of Christ. Due to the timing of the implementation of my project, however,
many were travelling overseas and the students had not returned to school. Thankfully,
there was at least one participant with an overseas context. I hope to offer a second round
to tap on the global connections at a more opportune time, so that loving God and others
in reverential worship at HVMC might be extended through her to the nations.
As a result of some feedback, I would also intentionally set aside more time for
discussion, group interaction as well as time for ministry, maybe using a time sheet to
offer additional separate appointments for individual ministry and prayer.
Combining the first two sessions on a public holiday (1 January) helped with the
availability of participants but became a problem because of internet access. This led to
limitations in evaluating participants’ data gathered online. The problem could have been
managed with some technical support standing by during the online surveys. Lacking
such support in the future, a hard copy of the survey could also be used.
Notwithstanding, I have felt the participants’ evaluation were honest, sincere and
generally positive and helpful, for which I am grateful. I am, however, hoping for a
follow-up session with the participants to celebrate the completion of the thesis and to
thank them for their help. It will also be an occasion to provide a collective response to
the questions raised, the suggestions made and to propose opportunities for training the
trainers. I hope to include my ministry support group for this thanksgiving event as well.
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One question that has come to mind in my reflections is where an appropriate and
fitting place could be found to observe the Eucharist for future presentations of the
“Journey to Holiness.”
Reflections on the Goals
The three ministry goals as stated in chapter 1 served to measure the extent of
success in executing my project, which was to introduce a model to deepen spiritual
intimacy with God in worship at HVMC. From the evaluation of the results in the
previous chapter, I can conclude with satisfaction that progress was made and some
changes had been observed. In particular:
4. Participants were able to articulate God’s desire for spiritual intimacy from Scripture.
5. Participants were able to understand what God has provided to enable us to experience God’s intimacy with us.
6. Participants were able to experience the intimacy of worshipping the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
I would score myself with a value of 5161 for the first goal and a value of 4 for the
second goal since there were some questions of clarification raised, which I have
addressed at the interview but hope for a collective opportunity for the benefit of all the
participants. I would score a value of 5 for the third goal since the experience has been
meaningful though intermittent during the sessions, and a separate session had been
suggested for more experience of intimacy in worshipping in the beauty of holiness.
161 The value of 5 is best, 4 is good, 3 is satisfactory, 2 is fair and 1 is unacceptable.
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There were also three personal learning goals from chapter 1. The first personal
learning goal was to deepen my own understanding and experience of God’s desire of
intimacy theologically and biblically. I can trace my understanding and experience of
God’s desire of intimacy to a life verse chosen during the days leading up to the ACS
Clock Tower Revival. Not realizing the full import of Psalm 27:4 as a student, I was,
nevertheless, drawn by the example in the verse to David’s passionate pursuit of God that
was singularly purposeful. In my desire to be intimate with God, I had felt his call to pray
for the salvation of my class with three other classmates. The second call was to fulltime
ministry and was answered fifteen years after having left school. The third call was to go
to the nations as part of Singapore’s Antioch destiny. The call came gradually and after
thirty years as a local church pastor, I opted for early retirement in order to answer this
call. These represented some of my efforts in my desire for intimacy with God.
As the central theological truth of this thesis, God’s desire for intimacy with us,
however, represented a paradigm shift to view desire for intimacy from God’s
perspective instead. This shift proved to be a challenge for me in the literature search
since there was more written on people’s desire for intimacy with God than directly about
God’s desire for intimacy with people. Furthermore, I had to break out of thinking about
intimacy as my desire for God. Nevertheless, I came to a greater realization that our
desire for intimacy with God stems from his desire for intimacy with us in the first place.
This is an understanding that God is not merely an object of worship but the subject, the
source and the originator of everything as evident in 1 John 4:10, “This is real love – not
that we love God, but that he loved us . . .” (NLT).
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My personal understanding has also been deepened through the rigors of
exploring the biblical, theological and historical foundation in chapter 2. The biblical
basis for God’s desire for intimacy with people was first established in the covenant with
Abraham, then in the provision of the Tabernacle of Moses and finally in Jesus’ prayer
for his disciples. The theological themes of forgiveness, holiness, and worship offered a
progressive consciousness of God’s desire for intimacy. The examples of John Wesley,
John Sung and the ACS Clock Tower Story provided the historical precedence that God
desires intimacy with his people.
In addition to the challenges of literature research, proposing a thesis, executing
the project and writing up this thesis succinctly, there were other challenges in life,
related to age and aged parents, but they were opportunities to deepen my experience of
God’s desire for intimacy with me. At various moments of exasperation, the theme song
chosen as a response to God’s desire for us to build him a sanctuary, was a timely
reminder to be “a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true.”
