GOD PROVIDES HELP FOR THE PRIESTHOOD
God gave the Levites to Moses and Aaron to help with the tasks involved in maintaining worship in the wilderness tabernacle.
That was such a simple sentence; but such a complex concept to grasp.
If you happen to follow our Thursday studies, we studied how this process unfolded in a previous COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY Lesson which was taken out of the contents of the scriptures found in Numbers Chapter Three. This isn’t a COME AS A CHILD lesson; it is more of a seasonal wondering about the subject of redemption, as we approach the day of Early First Fruits and the Resurrection of Christ.
We know that Christ physically rose from the dead and we will celebrate this with great joy!
There are however; many types of resurrections as we go through life. We too will be physically resurrected if we continue to follow Yeshua and overcome the world. Today, I’m thinking of the other little mini-resurrections that we sometimes experience in this life; the times that renew our spiritual life and bring us so much closer to God.
This was also going on with the ancient people of Israel; as they were being renewed daily with the establishment of a holy priesthood.
TASKS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Every Levite had a different assignment that related to putting up and taking down the tabernacle, as well as traveling with the various parts and pieces of the tabernacle in tow.
I’ve been pondering this a bit during COVID-19. We all have a piece of God’s Kingdom that we are carrying around inside of us. It is our bodies and souls coming together as The Church that brings God’s living tabernacle down to earth and gives God a place to dwell among the people.
We join together and hold each other up. Each member of this body must do their part.
This isn’t something that is done on a whim or whenever the spirit strikes; it is a daily task that each of us have been called to perform; no matter where we are or what our circumstances.
We ARE the body of Christ.
The men who carried the parts and pieces of the tabernacle through the wilderness were also assigned various duties throughout the camp that would keep the areas of the tabernacle sectioned off; holy, protected, preserved and sacred.
Today, in such a state of crisis that this ugly plague has presented; it is important more than ever that God’s servants, those who are assigned the duties of His temple (wherever the praises of His people reside on this earth today) must protect and defend the different areas of the gospel that are constantly under attack by the enemies of God.
We must be separate and come apart from the world. Our actions and love must show this everywhere that we are.
The enemies of God like to catch us off-guard, and try to trick us by changing our direction and focus from God’s ways to the ways of mankind. They like to rewrite the intent of our language and use it against us.
It is now more important than ever before that we live holy lives, covered in the blood of Jesus, submitted to God’s laws and that we hold these things up before our nation to be sacred and holy.
EXEMPT FROM THE ARMY
These Levites didn’t have to fight with the army; but there was nothing EASY about their life. They worked long and hard and endlessly.
As they were being organized into groups; God told Moses and Aaron to “bring the tribe of Levi near.”
The language used (bring near) was a term also used in relation to sacrifices. The designation indicates that the Levites were like a sacrificial offering to God. They were a substitution for a portion of the people (the first born of each family) who were set aside for holiness unto God.
These Levites were consecrated and set aside specifically for service of the tabernacle and nothing else.
Think about this in relation to Early First Fruits.
Yeshua was the very first of God’s first fruit’s harvest.
He led the way for all of the rest of us.
It was appropriate that The High Priest be the very first to rise and bring new life to the earth and God’s Kingdom on the earth.
Also; there were those who were risen from the dead after Jesus. They came up and walked the earth and spoke with the disciples. They were with Him as a part of The Early First fruits – those great people who went before us; the ones who had faith to believe even before the world had witnessed Yeshua as our Messiah.
They believed BEFORE because they accepted God’s promises as if they had already been performed. These were people of great faith. They did not have to see with their eyes to believe God. Some were Able, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Isaac, and many others.
We read about them in the scriptures from the passage found in Hebrews, Chapter 11.
THE REDEMPTION OF THE FIRST BORN
As God chooses the tribe of Levi for this task; He is remembering the last plague of Egypt and how the first born of Israel were all at that time being set aside from the death of the plague because of their obedience to the commands of God; when they all went through the Passover obediently putting the blood of the Lamb over the doorposts of their homes.
This was a physical example of a spiritual thing. Those who had the blood over their doorways were saved from death. Those today who have the blood of Christ over the door of their heart are saved into eternal and everlasting life.
The Levites were yet another physical example of the type of spiritual life that those who belong to The Kingdom of God should be leading.
THE NUMBERING OF THE LEVITES WERE DIFFERENT
A census was taken of the Levites too, and they were numbered; but the purpose of their numbering was different than the purpose of the census of the Army.
