Lesson 137 - Senior
Memory Verse
"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him" (John 4:23).
Cross References
I Specific Duties Enjoined
1. Every place where the heathen had worshiped " their groves, altars, pillars " and their idols, were all to be destroyed, [DEU:12:1-3]; [DEU:7:5]; [EXO:34:13].
2. The Lord would choose the place where His people, Israel, were to worship, [DEU:12;4-5]; [1KG:8:29]; [2CH:7:12]; [PS:78:68].
3. They were to bring all their tithes and offerings to that place which the Lord would choose, and they and their families were to eat and rejoice before the Lord, [DEU:12:6-14]; [DEU:16:2].
4. Unless it was an offering unto the Lord, they could kill and eat within their gates all the Lord had blessed them with, but they must not eat the blood, [DEU:12:15-27]; [LEV:17:11-14]; [ACT:21:25].
5. The Levite must not be forsaken, [DEU:12:19]; [DEU:14:27]; [NUM:18:20]; [PS:16:5]; [EZE:45:4]; [LUK:10:7]; [1CO:9:13-14].
II Warnings
1. They should take heed lest they be ensnared and want to follow the abominations of the heathen, [DEU:12:28-31]; [EXO:23:2]; [1SM:8:20]; [1KG:16:31-33].
2. Nothing was to be added to or taken from the Word of God, [DEU:12:32]; [DEU:4:2]; [PRO:30:6]; [REV:22:18-19].
III Spiritual Worship
1. The woman of Samaria asked Jesus which was the right place to worship, the mountain of Samaria or Jerusalem, [JHN:4:19-20].
2. Jesus told her that God is a Spirit, and the true worshiper worships Him in spirit and in truth, [JHN:4:23-24].
Notes
False Worship Destroyed
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me," was the first commandment written on the tables of stone. The Lord told the Children of Israel that when they were established in the Land of Canaan He wanted every vestige of idolatry removed from their sight. The groves where the heathen worshiped their idols were to be destroyed. Their altars and pillars were to be burned with fire, their graven images hewn down. Not a thing was to be left that would entice them to worship in those places.The heathen set up their idols under every green tree and upon every high hill, making it easy for them to go to worship.
Many people today are quite content to sit and listen to a sermon over the radio. They feel that worship has been brought into their homes and there is no need to put forth the effort to go to church. Lazy worshipers! "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of our-selves together, as the manner of some is" (Hebrews 10:24, 25).
Forbidden to Eat Blood
When the Children of Israel slew an animal for a sacrifice, the blood was to be poured on the altar as an offering unto the Lord. If they slew an animal to eat at home, they were to pour the blood on the ground; for the life was in the blood, and they were forbidden to eat the blood.
The sacrifices all pointed to and were typical of the Lamb of God who would shed His own Blood and give His life for the life of the world. "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (I Peter 1:18, 19).
The Place to Worship
"But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come" (Deuteronomy 12:5). If it had been left to the people to choose the place, there possibly would have been contention and strife among them as to where it would be located and among which tribe.
On Mount Sinai the Lord gave Moses a description of the Tabernacle He wanted built, where they were to worship. It was simple in design but elaborate in its furnishings. After the Tabernacle was built it was always the special meeting place of Jehovah and His people ([NUM:11:24-25]; [NUM:12:4]; [NUM:16:19]; [DEU:31:14]).
After they entered Canaan, the Tabernacle was moved from camp to camp until the land was subdued; then it was permanently located at Shiloh ([JOS:18:1]). There it remained until the days of Eli, the priest, when the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant. From that time the glory of the Tabernacle waned (1SM:4:22]). The Ark was recovered from the Philistines and brought by David to Jerusalem where it was housed under a new covering ([2SM:6:17]). After Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, the old Tabernacle was no longer used.
The Temple
In the reign of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel stood foremost in its glory. It had become a great, wealthy, and peaceful nation.
Before David died, he saw that the grandeur of the buildings and especially his own house, superseded that of the Tabernacle. He felt that that was not right; and one day as he sat in his house talking to Nathan, the prophet, he said, "Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains." Nathan said, "Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee" (I Chronicles 17:1, 2).
Because David had been a man of war and had shed much blood, the Lord would not let David build the Temple, but told him that Solomon, his son, could build it. The plan of the Temple followed the model of the Tabernacle. We are told that these were patterns of the heavenly Tabernacle ([HEB:9:23-24]). In place of curtains, the Temple was built of cedar and overlaid with gold inside. It is estimated that billions of our money worth of gold alone was used in building the Temple. Its magnificence was beyond description. It was a whole nation's place of worship. The worship and ceremonies, when carried out in faith and sincerity, brought the presence, power, and glory of God. It was the way of a nation's approach to their God.
The Temple stood for 400 years. It was destroyed by the Babylonians when the Jews were taken captive by that nation. After 70 years it was rebuilt by Ezra and was the place of worship for 500 years. It was remodelled by Herod and stood for 90 years longer. In A.D. 70 it was destroyed by the Romans. From that date the Jews were scattered among the nations and remained without the Temple or homeland until the year 1948, when the Jews again became a nation. And according to prophecy, the Temple will again be built.
