This Is Our Place of Worship

"The zeal for your house will consume me." -JOHN 2:17. 

FROM early times, God's servants have had their established places for pure worship.  Abel may have used an  altar when he made his offerings to God.  (Genesis 4:3, 4) Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses all erected altars.  (Genesis 8:20; 12:7; 26:25; 35:1; Exodus 17:15) At Jehovah's direction, the Israelites built a tabernacle. (Exodus 25:8) Later, they constructed  a temple for the worship of Jehovah.  (1 Kings 8:27, 29)  After returning from exile in Babylon, the Jews regularly gathered in synagogues.   (Mark 6:2; John 18:0; Acts 15:21)  Early Christians met in the homes of members of the congregation. (Acts 12:12; 1 Corinthians 16:19)  Today, Jehovah's people meet for education and worship  in tens of thousands of Kingdom Halls worldwide.  

So great was Jesus' love  and appreciation for Jehovah's temple in Jerusalem that a Gospel writer  attributed to him the prophetic statement: "Zeal for your house has consumed me."  (Psalm 69:9; John 2:17)  No Kingdom Hall can rightly be called "the house of Jehovah"  in the same sense that these words applied to the temple in Jerusalem.  (2 Chronicles 5:13; 33:4)  Even so, the Bible contains principles that show us how our modern-day places of worship should be used and respected.  The purpose of this article is to review  some of these principles and to consider how they apply to the way that our Kingdom Halls should be viewed, financed, and  maintained. 

Next time: This Is Our Place of Worship -SHOWING RESPECT FOR PURE WORSHIP 

From the Watchtower magazine, 2015