Their numbering related to redemption.
The Levites were given in exchange for an equal number of the first-born from the other tribes. They were redeemed at the rate of five shekels for each. The ransom money was appropriated for the use of the Sanctuary.
Their count was not for every able-bodied man that was old enough to serve in the army. Their count wasn’t about that type of fighting.
This count was for every male, from one month old or older.
These numbers of the Levites were not men being trained for physical wars. The Levites were totally exempt from war. They were men being trained in holiness for the service of God. Their instructions began at birth and continued throughout the length of their lifetime.
The money used to purchase the redemption for all the first-born of Israel was given on this accounting.
The Levites were the substitution system used to fulfill the ransom of the first-born of Israel. This substitution system made available a way for a strong and firm foundation for the Sanctuary of God that would hold up and connect mankind with God forever and ever.
If your redemption price has been paid by the blood of Jesus; you too are like these Levites. You are a holy priesthood that has been redeemed in order to provide a firm foundation for the Sanctuary of God on this earth.
Are you aware of how important this can be?
Are you fulfilling the vows of the redeemed?
A GOOD REVIEW
Back in our COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY that covered The Book of Exodus we covered a lesson about the tabernacle and this process of the redemption of the first born.Each man in the army of Israel had to give a ransom as a redemption price for his own sins; so that he could be redeemed for the service of his people.
The price was five shekels and it went to buy/make the silver sockets that held the foundation of the Sanctuary firmly in place.
Each silver socket weighed one hundred pounds, and they were buried under the ground and hidden from sight.
They were anchored down every time that the tabernacle was set up. Their weight held up the WHOLE structure. Without it – everything would come crashing down.
Are you feeling the weight of redemption as we go through these perilous times in our nation?
Do you understand how important salvation and sanctification is at this moment in history?
Only a Church that is firmly in place can perform the tasks that are needed to pull God’s people through this and get them on over to the Promised Land of the Millennial reign of Christ in the end of time as we know it.
The redemption price for 100,000 men made what held the foundation of the Sanctuary firmly in place; yet this fact was not known or recognized by most upon first observation.
The Levites knew that the most important part of the support of the tabernacle could not be seen; but it was hidden.
Remember the parable that Jesus told us about a treasure hidden in a field?
Can you see how God has hidden His story in almost everything that exists today?
Are you opening your eyes to these truths and letting God’s truth and His truth alone rule over you in this sinful and perverted world of today?
If you wish to read more about the silver sockets and their function; you can click this link and it will take you to another older study: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/silver-sockets-of-redemption-come-as-a-child-lesson-156-amazing-silver-sockets/. The whole subject is fascinating and every bit of it is still relevant and can be applied to our modern world too.
A PLACE FOR THE LEVITES TO LIVE
As they were living in the wilderness camps closest to the tabernacle the Levites had three stations which were divided into three subdivisions.
The Gershonites were stationed on the West. Their Chief was Eliasaph, Son of Lael.
The Kohithites were stationed on the South. Their Chief was Elizaphon – Son of Uzziel.
The families of the Merari were stationed on the North. Their Chief was Zuriel, son of Abihail.
The Chief of all three of these Chiefs who oversaw ALL of the tribes was Eleazar, the Priest who was Aaron’s son.
Aaron was over all of the Levitical Priesthood as The High Priest of Israel.
The Kohithites carried the highest honor among these tribes as they were appointed to guard and care for the most sacred articles of the tabernacle. These were the sacred articles from The Holy Place and The Most Holy Place of The Wilderness Tabernacle.
These three divisions of the tribes of Levi got their names from the three sons of Levi (Gershon, Kohath and Marari.)
God appointed all of their leaders through Moses and God designated which tribes would carry out what functions.
ARE YOU A RELATIVE?
Because of the lost tribes of Israel and all of the assimilation that went on throughout history; it is hard to distinguish who descended from these three sections of the tribe of the Levites.
It could very well be that you are genetically related as well as spiritually related; if you are a born-again Christian. That would be fun to find out if you are into such things; but no matter the physical, the Church is the spiritual heritage of this priesthood.
We all need to be paying attention and seeking God’s face and asking questions that apply to our walk today.
What will God bring that we can share that will help to bring our nation out of this plague and move it into the promises of the future?
If you are part of that living Body of Christ, the spiritual Church; it is time to be praying and carrying out such amazing things.
With men, miracles rarely happen.
With God; nothing is impossible.
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