Reflections from February 24, 2011

Aaron was put in charge of representing the Israelites before the Lord, and he would become the high priest that enters the Most Holy to meet with God. As such, Aaron was going to be properly clothed, and God gave very explicit instructions on how the clothes would look.
The means that Aaron was to receive answers and guidance from the Lord is given in Exodus 28:29-30,
"So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgement over his heart, when he goes into the place, as a memorial before the Lord continually. And you shall put in the breastplate of judgement the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. So Aaron shall bear the judgement of the children of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually."

The words "Urim and Thummim" mean "lights and perfections" and this was worn by Aaron as a means of divine guidance for Israel. They had gems or stones cast in it, or inside it and it was the breastplate of judgement. It is not known how the device was used, so lots of speculation abounds. Josephus, a Jewish scholar that lived right after the death of Jesus, wrote that he believed the Urim and Thummim had to do with the flashing of the precious stones in the breastplate. Others believed that the stones either stood out, or flashed in a certain order to spell out what God's reply was. Nonetheless, without a written, authoritative word of God, The ancient Israelites needed some type of divine guidance. Today, we receive this guidance from His written word, the Bible.

God once again tells Moses that He will be with them in Exodus 29:43, 45, 46,
"And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. I will dwell among the children of Israel and I will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God."

I think the Lord continued to remind them of this fact because He knew that the Israelites would start to get focused on their everyday life and lose sight of what God had done for them. The daily struggle to eat, bathe, get children cared for, etc. tends to bog us down even today, and we have God on the back burner of our life. He's there, and He's important, but there are other things going on that need our attention at this particular moment. That's why it's so important to spend time with God as much as possible, spending a few minutes each morning with Him. It keeps God and His love right in front of me, and I'm reminded of Him throughout the day which then allows me to praise Him for showing me mercy and love.

In addition to the temple, the clothing for Aaron and his sons, and furnishings, there are other worship articles that God gives instruction on, and this is found in Exodus 30. These are the articles for sanctifying the priest and we read in Exodus 30:31-33, 36-38,
Regarding the Spiced Oil for Anointing: "This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations." "It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people."
Regarding the Fragrant Incense: "It shall be most holy to you." "It shall be to you holy for the Lord. Whoever makes any like it, he shall be cut off from his people."
God is serious about all of this, and wants His children to understand the serious nature of meeting directly with Him. Anything in contact with God must be pure, clean, and considered holy because God is holy. Nothing should be done, nor allowed to be done, that would disgrace this holiness. We need to think this same way today. There was a time that we were members of a church that used their building for all types of things, but two very disgraceful times come to mind:
* The alter place in the chapel was used to dry socks and other clothes. They were laid out over the place where Christians worship the Lord. It was very disturbing to see this.
* The worship center and its alter was used to have a "talent show" and the leaders of this church allowed a man dressed as a woman to be on this stage, essentially during a service time.
We need to keep in mind that areas in our church today are to kept holy at all times, for that is where God comes to be with us.

Finally, God provides all this information for Moses so that he has it to take to the Israelites. We read in Exodus 32:18:
"And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God."

Moses received tangible evidence of God's existence, he saw these tablets created while on Mount Sinai. He brought these to the Israelites, and they were to become the guiding principles for their worship and their relationship with God. We have this guiding principle today in His word the Bible. Through it, we can develop and grow our relationship with God, and know how we are to worship Him and give and receive love.

Blessings to all