Tyler Galleria Temple

 

[1]

Joshua 24:15 Good News Translation

¹⁵ If you are not willing to serve him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve the Lord.”

 

When we first moved to Riverside, the greatest shopping center in the city was Tyler Mall. That was almost forty years ago. I used to say to Sylvia, “This is Riverside’s temple to the goddess of materialism.” Thousands of people converged on this temple every day of the week. Then things began to happen. Workmen got in there and added another story of shops. They renamed the Tyler Mall, the Tyler Galleria. They spent several years redoing the streets and the 91-Freeway to make it more convenient to enter the temple.

Out of curiosity I looked up the meaning of the word “galleria”. One dictionary traces the etymology of the word to a chapel at the entrance to a 15^th century church—indeed, a place of worship. A place of worship for the populace, not just for the appropriately dressed nobility who could worship inside the church.

But now, in this modern age, things have changed beyond the wildest imaginings of the designers of the Tyler Galleria. Modern technology has brought the galleria into everyone’s home and pocket. Now far more people spend their millions on their computer or phone from outlets like Amazon. People can worship the goddess of materialism from the comfort of their own home, car, or office. They can even have the product delivered to their own front door. If they don’t like what is delivered, or it breaks, they can ship it back and get their money back.

And what has happened to these “places of worship?” Many, especially since the Pandemic, have fallen totally into disuse. They lie desolate, practically abandoned, licking their wounds. We can apply Christ’s 2,000-year-old lament to our age: “And so your Temple will be abandoned. I assure you that you will not see me until the time comes when you say[2] ‘God bless Him who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

In the end, our materialism will be destroyed. For a peek into the future, just look at what is happening to our gallerias during a “snatch and grab” raid—or for their eventual destiny in the pictures from Gaza or Ukraine.

I pray that we will choose with Joshua: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”

 

 

 

 

---

[1] https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8163/7580038042_c0b7a09a90_b.jpg

[2] Luke 13: 35 GNV

 

Omnipresence

 

[1]

Isaiah 46:10
Good News Translation
From the beginning I predicted the outcome;
    long ago I foretold what would happen.
I said that my plans would never fail,
    that I would do everything I intended to do.

 

In Isaiah chapters 44 and 45, God named Cyrus as the man who would restore and rebuild the Jewish temple. In the very next verse, He spoke of a hawk (“ravenous bird” in KJV) who would accomplish what He had planned.

Indeed, in his first year, Cyrus issued a decree that all the Jews were free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. He actually returned the various vessels that had been taken from the former temple by Nebuchadnezzar and provided extra funds to rebuild the temple. It is a great tragedy that most of God’s people chose to not return to their ancestral homes. Christ later told a parable in which a king instructed his ten servants to “occupy until I come.” (Luke 19:13) The exiles were doing exactly that, as Jeremiah had instructed, “Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what you grow in them.” (Jeremiah 29:5) They had become prosperous as God promised in verse 7. Many of God’s people were doing so well in exile that they didn’t want to leave. Others had jobs they felt they couldn’t afford to leave. Ezra lists 42,360 people who returned with him as he led the group back to Jerusalem. Compare that to the time of the Exodus when the number of men considered able to fight was 603,550 who left Egypt; that is probably well over 2 million people counting women and children. Those who remained behind in exile eventually assimilated into the heathen they lived amongst.

Descendants of those 42,360 people became the nucleus of the population in Judea and Galilee who were alive when Christ came some 500 years later. God had provided them the privilege to be able to welcome His Son. But again, the people, instead of welcoming Him, crucified Him.

When Christ comes again, how many of us will actually look up and say “God bless Him who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 13:35 GNT)?

 

---

[1] https://www.montananaturalist.org/blog-post/montanas-the-final-destination-for-rough-legged-hawks-flying-south/