Tag Archive | Aaron

Exodus 32 – The Golden Calf….

Feb17

Good afternoon y’all. Today we are looking at Exodus 32. Here we see the Israelites pester Aaron to make them a graven image.

Ok, what first got my attention was verse 1 where the Israelites were asking Aaron to make them a ‘god’.

“When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 32: 1 NLT)

I thought to myself: is this not the same Israelites God appeared to on the mountain, the same ones God spoke loudly to and gave all the commands and they all responded we will obey.

“Then Moses went down to the people and repeated all the instructions and regulations the Lord had given him. All the people answered with one voice, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded”. (Exodus 24: 3 NLT)

Now, fast forward 8 chapters and they are already asking for a new god!. Seems to me these people never truly understood or knew God. Their encounter with God was shallow; it was just on the surface. Perhaps that’s why they asked Moses to speak to God on their behalf in Exodus 20:19.
They were too lazy and didn’t want to do the required to get closer to God. After all God had done for them, I’m amazed at verse 1.

Before we judge the Israelites, lets take a closer look at our own lives. Sometimes we too behave like the Israelites. We’ve seen God do miracles; seen Him show His mighty power, yet our understanding and knowledge of Him is limited to just those things. We are shallow in our in our understanding of who God truly is, so when trouble or temptation comes, we start to waver and look for alternative solutions. That’s exactly what the Israelites did. Just because Moses was gone for forty days and they had not seen him they decided they needed another ‘god’:they were so quick to forget all that God had done.

Are we shallow or deeply rooted in christ? Do we truly know this God or we are only interested in the things we can get from him? I’m reminded of Colossians 2: 6-7 and Luke 6: 46 – 48

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness”.(Colossians 2: 6-7 NLT)

“Why do you keep on saying that I am your Lord, when you refuse to do what I say? Anyone who comes and listens to me and obeys me  is like someone who dug down deep and built a house on solid rock. When the flood came and the river rushed against the house, it was built so well that it didn’t even shake. But anyone who hears what I say and doesn’t obey me is like someone whose house wasn’t built on solid rock. As soon as the river rushed against that house, it was smashed to pieces”. (Luke 6: 46- 48 CEV)

If all we know of God are the miracles He does for us, then what happens when He stops doing miracles and He is silent?  Does that mean we shift camp, move to a different base and find the next best thing that works miracles? Doesn’t that imply we are only with God for the benefits we can get and not because we genuinely love and want to serve Him?

Lets read on….

Aaron, oh Aaron….I’m speechless…. like this is a dude who dined with GOD himself in Exodus 24. Dude has seen God work miracles through him. I’m asking myself with all that Aaron saw of God was it that He still didn’t understand God? Or could it be that He never even knew God? He was just doing what Moses asked him to do. Does this mean it is possible to encounter God and remain the same? Aaron was so quick to agree to the Israelites suggestion; he didn’t even think twice about making the golden calf. I guess it just shows how we can deceive ourselves to thinking we know God when in fact we do not know Him at all. May God help us!!!

I pray we we will be deeply rooted in Christ and when temptations or trials come our ways, we will be strong enough to discard them and stand on God’s word. Amen.

Thanks for joining today.

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Exodus 28 and 29

Feb12

Good evening y’all. Today we looking at Exodus 28 and 29. The chapters describe the priesthood and the process of ordination.

Be blessed 🙂

One of the first things I noticed is that being a priest is not a right. One can’t just decide they want to be a priest; you have to be chosen or called. As we see in 28:1.

“Call for your brother, Aaron, and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Set them apart from the rest of the people of Israel so they may minister to me and be my priests.(Exodus 28:1 NLT)

God asked Moses to call out Aaron and his sons and set them apart for His use. This tells me you have to be called

Hebrews 5:4 confirms this.

“But no one can have the honor of being a high priest simply by wanting to be one. Only God can choose a priest, and God is the one who chose Aaron”. (Hebrews 5:4 CEVUS06)

The whole description of the priesthood and it’s duties are a shadow of things to come. God was foretelling what plans He had in mind through Jesus.

Aaron was chosen to be the high priest. He was to be the one to appear before God to offer sacrifices and petition God on behalf of the people. In the same way Jesus has been chosen as our high priest. As said in Hebrews 5. He didn’t choose himself God chose him.

“Every high priest is appointed to help others by offering gifts and sacrifices to God because of their sins. A high priest has weaknesses of his own, and he feels sorry for foolish and sinful people.  This is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins and for the sins of others.  But no one can have the honor of being a high priest simply by wanting to be one. Only God can choose a priest, and God is the one who chose Aaron.    This is how it was with Christ. He became a high priest, but not just because he wanted the honor of being one. It was God who told him, “You are my Son, because today I have become your Father!”( Hebrews 5:1-5 CEVUS06)

Aaron though he was the high priest still had to make atonement for his own sins; he wasn’t a perfect priest. Jesus on the other hand is our perfect priest who doesn’t have to make any atonement for himself.

Aaron had to go before God always wearing the name of Israel on his shoulders and chest. This way the children of Israel were always represented before God. In the same way Jesus our high priest is always before the father interceding for us and forever presenting our case before the Father.

Hebrews 7:16 -28 says it all.

“Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God. This new system was established with a solemn oath. Aaron’s descendants became priests without such an oath, but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, “The lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’” Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God. There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.  Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins. The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever”.(NLT)

Jesus is all we need 🙂 Hallelujah!!!

Thanks for joining today.

Have a wonderful night 🙂

***With God all things are possible***