Casting Pearls- Are we crossing into the Promised Land?

In Joshua 3:2-5, the people of Israel were about to cross over the river Jordan into the Promised Land. This was the land promised some time before to Abraham as his descendants. This land had been promised to them some years before and they had just spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness ( desert ) before arriving there. All the people who had come out of Egypt with them had died off except Joshua and Caleb. 

Moses himself was not allowed by God to enter the Promised Land. He had sinned against God and his punishment for it was not being allowed to go into the promised land with the rest of Israel. Joshua had replaced Moses as the Leader of Israel as they entered the Promised Land. In verse 2 Joshua had led the people of Israel to the edge of the Jordan River (which at the time was at almost flood stage) and they had camped there three days. The leaders of each tribe of Israel went throughout the people saying to follow the Ark of the Covenant, being carried by the Priests, and they would see where to go, the Bible narrates in verse 3. 

This is another shadow, or type, of how we should follow our God and know which way He would have us go. God wants us to keep our eyes on Him and His Word so we will know the correct way to go. It is only by following behind Him like a sheep does with a shepherd that we can find the way He would have us go. It is only by reading God’s Word that we can hear from God and know the direction He would have us go.

Later in verse 4 we read about the warnings they received from their tribes leaders. They were warned to stay behind the Ark of the Covenant at least two thousand cubits, that they might know the way they should turn and go before they get there, because they had never gone that way before. Though God wants us to follow Him, He wants us to follow with enough room between Him and us that we might know the direction in which He wishes us to turn, before we get there.God also wanted them to be far enough back that they could clearly see Him clear the obstacles out of their way and give God the glory for it .

As God’s children we need His Word and the leaders He provides for us to clearly see the way He would have us go. In the next chapter the Lord shows the people and us that Joshua is His chosen Leader of Israel to replace Moses. He stops the flooding river from flowing and lets all Israel pass across on dry land. There are times in life that we wonder if God is going to work in our case. If God wants us to go there, he will make a way. All we need do is, as the Israelites, Stay back and watch until God opens the door for us.

The key to being the kind of Christian Jesus wants is to be willing to praise God even as we sit and wait for Him to open the door. God works at two speeds. Slowly and suddenly. God slowly opens the door in Hid time not in ours, so it appears that God is not working in our case. Everything seems to go so slowly, then suddenly the door opens. We wait and wait for something to happen, then suddenly it does. So God works at two speeds. 

Casting Pearls- Are you of the order of Melchisedec?

Let’s look at the way God told Moses to dress Aaron and his sons, as High priests and regular priests of the Israeli people and why. In Exodus 28:1-42 God told Moses in detail how Aaron to dress and Aaron’s sons. First, in Chapter 28, Moses is directed by God to dress Aaron both to be beautiful to the people and to God, but also to represent to the people the glory of God. Aaron is to have been consecrated into God’s service, he is to represent God’s forgiveness of sins to the people. To do such he must be of great position, cleanliness and honor among the people, and among his friends. They are all to deal gently with the people, and those who are ignorant and going astray. Moses is instructed to make a breast-piece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban, and a sash.

These pieces of Aaron’s outfit as the high priest each had a meaning to the people presenting the sacrifices. They also had a meaning to us today. Let’s go down the list first a breast-piece, decorated with twelve precious stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel, each of the stones have one of the tribes names engraved in it. The breast-piece represent to the people that the tribes of Israel are close to the heart of God, and that Aaron is the representative of the people to the Lord. 

The breast-piece is also to show authority over the tribes to make decisions. It is to be made of Gold and Blue, and purple and scarlet yarn and of finely twisted linen. It is to be square, a span long and a span wide. The stones are in four rows of three, the first row of ruby, topaz, and beryl, the second row of turquoise, sapphire, and emerald, the third of Jacinth, Agate, and Amethyst, the forth row of Chrysolite, Onyx,and Jasper. Under the breast-piece were the Urim and Thummim, used to help make decisions in very trying times.

These bright and shiny stones represented the tribes of Israel in the same way that we as Christians are supposed to represent Jesus like when you shine a light on a precious stone it gives off the light in the same color, in as many different directions as it has faces. A diamond in a Jewelers shop is shown on a black background under lights that show straight down on it so it shows off the brightness and reflectivity of it to it’s maximum extent. If the Jeweler does not want to show it to you on a black background it probably has some obvious flaws, or is to small to matter, in my case.

Then the priests are to wear Ephods, made of Gold,Blue,and Purple and Scarlet yarn as well as finely twisted linen, the work of skilled craftsmen. It is to have two shoulder pieces of Onyx, polished and engraved with six of the twelve tribes to go on each shoulder.They as the stones on the breast-piece are to be in gold filigree settings. The sons of Israel are to be in the order of their birth on the stones, Aaron wore the Ephod to represent the tribes of Israel before the Lord, and to show the Lord carries the tribes on His shoulders. 

