WHAT GOD WANTS IS NOT WHAT WE THINK
A literal reading of the Bible leads us to the conclusion that God wants his people to obey ceremonial rules and regulations through various kinds of offerings made by priests in a physical building. The form of these religious services has changed a little since the Law of Moses was given to his people in the wilderness, but the religion of both Judaism and Christianity today is very similar to the narrative found in the first four books of the Old Testament. Thus we still see religious leaders performing religious sacrifices, prayers and ceremonies in physical temples to help people attain forgiveness for their sins. Both religions are the result of four thousand years of evolving movements and doctrines that religious leaders have shaped and reshaped to make the religion fresh, relevant and attractive to contemporary religionists of all ages. The forms of worship have changed and are still changing, but when it comes to religion, there is nothing new under the sun.

What all these religionists, both leaders and followers, have missed is that God never really wanted them to worship him in the way that is literally represented in the Bible. All those Old/First Covenant rules and regulations are visible, physical Symbols, Signs, Types, Copies, Shadows and Patterns of the New Covenant. In Biblical terms, the Old/First Covenant model required worship in the flesh while the New Covenant model contains the ideal of worship in spirit and truth.

God’s ultimate purpose for his people is that they should be a kingdom of priests who are in a New Covenant relationship with him. The New Covenant relationship God desires, however, is not like the Old/First Covenant made with them in the wilderness where they obeyed the letter of the law as a matter of religious rituals. What he really wants is people who are in the kind of covenant relationship where the law is written on their hearts so they can worship at a spiritual mountain.

STUDY TIP: See  Two Covenants for understanding of the differences between the Old/First Covenant and the New Covenant.

But what it means to have the law written on the heart is hard to understand. Being flesh, people understand doing things like obedience to religious laws which tell them what to do, where to do it, and when to do it. But they have difficulty understanding worship in spirit and truth which does not have a bunch of religious do’s and don’ts. Such worship is an illusive Mystery. Religious people do not understand what it means to be still and know God. They think that being still means sitting quietly in the pew for a few minutes while listening to music that touches their souls. They don’t understand that it means ceasing from religious work.

God gave instructions in his ten commandments and elsewhere that contain the the do’s and don’ts of what he expects of his followers. The do’s are the ceremonial and moral laws that religious institutions teach and manage. They are based on a literal interpretation of the Bible. The don’ts are the sinful behaviors that people should avoid. These also are based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, but they are not the kind of religion that God really wants. In God’s eyes, religion based on rules is Defiled Religion, while worship in spirit and truth is Pure Religion.

The big problem in all this is that people do not know the difference between Defiled Religion and Pure Religion. In their literal reading of the Bible they are convinced that they are doing what God wants. Instead, they are only doing what false prophets tell them what they should be doing. But lacking the ability to interpret the Bible symbolically, and being totally intoxicated with religion,  they totally miss what God wants. They have fallen into the snare and trap of the law as a stumbling block which teaches religious rules.