The second personal learning goal was to have greater clarity in communicating
this understanding to others. Writing about the design, the evaluation and the analysis of
the project has contributed largely to a greater clarity in thought and articulation.
Furthermore, there were evaluations and feedback, questions and suggestions from
participants that also helped sharpened communication.
The third personal learning goal was to equip participants to communicate and
share the understanding of God’s desire for intimacy with others. This goal may have
been a bit ambitious to measure. Whilst I have identified some interested to share this
course with others and have passed them the materials to do so, urgency in writing up the
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chapters had not permitted me time to measure progress in this area. There was, however,
one individual who shared her experience from this course with her small group and was
very encouraged by a sense of awe and worship that came upon the whole group when
they realized the significance of the mercy seat in redefining worship.
I am happy with the progress made with these 3 personal learning goals and
would score myself with a value of 5 for the first goal, a value of 4 for the second goal
and a value of 2 for the third goal.
Implications for Worship Studies
It is appropriate at this stage to acknowledge Robert E. Webber’s visionary
contribution to worship renewal that is behind this course of studies at IWS. He had
asserted that, “Historically Sunday worship expresses three truths: It remembers God’s
saving action in history; it experiences God’s renewing presence; and it anticipates the
consummation of God’s work in the new heavens and the new earth.”162 In his
recognition of the historical three-part understanding of the Sunday worship, I can see the
purpose of the three parts of the Tabernacle embedded. I recognized remembering “God’s
saving action in history” 163 as restoring relationship in the Outer Court; experiencing
“God’s renewing presence” 164 as rebuilding fellowship in the Holy Place and anticipating
“the consummation of God’s work . . .” 165 as redefining and anticipating worship in the
162 Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008), 169.
163 Ibid., 169.
164 Ibid., 169.
165 Ibid., 169.
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Holy of Holies. Hence, the intervention model developed in this thesis project can also be
useful as a visual aid from the Bible for those seeking to restore a historical
understanding of God’s story that encompasses the past, the present as well as the future.
This God who desires intimacy with people is revealed in Scripture as the One who was,
who is and who is to come. Indeed, God’s story that Christian worship seeks to narrate is
in essence a story of his eternal longing for intimacy with us.
I can also recognize from Webber’s contention that “Holy living . . . is to be a
direct outcome of worship and an anticipation of life in God’s eschatological domain,”166
that these two related themes of holiness and eschatology, important to intimacy in
worship is, however, generally under-developed today. This is one of the reasons why I
have felt God’s call to retire early to go to the nations to help awaken a fresh
consciousness of God’s desire for intimacy with people. Training a group of people
along the way will not only assist me but help multiply efforts globally in keeping with
the mandate of the Great Commission.
An area for a broader field of worship studies is the intimacy in the Song of Song
where the imagery of marriage has been interpreted as analogous to the union we have
with God. Webber confesses his reluctance to use this analogy because of its overt
romantic and even sexual innuendo of medieval mystical writings but admits that
marriage is, however, the best analogy for the intimacy we can have with God.167
Another implication is that God’s desire for intimacy with people calls for a
worship that is found not only in worship gatherings but also in daily life as well. Matt
166 Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008), 65
167 Webber, Divine Embrace,256.
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Redman, the famous composer of contemporary worship favorites puts it like this,
Music is always just the tip of the worship iceberg. As profound and special as it can be, our musical expressions will never be enough in and of themselves. They must always be backed up by a life of worship. Worship music can help usher us into such a powerful moment, but the call then becomes to complete the integrity of what we have sung with our lives laid down in obedient devotion. In true worship our deeds always outrun our words, and our lives always outweigh our songs.168
Indeed, every Christian has one fundamental calling and one primary duty, which is to
worship God by the way we live and in all we do as a way of honoring, glorifying and
loving God. It brings us closer to God in intimacy and helps express gratitude and love to
God and to others. Darlene Zschech agrees with Redman that God is causing his people
to worship him with our lives – living a lifestyle of love and admits that “We were never
a worshipping church, but the hunger for more of Christ has caused us to become one.”169
Conclusion
It is, therefore, a privilege to be a part of this ministry to awaken hunger for
intimacy and revive holiness in worship. It has also been a privilege to be better prepared
for this ministry through the DWS course of studies at Robert E. Webber’s IWS. The
IWS catalogue had stated, “We do not sever ministry from God’s story, but situate it in
God’s story through reflection in the biblical, historical, theological, cultural and
missiological disciplines. We seek, therefore, to form all ministry by the divine narrative,
not the cultural narrative.”170 Furthermore, the Action Research method of the IWS
168 Matt Redman in the foreword to R.T. Kendall, Worshipping God: Rediscovering the Full Dimension of Worship (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2017),
169 Darlene Zschech in the foreword to Ibid., ix. 170 Institute for Worship Studies, Catalogue of the Robert E. Webber Institute for
Worship Studies, Jacksonville: IWS, 2016, 10.
