“Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary must be put to death.”
~ Numbers 3:10
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you try to live disciplined lives? Do you try to keep your lives regimented? Do you try to keep your lives under strict control? Do you get up at the same time every morning? Do you go to bed at the same time every night? Do you make your bed every morning and clean up your room every night. How disciplined do you think that God wants your lives to be? How regimented do you think that God has made the universe? Do you believe that God has imbedded absolute order in His creation? If God had not imbedded absolute order into what He created, what do you think the universe would be like today? If God had not precisely set a sun in the sky, what do you think planet Earth would be like today? If God had not precisely spun planet Earth like a top so that there is always half of planet Earth getting some sunlight, what do you think planet Earth would be like today? Your grandpaa sees God as having designed absolute order in everything that He has created. Your grandpaa sees God as keeping everything that He has created in order. Do you think that God has programmed everything that happens on planet Earth? If God has programmed a perfect plan for the universe – before He created the universe, why does it seem that God’s perfect programmed plan has so many perceived flaws or imperfections in it? Even though you are still kids, your grandpaa wants you to think about how God – who is totally, absolutely good and perfect, could have programmed moments which are not totally, absolutely good and perfect. Your grandpaa knows that you will wonder one day – if you have not already wondered some, why bad things are always taking place on planet Earth. Your grandpaa wonders often what God – Who is all powerful – Who knows all things – Who is everywhere, Who . . . is really wanting to do or communicate through everything that He is unfolding every nanosecond on planet Earth and in His universe.
Before God created the universe, planet Earth, you, . . . an angel decided he could be like God. God’s perfect plan seems to include creating a universe that was perfect and then having this angel pollute His perfect creation. God’s perfect plan seems to include having this angel, all the angels and the bad spirits who sided with him and all the guys and gals who are not guided by God the Spirit to believe in God the Son – Jesus, as their Lord and Savior to one day be completely purged from existence. God’s perfect plan unmistakably included God the Son spending a long enough time on planet Earth to overcome by redeeming through unbearable suffering and the shedding of His blood on a cross all the badness and death that has, is and will take place on planet Earth. Before God’s arrival on planet Earth as God the Son, God the Father chose a people group of guys, gals and kids as His specially chosen guys, gals and kids. The guys, gals and kids who God chose to be His specially chosen guys, gals and kids are Abraham’s descendants. God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids were called Israelites. When it was time in God’s perfect plan for His specially chosen guys, gals and kids – the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids, to make the long trek from where they were living in Egypt to the land that God had promised Abraham, then Isaac and then Jacob that their descendants would always have to live in as their very own land, God the Spirit led His specially chosen guys, gals and kids from a cloud. After God had led His specially chosen guys, gals and kids to Mount Sinai – where God gave Moses the rules and commandments that He expected His specially chosen guys and gals to obey, God gave Moses building instructions for a very special place – which would be called a tabernacle, where God would have His presence reside on planet Earth. God wanted to have His presence to be right in the middle of where He would have His specially chosen guys and gals camp on their exodus to the Promised Land.
Moses in Numbers 3 honored his big bro Aaron by recording Aaron’s family’s ancestry and what God was expecting from Aaron and from Aaron’s family. Aaron could have early on gotten very angry and discouraged with God when God burned to death Nadab and Abihu – Aaron’s two oldest boys, when the two misguided boys thought that God would be pleased with them when they took to Him some unauthorized fire. God made it very clear to His specially chosen guys and gals when He burned Nadab and Abihu to death, that they were to be always obedient to Him or . . . God’s presence always led His specially chosen guys, gals and kids as they were walking to the land that God had promised them that they would always have to live in as their very own land. Do you have God’s presence in the center of your life? Do you have God’s presences leading you to whenever you go? God’s presence will lead you to have disciplined, ordered lives. The kind of order that God will lead you to have can be seen in how God situated the Levi tribal clan families around the tabernacle. God had Levi’s son Gershon’s family clan to always camp on the west side of the tabernacle. Gershon’s family clan had the responsibility of always caring for the tabernacle’s curtains. God had Levi’s son Kohath’s family clan to always camp on the south side of the tabernacle. Kohath’s family clan had the responsibility of always caring for everything that was used in the tabernacle’s sanctuary. God had Levi’s son Merari’s family clan to always camp on the north side of the tabernacle. Merari’s family clan had the responsibility of always caring for the tabernacle’s posts, pegs, and ropes. Only Aaron and his sons could camp on the east side of the tabernacle. Aaron and his sons were the only ones who were to care for the tabernacle’s sanctuary. Moses wrote in verse 10 what God wanted to happen, “Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary must be put to death.” Is God’s holy presence in your lives?
Numbers 3 (272)