In true worship there must be a recognition of God, of His position, of His character, of His claims. While it is not possible for the human mind to fully grasp any one of these, yet just as far as it is capable of so doing, these must become elements in all true worship.
Worship does not consist of forms, or rounds of service, or of oft-repeated sentences; yet these may be and often are parts of true worship. Upon this point the Saviour said: “When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogs and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.” “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” Oft repeated words, lofty or eloquent language, are not necessary to prayer.
“Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed,
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye
When none but God is near.”
In the simple sentences, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and, “Lord, save us; we perish,” there was more true worship than in all the set forms of prayer in all the prayer-books in all the world, and repeated parrot-like by thousands of people every day.
Prayer is the outreaching of the soul to God, the feeling after Him if haply we may find Him. In these simple expressions of the desires of the heart, the suppliant feels his own needs. And at the same time he has some conception of God’s power and majesty, some sense of His love and goodness, some hope in His mercy and grace. And as the petitioner pours out his soul to God, Spirit meets spirit; the divine touches the human; the strong bears the infirmity of the weak; the debased is uplifted and ennobled; the Spirit-filled soul is enlightened; and so Paul says, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also.”
The psalmist says: “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” “Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill: for the Lord our God is holy.” Ps. 29:2; 95:6; 99:9. In each of these Spirit-inspired expressions there is a recognition of God’s greatness, love, mercy, and power.
When Jesus was speaking to the woman at the well in Samaria, she raised the question of true worship. And the Saviour’s answer we may well study in the light of other scriptures. The woman said: “Our fathers worshiped 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.
Let us inquire upon what grounds both the Jews and the Samaritans claimed a specific place of worship. Going back in the history of these two peoples, we find that when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, and at the base of Mt. Sinai delivered to them His will and instructed them as to how they should worship Him, He told them that they should build an altar of earth or of rough, undressed stones, and that in all places where He should record His name, there He would meet them and bless them. Ex. 20:24, 25. Again in Deut. 12:5, 6 we read: “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; and thither ye shall bring all your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices.” etc.
Place of His Name
From these and many other texts which might be quoted, we learn that acceptable worship could be carried on only where God had written or placed His name, and that where His name is placed, is His habitation. But His name is His character. See Ex. 34:6, 7. Then let us determine where among that people God did place His name or give a revelation of His character. The only thing that Jehovah ever wrote is the Ten Commandments. These He first spoke with His own voice to them, and then wrote with His own fingers on two tables of stone. See Deut. 4:13; 10:1-5. This law was the expression of God’s will, the expression of His character. In the fourth one of these precepts God has placed His descriptive title—the Creator of the heaven and the earth. This descriptive title is that which is used by all Bible writers to distinguish between the true God and all false ones.
These two tables of stone containing the revealed will of God in which God had placed His name, was taken by Moses and, according to the instruction, was by him placed in the ark. Above this he placed the mercy-seat, on either end of which stood a covering cherub overshadowing it with glory. Between the cherubim God manifested His presence. Here He dwelt in the light of the Shekinah, for we read: “Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.” Ps. 80:1. Thus we see that in the Ten Commandments with all that is involved in them, and in the mercy-seat with all that is involved in it—the plan of salvation—we have the complete revelation of God’s character to Israel. Here God fully placed His name, and wherever this ark stood, to that place must they bring all their sacrifices and offerings, and before this ark all their services were to be conducted, and toward it all their worship was to be directed.
By reading Deut. 11:29; 27:12, etc., and Joshua 8:30-33, it will be seen that after the Israelites came into the land of Canaan, at the mountains, Ebal and Gerizim, there was conducted one of the most remarkable and imposing services ever participated in by that people. Between the two mountains all Israel assembled. There stood the ark of God, and beside it were the priests of God. The people were then divided into two companies, six tribes in each. One company stood on Mount Gerizim (the mount of blessing), and the other on Mount Ebal (the mount of cursing). Here they all listened to the reading of the blessings which God had pronounced upon all those who would keep His law, and to these the company on Gerizim responded a hearty assent. Then were read the curses upon those who violated that law, and the company on Ebal responded with a solemn Amen. Here was represented the time when God’s will, as set forth in the Ten Commandments contained in the ark, and His purpose in the plan of salvation, as set forth in the mercy-seat, shall be fully comprehended by all, and when every member of the human family, by having made choice in harmony with or against God’s law, shall have fully developed a good or bad character, thus placing himself either on the mount of blessing or on the mount of cursing.
