“What man soever there be
of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or
that killeth it out of the
camp, And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,
to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood
shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut
off from among his people:” (Le 17:3-4 AV)
The instruction here is
clear. If someone tried to offer an
offering anywhere but at the temple, he lost any hope of eternal life. The tabernacle/temple was the only approved
place where the ceremonial law could be observed. There is a principle here for us New Testament
Christians. The principle of the pre-eminence
of the local New Testament church.
Now, the Old Testament law was
more stringent in its application than the New Testament principle. We are not advocating someone can lose their
salvation if they do not worship at church.
However, there is a principle here that there are no substitutions. The assembly of God’s people is unique and
commanded. It cannot, nor should it be,
replaced by ‘home study groups’, ‘family worship’, or ‘personal worship time’. There is a movement afoot to replace the
church and her preacher by more convenient and less obtrusive means of
meditation. It is all the rage. It is ‘hip’.
It is the ‘in’ thing to do. It is
cool to abandon God’s command to assemble and do the ‘enlightened’ and ‘progressive’
thing of independent bible studies. The problem
is the sheep have rejected God’s ordained method of congregational worship.
What is interesting in the history
of Israel is it started with independent worship. It escalated to separate high places of
worship for individual families and groups.
It ended with idol worship which condemned the nation. We are seeing family after family leaving the
sanctity of the house of worship for their own ‘thing’. Soon, the children loose interest and want
nothing at all to do with the LORD!
There is a price to pay when we leave God’s design! Someone, somewhere, will lose the opportunity
for salvation!
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