The Lamb Of God

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2gMR2ysCdA&feature=share&list=UURuJY1weAicNFuFmvd2RpGQ 

The Gold Calf

Oh, how quickly we tend to forget about prayers God answers for us during the course of our lives. I am willing to bet that many parents have prayed to God to rescue a prodigal son or daughter from the evil clutches of the world and are so grateful when they return safely home. Service men send up barrages of prayers during the heat of battle and breathe a sigh of relief as they miraculously pull through.  But what is it that makes us forget so quickly our answered prayers?  I know age has something to do with memory loss. I have trouble remembering small things like if I locked the front door to my house or turned off the burner on the stove. Even just remembering a simple password to a bank ATM card can get tricky. But in the case of the fledgling nation of Israel, how could they forget miracles like the Red Sea crossing, water from the rock or bread falling from heaven within the course of three months?  

As God prepares Moses to receive the law and the blueprints for the tabernacle, He speaks these words found in Exodus 19:4-6 “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” What incredible promises God gives to the nation of Israel!  They would be the apple of His eye and set apart from all other nations of the world if they would just obey Him; the only problem is they failed miserably.   

 Moses, while in the presence of God, on top of Mount Sinai, receives two stone tablets. God etches on both sides of these two tablets of stone the Ten Commandments with His own finger. Immediately God reiterates the very first two commandments to Moses: “You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make anything to be with me; gods of silver or gold you shall not make for yourselves.” Moses was on the mountain for a very long length of time and the people were getting restless down in the valley. If we had the fortune of watching this scene in a theater, the lights would now dim and the curtains close while Moses is on the mountain talking with God. After a brief intermission, the curtains would open again as Moses returns to camp where he had left his brother Aaron in charge. 

While a cloud covered the top of the mountain and it burned with smoke and fire, Aaron and the Israelites were busy turning to idol worship down in the valley. Caving in to the pressure of their request, Aaron asks the people to break off their gold earrings in order to cast a golden calf. The calf was a residual religious image brought with them from their 430 years of captivity in Egypt. Before Moses takes one step off the mountain, God already knows what the Israelites are doing back at the camp. He appears to burn with anger and threatens to wipe them all out as Moses intercedes for the people. This is the role of the high priest. Jesus Christ, as our High Priest, now stands between God and all humanity interceding on our behalf.  Moses did not really change God’s mind, but rather God was giving Moses the opportunity to intercede on behalf of the people.  

As the smoke clears Moses descends the mountain with two tablets of stone in his hands. Upon seeing people drunk, dancing and worshipping the molten image of a calf, he casts down the slabs of stone, breaking them into pieces. He confronts his brother Aaron and asks him to explain what he has done in his absence. In Exodus 32:24, Aaron responds to his brother “And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.”  

What a hilarious line and bit as Aaron fails to take responsibility for his actions. I half expected Moses to laugh at his response.  God has always used imperfect men to accomplish His purpose and we will watch as Aaron will one day become Israel’s first High Priest. The fact that God uses Aaron despite his great character flaw is a beautiful picture of God’s grace.  In our weakness He is made strong. Remembering what God has accomplished in our past, will strengthen us as we walk with Him to the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

High Priest

God commanded Moses to put into the ark of the testimony the two stone tablets that were engraved with “The Ten Commandments”.  The tablets of stone contained “The Law” or ten rules that God commanded the Israelites to keep or uphold. Unfortunately, nobody to this day is able to follow the Ten Commandments.   Part of God’s temporary plan for Israel was to ordain a high priest who could intercede or make atonement for all the people. Once a year, the high priest would enter the inner most part of the Tabernacle and sprinkle the blood from a sacrifice on top of the “Mercy Seat”.

In Genesis 3:21, we find the key that unlocks the mystery of the why the blood sacrifice was necessary. The atonement, or covering for Adam and Eve that was designed by God to cover their sin, was a blood sacrifice. In the process of making garments of skin, God killed and slaughtered animals to make the coverings. In the book of Hebrews 9:20-22, it explains to us that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. The gruesome death and slaughter of these animals by God to make tunics of skin produced a vivid picture that choosing to disobey God comes at a very high and precious price. Remember, all the animals in the garden were personally named by Adam. To cover or atone for Adam’s mistake required the life of his beloved companions.

Being descended from Adam, we have inherited his seed and original sin. Even without this curse all humans would continue to sin. It requires little effort to go astray and be disobedient to God.  So as the Ten Commandments lay in the ark under the cover of the mercy seat God instructs Moses on the need for a high priest to intercede on the people’s behalf. Moses’ brother Aaron becomes the first high priest for the nation of Israel and ordains his sons to become priests. The high priest would intercede on behalf of the people to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat. Now to enter the tabernacle and especially the holy of holies, God made it very clear that only the high priest could go in before the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest could stand before the mercy seat and God’s presence, or Shecaniah Glory, and only one day out of a year.

The problem for the high priest in the tabernacle was that he could die extremely quick in the presence of a holy and righteous God if he did not follow all procedures and the rules for ritual cleansing. To add to the priest’s anxiety, God instructed that gold bells be sewn around the bottom hem of the priestly garments. So if the other priests stopped hearing the bells, they assumed the worst had happened. It probably only took a couple of priests losing their lives retrieving the high priest that they started tying a long cord around his ankle.  The problem is that all of us as sinful people can’t exist in the presence of a pure, holy and righteous God. We desperately need a high priest to redeem us through a blood sacrifice.

In the book of Hebrews 9:11 “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.” You see, God set up a model on earth of things in heaven. The ritual of the high priest performing the blood sacrifice was a yearly reminder of what the cost of disobeying God requires.  The next sentence in Hebrews 9:12, explains everything: “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, is so precious and powerful that it took away all sin past present and future for eternity. Yes, your sins have been forgiven and you can one day stand in the presence of God because of your High Priest, your King and your friend Jesus. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end and all who call upon the name of Jesus Christ shall be saved. Hebrews 9:27 says “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.” I implore all of you reading this to be sure you have called upon the name of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. God loves you so very much He was willing to become flesh and blood and redeem us through the precious blood of His own son. Praise the name of Jesus!