The Biblical Roots of the [Catholic] Liturgy

Archdiocese of Washington ^ | 11-26-17 | Msgr. Charles Pope

[Salvation]

The Biblical Roots of the Liturgy

Msgr. Charles Pope • November 26, 2017 •

Catholics are often unaware just how biblical the Sacred Liturgy is. The design of our traditional churches; the use of candles, incense, and golden vessels; the postures of standing and kneeling; the altar; the singing of hymns; priests wearing albs and so forth are all depicted in the Scriptures. Some of these details were features of the ancient Jewish Temple, but most are reiterated in the Book of Revelation, which describes the liturgy of Heaven.

The liturgy here on earth is modeled after the liturgy in Heaven; that is why it is so serious to tamper with it. The Book of Revelation describes the heavenly liturgy and focuses on a scroll or book that contains the meaning of life and the answers to all we seek. It also focuses on the Lamb of God, standing but with the marks of slaughter upon it. Does this not sound familiar? It is the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

We do well to be aware of the biblical roots of the Sacred Liturgy. Many people consider our rituals to be empty and vain, “smells and bells.” Some think austere liturgical environments devoid of much ritual are “purer” and closer to the worship in “spirit and in truth” that Jesus spoke of in John 4.

To such criticisms we must insist that our rituals, properly understood, are mystical and deeply biblical. Further, they are elements of the heavenly liturgy since almost all of them are mentioned as aspects of the worship or liturgy that takes place in Heaven. In this light, it is a serious mistake to set them aside or have a dismissive attitude toward them.

With that in mind we ought to consider the biblical references to the most common elements of Catholic and Orthodox liturgies. I have added my own occasional note in red.

Candles –

• Rev 1:12-13 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man. In traditional catholic parishes, there are six candles on the high altar and a seventh candle is brought out when the bishop is present.
• Rev 4:6 Seven flaming torches burned in front of the throne.

Altar –

• Rev 9:13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God.
• Rev 8:3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.

Chair –

• Rev 4:1 and lo, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne! And he who sat there appeared like jasper and carnelian, and round the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald …
• Daniel 7:9 As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was ancient of days took his seat; … In the Sacred Liturgy, the chair of the priest is prominent. But, as he takes his seat, we are invited to see not Father Jones, but rather the Lord Himself presiding in our midst.

Priests (elders) in Albs –

• Rev 4:4 the elders sat, dressed in white garments …

Bishop’s miter, priest’s biretta –

• Rev 4:4, 10 With golden crowns on their heads … they cast down their crowns before the throne … In the Liturgy, the Bishop may only wear his miter at prescribed times. But when he goes to the altar he must cast aside his miter. The priest who wears the biretta in the Old Mass is instructed to tip his biretta at the mention of the Holy Name and to lay it aside entirely when he goes to the altar.

Focus on a scroll (book), The Liturgy of the Word –

• Rev 5: 1 And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals; and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I wept much that no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. Then one of the elders said to me, “Weep not; lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” In the ancient world, books as we know them now had not been invented. Texts were written on long scrolls and rolled up.

Incense, Intercessory prayer –

• Rev 8:3 another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God …
• Rev 5:7 and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints;

Hymns –

• Rev 5:8 And they sang a new hymn: Worthy are you O Lord to receive the scroll and break open its seals. For you were slain and with your blood you purchase for God men of every race and tongue, and those of every nation.
• Rev 14:1 Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads … and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth.
• Rev 15:3 And they (the multitude no one could count) sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and wonderful are thy deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, O King of the ages! Who shall not fear and glorify thy name, O Lord? For thou alone art holy. All nations shall come and worship thee, for thy judgments have been revealed.”

Holy, Holy, Holy –

• Rev 4:8 and day and night they never cease to sing, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

Prostration (Kneeling) –

• Rev 4:10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne …
• Rev 5:14 and the elders fell down and worshiped In today’s setting, there is seldom room for everyone to lie prostrate, flat on the ground. Kneeling developed as a practical solution to the lack of space, but it amounts to the same demeanor of humble adoration.

Lamb of God –

• Rev 5:6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain …

Acclamations –

• Rev 5:11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

Amen! –

• Rev 5:14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!”

Silence –

• Rev 8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ( And you thought your priest paused too long after communion?)

Mary –

• Rev 12:1 And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.

Happy are those called to His “supper” –

• Rev 19:6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder peals, crying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; … And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Golden vessels, vestments –

• Rev 1:12 And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
• Rev 1:13 and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest
• Rev 5:8 the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense
• Rev 8:3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, at the golden altar before the throne.
• Rev 15:16 The angels were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests.
• Rev 15:17 seven golden bowls

Stained Glass –

• Rev 21:10 [The heavenly city] had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, … The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ( The image of stained glass in our Church walls is hinted at here.)

Here is but a partial list, except for one quote drawn only from the Book of Revelation. I invite you to add to it.

