Message 139
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 29:29-46
Exodus 29:29-46 is actually the conclusion of chapters twenty-eight and twenty-nine. Chapter twenty-eight is on the priestly garments, and chapter twenty-nine is mainly on the priests’ food. The priests are qualified by having the proper clothing and food. Not only does 29:29-46 give us a conclusion of these chapters; it also presents a brief sketch concerning the priests’ garments and their food and also God’s food. Verses 29 through 42a contain statutes concerning the holy garments of the high priest (vv. 29-30), the holy food for the priests (vv. 31-34), and the daily offerings of the filling of hands of the priests (vv. 35-42a). Thus, after the revelation regarding the garments of the priests, the food of the priests, and God’s food, Moses gives us a brief sketch of the statutes concerning the priestly garments and the food for the priests and God. We need to be impressed that these statutes are related to three matters — to the priests’ garments, to the priests’ food, and to God’s food.
In verses 42b through 46 we have the result, the issue, of all these things. The result is that God comes to meet with the priests, to speak with them, and even to dwell among them and among all the sons of Israel. Verse 42 speaks of the door of the tent of meeting where the Lord will meet with us to speak with us. The following verses say, “And I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by My glory. And I will sanctify the tent of meeting and the altar, and Aaron and his sons I will sanctify to serve as priests to Me. And I will dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel, and I will be their God. And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, Who brought them out from the land of Egypt that I might dwell in their midst; I am Jehovah their God.” According to these verses, the result of having the priestly garments, the priestly food, and the food offered to God by the priests is that God comes to meet with us, speak with us, and dwell among us.
If we do not pay adequate attention to this brief sketch, we shall not be able to understand these verses. In fact, the more we read this portion of the Word, the less we shall understand it. This was my experience in reading these verses years ago. If we try to read and study this portion without a brief sketch and a knowledge of its conclusion, we shall have difficulty with these verses. It is not easy to see the real significance of these verses.
Suppose you receive a lengthy letter from your parents, a letter several pages long. You may find it difficult to grasp the emphasis or the central point of this letter. You may read it through carefully a number of times and still not see the main point. This is an illustration of our difficulty in understanding Exodus 28 and 29. We may read these chapters even twenty times and still may not be able to point out in a brief way what is revealed in these chapters. Of course, many can talk about these chapters according to letters in black and white. They may say, correctly, that chapter twenty-eight speaks of the clothing of the priests and that chapter twenty-nine tells us that Aaron and his sons need to be sanctified in order to serve as priests. However, how were Aaron and his sons sanctified to serve God as priests? Can you explain clearly and definitely the way they were sanctified?
The sanctification of Aaron and his sons to be priests involves a number of steps: the washing away of uncleanness, the covering of nakedness by the priestly garments, the dealing with the sinful nature through the sin offering, and the filling of their emptiness. First Aaron and his sons had to be washed and clothed. Then they needed to realize that they were born in sin, that they had a sinful nature, and that they needed a sin offering to solve this problem. But even after they had been cleansed and clothed and had offered the sin offering, they were still empty. They had nothing to satisfy God or themselves. Therefore, they needed not only the outward filling of their hands, but also the inward filling of their stomachs. To be sanctified they needed the four steps of washing, clothing, dealing with the sinful nature, and filling without and within.
Before these messages on Exodus 28 and 29 were given, did you see these four steps of the sanctification of the priests? I doubt that any of us were clear about these matters. Furthermore, even after reading these messages, some still may not be able to recall these four points. Therefore, I urge you to remember the four steps necessary to sanctify Aaron and his sons to be priests of God: the washing away of uncleanness, the covering of their nakedness, the dealing with their sinful nature, and the filling of their emptiness.
In this message we come to 29:29-46, the conclusion of chapters twenty-eight and twenty-nine. Even though we may now understand the steps in sanctifying Aaron and his sons to be priests, we may not understand how to apply these steps to the conclusion. In other words, we may not realize that these chapters have a goal. What is the goal of Exodus 28 and 29? Some may think that the goal is to sanctify God’s redeemed ones to be His priests. However, this sanctification is a procedure; it is not the goal.
I realize that it is not easy to understand the goal of Exodus 28 and 29. Not only do we find it difficult to grasp the significance of certain parts of the Bible; we have the same difficulty in reading spiritual books or even in reading a letter. Recently, I received a letter from a believer who told me how much he had been helped by The Economy of God. He further told me that he had devoured a number of other books put out by the Living Stream Ministry and had been nourished and helped by them. However, his letter indicated that actually he did not have the proper understanding of much of what he had read. This is an illustration of our difficulty in understanding spiritual matters.
For this reason, my speaking is often repetitious. We need to have certain things repeated again and again. The Bible itself is often repetitious. For instance, in the New Testament we are told repeatedly to believe in Jesus Christ. How many times does the New Testament charge us to believe in Christ? There can be no doubt that this is repeated again and again. The reason for such repetition is that we have dull, stubborn ears. We hear, yet we often do not understand.
Let me ask once again, what is the goal of chapters twenty-eight and twenty-nine of Exodus? As we have pointed out, the goal is found in 29:42b-46. This goal is God’s coming to speak with us, to meet with us, and to dwell among us. God does not want merely to pay us a visit; He desires to dwell among us. Verse 42 says that the Lord will meet with us and speak with us. In verses 45 and 46 the Lord says that He will dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel. God first says that He will meet with us, then that He will speak with us, and eventually that He will dwell in our midst. This indicates that God’s dwelling among us depends on His speaking to us and on our speaking to Him. In other words, it depends on the conversation between us and God. Our speaking may keep Him away, or it may encourage Him to dwell with us.
