The Geography of God's Glory Text: Deuteronomy 12:13-14
Introduction: Worship Wars, Ancient and Modern
We live in an age of boutique spirituality. Modern man, having thrown off what he considers the shackles of divine revelation, now fancies himself a connoisseur of the transcendent. He strolls through the marketplace of ideas, picking up a little karma here, a dash of mindfulness there, and perhaps a vaguely Christian sentiment for good measure, and he calls this eclectic mess "worship." He believes that sincerity is the only standard, and that his own heart is the ultimate high place. He offers his sacrifices, not of bulls and goats, but of good intentions and heartfelt emotions, on any altar he happens to see and approve. He is, in short, doing what is right in his own eyes.
But as is so often the case, our cutting-edge modernism is just a shabby knock-off of a very ancient paganism. The Canaanites, whom Israel was about to displace, were the original purveyors of this do-it-yourself religion. They had a god for every hill, a shrine under every green tree. Their worship was geographically promiscuous because their theology was promiscuous. Place equaled god. Many places meant many gods. Worship was a matter of location, convenience, and local custom. It was a consumer-driven enterprise.
Into this chaotic and man-centered religious landscape, God speaks a word that is as sharp and defining as a surveyor's line. He commands His people not just whom to worship, but where and how. This chapter, Deuteronomy 12, is the constitutional charter for Israel's worship. It is God's declaration that He will not be worshiped in the slipshod, syncretistic, and self-styled manner of the pagans. He is not a local deity to be managed, one among many. He is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, and He sets the terms. The central command of this chapter is the command of the central sanctuary. One God, one people, one place.
This principle is not some dusty relic of ancient Israelite ceremony. It is the bedrock of what the Reformers would later call the Regulative Principle of Worship. This is the doctrine that God, and God alone, has the authority to determine how He is to be worshiped. We are not permitted to innovate. We are not allowed to import the practices of the world into the house of God, no matter how effective or relevant they may seem. To do so is to build an altar on a high place of our own choosing. It is to offer a sacrifice of will-worship, which God has not commanded and will not accept.
The Text
"Beware, lest you offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see, but in the place which Yahweh chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you."
(Deuteronomy 12:13-14)
The Negative Command: No Freelance Worship (v. 13)
We begin with the stern warning in verse 13:
"Beware, lest you offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see," (Deuteronomy 12:13)
The word is "Beware." Take care. This is a spiritual guardrail. God is warning them against a temptation that would be both powerful and constant: the temptation of religious pragmatism and syncretism. As they entered the land, they would see high places everywhere. These were established, functioning, and no doubt impressive religious sites. The temptation would be to say, "Look, an altar. We need to offer a sacrifice. Let's just use this one. Why reinvent the wheel?" It is the temptation to sanctify paganism, to baptize their methods and their locations and put a Yahwistic veneer on top.
God says, "You shall not do so unto the Lord your God" (v. 4). The issue is not just that they worship, but how they worship. God is not interested in their creative adaptations. He is not looking for worship consultants. He has given His commands, and He expects them to be obeyed. The phrase "every cultic place you see" strikes at the heart of sight-driven, impulse-based worship. It is a worship governed by what is visible, what is convenient, what is aesthetically pleasing to the natural man. This is the essence of idolatry. Idolatry is not just bowing to a statue; it is worshiping the true God in a false way, a way of our own devising.
This is a perennial temptation for the church. We see the world having great success with its methods. They know how to draw a crowd, how to create an atmosphere, how to generate excitement. And so the church, in its desire to be "relevant," goes to the high places of the culture, the places of entertainment and marketing, and says, "Let's offer our burnt offerings here. Let's use their music, their lighting, their therapeutic messaging." But in doing so, we are simply repeating the sin of Israel. We are worshiping in a place God has not chosen, using methods He has not commanded. We are offering strange fire.
The prohibition is a mercy. God is protecting His people from corrupting their worship and, consequently, their understanding of Him. When you adopt the world's methods, you inevitably adopt the world's message. Form and substance are inextricably linked. If you worship like a pagan, you will eventually think like a pagan.
The Positive Command: The Divine Geography (v. 14)
In contrast to the forbidden freelance worship, God gives a very specific, positive command.
"but in the place which Yahweh chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you." (Deuteronomy 12:14)
Notice the glorious, thundering sovereignty in this verse. "The place which Yahweh chooses." The choice is His, not theirs. Worship is not a democracy. It is a monarchy, and God is the King. He sets the time, the terms, and the location. This was a radical concept. It meant that their access to God in formal, sacrificial worship was not determined by their convenience, but by His decree. They would have to travel. They would have to plan. They would have to submit their schedules and their preferences to His revealed will. This centralization of worship was designed to do several things.
First, it safeguarded the unity of Israel. One God, one people, one altar. Gathering at the central sanctuary three times a year would knit the twelve tribes together, reminding them that they were one covenant nation under God, not a loose confederation of clans with their own local deities.
Second, it protected the purity of their doctrine and worship. With one approved location, the Levitical priesthood could maintain doctrinal integrity and ensure that the sacrifices were offered according to God's precise instructions. It prevented the theological drift and syncretism that would inevitably occur with a thousand different altars run by a thousand different priests with a thousand different ideas.
Third, and most importantly, it was typological. The "place which Yahweh chooses" was not an end in itself. It was a signpost, a shadow, pointing to the ultimate reality. The Tabernacle, and later the Temple in Jerusalem, was the place where God chose to put His Name, the place where heaven and earth met. It was the place where sin was atoned for and where man could be reconciled to God. But it was always pointing forward to the true Temple, the true meeting place, the true sacrifice. It was pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the place which Yahweh has chosen. He is the one in whom "all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (Col. 2:9). He is the true tabernacle, not made with hands (Heb. 9:11). When He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," He was speaking of the temple of His body (John 2:19-21). There is now only one place where we can offer acceptable worship, and that place is a Person. We must come to God in Christ. Any attempt to approach God on our own terms, through our own righteousness, or by our own methods, is to build an altar on a forbidden high place.
All That I Command You
The verse concludes with a comprehensive demand for obedience: "and there you shall do all that I am commanding you." This is the essence of the regulative principle. Our worship is not defined by what God has forbidden, but by what He has commanded. The question is not, "What does the Bible prohibit?" but rather, "What does the Bible require?" If it is not commanded, either by explicit statement or by good and necessary consequence, it is forbidden.
This principle is not a straightjacket; it is a glorious liberty. It frees the church from the tyranny of human opinion, from the endless cycle of fads and trends. It frees the conscience of the worshiper, who can know that he is doing what is pleasing to God, not simply what is pleasing to the worship leader or the church growth consultant. We are called to a simple, scriptural, and sincere obedience.
In the New Covenant, the "place" is Christ, and by extension, His body, the gathered church. When we assemble on the Lord's Day, we are coming to the heavenly Jerusalem, to Mount Zion (Heb. 12:22-24). And in that assembly, we are to do all that He has commanded: the reading and preaching of the Word, the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the administration of the sacraments, and prayer. These are the elements God has appointed. To add to them or subtract from them is to assume a prerogative that belongs to God alone.
Therefore, let us take care. Let us beware of the high places of our own hearts, the allure of cultural relevance, and the temptation of will-worship. Let us demolish the altars of pragmatism and sentimentality. And let us come, with reverence and awe, to the place that God has chosen, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us offer our sacrifices of praise in Him, and do all that He has commanded, for such worshipers the Father seeks.