A king has the right to dictate who, when, & how to enter his presence. Before Jesus, only the high priest could approach God once a year & only then with a sacrifice. But our High Priest entered the Presence of God, offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice for all our sins. This torn down the wall of separation allowing us all to follow Jesus into God's Presence. Now we can approach God in prayer & see glimpses of Him on this earth. All of us who approach God with the blood of Jesus as the offering for our sins, can also follow Him into the Throne Room of Heaven for eternity.

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Entering His Presence

God is a Holy God & He expects to be treated as such. Two of the priests disregarded God's instructions, did things their own way, & were killed because of it. Serving God is an important job & should be taken seriously. We are servants today in God's kingdom & like the priests, it is our job to know God's Word and His Character and teach others. Our minds need to be clear and we need to be diligent as workers in God's Kingdom.

A Serious Job

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we have been reconciled to God. Our sin separated us from God & deserves death. But Jesus suffered that death for us in order to bring peace between us & God. Now we can fellowship with God on earth & even more fully in eternity. The Israelites offered peace & grain offerings along with daily & restitution offerings. The grain offerings could not have yeast or honey because it represented how sin makes things bigger than they should be. Instead all grain offerings were seasoned with salt representing the purification from sin, the healing of the relationship with God, & the preservation of the covenant. Restitution for sin in relationships was made by not only paying a consequence & restoring what was taken but by going above & beyond to make things right in that relationship.

Peace & Restitution

God asked the people to make sacrifices to Him. Sometimes they were offerings out of their abundance other times they were sacrifices for sin. Everything they gave had to be from their best. God wants our best too. He is worthy of the most valuable things in our lives. He is also entitled to all that He has freely given to us so He expected more out of those that had more. He also expected a greater sacrifice for sin from those that were had greater religious responsibility. The sins of a leader required greater sacrifice because their sin cost the nation more. Leaders are held to higher standards. When the people brought a sin offering, they had to kill the animal themselves, taking full responsibility for the price of their sin. The fire on the altar burned continuously to show that God was always ready to accept the people's sacrifices. We too must confess & take full responsibility when we sin. God is always ready to accept the offering made for us, our perfect Sacrifice, Jesus.

What Will You Sacrifice

Moses anointed Aaron as high priest, the one that would offer sacrifices for the atonement of Israel's sins. God anointed Jesus as the Messiah that offered Himself as the Sacrifice for us, once for all. The Levitical priesthood pointed to Jesus. Because He lives forever, His intercession for His people never ends. Since His Sacrifice was perfect, there was no need for animal sacrifices anymore. On the cross Jesus said "it is finished" because as the Anointed Son of God, He finished what the High Priests started. He accomplished completely what they could only accomplish temporarily. Jesus is the Anointed High Priest, Messiah, & Ultimate Sacrifice.

God's Anointed

The building of God's House is complete & He fills it with His Glory! Then with His Glory Cloud He leads His people. This is His visible Presence with His people. At night, there is fire in the cloud, reassuring the Israelites of His Presence. What a comfort to know that God is always with His people. In Jesus, His Presence dwelt with the people. Christians are Christ followers. But how do we follow Jesus when we can't see Him? After Jesus's death, God again sent His Spirit to dwell with His people, not in a house but within each of us. We house His Spirit & He leads us & shows us the Lord's will.

Filled with Glory

When people look at you, do they know that you are a child of God? Do you look any different than the rest of the world? Can others look at you & say “Holy to the Lord”? When God appointed the priests, He made sure that not only their actions but also their appearance set them apart for Him. When Israel looked at the high priest, they saw an honorable man that carried them on his shoulders & they knew that they were always on his heart when he entered the Presence of the Lord. It was his life’s-work to speak to God & minister on their behalf. What a comfort to know that someone is ministering on your behalf continuously! Thankfully, don't need anyone to minister on our behalf because we have that in Jesus! He is sitting at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens ministering in the sanctuary built by God and not man. We also have the Holy Spirit to give us “perfect revelation” from God so, we don't have to go to any man for that either. The priestly ministry pointed us to Jesus & his clothes remind us that we need to look like His followers.

Dress the Part

Because of Jesus, we can be intimately close to God. Unlike the Israelites who could only go into the courtyard, or even the priests that ministered in the Holy Place but could not go behind the veil into the Most Holy Place where God's Spirit dwelt, we can enter His Presence without fear. As a matter of fact, He welcomes us at any time. The High Priest, who was the only one that could go behind the veil, only entered once a year & only then to ask forgiveness for the sins the people committed in the past year. We can ask God to forgive us the moment we realize our sin and we can go to Him to talk about anything else that we want to. We no longer need a priest to speak to God on our behalf. When we ask for forgiveness, God accepts the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf and grants us mercy. Through the Holy Spirit, because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we can have a relationship with the Holy God.