Uniformity of Worship
It was the Lord's plan for all Israel to worship together in one place, and that place the Lord would choose (Deuteronomy 12:5). There were ordinances and appointed feasts for them to keep ([EXO:18:20]; [LEV:23:1-44]). His divine Presence would fill the Tabernacle ([EXO:29:45]; [LEV:26:11-12]; [1KG:8:10-11]). Their worship consisted of sacrifices ([EXO:10:25]; [LEV:1:2]; [2CH:5:6]), music, singing, praising the Lord, ([2CH:5:12-13]), prayer ([2CH:6:13]), reading God's Word, and preaching ([EXO:24:7]; [DEU:31:11]; [NEH:8:5-6]). They were required to attend worship ([EXO:23:17]; [DEU:16:11]). They must know the statutes ([LEV:10:11]), and keep them ([DEU:16:12]). "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it" ([DEU:12:32]). Mortal man could never help out an all-wise God by adding to or taking from His Word. Down through the centuries there have been some who have tried it, but the Word of our God shall stand forever ([ISA:40:8]). In the Book of Revelation we are told what will happen to those who add to or take from the Word of God ([REV:22:18-19]).
The house of the Lord was kept up, and the ministry supported, by the people from their tithes and freewill offerings ([DEU:16:17]; [NUM:18:21]; [EXO:25:2], [EXO:25:8]). The tribe of Levi was called to serve and minister about the holy things. In this lesson Moses exhorts the people not to forsake the tribe of Levi.
Synagogues
In the Maccabean period which existed between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Jesus, we find the Jews had erected synagogues in almost every town. The word synagogue means a congregation. Sometimes the people gathered by the riverside or a small stream of water and worshiped ([ACT:16:13]). Each synagogue had its chief ruler or minister, and every Sabbath Day the Law of Moses and the prophets were read. It was in these synagogues that Jesus often went on the Sabbath Day and taught the people. It was at Nazareth that Jesus entered the synagogue and preached that wonderful sermon from the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, "And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. . . . And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth:" (Luke 4:15-22). Possibly it was from the synagogue that the early Christians patterned their churches.
Fulfillment of the Old in the new
With the coming of Jesus a new dispensation was ushered in, the Gospel dispensation. It was to be a dispensation where the worship would be from the heart and not merely forms and ceremonies. God had chosen Abraham's seed as a peculiar people unto Himself. Through this nation, God's chosen nation, He would reveal to the world His great plan of salvation. The Law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Its sacrifices, forms, and ceremonies were just a shadow of good things to come. They could never make the comers there-unto perfect. If they could they would not have ceased to be offered. He taketh away the first that He may establish the second ([HEB:4:1-16]; [HEB:10:9]).
We enter into the Gospel dispensation by a new and living way, the Blood of Jesus. We are born into His Kingdom. It is called the "church of the firstborn," whose names are written in Heaven. When we are born again our souls are quickened by the Spirit of God. We are made alive, new creatures in Christ Jesus. We can then worship God in spirit and in truth.
Spiritual Worship
In the conversation the woman of Samaria had with Jesus, she said, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus saith unto her, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:20-24).
When Jesus comes into our hearts there is a spirit of worship in our hearts continuously, but the Lord still wants us to have places or churches where we can gather and worship Him in song, testimony, prayer, reading, and preaching the Word.
How glorious and inspiring it is for God's true saints to gather and thus worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. That kind of worship is never formalistic. It is never "cut and dried." It is not bound to a pattern or ritual. The hearts of the worshipers blend with one another in common love and devotion for God and a purpose to let Him have His way, that sinners might be convicted of their sins and the believers edified. It is their determination that the Holy Spirit remain unbridled and unfettered in any way.
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (II Corinthians 3:17). When He is in complete control, everything is done decently, in order, and to the edifying of those present. This Latter Rain Gospel has witnessed, in its history, many times when God's Presence was manifest in an outstanding way. These glorious outpourings know no equal in Old Testament times, save perhaps the dedication of Solomon's Temple when the Spirit of God witnessed to the work that had been done and the consecrations there made. The greatness of the dispensation in which we live, manifests itself in the fact that we are no longer confined to a Temple at Jerusalem, or any other particular place, but the Holy Spirit manifests Himself wherever hungry hearts invite Him to enter. Not only in the great periods of blessing is God's Spirit shown. Often, in the small and apparently in-significant details that form the units that go together to make up the whole service, God unmistakably leads and makes His will known.
Those who are not blessed with the privilege of attending such services are especially comforted by the fact that God has promised that where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He will be in their midst. So again we see God's providence. The woman at the well, the farmer in the field, the workman at the place of daily toil, and the worshiper in the congregation, all can receive the living waters and the spiritual instruction and comfort they need -" if in sincere worship and living faith they lift their hearts to the Giver of every good and perfect gift.
Questions
1. What did the Lord want done with the groves and idols where the heathen worshiped?
2. Who was to choose the place where Israel was to worship?
3. How were the priests and Levites to be supported?
4. Could the tithes be given just anywhere or in any place?
5. How much could they add to the Word of God?
6. What was to be done with the blood of slain animals?
7. Where was the proper place to worship, in the mountain of Samaria or in Jerusalem?
8. Is the Lord confined to certain places to be worshiped?
9. How are we to worship God?
10. Name the different buildings the Jews used for worship.