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process lends itself appropriately to an effective implementation of the intervention
model in the various cultural context of the nations in the world.
This model was developed to help deepen participants’ consciousness of God’s
desire for spiritual intimacy with us and is able to strengthen our identity and our destiny.
Our identity is a sense of belonging as a worshipping people of God and our destiny is a
sense of calling to be in the presence of God and bringing as many to join us in pouring
out praises unto God and enjoying intimacy with him in his presence.
APPENDIX A
THE FOUR-SESSION TEACHING OUTLINE
Session 1
An overview of the course introducing God’s desire for intimacy and his provision for fulfilling it in the three parts of the Tabernacle of Moses.
1. Starting the Journey - the Call 2. Relevance of the Tabernacle3. The Context of the book of Exodus4. The Pattern of Tabernacle Structure5. The Invitation6. The Application7. The Evaluation and Conclusion
Session 2
Intimacy begins in understanding the purpose of the Brazen Altar and Brazen Laver God provided in the Outer Court.
1. Review and introduction to session 22. The Courtyard 3. The Entrance Curtain4. The 2 Furniture Pieces5. The Significance of the Brazen Altar6. The Application 7. The Evaluation and Conclusion
Session 3
Intimacy deepens in understanding the purpose of the Golden Lampstand, the Golden Table of Shewbread and the Golden Altar of Incense God provided in the Holy Place.
1. Review and introduction to session 32. The Lampstand and its significance 3. The Table of Shewbread and its significance4. The Golden Altar of Incense and its significance 5. The Application6. The Evaluation and Conclusion
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Session 4
Intimacy culminates in understanding the purpose of the Mercy Seat covering the Ark of the Covenant God provided in the Holy of Holies.
1. Review and introduction to session 42. The Mercy Seat 3. The Ark4. The Veil5. The Application 6. The Evaluation and Conclusion
APPENDIX B
PARTICIPANT’S MESSAGE OUTLINE (answers to the blank spaces are provided at the teaching sessions are underlined)
Session 1: Introduction and Overview
1. STARTING THE JOURNEY – THE CALL:
Draw Near to God and he will draw Near to you. (James 4:8)Be Holy for I am Holy. (Leviticus 11:45; 1Peter 1:15,16)
2. RELEVANCE OF THE TABERNACLE
A. The greatest need in my heart is to be in the Presence of the Lord.B. The greatest experience of this need is in the Praise & Worship of the
Holy One of Israel.C. The greatest provision for this to be possible is in the pattern of the
Tabernacle. (Exodus 25:8-9)
3. CONTEXT OF THE BOOK OF EXODUS:
Chapters 1-18 Chapters 19-24 Chapters 25-4010 Plagues 10 Commandments 10 Tabernacle parts
Liberate Legislate Locate
for WorshipPurpose of book: Exit to Exalt
4. THE PATTERN OF TABERNACLE STRUCTURE
A. Compares with:i. The Outer Court to our Soma (body)ii. The Holy Place to our Psyche (soul)iii. The Holy of Holies to our Pneuma (spirit)
B. Function of:i. The Outer Court: restores Relationshipii. The Holy Place: rebuilds Fellowship iii. The Holy of Holies: redefines Worship
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C. The pattern of the Cross in the Tabernacle reveals 2 things, how to:i. Enter the Lord’s presence.ii. Worship the Holy One of Israel.
5. THE INVITATION
Build it and I will Return.
6. THE APPLICATION
What is God’s desire for me?How can I respond to that?
7. THE CONCLUSION
Session 2: Entering the Outer Court
1. REVIEW AND INTRODUCTION
2. THE COURTYARD (Exodus 38:9-17)
3. THE ENTRANCE CURTAIN (Exodus 38:18)
The four colors of the entrance:Blue: Divinity Purple: RoyaltyScarlet: Servility Linen: Humanity
Together reveal Jesus Christ.
4. THE 2 FURNITURE PIECES
A. At the Brazen Altar (Exodus 38:1-7) Blood is used for cleansing. (Hebrews 9:22)
B. At the Brazen Laver (Exodus 38:8) Water is used for cleansing. (Ephesians 5:26)
5. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BRAZEN ALTAR
Definition: Forgiveness is clearing the record of those who have wronged me and not holding a grudge.
A. Consequences of Unforgiveness i. Can’t See reality, wrapped up in subjective perception.ii. More Vulnerable to Satan’s attacks.
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iii. Becoming more Exhausted physically, emotionally, spiritually.iv. Needing to build and maintain a Facade. v. Ability to comfort & minister to others Reduces.
