Food for Friday
And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not. Leviticus 16:13
As a preparatory to our Java Specialist course, we were given a four-day session on hardware, in which we repeatedly disassembled our computers and their peripheries and reassembled them. At that time, most of our monitors were CRT screens. The instructor warned us not to disassemble those. He said mishandling the internals of the monitor could result in a lethal high voltage discharge. ‘You will die,’ he told us bluntly. God also told Moses that Aaron and his sons would die if they mishandled the offerings in the tabernacle. Without the cloud of incense, the priest’s life was at risk. There is a cloud of incense that also preserves us as believers in our dealings with God.
Our text today is instruction given by God a short time after Nadab and Abihu were slain as they offered strange fire on the altar. All of Israel, and especially those of Aaron`s household, were very sensitive to the danger of improper sacrifices. Our text, and the previous verse, tell of the priest coming within the vail with his hands full of finely ground sweet incense, and then putting that incense on the fire, so that it created a cloud that covered the mercy seat. Without the incense cloud, the holy place was deadly for the priest. That is because of the holiness of that place. When you and I enter into the presence of God for worship, that place is just as holy as the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. And yet, you and I do not need to fear being stricken dead if we fail to adequately present our offering. The incense of the work of the Lord Jesus preserves and shelters us. All that He is and all that He has done provide an incense that forever meets all that God requires. This is a source of great joy and great concern.
We often speak of how the Lord Jesus intervenes for us at the Throne of Grace, to present our prayers faultless before His Father. Our frailties often prevent us from expressing our prayers adequately; the Lord Jesus presents our prayers perfectly. He does the same with our worship. This assures God’s satisfaction with our offering, regardless of our weakness. Even in eternity, it will be God’s satisfaction with His Son that assures us of our security in His presence.
Because bumbling worshipers do not get stricken dead these days, there can be a lack of reverence in our hearts and attitudes when we come into our Lord’s presence to worship. We see the errors of the methods of the denominations and shake our heads. But if we were to examine our own hearts, we might find a woeful lack of appreciation for the holiness of God. Our worship is never everything that it should be. And yet, we think we are doing OK because we are not destroyed.
It is not us, but the Lord Jesus, Who makes us acceptable in God’s holy presence. We need to be ashamed of the pride that lets us think otherwise. -Jim MacIntosh