Thus far, the rehearsal of the law has been somewhat general. In Deuteronomy 12 we have a very particular matter—the center for the worship of God. This chapter strongly stresses that we must worship God at a definite center, at the place of His choice. We do not have the right to select a place according to our preference. Going to a place of our own choosing is altogether prohibited by God's word. God's people must come to the place which God has chosen, the place where He has put His name. Only that place where God puts His name can be the worship center of His people. Furthermore, the proper place of worship is the place of God's habitation. This means that in the place of His choice God will put His name and He Himself will dwell there. God's people must go to this place—the place where God dwells and where God's name is.
The place chosen by God as a worship center keeps God's people from being divided. If they had the freedom to choose a place according to their preferences, there would be division among them. We need to keep these matters in mind as we consider the serious warning in Deuteronomy 12.
In chapter twelve Moses charged the children of Israel concerning the way to worship God.
In verses 2 and 3 Moses charged the people, saying, "You shall completely destroy all the places where the nations whom you will dispossess have served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every flourishing tree. And you shall tear down their altars and crush their pillars; and their Asherim you shall burn with fire, and the idols of their gods you shall cut down; and you shall destroy their name from that place." Nothing that was practiced by the nations was to be brought into the worship of God. This principle still applies today. Nevertheless, Catholicism has brought in many of the things practiced by the nations, many things related to the worship of idols. This was the reason that the church in Thyatira, which prefigures the Roman Catholic Church, was very much condemned by the Lord in Revelation 2:18-29.
In the church life today, we should give up all the ways and practices of the nations. We must worship God with Christ and with Christ alone. We should gather together in the name of the Lord and worship God with Christ as the reality of all the offerings and sacrifices. We should bring Christ to God in the place of His choice.