Sabbath Sanctuary: God Grant You Peace

The week has been long and filled with many trials. It has had its chaotic moments and its enjoyable moments. In the midst of the trials, I am so grateful to the Lord, for He proved Himself faithful yet again. He is a good God. He is a faithful God. He is a loving God. There are many things screaming at me—warning that I am going to fail or be taken by the waves of the storm.

The enemy of our soul makes these plans against you and I so that we will lose heart and faint in the way. He seeks to cause us to take our eyes of the Lord so that we will sink. Many trials and circumstances come to trample on our peace—he comes to steal our peace. But we need not succumb to his devices.  

Tucked away in the Old Testament, in the book of Numbers, is found a priestly blessing given to the priest from the Lord to speak over the people of Israel. It is included in the duties of the Levites in chapters 1-8.

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them” {Num. 6:22-27 NASB}.

I love this blessing. In the midst of all the chaos and fighting to enter the promised land, the Lord bestows a blessing on the people. He commands Aaron to speak these words over the people to put His glorious, holy Name on them. How magnificent is He. When their enemies come against them, they shall fear God and know that they are messing with the Lord’s people:

“So shall they fear The name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him” {Isaiah 59:19 NKJV}.

When the enemy of our soul comes against us, the Lord is the standard over our lives to fight him off and give us the victory. The Lord is the only safe place to run. What astonishes me is that only the priest could recite this blessing over the people and they had to say exactly what the Lord commanded. It was not the words of men but of God. To fight the enemy, we must not rely on the words of men, but be equipped with the sword of the Spirit—the precious and powerful Word of God. The Word was the weapon Jesus used to battle Satan in the wilderness, and He has equipped us for battle with that same Word.

The priestly blessing includes three promises that we can rest in on this Sabbath; meditate on this promise: The Lord will bless and keep us; He will provide us with everything we need. He will go before us in battling the evil one and keep us from harm. The most kind and loving God will make His face shine on us and be gracious to us. Imagine the Great I AM’s very face will shine for our benefit and joy because of His everlasting love. The Lord will lift His countenance upon us and give us peace; God remembers His people—and He always will. In the last part of the blessing He promises peace—shalom. This doesn’t only mean that there will one day be an end to our warfare; it is also His promise that day by day we are being renewed and refreshed:

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” {2 Cor. 4:16 NASB}.

He will take us from brokenness to wholeness. No matter where we have been, He is leading us where we need to go, and He will give us shalom so that we can rest. Rest in His blessing this Sabbath. God will provide everything you need; and bring you into His rest.

The God of Second Chances: The Day of Atonement

On that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord {Lev. 16:30}.

So Christ also having been once offered to bear the sins of many shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him unto salvation {Heb. 9:28}.

I love the Jewish feasts; Jesus celebrated the feasts, and each one is a beautiful illustration of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The feasts are not just Jewish holidays; Leviticus refers to them as God’s appointed days. For Christians, Jesus fulfilled the feasts for us. Now our eyes are fixed on the atonement of Christ. But it does not end there. Every event in Jesus’ life, beginning with His birth, through His ministry, and with His death and resurrection—all occurred on a festival of Israel—God’s appointed time—a kairos interrupting the chronos of a fallen and broken world. Many scholars argue that events yet to be fulfilled will occur on a kairos—God’s appointed feasts of Israel. 

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest enters the Holy of Holies to offer a sacrifice on behalf of the sins of Israel. Jesus Christ is our High Priest and was the perfect sacrifice for our sin, the epithet of the type and shadow woven in the liturgy of the Day of Atonement.

The first offering was a sin-offering and a burnt-offering for Aaron and his house. Then two goats for a sin offering and a ram for the burnt-offering for the congregation.

On this Day of Atonement, the high priest was required to first sacrifice an offering for himself and his family, then he could bring an offering on behalf of the people. First, it was a day of humiliation for the priest. He was required to put off all his priestly garments of glory. A shadow of Jesus, the King of Glory, leaving glory—from the foundation of the world; to redeem the world. Jesus’ humiliation on that day cries to us still through His Passion in the Scriptures.

On the Day of Atonement, two goats were brought; their fate decided by the priest’s lots. The Lord’s lot would determine which goat would die for the sin of the nation. The other— the scapegoat. Aaron the high priest would lay his hand upon the scapegoat and send it into exile in the wilderness or Azazel; the people’s sin is lost in the wilderness—to be remembered no longer. The act of slaughtering the goat, laid the judgment of death upon it—represented the people’s sin.

