To God be the glory, great things he hath done!
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
and opened the lifegate that all may go in.

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
to every believer the promise of God;
the vilest offender who truly believes,
that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Leviticus 17:11
“For the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.” (See also Leviticus 17:14)

“The blood of Jesus” has been a message echoed from the pulpits of the world for centuries – and rightly so. As is everything in the Old Testament, the emphasis on the blood sacrifice was an image of the better plan that was to come. (Hebrews 10:1, Hebrews 10:4, Romans 3:25-26). The blood sacrifice of Jesus was prophesied and pictured as far back as Genesis 3:15.  It is clearly demonstrated in the account of Abraham and Isaac – specifically the time God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son.  If you recall, God ultimately provided the sacrifice (Genesis 22:6-8, Genesis 22:13-14)

If you have ever been to a doctor, you noted that one of the first things they did was to take your blood pressure. If something more significant is occurring, the doctor with order a blood “sample.” The laboratory, in turn, can then tell your caregiver virtually “everything” about your physical health. Science knows that the blood supplies nutrients to empower the body, oxygen to make those nutrients work, and other mechanisms to remove impurities. The blood is also the pathway for pathogens which make a person sick.

Hebrews 9:22 reads, “In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” Jesus had to die – but not it couldn’t be just any death.  Jesus had to bleed….and he did bleed…so you and I might go free. The verse in Leviticus also uses the phrase, “in exchange for life.” That’s what happened on the cross. God accepted this one sacrifice, once-and-for-all. (1 Timothy 2:5-6, Matthew 20:28, Romans 6:10, 2 Corinthians 5:14).

We will see much more on that little phrase “Making you right with God” when we get to the New Testament. For now, here are some teaser scriptures: Romans 3:26, Romans 5:9, Hebrews 10:14

Inspired by Hebrews 9:22 Robert Lowry composed this famous hymn in 1876

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

here’s a site with the rest of the song.  Hope its OK to link to it

Using E-Sword (a free download at e-sword.net) I searched that phrase and this table appeared:

122 verses found, 122 matches

Here’s what I gained from it:  “When something becomes important enough to God for action, God makes it important to someone to act.”  Isn’t this essentially how this whole God/Moses thing came about? In Exodus 3:7 we see The Lord expressing a concern for His people.  Mind you, these people have been in Egypt for 400 years by this time.  I guess in “God years” that’s only about a ½ day.  But He’s God and it’s all cool with me.  The bigger picture is that God made the plight of the people important to Moses and Moses responded in obedience.  About a decade ago I heard The Lord say to me, “Show Southwest Georgia I am NOT what religion has made me out to be.”  Living here since the turn of the century, I can tell you that He has made the same thing known to many others.  For these “others” it may not have the same specifics accompanying their call as I have had.  For you it might be as simple as a nudge that says “pray for him” or “check on her.”  Don’t be too quick to write off a great idea in business or in ministry as just a dream.  That idea may be God directing you to do something that is important to Him.  When a permanent home for His people became important to God, He made it important to Abraham. When it was the Gentile nation, Paul’s heart was there.  And when it was you and I who were important to God – Jesus.

Maybe you are feeling the urge to have a sudden urge to have your heartburn checked out by a doctor.  Is “something” telling you to loose weight, or to check on a neighbor?  That just may be God letting you know that a particular concern has become important.

“Important” may not always mean urgent.  Something being important to God certainly doesn’t require that I act independently of Him.  It does however indicate that He is inviting me to be a part of something He is doing.  I’m down with that.

In all actuality, the scapegoat system resembles the structure that most Christians still adhere too. We consistently visit an “alter” to confess our sin to a man, God, or both trusting that they will be forgiven and once again be taken away. Afterward we feel better knowing that we are operating with a clean slate. The feeling of freedom lasts until the next sin, the next Sunday, the next month or the next year when we will once again repeat the process. The truth is that God’s plan for the scapegoat was to expose the real issue – man has a birth defect. Man was born into sin and his nature kept him sinning. Since Adam, the seed of sin has been passed down from generation to generation. (Romans 5:12) The REAL purpose of the scapegoat was to teach the Israelites that what they needed was a scapegoat that could “once-and-for-all” take away ALL the sins of the whole world. I give you Jesus – the last scapegoat. Jesus, unlike the sacrifices of old, took ALL the past, present, and future sins away – once and for all. (Hebrews 10:10-12)

