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)

Before the Altar part 12

Seeing the destruction of Israel traceable to those actions gave me a wake-up call to realize who is it that I really follow. Am I following the God who Saves, or am I following man-made gods of those who want to lead but who do so with stipulations attached, those who say repent and be baptized and...or those who say all you have to do is pray Jesus into your heart and send us $25.00 and you'll be saved? That is the quickest way to cause impurities to be on God's altar, and what God desires to know is am I following this or am I following just Him? I must watch my ways, for while it may not seem as though He is there, God is watching my every move, every action, and know my every motive. God knows my every attitude, good or bad. is it OK to have a bad attitude. Sure, but deal with it. It's neither good nor bad to feel, its just human, but when it becomes good or bad is when we allow that emotion to control our actions. Do I have enough self-control to behave in a God-like manner even when those around me don't? God knows and He forgives when I fall. But I must learn from my mistakes or He will not pick me up one of those time and I will not only skin my knees ut I will hurt my ribs. So what does my attitude need to be? Well, I like Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:8 as he looks to God to heal him. And God can heal me of all things, I just have to admit that I am wrong or even if I have a right to be angry, I have no right to act out that anger via violence either verbal or physica. Because when I deliberately set out to hurt someone what is the difference between my "righteous" anger and someone else's selfish anger?

Before the Altar part 11

One thing we must consider, our actions can and do affect others, no matter if we see it or not. When I lie, or curse, or whatever, someone sees me, and that someone may not see Christians in a favorable light because of what I do. Let's take this deeper. Consider Solomon. Because of Solomon's lusts, Israel was doomed. (2 Kings 16:8) Were the people payinf for what Solomon did? Yes and no. There are instances where a man's actions -- in direct disobedience to God -- cause God to punish His people. (Joshua 7) But more importantly, Solomon's life was out in the open, for all to see. And not only did the people he ruled see, but foreigners saw it as well. If Solomon can lead his life and worship false gods in addition to God the Almighty and God does nothing, why should anyone worry about worshipping other and false gods? After all who truly is to say who is the true God? If this type of honoring God suited Solomon, why shouldn't it suit the people under his rule?

Before the Altar part 10

The altar is a sanctuary, a place I can go and cry. (I Samuel 1:7; 1 Samuel 7:4) And I can go in front of Him, just as I am, a saved sinner, one who comes to Him with my broken heart. (2 Samuel 12:20). If I examine the Old Testament correctly, I see trouble from the start. While Solomon was indeed supposed to build the Temple which he did in I Kings 6:37, as well as in 1 Kings 7:40 and 1 Kings 8:10-63, he nonetheless took a foreign bride. This was not neccesarily a bad thing but in Solomon's case...well suffice it to say that he gave up God to follow foreign idols. He allowed his wives to tell him what to do interms of how to worship and that it would be OK if he wanted to use false gods as long as he mentioned God occasionally. God was a loving God that would forgive Solomon that. If there had been penitence. But the mere fact that the people around Solomon took an example and assumed that was OK resulted in doom. As I read it, it was because of this that Isreal fell finally in AD 70. It was the result of traditional practices that led to worship of false gods and muddying the waters for people that wanted to worship the True God. Isreal fell because of its laws, its practices of weighing to heavily upon rules, upon using the letter of the law to get what they could from poor folk in the guise of leading them to what it took to get them to heave. And being focused on the laws, not the end result of those laws. And that is me, when I tell God,"I did this, this, this and that and aren't I a good girl and when do I get my gold star, God?"

Before the Altar; Part 9

Now when I do not focus on God, when my behaviour reflects my lack of focus on God then I really need to understand that God will not stand for it. 1 Peter 4:17, "For this time si come that judgment must begin." If that is the case then my time is coming where God will show His ultimate displeasure with my behaviour. And if I were wise I would repent now, before the ultimate, ultimate, ultimate judgement comes. He holds me accountable for my actions. Because I am His child, His son's (and ultimately His, although it is not though of like that) blood gives me an out -- but I must be willing to walk and obey Him. And I must give Him my best, not to perform for Him, but just to bring Him what He brought to me. (Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26)

