Before the altar, part 16

If this is true and I, and others like me, am incapable of holiness, how do I reach that point where I can join with others who are also in the same situations as I? How do I become a member of the royal priesthood that Peter describes in 1 Peter 2:5-9? Can I earn it? No. Adam proved that so did his descendants. There is nothing I can do to work my way in heaven, no way to get credit for what I do. In Romans 5 and 6, Paul describes what is done so that I may be one of God's and that I may be in His house. While sin entered the world through Adam, God sent Jesus to show us the way out of this sin. And Jesus' blood covers us, like a blanket. Those who have done the Father's Will, as Jesus did the Father's Will, will be saved. It is the Father's Will that I put on Jesus in baptism and that through baptism I experience death, burial and resurrection of Christ and have put Him on. In return, I've been promised His Spirit and I receive it upon baptism (Acts 2:38)-- that's a promise and God never goes back on His promises. So when I recieve the gift of salvation, I have put on Jesus' and God's Spirit. At His altar I have come, I am His, my old man is dead and Christ has created a new man in me. I have arisen as a baby comes from the waters of the womb. I am now His royal citizen. And in His eyes I am special, as are those of us who are also in Him. We are all equal, while our talents aren't, and while some have been created with more than others. But we are none of us considered to be more that what another man is on God's View.

Before the altar, part 15

What God is trying to tell me with the altar, what He is trying to teach me is that it is true that the place is important, as it resembles "Heaven on earth". (Psalm 5:7; Ephesians 2:21; Ephesians 3:17) Since God dwells in me and in His earthly physical temple as well and because He dwells on His throne in heaven, it is my goal to maintain that purity of spirit, maintain the reverence He deserves. (Psalm 11:4; Psalm 65:4; Habakkuk 2:20) Otherwise, my worship is such a special place. It is a blessed place (Exodus 40:9; Leviticus 8:10,11) and it represents that place that Jesus has gone up to heaven to prepare for me. (John 14:2)

What a sacred place His place of worship is, from the beginning of time! How sanctified those who were called to be His priests! (1 Chronicles 23:32) How specific the design of His building was as shown in 1 Kings 8:8; Exodus 38:24) and the ceremony to be carried on within it, as laid out in Leviticus 14:13. How specific the behavior was to be when one was of the order of Levi, as outlined in 2 Chronicles 29:5 and 2 Chronicles 30:7. And how specific the behavior was among those numbered in His! (2 Chronicles 35:5; Ezra 9:8). God's place is, always has been and always will be a holy place. Psalm 24:3 asks, "Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place?" Psalm 24:4 answers by saying those with clean hands and a pure heart. Psalm 46:4 describes the place as the city through which a river runs through. And Psalm 68:17 says that God keeps up His holy place, describing it as a sanctuary, with tens of thousands and thousands of thousands of His chariots. He has legions upon legions to keep up His place. Are any of us truly worthy, in and of ourselves? No. God's place is so holy and so protected that there is no passport that would bring us there, except that of the blood of Jesus Christ. Because God's place is the place of everlasting peace, and in order to do that, He must keep order. HE must keep order, no one else has that responsibility because no one else is worthy of it. We are all capable of doing anything at any time. So even if His physical place is destroyed and burned to the floor, the Spiritual realm goes ever on. Why then was it important for the people of Israel to rebuild their city and their Temple that was destroyed by the Babylonians and the Assyrians? It is a reminder of the power and presence of God. This is why assembling with one another today is important. We will not forget Jesus broke the bread and passed the cup and said eat and drink this and think of me if in memoriam we do it together and for the united purpose that we believe Jesus came, Jesus died, Jesus was buried, and Jesus arose. But it also involves humility and contriteness, as in Isaiah 57:15, of a heart that desires not to ride with one's own legions, but with the one that could have called 10,000 angels, as the hymn says. God has sanctioned that there is a portion of His land that His children on earth will live in and on. And those places are sacred and shall be treated as such. And one who is not contrite and humbled before Him cannot enter in the Spiritual realm. As Jesus said in Matt 23:25, the cup must be cleaned from inside out, not just the outside, as the Pharisees were wont to do. That is the only way for anyone to enter heaven.

