As we progress through our study and begin to cover Numbers Chapter Seven in the COME AS A CHILD Bible Study; we still continue to discuss the fact that it is very important to God for all things in worship to be consecrated and anointed for service.
Moses was commanded to consecrate and anoint the wilderness tabernacle and all of the items inside it.
He was also supposed to consecrate and anoint the priests who would be serving inside the tabernacle.
All of this seemed to be very important.
SUCH EMPHASIS PLACED ON CONSECRATION
Why do you think so much emphasis is put on this act of consecration?
We know that God demands consecration over and over as the people begin to progress into the place of worshiping inside the Sanctuary where God dwells.
Is there an important reason?
For one thing; God cannot dwell in unholy places; but there is so much more to explore here.
AN END-TIMES THEORY
I hope you did the extensive review that I provided in last week’s lesson; because we are leading up to a summary for a theory that relates to God’s people living through end-times.
There may still be a few very optimistic individual Christians out there who don’t believe we are living through the beginnings of tribulations or the end-times right now; but I suspect there are more (like me) who tend to believe that we are right in the beginning of that place and we could possibly be going through our last days on this earth as we know it.
How long will God let us linger living in a world like this?
ONLY THE FATHER KNOWS
A wise man once told me the answer to that question; he said that we would stay on this earth waiting on Christ to return until the very last soul that God knew would be saved had made that commitment; and then it would happen.
That statement of fact certainly takes date-naming and predicting out-of-the-question; no matter the signs and the seasons that we detect have come and gone.
The scriptures clearly explain the fact that only The Father knows when that time will be; not even our Messiah who died for us knows that date!
When The Father tells The Son it is time; He will return for His Birde, The Church. It will not happen until then and no man knows that date.
HEBRAIC TRADITIONS
This theory fits right in with the traditions of The Hebraic wedding customs; because the Son is traditionally preparing the place to bring his Bride home to live, but he cannot leave to fetch her until his father says that all is ready for the Great Wedding Feast.
Without knowing the exact date; the very best we can do at this point is to live every day as if it were the last day; whether it is or not. All of this plays into the things surrounding The Feast of Trumpets and The Day of Atonement and The Feast of Tabernacles, and Elul and The Days of Awe that lead up to those days. They all are so significantly symbolic and they explain so much about God’s plan for mankind and His Kingdom that is coming.
KEEP LOOKING UP UNTIL YOU SEE HIM COMING DOWN THE ROAD
We do not know the day or the hour; so it is best to consecrate ourselves and live in holiness until we see the Bride Groom coming.
Why is it important then for us to be living in holiness and consecration as the anointed ones?
Because; Christ is coming for a spotless, clean Bride dressed in white linen. He is coming for someone who has made herself clean and ready; someone who has changed and stepped from the role of a sinner into the role of a holy bride.
All of that consecration and all of that holiness and purity truly matters to God. He will not give word for the Son to come again until the Bride has made herself ready!
THE SPOTLESS BRIDE
The blood of Jesus covered our sins when we came into the Kingdom of God; but it is our holiness and sanctification (that of a clean and changed heart) that makes us complete and qualified as The Bride of Christ.
Do we still sin? Yes, we are still humans! But; hopefully, we do not sin intentionally and we desire in our hearts to live a different way. The Bride of Christ is known as an Overcomer.
We must ever be going before God and asking forgiveness for the sins that we commit. Every single day we must hold ourselves up to Him and be accountable for our actions. Confessions are still necessary; though Christ gave his life once for all.
This accountability is all part of keeping our wedding garments clean and ready. If we soil our dress, it must be washed clean again. Nothing can do this but repentance and confession and turning. The turning is the last but most significant part of the process.
A Bride can’t stand before God and pretend that her dress is white and clean; it must be tended to every day; washed and pressed and cared for so that at any given moment (whenever the Father tells the Groom to return) she is ready for The Great Wedding Feast.
BEING PREPARED FOR THE SECOND COMING
Have you ever really thought of life in those terms?
Maybe you, like so many, have bought into the cheap grace of the church of the world. They will tell you that nothing really matters, just as long as you have made a public profession of faith, you will be fine forever before God.
But; the God I know doesn’t pay attention to the insincerity of those who only want to give lip-service to His desires.
He WANTS his people to be holy.
This means turning. How many in the church are truly turning away form sin?
It means realizing his laws and keeping them. How many have waved away the commandments and tried to claim that they are out of date and unnecessary now?
This means yearning for understanding of the truth and conforming to God’s ways instead of men’s ways.
FALSE WORSHIP DOES NOT COUNT
You can stand in a crowd of emotional people and lift your hands in praise and worship and look and speak like a Christian. The world will not know your heart.
They will believe you are true and sincere; but God DOES know your heart. He sees what you do later. He KNOWS if you are truly worshiping Him with commitment and sacrifice or just going along with the crowd.
You can read the scriptures boldly and passionately out loud and then let the world tell you their version of what it means; or you can get down on your knees and pray to hear what God has to say to your heart.
The world will let you off easy.
They can’t take the truth.
SERVING GOD ISN’T EASY
God will demand change.
He will be expecting to hear from you from moment to moment until you have reached the place of being acceptable enough in His eyes to look Him in the eyes, face to face; as lovers do, unashamed and unafraid because you have shared your heart and soul with him and made every attempt to keep His wishes and desires.
God knows when we are honest.