Before the altar Prat 8

When am I cut off from His worship? When do I stop receiving His blessings? (Joel 1:16). Could it be when I show dissension? Could it be when I don't give Him what He desires or wants me to give Him? (Micah 4:2; Zechariah 7:2). Obviously it's not when I use things in the temple that I am told by law they are forbidden to touch, such as the shew bread that David ate when he was hungry. (Matthew 12:4) What behaviour takes me from God and makes my worship vain? And what does God deem appropriate behavior? (1 Timothy 3:15) As High Priest, Jesus allows us into a one-on-one communication with God. (Hebrews 10:21) and as a Christian I only have one High Priest that I need to follow. There are two ways to look at observance of God's Word. One is according to word-for-word. The other is the overall theme of peace and understanding as well as acting and being God's child. The two basic commands were 1) love the LORD your God with all your body, soul, mind, and heart and 2) love your neighbor as yourself. How hard that is depends on whether I want to add my prejudices to the letter of the law. If my focus is on Jesus, though, then if someone else is concerned about how I conduct my life, that is his or her difficulty and I am not responsible for how that person thinks. If I am focusing on Jesus, chances are I will do as He says and love God above all else and then love my neighbor. That leaves no room for sinful behavior. If I conduct my life differently from the way other people do, but am not engaged in sin, is it wrong? Not according to God and Jesus. I am God's child and He is my only judge.

Who seems to get the blessing? Who does God grant His blessing upon? Hebrews 7:9 says that the blessing from God are bestowed on the lesser. This is no more evident than in the High Priest, Jesus (Hebrews 8). He was not rich, in fact he was ridiculed and despised of men and by hanging on the cross became the lowliest of the low, yet God bestowed upon Him. Because of Him, me and you and you and you and all those who put Him on and die to self, have salvation and a new and eternal life. If I walk with Him, and stay the course, I have a seat at the foot of the right hand of the Father. Look at Jacob, taking Esau's birthright (Genesis 27:37) The lesser getting the blessing. Jacob was born a little later than Esau. And Jacob was the one Isaac blessed first. But Jacob was also a thief and a liar. And he wrestled with God, and he understood that God was the one and only God. The least shall be first.

Who gets the blessing? Who does His will? If I am leading those about me to seek not His will but to look for that which they can get out of a service then I am misleading those around me and I am accountable. (Isaiah 9:15,16) If what I seek is a service that has pep, that has umph, that has sugar-coating, rip-roaring, tear-jerking messages with a preacher that won't quit, I may or may not be looking for ways to please God. How will I know whether I am pleasing God? Do I understand why and where God needs me? Do I understand that God is in all of history? (Isaiah 36:15-21) Do I understand God's great power? (Isaiah 37:10,23) Do I understand that I cannot hide from him? (Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 45:9) Is what I am doing a mockery to Him? Do I delude myself in thinking that what I do is pleasing to Him, when I am not tending to His people, not tending to keep His message alive, not tending to His purpose for me and others? (Isaiah 52:5; Isaiah 65:7; Jeremiah 4:10; Jeremiah 17:15) Where is my belief? (Jeremiah 20:7) Does my worship represent an expression of me to God or does my worship display recognition of the glory of God? In 2 Chronicles 5:1, the priests couldn't even stand to minister because God's glory was so wonderful and God had basically displayed Himself. Sometimes during singing, I stop and listen and I can hear resonance of voices of the congregation from singing, and I feel His pleasure and glory. When I go before God's altar, and am with Him praying and allowing Him to communicate with me, I am His princess. (2 Chronicles 22:12) If I walk and talk with Him and worship only Him all for Him and not for me, then His temple will be built within me. (2 Chronicles 24:13) And if I allow idols to take over the worship of God, if I allow myself to be more concerned with what I am getting out of service and presentation of God rather than seeing and being with God Himself, my temple will eventually be destroyed. (2 Chronicles 33:2; 2 Chronicles 36:9) And it will take a renewal of my faith, a return to find and rebuild and restructure my life to fit God's desires and will for me. (Ezra 5:18,15; Ezra 7:20,23; Nehemiah 6:10) In the days of the nation of Israel after the Babylonian invasion, the temple was destroyed, but that was the physical temple. God could never be destroyed. And the proof of that was the constant rebuilding of the temple. This is true with me. While I may destroy my life with my idols, while I may allow things to take my focus from God, while my worship may turn to that which entertains me rather than that which uplifts and nurtures my spirit and teaches me to commune with God, which I begin to see that I have done wrong, God will take me and remold and rebuild within me a heart after His heart. It brings tears to my eyes to remember not the times before I put on Christ in baptism but those times after that I have chosen to stray and follow my intentions rather than God's. It brings tears to my eyes because God has never ceased to take me back and to continue to do so. (Psalm 42:4; Psalm 52:8). I know brethren that are so hurt that they feel that God could never take them back. This is not true. God has an altar that, when we sacrifice that which would take me away from Him so that we can be with Him,, He shines His Glory upon all of us. And the angels rejoice. It is in those times that I most appreciate my brethren, when we stand before His altar, and worship the King, sacrificing our selfish desires and all our lusts so that we can be purified by His Spirit. (Psalm 55:14; Ecclesiastes 5:1; Isaiah 2:3)