B. Reconciliation - why get involved?i. demonstrates God’s Love. ii. robs Satan of ancient Stronghold. iii. triggers the Harvest.
C. How?i. Confession. Truth telling: admitting responsibility for unjust or
hurtful actions of myself or my people group towards others.ii. Repentance. Positive change: from unloving to loving actions.iii. Reconciliation. New found unity of heart and purpose: give and
receive forgiveness, pursue fellowship with previous enemies.iv. Restitution. Attempting to restore damage.
6. THE APPLICATION
A. Will I be quick to Forgive?B. Will I be quick to ask for Forgiveness refusing to cover up my own
wrongs?C. Will I refuse to seek Revenge?D. Will I Pray for those who hurt me?E. Will I refuse to take up Offense for others?
Are there relationships in my life God wants me to work at restoring so I will not be held back from beginning this Journey?
7. THE CONCLUSION
Session 3: Deeper into the Holy Place
1. REVIEW AND INTRODUCTION
2. SIGNIFICANCE of THE LAMPSTAND (Exodus 37:17-24)
Symbolic of Christ, the LIGHT of the world, Enlightening the understanding of our Mind.
3. SIGNIFICANCE of THE TABLE OF SHEWBREAD (Exodus 25:23-30)
Symbolic of Christ, the BREAD of Life, Sustaining our communion and fellowship through the choice of our Will in obedience and trust.
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4. SIGNIFICANCE of THE GOLDEN ALTAR of INCENSE (Exodus 30:1-8)
Symbolic of Christ, Interceding for us at the right hand of the father, and drawing out our Emotions into a greater sense of intimacy with God.
5. APPLICATION
Full fellowship always involves our Mind, Will and Emotion. How can I grow into fellowship with God more fully?
6. CONCLUSION
Session 4: Into the heart – the Holy of Holies
1. REVIEW AND INTRODUCTION
2. THE MERCY SEAT (Exodus 25:17-22)
3. THE ARK
Contents: (Hebrews 9:4)A.The gold jar of Manna. (Exodus16:2-4,8,32-34).B. Aaron’s Staff that budded. (Numbers16, 17:2-10).C. The stone Tablets of the 10 commandments. (Exodus32:1,19-25, 34:1).
4. THE VEIL
A. The cherubim facing each other can also be seen in the Ceiling. (Exodus 26:1)
B. The cherubim stand to Guard the way in. (Genesis 3:24)C. Access through this veil only on the Day of Atonement.D. Accessible only by one person – the High Priest.
Hence worship is so Holy and Pleasing. (Romans12:1)
5. APPLICATION
What is the character quality in the Holy of Holies that I need to catch from God? How can I further develop this character quality?
6. CONCLUSION
APPENDIX C
EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRES
Pre- Course Survey Questions
1. I am comfortable with taking this course survey. (Circle one number)
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
2. I am interested in how this course can help me.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
3. I am consciousness of God’s desire for intimacy with me.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
4. I can experience his presence whenever I worship.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
5. One thing I would like my presenter to know is _____________________
Post- Course Survey Questions
1. I am comfortable with taking this course survey. (Circle one number)
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
2. I have found this course of help to me.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
3. I am more consciousness of God’s desire for intimacy with me.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
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4. I can experience his presence more whenever I worship.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
5. One thing I would like my presenter to know is _____________________
Session 1 Evaluation Questions
1. I am familiar with the material presented in this session (Circle one number)
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
2. I can name the purpose of each of the three parts of the Tabernacle.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
3. I can articulate God’s desire for intimacy from scripture.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
4. My Question(s):
_______________________________________________________________
5. My GREATEST BLESSING from this session:
_________________________________________________________________
6. My MOST MEANINGFUL Song in this session:
__________________________________________________________________
7. My Comments/Suggestions for this session:
____________________________________________________________________
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Session 2 Evaluation Questions
1. I am familiar with the material presented in this session (Circle one number)
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
2. I understand the significance of each of the furniture pieces in this part of the Tabernacle.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
3. I am quick to forgive those who hurt me.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
4. I am quick to ask for forgiveness from those I hurt.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
5. I read the word of God regularly.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
6. My Question(s):
_________________________________________________________________
7. My GREATEST BLESSING from this session:
_________________________________________________________________
8. My MOST MEANINGFUL Song in this session:
__________________________________________________________________
9. My Comments/Suggestions for this session:
___________________________________________________________________
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Session 3 Evaluation Questions
1. I am familiar with the material presented in this session (Circle one number)
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
2. I understand the significance of each of the furniture pieces in this part of the Tabernacle.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
3. I rely on the Holy Spirit to help me understand the word of God.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
4. I rest one in seven days as one way of learning to trust the Lord.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
5. I have a heart to intercede for others.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
6. My Question(s):
_________________________________________________________________
7. My GREATEST BLESSING from this session:
_________________________________________________________________
8. My MOST MEANINGFUL Song in this session:
__________________________________________________________________
9. My Comments/Suggestions for this session:
____________________________________________________________________
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Session 4 Evaluation Questions
1. I am familiar with the material presented in this session (Circle one number)
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
2. I understand the significance of each of the furniture pieces in this part of the Tabernacle.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
