Time for Church!

Psalm 122:1. "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD."

These are not the words of the religious unconverted. Yes, they exist. (2 Tim. 3:5) Many go to the Lord's house but don't enter with gladness. They go out of a sense of duty, tradition, fear, or even superstition. But never pleasure. To them, God's house has no gravitas, no true attraction. So, they are never glad when someone says, "It's Time for Church!"

The true believer has an entirely different way of looking at it.

After the toil and anxiety of a busy workweek, the struggles and wrestling with sin and temptation (the world, flesh, and the devil) … the Sabbath dawns! and the child of God is glad, happy even, when someone says to him, "Let us go into the house of the Lord." He accepts the invitation without hesitation. Knowingly or not, in his heart he sings a song:

My heart was glad to hear the welcome sound, The call to seek Jehovah's house of prayer, Our feet are standing here on holy ground, Within thy gates, thou city grand and fair." (Psalter 349)

A love for the house of God is one of the best proofs of a changed heart. Until then…

private devotions have no luster,

the preaching has a brassy noise,

the law is crassly heavy,

the singing, muffled and lifeless,

prayer, a sleepy darkness.

Why?

Because "the carnal mind is enmity against God" and takes zero pleasure in things which bring it into close contact with Him.

But no one needs to doubt his adoption, whose pulse rises at the invitation, "Let us go into the house of the Lord." That’s not a natural desire, is it? That desire comes from a new principle. That new principle is the germ of eternal life. The seed of spiritual faith.

Which will germinate, sprout, bud, flower, fruitify, seed, die and sprout anew. Until finally transplanted ripe in heaven. And while this love for the house of the Lord is one of the best proofs of grace in the heart, it is also perhaps the first fitting of the soul for heaven.

A believer's title to heaven is Christ. Their qualification for heaven is their love of the Lord's house. And love for the Lord’s house is love for the Lord’s people. The gladness one feels in going up to the house of the Lord is a sign and proof of being molded into the image of the body of Christ. (Rom. 8:25) A desire to worship with God's people on earth…emits a desire to worship with them in heaven.

The soul who does not go to the earthly house of God with gladdness, can't expect it to suddenly appear in heaven. If he does not delight in the tabernacle of God below, how can he possibly delight in the General Assembly of the firstborn? (Heb. 12:23) We talk about the bliss of heaven, the happiness of heaven. But the fact is there is no bliss or happiness there but for the redeemed, the “made white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). In other words, to those who can genuinely say on earth, "I am glad. Time for church!"