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Good Monday morning friends,
Today we’re reading Exodus 30, as God continues His instructions to Moses for the fabrication of a place which would be constructed and dedicated exclusively for the purpose of God meeting with the spiritual leaders of His people Israel. God called it the “Tent of Meeting”.
In Exodus 30 two final items are described for fabrication. The Altar of Incense would be located inside the “Tabernacle”, immediately outside the curtain which separated the Holy place from the Most Holy place. Do you see the purpose of this small altar? Only one thing happened on this altar, and twice each day. . .a special incense was burned.
This was a prayer altar, a place the priest would come to meet with God, at the beginning and end of each day, to pray, and listen to God. And only a very special incense, as described in vs. 34,35 was to be used in this daily prayer encounter with God.
There are several special Divine encounters recorded in the Bible which took place at this altar of prayer.
May I mention two?
In 2 Chronicles 32 this altar is in the great Temple Solomon had built in Jerusalem. A huge enemy army led by the Assyrian king Sennacherib, has surrounded Jerusalem and sent a letter to the Jewish people, calling for their surrender or destruction. This great army has already conquered many nations, including the northern kingdom of Israel. The Jewish king Hezekiah is a God honoring man and sends word to the prophet Isaiah, requesting his prayer and any counsel from God Isaiah could offer.
Isaiah 37:14 says “king Hezekiah went up to the Temple of the LORD and spread it [the letter from king Sennacherib] out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ‘O LORD Almighty, God of Israel…You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear O LORD and hear…listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God…Now O LORD, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that You alone are God.”
God responded and rescued His people from disaster. Is. 37:36 records what happened “The the angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp. When the people of Jerusalem awakened the next morning – there were all the dead soldier bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew.”
May I remind you of one other famous story that took place at this altar, 650 years later?
It’s found in Luke chapter 1. By this time this prayer altar is in the second great Temple in Jerusalem. An old priest named Zechariah approaches the altar that morning. At this time in history the number of priests is so many, they are divided into 24 divisions (1 Chronicles 24), with each group serving at the Temple two weeks per year.
The lot has fallen to Zechariah, and the greatest privilege of his life occurs. He removes the ashes off the altar from the previous day and replaces them with hot coals from the big altar of sacrifice outside in the courtyard. He then sprinkles some of this special incense on the coals and as the sweet smelling fragrance wafts upward Zechariah prays, as he has so many times before, only this time, for the first time in his life, inside the Holy Place of the Tent of Meeting.
And suddenly an angel of God stands beside the altar of incense and says “Do not be afraid Zechariah, your prayers have been heard. You wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John….Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the LORD their God. And he will go one before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah…to make ready a people prepared for the Lord…I am Gabriel, the angel said, and I stand in the presence of God.” (Luke 1:11-20)
That announcement was the first word from God in 400 years, and John the Baptist was that miracle son born less than a year later. You’ll remember he was the forerunner of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
I have a question my friends? What’s the application for you and me today? Do we each have a place where we meet with God to pray and listen to what He wants to tell us? How frequently do we meet with God there? What would it be like if we began and ended each day in prayer and listening to God? How might that change our lives?
You’ll also notice in Exodus 30, God describes a basin which would be out in the courtyard of the Tabernacle, with water which Aaron and the priests would use for washing hands and feet each time they are going to enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar for meeting with God. It was an important symbol. It was intended to remind everyone that just going through the normal routines of our days, we pick up the contamination of our world.
Dust and dirt is a visible example of the spiritual contamination which clings to us from sin all around us. When added to the sin we have within ourselves, we are totally unclean and cannot approach Holy God. While a little water certainly does nothing for our sin, it was a reminder that we need a Savior, we desperately need God’s cleansing.
The anointing oil, as you see in Exodus 30:22-33, was also a very special blend and used only for ceremonial anointing of people, sacrificial animals, or artifacts which would be set apart for consecration to God. This oil was used many times in sacred dedications ceremonies described in the Bible. It was used by Moses to consecrate everything as they assembled the Tent of Meeting for the first time in Exodus 40. This same oil was used by Samuel in anointing David to be king (1 Samuel 16).
Finally in Exodus 30 we find a description of a census to be taken, from time to time, of the entire Jewish nation, and the price of 1/2 shekel to be paid by each person age 20 or more. Rather than a tax, this is called ‘atonement money’. It was viewed as a privilege payment, for it was acknowledgement that you were part of the only nation of people in the world, God had called His ‘treasured possession, kingdom of priests and holy nation’. The only people on earth, rescued multiple times in their history, by Almighty God, so that they could show to the world what it is like for a people of God, to live life under God’s authority and with God among them.
So today, as we begin a new week, what if you began with prayer, and walked through this day with an overwhelming sense that you are privileged? If you’ve trusted Jesus as your Savior, you are part of the global church of Jesus Christ, the people of God. What value do you place on that great privilege my friends? How does it affect how you will live this Monday?
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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