3. I am sensitive to Lord guiding me personally.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
4. I am grateful to God.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
5. I am interested to share what I have learnt, so others can benefit and want to share with others.
(strongly disagree) 1 2 3 4 5 (strongly agree)
6. My Question(s):
_________________________________________________________________
7. My GREATEST BLESSING from this session:
_________________________________________________________________
8. My MOST MEANINGFUL Song in this session:
__________________________________________________________________
9. My Comments/Suggestions for this session:
____________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX D
THE INVITATION LETTER (Sent to 24 people on 8 December 2017)
Dearest folks
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus.
I am writing to invite you to consider helping me in my Doctor of Worship Studies (DWS) thesis project as a participant in an 8-hour course of instruction.
I hope to do this in 4 sessions over 2 separate sittings as follows:
1January Mon public holiday, session 1: 2-4pmsession 2: 4.30-6.30pm
7January Sun after communion service plus communion lunch,session 3: 2-4pmsession 4: 4.30-6.30pm
I do realise this proposed schedule is a bit tight and urgent particularly over a period where some of you may be travelling. For those unable this time round, I will be most happy to conduct another round of this for you after completing this project & making my submission.
The urgency is because after 7 months since resuming this programme in June, my thesis proposal has finally been approved as of today (a little behind schedule). This means I can now proceed to the next stage of implementation & completion of the write-up by March 2018.
A bit more information on this project:
1. The title of the thesis project is “developing a model to deepen spiritual intimacy with God in worship at HVMC, Singapore.”
2. The purpose is to assist participants to deepen their consciousness of God’s desire for spiritual intimacy with us.
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3. My ministry goals:
A. Participants are able to articulate God’s desire for spiritual intimacy from Scripture.
B. Participants are able to understand what God has provided to enable us to experience his desire for intimacy with us.
C. Participants are able to experience the intimacy of worshipping the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
I have embarked on this DWS course since 2010 on a part-time basis but had to shelve it in the last 2 years because of ministry commitments. On retiring, my wife and I have felt the Lord’s leading to complete it and especially in using the material I was intending to bring to the nations called “Journey to Holiness."
Will be grateful if you can let me know if you are interested in what this is about and are able to assist me especially if the above 2 dates work for you so I can send you a pre-course questionnaire.
Again, I know some of you will be travelling and unable this time round. I understand and will be grateful for your prayers at this stage until i can do another round for you and others interested.
Thank you for your kind consideration,
In Him and for His Glory,
Ps Noel Goh
APPENDIX E
EVALUATION RESPONSES
Respondents
1. A Chair of Filipino Ministry2. K Missions chair, Lay leader3. Z staff4. I choir5. T Children Sunday school superintendent6. C Children Sunday school teacher7. M Children Sunday school teacher8. S Children Sunday school teacher9. LS Children Sunday school teacher10. R Intercessor11. LL Creative Arts leader12. M
YPastor, reader
13. PL Pastor 14. W Worship leader15. TY Worship leader16. L member
Legend:1 strongly disagree 2 disagree 3 neutral 4 agree 5 strongly agree
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Pre- and Post- Course Survey Responses
Pre- Course Survey
10 respondents:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16A K Z I T C M S L
SR L
LMY
PL
W TY
L% of 5/4
Q1 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 70/302 5 5 5 5 1 5 5 5 4 5 80/10/103 5 5 4 5 4 5 5 3 4 5 80/30/104 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 10/90
Q5 comments:1.A: Would like to be always God conscious
3.Z: How do I worship God when I am not inclined to sing?
4.I: x
5.T: Realize how crucial praise and worship is to my inner being
7.M: Desire to feel more of God’s presence in my life
8.S: Desire to learn more on embarking Journey to Holiness
9.LS: How to have intimacy and fellowship with God
10.R: I hold no account of wrongs against my Late husband. However, our marriage never arrived as Two became One, thus I could not comprehend intimacy; Does it affect "Divine intimacy" and " I am a bride of Christ Jesus"? However, I had no desire to dream of him for the last 21 years, yet early this year, there was a few seconds in my sleep, I experienced "a kiss of Unity". Now I will put the "quiet regrets " behind me.
