ALL WE NEED TO WORSHIP
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| Ps. Nyantekyi K. Bonsra |
"The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
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 worshippers 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."
Solomon said that if any Jew travels outside Jerusalem, he should face the direction of the temple on the mountain when he prays. That showed how the Jews revered the temple in the old testament. So how can someone with little or no geography knowledge trace the direction of the the temple when outside Jerusalem. This shows how limited worship was then.
The reason why the temple was so significant was that, it was divided into three: the Outer Court, the Inner Court and the Holiest of Holies. The Ark of the Lord was at the Holiest of Holies where it is believed God dwelt, and it was only the high priest that had access to the place and even the priest's life is at risk because if he errs in his duty, he looses his life. This shows a limitation in the old testament worship.
Jesus Christ has been all the requirement of Temple so if we have him, we wouldn't need to worship in the Jerusalem Temple.
When Jesus died, the curtain tore apart so that everyone could have access to the temple including the holiest of holies. Now we have direct access to the holiest of holies through the death of Christ.
We are the temple as 1 Corinthians 3:16,17 makes us know. Anyone who destroys the temple of God shall also be destroyed. You are the temple of God: since Jesus is the temple and the Bible says he left his spirit with us, then that makes us the temple of God. So let us worship God directly from within because our body is the holiest of holies.
Do you sense the presence of God in you?
Is God in His Temple?
Since the spirit of God lives in us, we don't need to go/face Jerusalem to worship God.
"It is not your responsibility to fall but it is your responsibility to rise."
You are the temple of God, so live a life befitting that. Now you are the most important figure for worship.
Another limitation of the old testament worship was that, when the hight priest is not available you cannot worship. But now the word is written in our hearts and God dwells in us, so we don't need a high priest's presence to worship God. (1 Peter 2:9)
This implies that the things that was meant to be done by the hight priest, we are eligible to do, and we are the temple at the same time too so you can worship within yourself.
The New Testament worship is the worship in the spirit.
You are an embodiment of all that is required for you to worship.
If you don't take up the full responsibilities of a priest well, you will loose your (eternal) life and that of others.
You are a High Priest of God, so in all your ways put that into consideration.
The third thing needed for worship is the Sacrifice. That is what Christ has been; a sacrificial lamb once and for all. He went into the Holiest of Holies just once and used His own blood as sacrifice. So we do not need to sacrifice any sheep or animal whatsoever.
Romans 12:1,2 admonishes us to lay down ourselves as a living sacrifice. Without you the believer there cannot be worship.
Now we have been made anew, we embody all the three things needed for worship in the old testament
Temple
High Priest
Sacrifice
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