For most Christians it is not difficult to adopt the idea that by one man’s act of disobedience, sin and its penalty entered the world. But it is virtually impossible for many of us to grasp that by a single act of obedience by Jesus, sin and its penalty have been carried away. (Romans 5-17-21). Jesus one-and-for all time free us from the guilt and shame of sin. Yet, we still have a way of treating ourselves and others as if the goat left our house then returned with the same guilt he toted away. Even with the scapegoat, the people never held on to things for no more than a year. But I counsel people all the time that reminisce for years over their sins and the sins of others. We must learn to accept that Jesus did all the work necessary to settle the sin issue. Receive His forgiveness. In turn, you will be free to forgive their faults. (Colossians 3:13 / Ephesians 4:32)

“Moses did as The Lord commanded.” This term appeared over and over through the ceremony, (Lev 8:4 for example). Since everything had to be perfect, and the consequences for disobedience death, they made sure everything was done to God specifications. We see in Lev 10:1-2 what happened when Aaron’s son’s tried it a different way. As I dad, that one bothered me some…just to be honest. Moses explanation in Lev 10:3 was of little comfort. Am I being blasphemous? I was glad to see that “Father” God, as well as Moses, did seem to understand as seen in Lev 10:17-20.

This gives rise to 2 more topics. The first is how God validates and confirmed His word with His presence (Lev 9:23). On a very small scale this happened to me in recent days. God “told” me (believe what you will) that I was to arrange the chairs in a certain way at Connections. He certainly wasn’t as specific with me as He was to Moses. But He was kind enough to give the reason for doing so. When I did, we realized an immediate increase in attendance and a new energy of sorts.

Next is something, or Someone, that I have been purposely avoiding since the onset of the books of the law…Jesus. Why avoid Him? Because I knew that when I got to writing from the New Testament I would be able to refer back to these books. But from now on I think I will just mention Jesus. After all, ALL of this law stuff points directly to saving grace. (John 5:39)

Sin was a serious issue to God. Before Jesus, it kept us apart from Him. But through the blood sacrifice of Jesus, we have once-and-for all been redeemed from our sin. Here’s just a few of the hundreds of scripture references from the New Testament to hold you over. Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 10:10, 1John 2:2, Romans 3:25

Thanks for reading along with me through this chronological reading of the bible that I call, “With Your Latte”

For example, there is the grain or meal offering.  Again, so much can be said about the nature of Christ through this sacrifice and I encourage you to study the subject.  Doing so will give any student a much clearer understanding of The Godhead as well as salvation. But what I want us to see is the excellence in which the offering was brought.

Here’s Leviticus 2:1&11
“When you present grain as an offering to the LORD, the offering must consist of choice flour. You are to pour olive oil on it, sprinkle it with frankincense.”

“Do not use yeast in preparing any of the grain offerings you present to the LORD, because no yeast or honey may be burned as a special gift presented to the LORD.” (See Also Lev 6:17)

To the point: When we do a deed in the name of God, we must have the purest of intentions. Symbolically, ministry before The Lord should be done with, “choice flour.” Anything less makes the act all about you and what you are doing.  As Jesus said, “you have your reward.” (See Matthew 6:1-4)

In the verses above, the writer used the word, “yeast.” Yeast, AKA leaven, was always considered an impure additive to the flour that was used in the sacrificial offering and the things that we do from day to day. (See 1Corinthians 5:6 and Galatians 5:9)  As these verses indicate, it only takes a little to really ruin the whole thing. Some modern day leaven might be personal gain.  Did you do the deed for recognition?  Or perhaps when you help someone you are quick to tag your one of the many phrases that indicates that your “offering” to them has a degree a leaven in it:

“I could have told you that this would happen.”
“Do you know what this has cost me?”
“I went way out of my way to do this.”

Boasting is another strong marker that a little yeast in your kindness. But if we minister to people as if we were ministering to God, we can rest assures that it is a sweat aroma to The Lord.  God only accepts what is pure. See Psalm 51:17

somewhat related is Matthew 16:11-12

“What would God need with a 100 million dollar butcher shop?”
Simple – to connect with you and me.