Before the altar part 14

When I come before the altar with my own intentions, and have put my traditions and my rules and regulations according to what I wish to see, I am as bad as an infidel, as loathsome a creature as if I never knew God. I defile the purpose of my God to live in peace with mankind. This is what people did to Stephen, as because of their traditions and vehement application of such they stoned him to death. (Acts 6:13). And this is what the people did in Acts 21:28 to Paul because they didn't want to hear his preaching. When it comes to the point that I am not willing to even listen to the teaching of a preacher, then I have effectively become close-minded and ineffective. Just because I receive the message of what others may speak doesn't mean I agree with it. It is just that all have a free will and the right to express this. No, once I become close-minded to someone, how can I expect him or her to open up to me? I remember a time when I was passionate about being right, a time when I would throw away letters if the person writing me told me that they wanted to do something other than what I was doing as a Christian, and I would never talk to those people again, at least not for a long time. How childish of me! Christ listened to everyone, and He presented His view to everyone. And if there were those that accepted him, fine and all the better. But it is not love to cut someone off because of a disagreement of viewpoints. (Hebrews 9:12,25) If I even try to live by traditions, I might as well say that the sacrifice of small goats and sheep will save me. In reality I know the truth. Only the blood of Christ saves me. Not all people look at being a Christian from this angle. Some are not aware of the truth of the statement that Christ and only Christ saves me. But does that mean I should not listen to what they wish to say?

Before the Altar part 14

The only way to answer that is to ask myself what my relationship with God is. Am I relying on what men say, or am I reading and studying for myself, as the scriptures are useful so that I can be His workman, as Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16-17? God equips me with a free will so that I can make choices and ability to use this properly. He above all wants to be wants to be informed of my slightest need, my littlest concern. Daniel 9:17-26 is such a beautiful prayer by one of God's greatest servants, who would never abandon God because it was not fashionable. And yet there have been times when I would abandon God's worship for what I thought was God's worship, whne I would have added things into his worship to make it more attractive to others. That is not my purpose. If I attract people into worship, it is because of what God has to offer to others, not what my selling God offers others; I reap what I sow. Am I sowing something pleasing to Him? Or am I sowing something that pleases others and me? Which may or may not be in synch with what God wants. If we give ourselves over to that which would please each other there are several things that could happen. We could decide we don't like meeting on Sundays, because it interferes with our sports or more seriously because we can't get there because of the hours we work. (An argument for offering more than one service all day long on Sunday.) We could decide we don't need the Lord's Supper to commemorate Jesus' life on this earth and the price he paid for us. We could decide that public confession should be made to only the elders and deacons. We could decide that if we had things, icons, statues, it might help up pray better. I could decide that those standing in front of us singing have better voices than me and I can stop singing and listen. God says I am equal to everyone, so I shouldn't feel as though I can's sing in His presence without offending Him. He made and loves my voice. As for Sundays, I know how hard it is to go to church on Sundays because I work third shift and have since 1998. I have missed some services to b e sure, but I go when I can. My desire?To partake in the remembrance of Jesus and why He came to earth. And the benefit? A stronger relationship via the faith that God tells me I must have in order to please Him. I know that if i do as He tells me and listen to His word, worship on Sundays, and partake in the Lord's Supper and rejoice in song with Him, then I can without hesitation call myself His. If I live like that everyday, I can really do that.

Before the altar part 13

Same mountain (as Isaiah's), same God. What a wonderful concept? All together praising and singing only to Him, all together around His altar. The whole problem arises when there are groups or portions of groups that want to take what is God's house of prayer and use it to sell their concept of God. Believing that what they sell can help those who need it to concentrate on God actually means that people need an image to focus on, because God has none. When in reality, God's image is us. We were made in His image according to Genesis 1:27. So if there is anything to focus on, to see God, we need to look around us at our brethren. Which make me want to try to be more holy and humble if I am to reflect Him. If He calls me to creat a temple within me, then I need to clean my cup from the inside, rather than to show my cleanliness from the outside, I need to create His temple His way. (Exodus 26:7) and clean that which is unclean. (Joshua 22:19) I need to be holy, because within me is His tabernacle. (Psalm 15:1; Psalm 61:4; Psalm 76:2). And the whole purpose is not finding things to make me feel holy but to actually be holy. In Hebrews 8:2,5, the writer says, "A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the LORD has pitched and not man, who serves unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for 'See' saith He,"that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.'" He wants me to do things His way, not in ways that make me feel as though I am really worshipping, but to really worship Him. If I truly desire to worship Him this way, then my worship is reverent and true. (Psalm 5:7; Psalm 11:4). How do I make my worship this way, what do I need to do to purify my heart for Him. I must seek to do His will. Can I spell it out in words or pages? Probably not, because then it becomes a checklist for someone weaker in faith than myself, or else I become a teacher of falseness because at that point people follow me. There is not one person other than God that can tell me or anyone else who has chosen to follow Him what He wants. Do I seek Him? Or do I seek an image of Him presented by man? Do I seek to influence those who look up to me as someone who has this holiness thing down? Or am I truly holy, going to worship in my heart and in His tabernacle that He has built within me? How do I know His Will?

