Where Do You Worship Yahovah
Deuteronomy 12:10-28
Continuing on in my Torah daily Torah studies, beginning with verse 10 and reading through verse 28, Yahovah provided us clear instruction as to where “Central Station Worship” would be. At this early juncture, that is, just prior to entering in to the Land of Promise, Yah had not revealed to us the exact location of that “Central Station Worship.” In this portion, Yah simply laid out before us that any worship of Him must legitimately be done only where He says it shall be done. In this directive, there was no varying of locations or regions. Leaving to the whims and desires of our forefathers as to the location of Central Station Worship would certainly result in chaos and turf-wars among within our nation. Not to mention, we’re talking about worship of the Creator of the Universe—thus how and where He desires for us to worship Him should be of no concern of ours apart from our strict obedience to these mitzvot (aka commandments). Thus, so as there to be no confusion as to where we would give our “burnt offerings, sacrifices, tenths, the offering of our hand and all our best possessions,” Yah in His infinite design and purpose would chose where Grand Central Station Worship would be stood up. (Verse 10-12) For our worship of Him, which would include sacrifices and offerings—sorry, no praise and worship bands with their rock/hip hop music; no coffee socials; no perusals of bookstores and gathering together of friends to socialize the days away. No, this place of worship would be established for the purpose of honor Yahovah as He stipulated; as He commanded; in accordance with His desires and purpose.
Oh how churchianity has through the centuries taken the concept of the place of the worship of Yahovah and turned it into a forum where man has determined how it would look and function. Gone was the concept of Yahovah establishing the place and content of our worship. Once again, our ego (that is man’s ego) has superseded the commands and desires of our Creator, as it has in every aspect of our individual lives. Fortunately for us today—that is those of us who have come under the Father’s covering and governance—our worship of Him is localized within ourselves. How can I make such a statement? Well, it is common knowledge that the Temple that Father instructed be erected in Yerushalayim had not only become corrupted by our forefathers’ greed and carnality, but also superseded or done away with by the sacrifice and resurrection of our Master Y’shua HaMashiyach. Thus the Temple in Yerushalayim was destroyed in 68 C.E. according to Rood (or 70 C.E. according to most Bible scholars). This void that Father left us with ultimately gave way to a completely different way and place to worship Father. Rav Shaul received a profound revelation directly from our Master Y’shua Hamashiyach about how the renewed covenant had, since His sacrifice, resurrection and administering of the Ruach Kodesh to each of us, had superseded the Temple as being the place of our worship of our Father. He wrote to the Corinthian assembly:
“Everything is in my power: but everything is not profitable to me. Everything is in my power: but none (of them) will have dominion over me. Food is for the belly; and the belly is for food; but Elohim will bring them both to nothing. But the body is not for illicit sex, but for our Master (Y’shua); and our Master (Y’shua) for the body. And Elohim has raised up our Master; and He will raise us up, by His power. Don’t you know that your bodies are the members of the Mashiyach? Will one take a member of the Mashiyach, and make it the member of a harlot? May it never be! Or don’t you kow, that whoever joins himself to a harlot, is one body (with her)? For it is said, the two will be one body. But he that joins himself to our Master (Y’shua), is with Him one spirit. Flee from sexual sin. For every (other) sin which a man commits, is external to his body; but he that commits sexual sin, sins against his own body. Or don’t you know, that your body is the temple of the Ruach haKodesh who abides in you, whom you have received from Elohim? And you are not your own. For you are bought with a price. Therefore you glorify Elohim with your body, and with your spirit, which are Elohim’s.” (1 Cor. 6:12-20 AENT)
Shaul shares some very enlightening things in his correspondence to the Corinthian assembly. Primary and central to all that he wrote it the transition from Temple to body. I believe this was always the goal and purpose of Father; to move us from the flesh/carnal to that of the spirit. Oh how the Master hinted of this to the unknowing, unsuspecting first-century world, as he conversed with the Samaritan woman at the well:
“Y’shua said to her, “Woman believe me, the hour is coming that not in this mountain nor in Urishlim (Yerushalayim) will they worship the Father. You worship something that you do not know. But we worship that we know, for life is from the Yehudeans (Jews). But the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, indeed. For the Father, He seeks worshippers as these. For Elohim is Spirit, and those who worship, they must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (Yochanan 4:21-24 AENT)
This revelation Y’shua spoke in response to her question, found in the same chapter, “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain (that is Gerizim), but you people say that the place where one has to worship is in Yerushalayim.” (Yochanan 4:20) In other words, one of the several schisms that separated the Samaritan people from their cousins the Jews is their belief and practice as it related to where they worshiped Yahovah; that of course being the Samaritan believed Mount Gerizim and the Jew Yerushalayim. But Savior revealed that a time was just ahead when the whole debate about where we must worship Father will be a moot point because worship of Yah will become spiritual in nature and the place of worship will be within each and every true believer. This is what the Father has always wanted—”…for these are the kind of people the Father wants worshipping Him.” (vs. 23)
Certainly, destruction of the Temple took the Jewish nation by shock. The Temple was the center of commerce and national and religious pride at the time, although Father’s spirit and glory had long left the edifice and never truly returned—reference Eze. 10. That same Spirit that filled the house in Yerushalayim is the same Spirit and glory that now fills each of us who would be true sons and daughters of the Most High. Despite religion’s efforts to contain Father in a brick and mortar construct that wants for an infusion of funds and manual labor to keep it running, we of the Hebraic Roots/Netzari/Messianic community realize that the focus of worship is no longer a building made by hands. The focus of worship has now become the building that is our bodies. What that worship looks like now—today under the renewed covenant—is somewhat beyond the scope and intent of this posting. However, I would like to invite each of you to take the time out of your busy schedules to listen to two episodes of It’s Not As You Perceive (our sister podcast ministry) that we posted in April of last year. In these two episodes we spoke to the issue and topic of worship as it now stands under the renewed covenant. Here are the links to these two episodes for your convenience.
Until next time, may you be most blessed fellow saints in training—Shalom.