现在我们来到以赛亚的异象令人惊叹的一段，他这样谈到撒拉弗：「……（他们）彼此呼喊说：『圣哉！圣哉！圣哉！万军之耶和华，他的荣光充满全地！』因呼喊者的声音，门槛的根基震动，殿充满了烟云」（赛六3-4）。

以赛亚看着撒拉弗在宝座上面急促移动和盘旋，聆听他们彼此呼喊，以强烈到能震动圣殿的声音敬拜神，那肯定是一个十分重要的时刻！难怪在他的预言中往后的每一章里，几乎都可以听到他在圣殿里所经历的回响。崇高的宝座，侍候的撒拉弗，以及他们所说的话，这一切结合起来，传递了一个信息：敬拜是神所有的被造物一项最大的功能。

敬拜是甚么？这个词在旧约和新约的主要意思都是敬畏的服事──我们从有翅膀的撒拉弗在永恒宝座上的行为可以看到这点。今天英语的「敬拜」（worship）这个词是源自古英语的weorthscipe，意思是把价值赋予某人或某样东西。而要理解敬拜的意思，最好的办法就是用「值得」来解释它，换句话说，敬拜神就是给神所配得的──也只有神才配得的──价值。

我们在地上生存的基本原因是为了要敬拜神。当我们明白这里面包含甚么的时候，我们的信心便会带着新的能力跳动，证明它足以承担任何任务。

We come now to a marvellous section of Isaiah's vision where he speaks of the seraphs in this way: "...they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory.' At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke" (Isa. 6:3-4).

What a moment this must have been for Isaiah as he watched the seraphs darting and hovering above the throne, and listened to them calling to one another and worshipping God with voices so strong that the sound shook the Temple! Is it any wonder that echoes of the time he spent in the Temple are heard in almost every one of the later chapters of his prophecy? The lofty throne, the attending seraphs and the words they utter all combine to spell out one message: worship is the highest function of any of God's created beings.

What is worship? The essential meaning of the word in both Old and New Testaments is that of reverential service - a truth we see illustrated by the conduct of the winged seraphs above the eternal throne. Our present-day English word "worship" has evolved from the Anglo-Saxon weorthscipe which means to give worth to someone or something. Worship can best be understood by thinking of the word in this way: worth-ship. The worship of God, then, is attributing worth to Him - and only Him.

The primary reason for our existence on this earth is to worship God. When we understand all that is involved in this then our faith will throb with a new power and prove itself sufficient for any task.