Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. (Deuteronomy 12:26)
When discussing the importance of “The Place” and where the Creator established His Name, it should not be overlooked that He emphasized “where” His people were to worship Him –- i.e. in His Sanctuary. They were not to establish their own place to present their offerings and sacrifices. In that same line of thought, the command mentioned above emphasized “how” His people were to worship Him. In other words, He established the protocol and procedures, not to mention always reminding them to have a willing heart when they worshipped. To sum it up, over and again, He reminded Israel not to do as the nations did which is to worship whatever, however, whenever and wherever we like.
Like so many commands given in the Torah, it can be easy for us to miss the message because we focus on the fact that, today, there is no Sanctuary on Mount Moriah. In other words, how would this possibly apply to us today? My answer to that is to consider just how many denominations there are within Christendom. How many flavors of the “truth” are in the world and how many of them think that they have cornered the market on the “truth.” Now, what prompted those different denominations to branch off from where they may have started? Sometimes it was revival, sometimes it was rebellion. I realize that many denominations have much in common, still, my point is that men have a tendency to come up with their personalized version of the truth and prompt others to follow suit.
The point God was making through Moses was and is, don’t do what is right in your own eyes. We are not authorized to add to or take away from God’s Word and should not dismiss anything He says. If man lives by “every Word” that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD God, to discount anything in His Word is to risk taking days off our life. He alone is holy and He alone determines how He is to be worshiped, and that will not be according to what soothes our flesh. So then, let us be led by His Word and His Spirit and come together to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Let us come into the unity of the faith that His Name may be sanctified in the earth. We may all be different but, in Him, we can all be one.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
Recent Comments