1 Chronicles 28:1-8 And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes… I. THE JEWISH DISPENSATION MAINLY EXTERNAL. 1. Sacrifices. 2. Types. 3. Observances. 4. Priestly caste. 5. Sacred buildings. II. REASONS FOR THIS. 1. Early age of the world, revelation, and human thought. 2. Necessity of strong stamps to impress the nation in its youth, and keep it separate from heathendom. 3. Consequent necessity of indulging it in manifold visible symbols. 4. The repetition and induration of signs prepared the way for the purely mental reign of the Messiah. III. HENCE THE FUNCTION OF THE TABERNACLE AND THE TEMPLE. 1. As the place where God had demonstrably set His name. 2. Where the visible glory had been and could be seen at a due crisis. 3. Where the embodied signs of the covenant were stored. 4. As the house of sacrifice (2 Chronicles 7:12). 5. As the house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7). 6. As the symbol of unity in worship (2 Chronicles 32:12). 7. As God's own dwelling-place (1 Kings 6:12, 18). IV. AFTER ITS POLLUTION AND PILLAGE. 1. By Shishak (1 Kings 14:25, 26). 2. Under Jehoash (2 Kings 12:17). 3. Under Ahaz (2 Kings 16:14). 4. Under Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:13).Its sanctity had been impaired through the defections of the people. Spiritual religion began afterwards to grow, so that Isaiah was able to proclaim before the captivity (Isaiah 66:1, 2). "Heaven is My throne... what house will ye build Me? saith the Lord"; Malachi was able decisively to prophesy (Malachi 1:11), "In every place incense shall be offered to My name." The old worship was gradually ceasing to fulfil its function; the new dispensation of the law of the Spirit and of liberty was coming in; and at last the Messiah declared irrevocably that old things were passed away, and that the hour was coming when neither in Gerizim nor in Jerusalem the Father should be worshipped, no more for ever, locally or visibly, but only truly with the inner worship of spirit and of truth. This was a great point with St. Stephen (Acts 7:48) and St. Paul (Acts 17:24). V. WHAT IS THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE BY WHICH CHRIST REPLACED THE OLD HONOURED VISIBLE SIGN? 1. The whole invisible company of those who are righteous through faith (1 Peter 2:4; Isaiah 57:15; 1 Corinthians 3:16). 2. The body of every true son of God (1 Corinthians 6:19; John 14:13). 3. In heaven, the special pervading presence of the Almighty (Revelation 21:22; Acts 17:28). VI. WHAT, THEN, ARE CHRISTIAN PLACES OF WORSHIP? 1. Not representatives of the temple, but of the synagogue. 2. In all places where Christians meet for meditation and prayer Christ is equally present (Matthew 18:20). 3. Venerable and solemn merely from association, intention, and consent. 4. All adornment of them a question of edification for the congregation. 5. No one part of them more holy than another except by association. VII. MORAL REASONS OF THIS IN THE CHRISTIAN ECONOMY. 1. Danger of putting trust in anything short of God Himself in His own immediate moral relations to the soul. 2. Temptation to set our affection on things below instead of things above, and making our worship one of act instead of disposition and the intelligence. 3. Tendency of all religious bodies to idolatrise their symbols. VIII. LESSON: TO AVOID SUPERSTITION. (W M. Sinclair, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king, and of his sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men, unto Jerusalem. |
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