THROUGH THE BIBLE - Exodus 3..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. We shall make an altar. on which to burn incense.

You shall make it of acacia wood. A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns.

And you shall make a moulding of gold around it. And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding, on two opposite sides of it, you shall make them. And they shall be holders for the poles with which to carry it. You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

And you shall put it in front of the veil, that it is above the ark of the testament, in front of the mercy seat, that is above the testimony where I will meet with you. And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it every morning. When he dresses the lamps, he shall burn it. And when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it as a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering.

And you shall not pour a drink offering, 10. Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. He shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, when you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them.

that there be no plague among you when you number them. Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary. The shekel is 20 geras. Half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered in the census from 20 years old and upward shall give the Lord offering.

The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel when you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for your lives. You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives. The Lord said to Moses, You shall also make a basin of bronze and its stand of bronze for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. When they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near to the altar to minister or burn a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash with water so that they may not die.

They shall wash their hands and their feet so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offering throughout their generations. 22. The Lord said to Moses, Take the finest spices of liquid myrrh, 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon, half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of Aramaic cane, and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer.

It shall be a holy anointing oil. With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the table, and all its utensils, and the lampstand, and its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering, with all its utensils, and the basin, and its stand. You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. Whoever touches them will become holy. You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.

And you shall say to the people of Israel, this shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. It is holy and it shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people. The Lord said to Moses, Take sweet spices, stacta and onyca, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense.

Of each shall there be an equal part, and make an incense, blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. shall be some of it very small and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meaning where I shall meet with you it shall be most holy for you and the incense that you shall make according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves it shall be for you holy to the Lord Whatever makes or whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Over the last three weeks in the text of Exodus chapters 28 through 30, We've had the mediators of Israel, that is the priesthood, front and center.

Previous to these chapters, it was mainly the furnishings, the material, the construction, the intricate instructions that God had given Moses on the construction of the temple. That was the focus previous. Nothing was left to chance. precise and exact blueprints were given by God to Moses and he commanded that Moses and those who built the tabernacle to be perfect in its construction. Now we know why this is important because not only was the tabernacle important and served a purpose for that generation three and a half thousand years ago, but everything in that tabernacle Every last detail points to something far greater than the physical element itself.

It points to that which fulfills the tabernacle, the true tabernacle, our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ. But in the last three chapters, the mediators between God and man, the priesthood, has been in focus. And in chapter 28, the emphasis was on their garments. You remember the robes, the coat, the ephod, and the breastplate, and the turban on their head. And then in chapter 29, the attention was turned to their ordination, the ordination of the priest, which went on for seven days.

And it's needless to say that they were being prepared to enter into the very manifest presence of God. And so there was a lot of blood in that passage. This is chapter 29. And we looked at that last week, because, beloved, we all know that there cannot be forgiveness for sin. There cannot be forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood.

But it wasn't their own blood. These priests were being consecrated, and the blood that was poured and shed through sacrifice was not their own blood. It was the blood of a substitute. God was making a way to presence himself amongst a sinful people through the provision of a substitute who would bear the penalty of their sin on their behalf in their stead. Of course we know that once and for all substitute the The one who all the sacrifices point towards is the great high priest, Jesus Christ himself.

He is not only the sacrificer, the one who was prefigured in Aaron, the high priest in this day, but he's also the sacrifice, the one who was prefigured by the animals that were slaughtered and their blood shed as an atonement for sin. And now through his finished work, he has reconciled the sinners like us to God so that by faith, being covered with the atoning blood and robed with his perfect righteousness. Beloved, this is good news. We are able to enter into the presence of God without being destroyed. Beloved, it is on the merits of Christ and Christ alone.

And we have become, as Peter writes in 1 Peter, a royal priesthood. And we need to remember that. As we read chapter 20, we need to remember that. We, as believers, those who have trusted in the Lord, the great high priest, have become a royal priesthood. Now there's a lot in this passage that is before us.

Chapter 30, there's so many wonderful points, which we just haven't got the time to fully elaborate. We know that the census tax was established here. Now, the census itself was given, and God had commanded Moses to take a census, and we don't have the reason why that is. We're not given the reason. But we do know that those who are counted, those who are over the age of 20, who were counted in the census, were meant or were supposed to give some money, and it was half a shekel.

Whether they're poor, whether they're rich, it mattered not. Their price was the same, and it's interesting because that half shekel was called a ransom for their lives. It most likely, beloved, signified that they owe all their lives to God. And because all have sinned and then they deserve to die because those who sold that sin shall die. But God, in His grace provided, He provided a way to dwell among His people without them being completely destroyed.

But this grace would come at a price. And that half shekel to help in the temple expenses, we're told that was joyfully paid or was meant to be joyfully paid And what was meant to be by these people an expression of their gratitude to God for giving them life. For giving them the very things that they don't deserve and withholding the very thing that they do deserve, death. But of course this was only typical, it was a type of Christ who according to 1 Timothy chapter 2 is the true ransom for God's people. Now, everyone in this day would have known that their lives were worth far more than half a shekel, even to purchase a slave cost 60 times as much.

