Message 67
Scripture Reading: Exo. 20:24-26; Phil. 3:2-3; 1 Cor. 1:18-25
In this message I am burdened to give a further word concerning the worship of God from 20:24-26. Worship is a very crucial matter in man’s relationship with God. Throughout the thousands of years of human history, thoughtful people have considered the matter of the worship of God. When such people ponder the universe with the sun, moon, and stars, and the earth with all the plants, living creatures, and mankind, they realize that there must be a God, an almighty Being. Then they begin to wonder how this God is to be worshipped. Considerations such as these have given rise to different religions. The religions invented by man have their source in the considerations of thoughtful people. By studying nature man has discovered certain things. Furthermore, as a result of his observations and discoveries, he has made inferences. Religion is the result of a thoughtful study of nature with man’s philosophical inferences.
According to the Bible, however, God does not allow man to devise his own way to worship Him. God does not give any ground to man’s natural concept or thought. He does not permit fallen man to worship Him according to inferences drawn from the study of nature. God condemns man’s natural inferences as related to worship. On the contrary, in the Bible God reveals how man is to worship Him.
In Genesis we do not have a clear revelation concerning the way to worship God. Exodus contains a much fuller revelation of this. After God brought His chosen and redeemed people to His mountain, He came to have fellowship with them. We have pointed out that the decree of the law on the mountain was given in an atmosphere of courtship. This means that at Mount Sinai God was courting His people. After giving them the Ten Commandments, the governing principles of the entire law of God, God went on to issue a number of ordinances. Between the giving of the Ten Commandments and the decreeing of the ordinances, God spoke to the people concerning the way they should worship Him (20:22-26). In the short span of five verses, the main points related to the worship of God are covered. As we shall see, in 20:24-26 both man’s work and man’s way are utterly rejected by God.
When I was young, I regarded these verses in Exodus 20 as primitive and uncultured. It seemed to me that no skill or inventiveness was required to make an altar of earth or stone. Even a child can do this. Even the most primitive, uncultured, and uneducated people can build such an altar for the worship of God. I could not understand why God was willing to accept such a primitive altar. Man’s way is not to build this kind of altar.
According to the history of civilization, man likes to build towers and skyscrapers. Those who live in New York, Paris, and Tokyo may boast respectively of the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, and the Tokyo Tower. The thought of fallen man is to build up something high. The first occurrence of this was at Babel (Gen. 11), where the people sought to build not only a city, but also a tower of which they could boast. This indicates that tall buildings are constructed so that man is able to boast. The more cultured people are, the more tall buildings they build. But God’s way is to have an altar without steps. Man’s way is to build up something with as many steps as possible. As far as the worship of God is concerned, God gives no room for man’s skill, ability, inventiveness, wisdom, labor, or power. On the contrary, the altar God requires must be something which, in the eyes of man, is primitive and uncultured.
Concerning the worship of God, the tendency of the natural man is to use his own power and wisdom. People use their wisdom to make plans and use their power, including whatever skills and abilities they possess, to carry out their plans. But according to 20:24-26, God does not recognize man’s wisdom and power. Even though Moses had been educated in Egypt and was familiar with all the aspects of Egyptian culture, being “trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22), God did not allow him to use his wisdom to build an altar for the worship of God. Moses was not the only one among God’s people familiar with Egyptian culture. All those who came out of Egypt with him had been born there and knew the Egyptian way of doing things. All of them had received a strong infusion of Egyptian culture. In 20:24-26 God gave them a clear word concerning worship, telling them to make an altar either of earth or of stones. They were not to use hewn stones, and they were not to build an altar so high that it required steps in order to reach it. God seemed to be saying to the people, “I do not care for human work or invention, and I do not care for man’s way or concept. For the altar, you must use the materials created by Me. I care only for what I have created, not for man’s work or man’s way.”
