Retail confusion

I walked into a retail store this evening, to find a very weird sight. The promotion table right in front of the door was filled with Easter Bunnies and Hot Cross Buns and right behind them was a table of chocolate Santa's. Now come on people, can't they make up their mind anymore as to which retail season we are in.

All right I get it. The Santa chocolates are going to go stale, but really, Christmas goodies went out of fashion on Old Years Eve. Easter is a good 2+ months away and there is still Valentines day in between. Kinda just made me sick for a minute. All for a buck!

The question is, do we do the same thing in our Christian lives? I'm pretty sure we do. Jesus certainly dealt with it in His time. In fact that's the only time we see the Lord get righteously enraged. Traders were doing business in the temple and He had seen enough of it for Him to do the one thing none of us would have expected, He gets a whip and starts lashing people and turning over their money tables.

I'm certainly not against retail stores, we need them and they have their place, but I do think there is a line between supplying a market and exploitation. Jesus message runs deeper than that though. His message was that God's tabernacle needs to be kept Holy. When we come to God's church to worship, let us do it with hearts that are free from worldly entanglements and open to the presence of God!

Just another lamp

A candle is a candle and a lamp stand is a lamp stand, right? You would think so until you look at the Menorah, which is the lamp stand found in the Holy place. This simple piece of temple equipment or furnishing is filled with so much symbolism, you simply cannot squeeze it all onto one page let alone a quickie blog.

I will however attempt to illuminate you (excuse the pun) with some of the meanings of the Menorah. The 6 outer branches of the Menorah are believed to represent man and the 7^th inner branch the eternal flame of God. The almond blossoms speak of first fruits in spring and that we are the head and not the tale. Almond blossoms also speak of the divine election of the individual saint for ministry.

The menorah held enough oil to light the Holy Place from sundown to sunrise. Only the center candlestick was kept burning 24 hours a day. We can infer that the menorah is representative of the inner life of the believer, which is to be constantly illuminated by the Spirit of Christ.

When we are lit with the eternal flame of God during worship, our heart will burn with love for Him forever. As Christians we can know that we are divinely chosen by God for a specific purpose. When you come to God in worship, know that you are unique and that in God's presence you will find the light of truth you need to live every day to the full for God.

An hour at the mirror

We all know the time. It's date night and it is time to get looking spiffy. Us ladies will spend copious amounts of time, creaming, blow drying, doing make-up, perfuming and dressing all to look our best for our date. All of this puffing is done to avoid any embarrassing moments and the phrase that paid in the 80's, “I nearly died!” Well for the priesthood that may well have been a reality.

The brazen laver served a similar purpose. It is the second of two objects located in the Tabernacle's outer court. It was placed between the tent and the altar and its purpose was to be used to wash the hands and feet of the priest, thus purifying themselves in preparation for ministry. Failure to do so would result in death. The brazen laver was made of polished bronze and it was polished until it obtained mirror like qualities.

The ministry of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for Jesus. He preached repentance of sin and baptism in water for remission of sin. Jesus changed the nature of Baptism when He came to John to be baptized. Although He was without sin, Jesus was baptized to fulfill the model of the Brazen Laver that required purity through washing prior to entering ministry. Jesus changed the form of baptism when He came up from the water and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. Jesus was therefore empowered to enter into ministry. In doing this Jesus was then able to baptize others with the Holy Spirit, therein empowering them minister with power and have a deeper relationship with God.

How does this apply to our lives today? As Christians when we are baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit, we receive power from God to do the same works the disciples did and the ability to connect with God on a personal level. How does that apply to worship? When we praise God with the power of the Holy Spirit active within us, we are able to experience a powerful and intimate connection with God. This power gives us the strength to live every day with God as our source.

Sweet nothings

In relationships don't we just love those moments when our loved one tucks their arms around us and whispers sweet nothing's in our ear. Usually if the sweet nothing is about how wonderful we are, our partner scores brownie points.

When we praise God this is exactly what we are doing for God. We magnify who He is and how wonderful He is and what amazing thing that He has done for us. The most powerful thing that God has done for us was to sacrifice His Son and in the tabernacle we see this exemplified at the brazen altar.

The altar was usually on a small raised mound being a projection of Christ being raised on the hill at Golgotha. It was made of Acacia wood, which is symbolic in the bible of judgement, and then covered in bronze. The animal sacrifice had to be of a male animal without blemish. The person bringing the sacrifice would lay their hand on the head of the animal thereby transferring their sin to the creature.