12.MY: How to be in constant intimacy with God in all events of life
15.TY: Difficult to be holy all the time
Post- Course Survey
9 respondents:A K Z I T C M S LS R LL MY PL % of 5/4
Q1 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 5 4 55.6/44.42 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 72.8/22.23 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 5 4 55.6/44.44 4 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 22.2/77.8
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Q5 comments:3.Z: 5th session practical session to deepen worship and intimacy through his manifest
presence
4.I: Appreciate songs drew my soul deeper in worship
6.C: In awe of God’s love, deeper understanding of worship
7.M: Thanks for the teaching on the Tabernacle and its significance in worshipping a holy God. Every part illustrates God’s relationships with his people. To be more forgiving and thankful because he’s in control
8.S: Better understanding of what it takes to enter God’s presence
9.LS: Clear presentation. Not about me but the great I Am. Humbled by teaching. Aspire to a life of holiness
10.R: Used to experience God’s presence via word and prayer. Now I know God desires intimacy with me in the Holy of Holies for worship to be redefined. My rebellion and any idolatry covered
12.MY: Course so needed today, most no time to seek God or know how to commune with him. j2h provides a much-desired template of worship to grow deeper relationships with God
13.PL: Learnt much from the 4 sessions
End of Session 1 Survey Responses
12 responses captured but none connected to respondents:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16A K Z I T C M S LS R LL MY PL W TY L
Q1 familiar with material: 60% strongly agree, 26.7% agree, 13.3% disagree
Q2 can name the purpose of each of the parts of the Tabernacle: 33.3% strongly agree, 33.3% agree, 20% neutral, 13.3% disagree
Q3 can articulate from scripture God’s desire for intimacy: 40% strongly agree, 60% agree
Q4 Question:1. Can l hear the calling? How to sense the calling? How to respond accordingly2. sometimes the hurt in our hearts are so great, we find it difficult to forget. Can there be
forgiveness without forgetting the hurt?3. Is it possible for a sinful person such as me to be holy?
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4. When a believer does not draw into intimacy with God or enter the holy of holies, is he saved?
Q5 Greatest blessing:1. To learn that my deepest emptiness can be satisfied by worshipping God.2. Strong realization that my Holy God desires intimacy with a sinful me.3. Learning about the pattern of the cross in the Tabernacle & what it revealed.4. To see the relevance of the tabernacle to our present-day worship. Amazing how
God’s plan is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow5. 1) A sudden realization of what John Wesley said: .... to fulfill God’s creational
intentions, his statement seems to links to Romans 12:2...but be transformed by the renewal of your mind..., after I checked out Shorter Oxford English Dictionary the word " intentions”, it means the minds, the understandings, one's judgement or opinion. When I place everything, I am into His hand. Embracing what God does for me is the best thing I can do for Him, I will be changed inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from me and respond to it. It is important that I do not misinterpret myself as people who is bringing this goodness to God, No, God brings it all to us. The only accurate way to understand myself is by what God is and by what He does for me and not by what I am and what I do for Him.
6. I have learnt from my trainer more about God’s holiness7. Being able to see the cross in the pattern of the Tabernacle8. Learning to walk closer with God9. Identifying Holiness that will lead me to Worship, Exalt and Praise of the Almighty
God.10. God has prepared me to be a living sanctuary.11. My mind is laid captive to the knowledge of God. His presence and significant of
the appropriate worship. 12. My veil is removed & could see myself now as Christ bride
Q6 Most meaningful song:1. I don’t have the most meaningful one coz many meaningful ones for different
situations. The songs I spontaneously sang to the Lord are “I love You Lord” and “Thou art worthy”
2. sanctuary3. I Was Made to Praise You.4. Holy, Holy, Holy,5. Holy, Holy, Holy,6. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord7. Come as a Bridegroom 8. Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty 9. sanctuary10. I was made to praise you.11. Sanctuary 12. Sanctuary
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Q7 Comments/suggestions:1. Nil2. the digression to the Tabernacle and FMC was interesting but perhaps a bit too
long.3. A. Give the group appropriate time to do 1 John 1: 9, there are 2 persons only here:
God and me; so I am not afraid the leaking of confidentiality. I then will enter into His presence boldly.B. Some who are ready to forgive others, may need one to one session when they feel no complete victory.