Closer & Closer to God

The house that God told Moses to build for Him was BEAUTIFUL! It was a portable building, but this was no ordinary tent. Its frame was overlaid in gold. Its entrance had golden pillars with bronze bases & a beautifully embroidered curtain. Inside, the walls were made of linen curtains with angels woven into them & so was the roof. When in the Holy Place, you would feel as if you were surrounded by angels. The room was lit with 22 candles on a golden lampstand. Their light bounced off the other 2 golden pieces of furniture in the room. The golden table held the bread that reminded them of God's provision & the altar of incense burned the sweetest perfume. The lights never went out & the incense burned continuously. In the back was the Most Holy Place, separated by 4 golden pillars, with silver bases, & a veil with angels woven into it. Behind this curtain sat the ark of the covenant, the golden chest which held the 10 commandments. There the Lord met with the High Priest between the 2 cherubim of hammered gold that were attached to its seat. God's house was beautiful & costly because God is beautiful & valuable beyond measure.

Beautiful & Costly

God wants His Spirit to dwell in the midst of His people, so He commands Moses to build a tabernacle. While the people are traveling to the Promised Land, God meets with them in this portable tent made specifically for Him. Later, Solomon built the Temple & God's Spirit dwelt with them there. When Jesus came, He was called Immanuel, God with us. Those that worshipped in the Temple rejected Jesus, so now His Spirit dwells within each one of us. We are His Temple! Also in this episode, tithing, the donations are abundant & God equips His people to serve Him. How generous are you with your possessions & gifts? Trust God to equip you to serve Him.

Where God's Spirit Dwells

We can learn a lot about the Christian walk by looking at the journey of the Israelites after they escaped Egypt & became their own sovereign nation. So before we move on from Mount Sanai, we summarize their journey and look for similarities in our own Christian walk. We also look at Paul's description of his walk with the Lord and how we can relate. We ultimately will see that the victory is in Jesus and not in our own power. God's desire for us is to grow closer to Him & stronger in our faith.

Our Walk with God

Moses asked God to show him His glory & God revealed more of who He is to Moses. But still he only sees God in part because here on earth, we can only see Him in part. Thankfully God shows us the part of Him that we need to see at the time. So ask Him to reveal Himself to you. He wants His children to know Him more. When Moses left the Presence of the Lord, His face reflected God's glory. When we spend time with God, we become more like Him, & we exhibit that to the world. So turn to the Lord & allow Him to transform you more and more so that you can reveal Him to the world.

God Reveals Himself

Moses told the Lord that He could not move forward if He was not with him. Moses knew what Jesus told his disciples, that we can do nothing without Him. Sometimes we just need a little reassurance. Sometimes, we just can't get our feeling to line up with the truth we know. That is when we talk to God. Pray according to His Word. Let Him know that you trust Him but you just need encouragement, hope, & direction. Just as it was with the Israelites, the only thing that separates us from the rest of the world, is the Lord's Presence in our lives.

God's Love & Favor

Only a month after agreeing to obey the Lord, the Israelites broke their covenant. Moses had to intercede for mercy but they did not fully escape the consequences. He tried to illustrate what breaking only a few laws really meant and also showed them the usefulness of their visible god. The Levites paid a huge price by publicly proclaiming their allegiance and service to God but were blessed abundantly. Then Moses tried to atone for their sins only to be told he was not worthy or able. From the Israelites we learn that the law can only condemn. We all break God's law and we all need His mercy. We must all choose whether we are willing to serve Him or not. No one but Jesus can bring forgiveness, mercy, and salvation and we are alone are responsible for our faith or lack there of. We all must choose what price we are willing to pay for the One that paid it all for us?

Lawbreakers

Even though we cannot see and hear God, we can see the evidence of His Power. The people wanted a visible god. Aaron led them in their sin instead of encouraging them to have faith and obey the Lord. He built them a golden calf and as they worshipped it, they thought they were worshipping the Lord. They had been influenced by other religions and began mixing their practices with the worship of God and did not even realize it. Do we do this today? Have we mixed the practices of the world around us into the church & formed a perverted gospel without realizing it? Are we pulling in the things of the world and calling it Christianity?

The Golden Calf

An interesting teaching of Bible passages and how they apply to our everyday lives. They are detailed but also very easy to understand & follow no matter what your level of Bible knowledge is. By studying the Bible we gain knowledge of God, Satan, ourselves, others, & the world. It is through that knowledge that we begin to really love the Lord & learn how to live more through His enabling than through our own strength.