Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Meditation in Leviticus

Hey... I was reading in Leviticus this morning (when was the last time you started an email with that??? ha), and I got to chapter 9, and read this...

Lev 9:1 On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel,
Lev 9:2 and he said to Aaron, "Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the LORD.
Lev 9:3 And say to the people of Israel, 'Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering,
Lev 9:4 and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD, and a grain offering mixed with oil, for today the LORD will appear to you.'"
Lev 9:5 And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before the LORD.
Lev 9:6 And Moses said, "This is the thing that the LORD commanded you to do, that the glory of the LORD may appear to you." ….

Lev 9:22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings.
Lev 9:23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.
Lev 9:24 And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

I left out the middle, because it was detail specific to that time and place, and covenant. We would tend to sort of cruise right by this as irrelevant to our lives today, but I was wondering, is there a principle here for us? We could see this as simply old covenant law of offerings, or we could see this as an example of faith-filled obedience. Moses told them that the Lord wanted to show them His glory. We are all up for that. They believed in this promise, evidenced by their full obedience to what He told them to do to prepare for that event. And He showed up in a pretty awesome manner. It wasn't legalistic works. They didn't "earn" His appearance by doing what He commanded. They prepared themselves in faith, believing that He would do what He said.

On the other hand, you dont see them trying to turn it into a formula, either. I haven't found the chapter where Moses says, "Hey, we're gonna have another one of those glory meetings this weekend. Everybody get your stuff ready for the big sacrifice." The Lord told Moses that He wanted to show His glory to the people, and they all responded. But they didn't come to the conclusion that if they did the same thing again, that He would show up on demand. He is faithful to keep His promises, but He is also the sovereign Lord and King.

What do you think?

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