4. Nil5. The lesson was insightful as it was the first time I experienced the pattern of the
Tabernacle as a way of entering into greater intimacy with God. The steps form a perfect template to enable me to enter into His presence in my retreats and times of quietude
6. Nil7. Thumbs up, and thank you for enlightening and teaching me holiness.8. God has opened my eyes to see & understand HIS HOLINESS. 9. None10. Deeper understanding of scripture " Love the Lord your God with all your heart ,
soul & mind"
End of Session 2 Survey Responses
Only 5 responses captured and connected to respondents:A K Z I T C M S L
SR L
LMY
PL
W TY
L
1 3 2 5 5 4 42 4 2 5 5 4 33 3 4 4 4 4 44 3 4 4 4 2 35 3 2 4 5 4 5
Q1 familiar with material: 40% strongly agree, 40% agree, 20% disagree
Q2 understand the significance of each of the furniture pieces in the Outer Court: 40 % strongly agree, 20% agree, 20% neutral, 20% disagree
Q3 quick to forgive: 100% agree,
Q4 quick to ask for forgiveness: 60% agree, 20% neutral, 20% disagree
Q5 read bible regularly: 40% strongly agree, 40% agree, 20% disagree
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Q6 questions are shown in the respondent’s answer to Q7 greatest blessing together with Q8 most meaningful song and Q9 comments
Q7 greatest blessing:2.K: Reminder of need for reconciliation in body of Christ.
Q6: Should there be acknowledgement of wrongdoing by the other party? Q8: Come as a bridegroom. Q9: More interaction
6.C: Grateful that I am reconciled to God through Jesus. Q6: What to say to those who has the head knowledge of forgiveness but unwilling to
forgive? Q9: How the four colors of the entrance = to the 4 gospels?
8.S: God has opened my eyes to see and Understand HIS Holiness in the outer court of the tabernacle. Q8: All Consuming Fire
9.LS: To have intimacy and deeper relationship with God. Q7: nil. Q8: Create in me a clean heart.Q9: nil.
12.MY: good reminder of the need to forgive before we can enter into His presence. The strongholds given in B(ii) allows me to be aware of the areas in my life where Satan can take hold.
Q6: colors of the curtain and their significance answered in the session. Q8: Change my heart O God.Q9: Songs bring deeper meaning into each lesson - our song is a prayer to God to affect that
needed change in us to enable us to enter into His presence.
15.TY: learning the importance of praying for those who hurt me. Often, I pray for my own ability to forgive others and not the other way around.
Q6: what do I do if forgive but the person who sinned against me does not change? How do I go on forgiving?
Q8: “Kadosh.” Q9: a very good reminder that forgiveness from us for others is necessary for our journey to
holiness.
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End of Session 3 Survey Responses
11 responses from respondents:A K Z I T C M S L
SR L
LMY
PL
% 5/4/3/2
1 3 3 4 3 2 4 5 5 4 4 3 18.2/36.4/36.4/9.12 4 3 4 4 2 4 5 5 4 4 3 18.2/54.5/18.2/9.13 3 4 5 5 2 5 5 5 5 5 5 72.7/9.1/9.1/9.14 3 5 3 2 4 4 5 4 5 4 30/40/20/105 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 4 4 27.3/72.7
Q7 greatest blessing:1.A: Reflecting on whether I worship the works of my hands; reminder that I should always
depend on the Holy Spirit to understand the Word of God. Q6: If my rest day is Sunday, but I do ministry in church until 5pm in church and I don’t
think of any work problems at all during the day and rest completely physically after that till Monday morning, am I having a Sabbath rest?
Q8: Lord We Need Your Grace and Mercy. Q9: nil
2.K: Mind, will, emotion for a balanced understanding of Journey to Holiness. Learning the importance of the Sabbath and rest and the true spirit of observing it rather than looking at it as a law.
Q6: nil. Q8: trust and obey. Q9: Discus how we observe the Sabbath in our modern-day world
3.Z: To know that (by interpretation) intercession is closest to presence of God. Q6: How menorah carried in the wilderness? Q8: NA. Q9: don't see how feasts are represented by or related to menorah
4.I: deeper understanding and significant of each furniture in relation to my mind, will and emotion.
Q6: Do l need to practice the festivals in the OT. How can I translate the lesson to my spiritual growth?
Q8: all. Q9: nil
6.C: Rebuild my relationship with God with the help of the Holy Spirit. Q6: nil. Q8: trust and obey. Q9: Visual PPT good
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7.M: Learning that I need to involve my mind, will & emotion to rebuild a full fellowship with God.
Q6: nil. Q8: Let our Praise be as incense.Q9: nil
8.S: Learn to engage in full fellowship with God with my mind, my will and my emotion. Q6: nil. Q8: Let our Praise be as incense. Q9: Would be wonderful to extend to all Christian to train them.
9.LS: Closer intimacy and understanding of the Great God whom I serve. Q6: nil. Q8: create in me a clean heart. Q9: Thank for useful revelation and information you provided.
10.R: I am to love the Lord my God with all my heart (will), my soul and my mind because God has provided the Shew Bread, the Lamp-stand and the Golden Altar.
Q6: How does the intercession of Christ draw out my emotion into a greater sense of intimacy with God? Q8: sanctuary. Q9: I would like to be part of this ministry for long term whatever God deems appropriate.
