Animal House

I remember once hearing a popular conservative talk show host speaking against evolution.  He said that if monkeys could come up with a Social Security system on their own, then he would believe in evolution. I did a search for the quote, but came up empty.

So, besides the (obvious) physical differences, what is the difference between man and other beast like sheep, bulls or goats.  Well, if you need to think about it, let me offer something.

Man, after doing something wrong, may feel guilt.  He feels guilt because he has a conscience.  He has a conscience because he can tell the difference between right and wrong.  He knows the difference between good and evil. He is conscience of his guilt. Animals are not people. Try to explain to a cow the difference between right and wrong. Take your average bear and try to explain the difference of good and evil. Take your pet dog (or cat or horse or monkey) and try to explain what sin is. Animals can not know sin.  Animals cannot experience sin. They cannot know sin from experience. This means they are “innocent”.

How do we know sin? How are we conscience of sin? Because of the Law. The Law gives us a standard, or a target. Wherefore by works of law no flesh shall be justified before him; for by law [is] knowledge of sin. Rom 3:20. If we know the Law and know ourselves, we know we miss the mark.  We are conscience of not meeting a standard. There is interesting term for this in the Bible, dead works.

In Old Testament times, animals were to be offered as sacrifices for sin. They were innocent, having no knowledge of sin, by nature, incapable of sin. The offerer must have had knowledge of sin, felt guilt, and had a conscience.  Why else would would he offer a prize animal (without spot or blemish)? Before the innocent animal was killed, the offerer laid his hands on the animal’s head. The guilty sinner identified with the innocent animal. It was as if he transferred his sin onto the animal.  The guilty is spared death and the innocent is slain.

When someone acts as if they feel no guilt, or have no conscience, we may say that they act like animals.  What do we mean? They act as though there is no right or wrong, good or evil. Reminds me of a movie about a bunch of fraternity brothers that, well, acted like animals. They acted, for the most part, as if they had no conscience and felt no guilt.  The movie was aptly named.

The blood of bulls and goats that were shed at the altar of burnt offering were incapable of removing sin.  The blood of Christ, on the other hand, not only removes sin, but purifies your conscience of dead works. To what end? So that we may worship the living God.

...how much rather shall the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship [the] living God? Heb. 9:14

"Tis by Thy blood we've been redeemed,
 And by it sanctified.
Now is our conscience free from sin,
 From dead works purified.

Hymn: Dear Lord, how precious is Thy blood

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/1090#ixzz28kmKVAsN

Box of Life

"He likes it! Hey Mikey!" If you are old enough, you remember this catchphrase from a Life cereal commercial. If not, click here: http://youtu.be/vYEXzx-TINc . LIfe has always been one of my favorite, in fact I’m sure there is a box (or two) right now in our pantry.  If you had a box of Life cereal and someone asked what was in the box, you would say that there is Life in the box. There is Life in a box of Life cereal.

Once upon a time, there were prizes in the boxes of Life cereal.  They buried the prize deep into the box.  I remember opening the box, tilting and bulging the box until the prize was visible, then reach in to extract it, without having to eat the cereal.

When you come right down to it, the ark of the covenant (or testament) was a box, an elaborate box made of gold plated shttim wood.  The box had some kind of gold crown or molding (or, as I like to call it, gold crown molding) going around it.  This elaborate box had an even more elaborate lid.  The lid was a slab of pure gold.  Attached to the lid of pure gold were two cherubim figures also made of pure gold.  

The function of any box is to hold things.  A cereal box holds cereal (and once upon a time, a buried prize) and the ark was to hold Aaron’s rod that budded, a golden pot of manna, tablets of stone, and, possibly, a copy of the law (in scroll form).   

As a response to Korah’s rebellion (Numbers16), God verified His selection of Aaron as the high priest (Numbers 17).  A representative of each tribe carved the tribe’s name on a stick and the sticks were place in the tabernacle. God confirmed His selection by having Aaron’s stick bud. Just to not leave any doubt, Aarons stick not only budded, but had flowers and mature fruit (Number 17:8). Just like the lampstand of the tabernacle, three stages of life were on the stick of Aaron. This rod, with the three signs of life, was put in the box.   

Manna was the means of sustaining life while the Israelites wandered in the wilderness.  A portion of manna was put in a gold pot and that pot was put in the box.

The scroll and the tablets represents the Law and were put in the box.  

If someone asked what was in the box, one could say that there is law and life in the box.

