There is a hymn that is called Saint Patrick’s
breastplate. It was not actually written
by Patrick. It was written in the eighth
century. It calls for God’s presence. It contains these words:
I think the unifying theme in the chapters that we are
looking at this morning is the presence of God made known through the
tabernacle. Now that presence is seen
in Jesus who the apostle John says, ‘tabernacled’ amongst us’ (John 1:14).
Christians serve a common goal
(7)
Last week we saw the wonderful blessing of the High
Priest Aaron: ‘The LORD bless you and keep you.
The LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The LORD turn his face to you and give you
peace’ (6:24-26). Then God says, ‘I will
bless them’ (6:27). Now, in chapter
seven, we have eighty-eight verses of each tribe bringing gifts to the
tabernacle. Can we learn anything from
this?
Well, notice that the blessing comes before the
gifts. Their giving is not a means to
earn God’s favor. Their giving is a
response to His blessing. In Christ we
have been given every spiritual blessing.
If you belong to Him then you are forgiven, you have the sure hope of
heaven and you have the power to change for Christ lives in you. We can’t earn that love, but we do respond in
grateful obedience. We give our lives as
a grateful offering.
We also learn from the repetition in this chapter. The tribes give identical gifts. There is unity in their service to God. We too have a common message and we serve a
common purpose. While God has given each
of us unique personalities He also calls us to display the same fruit as we
become more like Jesus. We are to speak
the same message of Jesus dying for guilt and being raised that we can have
life.
God has turned his face
towards us (8:1-4)
‘The LORD bless you and keep you. The LORD make his face to shine upon you and
be gracious to you.’ As we move into
chapter eight we see the LORD shining His face upon His people. Moses is to instruct Aaron with regards to
the setting up a lampstand in the Holy place.
The lampstand is arranged in such a way that it shines on twelve flat
loaves of showbread (or bread of presence).
The beard of presence symbolizes the twelve tribes that were God’s
people. The light symbolizes God
presence and favor. Our offerings and
obedience are acceptable because of His grace.
Now we know that Jesus is the light of the world and he says that, ‘the
one who follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life’
(John 8:12). Jesus leads us out of the way
of ignorance and evil and shows us how to live as we are meant to be.
God’s presence is terrifying
without a priest (8:5-26)
The rest of chapter eight has to do with the
preparation of the tribe of Levi as a priesthood. In truth without the priesthood God’s
presence in the camp would be a danger rather than a blessing.
Part of the job of the Levitical priests was to stop
the people coming too close. The people
were allowed come to the outer court.
The priests were allowed into the holy place. On one day a year—the Day of Atonement—the
High priest was allowed enter the Holy of holies. But come too close at the wrong time and you
could be struck dead.
Please don’t think that God is any less holy now than
He was then. When I was a child mum read
us ‘The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.’
At the end she explained that Aslan was a picture of Jesus. In that book Susan asks Mr. Beaver, ‘Is he
quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous
about meeting a lion.’ ‘Safe?’, said Mr.
Beaver, ‘who said anything about safe?
Course he isn’t safe. But he’s
good. He’s the King, I tell you.’
We now can approach the throne of grace with
confidence not because God is less holy but because we have a perfect High
Priest—Jesus—who has given Himself as a sacrifice of infinite value for our
evil. Never lose the wonder that we can
come into the presence of God and know Him as Abba, Father. We come not because He is less holy than
revealed on the pages of the Old Testament, but because Jesus has removed our
guilt and given us His righteousness so that we can be safe before His throne.
God presence goes before us (9-10)
The people had been camping at Mount Sinai for about a
year. Then the Passover was celebrated—remembering
how God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Now the cloud lifts from above the tabernacle
and the people follow the cloud into the wilderness of Panan. The ark of the covenant goes before them. Look at the closing verses of these chapters. When the ark set out, Moses said, ‘“arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be
scattered and those who hate you flee before you.” And when it rested, he said, “Return, O LORD,
to the ten thousand thousands of Israel”’ (10:35-36). The word translated ‘Arise’ has military
connotations. ‘Come and deal with my
enemies of Lord.’
So maybe we should wake in the morning and begin our
day, ‘Rise up, O Lord! Go before me
today. Guide me into the good works you
have prepared me to do. Fight with me as
I wrestle against temptation. The battle
is yours. Give me courage when I feel
afraid to stand for you. May I wield the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, as I speak of your victory. In all the battle let me draw strength from
you as I pray’ (adapted from Duguid).
Conclusion
How does the presence of God affect you?
His presence is a challenging presence. We have been bought at a price. We have been bought in love. We are not our own. We are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, be careful what you look at. Guard your tongue. Flee sexual immorality.
His presence is a comforting presence. We pray that the Holy Spirit would enable us
to cry out Abba, Father and that we would see His loving gaze shining on us.
His presence is an empowering presence. You cannot really change. But He can do more in your heart that you can
ask or imagine. He can break long held
habits. He can bring His beautiful fruit
in you. He can make you like Jesus.
‘Christ protect me today. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind
me, Christ above me, Christ at my right, Christ at my left, Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot-seat, Christ in the mighty stern. Salvation is of the Lord, Salvation is of
Christ. May Thy salvation, O Lord, be
ever with us.’
No comments:
Post a Comment