God's Carny (Numbers Chapter 8)

In Numbers 8, God claims the Levite tribe of Israel to be His own possession, dedicated wholly to Him as helpers in the work of the tabernacle and assistants to Aaron and his sons, the priests. These Levites didn't perform the actual offerings, or sacrifice the bulls, that was the job of the priests. But they did all of the hard work: setting up and taking down the tabernacle, herding animals, crowd control, dumping out the ashes from the incense bowls. We can safely say that a Levite was God's carny.

The analogy isn't stretched that much, they even set up and took down a giant tent in the desert!  If God wanted to have a Tilt O' Whirl or  Zany Zipper, the Levites would have operated the rides.

A carny is usually among the dregs of society, an outcast, somebody with a past more checkered than the Daytona 500, felons definitely encouraged to apply. Genesis 34:25-31 and 49:5-7 are all the resume that the Levites needed for the job position.

But the Levites were not any worse than the other tribes of Israel.  The entire nation of Israel was a bunch of misfits, grumblers, rebels, and whiners (to be blunt).  Randomly point your finger to any verse in Exodus and you're very lucky to not have somebody moaning that the porridge is both too hot and too cold at the same time.  Flip eyes-closed to any passage in the Old Testament and God is probably either about to bring Israel to the woodshed, or Israel is returning from the woodshed, backside smarting.

And before us Gentiles get too smug, sneering down our "holier than thou" noses, it is clear that the Israelites were not worse than the rest of the nations.  All of humanity is in the dregs, bottom of the barrel. We all are cast out from the garden, wanderers in an alien land, orphaned from our Father in Heaven.  Every one of us. Sure, we might not have teeth missing, tats, an original Iron Maiden jeans jacket,  and a mobile home in the Bellis Fair Mall parking lot 2 weeks out of the year.  But which one of us would like the innermost recesses of our minds broadcast 24/7 for the world to hear, or thought bubbles to appear over our heads for the world to see? Not me because sometimes it's uglier than the Bearded Lady.    If not outwardly, then at least in our inner man, all of us are carnies.  It's even appropriate that the apostle Paul urges us to avoid the sins of the flesh.  In the Greek it's the sins of the "sarkikos" the carnal nature.

Romans 7:14 "For I know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin."

Good news is that once we are saved, God justifies us and sanctifies us as we put off the old man, put to death the sins of the flesh,  and put on the new man in the likeness of Jesus.   But it is entirely by God's work and grace in us that we have any hope of renewal.

So for any human being to occupy even a cotton candy stand in the carnival of God's kingdom is a huge score.  Give me a push broom next to the eternal Fun House or Hall O' Mirrors and I'm good.   It's a promotion. Or, as Jesus put it in Matthew 11:11 "I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."  Anybody up for some bumper cars?

Genesis 5-6: The Image of God

In Genesis 5, the Bible says that God created man in the image of God and then Adam had a son in his own likeness.    The genealogy that follows in this text seems to be like an avalanche, started with one small rock rolling down a scree slope.  God created Adam.  Just one soul created, a single solitary stone, barely a pebble.  Then Adam had a son in his likeness, Seth, and the small rock kicked loose another.  And then another, and another. And then a the trickle became a rockfall and then a landslide.  But as sin took hold, the image of God was covered with the ugliness of rebellion.  The repeated refrain in Genesis 5 "and then he died" is a horrible drum beat, a deep bass pounding that carries the heaviness of God's sorrow for the corruption of man's sin. Adam lived 800 years and then he died.  Seth lived 912 years and then he died.  Enosh lived 905 years and then he died.  Kenan lived 910 years and then he died.  Without sin's corruption, the Bible would have read:  Adam lived.  Seth lived.  Enosh lived. Kenan lived.  Period.

God's image has never been erased from people, but thousands of years of ugliness and tarnish obscured what lay below the surface.  Until Jesus.  From Adam to Jesus, thousands of years passed, and millions of souls perished with the image of God marred. Not destroyed but certainly defaced, sometimes beyond recognition.  Until Jesus.  With the Second Adam, the image of God was restored, and in Jesus we see the fullness of the Godhead, we see the Truth, the Light, the Life.  We see love, mercy, grace undiluted.

And with the redemption by Jesus' blood, our sin and stain is washed away, so that the image of God is restored in us.  First in our justification, the one-time forgiveness and cleansing when the Holy Spirit filled us.  And the image of God is being restored in us through our sanctification, the daily and life-long work of God perfecting us, continuing His work in our lives until our death.  And finally, the image of God is ultimately restored with our glorification when we're given a new body, an incorruptible body free of sin and death.   On that day, we will fully reflect the truth of God, we will shine and live in the light, our life will be eternal, and we'll enter completely into the fellowship of His love.

When we read the genealogies, there's an interesting progression.  The first people lived a really long time, almost 1000 years!  But eventually sin took hold, wormed it's way deep into our souls.   But not only our souls got corrupted, but the depths of our genetic makeup. Into the adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine of our DNA (the "seed of man").  And so the lives that once 10 centuries long were rapidly shortened from decay to 1 century (Gen 6:3).   I picture a telescoping downward, so that the life God meant to be eternal, shrank to nearly a point, a tiny span cut short by death.