In these verses God seems to be saying, “I want to dwell with you and not just visit with you for a short time. My intention is to dwell among you. Thus, I want to come to you and talk with you to see how you are and where you are. My desire is to have among you a tent of meeting. The tents in which you dwell are not the tent of meeting, but My tent, the tabernacle, is the tent of meeting. The goal of having the priestly garments, the priestly food, and even the food offered to Me is that I may meet with you and dwell among you.”
I would like to use an everyday illustration to impress you with the significance of the goal of Exodus 28 and 29 as revealed in 29:42b-46. These chapters actually tell us how to invite God to dinner. From our experience of being invited to dinner or of inviting others to our home for dinner, we can understand something of what it means to invite God to dinner. Often saints have asked me to give them a time for fellowship. On a number of occasions, I had to tell them that I could not spare the time. Their strategy then was to invite me to their home for dinner. Actually, it was not their intention to feed me a good meal out of love; it was to create an opportunity to have a time to speak with me. They knew that if I accepted the invitation to dinner, they would have the time they were seeking. Thus, their invitation was their strategy to have time alone with me. The point here is that by inviting someone to your home for a meal, you give that person the opportunity to open himself to you and to have fellowship with you.
In the matter of inviting God to come to dinner, there is no need for strategy. God is very willing to accept our invitation. In fact, He Himself has proposed that we invite Him to dinner. Chapters twenty-eight and twenty-nine of Exodus reveal that God wants us to invite Him to dinner, that He wants to come and eat with us. However, in order for Him to come, we need to make the necessary preparations.
Preparing to have dinner with God can be illustrated by the Chinese custom of preparing to receive an honored guest for dinner. First, the hosts need to bathe, get a haircut if necessary, and dress in their best clothes. Also, the house must be thoroughly cleaned, and the yard must be swept. If such preparations are not made, the hosts would despise their honorable guest. The more honorable the guest, the more complete and thorough the preparation must be. It may even be necessary to freshly paint certain parts of the house. Then, of course, the best food must be prepared. This preparation should involve a variety of food: fruit, vegetables, fish, fowl, and meat. There would be the need for both salt-water fish and fresh-water fish. Furthermore, there should be some imported foods, famous foods from places far away, even from other countries. All these food items would then be put together in preparing a feast for the honored guest.
The host has a goal in issuing an invitation to an honored guest and in making thorough preparations. This goal is that, while enjoying the feast, the honored guest will be induced to open himself and speak freely with the host and his family. If the honored guest engages in a conversation in such a way, the host will be happy, considering that it was worthwhile to spend so much time and money to prepare for that occasion. He had attained his purpose in inviting that honored guest to his home for dinner.
This illustration helps us to understand Exodus 28 and 29. In these chapters the priests are the hosts, the ones inviting the honored guest. They are sanctified in order to receive this guest for dinner. Aaron, the high priest, is like the father in the host family, and his sons, the priests, may be compared to the children in this family. All together they are serving the Lord as their honorable guest. All the steps of their sanctification are for the purpose of having the Lord come to dinner.
In this country some who invite a guest for dinner may not be thoroughly prepared when the time comes to receive their guest. For example, they may not be wearing proper shoes. But according to Exodus 28 and 29 and the illustration given above, we should be washed and properly covered.
I use this illustration to show that these two chapters reveal the proper way to invite God to come to dwell with us. His coming, speaking, and dwelling are related to our eating together with Him. When people share a meal together, they often converse in a loving, intimate way. This is also true of God’s meeting with us.
Recently it has occurred to me that, according to the Bible, God drinks. I have even been considering the need for a tract entitled “God Drinks.” Exodus 29:40 and 41 mention the drink offering. This drink offering was not for the priests. Rather, it was altogether for God. Thus, because the drink offering was poured out for God, we can rightly say that God drinks. Not only does God eat, but He also drinks! According to Exodus 29, we should not only serve God with food, but we should also give Him something to drink. We need to pour out the drink offering for Him to drink. Eventually, we should serve Him with both food and the wine of the drink offering.
Have you ever imagined that Exodus 28 and 29 reveal the proper way to invite God for dinner? These chapters reveal what we must do to have God meet with us, speak with us, eat with us, and, eventually, dwell among us. This is the goal of the sanctification of Aaron and his sons to be priests.
Suppose a Chinese family is preparing to have an honored guest for dinner. While they are busy cleaning the house, sweeping the yard, and cooking the food, others may ask them what they are doing. Certainly the members of this family would not say that all this preparation is an end in itself. No, the goal of cleaning is not cleaning, and the goal of cooking is not cooking. The reason for all this preparation is that an honored guest is coming. Those in this family may say, “Do you know why we are so busy cleaning, sweeping, and cooking? The reason is that the mayor is coming for dinner tonight.” The goal of all their preparation is to receive such an honored guest.
In like manner, we have a goal in being washed and clothed. Our goal is to receive God for dinner. Why do we need to be sanctified to serve God as priests? We need all the steps of sanctification because God is coming for dinner, and we must be ready to serve Him. Furthermore, we shall eat with Him.
When we have a guest in our home, on the one hand, we serve him, and, on the other hand, we eat with him. First we give the guest the best portion of the food, and then we all enjoy the meal together. We also give the honored guest something to drink. Our goal is that our guest, the Lord Himself, will then open Himself to us, speak freely with us, and then decide to stay with us and dwell with us. Is this not a wonderful exposition of Exodus 28 and 29? If we see this goal, the reason for all the steps in the sanctification of the priests, we shall understand what is revealed in these chapters.
