“The knowledge of God is one central dogma to which all theology points.”
“The more theology reflects on God, the more it will be moved to adoration and worship.”
Herman Bavinck
Take Care What You Worship
Before Israel became a nation, the people of the world attempted to build the Tower of Babel. They desired a unified one world order. That kind of thinking and acting has always had problems. Such a unity can never be achieved by people who are sinners. Babel sought to promote a religion of self and power, having no need for God. So God came down among them and dispersed them by confusing their language (Gen. 11:8, 9). The beauty of a unified people is exemplified by the Church in her New Covenant relationship with her risen Head and Husband, our Lord Jesus Christ. God’s people are always one in Christ, because Jesus and the Father are one (John 17:11, 20-23). When we consider Israel as a nation, we find that the nation was not permitted to intermarry with other nations because true worship would then be corrupted. In Exodus 34:12-16 God said: “Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.” All of these sins were to be viewed as abominations.
Abiding Fruit Articles, An Abomination to the Egyptians, Genesis 43:32
Absence of Religion
Calvin says (Inst. I.2.3) that “if religion is absent from the life of men, they are then in no wise superior to brute beasts, but are in many respects far more miserable. Subject, then, to so many forms of wickedness, they drag out their lives in ceaseless tumult and disquiet. Therefore, it is worship of God alone that renders men higher than the brutes, and through it alone they aspire to immortality.”
Ought we not to pity the unbeliever then all the more and beg God to save sinners (such as we once were)?
The Law of Worship
The book of Deuteronomy written by Moses is one of those books that are often neglected by Christians for a number of reasons. There is constant repetition of important truths and there is the length of the book – it requires hard work to read, understand and digest, but the benefits are worth it. In our English Bibles we refer to this book as “Deuteronomy” because of a mistranslation of Deut. 17:18 where that verse speaks of the future king of Israel sitting on this throne over his kingdom, writing for himself in a book “a copy of this law”. This is often referred to as “second law”,hence the name Deuteronomy. The Hebrew title begins with the opening words of the book in Deut. 1:1 – “these are the words.”
The book of Deuteronomy generally follows the structural pattern of an ancient vassal treaty, but this should not be pushed too far. It is preferable to see the book as the last words of Moses to the nation prior to their preparations to enter the land under Joshua. Ancient kings often entered into treaties or pacts with vassal countries, and those treaties contained a certain structure. There was an introduction, a historical overview (the king’s dealings with the vassal), a general call to allegiance, a specific call to allegiance, the witnessing of the treaty by divine gods, blessings and cursings for obedience or disobedience. [Read more…]
Sight & Worship
Just let the eye see Christ – & we will repent & despise ourselves as Job (Job 42:5, 6)