The casting of the lots to determine the scapegoat is displayed on the world’s stage between two men; Jesus and Barabbas. Their fate lies in the judgment of the people—who will die and who will escape…the scapegoat. The people’s voice was heard that day in Pilate’s court—choosing a brutal murderer to escape forever—laying the sin of the people on Jesus. Jesus would be the sacrifice the Lord’s lot fell upon that day—fulfilling the atonement offering.

Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish {John 11:50 ESV}.

 

The word atonement is used in the book of Leviticus forty-eight times, and it means covering. The blood offering was sprinkled on the mercy seat once and before it seven times. The high priest would then place incense on the altar before the mercy seat and a sweet cloud covered the mercy seat—a fragrant offering. The blood and the cloud of incense covered the mercy seat and this illustrated the work and worth of our precious Lord Jesus Christ—His blood causes the believer to be drawn near to Him.

This beautiful prose is part of the liturgy for Yom Kippur; a precious prayer of repentance:

We have become guilty, we have betrayed, we have robbed, we have spoken slander. We have caused perversion, we have caused wickedness, we have sinned willfully, we have extorted, we have accused falsely. We have given evil counsel, we have been deceitful, we have scorned, we have rebelled, we have provoked, we have turned away, we have been perverse, we have acted wantonly, we have persecuted, we have been obstinate. We have been wicked, we have corrupted, we have been abominable, we have strayed, you have let us go astray (Artscroll, 777).

The story of Jonah is recited on this night of atonement, revealing the God of second chances. Jesus fulfilled the sin offering for us, and absorbed God’s wrath.

I pray this inspires Christians to meditate on this Day of Atonement—of Christ and His sacrifice for us and instead of each one of us.

May God bless you on this, the Day of Atonement—He is the God of second chances…

L’shanah Tova may your name be inscribed in the Book of Life!

Shalom. 

The Holy Place Part III: The Altar of Incense

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Psalms to See Me Through: Psalm 11—The Lord Is A Refuge

In the Lord I take refuge; How can you say to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain;  For, behold, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart {vv. 1-2}.

It is no surprise that the devil seeks to harm those that love the Lord. Jesus warns us that we will have trouble in this world; not to frighten us or cause us to flee in fear, but so that we have peace knowing He is always with us.

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world  {Jn. 16:33 NASB}.

So that you may have peace…

The Lord is a refuge and a defense against the enemy’s attack. He is our protection—He is Jehovah Nissi our banner.

In Exodus 17, the Israelites are fighting the Amalekites and struggling in the battle. Moses however, set himself on a high place, and when he raised his hands the Israelites prevailed in battle, when he rested his arm, they faltered. Aaron and Hur set Moses on a rock and held up his arms until the the Israelites won the victory. After the victory, Moses built and altar and called the name of it Jehovah-Nissi, or Jehovah My Banner. Moses explains why Jehovah is their banner; because the Lord hath sworn he will war with the Amalekites from generation to generation. For the New Testament Church, this promise holds true still today. He will fight for us on our behalf against the devil and his minions. Jesus’ death and resurrection sealed our victory forever. He is our Banner; He is our refuge. 

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? (v.3)Jesus is our foundation; the devil cannot take this away. Don’t forget. Don’t bow to the devil’s schemes. Don’t panic. Rest. He cannot destroy the foundation. Build your foundation on the Lord, and when the wind and storms blow, you will not fall.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it {Matt. 7:24-27}.

 The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates.  Upon the wicked He will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face. {Ps. 11: 4-7}.

Do you know that the righteousness of God is not only a gift He bestows on believers that have faith in Jesus, but it is a divine attribute? In the study of Systematic Theology, the righteousness of God is an attribute of God, “God’s moral purity is [H]is righteousness. This is as it were, God’s holiness applied to his relationship with other beings.”[1]“God is morally spotless in character and action, upright, pure, and untainted.”[2]

What does this mean for us? It means that “God would have remained perfectly righteous had he simply condemned everyone... at great cost to [H]imself, however, God offered salvation to these wicked human beings and did this in such a way that [H]e remained righteous. The death of Christ allowed [H]im to remain just at the same time that [H]e became the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:26).”[3] 

Verse seven then is a beautiful promise. God is righteous, pure and untainted, and we the righteous, will see His face…close your eyes for a moment and imagine the beauty of His face.

Life is hard. Dreams seem fleeting. Trouble seems to be all around. Many times it even seems the devil is gaining ground through those that hate what is right. The Lord is righteous in punishing the wicked; He is also just and righteous in welcoming us into His presence to behold His precious face. Do not fret or worry. God has you in His hand. The Lord hath sworn he will war with your enemies from generation to generation.

[1] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed., (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 258. 

[2] Walter A. Elwell, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed., (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 496.[3]Ibid., 45.

To read all the Psalms in this series click here: Psalms To See Me Through

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