Good Wednesday morning! The snow should be melting away for the next couple of days; my drifts lost some height yesterday, mostly those on the south side of the house. Question for the day: Do the news headlines make you weep for the world? Some days it is difficult to get through the news without a sense of sadness. We see all the worst news it seems. The new year should be a time of renewal and hope, but the news seems much the same as last year. Are we looking at the news and thinking that God is not in control? Whoa! Sadness for the suffering is one thing, but if we start to lose hope then we have our eyes going in the wrong direction. Time to open the Word of God and study His promises for the end times. As the late Pastor Rogers used to say, "It is getting gloriously dark!"
This year, for the daily Bible reading, I started in Numbers. This book is one that I have skipped over for years; who wants to read a book about counting ancient Israelites? But as with every book in the Bible, there is much more than that in this book. God does not set out to bore us with reading lengthy and repetitive texts just for His own amusement. If I just described a teacher and one of your classes, I'm sorry; do your best to endure. The first thing I noticed about Numbers was how exact the Law is. God told the Israelites every little thing about his tabernacle and worship. The next thing is how many times already, and I''m only just in the first part of the book, a phrase or command ends with, "will die". Yikes! God's sacred things are not like the sacred things of other peoples and religions!
Many ancient and even some modern religions have laws and rules about when to put a person to death. God's worship wasn't different for the Israelites in that way, but His sacred objects were very different. Simply gazing at the Ark for anyone other than a very select few resulted in a "will die". Not that the person must be put to death, but that person will die. Looking upon other sacred objects in the tabernacle held the same "will die" penalty. There were no exceptions for a stray breeze, the tabernacle was made of cloth curtains for the most part, no exceptions for age or sex, the Law was exact and unforgiving. So far in my reading, I have seen no way to avoid the penalty. God even gave explicit packing instructions involving the covering and bundling up of the sacred objects by Aaron and his sons to avoid killing all the Levites whenever the tabernacle had to be moved. Other mistakes resulted in the same penalty. Aaron had lost two of his sons already for burning the wrong kind of wood in the worship. Why did God make the penalty so absolute and His worship service so difficult? That is the Law! The Law of Moses, actually the Law given to Moses, is uncompromising and unforgiving. Wander into the tabernacle, wonder what is behind the fancy curtains, and 'bam' you get once glimpse of gold and the glory of God, and that's it for your earthly life; end of story.
Today, we have only the slightest idea about that kind of tough and uncompromising penalty. There are electrical plants and substations, even some prison fences, where if a person touches the wrong thing, that's it - life over. Of course, these dangerous things are protected by many layers of doors, gates, fences, safety zones, building walls, and personnel to keep the curious and ignorant away. God gave the Israelites instructions and even selected the tribe of Levi to safeguard His holy objects from the unwary or foolish. All of this is why Paul came to the conclusion that all of us are condemned under the Law. If each of us was put on trail before God's Law this morning, we might find it easier to list the laws that we haven't violated in some way. And of course we have no excuse for the sin of Adam that stains us. Do you fear the penalty of the Law? You should, we all should, that instant death thing can cause a lump in your throat. So why don't we live in terror of the Law now?
That sin demanded a sacrifice and only one sacrifice could take away the penalty that all of us face. Jesus came and satisfied God's judgment on all sinners. There is no more penalty for sin! So why do we have to bother with witnessing, spreading the Good News of Christ, confessing our sins, and all that other stuff? The grace that comes through Jesus Christ must be given and accepted. How can someone accept the gift of grace if he doesn't believe in Jesus in the first place? How can that other person believe if she has never heard of Jesus Christ? That is why those of us who have decided to believe in Jesus and accepted His gift of grace have work to do! And isn't it wonderful to live without the fear of instant death for even accidentally seeing the Ark of the Covenant?
Have a great new day in Christ!
Bucky
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