Enter With Caution

Today's Reading: Exodus 28-29; Acts 7

Exodus 28:35 (ESV)
And it shall be on Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the Holy Place before the Lord, and when he comes out, so that he does not die.

Personalize it method (Rick Warren's 40 Days in the Word): Lord, please reveal the meaning in your Word today and show me how to apply it to my life today, amen.

Jeff- The priesthood is sacred. I allowed the high priest to enter the most holies to sacrifice and make atonement for my people but this priest must come very cautiously and must have been consecrated and sacrificed for his own sin before entering this special place in my tabernacle. Anyone who would come into my presence (even only a partial revelation of my glory) unprepared would surely perish...

Exodus 19:21-22 (ESV)
And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord uto look and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord wbreak out against them.”

From the Bible Knowledge Commentary-

Because God is holy, the priests were to approach Him with dignity and care. Otherwise they would incur guilt and die (cf. v. 35). Aaron and his sons were to dress appropriately when they entered the tabernacle (the Tent of Meeting) or approached the altar (presumably the altar of incense) to serve before the Lord.

So Jeff the bells would remind the priest to consider carefully his preparation as he moved through the tabernacle and into the most holy. The bells would also serve to evidence to those outside that the priest was still moving (was still alive)...

From the Teacher's Bible Commentary-

The bells would serve the useful function of letting the people outside know of the priestly movements of intercession in the unseen holy places. And if in the awesome and solemn duties therein the bells ceased to ring the people would have the telegraphed message their priest was stricken.

See Jeff that you are my temple and that you must treat it as my temple. You must not come to me in prayer of confession or any prayer with anything but humility. You must have fear me and then allow me to cast that fear out by my love. Imagine yourself wearing the whole priestly getup and pulling back the curtain knowing that if you are not perfectly attired and if you have not correctly sacrificed for your sin that you would drop dead. But be comforted, Jeff. My Son's sacrifice for you on the cross was perfect and you need not fear death when you approach me in prayer. This does not replace, however, the need to come before me humbly with a contrite spirit if you expect to be in relationship.

Notice the garments-

Exodus 28:42-43 (ESV)
You shall make for them ylinen undergarments to cover their naked flesh. They shall reach from the hips to the thighs; 43 and they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister in the Holy Place, lest they zbear guilt and die.

See Jeff that the priests needed to bear special garments in order to survive the atonement process in the most holy place of the tabernacle and this foreshadows your need to bear the righteousness of my Son like it were a garment...

From the Matthew Henry Commentary-

To us these garments typify, (1.) The righteousness of Christ; if we appear not before God in this, we shall bear iniquity and die. What have we to do at the wedding-feast without a wedding-garment, or at God’s altar without the array of his priests? Mt. 22:12, 13.

See this illustrated in a parable told by my Son in the Gospel according to Matthew...

Matthew 22:10-14 (ESV)
And those servants went out into the roads and bgathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there ca man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and ecast him into the outer darkness. In that place ethere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are fcalled, but few are chosen.”

So Jeff, see that my Son's death on the cross was adequate payment for all to be saved but not all will respond to the general calling. Some I have specifically called to come to repentance and these cannot boast because it is I that do the entire work of salvation and even grant the faith...

1 Corinthians 1:24,29-31 (ESV)
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and lthe wisdom of God...29 so that no human being4 might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him5 you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us swisdom from God, trighteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

From the ESV Study Bible-

Many (Gk. polloi) are called means that many have been invited to the wedding feast. But not all those invited are actually the ones who are supposed to be there, because few are chosen. This has been described as the doctrine of a “general calling”: the gospel is proclaimed to all people everywhere, both those who will believe and those who will not. However, Paul also mentions another kind of calling, an effective calling from God that comes powerfully to individuals and brings a positive response. When the gospel is proclaimed, only some are effectively called—that is, those who are the elect, who respond with true faith (1 Cor. 1:24, 26–28). This is consistent with Jesus’ statement that “few are chosen,” for the ones “chosen” (Gk. eklektos, “selected, chosen”) are “the elect,” a term used by Jesus to refer to his true disciples (cf. Matt. 11:27; 24:22, 24, 31; on the theme of election, see note on Rom. 9:11).

See the conclusion of Stephen's address to the priests and know that their reaction was to take him out into the street and kill him immediately by stoning him to death...and Saul (soon to become Paul the Apostle) was there approving of the killing!

Acts 7:47-50 (ESV)
But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49  b“ ‘Heaven is my throne,
cand the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
50  Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Jeff, do you see that Stephen was explaining to them that the glory of God was no longer in a tent or a temple but came in the person of Jesus and after pentacost now indwells the church? The Holy Spirit indwells the believers.
See that Stephen calls them stubborn, or arrogant. Recall that the next verse in Isaiah 66 that Stephen was quoting I clarify where my Spirit will rest...

Isaiah 66:2b (ESV)
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

See that there is no room for arrogance in the heart that would be spirit filled Jeff.

Application and Prayer:
Today I will consider my heart and take seriously my humility when I approach you Lord.
Today I will live as your temple.
Today I will be thankful that you chose me and that you have given me the faith to believe on your name.

Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for allowing me priestly access to your throne. Thank you Lord that I can come before you without being annihilated due to your Son's righteousness that I bear by faith in Him. Please let me walk in humility today and may you be glorified.

In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!
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