But beloved, the payment was a teaching tool. It was to teach this people and all the people of God that it is God who owes or they all owe their life to God. So also in this passage, we see that the precise detail in making the incense that is to be burnt at the in the tabernacle and also the anointing, the anointing oil which is poured over all the utensils and practically almost everything in the tabernacle and the furnishings. And also it's the anointing oil that, if you remember last week, Aaron and his sons were, Moses was instructed to pour that oil from head to toe and saturate them with this oil. Beloved, you can imagine how bad the smell was in that place.

As we said last week, there was a lot of blood spilt, a lot of blood spilt daily. And if you've ever smelt dry blood, you know how bad that smelt. This fragrance was to be poured over in the tabernacle. Probably for one thing, to get rid of the smell. But God said that this fragrance is supposed to be holy unto him.

That it's not to be used for any common use. That it is to be used only and exclusively and solely in the tabernacle, lest the people be cut off. Now God is fairly precise in the things that he has done and he's very precise in how he is to be worshipped. Nothing, beloved, nothing is left to chance. And by the time we've gone through even Exodus, we will know that nothing is left to chance in the building of this movable tent.

You see, it's not a matter only of simply the sincerity of the heart. It's beyond this. You can be all the sincere you want to be, but if you do not worship God as He has ordained for you to worship Him, then it's meaningless. We know this for a fact, because in the next chapter, we hear of the sons of Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu. You remember how they created unauthorized incense and what had happened?

They paid for that with their lives. They paid for that with their lives. But this afternoon, with the limited time we have left, I want to spend the few moments that we have on the insights that chapter 30 gives us on how how the now consecrated priests are to reverently approach their duties before the Lord. And this is found in verses 17 through 21. We'll focus on that.

And also, I want to briefly consider one of their duties that is listed for us in this passage, in particular, the burning of the incense before the Lord. You see, the blood sacrifice has been performed, chapter 29. The propitiation, the atonement for sins was now accomplished through the shed blood. The priests are now enabled to enter into the tabernacle before the Lord on behalf of the people and worship and serve God in their duties in this place. But what must the priests do before they enter into this holy place?

Verse 21 or verse 20 and 21. Listen. When they are to go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands, and they shall wash their feet, so that they may not You see, as I said last week, the washing with water in the Old Testament passages that we have before us is not Yahweh. It's not God being concerned that in some way the dust from the desert will come into this place and corrupt the tabernacle.

We know that's not the case. God's concern was the state of these people's souls. These priests are entering into the very manifest presence of God, and yes, they are to enter freely based on the accepted shed blood of a substitute for the atonement of their sins. But hear this, they are not to enter carelessly or irreverently. And they are not to enter uncleanly.

The washing of hands and the washing of the feet speaks of dealing with and repenting of their daily sins. You see, redemption is grace from God. And apart from our own work, it is based upon the merits of another. It's based on the substitute of another, the shed blood of another. And it is the priest's responsibility as we see, to be serious, to make sure, to know that they enter into the presence of God indeed clean, to examine themselves and deal with any sin that lurks within.

That's what this washing symbolizes. As I said, it's not about only bringing the dust off their head. That ritual has a deeper spiritual meaning. And it's a weighty thing, beloved, to come into the presence of God. It's a weighty thing to come to worship and to serve and to come into God's presence.

It is a weighty thing. And we must not allow grace to diminish the holiness of God. You see, God still abhors sin. It is still an abomination in His eyes. It is still detestable in His eyes.

He hasn't changed. And this text shows us how serious God is against sin. Beloved, as Christians, those of us who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness of our sins, we know that the penalty has been paid. But you need to know and understand that God hates sin. And he hates it just as much before you came into Christ, or being found in Christ, as he does now, after we have been saved and redeemed by Christ.

His attitude towards sin has not changed. And we see it in this passage. Because the priests who don't clean their hands, or wash their hands, and wash their feet, what is the consequence? Verse 21, they are to do this, so they shall not what? Die.

The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 1.11 mentions of the serious of sin and irreverence in worship. In particular, he speaks there about the Lord's Supper, the coming together and commuting on the Lord's table. Discipline from God, he says, can come upon those who come to the table in an unworthy, irreverent manner, even to the point where he says, some have fallen sick and some have fallen asleep. And that falling asleep means even to die physically.

Beloved, we now celebrate as a community of believers the Lord suffered weakly. And this is truly, truly a grace because not only are we gathering to remember the death of our Savior and what that means to us as individuals and what it means to us collectively as the body of Christ, as the church, as the bride, the glorious salvation that has been accomplished on that cross because of His shed blood. This is wonderful, but it's also an opportunity, by God's grace, to weekly and regularly come before the table and examine ourselves. to see whether our hands and to see whether our feet are indeed clean. And beloved, as we do, we we want to make sure that we aren't harboring sin, that we're not we don't have pet sins, habitual sins that we we are aware of the spirit has brought to our attention.

