Deuteronomy 12:6-14
BUT UNTO the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come."
God did not leave it to His people to choose where He should be worshiped. No, God chooses for Himself — not man! And God chose in a way worthy of Himself. Instead of the multitude of idolatrous shrines and high places that dotted the land, He chose one place in which to place His name and where He would be honored.
That place, we know, was Jerusalem. Long before, in that vicinity at least, Abraham was told to offer up Isaac on Mount Moriah. There in David's time was the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, where the plague was stayed. There the temple was built and there outside the gate of the city, the Lord Jesus was crucified. In the coming kingdom it will be Messiah's capital. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, the city of the great King. Psa. 48:2. With such visions of the sufferings and glory of His beloved Son before His eyes we can understand how God would not tolerate any other rival center.
"And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, . . and there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee."
Perhaps the question might be asked, Could not the people rejoice as well in their own houses? No, for God chose to surround Himself with joy and it was joy to Him, the mighty Giver of all good things, to see His people rejoicing before Him. And all were to rejoice, their sons and their daughters, their servants, and the Levites that were inside the gates. No one was left out.
What a wonderfully blessed thing it was for Israel to be called away from the pollutions and cruel impure rites of the idolatrous Canaanites to their one place chosen of God, where without image of any kind He Himself dwelt. God fixed that center for them and from that every blessing flowed. It was the center around which all their domestic and national life revolved.
All this has a voice for us for God has a center for His people today too — not a geographical one, but, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." Matt. 18:20. Any other way of gathering would not be scriptural, for God by His Spirit gathers His own to Christ — this is His center.
The place which the Lord shall "choose . . . to put His name there," is mentioned more than twenty times in Deuteronomy. This shows us what an important matter this is. Often people today are told to "go to the church of your choice." How far removed from the plain truth of Scripture this is! The Lord made His mind clear to Israel where they should worship and He hasn't left us His people now without guidance as to where we should meet.
On the occasion of the last Passover, it is nice to see that the disciples asked the Lord Jesus, "Where wilt Thou that we prepare?" "And He said unto them, behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in." Luke 22:10.
We believe that the man with the "pitcher of water" is a picture of the Spirit of God and the water the Word of God. So if there is a true desire in one's heart to be where the Lord would have him, the Spirit of God will meet that one and lead him in. There the Lord Jesus delights to take His place in the midst of His own gathered simply to His name. May we seek grace, dear young Christian, to "follow the man with the pitcher of water."
Memory Verse
"FOR WITH THE HEART MAN BELIEVETH UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS: AND WITH THE MOUTH CONFESSION IS MADE UNTO SALVATION." Rom. 10:10.
Messages of the Love of God 3/23/1975