12.MY: Learning about the importance of the interplay of mind will and emotion in our worship and all to be surrendered to God - so interestingly captured by the furniture pieces. A very beautiful perspective.
Q6: answered. Q8: Let our Praise be as incense. Q9: nil
13.PL: Reminder that we sustain our fellowship with God through the choice of our will - doing things that are in alignment with Hi Word and will.
Q6: nil. Q8: Spirit of the Living God. Q9: More time could be spent on certain areas.
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End of Session 4 Survey Responses
13 responses captured but only two connected to respondents: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16A K Z I T C M S LS R LL MY PL W TY L
Q1 familiar with material: 15.4% strongly agree, 38.5% agree, 30.8% neutral, 15.4% disagree
Q2 understand the significance of each of the furniture pieces in Holy of Holies: 30.8% strongly agree, 46.2% agree, 15.4% neutral, 7.7% disagree
Q3 sensitive to the Lord guiding me: 30.8% strongly agree, 61.5% agree, 7.7% neutral,
Q4 grateful to God: 92.3% strongly agree, 7.7% agree,
Q5 interested to share: 38.5% strongly agree, 53.8% agree, 7.7% neutral
Q6 my questions:1. I have no question by now. He is the potter, I am the clay.2. How to constantly listen correctly to His Voice from between the wings of the two
angels?3. nil4. Nil5. How to ensure we bring home the biblical message of God’s mercy and the extent
and degree of focus on the OT description, meaning of the Mercy seat and participants do not perceive we go back to the “law?”
6. How do you tell someone who experienced crises after crises to be thankful in all circumstances?
7-10. Nil11. Will we get to heaven if journey is not completed? 12. nil
Q7 Greatest blessing1. A greater appreciation of God’s abundant mercy to us.2. I know God dwells between the empty space of the two angels' wing, with this
visual aid, I must not have idol.3. Knowing that my grumbling, rebelliousness and idolatry/ mistakes made against
men are covered by the Mercy of God. This truth set me free from condemnation finally and completely.
4. nil5. Overwhelmed by God’s mercy after Pastor Noel went through the items in the ark
and realised they are occurrences of my sins, especially when he acted out by the lifting the mercy seat and covered up!
6. Recognising the mercy and grace of God and the gravity of our rebellious nature in spite of His patient and love.
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7. To fully realise how great and deep is the love of our merciful Almighty God to us wretched sinners.
8. Despite my sinful nature, God is so merciful that He covers all my sins with His mercy seat! His grace & mercy is freely given and not based on what we did or how deserving we are. I am so filled with gratitude for what He has done for me.
9. Knowing that God has great desire for us to meet Him face to face. (no other gods of the world has such desire to meet face to face with other worshippers) And actually tell us plainly that all our sins represented by the 3 items in the Ark were covered by the blood and Mercy Seat. As though He is wooing us to come without fear into the Holy of the Holies.
10. To come into God’s presence.11. Deeper understanding of His Word. Marvel at God’s creation Heaven and Earth.12. Entering into deeper understanding & consciousness of God’s mercy in His
presence.
Q8 Most meaningful song1. Take me past the outer courts.2. I am made to worship.3. Within the Veil.4. Take Me Past the Outer Courts.5. I enter the holy of holies.6. O the glory of your presence.7. O the Glory of Your Presence.8. For Your Name is Holy.9. Let the weight of your Glory Fall.10. Songs with holy, holy, holy & Take me past the outer court. 11. For your name is holy.12. Let the weight of your glory fall.13. For Your Name is Holy.
Q9 Comments/suggestions:1. The application questions were useful for reflection and good takeaways for each
session. I would suggest more of these questions be given. Overall, the sessions were an amazing journey into holiness.
2. Well Done, Pastor Noel, keep it up.3. There was a sense of awe fell upon everyone when I taught them by posing.
questions concerning the 3 objects in the Ark and using the lyric just sung as link, many gave feedback that they see light.
4. More time could be allotted for certain areas. 5. To be seated on the floor, opportunity to knee before the Almighty.6. Great Journey to Holiness! Pastor Noel is able to interject his teaching with many
beautiful songs of worship and his occasional humor and sharing have made the sessions very lively and meaningful. He also brought the tabernacle to “life” so we can relate better with each item and understand it's significance. Would definitely
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encourage my small group members and other believers to attend. 7. Thank you for helping me understand the deeper significant of the Tabernacle in
relation with my walk with God. As his child, I must live my life in obedience and journeying into a life of holiness.
8. nil 9. Shofar blessing.10. The venue is perfect and quiet. The worship was divine and words of songs pierced
into the soul. 11. All Christian needs to learn & know this wonderful truth into the journey of God’s
holies. I am glad I came to learn from you, pastor Noel. Thanks for being a blessing to me. All honor, glory & thanksgiving to our God.
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