The first time the word worship appears in the King James Version of the Old Testament, it appears with appalling import. “Abide ye here,” Abraham tells his servant, while “I and the lad will go yonder and worship.”9 The terrible offering of his son’s life is what the Bible’s first instance of “worship” portends. In the New Testament, the word worship first appears again in conjunction with a costly offering. It is used in reference to the wise men, who “worshipped” the Christ child by “open[ing] their treasures” and “present[ing] unto him gifts.”10 Worship, then, is about what we are prepared
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