Congregational Worship in Psalms

One of the striking features seen in the Psalms is the longing of the psalmists is to be among the worshipping congregation of God's people in the temple at Jerusalem. It was only here that sacrifices for sin could be made and only here that the concentrated presence of Yahweh lived among his people. With the coming of the promised Messiah and Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord, the concentrated worship of God's people is no long confined to the temple but exists wherever Christ's disciples gather to worship him, to learn of him, and to strengthen one another in their holy faith. Our longing to worship with God's people is not less than the psalmists but even more, because sin has been truly and finally atoned for by Christ's sacrifice of himself. And his presence by his poured out Spirit now dwells in believers, each of whom is a living stone in the spiritual temple of the local church. How we long to worship with our brothers and sisters together before the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ!