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