In Deut. 12 we see that the enjoyment of Christ with God has to be at the unique place of God’s choice for the keeping of the oneness of God’s people.
This week in our crystallization-study of Deuteronomy we come to the topic of, Enjoying Christ with God on the Ground of Oneness. In Deut. 12 in particular Moses began to charge the people of God on the way to worship God after they enter into the good land.
The people of Israel were in Egypt for several hundred years, and they didn’t really worship God until they were delivered out of Egypt and arrived at Horeb, the mountain of God, to receive the law and the ordinances.
In the wilderness God gave them not only the laws and commandments but also a pattern on building the tabernacle and the ordinances related to the establishing of the priesthood, which had to do with the worship of the children of Israel.
With the tabernacle and the priesthood, the children of Israel could worship God in a proper way.
However, their experience in the wilderness was still an initial stage of worship, so in Deut. 12 Moses is talking about after they enter into the good land to possess it, God has a particular way for them to worship and a particular ordination.
The first thing they had to do is destroy all the places where the nations whom they dispossess have served their gods. These nations used to have high places and worship places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every flourishing tree.
They were to tear down their altars, crush their pillars, burn their Asherah’s with fire, and cut down and destroy their idols and gods, so that even their name would be removed from that place.
This is the black background – the paganistic way of worship, the godless way of worship – against which Moses gave them the ordinances on how to worship God in the good land.
Our God is a God of love and kindness and compassion, but when it comes to worshipping other gods, He is strict and absolute in His instruction to His people concerning what to do about this.
His people were first to destroy all these idols, gods, with their altars and pillars and high places, and not worship any other gods but God.
Then, they had to worship God in the unique place of God’s choice, the place where He chooses to put His name; He made a decision where to put His name, and they had to follow God’s instructions.
We may say that God is rigid and strict when it comes to the place of His people’s worship, for He knows that if His people take any other place besides the place of God’s choice, division comes in.
May we not offend God without knowledge by our neglect and carelessness, and may we not adopt the way of the nations.
May we come back to God’s ordination concerning the place of His choice for us to worship, and may we take His way in our worship of God.
When it comes to worshipping God, you and I have NO RIGHT to decide where to worship, how to worship, and with what to worship; God has already ordained a way, He has made His choice, and there’s no place for our preference, opinion, or convenience.
Enjoying Christ at the Unique Place of God’s Choice for the Keeping of the Oneness of God’s People
Deuteronomy chapter twelve reveals the enjoyment of Christ with God at the unique place of God’s choice for the keeping of the oneness of God’s people (Deut. 12:11-14, 17-18, 21, 26-27; 14:22-23; 16:16; cf. 1 Cor. 10:6, 11; Rom. 15:4).
In Deut. 12-14 Moses mentioned “the place where Jehovah your God will choose to cause His name to dwell” at least fifteen times.
God made His choice; He already chose a place to put His name there, He made His habitation there – and there should His people go and worship Him. We need to seek that place and go to it to worship God there.
The children of Israel were told not to worship God the same way that they did in the wilderness, each man doing what is right in their own eyes.
Today in Christianity it seems that everyone does what’s right in his own eyes; for example, if someone doesn’t like another person in the church, he can go and start another worshipping center with other people.
There are divisions upon divisions and there are churches after churches; there’s a proliferation of the high places, the divisive worshipping centers.
Our God is very narrow when it comes to the place of worship of His people; we are to enjoy Christ with God at the unique place of God’s choice for the keeping of the oneness of God’s people.
The place where God chooses to put His name, that’s the place where the people should come to worship Him; there they should bring the top produce of the land, their gifts, their sacrifices, and their surplus so that they may worship God, offer them to God, and enjoy them in God’s presence and with one another.
The children of Israel were not allowed to worship God and enjoy the offerings they presented to God in the place of their choice (Deut. 12:8, 13, 17); they were to worship God in the place of His choice, the place where His name, His habitation, and His altar were (vv. 5-6), by bringing their tithes, offerings, and sacrifices to Him there (vv. 5, 11, 14, 18, 21, 26-27; 14:22-23; 15:19-20; 16:16).
May we take God’s choice as being our choice; may we just tell Him, Lord, may Your choice be our choice! We choose to be in the place where You put Your name, where You have Your habitation, and where You have Your altar! Hallelujah, there is a THERE – a place of God’s choice.
The place of God’s unique choice for His worship in Deut. 12 signifies our meeting on the ground of locality for the expression of the one Body in practicality and for the reality of the one Body in actuality (Psa. 48:2; 50:2; Rev. 1:11; 2:7).
The place of God’s choice for our worship is on the ground of oneness for the expression of the One Body in practicality (signified by Jerusalem) and for the reality of the Body in actuality (signified by Zion within Jerusalem).
There is one Body in the universe, and we express it here on earth; we stand as one in each locality for all to see!
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy Christ with God at the unique place of God’s choice for the keeping of the oneness of God’s people. Thank You Lord for the unique place of Your choice for us to worship God. Thank You for the place where You chose to put Your name, the place where we can come to worship God, enjoy God, and bring our offering to God. May Your choice be our choice. May our meeting be on the ground of locality for the expression of the one Body in practicality and for the reality of the one Body in actuality!