Jesus is the box.  The gold reminds us of His royalty and the wood speaks of His humanity.  Jesus held the law perfectly and ...in him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1:4

The ark was a box of life, and there is a hidden prize. And the prize?  Sometime before the ark entered into the holy place of the newly completed everything but the 2 tables of stone were removed from the box. One of the missing things was the golden pot of manna.

In the letter that was dictated by Jesus to the church at Pergamos , He promises To him that overcomes, to him will I give of the hidden manna. Could this be the same manna?

Now within the veil, enjoying God,
Manna, law of life, and budding rod;
Christ Himself, the ark, is our abode—
 Hallelujah!

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/1208#ixzz1yTY8Rux2

The 5-Second Rule

Drop food on floor and you have 5 seconds to pick it up and eat it.  Some believe that it takes at least 5 seconds for clean food to become defiled with germs and bacteria. In recent years, it seems that the 5 second rule has been put to the test a number of times, with varying conclusions (MythBusters even did a show on it). It’s one thing if the food item falls on a recently sanitized porcelain tile floor. But what about dropping food on beach or desert sand?  Would you eat it?

The tabernacle had no floor.  The floor of the tabernacle was the dust and sand of the desert.

While in service, the priests did a lot of walking (remember, there was no place to sit).  They walked on the dust and sand of the desert.  The source of defilement of their feet was desert dust of the floor of the tabernacle. While in service, the priests were to wash their defiled dirty feet at the laver.  

Even though the tabernacle had no floor, the floor of the tabernacle is actually mentioned once in the Bible (Numbers 5). If a husband suspected his wife of cheating, he was to bring his wife to the priest. To determine whether the suspecting husband’s suspicion was correct or not, the woman had to present an oblation (offering for food) and the priest was to scoop up dust from the floor of the tabernacle, you know, the dust and sand of the desert floor.  The scooped up dust was mixed with water and the wife had to drink it.  It was a bitter drink (Numbers 5:18).  After she drank of the bitter cup, her husband and the priest waited to see if her belly bloated and her thighs thinned.  If they did, the husband’s suspicion was confirmed (v. 27).

If this whole ritual wasn’t strange enough, the priest was to record the offense in a book, then blot it out with the bitter water (v. 23).

The lives of Gomer (unfaithful wife) and Hosea (faithful husband) illustrate the relationship between unfaithful Israel with faithful God.  Hosea had no reason to bring Gomer to the priests because, well, she didn’t do anything in secret...everyone knew what would happen if Homer drank the bitter cup.  Israel, on the other hand, Israel had to learn the hard way.  Israel has been unfaithful by idolatry and oppression of the poor.  God, the faithful jealous husband (remember the first commandment is first for a reason), wanted Israel to seek Him again and made Israel drink a bitter cup. That bitter cup was having the northern kingdom crushed by the Assyrians.

Jesus and the church are also compared to a husband and bride.  Are we any different than Israel?  Yes and no. Yes, although God is forever faithful,  we are guilty of unfaithfulness. But, no, we do not need to drink of the bitter cup. Jesus drank the bitter cup for us.

Jesus prayed in the garden: Father, if thou wilt remove this cup from me: -- but then, not my will, but thine be done. (Luke 22:42). A short while later, after Peter lopped off the ear of Malcus, the bondman of the high priest, Jesus said to Peter: Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?        

He, the faithful husband, intercepted the bitter cup and drank it. In His sacrifice, He drank the cup that was defiled with our sin.

So, if we are unfaithful, and Jesus drank the bitter cup for us, what do we drink?  We get to drink the sweet stuff, the cup of blessing which we bless, ...the communion of the blood of the Christ. Sweet!  Years ago, a recently-baptized teenager partook in the breaking of bread (and drinking of the cup) for the very first time.  She could not get over how sweet it was (and no, it wasn’t grape juice(!)).

Not only that, our sin of unfaithfulness is blotted out, and remembered no more (Isa. 43:25)

Death and the curse were in our cup:
O Christ, ’twas full for Thee;
But Thou hast drained the last dark drop,
’Tis empty now for me.
That bitter cup, love drank it up;
Now blessing’s draught for me. -- Anne R. Cou­sin

On the Eighth Day, God...

