Barnabas Park
barnabaspark@gmail.com
Worship in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant
Exodus 10:3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
We all know Exodus is about how the Israelites left from Egypt. Through the study, sermon, or film, we are familiar with the exciting stories involved in Exodus such as the 10 plagues, crossing of the Red Sea, God¡¯s miraculous providing water and food and so on. On the other hand, since Exodus account is full of such exciting and interesting events, we tend to ignore the whole and comprehensive picture of Exodus. I mean our attention is so consumed in those stories in detail, we often ignore the big picture of Exodus, mainly, the reason for Exodus. Do you realize why Exodus?
In fact, God told many times the reason for Exodus through the mouth of Moses: ¡°Let my people go so that they may worship me.¡± At least 7 times in Exodus, God repeated this statement. As far as God is concerned, worship is the reason for Exodus. In other words, what matters most to God in Exodus is that His people becomes the worshipper. I believe that not only then at the time of Exodus, but also, even today, God looks for worshipper. You might even say, the Bible is a record of how God seeks after those who worship Him. Worship is His major concern, perspective and value. Though we as human beings may come up with so many ways, values, standards to determine one¡¯s success or failure, God determines one¡¯s success and failure in terms of worship. As far as God is concerned, our success depends on whether we are true worshipper of God or not.
Having said all this, we still have a question. Why was it necessary for the people to leave Egypt in order that they may worship God? The answer is this: If worship is simply a matter of certain religious rites, then there wouldn¡¯t have any need for them to leave Egypt. Actually, Pharaoh had suggested that they could stay there in Egypt to offer sacrifice. But, the people shouldn¡¯t have accepted the suggestion because worship God is more than offering sacrifice and worship God involves more than religious ceremony. Rather, worship God involves our whole being in truth. But, while they were still in Egypt, those Israelites weren¡¯t acceptable to God yet. Though they were the chosen people, their mind was so mixed with the ideas and values of Egypt. They learned wrong ideas and concepts of God while they lived for more than 400 years. Since their understanding of God was wrong, their understanding of man and their worldview was also wrong. With all these, they weren¡¯t ready yet to worship God.
This explains why when God called Abraham, He commanded him to leave from his homeland, relatives and his father¡¯s household. To be true worshipper of God, he had to separate himself from the value systems and perspectives that belonged to the world he used to be part of.
Even in our days, repentance is required must to become worshipper. As Jesus said, you can¡¯t serve two masters at the same time. You may praise, pray, and even give thanks to God, but if you at the same time still hold worldly value system and worldly perspective, then you are simply worshipping a god you yourself created though you may have meant otherwise. Do you know how Bible calls gods you yourself created or gods your imagination created? They are Idols. I mean people without intention so often make and worship Idols. (Actually the word worship is combined word of worth and ship. Worship has to do with value system.)
What makes us worshipper is not in the fact that we are engaged in the worship service. Rather, what makes us worshipper is when we change our value according to what God says. Remember, I said ¡°according to what God says.¡± Changing our value system involves more than our desire and decision. It requires correct knowledge of God. Let¡¯s take an example of Adam. After Adam committed sin, God came to Adam to restore the relationship but Adam hided himself from God¡¯s presence. Why was it? It was because Adam now had a distorted idea of God. He thought God came there to punish him. Because of his misunderstanding of God, he simply tried to make excuse himself, thus he lost the chance to repent. Even today people say they would accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord in the future only after having enjoyed the pleasure that the world has to offer. They say such because they have a distorted idea about God, assuming God doesn¡¯t care about our happiness and our pleasure and thus they have give up all the happiness and pleasure if they become Christians.
Problem is that more Christians than not have a misconception that for example, their dedication to God will lead to either boring or hardship of life when in fact Jesus wants us to live the abundant life. Such misunderstanding of God, of course, comes from other sources than God¡¯s word itself. This is why we have to study the Bible carefully so that we may have right understanding of who God is. In fact, our service for God and our worship God without the proper understanding of God will hinder our spiritual life rather than enhance it. This was what exactly happened among the Jews in Paul¡¯s time. They have a zeal for God but not based on God¡¯s word: Brothers, my heart¡¯s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God¡¯s righteousness. (Romans 10:1-3)
God is not so interested in sacrifice as He is in the knowledge of God: For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)
Let¡¯s go back to Exodus. When and how did they become worshippers?
The answer is Exodus 3:12: And He said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain."
