Changed (P 4)

Paul writes in Romans 12:1 about our “reasonable service.” This word “service” could just as well be translated “worship.” This same word, “service,” is used several times in Hebrews Chapter 9:

Verse 1 “Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.”

Here Paul’s word, “service,” is translated by the fuller phrase, “divine service.” The writer to the Hebrews is describing the worship that God ordained or “the ordinances,” under the Law of Moses for the people of Israel. He begins in Verse 1 writing about the “earthly sanctuary,” referring to the tabernacle in the wilderness, and later to the temple that then stood in the center of Jerusalem, where the worship of Israel was continually carried out. He goes on to a detailed explanation of Israel’s worship:

Verses 2-5 “For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary [margin: “holy place”]; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.”

 As the writer describes the worship that God commanded for Israel, he walks us through the tabernacle describing the architecture: two rooms, the holy place and the Holy of Holies, and two veils; the furniture: a table and a lampstand; certain “relics” that were preserved in the Holy of Holies: the Ark of the Covenant, the tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod that budded, a pot of manna.

Then he goes on to describe how these things were actually used in the worship:

Verses 6, 7 “Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part [The Holy of Holies] the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance.”

Here we read about the personnel who were required in order to worship the Lord and the calendar of feasts that governed the worship. We read that the ordinary priests went into the first room, the holy place, performing the worship, but into the Holy of Holies only the High Priest went, and that on only one day of the year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On that day he could go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood on the ark, or mercy seat, and make atonement for the sins of the people.

If a person in Israel wanted to worship the Lord, he couldn’t do it in just any way that he desired, in any place that he desired. God had prescribed the way to worship Him acceptably, and the Israelite had to obey, or be guilty of breaking the covenant. To worship the Lord he had to go to a particular city, Jerusalem, and to a certain building, the temple. He would have to be concerned about certain furniture, certain relics that had to be present, about a certain ritual, the proper sacrifices and manner of performing them. He had to be concerned about a priesthood, and the calendar, the yearly cycle of feasts and the weekly Sabbaths. In Verse 10 we read about “foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances…”  Worship was a complex undertaking, but these were God’s instructions to Israel about how He wanted them to worship Him.

It might be complicated, and it might at times be burdensome, but still, what a privilege! God said to these people that He wanted to have fellowship with them, and that He was providing an access, a way that they, through their High Priest representative, could come into His very presence and have fellowship with Him and make atonement for their sins. This fellowship was limited, only the High Priest could come, and that only once a year, but it was real, and it was unlike anything that any other people on the face of the earth enjoyed. This was the “divine service,” the worship, of Israel.