Anytime, Anywhere
Anytime, Anywhere
Thursday January 11, 2018
I hate to admit it but I remember a life before all of today’s modern technology. Nowadays we can access music, movies, and television at anytime from almost anywhere. I remember a life before cellphones; if you wanted to make a phone call you had to look for a landline. If you wanted to watch a movie you had to buy a newspaper or a TV Guide to find out when and where it would air. Now we have TV on demand, anytime and anywhere. If you needed to do any type of research you had to visit a library or buy a set of encyclopedias. Today we can access a never-ending plethora of information online at anytime and from anywhere.
It must have been very difficult for people in the Old Testament days to relate to God even for the ancient heroes of the day. Heroes like Abraham, Moses, and King David had no Bibles or churches where they could attend; they had no access to the presence of the Lord. God would at best, speak sporadically through prophets; there’s even a period right before the birth of Jesus known as the “400 years of silence”. This period earned its title because for four hundred years there is no documentation of God speaking to mankind. Only the High Priest could access God’s “sacred space” during that period once a year. For the remainder of the people, proximity to and worshipping God depended on how close they were permitted to get to the Temple. None however were allowed into the “sacred space”. During this time, a specific man (the High Priest) would worship and offer sacrifices on behalf of the people at a specific time (once a year), and in a specific place (the Temple). Following this four hundred year period, the way we relate to God would be forever changed.
Jesus was passing through Samaria one day on his way to Galilee when tired from the journey he sat down by a well where he engaged a Samaritan woman in conversation. The Samaritans were a community of men and women who had mixed with and intermarried with the Gentiles. And for this reason the Jews and Samaritans did not get along. The Samaritans worshipped God in Mount Gerizim and the Jews worshipped in the Temple. While Jesus sat by the well the Samaritan woman asked him which was the right location to worship God at, the Temple or Mount Gerizim? Jesus replied (and I am paraphrasing) if you really want to know, the Jews got it right. Then however, He proceeded to state something astounding, something that would change mankind’s relationship with God forever.
“But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.”
– John 4: 23 NLT
At that precise moment Jesus was proclaiming a new way in which we could relate to God. Limited Temple worship would no longer be the way to worship God. A new system was being implemented, people worshipping in spirit and in truth. This meant that worship would be transformed from an act carried out by one person at a specific time and place, to something people everywhere could do at any time and in any place. Jesus granted us entrance into his “sacred space”
Question:
- How much harder do you think it was for people in the Old Testament who did not enjoy the same access to God as we do, to relate to God?
- How do you think the patriarchs of the Old Testament would judge us being that we have direct access into God’s sacred space at any time and in any place yet we cannot seem to find enough time during the day to spend with God?
- How does Temple worship differentiate itself from worship in “spirit and in truth”?
- Where and when do you take out time to actually enter into God’s sacred space to worship him?