One of the ten commandments was to keep the Sabbath.  The commandment was given once to the Israelites of the exodus and once to their grown children some 37 years later.  To the earlier group, the reason for keeping the Sabbath, was because God rested from His work of creation on the seventh day (Exo. 20:11).  The reason given to the later group was that it serves as a reminder that they were slaves in Egypt and that Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence with a powerful hand and with a stretched-out arm (Deut 5:15).  Certain groups of believers today think that believers should observe the Sabbath today.  I, personally do not because:

• The Sabbath was a type (Col 2:16)
• The antitype to the Sabbath is the Christ (Col 2:17, Heb. 3-4)
• The commandment to keep the Sabbath was to Israel (Deut 5:15)
• The commandment to keep the Sabbath is the only one of the ten commandments that is not repeated in the New Testament

Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week (Mark 16:9). After Jesus ascended into Heaven, the disciples met on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7).   The first day of the week is also the eighth day of the previous week.

On the eighth day of the first week, God went back to work.  Creation took the first six days, on the 7th God rested. As best I can tell, this is the only record of God resting, so on the eighth day, He must have returned to work.

On the eighth day, God commanded that baby boys be circumcised and their moms were no longer  ‘unclean’ (Lev 12:1).

On the eighth day, God commanded that the cleansed leper offer a series of sacrifices (Lev 14:8-10).

On the eighth day, God commanded that the first born (both animal and people) be present to Him (Exd 22:29-30).

So, it looks like the eighth day was a day of resurrection, regeneration and restoration.

On the eighth day, God killed Nadab and Abihu.

After Aaron and his sons were selected to be priests, God prescribed an eight day consecration before they could actually serve as priests.  This was a preparation time.  The eight days went something like this:

On the first day, with a crowd gathered, Aaron approached the newly constructed tabernacle with a series of offerings and bread.  Moses bathes Aaron and his four sons then dressed Aaron in his high priestly garments for the very first time. Moses then anointed and hallowed the the tabernacle and everything in it, anointed Aaron and then dressed Aaron’s sons.  A sin offering was offered then an offering of consecration offered. A series of rituals was performed and they were commanded to dwell in the tabernacle for seven days (Lev. 8).   

On the eighth day, a series of offerings were offered for the atonement of the sins of the priests.  Each of the offerings were burned on the altar.  The offerings were burning as the burning of incense. Once the offerings were all smoldering on the altar, there went out fire from before Jehovah, and consumed on the altar the burnt-offering, and the pieces of fat; and all the people saw it, and they shouted, and fell on their face (Lev. 9:24). Offering accepted.

By this point of the eighth day, the separated priestly family was cleansed, and sins atoned for.  Aaron’s two oldest sons took their censers and offered strange fire...and fire went out from Jehovah and consumed them. I don’t know about you, but to me, the punishment does not seem to fit the offense.

Most commentators and folks that post sermons on sermonaudio.com just say the flame of God slain them just because they did something that God did not command.  There has to be more because later that day, Aaron’s two surviving sons disobeyed God, and lived.

The two younger sons had to keep the eighth day going.  The show must go on!  The 2 younger sons got so wrapped up in the events of the day, that they inadvertently left the priest’s portion of the sacrifices on the altar fire a little too long.  Their portion burnt to a crisp and there was nothing for the them to eat.

On the eighth day, all four sons of Aaron sinned, two were saved and two were lost.  Reminds me of the thieves on the crosses with Jesus, one was saved the other lost  .  Which also reminds me of the cupbearer and the baker, one saved the other lost.  So why was one sin deserving of instant incineration and the other not?  Lets look at the two:

The sin of Nadab and Abihu was intentional, the sin of Eleazar and Ithamar was not.  But more important, the sin of Nadab and Abihu ruined the type.  Every offering ever offered (including those offered on the eighth day) represents the death of Jesus on the cross.  The offering represents Jesus, the fact that it was burned by God represents God’s acceptance of the offering, just like God was satisfied with the sacrifice of Jesus.  

With the death of Jesus, the work is complete.  There is nothing more that can be done.  Redemption is done. The price paid. There is nothing we can add to the work.  Offering strange fire is adding works to the work of Jesus.

Eating the priest portion of the offering, on the other hand represents fellowship.  The priest shared fellowship between them, the High Priest and God.  We, believers today, are priests and share fellowship with our High Priest (Jesus) and God the Father.  Is fellowship a requirement for redemption? Fellowship between believers, between a believer and Jesus and between a believer and God the Father is optional, it not a requirement of salvation.  Look at it this way, you can be saved and not have fellowship, but you cannot be saved without the death of Jesus.  The death of Jesus was necessary and there is nothing you or I can do to what Jesus has done.  His sacrificial offering satisfies the Father...nothing can be added.

So, what about you?  Is Jesus’s death on the cross enough for you?  It is enough for God...

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me. - Eli­za E. Hew­itt