Deuteronomy 12:10

So not only in the object of Israel's worship, but also in its place and manner, they were completely bound to the commandment of the Lord. Self-pleasing, self-choosing and self-will were to come to an end in the worship of God. That would happen the moment they crossed the Jordan, the river that pictures death, and, as a redeemed people, set their foot on the inheritance God had given them. Once there, enjoying the Lord's land and the rest that the land gave, obedience to His word was to be their reasonable, intelligent service. Things might be allowed to pass in the wilderness that could not be tolerated in Canaan. The higher the range of privilege, the higher the responsibility and the standard of action.

Moses instructed the people about their conduct after they had come into possession of the land. He said plainly, "You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes" (Deut. 12:8). Three hundred years after this warning we find the people in the land. But the closing chapters of Judges show them in a low moral condition, marked by gross corruption and violence.

At the dedication of the temple Solomon says, "Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised" (1 Kings 8:56). But neither under David's reign nor Solomon's did the people ever find rest. So we hear the Lord saying through Isaiah, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?" (Isa. 66:1).

Israel was still travelling when Moses spoke. But when the Lord would settle them in the land beyond the Jordan, then He would appoint the place where His name would live (vv. 9-11). To that place they were to bring their burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, contributions and all their choice offerings. At that centre they were to rejoice before the Lord, together with their families, their servants and the Levite living in the area, since the Levites had no separate inheritance (v. 12).

It was the dwelling place of the Lord that was dear to the heart of every true Israelite. Restless self-will might want to run here and there. The wandering heart might long for some change. But for the heart that loved God, any change from the place of His presence, the place where He had recorded His blessed Name, could only be a change for the worse.

Only God's choice was to be allowed as a place of worship for Israel (v. 13). We know from later history that Jerusalem was that centre, its name meaning "the foundation of peace." In the New Testament the centre for the Church of God is not a physical location. Christ in resurrection is the Centre, as He Himself says, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

We may be disappointed in the house of God. Even so, it is a comfort to know that the perfect order and worship of that house waits until the inheritance is reached and we are at rest from all enemies around (Deut. 12:8-12). So it was in Israel. Worship in its fullness waited for the peaceful day of Solomon. Then the house was built, and sacrifices, offerings and joy before God marked the time as well as filled the place where He had set His name for ever.