Install the Priests

Ex 28:42-29:13

The beginning of a new system of value.

The children of Israel were saved out of slavery. Amazing. But for what? It wasn’t because of their own merit. It was not done because of the injustice of slavery – there were many enslaved people at the time. They were given liberty in order to enter into the freedom to serve God as a covenant, faith community.

This is a new value-exchange relationship with God.  Freedom has a cost.  Renewal from sacrifice.  Life for life.

It starts with the priests. A visceral exchange of blood – of life, to purify from sin; to purify for service.

Wash me O Lord and I will be clean.

“He will purify the sons of Levi.”  Mal 3:3

Robes of Splendor

Ex 28:30-41

Why all this ornate dress? Why not just send the high priest into the presence of the Lord naked? Or maybe a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt?

The scandal seems intuitive as I write it, but what is going on here? What’s the condition of man that covering him in this way makes a difference?

The priests wear the outward dress appropriate to the outward manifestation of God’s transcendent, glorious throne. But this outward dress symbolizes what could be an interior reality.

My heart, your heart, could be like so much nakedness and filth and rags cobbled to conceal the guilt and shame we repress so completely that we don’t ordinarily realize what we’re wearing.

But through faith, our hearts could be filled with glory like the splendor of jewels and gold. Clothed in the majesty of God’s righteousness, there is no condemnation, no more shame.

Consider the lilies of the field…Not even Solomon in all of his royal splendor was clothed as one of these…How much more does he care about you?

Aaron’s Breastpiece

Ex 28:15-29

The community is diverse, ordered and precious in the sight of the Lord. All of the people are made present in a special way to God through the mediation of the High Priest. This is God’s plan for the children of Israel.

So the priest represents the entire community before the Lord. As important as it is to enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, God has always communicated the need to be communally related to Him, through the mediation of the priest.

The Authentic Community is a community of faith. Not a social contract – it is a covenant community established by God through the ages. Relating to God personally always results in faithfully relating to this community, this body of believers.

“We love because He first loved us.”

Keep the faith.

Priest Garments

Ex 28:1-14

Only the purest and finest things can be in the presence of God. It’s a powerful imagery. Aaron in his priestly splendor will serve before God Most High. The names of those he represents borne in his vestments.

It’s the same God who will one day say, “I despise your feasts…I will not accept your [offerings]”.

It’s not the gold. It’s not the fineness of the material that is pure, but the fineness of the heart. It’s the motivation that wants to do well and right and good.

Seeing the person of God and loving the things that He loves; this is ultimate freedom. A worthy sacrifice and a worthy goal for life.

“He who has clean hands and a pure heart, shall attend to the hill of the Lord.”

Burning Lamps

Ex 27:11-21

The priests receive the clear oil from the people. It is their job to keep the lamps lit at all times.

The ongoing commitment to serve before the Lord requires energy and resources – but it produces light and makes possible relationship with God.

The threat to this system is the resources. Will the people bring the oil? Will they bring the oil not just when they have abundance, but when the oil might mean they go without. Will they bring the oil when they have to travel a distance? Will they bring the oil even when circumstances haven’t gone the way they hoped?

The way God puts so much in the hands of men is sobering. Who will get the freedom to meet this challenge?

The Altar

Ex 26:33-27:10

Relationships have boundaries. We have this curious oneness with God, in whom we live and move and have our being, but who is also separated and segregated. A veil, a tent.

Perhaps on the surface these ideas are paradoxical, but they are also essential. We are persons and God is a person. We created and changeable, He immortal and immutable. We get our being from God.

He has given us life and a range of liberty in this life in the anticipation that we will develop the freedom to reflect His goodness and love.

I am not Him, but I am in Him and He is in me, when I am in accord with His way.

This is givenness.

Open up you gates, receive what is given. Receive the King of Glory

Vision and Mission

Ex 26:15-32

How blessed is Moses? He is sitting on top of a mountain, hearing from God. He has a vision of exactly what God wants. He knows with clarity exactly what he needs to do. I can only imagine the excitement, anticipation, and confidence he must have felt.

How many times have I said, “If only I knew what God wanted me to do…”

I want you to have the excitement, anticipation and confidence of Moses. This is my prayer for you.

Moses went up on the side of the mountain and he listened.

Likewise, Jesus wants to talk with you today. Go up on the side of the mountain.

Listen.

Tent Cloth

Ex 26:1-14

The precise details always come as a surprise. Though really, it shouldn’t. There is, I suspect, a natural prejudice in me that supposed the ancients were incapable of precision. No basis for it.

But it does bring me to reflect on how none of these precise instructions would have meant very much if the children of Israel didn’t have craftsmen; people who were skilled in the production of material goods.

So the manifestation of God’s glory on earth, His dwelling place amongst the children of Israel, depended upon people. Not that this was necessarily so – God had options.

But He wanted people to use their skills to create a holy place – a meeting place – the center of community.

The arc toward Community. Always man, men, family and community. He’s always reaching for community.

“How good and how pleasant it is , when brothers dwell together as one!”

Menorah

Ex 25:28-40

Light and darkness. A light in the darkness.

Light exposes everything for what it is in the seeing world. Light mediates my relationship to the world and makes reality present to me. Without this, all would be darkness and unknowing. No story to tell. No meaning to convey.

Once I was told, “you can’t be the light, only a reflection of the light.” But Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to God.”

I think both are right. But it’s important that whether the light is described as mine, or the reflection of the most high, I have to choose it.

I light the menorah. I keep it fed with oil. I keep the wick trimmed.   This is the work. This is my work.

Walk in the light.

The Ark

Ex 25:12-27

A place for God. Making a place for the presence of God to dwell. A dramatic, precious, holy vessel that conveys the message of covenant and sacrifice and mercy.

My heart. Where in my heart is such a place if I have not made it?