Gospel Reflections #726: God is leading us out of ourselves

Isaiah 66:2 "All these My hands have made, and all these therefore exist, says the Lord."

The temple was God's house, the earthly temple was a type of the heavenly sanctuary, and all these things God had made.

The Israelites offered sacrifices as God told them to do, but they gradually forgot what the temple represented.

When the temple was first built, Solomon, the builder of the temple, knew that a temple built by man was insignificant to God.

But in the Israelites, the temple itself became more important than God itself.

Approaching and entering the temple itself became important.

The temple, however, is a model of what is in heaven.

The substance is not the temple building, but the throne of God in heaven.

They forgot the most important thing.

The most important thing is the Word of the Lord.

And more than knowing the Word intellectually, it is hearing the Word in a way that breaks the heart and soul.

This is the essence, and we must not forget this essence with all our other religious rituals.

Sometimes church life and Sabbath services have become a mere habit of our daily lives.

We sometimes feel that we have fulfilled our Sabbath obligations by simply attending services, offering money, and praying, instead of receiving God's Word and communing with Him.

Those whom God looks up to are those who humble themselves, contrite their hearts, and fear God's word; those who rest and rejoice in Him, placing Him above us, trusting and relying on Him, not on ourselves.

The Bible says, "If you hear His voice today, do not harden your hearts as when you turned away from God.

God is leading us out of ourselves, and we should be willing to be obedient to Him.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.