In theology a distinction is often made between natural religion and revealed religion. Many regard Christianity as a revealed religion, a religion which has its source in God’s revelation, and regard all other religions as natural. However, it is very sad that even in Christianity today there is a great emphasis on man’s work and man’s way. In any Christian group it is easy to detect man’s work and way, but it is difficult to find something which is purely according to God’s revelation. Consider the situation in Catholicism and Protestantism. How much there is of man’s invention, skill, ability, plans, ways, power, and wisdom! Even the sermons given are filled with such things. Where can you hear a sermon that is pure and limited to the revelation of the Bible? Most sermons have many elements of culture, often mixed with the truth of the Word. A few years ago some of us heard a message given by the pope. This message was a mixture of biblical truth and human thought. Man’s work, way, power, and wisdom have thoroughly saturated today’s Christianity. As a result, it has become a mixture of God’s revelation and natural religion.
If we read carefully 20:24-26, we shall see that God’s revelation leaves no room for man’s work or way. God does not give even the slightest amount of space to man’s power, ability, skill, strength, wisdom, or plans. In like manner, in the Lord’s recovery we do not give place to man’s work or way. I have the assurance that if someone would conduct research on the recovery, he would find that we do not give ground to man’s work or man’s way. Some may wonder if the practice of pray-reading the Word is a way invented by man. However, pray-reading is not an invention of man; on the contrary, it is according to the Bible.
In today’s Christianity it is easy to see man’s work and way. This can be observed even without studying things closely. Among most Christians, man’s work and man’s way are very evident. Some who have been strongly influenced by man’s work and way consider the meetings of the churches in the Lord’s recovery to be primitive and uncultured. Their attitude toward us is that we are ignorant and have no knowledge or education. When a certain person visited me a few years ago, he asked how many among us have doctoral degrees. He boasted that among those associated with him there were more than one hundred with Ph.D. degrees. This is one illustration of the fact that in today’s Christianity much attention is given to human power, ability, skill, and wisdom. The consequence of this is that God is actually set aside. People may claim to worship God, but in their worship the work and way of man have actually caused them to put God aside. When the Roman Empire embraced Christianity, many elements of culture were brought into the so-called Catholic Church. Constantine the Great opened the way for many pagan things to be brought in. This caused Christianity to become a melting pot of different elements of man’s culture. Furthermore, the Catholic Church introduced many such things into their worship. For this reason, in the worship practiced in Catholicism there are many human inventions. Catholicism is filled with human ways, works, power, and wisdom. However, it is abominable in the eyes of God to bring anything man-made into the worship of God.
At this point I would like to say a word especially to the young people. We do not know how long it will be before the Lord comes back. The recovery may need to continue for many years. When some of you begin to take the lead in the churches, you may think that the Lord’s recovery was brought to this country in a very primitive way. Then you may want to use “tools” to hew stones to beautify the recovery and to lift it up. Automatically “steps” will be necessary to reach what has been built up in this way. In fact, in the past proposals were made to lift up the recovery in certain ways. Some even tried to build a pyramid related to the service groups. But by the Lord’s mercy and grace, this pyramid was demolished. Every step leading to the top of the pyramid was torn down. Instead, we simply gave everyone the opportunity to serve if they so desired.
Young people, do not bring man’s work or man’s way into the worship of God. To bring in anything of a human source is to insult the very God whom we worship. If we study the history of religion and the present situation of Christianity, we shall see an abundance of man’s work and way. But I repeat, God does not allow these things to have any place in His worship.
Exodus 20:25 says, “And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.” Here we see that God does not allow man’s work to have a part in the worship of God. The entire fallen man is sin — pollution — in the eyes of God. Whether we are cultured or uncultured, educated or uneducated, we are sin before God. For this reason, no work of man is acceptable to God. Man’s work can do nothing other than pollute the worship of God, for man himself is pollution. Do not add anything of man to God’s worship. To add man’s work to the cross is abominable to God.
