“Prepared to Meet God”

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

BIBLE READING: Exodus 28-29

As YHWH outlines the activities necessary to prepare the people for worship, he also makes emphatic commitments to this covenant:

“It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.” (Exodus 29.42-46)

Five times YHWH explicitly says “I will” to emphasize certainty in what they can expect from him.

1. YHWH will meet with Israel (2X). The very presence of the tabernacle communicated YHWH’s interest in helping them. It is called ‘the tent of meeting’ to emphasize it as a definite location where they could expect to find instruction and mercy from YHWH. But this was no ordinary place of meeting, but was a place of holiness because…
2. YHWH will consecrate the tent of meeting and altar. It is not the people’s decision to make this place holy; it is YHWH’s presence there. He has promised to sanctify it with his glory as they proceed in obedience according to the pattern shown. Furthermore…  
3. YHWH will consecrate Aaron and his sons. He chose them from among the people, a great privilege, not based on their goodness but simply YHWH’s calling. We must observe that God is doing the work of setting them apart. They are going through the processes, but it is his holiness and prerogative that allows it to happen. It is the only way that…
4. YHWH will dwell among the people. When the people YHWH has called purify themselves and engage worship according to holiness, YHWH will settle with them.

As the section concludes, YHWH is emphatic about his identity in relation to them. YHWH is the LORD their GOD. This personalized identification is subtle but profound. Why would the Creator of the universe identify himself in relation to these people? Because He wants all people to know their purpose and his desire. He made us in His image to be in relationship with our Him and at peace.

As Paul reflected on this passage (2 Corinthians 6.16-18), he would say, “since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7.1). We simply cannot experience the blessing of God’s presence if we are impure or unholy. And so, our daily pursuit must be the purification of our souls by obedience to the truth (1 Peter 1.22). When we obey, we are consecrated and prepared to meet God as he desires, and we were intended to do.

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