Month: February 2019

One of the great lessons of the Mosaic Law is that a holy God cannot dwell among an unholy people. Yet God desires to dwell with His people, and the people with God. How? 

God must make provisions to remove their iniquity, the cause of their unholiness In Israel’s day, God did this through the tabernacle and the priesthood. Notice God’s statement to Aaron in Numbers 18:1. “So the Lord said to Aaron, You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood.”

Iniquity here is basic moral failure and the punishment associated with it. The priesthood and the tabernacle were to assume the punishment for moral failure for the nation of Israel. But who lived in the tabernacle? God did! The whole setup was designed to show that ultimately God desired to take the punishment for our sins, and then one day, He actually did it in the person of Christ Jesus. Hebrews 10:12-14 Sstates this truth: “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

The priesthood and the tabernacle lead us to Jesus! In fact, everything in the Old Testament points us to Jesus. Paul taught us, “Therefore the law uwas our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).

For all the things that the Lord did for the Israelites, they rejected Him again and again. Consider Nunmbers 14:11: “Then the Lord said to Moses: How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?”

Sometimes we hear people say, “If I had lived during the time of Christ, I would have believed!” Would we have? Listen to the words of Jesus to those who saw all the miracles He did: “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead”(Luke 16:31).

There is never enough evidence for the person who believes in self instead of Jesus. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Jeremiah 10:23 declares, “O Lord, I know the way ofman is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.”

The problem is that we trust self instead of Christ. Self-trust is behind all our discontents, and it is why the Bible repeatedly tells us to put our faith and trust in Jesus-so that He can help us! Overcoming self means letting go of self and believing in Jesus alone.