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하나님께서 적어도 한 번은 성전 문을 닫고 싶다고 하신 적이 있었습니다. “만군의 여호와가 이르노라 너희가 내 제단 위에 헛되이 불사르지 못하게 하기 위하여 너희 중에 성전 문을 닫을 자가 있었으면 좋겠도다 내가 너희를 기뻐하지 아니하며 너희가 손으로 드리는 것을 받지도 아니하리라.” (말 1:10)
하나님께서 예배당을 닫았으면 좋겠다고 하셨는데, 정말로 요즘 예배당 문이 닫혔습니다. 한때 유행처럼 “열린 예배” 한다며 문을 활짝 열던 우리들의 예배가 닫힌 것입니다. 하나님 앞에 예배드린다고 나오면서 “더러운 떡을… 제단에 드리고… 눈 먼 희생제물을… 저는 것 병든 것을 드리는”(말 1:7-8) 예배자들의 악한 행위 때문에 성전 문을 닫기 원하셨습니다. 하나님은 이렇게까지 말씀하셨습니다. “그것을 너희 총독에게 드려보라 그가 너를 기뻐하겠으며 너를 받아주겠느냐?” 사람에게 줘도 받지 않을 것을 하나님께 드렸던 예배의 모습을 지적하면서 ‘성전문을 닫았으면 좋겠다’고 하셨는데, 14세기에 흑사병이 있었어도, 세계대전이 있었을 때도 닫지 않았던 예 배당 문이 마침내 닫힌 것입니다. 그것도 제가 목회하는 지금 이 시기에 온 세계의 예배당 문을 다 닫아 버리신 것입니다. 지금은 정말 가슴을 찢으며 통회하는 심정으로 이제껏 우리가 하나님 앞에 어떻게 예배를 드렸는지 돌아봐야 할 때입니다. 다시 예배의 문을 여는 날을 장담할 수 없는 지금, 우리는 눈물로 회개하며 다시 예배 드릴 날을 사모해야 합니다. 그리고, 이 사태가 속히 수습되고 확진자들이 회복되도록 기도해야겠습니다.
If God is the One Who Closed Doors to Worship…
Rev. Bryan Kim
Spread of Novel Coronavirus became serious. Now the number of infected in US have surpassed China and became number 1. Being number 1 in something like this is not a good news, but it is something that was predicted. California Governor Newsom already ordered everyone to stay home; further strengthened the order by forbidding gathering of 10 or more people. Even golf courses have been ordered to close. Non-essential customer service businesses closed their doors. Streets are empty. Going to LA Koreatown would be easy now but there’s nowhere to go and no one to see. American culture largely represented by 3S – sports, screen, and sex has become abashed by Coronavirus. All sports stadiums have closed. Movie theatres and concert halls have closed their doors. Restaurants as well as bars and clubs have closed. There’s one more S. Even Service(Worship) has stopped. We can no longer freely worship together. We can no longer do the things we love the most. It’s bearable that people are not able to do 3S things they boasted about, but the fourth S will greatly be missed. We need to voluntarily follow state mandates and the church need to take active role in health of citizens. However, if this is happening under God’s sovereignty, then 3S is understandable. I earnestly think about why He would not allow us to have church worship.
God said at least once that he wanted to close temple doors. “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.” (Mal 1:10)
God wanted to shut the doors and, today, church doors are shut. In a fad, we opened doors wide in “Open Worship” but now they are closed. We come to worship to His altar offering, “polluted food… blind animals… those that are lame or sick” (Mal 1:7-8) He wanted to shut the doors because of evil actions of worshipers. God said this, “Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor?” He points out that worshipers were offering to God what people would not even accept, and He wanted to ‘shut the doors’ of temple. Black Death of 14th century and World War did not close the doors but Coronavirus has now closed worship doors. In this time of my ministry, God has closed all church doors. This is time when we should reflect on how we have worshiped God, and we must cry out ripping our hearts in repentance. We can’t predict when the doors will open again for worship, but we must repent in tears, longing for the day that we will worship together. We must pray for this situation to resolve quickly and for recovery of those infected.
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