A prerequisite to the worship of God is having an altar. The Bible clearly shows that if there is no altar, there can be no worship of God. Fallen man cannot worship God directly. In order to worship Him, we must pass through the altar. Many Christians realize that at the altar redemption is provided by means of sacrifices. Although this is true, the altar does more than this. The altar also terminates us. Everyone who worships God is terminated at the altar. Because we are a totality of sin, pollution, we should say when we come to worship God, “Lord, cleanse me with the precious blood and cover me with Yourself. Lord, in myself I dare not do anything. I come to worship You through Your cross. Wash me with Your redeeming blood and cover me with Yourself as my righteousness. Because I am a fallen person, I dare not do anything, plan anything, or bring anything of my own.” We all need to have such a realization whenever we worship God.
Although I have the boldness to preach the word of the Bible, I do not have the boldness to make proposals concerning matters in the church life. Whenever brothers come to me with a proposal, I encourage them to pray to learn whether or not this is truly of the Lord. Anything that is of us is pollution. Nothing of fallen man, therefore, should have a part in the worship of God.
Because fallen man is pollution in the eyes of God, no work of man is acceptable to Him. Cain was condemned because he brought his own work into the worship of God. He thought that he could bring something to God of what he had acquired through his labor. But Cain did not realize that he was totally pollution in God’s sight and that whatever came from him was also pollution. Therefore, what he offered to God was not acceptable to Him. On the contrary, it was altogether abominable. Anything that originates with us, anything which comes from our labor, is pollution and is not acceptable to God.
It is an abomination to add man’s work to the cross. The cross is wholly the work of God, and no human work is allowed to be added to it.
In 1 Corinthians 1:18 Paul says that “the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Why is the cross foolishness to those who perish? It is foolishness because it is something crude, primitive, and altogether without culture, beauty, or human craftsmanship. In Paul’s time the cross was an instrument used to execute criminals. Nevertheless, God used such a means to save us. Hence, this was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks.
In 1 Corinthians 1:23 Paul says, “We preach Christ crucified.” It is significant that here Paul does not say that he preached Christ resurrected, ascended, glorified, or enthroned. In the past I sometimes wondered why Paul did not tell the Greeks that he preached Christ ascended and exalted. Instead, Paul preached Christ crucified; he preached One who was put to death on the cross, executed as if He were a criminal. To Jews the preaching of Christ crucified is a stumbling block, and to Greeks it is foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, this Christ is “God’s power and God’s wisdom” (v. 24). Praise the Lord that we have been called to receive a crucified Christ! The decision to receive such a Christ did not originate with us; we have received Him because God has called us. God has predestined us to receive this Christ.
However, after receiving Christ crucified, many Christians try to beautify Him. Some have also attempted to make the church beautiful in the eyes of man. However, for us to beautify anything in the Lord’s recovery is to insult God. Instead of beautifying things, we should remain in what man would consider a primitive, uncultured situation. Instead of hewn stones, we should have an altar of stones or earth created by God. Such an altar is acceptable to Him.
Because we do not add man’s work to the cross, but only have an altar that is primitive, the Lord’s speaking is with us. We are not more capable or more intelligent than others. Nevertheless, because we do not give place to the work of man, the Lord continues to open His Word to us and to send forth His light.
Exodus 20:26 says, “Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.” This indicates that man’s nakedness is exposed through man’s way. According to Genesis 3:7, nakedness denotes the shame of fallen man. Before the fall, man was not clothed. However, even though he was unclothed, there was no nakedness because there was no shame. But immediately after the fall, Adam and Eve discovered that they were naked, and they tried to make a covering for themselves. Hence, in the Bible nakedness denotes the shame of fallen man.
Genesis 3:21 says, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” These coats of skins typify Christ as our righteousness to cover our shame (1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9). Now we are under Christ as our full covering. According to Galatians 3:27, we have put on Christ; we have clothed ourselves with Him. This means that Christ is compared to a garment, a robe, we put on. Praise the Lord that we can boast before God that we are fully covered with Christ! God’s salvation in Christ covers us with Christ and leaves no part naked.
