2019-4-18

Exodus 30:1-38

The Priest’s Work

The alter of incense was similar to the altar for burnt offerings, but smaller and more beautiful.  It was overlaid with gold.  It was on the west side of the Holy Place and the priest first passed the altar of burn offering and the basin for washing.  The incense altar stood just before the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.  Incense symbolizes the continual prayer of God’s people.

God calls us to pour our hearts out to Him.  He delights to hear and answer prayer, but we must be those whose sin is covered by Christ’s blood.  God tell us to pray continually in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.  If you are not a fervent prayer, will you ask God to change this and then do what He says?

Next, the basin for washing was used for the priest’s ceremonial cleansing.  It was placed between the altar of burnt offerings and the door to the tabernacle.  Every time the priests entered the Holy Place, they were required to wash their hands and feet.  This was a serious matter:  in the five verses that describe the basin, the priests were warned twice to wash “so that they will not die.”  Why?  The answer is that sin not brings guilt and punishment; sin defiles.

The priests needed to be cleansed from sin’s defilement to serve God; so does every believer today.  All who are in Christ have been delivered from sin’s guilt and penalty by His death,.  However, every day we fail in some way to love God with all our heart, soul and mind.  Apart from God’s grace, we turn away daily from opportunities to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  Daily we can receive this needed cleansing by the Word of God and by the confession of sin.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

If you have not asked Jesus to be Lord of your life and your Savior from the eternal consequence of sin, please consider inviting Him into your heart today.  Here is a simple prayer:

‘Dear Jesus, I confess I have sinned against you and gone my own way.  Please come into my life and cleanse me of my unbelief.  I believe in you and in salvation through the blood You shed for me on the Cross.  Please be the Lord of my life.  I turn from sin and trust in You Jesus alone as my Savior.  Thank you for your promise to forgive me.  In Your name I pray, Amen.            —- Mary Mauderer