The priest would slaughter the animal and sprinkle the blood, which is significant of atonement, in front of the veil to the Holy place. Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness. In Egypt at the passover the animals were slaughtered and then the meat eaten to protect the Israelite's eldest child from the Angel of death. At the last supper Jesus broke the bread and said to His disciples, “Take, eat, this is my body broken for you.” This powerful symbol of communion not only represents the death of Christ but brings to fulfillment the passover of Egypt.

When we come to God's tabernacle and praise Him for His work, let us remember the sacrifice of Christ and give God the glory He truly does deserve.

Staggering in

The hero in the movie comes staggering in, bleeding, battered and bruised and we applaud him because he has made it, he crossed the enemies fence back into allied territory. Truth be told that is how we often end up crossing the line through the gates of the tabernacle into Gods presence.

Psalm 100 v 4 reads, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” We follow this up in the popular chorus with, “I will say this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice for He has made me glad.” How did God make us glad? He sacrificed His Son for our sin.

How on earth do we enter Gods courts with praise, when we ourselves are battered and heart broken? Kirk Dearman's song gives us a clue.

We bring the sacrifice of praise, unto the house of the Lord.
We bring the sacrifice of praise, unto the house of the Lord.
And we offer up to You, the sacrifices of thanksgiving;
And we offer up to You, the sacrifices of joy.

When we come to God in the trials and turmoils of life: the agony of death; the sting of rejection; the pain of a broken marriage; a disease filled body; betrayal and deceit and we give up our right to anger, vengeance and and self righteousness, kneeling before God and weeping out our heartbreak, that is when our praise becomes sacrifice. When we rise and give thanks to God for His mercy and the good works He has already done our lives, that is true Praise!

You may enter

It is by comparison to today's standards remarkably small, yet this small portable tabernacle carried in it the presence of God and God's visible presence was over it as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, guiding all who sought forgiveness to the place of God.

To quote www.bible-history.com, “The study of the tabernacle is so rich in meaning to the Christian and so pregnant with Messianic significance that we can spend a lifetime in the study of it and only begin to understand the riches and the depth of truth that lies within the study of the tabernacle.” This being said, I will by no means be able to bring you to a full understanding of the tabernacle in the few blogs that will follow, but I hope that it will awaken within you a desire to research this topic for yourself.

God reveals through the tabernacle's design a pattern of worship that he desires for us to follow. When a person becomes aware of sin there is a desire to approach God. When you arrive at the tabernacle you are greeted with barrier of white linen (representing purity) except for one stretch that is known as the entrance gate which is multi-coloured in white (also sanctification), blue (righteousness) , purple (justice / royalty) and red (sin) and here you could gain entrance to the court. The court was an open place into which all Israelites were allowed to enter.

As Christians today, when we enter God's place of worship, and I don't just mean a church, we should enter with a knowledge that in Jesus we are sanctified (made holy), because His blood was shed for us to give us His Righteousness so that God's requirement of justice is met in us and we can become the Royal Priesthood that He has ordained for us to become.

Royal stuff up

Lies, deceit, adultery and murder are not your typical picture of a godly person are they? I think King David earned the noddy badge of 'Royal stuff up'. His life truly was a mess after everything he had done. Yet of David God declared that he was a man after His own heart. Why on earth would God say that about David after all the wretched things he did?

God did so because David had two attributes that set him apart. Firstly David humbled himself before God and repented. He not only asked God to forgive him but he also changed his ways to live out the rest of his days honouring God.

Secondly David was a worshiper. He worshiped God and had a personal relationship with God. David personally experienced God's presence as he worshiped. That may not seem like a big deal to us, but you have to remember the times that David was living in. At that time, only the High Priest would enter into the Holy of Holy's and that was only once a year. Then it was not to worship God as much as it was to plead for forgiveness for the peoples sins for the past year. If God was not pleased with the sacrifice, the results were instant death.

David's songs of worship in the Psalms have been emortalized in scripture and there is much that we can still learn from these Psalms today. If you are a new Christian or even someone who has attended Church their whole life but you've never experienced God's presence in worship, then I want to encourage you to take a journey with me over the next few weeks of learning about praise and worship and the impact that it can have on your life.