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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The Lord said to Aaron, "You, your sons and your father's family are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the priesthood. Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the Tent of the Testimony. They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the Tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die. They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the Tent of Meeting—all the work at the Tent—and no one else may come near where you are.”
"You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the Tent of Meeting. But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death."
Numbers 18:1-7
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In regard to religious affairs within the tabernacle, we know God had ordained Aaron as His chief priest.
In Numbers, chapter 17, you’ll remember that He reinforced this when He caused Aaron’s staff to bud, bloom, and bear almonds while all the other tribal leader staffs remained the same as when they submitted them to Moses as God had commanded. And after Aaron’s staff was transformed in such a miraculous way, you’ll recall that God ordered it to be placed at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting as a reminder to Israel that Aaron was in charge of the holy place of worship, a holy place that only He and his servants were allowed to enter into.
As we move onto chapter 18, we see where God gives very specific directions to His high priest, directions centered on one main theme: responsibility. We see the Lord telling Aaron to do the following:
1. He, his sons, and his father's family were to "bear the responsibility for offenses against the sanctuary" and his sons alone were to "bear the responsibility for offenses against the priesthood".
2. He was to bring his fellow Levites from his ancestral tribe to join and assist him when either Aaron or his sons ministered before the Tent of the Testimony.
3. He was to hold the Levites accountable as they performed “all the duties of the Tent", being especially vigilant in keeping them away from "the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar". Failure to do so would be met with death for not only the Levites but for him as well.
4. While he and the Levites were tending to all the work of the tabernacle, he was to ensure that no one came into where they were working. In other words, the Tent of Meeting was off limits to anyone except him and the Levites.
5. He was "responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar". Failure to do this would result in God’s wrath falling on the Israelites once again.
6. He was to ensure that only he and his sons served as priests "in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain". The Levites were appointed to help him and his sons with everything else connected with the tabernacle with the exception of the sanctuary and altar furnishings.
As we can see, the list of responsibilities God placed on Aaron was very extensive and comprehensive and we find Him finishing with a statement that caps off this passage, a statement that serves to keep Aaron accountable and in check so he wouldn’t get carried away with all the authority that had been placed on him. In the statement, we see where God makes it clear that He could and would replace Aaron if he didn’t perform his chief priest duties properly.
Here’s what He said:
"I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift."
In these few words, God is saying a lot. For He wanted to make it clear that He wasn’t obligated to give the priesthood to Aaron. Rather, the position was a rich privilege given to Aaron by his Lord, a gift of divine positional authority and responsibility. And since it was a privilege, God could take it away just as easily as He granted it.
Now, let’s consider how this same principle applies to our lives in general today. For God has given us this life as a gift and we need to understand that it’s an incredible privilege and blessing to just wake up, take breaths along with having a heart that beats so that we can function and do what we do daily. Indeed, by His deep mercy, grace, and love, the Lord grants us life and we need to be careful that we don’t adopt an arrogant overconfidence that takes us to where we believe God can’t take away the very privilege of life that He grants.
For just as Aaron had been given specific direction about his responsibilities, so too has God told us how He expects to live our lives through His Word. While Aaron was given responsibility to tend to the sanctuary of Israelite worship, the Bible tells us that our bodies are living temples (1 Corinthians 6:19) and we’re responsible for tending to those sanctuaries, ensuring that we bring full honor and glory to our Lord with everything we think, say, or do. We can always make sure we meet this expectation from God if we remember and carry out the two greatest commandments given by Jesus, God’s only Son, who said this in Mark’s Gospel:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31
Friends, God’s gift of life is granted to us out of sheer love and it’s His love that will carry us through each day as we seek to obediently serve Him and others. As we surrender our will to His as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1), we will find the gift of His awesome, enduring love filling us until it overflows out to others. Indeed, this love is what carries us through each day and into the eternal life to come as we willfully and willingly carry out all that God purposes us to do in His name. It’s a love that opens our eyes to see what a blessing and privilege life truly is, a life granted by the Lord who we will one day see face-to-face and abide with forever.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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