Although God’s salvation clothes us with Christ, man’s way uncovers the nakedness of his fallen nature. Climbing up steps to an altar exposes one’s nakedness. This indicates that man’s wisdom in building an altar with steps for the worship of God causes man’s nakedness to be exposed. The principle here is that man’s wisdom in building steps puts Christ aside. From our experience we know that whenever we exercise our own wisdom to plan something related to the worship of God, we actually put Christ aside. Furthermore, should the elders in a church exercise their wisdom to make plans or to build something elevated with steps, Christ will be set aside. Instead of exercising our wisdom to make our plans, we should fully trust in Christ. Then we shall remain under Christ as our covering.
During my years in the Lord’s ministry, I have learned that whenever I become aware of a certain need, I should bow down before the Lord and pray, “Lord, cover me. I don’t know what to say to the brothers. Lord, You be everything in this situation.” To pray in this way is to keep ourselves under Christ as our covering. But if we presume to advise others and tell them what to do, we shall expose our nakedness, the shame of our fallen nature.
If we remain under Christ as our covering when various situations come up or when problems arise and do not exercise our wisdom to deal with them, we shall be covered, and no one will see the shame of our fallen nature. But the more we exercise our wisdom to make plans and build “steps,” the more we shall be exposed. This exposure is shameful and condemned by God. God never allows those who worship Him to be naked. The priests in the Old Testament had to wear long robes so that God could see only the garment which covered them. The long robe worn by the priest typifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our long robe. As we worship God, we must remain in Christ and under Him as our covering. This requires that we refrain from bringing in our own wisdom or plans to build a high altar with steps.
Man’s way not only uncovers the nakedness of his fallen nature; it also promotes achievement by natural ability and creates different levels of attainment. In Catholicism there is a hierarchical system with many “steps,” many levels of human attainment. To be sure, man’s way promotes his own achievement by natural ability and creates different levels of attainment. But just as adding man’s work to the cross is abominable to God, so man’s way in the worship of God is also abominable to Him.
Whenever we come to worship God in a proper way, we must go to the altar. The altar will terminate us with all our works and ways. As fallen people, we must pass through the altar, the cross, if we are to worship God. As we have pointed out, the cross not only provides man with Christ’s redemption; it also terminates fallen man with his ability and wisdom. Fallen man cannot please God with his ability to work and his wisdom to plan. Therefore, we must identify ourselves with the sacrifice on the altar and be terminated. In the Old Testament one who offered a sacrifice placed his hand upon it when it was slain. This indicates that the one who offered the sacrifice identified himself with the sacrifice. When the sacrifice was terminated, the one who offered it was terminated in the sacrifice. Therefore, in the worship of God we must be identified with Christ as our sacrifice on the cross and be terminated.
Exodus 20:24 says, “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen.” This verse mentions the burnt offering and the peace offering. After we have been terminated by identifying ourselves with the sacrifice on the altar, we shall worship God in the virtue of Christ as the burnt offering and the peace offering. On the one hand, a person terminated by the cross worships God in the virtue of Christ as the burnt offering for God’s satisfaction. On the other hand, such a person worships God in the virtue of Christ as the peace offering for a mutual satisfaction with God and with his fellow-worshippers. This is the worship God desires, the worship He has ordained, the worship that is acceptable to Him. Therefore, let us learn not to bring our work and our way, our power and our wisdom, our ability and our plans, into the worship of God. Instead, we must reject all these things. A true worshipper of God is one who is terminated on the cross with his power and wisdom and who worships God in the virtue of Christ.
In 20:22-26 we see that the worship God desires is worship through the cross and with Christ, through the altar and with the sacrifices. The altar, typifying the cross, terminates all those who would worship God, and the sacrifices, typifying Christ, satisfy God and give us mutual satisfaction with God and other worshippers. In this we see the vital essence of the worship which is acceptable to God. We must worship God through the cross which terminates us and with Christ who brings God and all the worshippers into a mutual satisfaction.
