Tacitus, a well-respected historian and senator of the Roman Empire, is recorded as saying:
“The breastplate and the sword are not a stronger defense on the battlefield than eloquence is to a man amid the perils of prosecution.”
Category: Worship
Something about human nature loves rituals. A ritual is to step from the symbols ofalphabetical characters (which convey words unto ideas) to fabricating symbols out of gestures, designs (in fabric, glass, works of art, etc), set phrases, and any other sensual stimulus to support an idea being communicated. It is called a ceremony for civil activities. In the religious world there are a number of terms describing the same: liturgy, ceremony, and rite.
After delivering the Children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt, one of the first things the Lord did was provide instructions for building the tabernacle. The tabernacle was an important structure to Israel during their journey through the wilderness. It was God’s sanctuary; a place for God to dwell among His people (Ex. 25:8). It also contained the articles and implements the Children of Israel used to worship God.
Ezekiel 8:17 – “And He said to me, ‘Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here?’” In the eighth chapter of Ezekiel God brings Ezekiel “in visions of God to Jerusalem (vs. 3).” When Ezekiel arrives in Jerusalem he is standing in the north gate door of the Temple’s inner court. Through the rest of the chapter God takes Ezekiel on a tour through the Temple to show him “the great abominations that Israel commits… (vs. 6).”
The impulse to discover and worship something greater than ourselves is embedded in the human nature. It’s apparent in this psalm that King David was inclined in this way, and so also is the rest of the human race. Essentially every culture of every age has had at its core some kind of religious tradition whereby they venerate the supernatural powers of the universe. These religious rituals are all very different and the objects of their worship hardly ever the same, yet there is undeniably a common compulsion to seek and serve the supernal.
In one of His ministry’s final acts, Jesus established a ceremony which memorializes His death. It consists of unleavened bread and fruit of the vine. The bread represents the body of Jesus, the fruit of the vine His blood. Jesus instructed the disciples to remember Him as they consumed this simple meal (Luke 22:19). Though not bodily present at the memorial’s institution, the apostle Paul later relates that a disciple proclaims the Lord’s death when they partake of this simple meal (1 Corinthians 11:26).
Americans love convenience. From microwaves to pizza delivery, from cell phones to high-speed Internet, from drive-through funeral viewings to drive-in churches, Americans make no bones about their love of convenience. And convenience is certainly nice (in its place). After all, who isn’t glad to be free from the time-consuming, back-breaking drudgery of doing things the old-fashioned way? (The good old days weren’t necessarily the good old days. Just ask those who lived during them!) Who doesn’t enjoy having more free time in each day? Who doesn’t like to be able to get information when and where he wants it? Convenience is nice. But some things just aren’t convenient. And to make them so is to make them into something they’re not.