A Lesson Worth Remembering

A Lesson Worth Remembering

Paul reminds us that the lessons of the Old Testament record are "our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted..." (I Cor. 10:6).

A careful perusal of the record reveals that God never left it up to his people to design his houses of worship, nor did he allow them to decide what the particulars of that worship would be. When the tabernacle was to be built and the new worship inaugurated, God said to Moses, "And let them make me a sanctuary...According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it" (Ex. 25:8-9). Additional warnings reinforced this rule!

When the permanent temple was to be built in Jerusalem, God also provided the pattern. "Then David gave to Solomon the pattern of" every aspect of the project. "All this, said David, have I been made to understand in writing from the hand of Jehovah, even all the works of this pattern" (I Chron. 28:11-19).

Years later, when repairs had to be made to the temple and the worship properly restored, Jehoiada insisted that it be done, "as it is written in the law of Moses" (II Chron 23:18). When Hezekiah set about to restore the worship which had been corrupted, he did it "according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was of Jehovah by his prophets" (II Chron. 29:25). Upon their return from Babylonian Captivity, Nehemiah led the people in rebuilding the temple and restoring the proper worship they opened God's book and followed the instructions therein (Neh. 13:1). They kept the charge of God and proceeded according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son Neh. 12:45).

When Christ ushered in his new era, he chose not to give his people a temple of wood and stone like that of the Jews in Jerusalem. He declared the church to be his temple in which the Holy Spirit would dwell (Eph. 2:21-22). Each disciple is like a stone in that sacred temple. Paul reminds us, "Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (I Cor. 3:16). As in ancient times, God did not leave us to our own devices in the creation of this holy temple. We are told to "Hold the pattern of sound words which thou hast heard from me..." (II Tim. 1:13). Like Moses and the workers on the temple, we are to " make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee..." (Heb. 8:5).

The temple of the Lord is sacred and its design and construction cannot be left to our sin-marred creative skills. It must be designed in the mind of God lest it be rejected by him. He has made the church his temple in the Christian age. Every vital aspect of our worship, faith and practice he has designed. Her organization and polity he planned. By consulting the message of the New Testament of Christ we can know how to proceed so that the finished product will be pleasing and acceptable to Him. For us to seek to design or reshape the church according to our own ideas and liking is not only foolish, it is dangerous. For God's ways are not our ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are (his) ways higher than (our) ways" (Is. 55:8-9). He has provided us the pattern. The question is, will we be satisfied to follow it in every detail? Remember, those prior events were for our learning!

Sincerely,

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