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into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest. They were figures, shadows of good
things to come:
"That could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience,
which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers baptisms, and carnal ordinances,
imposed on them until the time of reformation" (Heb. 9: 9, 10).
The mere observance of "days, months, weeks and years", even though offered to the
true God, is not far removed from the "weak and beggarly elements" of pagan worship
(Gal. 4: 8-10). And the epistle to the Colossians associates "the worshipping of angels"
and "will-worship" with ordinances that were cancelled at the Cross, such as "meats,
drink, holy days, new moons, and sabbath days".
Returning to Galatians, it is impossible to understand the Apostle's teaching in this
mighty episode, without a realization of the fact that the believer now is free. Jerusalem
on earth with its children is in bondage, but Jerusalem which is above is free.
Perhaps we are at last drawing near to the solution of our problem. The word "serve"
(abad) gives us the word "bondage" (Exod. 1: 14), "bondmen" (Gen. 43: 18),
"bondservice" (I Kings 9: 21), "servitude" (II Chron. 10: 4), and "servile" (Lev. 23: 7).
The reader will remember that in the observing of the feasts of the Lord, and the
sabbaths, it is reiterated that "ye shall do no servile work therein" (Lev. 23: 7, 8, 21,
25, 35, 36). "Servility" and "worship" cannot be thought of together; servility is only fit
service for the darkened heathen. So when the Lord demanded the release of His people
that they might serve Him, He speaks of them as His "son". This service of a Son was
hidden under a mass of observances, in connection with a covenant with which the Lord
Himself "found fault"--a covenant which was "imposed" until the time of reformation,
and destined then to pass away for ever. "Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave?"
asks Jeremiah (Jer. 2: 14). Alas, he was, and is, and will be, until the veil is taken away.
Worship, therefore, as practiced by such a people cannot be the full thing.
The secret of true worship is revealed in the words of Christ. It will be neither in
Samaria, with its mixed motives, nor in Jerusalem, with its Divinely appointed ritual.
The true worshipper worships the FATHER. He worships "in spirit, and in truth", and
the Father seeketh such to worship Him. It is entirely foreign to the thought of
reverencing a Father that the sons should be cumbered with ceremonials and ordinances.
Tabernacles, temples, sacrifices, priests, vestments, holy days, and the like all indicate
that the worshippers are at a distance. Those that have access to the Father can need none
of these things.
We are grateful to have seen at least this amount of light upon the nature of true
worship, even though much may still be hidden from our eyes.