The robe is to be under the ephod to be of entirely blue cloth with pomegranates all around hem of the robe in blue, purple and scarlet yarn with gold bells in-between them,The robe is also to have a hemmed neckline so as to keep from being torn. The sound of Aaron’s tinkling bells were proof that he had not died in the presence of God from sin, and at some point the other priests even tied a rope to the High Priest’s ankle and trailed it outside the Holy of Holies so that if the tinkling of the bells stop, they could pull on the rope to see if he had died. 

The head is to be covered with a turban like hat with a Gold plate on it that says HOLINESS TO THE LORD and is to be worn by the High Priest at all times to make the children of Israel acceptable to the Lord. The tunic and the turban are to be made of fine linen and the sash is to be the work of an embroiderer. The sons of Aaron are also to have tunics, sashes, and headbands so that they might also have dignity and honor in their positions. 

All of them are to have undergarments made of linen, from their waist to their thighs, and are to wear them whenever they are in the Holy place, so they can represent without sin.  

The whole thing is summed up in 28:29 where the High priest that represents the people to god, is to ‘bear the names of the children of Israel before God’ and God looks upon the priest as a holy representative of the people. Thank goodness we have a High Priest in Jesus who can without sin, represent us to God so that we are acceptable in His sight.

All this was done so that Aaron could be the clean representative of the children of Israel before God. The children of Israel were not judged, but Aaron was judged in their place, cleaned of his sin by the blood of the sacrifices. 

We have a High Priest that is stated as in Hebrews 4:15 ‘He cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all ways tempted as we are, yet without sin’ He represents us. God sees his cleanliness not our sin. He covers me from my sin, He is the perfect representative who is fully acceptable to God, so that despite my sin, I can go in to Heaven.

Casting Pearls - Do we want God back in our society?

                   The books of Zephaniah, Haggai, and Zechariah were all in the same time frame as the exile of the people of Israel was coming to an end. The people had been in exile some 70 years as prophesied. The temple of God in Jerusalem had been torn down some seventy years earlier as King Nebucannezer had taken over the city. The King of Babylon had taken captive the brightest and best that Israel had to offer, and left the more uneducated, poor, common people to take care of the land. They had only to pay taxes to Babylon, but as the Temple had been torn down, and the priests had been taken into exile, they no longer had to sacrifice to God.
                   In these books we see not one but three different prophets had come forward from God to tell the people to rebuild the temple as the Israeli people were coming hame from exile soon. The new ruler in Babylon had given the go ahead for the rebuilding project. Haggi, was the man tasked by King Darius and God finishing the rebuilding of the Temple. Haggi was the forth prophet of God to come forward to rebuild God's temple. He and all the others met great resistance in their efforts to rebuild, from of all people the Israeli people themselves. They came after Nehemiah who rebuilt the walls and made Jerusalem safe again, even though he faced internal and external forces that tried to stop him.
                   They had gone through almost two generations in exile, and a very few people were still alive that remembered the Temple of God, or the sacrifices. The people could only see how rebuilding the Temple would make them have to start giving ten percent to God again, they seemed to forget the fact they would be free from the taxes of Babylon. The people of Israel were much like the people in the United States today. We have driven God out of our society and embraced things such as homosexuality, and abortion, and God has said in His word that Homosexuality and murder through abortion, are abominations in His sight. We as a nation, would have to give up these things to be able to turn back to God. The people only see what they must give up, rather than what they would gain by returning to the Lord.
                  In the song 'Basics of Life' there is a couple of verses that reflect this problem "We've let the darkness invade us to long, We've gotta turn the tide, there's no room for compromise."This very well explains where we are as a country. We as a nation have let the original intentions of our founding fathers go to the wayside, while embracing the evil that is presented to us. In many cases the change has been gradual in others much quicker. In both cases, The devil has used deception and delayed circumstances to get the new behavior accepted. Satan told Eve that if she ate the forbidden fruit that 'this day she would not surely die', she didn't think that a day to the Lord is as a thousand years, and from the point she ate of the fruit, she lived less than 1000 years. So God's statement that she would die that day was true, It was just one day to God not Eve. We continue to ignore the warnings of God at our own peril. If he takes His hand of protection off this nation, we will be in great trouble.
                  There is no room for compromise, the song says, and is true. We have gone so far that we think we can't get back, but with God leading the way, we can find our way back into His graces. We need to repent and turn around now, before we go further away. If we don't repent soon it may be too late for us.