“With Your Latte” is not meant to be a place of deep theology; so let me just say here  that God used the tabernacle as a place of sacrifice that would cover our sins and put is back in right standing with God. Further, it is safe to conclude that God placed a very high value on doing it.  And as we will see in the weeks to come, he paid a incredibly high price to make certain that He would always be connected with us. (see John 3:16 and Hebrews 10:10). God obviously thinks a lot of you and me and places a premium worth of His relationship with us. Every element of the tabernacle was crafted with perfection. The animals for the sacrifice could be nothing less than perfect as prescribed by God Himself.

Perhaps you can relate like this:

You meet the person of your dreams. Oh yes…they are THE ONE!  So you plan dinner. I’m talking candles, music, exotic food, and desert. And why? You placed a high value in connecting with that individual. Therefore you invested thought, time, and money to be sure that everything was just right. Likewise, you are so important to God that he went to great lengths and immense expense to see that you and He could connect.

God is ever pursuing man and longing for a relationship. And He did it because they were with it and so are we! The only rational response on our part to a God who would construct a $100,000,000.00 butcher shop just to connect with me is – YES!

God was certainly specific about the way He wanted this place of worship built. Moses was given exact dimensions, construction instructions, a materials list, and a number of design specs for the construction of the sacred artifacts. The material was available (Exodus 12:36) as were the people. Not only did the people give beyond what was needed (Exodus 36:6-7), the people with the needed skills were in place as well. Exodus 36:1 says:

“Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the LORD has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the LORD has commanded.”

How God “put” skill and intelligence in them is irrelevant. The fact is that God placed something in them that, when their gift was needed, was called upon at the right time. He gifted you too. The bible says in Ephesians 4:8 that Christ gave gifts to everyone. There is something in you, placed there by God, that is to be used to fill His divine purpose (1Corinthians 12:4, 1Corinthians 12:7). We in the church tend to think of gifts in some sort of hyer-spirital experience that occasionally flows down from heaven during a church service. But as we see in the Exodus, God gifted many different people to do a variety of tasks. And I would dare to say that many of our gifts are designed to work boith inside and outside of our church communities.

God will call on your gift when the time is right IF you are open to Him. Joseph had the gift of interpreting dreams. When the time was right God used Him to save the world. More importantly – everyone has a gift and should use it to God’s glory (Colossians 3:17). Whether you’re a carpenter fixing a church roof or a mechanic fixing the neighbors car, God wants you to use your gift. Over the years I have a heard many a complaint that an a particular gifts is not welcomed at their place of worship. Ideally all gifts would be in use in a New Testament gathering. But don’t let that stop you. There are lots of ways to use what God has placed in you to do. Ask him how, when and where – and when He calls on you, be ready to exercise that which He has deposited in you.

Meet Aaron – the brother of Moses. Here’s the guy who is about to be anointed High Priest of Israel.  Aaron was God’s choice for the highest ranking spiritual official. You don’t need to know the story to realize that what Aaron said to Moses in verse 24 was a lie.  It reads:

So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.” When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!

OF COURSE that’s not what happened.  Aaron caved under the pressure and built the thing.  (Exodus 32:2-5) Worse, he attempted to cover it up with a lie.  Ironically, the account actually makes me feel pretty good about my ministry. I am by no means comparing myself to the likes of Moses’ brother.  It does, however, give me hope in that although Aaron fashioned a god for the people to worship, the REAL God saw past even that and anointed Him as high priest.  Aaron was in direct violation to the very first of the Ten Commandments.  Granted, Moses had not yet emailed his brother of these new laws of God.  Non-the-less, the words from God to Moses, (Exodus 32:7), and from Moses to Aaron, (Exodus 32:19-21), makes it clear that Aaron knew what he had done was wrong. Still, after it was all said and done, Aaron was in fact anointed as High Priest.

God always sees what we are becoming and not what we have done.  We must come to the realization that every sin that we ever committed and will commit was paid for by Jesus.  Therefore, God already knew every stupid thing we would do, planned for our forgiveness, redeemed us regardless, and planned for us a future (Jeremiah 29:11).  Our “What was I thinking” decisions did not throw God’s plan off course.  Romans 8:28 promises us that God will work ALL things out to His good.  We can’t alarm God nor cause Him to be angry with us.  In His mind the matter is settled.  Philippians 1:6 says that, “…God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” God believes in you!