Here is an awesome video with wonderful quotes:

[metmom]

Spiritual truths are spiritually discerned, which is what the enlightening of the Holy Spirit does to the born from above individual.

All the degrees and education are useless in discerning spiritual truth.

It’s irrelevant how many degrees and how much of a lifetime of study about God one has if one does not KNOW God in a restored by the Holy spirit relationship with Him.

The Holy Spirit gives spiritual life and those who are not spiritually alive cannot understand spiritual truths. They are nonsense to him.

The pharisees of Jesus day were the most highly educated of the Jewish society. They KNEW the Law. They didn’t know God or his heart.

Jesus had His harshest words and condemnation for the most religiously educated elite. And He used uneducated fishermen and rabble rousers to turn the world on its ear.

[metmom]

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 2:1-16 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“you refuse to reveal the authority on which it is based, i

You’ve been told countless times that the only authority that matters is what God declared as true.

You can read it in His Word.

[ealgeone]

Then you’re in a cult. Prayers to Mary and the idols of her are not a part of Christianity.

[infool7]

You have a disordered understanding of what is and what is not a cult. You are in a tiny minority of individuals that hold that particular view I suggest you take a look in the mirror.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

And say just one Hail Mary.

"Little children, keep yourself from idols."

-Apostle John

[ealgeone]

I'm not the one with idols of Mary in my house or church.

I'm not the one kneeling before these idols and praying to the image they represent.

I'm not relying upon Mary for my salvation or hoping she puts in a "good word" for me.

Roman Catholics do all of the above. This is not Christianity.

If it isn't Christianity, it is a cult.

[infool7]

All the degrees and education are useless in discerning spiritual truth.

It’s irrelevant how many degrees and how much of a lifetime of study about God one has if one does not KNOW God in a restored by the Holy spirit relationship with Him.

Well isn't that convenient, so your saying I just have to trust you to tell me what is and what isn't sinful because you say you KNOW God.

You know how that sounds?

[Bigg Red]

Ditto, Salvation. I really appreciate these threads, the Flying Monkeys notwithstanding.

[editor-surveyor]

.
I’m in a cult led by the Ruach Chodesh!

I have full crediibility with the Word of Yehova.

Who knows what you consider “scripture” but I guarantee you it comes not from above!
.

[editor-surveyor]

.
Salvation is available only at the Last Trump!

And only to those that endured to the end in Yehova’s commandments.

As Paul said: “Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling!”
.

[editor-surveyor]

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>> “...but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” <<

Do not dismiss the slightest detail of Paul’s words!

If we are keeping his commandments, (and will do so to the end) we are by the grace of Yehova, being saved by our faith.

Endure!
.

[metmom]

It doesn’t sound any worse than saying to trust someone else you don’t know just because they have a lot of book learning.

I don’t know if they know God.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Salvation is available only at the Last Trump! And only to those that endured to the end in Yehova’s commandments.

Sorry, e-s, but Scripture says the opposite. And frankly, your cultic Rood roots aren't helping you here.

As Paul said: “Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling!”

And yet, Paul never said "work *for* your salvation..."

[aMorePerfectUnion]

I’m in a cult led by the Ruach Chodesh!

Oh, sure. You follow a #FAKERABBI, Michael Rood. The same Rood that used to be part of The Way International cult.

[editor-surveyor]

.
Galatians 3 has nothing to do with the subject!

Galatians 3 is about the Pharisees’ false Takanot that Yeshua took to the cross.

It is impossible to understand a single one of Paul’s epistles without grasping the difference between the Pharisees’ law of works and Yehova’s loving path to righteousness in Torah.

You are thrashing in a very old mud puddle that Jeremiah warned about 2500 years ago. The inherited lies of the man made “church” that tries to displace Yeshua’s Kehillah. Lies wherein there is no profit.

.

[editor-surveyor]

.
Another bit of salve for your spiritual confusion:

Keeping Yerhova’s commandments is not “work,” it is as all of the abostles said, obedience.

Work is the Pharisees’ “burden that could not be borne.”

Yeshua demolished it all through his healings and his condemnation of all things Pharisee recorded in Matthew 23.

That is the sole purpose od Yeshua’s Earthly ministry. He came to restore his Father’s Torah, and to fulfil the sinless blood debt of the covenant, which he renewed in his own blood.

Buy a Bible!
.

[editor-surveyor]

.
Continuing to re-post lies will not make them true, nor will it redirect your path from the broad path of the inherited lies to Yeshua’s narrow path of confession and obedience.

BTW, Michael Rood has for his entire life echoed Yeshua’s condemnation of the word “Rabbi,”

That is why your friends hate him so.
.
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[editor-surveyor]

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>> “sorry, e-s, but Scripture says the opposite.” <<

Exactly where do you believe that it says that?

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[MHGinTN]

Bwahahahaha ... you are becoming a parody of yourself. LOL