Our Worship of God should be in Oneness, in the unique Name, in God’s habitation, with the Cross, and full of the enjoyment of Christ
The revelation in the New Testament concerning the worship of God corresponds to the revelation in Deuteronomy 12 in at least five ways: our worship of God should be in oneness, in the unique name of Christ, in God’s habitation, with the cross, and with the enjoyment of Christ.
First, God’s people should always be one; there should be no divisions among them, and the worship of God is on the ground of oneness (Psa. 133; John 17:11, 21-23; 1 Cor. 1:10; Eph. 4:3). Amen!
We do not celebrate our differences, we do not promote division; some say that the more lampstands there are in a city, the more bright the Lord shines – but that’s just a human concept, not God’s thought.
Oneness ia great thing; we need to keep the ground of oneness in our worship of God. Our oneness is the oneness of the Divine Trinity; God does not allow division, for division is a curse and it is something terrible.
Oh, how good and how pleasant it is for the saints to dwell together in oneness! In the place of oneness we have the dew, the flowing ointment, and the commanded blessing of life!
We should refuse to worship in a place of division.
Second, the unique name into which God’s people should gather is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the reality of which name is the Spirit (Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 1:12; 12:3; Rev. 3:8).
For Christians to be designated by any other name besides the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be denominated, divided; this is spiritual fornication.
The name we call ourselves by is very important; the name in which we gather for the worship of God is of great importance.
The unique name into which we should be gathered and we should call ourselves by is the name of the Lord Jesus.
To be gathered in other names such as Baptist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, etc is to be divided, because these names are the base of divisions.
To have other names for our worship is an abomination – it is spiritual fornication. We believers as the church are Christ’s wife, His counterpart; we should not have any other name than His name.
Taking another name or denominating ourselves by any other name but the Lord’s is a form of confusion and of spiritual fornication; this is very serious.
Third, in the New Testament God’s habitation, His dwelling place, is particularly located in our mingled spirit, our human spirit regenerated and indwelt by the divine Spirit (Eph. 2:22; John 4:21-24; 1 Cor. 14:15).
In our meeting for the worship of God, we must exercise our spirit and do everything in our spirit, for the place of God’s choice for our worship of God is our mingled spirit.
Today is the day that people do not worship God here or there; rather, the true worshippers of God will worship Him in spirit and reality.
The place of God’s worship – the unique place of God’s choice – is not a physical location or venue but it is His habitation, which is our mingled spirit. If we are not in our spirit when we meet with the saints, we are in the wrong place – we’re not in God’s habitation.
Fourth, in our worship of God we must have the genuine application of the cross of Christ, signified by the altar, by rejecting the flesh, the self, and the natural life, and worshipping God with Christ and Christ alone (Psa. 43:4; Matt. 16:24; Gal. 2:20).
Whenever we come together, the cross must be present; at the entrance into the church there’s a cross, and whatever cannot go through the cross should be left outside.
Our flesh, our self, and our natural life have no part in our worship of God; only Christ, the resurrection and the life, can go through the cross.
When we come to the meeting, therefore, we should bring only Christ to the meeting, and worship God with Christ and Christ alone as our unique offering.
Fifth, the place that God has chosen for His worship – the unique place of God’s choice – is a place full of the enjoyment of the riches of Christ and a place full of rejoicing (Deut. 12:7, 12, 18; 14:23; Eph. 3:8; Phil. 4:4; 1 Cor. 14:3, 4b, 26, 31).
Our meeting should be filled with rejoicing. It is a sad thing when we come to a meeting where there’s no rejoicing – such a meeting is not up to God’s standard.
God wants rejoicing; rejoicing is more than just happiness – it is a kind of celebration, an expression of joy.
God doesn’t want a group of morose, sad, depressed people coming into His presence with murmuring and complaining.
God wants His people to come with their hands full of Christ and their heart full of rejoicing!
When we’re meeting in the place of God’s choice for the oneness of God’s people, we need to sing, praise, and shout to the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Lord Jesus, we want to worship You on the unique ground of oneness, having no divisions among us but keeping the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace! Amen, Lord, we gather in Your name, we are called by Your name, and we refuse to be designated or denominated by any other name. We want to meet in the unique place of God’s choice, the mingled spirit; we exercise our spirit and we do everything in our spirit for the true worship of God. Amen, Lord, we allow the cross to operate in us and we reject our flesh, our self, and our natural life so that we may worship God with Christ and Christ alone. Amen, praise the Lord for all the riches of Christ for us to enjoy together with God and His people with much rejoicing in His presence!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Deuteronomy, msg. 10 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 9, Enjoying Christ with God on the Ground of Oneness.
- Hymns on this topic:
– There is one Body in this universe, / And we express it here on earth; / We stand as one in each locality / For all to see, for all to see. (Hymns #1107)
– The worship which the Father seeks / Is in the spirit’s strength alone; / His Spirit into man’s would come, / That His and man’s may thus be one. (Hymns #611)
– Glorious, mighty Name of Jesus, / Into Thy dear Name I flee; / “Set aloft,” I praise and worship, / For Thy Name is victory! (Hymns #73)
