Because of sin, this first worship service, though instructive for us, is a worship service none of us would want to have been a part of. It’s a worship service gone wrong.

No, rather this is a sacrifice that is in keeping with each and every sacrifice to God we see in all of scripture. He defines what it is and how it is brought. And he has clearly shown us in his word, by giving us the very words to bring to him as a sacrifice of praise from our lips: the Psalms. God will not accept a wrong or unauthorized sacrifice.

When we read Paul, therefore, it is imperative to get into his head in order to understand rightly what he is trying to convey to the original audience and the reader in every age.

In the Old Covenant, we see the temple and tabernacle as the special dwelling place of God among his people. “As symbols or types, these institutions pointed to a future fulfillment. That fulfillment is found in Jesus Christ, the full and final manifestation of God’s presence with His people.”

A natural question would be “where did we get the Psalms from?” Well, of course, we understand that the Psalms were written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but other than being written by Him, where did we get them?

The implication of this is the exact reason for having written it: The eternal Son of God resides with every single solitary manifestation of his body around the entire globe when they gather together on the Lord’s day to worship the one true living God! In the same way in the Old Testament, the tabernacle was a special place where God resided.

This nullification of the purity in worship amongst the catholic (universal) church has been the result of believing that it is not limited by the scriptures in matters of worship and what's more, some “have come to regard divine worship as more or less a matter of indifference, to be determined according to human preference or convenience.”

It seems that many find this command to be rather innocuous. In the first instance, we might say, well “I’m not making for myself a ‘carved image’ or any likeness of anything in heaven, on the Earth, or in the water, and I’m certainly not bowing down to them or serving them.” And this is more than likely an accurate statement, at least as it appears outwardly. However, we cannot be a people that look to the letter of the law and no further.