February 9- Set Apart

February 9, 2011

Scripture Readings:
Exodus 29: 1-30:10; Matthew 26:14-46;
Psalm 31:19-24; Proverbs 8:14-26

Consecrate- V. Give oneself entirely to a special purpose or service, usually religious.  
Dedicate to a deity by a vow.

In our secular world there are not many things that are dedicated solely to God.  Nuns who take a vow of chastity and poverty are perhaps the closest example of modern people who have consecrated themselves for a purpose.

Today Aaron and his family are consecrated by God to be the priests for the nation of Israel.  You may have noticed in the reading that many animals had to die for this consecration.  Rather than these men sacrificing something from their lives or giving up family relationships and marriage for God, these men are recipients of God's sacrifice.  It is God's sacrifice that consecrates these priests, not their sacrifice.  The animals killed remind us of the first sacrifice made in the Garden of Eden when God killed an animal to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness. The death of the innocent animal provided the animal skins that covered their nakedness.  This illustrated the truth that the death of an innocent person will cover the sins of mankind in the future. This is what the ceremonial sacrifices done during the consecration of these priests represent.  It is God's work, not man's that saves.

God chooses to use sinful men, who need their sins atoned for, as His servants.  After covering the priests sins (note that the priests place their hands on the head of the ram in order to confer their sins upon the ram) with animal sacrifices, God has the priests act as intermediaries to request forgiveness for the nation of Israel. This act of being an intermediary for others pictures Christ, who acts as our intermediary before God.

The priests eat the sacrificed animal and the bread as a picture of our future communion with Christ. Eating represents partaking of his death and resurrection and receiving our spiritual sustenance from him. 

Another picture of Christ in the Tabernacle is the Altar of Incense.  The burning of incense in the Tabernacle represents the prayers of the believers.  Revelation 8:3 says, "And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne."  Psalm 141:2 also refers to prayer as an incense before God. Christ is the sweet incense of God.  He is our Intercessor to God the Father.  Christ is our Prayer.

When the priests would burn incense, the fragrance would permeate everything.  They would have a sweet smell that surrounded them.  May our continual prayers be a sweet fragrance to God as an everlasting method of praise. May the presence of Christ in our lives be a sweet fragrance to those around us and to God.

Lessons:  Our religious leaders today are under the same obligation that we are to rely on the work of Christ for their salvation.  Pastors and priests are sinners who need God's consecration for service. Our prayers are a sweet fragrance to God. Christ intercedes as a fragrance before God for us.

How do you pray for your spiritual leaders who fight temptation like all human beings?  Do you realize that one day your prayers will be poured out by God as a remembrance of His works?

Matthew 26:14-46

We have recently read in Exodus about God implementing the practice of Passover as a picture of what Christ would do on earth.  Here we have the Messiah, in obedience to God and God's Word, about to partake in the last supper before he becomes the Passover Lamb sacrificed for the whole world.

As Jesus predicted, he is about to be betrayed by one of the twelve.  Judas Iscariot is already plotting Christ's demise.  Remember how Joseph was sold by his eleven brothers for 20 pieces of silver?  Now we have Judas willing to sell Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.  O, what man will do for the love of money!

Jesus takes the opportunity during the Last Supper (last Passover) to implement a new sacrament to be done instead of Passover once he is risen.  We call it communion.  It was pictured in the consecration ceremony of the priests that we read about today.  Believers are to remember Christ's body and blood as a new covenant that he would be poured out to forgive the sins of many. We do this by eating bread to represent the sacrifice of his body and by drinking the wine (grape juice) to represent his blood that was shed for our sins.  Just as the priests ate the sacrifice, we eat the communion to show that his sacrificial death on the cross is our Bread of Life.  His work sustains us spiritually and secures eternal life for us. Jesus quotes Zechariah 13:7 when he predicts that the Shepherd will be struck and the sheep will be scattered.  Peter protests and Jesus predicts that Peter will betray him that very night.

Next, Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane.  He asks Peter, James, and John to go with him.  Remember, this is also the group who saw Jesus at the Transfiguration.  We learn many things in the Garden:

• Sin entered the world in a garden.  Christ is finding the strength to defeat sin in a garden.
• Christ is in anguish about the prospect of carrying the weight of the world's sin on his shoulders in death and the idea of being separated from his Holy Father as a result.
• Christ is in anguish about suffering and dying.
• Christ needs the support of praying friends.
• Christ asks God persistently to let this cup of suffering pass, if it is God's will.
• He prays three times to see if he can avoid this fate.
• He experiences friends who aren't loyal enough to stay awake and be there for him.
• Without the support of friends, Christ relies solely on God through personal prayer to find strength.
• God the Father meets Christ in his hour of need and gives Jesus the strength to go through the trial.
• God does not give Jesus a "yes" answer to his prayer. God gives Jesus a "No" answer to having the cup of suffering pass from him.  God merely gives Jesus the strength to endure the hardship.
• God wills that Christ will die.  Death will not be avoided.
• Jesus is prepared through prayer to be betrayed.

How do you relate to Jesus in this story?  Have you ever had friends not be there for you in hard times?  How has God given you the strength to go through hardship, rather than take away the trial?

Jesus is our perfect friend who can relate to all of our trials.  Thank God for a Savior who understands me.  Thank God for his obedience unto death.  Thank God for his example of praying for strength to endure suffering and death.

Psalm 31: 19-24

Vs. 24 Be strong and take courage all you who put your hope in the Lord!

Proverbs 8: 14-26

The Lord formed wisdom from the beginning before He created anything else.  Wisdom is from everlasting to everlasting.  With wisdom the earth was formed.

What did you see today as you read the Bible?

Blessings,

Jubilee Gal

Kathy Fullerton