Worship

Worship

In the Bible public worship is found in four stages of development. The first is the somewhat primitive mode practiced until the building of the temple. During this time no sharp line was drawn between private and public worship. In the second stage, it became highly organize in the Temple ritual which indeed had its origin in the tabernacle setup in the wilderness. It was led by priests assisted by the Levites, and included a complex ritual and system of sacrifices. The third state was that of the synagogue, which began during the Exile. This greatly differed from worship in the Temple. Whereas the latter was centralized in Jerusalem, the former was found wherever there were Jews. In the synagogues, however, the emphasis was more upon instruction than upon worship, although the latter was not neglected. The fourth stage was that of the early Christian churches. Jewish Christians continued, as long as they were permitted, to worship in the Temple and in the synagogue, although for them the whole ceremonial and sacrificial system ended with the death and resurrection of Jesus. Public Christian worship developed along the lines of the synagogue. It appears that from the first, Christians met in homes for private brotherhood meetings, and the time was the Lord’s Day.