These promises and others certainly don’t excuse Aaron’s bad behavior nor does it excuse ours.  Let me also remind you that there are often negative consequences for our actions.  But never think you’ve gone so far that God won’t complete what he began in you. May I also recommend Jeremiah 18:1-4

God gave Moses the following instructions concerning the ephod:

Fasten the two stones on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod as a reminder that Aaron represents the people of Israel. Aaron will carry these names on his shoulders as a constant reminder whenever he goes before the LORD. Exodus 28:12 (NLT) (see also Exodus 28:21)

I added the bold emphasis as a reminder to myself and others that ministering before The Lord has always been about people.

Recently, I wrote a post that spoke of you and I being the priests, and the conduit between man and God. You can read it HERE. These 2 verses from Exodus further accentuate that we have a responsibility to share the good news that God, through Jesus Christ, has redeemed mankind.  More importantly, I see no biblical evidence that the plan to share that good news was to be the responsibility of the institution commonly known as “church.”  This duty  was, and remains, the task of each and every person who calls Jesus their Lord. I’m not saying church is evil. I am thankful that we have places to gather together that we might sing, pray, teach, and socialize with one another. However, we are in the wrong to shift the responsibility of ministering on behalf of neighbors and our community to any group, church, committee, program, or clergyman.

Imagine what our neighborhoods would be like if the millions who call themselves Christian, began to think and act as ministers. Envision our resources’ going directly from us to those in need without having to pass it first through a church committee or program. Instead of inviting people to church for prayer, we pray for them and we do it in the moment.  In today’s church this concept is taught but seldom practiced.   But In the first century they knew no other way.

No one can argue that Christians are among the most kind, sincere, and giving people on God’s green Earth. We have always been willing to serve or communities and worldwide in time of need. With those accolades acknowledged, most take little more responsibility in “ministry” then to sit, watch, listen, sing, give, leave, and repeat.  Speaking of it’s monetary value, my son-in-law Jared added that, “The ephod was like carrying around The Hope Diamond.”  That gives us the idea that the high priest was ever aware that he was on Earth to minister to people. Lastly, the ephod covered the priest’s heart, and it was “carried” over his shoulder.  Maybe God wanted  ministry to be both an act of the heart as well as a burden to be “shouldered.” Jesus shouldered the cross much in the same way.

We still friends?

As most of you know, “With your latte” is my journal of a one year chronological read through the bible. Today’s reading consisted of Exodus chapters 25-27. This is where God instructs Moses on the day-to-day operation of the community including the manner in which they were to worship. My choice for today’s post is the place of worship: “The Tabernacle.” For me, Chris’s story to follow and the tabernacle tie well together.

This past Sunday was Chris’s time to visit mom. He forgot, however, that this was the Sunday of, “white shirts.” At this church, ALL the men, on the same Sunday of each month, wear white dress shirts. Chris had forgotten about this particular rule and although dressed in what he considered appropriate for the meeting, he was met with glares and rebuke from family.
I actually understand why some people would find dress codes important. A read through the scriptures I mentioned show a God who not only was concerned about every detail of the tabernacles’ construction, but as we read on we see that He is equally demanding about the artifacts, procedures, and the clergyman of that tabernacle – including behavior and dress codes.

BUT…WHAT IF (dream with me here)

What if the tabernacle served another purpose? What if God was pointing you and me to Jesus Christ? What if God could make a way of meeting with us on a spiritual level as opposed to a tabernacle that was made with hands? If that were true, we would no longer need to go to a “place” to see God and have a certain group “minister” on our behalf. Under this new covenant, we would be the house of God – His body. I am being factitious because you know that this is exactly what God did. If taken to its end, we would have to rethink most everything we do and say in the arena we refer to as, “church.” I will write more about that as we move along.

For now, just start to come to grips with the fact that you are the place of worship and that the final sacrifice has been made – once and for all time. Also in the scripture’s I provided, you will note that we are NOT to allow anyone place any rules on you that are left over from our past. At the same time, think also of what an awesome responsibility you and I now have as the temple of God. We are “the church” where people see go to that they might see God.

1Corinthians 3:16, 1Corinthians 6:19, 2 Corinthians 5:1, 1Peter 3:18, Hebrews 9:28, Galatians 5:1-2, Colossians 2:16-23, Philippians 3:2-3