Before the altar part 12

Let's take the holiness of the inside of the cup that Jesus talks about one step further. If this is true, if being holyis much more than going and being associated with a church, then how do I get to the point that I can truly bring my gifts to the altar and be in the act of acceptable worship to Him? How do I become God's priest? I've been promised the spirit of Salvation once I obediently come to Him in baptism and realize that my life is dross without Him in it. Is that all that is neccessary to become His priest? Isn't there something else I need to do, some test to perform, something I can check off and say I graduated to bigger and better things now and can be called holy? No. What is so wonderful about God is that He determines who His priests are, who is holy in His sight. And it is at that point we obey God. Fully. When we said we believe everything although we may not think everything will come to pass but because it is God we believe what He says. One way or another we believe what He says will come to pass. And a reader of Scripture can see this when reading the life of Jesus. While going to all the Jewish festivals, He nevertheless never hesitated to point out that He was the way, the truth, and the light, or that He was resurrection, or that He was the bread of life. And His message was, "Come with me, this is the easy part." If anything once I am His I am a royal citizen because He is King. Once I have made my decision to follow Jesus to God then I am His princess, I am His priest. I am His. That makes me and others who follow Him special in God's eyes and yet all equal. While my talents are not equal to others, He treats me the same as He would the most gifted preacher in the universe. I have a place in His family, in His church, and am an important structure in the spiritual building. I am important in bolstering His kingdom and He has told me that my capacity for love can be as meaningful to someone in need as the most stirring liturgy or most impressing sermon by the most famous preacher. And regardless of whether I have 10 talents or 2 talents, I and others will be on the mountain worshipping Him together when we are His. (Isa 56:7)

Before the Altar part 12

What a sacred place His place of worship is, from the very beginning of time! How sanctified those who were called to be His priests. (1 Chronicles 23:32) How specific the design of His building and the ceremony within it (Leviticus 14:13) is only indicative of how much He desires my obedience and our obedience to His word. When God says He wants the building made of cedar and olive tree and inlaid in gold and when He says He wants the lamb for the sacrifice slaughtered in a particular way and the blood applied to His altar in a particular way, they were to do it, or like Eli's sons were going to go up in smoke. (I Samuel 2:12ff) Truly that is the way He expects me to treat His worship, to do what He wants me to do. If I, if as His people we who worship Him, do as He says and follow His commands, He counts us as His. (2 Chronicles 35:5; Ezra 9:8) We will be like those numbered specially as His priests, of the house of Levi (2 Chronicles 29:5; 2 Chronicles 30:7; Leviticus 6:16; Leviticus 10:17) God's place is a holy place and when I and my brethren are in it we are to act as His and be holy for He is holy. (Psalms 44:4; Psalms 68:17) and God's place will never die, because He has chosen not just to build it physically in the church, but in each and everyone that believes in Him and calls Him Father. This is even true during the physical destruction of the earthly places of worshipping God or the physical destruction of my body by those who would take the right to worship God away from me. The altar, the church is more than a physical spot. (Matthew 24:15) That's why it was so important for the people to build such a temple, to go to such lengths as in Ezekiel 41:4 and Ezekiel 42:13, i.e. the specifications of the tabernacle, the doors to such, the floors where it was held, the house itself. The whole concept of the altar and church involve an attitude found in Isaiah 57:15, where there is an attitude of humility and contriteness, of having a heart to follow the One who rides with the twenty thousand angels in chariots as spoken of in Psalm 68:17. It involves so much more than setting apart a portionof the land to increase the size of the church. That is outside stuff. Jesus had plenty to say about a cup that was only clean from the outside and not the inside as well. (Matthew 23:25)