It took one and half month to get there at the mountain since they left Egypt. Even then, they were not ready. Rather it took almost a year before they were ready to worship God. Understanding what happened in this one year period at the mountain is the key to understanding the Old Testament. Actually when you say the Old Testament, you are referring to what happened here, two things: One is ten commandments; The other one is tabernacle with priest and sacrificial system..
These two things are what made them the People of God that worship God..
They could worship only in light of these commandments, the Old Covenant.
Why was it necessary that they receive 10 commandments before they worship God?
God didn¡¯t want to remain simply as mysterious being or unsearchable being to His people, rather He wanted to be known because He wanted personal relationship with His people. True love involves mutual understanding of each other. Therefore He revealed Himself through those commandments.
He revealed Himself as Creator. He revealed Himself as such God that can¡¯t be served with any other things, but wants to have exclusive relationship with His people. He revealed Himself as Spirit that He can¡¯t be modeled after any creatures in the world. He revealed that He wanted to be honored. He revealed that He wants His people to have right relationship with one another.
Thus the 10 commandments was revelation of who God is. the 10 commandments was also an expression of His love. As I grow up, more and more I came to realize every commandment that my parents gave me was an expression of their love. Such was the case in the 10 commandments. However, they were still commandments. As commandments these were a kind of contract that the Israelites had to keep to enter and maintain the special relationship with God.
Actually God gave additional 70 rules, and all these commandments and rules boil down to two commandments as Jesus summarized those. ¡°Love your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And likewise, love your neighbor as yourself. The fact that God doesn¡¯t care anything but relationship reveals that He is love. This kind of contract, we call covenant to distinguish it from other type of contract. Best example of covenant in our society is marriage covenant. What God wants was this kind of loving relationship.
He doesn¡¯t want a casual relationship, but everlasting relationship. He wants a relationship that cares all the way without ending. The Bible calls such relationship as covenantal relationship. That¡¯s why Bible calls Israel as His bride and the Church as bride of Jesus Christ. God wants to be worshipped only in this covenantal relationship. That¡¯s why we are inviting people to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord so that they may enter into the permanent relationship with Him. Let me tell you this, without accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the covenant relationship with Him, you can¡¯t worship God. If you don¡¯t accept Him as your Lord, then that means you are actually serving someone else, which is idol worship.
The Second thing that God gave was the Tabernacle with priests and sacrificial system. This was given so that in case you violated the laws of God, you can still come to Him and have your sins forgiven through the sacrifice that you may restore the covenant relationship with God. You have to remember both the 10commandments and the sacrificial system were given by God. They weren¡¯t of man¡¯s idea. Only God Himself can make known Himself and provide the provision so that we may worship God.
Likewise, God revealed Himself through the OT, the 10 commandments covenant that He loved His people to have covenant relationship. Through the sacrificial system, God revealed His grace that in spite of their sins, they may still continue to have loving relationship with God through the substitute sacrifices, thus worshipping God
But, then the Bible says we have better covenant than the old one.
Hebrews 8:6 ¡°But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.¡±
The Bible calls this better covenant, the New Covenant, because no other expression can describe better and deeper the love of God than the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, died for our Sins. There is simply no greater love than the love demonstrated in Jesus¡¯ death on the cross. Therefore, describing the depth and magnitude of love of God, it says, ¡°so much as God sent His own Son rather than as high as heaven or as deep as sea. (John 3:16)
That is why we can worship God better now than before because we do have better revelation of who God is in Jesus than the 10 commandments. His death on the cross reveals who God is far beyond any other revelation so far given in the past and to give in the future. Not only that Jesus became the perfect provision for our sins, not like the sacrificial system in the Old Covenant, He Himself became our perfect High priest, the tabernacle, and the perfect sacrifice for all of us and once for all that we don¡¯t need any more the Old Covenant sacrificial system
Christians are simply those who heard and accepted this New Covenant. They are also known as Church just as the people of the Old Covenant were known as the Israelites. This church is the bride of Jesus because they are in such loving relationship with Jesus that can never be broken.
Jesus said, ¡°Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:23-24
The time Jesus was referring to was the time of the New Covenant. In Christ, the word of God, we would have better understanding of who God is than we would in the Old Covenant. This means we will worship God in truth. In Christ, the perfect High Priest, Sacrifice, Holy Temple, we would worship God in spirit rather than in visible sacrificial system in the Old Covenant.
This is why nobody can come to God except through our Lord Jesus
God created us in His own image so that we may worship Him. He also called us to have fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ. (I Cor 1;9) And Jesus died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. (I The 5:10)
Our worship is our fellowship with God as His bride.
Worship is what matters most to God and to us.
