If we accept the interpretation that the second Isaiah has given us the prophecies of the restoration, we may regard this chapter as a description of Israel after the return from the Chaldean captivity, and, further, the condition of worship in the reign of the Messiah. We place before you the whole matter as a plea for God's house in the present day.
I. THE LOCATION OF WORSHIP. "Mine house." With God every where, what need is there of setting apart any particular spot for worship? While all creation is God's magnificent temple, why should we consecrate any particular place of building for the purpose of worship? We have a promise in the Book itself (Jeremiah 31:33 34). But we must suppose conditions of thought, and degrees of poetry, which do not exist, in order to worship God in the general terms implied in these statements. We infer from the history of public worship that God has adapted its forms to the state of mankind in the various periods of the periods of the past. To-day worship its forms to the state of mankind in the various periods of the past. To-day worship must be conducted with a view to the position of the religious thought which prevails.
1. The first essential element of worship is concentration. The circumstantial in religion must be flamed to centre thought upon God in His nearness to man. The patriarch's altar, the tabernacle of Moses, and the temple of Solomon did this. In the teaching of Christ we meet with an expansion of the geography of worship. The temples on Moriah and Gerizim were doomed, both by the force of circumstances and the Incarnation. God in Christ became the consummation of the central idea of God. But Christ was human as well as Divine. We find Him both in the synagogue and the temple. He drew His disciples together, sometimes into a house, other times on the mountain slopes, or in secluded spots, for instruction and fellowship. He introduced a simplicity into worship which indicated a more spiritual thought than that which obtained when gorgeous ritualism formed its environment. The time had arrived when He would introduce a method by which we would worship the Father "in spirit and in truth. ' But never has Jesus Christ hinted at the probability that such a worship would consist of abstract thought, universal observation, or individual reflection, apart from the offices of time and space. When God and man meet they must meet somewhere. Although the necessity for a restricted spot had passed away, and the whole earth became a consecrated temple, when the eternal Son chose it as His imperial palace, yet the limitations of the spiritual man, while dwelling in a tabernacle of clay, suggest the setting apart of places for worship. In an age when life is at a higher pressure than ever it has been, and consequently, an age when our thoughts are agitated, scattered, embittered, and inflamed, of what incalculable value must the house of prayer be.
2. Our next point is association. We have been told that there is such a thing as abstract thought, but where is abstract life? How far can one go on the path of life without the aid of others? It seems absurd that people should assume so much piety as not to require any association or assistance. If the Hall of Science is needed, why not the Hall of Prayer?
3. Our third plea for the house of prayer is memorial. Every place of worship in England is a witness to the Being of God, and to His providence and salvation. "Mine house" is a significant designation, showing His acceptance of the gift. It is the language of love in response to the gift of love.
II. THE ESSENCE OF WORSHIP. "House of prayer." Prayer is a comprehensive term, having devotion as its central idea. There would have been an appropriateness in calling it the house of praise, for from no other house has so much and so grand music ascended to heaven. It might have been called the house of preaching, because the word is gone forth out of Zion to the ends of the earth. But why did God name it the house of prayer? Under the old dispensation, sacrifice occupied the most prominent place in the services, but even then its name was the house of prayer. Reverence for God is the first step of the ladder. Waiting upon God is the next step.
(T Davies, M. A.)
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