“AND THE HIGH PLACE I’LL BRING DOWN”

            In this day, people have embraced Christianity as never before.  It is the thing to do.  The poor and needy do it.  The rich and famous do it.  But are they really walking with God or just going through a form because it looks or feels good?  Does God care how they worship Him as long as they worship?  Does it matter how you worship Him?

            From the time of Adam, the people of God built altars to make sacrifices and to worship God.  Abel did; Abraham did; Moses did; Samuel did.  The places of sacrifice were called “high places” because they were usually built on a hill.  In I Samuel 9:11-14, Samuel was found by Saul in the high place.  There, Samuel anointed Saul to be king over Israel (as God instructed him to do).

            In I Kings 3:2, it says that the people sacrificed in the high places because no house of God had been built.  Verse 4 says that Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice because it was the great high place.  There, God gave him the wisdom for which he asked.  Up to this point, it seems that the high places were acceptable to God because He was worshiped and honored there.

            Finally, God allowed Solomon to build Him a house.  When the temple was finished and dedicated to the Lord, it became the acceptable place to sacrifice and worship God.  The high places were no longer needed, because the people could go to the temple, where God was pleased to dwell, and offer their sacrifices to Him.

            At the time of the building of the temple, Solomon was walking with God.  However, as time went on, he started going his own way.  He began marrying heathen women who, the Scriptures say, turned his heart from the living God.  I Kings 11 talks about Solomon building high places, not to worship God, but as places for his heathen wives to worship their gods.  From this point on, the high places became an abomination to God.  Why?  Because, either they were used to worship other gods, or the people worshiped there their own way, not God’s way.

            In I Kings 12, Jeroboam built a high place in Bethel.  There, he put graven images for the people to worship, saying it was too much trouble for the people to go up to Jerusalem to the temple.  In I Kings 13:1-5, God pronounced judgment upon the altar at Bethel.  I Kings 14:15 said the Lord would smite Israel “because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger.”  (The groves were high places, set among trees.)

            Today, we don’t worship at high places, do we?  Or do we?  II Corinthians 10:5 says, “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”  The high places of the Old Testament represented a form of rebellion against God, an exalting of other things (gods) instead of exalting the Most High.  Today, the “high things” can be anything, whether it be a possession, a job, a spouse, people’s opinions, etc.  Anything can be a high thing if it keeps a person from doing what he knows is God’s will.  One example is the keeping of the Sabbath.

            The majority of Christendom keeps Sunday as the Sabbath.  Why?  Because most of the Christians today keep it, and who wants to be different?  Most people cannot give a biblical reason for keeping Sunday.  Their strongest argument is, “It doesn’t matter what day we keep, as long as we keep one day holy.”  God said, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work…” (Ex. 20:8-10).  Does that sound like God doesn’t care what day is kept?  In those verses, God not only named the day of rest: He also specified which day was the Sabbath.  The same day He rested from His work of creation – the seventh day!

            Isaiah 58:13-14 says, “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”  There is a blessing from God for those who keep the Sabbath His way.  That means keeping the right day, not seeking our own pleasure (watching TV? going to a favorite restaurant after church? reading books for pleasure?), not working on that day, and keeping our minds and hearts on Him.  The “high places” in our hearts must be torn down so we can worship God the right way and receive His blessings.

            When we keep the Sabbath as God wants us to, we will find ourselves drawing closer to God.  In these last days, the closer we get to God, the better off we will be.  Satan cannot touch the people who “abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1).  And we only get to that place by seeking God with all our hearts and doing His will, not ours.

            The keeping of the Sabbath, in itself, does not guarantee an entrance into Heaven, but it does indicate a willingness to walk God’s way.  God can then lead that person in other ways.  Not keeping the Sabbath will not necessarily send a person to hell…unless the Holy Spirit has revealed the truth of the Sabbath to that person, and he deliberately turns from it.

            Do you want the blessings of God in your life?  Study the Scriptures with an open mind.  Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s truths to you and be willing to do God’s will, no matter what others do or say.