Who Sits Next to You in Church?

There is a final passage in the Book of Hebrews that is relevant to the topic at hand: 

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (12: 22-24)

There is something about this passage that makes me excited and glad and grateful and amazed all at once. It seems as though this is written to present day believers - even though it says that we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem now. How can that be? It must have something to do with worship - that somehow when we enter into that activity here on earth, we are also simultaneously entering into worship in Heaven. If that is the case, then our fellow worshippers are those that have gone ahead of us, namely our loved ones. Could it be that when we sing and pray and read God’s Word that the person sitting next to us in the pew is the very one that has departed from us and that we are missing so much?


My theory here seems to be supported by the ESV Study Bible, which states:

“This (passage) draws on extensive OT imagery of a new heavenly Zion/Jerusalem to say that Christian believers have access, in the invisible, spiritual realm, into the Heavenly Jerusalem, and therefore participate in worship with innumerable angels and the great assembly of those who have died in faith and are already in God’s presence.”

Certainly the language of these verses confirms the reality of existence for those who have gone before us. The “assembly of the firstborn,” for example, while initially referring to Christ, has been expanded to include all the heirs of salvation. Those “enrolled in Heaven” probably refers to the Book of Life referenced in several places in the Bible. And finally, “the spirits of the righteous made perfect” clearly refers to believers who were made righteous on earth because of Christ’s work on the cross, but were made gloriously perfect upon their entrance into Heaven.

Of course, we should not be overly fixated on the fact that our family and friends in Heaven are worshiping together with us on Sunday mornings. The most important person we should be focusing on is Christ, “the mediator of a new covenant,” who made all this possible. Without His sacrificial life and death, we wouldn’t be excited and glad and grateful and amazed at all.


Thanks be to God for the incredible privilege of entering into Heavenly worship while we are still living as sojourners here on earth. Better still, one day we will experience the fullness of worship that we now know by faith alone; in just a little while, our faith will be sight!