We need to deal with those sins and we need to ask forgiveness because if we confess our sins, he that is Christ is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1.9. Praise God for that. We have the opportunity to do that even weekly.

We ought to be doing it daily. And I want you to realize something. I want you to realize how it's Aaron's or the priest's hands and his feet that need to be washed before they come into the presence of God, and not their whole bodies. You see, they've already been washed from head to toe. You remember last week, in chapter 29, when Moses was commanded to wash Aaron and his sons from head to toe.

That's already been done. The point that's been made here is actually alluded in John chapter 13, and you know the story. If you remember, Christ, our Lord, was with the disciples on the night He was betrayed. He took His outer garments off. He brought a towel and he tied it around his waist and he proceeded to go one by one to his disciples and wash their feet.

And you remember Peter's reaction? He was horrified. Peter was absolutely horrified that his rabbi would come to him and want to wash his feet. And he refused. Do you remember what Jesus said to Peter?

Listen to what Jesus said. He said, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head, implying, Lord, wash me from head to toe. Submerse me in this water. Listen to what Jesus says.

Then Jesus said to him, The one who has bathed does not need a wash, except for his feet, but he is completely clean, and you are clean. What's he saying? He's saying, Peter, you believed upon me. You trusted in Me. You know and you've confessed that I am the Son of God.

You've confessed that there's life in no other, forgiveness in no other, that I am the Messiah. Peter, you have been washed from head to toe. However, that which is contaminated day upon day, that the hands and the feet which have the most access to the corruption of the world, They need to be cleaned. Peter, examine your heart. Believers, brothers and sisters, we ought to be examining our hearts and our lives to see, have our hands, have our feet been corrupted by sin?

And if so, we ought to confess our sins to the one who is able to forgive them. And therefore, before we come into prayer, before we come to serve the Lord, before we come to break bread, before we come to hear the preaching of God's Word, before we open our Bibles in the morning to read, we ought to come with clear consciences. We ought to come in a worthy and irreverent way, knowing that our Lord is able to forgive fully and finally. Not unto salvation, that's been done when we were washed from head to toe, yes? That's been done through the finished work of Christ, but as an obstacle to our worship to God.

Because as the psalmist would say, he would say, who is worthy to ascend the mountain of the Lord? It is that or those with clean hands and pure hearts. This is how we ought to approach God and serve him. So after the ritual cleansing or the ritual washing, the priests are able now to enter into the presence of God and then fulfill their priestly duties. One of which, we said, is the burning of incense at the altar of incense that is before the veil.

This is told to us in verse 10. We know according to Scripture, such as Psalm 14 and Revelation 8, that the burning of incense is symbolic of the prayers of the saints that rise to God. We haven't got time to go into those passages, but that is what incense points towards, or is symbolic of, prayers. The prayers of the believer that rises to God. And the altar was right in front, I want you to realize, the altar was right in front of that curtain.

You have the Holy of Holies, that perfect hue, where you have the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat, and before that you have the curtain that was from top to bottom, and it was closed 364 days in the year. Only once a year, the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies to sprinkle sacrifice on that Mercy Seat. But every other time, the High Priest, as well as all the other priests, would look upon a closed curtain. And I want you to see this vision. I want you to see that the picture of the incense is special, the special herbs and the combination of spices that are being burned.

And as that as they're being burned, that the smoke and the vapor rises and the four drop of that curtain, which are much blue on it, which was symbolic of heaven. Those prayers are going into the heavens and they're reaching God and are being heard by God. We know that the prayers of the saints, beloved, are precious to God. We know that the prayers of the saints are God's delight. It's a sweet aroma to his nostrils.

The common people on the outside of the camp, they could not come into the tabernacle. However, through the intercession of the mediator, the priest who would come and burn the incense, their prayers entered the holy, not only the holy place, but the most holy place, heaven itself. Not because of Aaron, not because of Aaron's sons. Don't miss the detail. We have to ask the question, how is it and why is it that Yahweh, that God would receive the prayers of sinners?

Why would God delight in the prayers of sinners. Verse 10. What was on the horns of the altar of incense? Bloodstains. It's blood, beloved, from the sin, sacrifice that Aaron was to put on the horns of the altar of incense once a year.

And this was a reminder that the only reason Our prayers rise up into heaven and are indeed precious and delightful to God is because of the shed blood of the sin offering. Beloved, can you see how everything is predicated and built upon the shed blood of Jesus Christ? God is pleased. He's pleased with the prayers of the saints. He's pleased with the prayers of those who love Him.

Because their prayers are soaked in the precious blood of His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Because we pray covered in the blood of Jesus and in His righteousness. We enter into the throne room of God with confidence because of Christ. Amen.