It’s the repetition that grabs my attention. As I’m working my way through Deuteronomy, a phrase I started to encounter yesterday morning continues to show up repeatedly in today’s reading. As I do some computer concordance work, turns out it’s a phrase unique to Deuteronomy. As Moses gives his final “pep talk” before the Israelites take possession of the land, he gives a summary of the instructions that he had received at Sinai . . . it’s a “law refresher course” . . . and part of it deals with worship and sacrifice . . . and what’s seems to be emphasized is the importance of “the place.”

You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way. But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name and make His habitation there. (Deuteronomy 12:4-5 ESV)

Repeatedly in chapter twelve, and then again in chapter sixteen, Moses stresses the importance of the place . . . the place that the LORD your God will choose . . . the place where He chooses to put His name . . . the place where He decides to make His habitation.

Don’t worship like the nations you are about to dispossess, says Moses . . . they worship whatever . . . however . . . wherever. Not so for the people of God . . . for them it is to be about the place.

The place is less about geographical location than it is about holy habitation. Moses doesn’t name the place . . . though, for a time, it would be Shiloh . . . and eventually Jerusalem . . . but here, the place isn’t named because the determined place is about divine presence. It’s where God’s name, His glory, resides . . . the place where He determines to dwell. And there, they are to honor God with their sacrifices . . . there, they are to offer the first fruits . . . there, the people are to worship.

For the children of Israel in the time of Moses the place was wherever the ark resided. While in the desert they would set up the tent of meeting, the ark hidden behind the curtain in the most holy of holy places, and there the cloud would descend . . . and indicator of His presence in their midst. That was the place of worship. Today, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the curtain has been torn in two, from top to bottom, opening access to the most holy place through the once for all sacrifice of Christ. And in that access, God has set up a new place where His glory might dwell . . . a new place where His habitation might lie . . . a place made out of people.

In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22 ESV)

The importance of ” knowing the place” in the Old Testament foreshadows the privilege of “being the place” in the New Testament. In commissioning his magnificent temple, Solomon asks the question, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” (1Kings 8:27). The answer is YES! God will indeed dwell on the earth . . . but not in a structure made of hands . . . instead in one formed out of living stones . . . built together to be a dwelling place for the living God . . . by the active agency of the living Spirit of God.

And there, my friends, is a place to worship!

That we might not lose sight of the magnificent nature of the church of God . . . not the building . . . not the address . . . but the people. A people chosen out of all tribes upon whom He determines to put His name, upon whom He delights to place His glory. A people, saved through faith alone by grace alone, where God alone has determined to make His holy habitation.

Praise God that we are, by His grace . . . and for His glory . . . , the place! Amen?