Did you know this?
AN IMAGE OF WHAT YOU THINK GOD SHOULD BE
Is your god the REAL GOD or the one that you make up in your head who conforms to your own image of what God should be?
I can’t say.
Only you and God can know.
The world can be deceived; but not God.
IF SOMETHING IS CONSECRATED; IT IS READY
What would you do different today if you knew it was your last day on earth?
Perhaps that is a clue into the reason why God wanted to show us how important it is to Him to have things consecrated.
If something is consecrated it is ready.
It is the best that it can be and it has been cleaned and polished and made available for worship to The Holy One.
I can’t help but think that God was teaching Moses so much about consecration and anointing because that is what prepares anyone or anything to be of use to God in service in His Kingdom.
ARE WE DRAWING CLOSER TO GOD WHEN WE WORSHIP?
It is not beyond us to imagine that The Kingdom of God is very comparable to a new and improved Israel. God’s people are like a holy nation that God has chosen to be His people forever and ever; instead of just a temporary pattern upon this earth that teaches men how to draw closer to God.
Recently I read a book by Jeremiah Johnson called “The Power of Consecration.” I don’t actually know very much about Mr. Johnson and his ministry but the words of this particular book resonated with me. He claims to be a prophet and he takes that role very seriously.
He made a prophetic statement that says: “the lack of demonstration in the Church is connected to the lack of consecration.”
Since we have been teaching on this subject of consecration for several weeks now; that statement really got my attention. It actually weighed so heavily on my heart that I had trouble sleeping from thinking about it.
Immediately after reading those words I sat for a long time in silence and prayer because the statement put into understandable words all of the feelings that I could not explain which had been welling up in my spirit too.
THE BRIDE OF CHRIST DOESN’T “PLAY CHURCH”
I have sensed for a long time that many congregations are simply “playing church.”
They want to be entertained.
Many simply want to be socially accepted.
They want to “do good” together; but there is an element of spirituality that is missing.
I believe that element of spirituality that is missing is what causes people to turn to other religions that do not honor The One God of Heaven and Earth; and in the end these actually promote pagan beliefs.
Hardly anyone seems to realize how pagan the church congregations of our nation have become.
A NAZARITE STANDS OUT IN THE CROWD
As I pondered further; immediately the picture of the Nazarite came to mind.
We just studied the life of a Nazarite a few weeks ago and we learned that a Nazarite is consecrated and set-apart for a specific period of time for a specific spiritual reason.
A Nazarite would look very different than those who are living around him.
He would not conform to things that would make him unclean and unholy before God and he would remember and honor this fact for the length of the specific time of his vow.
NAZARITES WITH VOWS OF CONSECRATION
Jeremiah Johnson’s book speaks of the Nazarite too.
He sees the true church of the latter days as Nazarites with vows to consecrate themselves to God in such a way that The Father’s heart tells the Son that it is time to return for the Bride.
The real Bride will be in stark contrast to the apostate bride (which we also have covered in this study through The Book of Numbers.)
Mr. Johnson’s book clearly helped a lot of the pieces of our study to jell inside my mind and spirit. I cautiously am agreeing with him on this subject; though I am not clear about any other subjects that he has taught or proclaimed because I’m simply unfamiliar with them.
It is very plain to me as I study the Book of Numbers and dive deeper and deeper into that Word that God is calling for his true people to be consecrated and dedicated to keeping holy as He is holy.
A RADICAL AND PASSIONATE PEOPLE
This doesn’t mean that they will never sin again; but it means that they will have such a keen sense of awareness of God’s will for their lives and their purpose before God that they will turn from their sins when they know them.
They will stand out in the crowd as people who are radical and passionate about keeping themselves clean from the ways of the world.
A NAZARITE/BRIDE CHURCH
As the last-days of this earth evolve, a Nazarite Bride/Church is coming, and the world will not recognize her among them.
She will be true.
This one will be clean and she will be holy.
She will be washed in the blood of Christ and she will be able to stand spotless and white before all as the Wedding Feast of The Lamb approaches.
This is who God is looking for and until He sees her; no wedding will take place!
The understanding of the Word proclaimed in the Book of Numbers helps us to see this future event through the things of the past.
HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
Who would have ever dreamed that this New Testament message could be hiding right in plain sight within the Old Testament Book of Numbers?
It is there.
If you are a member of God’s chosen (the true Church, The Bride of Christ, The Body that makes up the Temple of God) you walk around in God’s modern-day Temple.
It is your body; but it is HIS Body.
God wants this body to be holy and consecrated.
He wants the world to recognize that you belong to him and have been set apart for worship and service to him.
ARE YOU CONSECRATED?
Is your Temple consecrated?
One by one we all must become the spiritual living-stones that come together to make up God’s Church in the end of the ages. Your Temple must be holy and consecrated in order for it to become an effective part of the overall Body of Christ.
Are you doing your part of holding up the building?
Have you been true in keeping that connection between heaven and earth pure and holy so that the Father says to the Son “Go now and get your Bride; because she has made herself ready?”
COME LORD JESUS
Perhaps it is way past-time for the true church to begin to take these things very seriously.
Time is short.
One person at a time; changing and coming together with others who desire the same, will bring all of us closer to God.
What are you doing today that will help to effect this change in your life?
He is waiting and watching.
There is a wedding day to prepare for.
Let the Bride be ready and have oil in her lamp when the Groom returns!