God's Chosen Place of Worship

 You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My Sanctuary. I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:30

During prayer, this morning, as I was praying on the point: Hallowed (Holy) is Your Name, the Holy Spirit brought this verse to my mind. So I got out my Hebrew translation of the Bible and looked up this verse. It reads: אֶת-שַׁבְּתֹתַי תִּשְׁמֹרוּ, וּמִקְדָּשִׁי תִּירָאוּ:  אֲנִי, יְהוָה which can be translated: You will guard My rests and My place of Holiness you shall reverence/awe/fear. I AM YHVH or the One who said "let there be and it was".  This verse is found in the heart of the Torah. The Jewish people for hundreds of years have read through the Torah (five books of Moses or Pentateuch) each year by reading one portion a week. This verse is found in the Torah portion called Kedoshim.

Then, the Holy Spirit directed my attention to another verse found in Deuteronomy 16:6, "But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place His Name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover..." God was telling the children of Israel, "You can't just worship Me wherever you decide is best or the way you think is right." Then, He led me to John chapter 4 where Jesus is standing in a Samaritan village by the well, talking with a woman of ill repute. Although, she lived a life that was a far cry from a life of virtue, we can see that she was brought up in a religious home, because she knew what to look for in the qualities of the Messiah. During their religious dialogue, Jesus told her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." John 4:21-24

In Isaiah 66:1-2, we read: Thus says the LORD, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that you build Me? and where is the place of My rest? For all those things has My hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at My Word. We read from Hebrews 10:5: Wherefore when He comes into the world, He says, Sacrifice and offering You would not, but a body have you prepared Me. The Apostle Paul was quoting from Psalm 40, showing how the Messiah was the fulfillment of these verses. 

God once dwelt in buildings of men's hands. First, in the tabernacle of Moses and later in the Temple of Solomon. But His ultimate goal was not a house of wood and stone, but a body. Jesus told His disciples, For where two or more are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20 So many people gather together in a building to worship God, and there is nothing wrong with that. But often times, they worship the building more than the Almighty God. This is idolatry. We are encouraged to gather together in the Name of the Lord. Not in the name of our faith or denomination. Not to be seen of others or to be able to say, "I go to church every Saturday/Sunday."

I am reminded of the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus. He had taken Peter, James and John up into the mountain with Him, and while He was praying, He became transfigured before them, in that His face shone like the sun and His clothes were pure white and sparkly. Moses and Elijah also appeared talking to Him. Peter was so overwhelmed by the awe of this moment that he cried out, "Lord, it is good for us to be here: if You will, let us make here three tabernacles; one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Matthew 17:4 Peter, not yet filled with the Holy Ghost, was unaware of the Eternal purposes of God. He, at that moment, thought what so many have thought over the years - This is such a great move of God that we need to start a new church or denomination based on this revelation. That was not and is not God's will. 

God's will is that He lives among us by the Spirit. The next-to-the-last chapter of the Bible, we find John hearing a voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." Revelation 21:3