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We have many basic spiritual needs that we cannot supply. We need support, we need sympathy, we need safety, we need sanctification. These are great needs. Can anyone supply them?
In Exodus 28:5-43, God provided for these needs in Israel through spiritual guides called priests. Let’s take a look at the priests’ clothes to find out more about what to look for in a spiritual guide.
I had the joy and privilege of joining Bob Lepine, together with Dave and Ann Wilson on Family Life Today for a discussion about teen anxiety and depression. You can hear the first program here, with two more being broadcast today and tomorrow. Hope it’s a helpful discussion.
A book for teens: Why am I feeling like this? A Teen’s Guide to Freedom from Anxiety and Depression.
A book for adults: Why Is My Teenager Feeling Like This?: A Guide for Helping Teens through Anxiety and Depression
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A guide is valuable in every walk of life, especially where there’s a big risk/reward factor. That’s especially the case when it comes to our spiritual lives. How do we approach God and meet with God in a safe and rewarding way? We need a guide. So did Israel, and that’s why God gave the Israelites priests to serve in this role in the Tabernacle. As we look at the priests in Exodus 28:1-4, ask yourself, who can be that kind of spiritual guide for me?
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Have you ever wanted to meet someone, but when you get your calendars out to arrange it, it’s almost impossible to find a time that suits both of you? You want to meet, they want to meet, but your different lifestyles, obligations, and schedules make it almost impossible.
We see a similar conflict in the Tabernacle. The different pieces of Tabernacle furniture said to the Israelites, “God wants to meet with you.” But when they started walking towards the Tabernacle to enter the front door, what’s the first thing they saw? Blocking their way was a big metal altar with flames leaping out of it (Exodus 27:1-8). God wanted to meet with them, they wanted to meet with God, but there was a big obstacle in the way. Why did God design it in this way? What message was he communicating to Israel and to us?
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I was in a church a while back which had many converted Roman Catholics in it. I asked the pastor what had drawn so many Roman Catholics to this church. He said he noticed a change when he started speaking about how Jesus is our connection to God.
These Roman Catholics had been told all their lives that they were disconnected from God and the only way to connect with God was through priests and the Roman Catholic church. But they still felt disconnected from God. So, when this pastor started proclaiming Jesus Christ as our direct connector to God, that resonated deeply and attracted many Roman Catholics in that community as the news of this spread among them. It is appealing, isn’t it?
But such connection was not so easy, direct, or free in the Old Testament. Although God gave the Tabernacle as a meeting place with Israel, there were still a number of barriers that prevented direct connection with God. Among these barriers were a number of curtains which we find in Exodus 26.
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Do you know anyone that enjoys darkness? None of us do, do we? Well, maybe criminals. But apart from them, we don’t like the darkness. We associate darkness with danger and death. Light, on the other hand is safety and life.
The Bible goes even further and tells us that there’s a darkness inside us that’s no less dangerous or deadly. It’s a moral and spiritual darkness that prevents us from seeing moral and spiritual truths about God. Keep that in mind today as we re-visit the Holy Place room in the Tabernacle. Opposite the golden table is the golden lamp.