By the way, further proof that Psalm 99 is talking about the Ark is found in Psalm 132:7-8:
“We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool. Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.”
“By the way, further proof that Psalm 99 is talking about the Ark is found in Psalm 132:7-8”
God’s people in the Old Testament were supposed to pray toward the temple. Priests and non-priests did bow down. Incense was offered. But this is because the tabernacle and the temple subsequently were the designated place where God met with man. It was the one and only place on earth so designated.
They were not bowing to the cherubim or offering incense to them. These things were directed to God. The cherubim faced where God met with man above the mercy seat.
It is clear from scripture that the tabernacle and temple were not God’s actual dwelling / home because they were mere symbols of a Heavenly reality.
So we see people in the Old and New Testaments praying with their hands lifted up and facing Heaven. Are they directing prayers and worshipping birds? No. The sky? No. The sun, moon, stars? No. It is an acknowledgement that God’s throne is in Heaven.
There is no earthly temple currently. There is no physical meeting place or physical object where God meets with us today. The ark of the covenant still exists, but since the crucifixion, the veil of the temple was torn, and the glory of God’s presence departed for a second time.
God’s Spirit resides in His people, not physical objects or buildings. We do not bow down toward other people even though God dwells in them. All of the examples in the New Testament of doing this are negative examples of doing what God forbade. And no example in the Old or New Testament supports setting up images and bowing to them. Even when objects like the brass serpent or even the temple were used for idolatry, they had to be destroyed.
2 Kings 18:4
He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.
Would it have been okay to burn incense to it if they had not given it a name as a false god? You admitted earlier that they turned it into an idol, but do you also admit that burning incense to it was an act of idolatry?
The New Testament repeatedly warns of idolatry and never directs us to use images in this manner.