Worship and the Glory of His Coming

Some excerpts from the end of Desiring God - Chapter 3 - Worship: The Feast of Christian Hedonism - by John Piper:

"Don't let your worship decline to the performance of mere duty... Don't let the scenery and poetry and music of your relationship with God shrivel up and die.  You have capacities for joy that you can scarcely imagine.  They were made for the enjoyment of God.  He can awaken them no matter how long they have lain asleep.  Pray for His quickening power.  Open your eyes to His glory.  It is all around you:  'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork' (Psalm 19:1).

"I was flying at night from Chicago to Minneapolis, almost alone on the plane.  The pilot announced that there was a thunderstorm over Lake Michigan and into Wisconsin.  He would skirt it to the west to avoid turbulence.  As I sat there staring out into the total blackness, suddenly the whole sky was brilliant with light, and a cavern of white clouds fell away four miles beneath the plane and then vanished.  A second later, a mammoth white tunnel of light exploded from north to south across the horizon, and again vanished into blackness.  Soon the lightning was almost constant, and volcanoes of light burst up out of cloud ravines and from behind distant white mountains.  I sat there shaking my head almost in unbelief.  O Lord, if these are but the sparks from the sharpening of Your sword, what will be the day of Your appearing!  And I remembered the words of Christ:  As the lightning flashes and light up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.  (Luke 17:24)...

"I thank God that again and again He has awakened my heart to desire Him, to see Him, and to sit down to the feast of Christian Hedonism and worship the King of Glory.  The banquet hall is very large.  The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' ... Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.  (Revelation 22:17)"