Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2183117951984132/?source_id=181918175166472
February 8th
Our Bible reading today is in Exodus chapters 28,29.
Today, I see one more visual aid to my growing understanding of God’s covenant with Israel and with me and you.
Please bear with my introduction...it’s not to conceal our text, but to reveal it...I hope.
God’s covenant with us (that is His promise to us) is huge.
God promised eternal life to us...which is His life...He promised us His life, not just a better one of ours.
God promised us His life... for us...taking the penalty of our sins upon his own body on the tree...so that we wouldn't have to die for our sins...
God promised us His life.... in us...the life of amazing fruitfulness...(listen to Jesus speak to this in John 15...” I am the vine and you are the branches, he that abides in Me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit.”) God promised...
And God promised us His life ...with us...which means that He will never leave us nor forsake us...no matter what...from here to heaven and back.
From the night of my conversion to Christ...the cross of Christ and His empty tomb became the “central visual aid” for my thanksgiving to God for His promise to save me from the penalty of my sin.
Today's reading offers us, I believe, another visual aid for thanking God for His covenant promise to His people.
I'll be right back...
Yesterday’s reading introduced us to the visual aid of the Tabernacle, its very presence...in the middle of the camp...said “God’s presence here”...”Central to who we are!” loud and clear.
Even its furnishings spoke the message of God’s covenant with Israel..”You are going to be my people...and I am going to be your God”...”
“I Am” has made provisions for your true worship of Me and your daily fellowship with the congregation.
For instance, true worship began with a covering for sin. That’s why a lamb’s lifeblood was shed on the altar, in the court of the tabernacle, to cover the sins of the approaching worshiper.
Without the shedding of blood, there was no remission of sin, and without that blood covering, there was no reasonable service of worship.
So God provided the altar as the doorway to a worship relationship with Him. And God would also provide a beautiful picture of preparation for community worship.
The priests would dip their hands in the water of the brass laver that stood before the entrance of the tabernacle. Then they would touch their head, their heart, their hands and their feet...dedicating all of their life to serving God by serving His people.
God put a laver of clean water before the tabernacle to remind priests and congregation that worship was singular and in community. Unrighteous thoughts, feelings, and actions toward one another must be put away, must be cleansed...for if not they would disqualify themselves as true worshipers of God...and be a stumbling block for other’s worship of God.
They must forgive each other...and they must be willing to ask for forgiveness when they have hurt another.
Yes ...even the priests in their daily work were a visual aid to worshipping Israelites in covenant with God and each other.
Today’s reading reveals God’s instructions about the office and function of the priesthood. All of which was related to the worship of the one true God who, like Moses sang, “reigns over all the earth.”
Yes, Today’s passage about the priesthood is one more overhead projection, one more smartboard presentation, and one more multiple screen video in vivid technicolor, of Jesus...the tabernacle with us...the priest who intercedes for us to the Father even now...and the perfect sacrifice to cover our sins and give us eternal life. Awesome savior
Have a great day
