IS IT AN AUDITORIUM OR A SANCTUARY?

It is not uncommon to hear a brother mention in his prayer that “we are thankful to be able to come out to God’s house and worship.” Also, you will hear from time to time a member of the church referring to that part of the building where the assembly of worship is conducted as being the ‘sanctuary’. If you were to bring someone to visit our buildings, most likely the person would refer to the place of worship as being “a beautiful sanctuary.” To some degree, most of us have been affected by Judaism or Catholicism whether we realize it or not. The Lord God had Moses to erect the tabernacle. This portable tent of meeting was to be the center of worship until many years later when Solomon would build the temple in the city of Jerusalem. In Exodus 25:8, we read that the purpose of such a place was “that I may dwell among them.” In this verse, the whole of the tabernacle was referred to as the “sanctuary.” However, in Exodus 25:22, we learn that it was at the mercy-seat between the two cherubim, atop the Ark of the Covenant and located in the Most Holy Place that God said, “I will commune with thee.” In short, the sanctuary, whether speaking of the tabernacle as a whole or the Most Holy Place, was a dwelling place of the presence of the Almighty God. In contrast, the place of worship in the Christian age is of no significance. Jesus taught the Samaritan woman that it would not matter where one worshiped God (whether in the mountains or in Jerusalem) as long as such was done “in spirit and truth” (John 4:20-24). Paul declared that the “Lord of heaven and earth dwells not in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). The Lord’s called out congregation is never a place but always a people. The church is “a spiritual house”, not a physical building, “to offer up spiritual sacrifices” (I Peter 2:5). Again, Paul wrote in I Corinthians 3:16 that “You (Christians) are a temple (sanctuary) of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Paul referred to the “house of God” as being the “church of the living God” in I Timothy 3:15. Therefore God’s sanctuary (house) today is His kingdom, the church, and not where the saints meet to worship.