But God’s character will be so fully vindicated by the unfolding and working out of His plan that even those under the curse will be compelled to recognize His wisdom and justice.
But to return to our line of thought. Here at Ebal and Gerizim, where the ark stood for a time, Israel worshiped. In David’s day the ark was removed to Jerusalem, and that became the city where God’s name was placed, and to which they must bring all their sacrifices, and toward which all their worship must be directed.
At the captivity, the ark was lost. When the Jews returned and began to rebuild the temple, they refused to allow the Samaritans to assist them. Since neither had the ark in their possession, and since it had once stood in Ebal and Gerizim as well as at Jerusalem, and since God had there given the solemn scene representing the final judgment and vindication of His name, the Samaritans set to work and built a rival temple on Gerizim, the mount of blessing. Hence the dispute which was still a living and interesting one in Christ’s day. But the reply of the Saviour was to the effect that neither Jerusalem nor Gerizim was the true place of worship, but that each individual in whom God’s Spirit and truth is, constitutes a shrine where the true worship of God is conducted.
Then the altar in Jerusalem, Gerizim, Shiloh, or any other place where the ark stood, represented the heart of the man in whom true worship is found, and this is one of God’s dwelling-places. For He has two habitations. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose7name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” Let us examine and see in what respects these altars or shrines where the Jews worshiped resembled the true worshiper.
First, The altar was to be built of earth or stone. So man is of the earth, earthy, and we have the treasure in an earthen vessel.
Secondly, They were not to attempt to dress the stones, but were to use them rough and unhewn as they found them. So man must not try to make himself better, but must come to God just as he is.
Thirdly, At each place of worship was found God’s law, in the ark, written by God Himself. So God says of the true worshipers, “I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” Jer. 31:33. And of Jesus, as Son of Man and our pattern in all things, we read: “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Ps. 40:8. And of the Corinthians whom Paul had led to Christ and instructed in the way of life until they became epistles, known and read of all men, we read: “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” 2 Cor. 3:3. Thus we see that the Ten Commandments, not as changed by the beast, not as enforced in the image, not as interpreted by man, but as originally spoken by the Lord and written by Him on two tables of stone, will be written by His Spirit in the heart of the true worshiper.
Fourthly, Above the law was the mercy-seat. So in the heart of each one there will be erected by faith the mercy-seat from which Jesus as king of Grace will speak the pardon of past sins. Here will be the ministration of holy angels, and the covering cherubim will flood such a heart with glory. Here God’s character will be fully revealed, and by beholding the true worshiper will be changed into the same image from glory to glory, until the character of God is fully placed there; and such an one worships in spirit and in truth.
Fifthly, In carrying out God’s instruction, they were to write upon the plastered surface of the altar where all could see it, God’s law. So while God writes the law in our hearts, we must transcribe this law into the words and actions of the outward man, for we must not only have Christ, who is but the living expression of God’s will, enshrined in the heart, but we must put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Such become living epistles, “known and read of all men,” showing forth the praises of Him who hath created us unto “good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
That God designs that we shall have a knowledge of His will and that we must be entirely submissive to it in all things, and that to wilfully substitute anything for God’s will renders our worship useless and vain, is clearly proved by the following texts of Scripture: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Ps. 66:18. “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” Prov. 28:9. “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:8, 9.
Dear reader, please study carefully the law of God and see if there is any part of it from which you are turning your ear away. Is there any iniquity (transgression of the law) which you are regarding or cherishing in your heart? Go prayerfully over the articles of your faith and see if in any one of them there be a substitution of any precept of man for the commandment of God.
When this great Threefold Message calls upon the human family to worship Him that made heaven and earth, it calls for the writing of God’s law upon the heart, including the seventh-day Sabbath as a sign of His creative power. It calls for the conformity of the daily life to this law. It calls for the setting up and constant recognition of the mercy-seat in the heart. It calls for the reproduction of the mind and life of Christ in each believer. And so God describes His people under this message by saying, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12.
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17.
