Psalm 100:1-2 Make a joyful noise to Jehovah, all the earth. Serve Jehovah with rejoicing; Come before His presence with joyful singing.
At the very beginning of John’s Epistle, he speaks of “the Word of life.” This means that when we hear “the Word of life,” we obtain eternal life and never die. “The Word of life” refers to the Lord of grace who is God incarnated to be a man called Jesus, whom men could approach and upon whose bosom His disciples even reclined. The four Gospels tell us that of all the times He met with people, there was not even one time when they had a so-called worship service. The Bible never says that this incarnated God displayed His power by sitting in the highest place, telling people to worship Him, but instead it says that every time He met with people, He was informal.
We may all have the religious concept that whenever we come into a meeting we should be very quiet. If someone shouts, “Hallelujah,” we may think he is out of order. However, the Psalms tell us that we should shout loudly and joyfully to the Lord: “Make a joyful noise to Jehovah, all the earth” (100:1). To make a noise is to speak not in a normal voice but to shout loudly. When we come to the meetings every Lord’s Day, we should not keep religious rituals and perform orderly ceremonies. We have to realize that we are coming to the Lord of grace to hear and enjoy the Word of life, so we should not feel restrained and remain quiet; we all should shout praises together. (Abiding in the Lord to Enjoy His Life, by Witness Lee)