It's interesting that the blood of Jesus is able to cleanse our souls, but not able to cleanse our bodies.  We're forgiven, but sin has penetrated so deeply into the physical stuff of our bodies, that the only fix is for God to destroy our bodies and give us new ones. Genesis 6:5 captures this:

The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

Even the very stuff of earth has been utterly defiled by sin (Leviticus 18:25, 28).  So that God must burn the earth up, roll the heavens like a scroll, and make a new heavens and earth.  It illustrates the terrible power of sin:

1. The power of sin to corrupt all flesh for all time.  I wonder if sin seeps into the minuscule regions of microscopic space between the atoms of our bodies.  If we could "see" sin and peer into a cell of our thumb with a very high-powered microscope, would it be there, next to a gluon or muon, sneering back?  (Out of necessity, Jesus escaped the contamination of sin by the virgin birth.)
2. The power to corrupt the rest of creation.  Creation groans to be free from the bonds of sin.  The order of animals have been corrupted and made savage.   Just like man must die in order to be fully redeemed, the natural creation must die, be consumed in order to be rid of sin and corruption.

But the power and horrible magnitude of sin, also magnifies the saving power and redemption of Jesus.  By His blood I am made clean.  But not just me, the mounding heap of sin of all people for all time was atoned for by his blood.  Occasionally we hear in the news of atrocities beyond imagination.  Acts that are entirely repulsive and sickening.  But there are thousands of years where such acts have been committed millions of times.  The mass of sin could not begin to be weighed.  Yet Jesus bore it all on the cross.  I think that we'll spend eternity trying to understand the agony Jesus endured on behalf of a fallen world He so loved. 

By this sacrifice, the image of God is restored in us.  By His love beyond compare we are born again in the likeness and image of God.

Adonijah: My Lord is Jehovah (?)

In 1 Kings 1,  King David is weak, a frail old man and on his death bed. His 4th son, Adonijah, decides he wants to be David's successor to the throne, then rallies some of his associates, priests, royal officials, some brothers, soldiers and throws a big party for himself, slaughters cattle, blows trumpets to proclaim himself king (vs 7-11)

Only problem is that he wasn't anointed by priest or prophet to be king, nor chosen by David. Nor, most importantly, by God. Solomon was to be king (vs 30).

The sad irony is that Adonijah's name means "my Lord is Jehovah" but his life does not reflect that. (Adoni= Lord, Jah= Jehovah). Jehovah did not install him as king, it was also huge insult to his father David. Adonijah was running on good looks (vs 6), greed, and political maneuvering, not the Lord's direction.

It's easy to point and stare at Adonijah, like a car wreck on the side of the road.  But how often do I share the shame of Adonijah? Call myself Christian, and Jesus "Lord" but do not do what he says? We need to trust in the Lord's anointing by the Holy Spirit in our lives for our leading.

Vs 41 is really awkward and also pretty funny. Picture it:  Adonijah is having this huge party outside of town, he's probably up on stage belting out Neil Diamond on the Karaoke machine, when he hears a noise in the distance.  It was the party being thrown for Solomon, with an even bigger celebration and more rockin' Karaoke that maybe even had a smoke machine!!!!

Inside the city walls Solomon has ridden the king's donkey, been anointed with oil and is sitting on the throne with trumpets blaring. All signs of royal succession.  Meanwhile, Adonijah was just sitting on a lawn chair at his picnic, oil from the KFC drumstick dripping from his fingers, looking very much like a jackass.

When Johnathan arrived to announce to Adonijah the coronation of Solomon, all of the people in the party "rose in alarm and dispersed" (vs 49). This is like a kegger at the teenager's house whose parents aren't home, then the cops show up and people start climbing out windows, diving through bushes, hiding under the bed!!

The chapter ends with an amazing act of grace by the newly anointed King Solomon, his first recorded act as king. He showed mercy to his brother Adonijah who by all rights and customs should have been killed. I love that! Often the first thing recorded in the Bible is the most important. And here, the one who is utterly humbled, deeply aware of his failing, is brought from the altar of sacrifice to the throne of the King and finds grace when he bows before Solomon.

Doesn't that capture the many times in our lives we've not followed the leading of the Lord?  And then returned with humility and repentance to find abundant grace and mercy.

Giving Generously (Numbers chapter 7)

In Numbers 7 Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, anointed and consecrated all the furnishings, then did the same for the altar and utensils. And then I imagine a pause, when he just finished sprinkling the last drop of blood, lit the last censor of incense... I imagine a moment that possibly lasted a few minutes or hours but certainly felt like an eternity. That pregnant space of time after Moses finally did everything God commanded for the preparation of the tabernacle. Everything. From sacrificing the last goat to hanging goat hide curtains. From meat forks to breast plates. Onyx stones on ephods to acacia wood in the cross bars. He's done. And now he's waiting for God to fill the tabernacle.

For Moses, this must have been a very tense and frenzied preparation. Like the first time your parents come to your house for Thanksgiving dinner. Your Mom is a perfectionist when it comes to the moisture of turkey meat. And Aunt Madge gets really critical if the marshmallows on top of the yam dish are not the right shade of golden brown. You can already see Grand Pappy's bushy eyebrow raised just a tad when he spoons into the green beans that don't have enough crunchy cornflakes sprinkled on top.

Except it's worse for Moses. Because Grand Pappy doesn't kill you with fire from heaven if the mashed potatoes are over salted. Moses thinks again of Nadab and Abihu, his dead nephews.

So there is Moses in the Tabernacle, probably sweat coating his palms as he is making tiny adjustments to the location of the lamp stand, the wash basin, then back to the lamp stand to turn it just a smidgen the other way.

And nothing is happening. Nothing. He's waiting for God to fill the tabernacle with His glory, take His place on the mercy seat. But there are crickets chirping in the background. Silence. Or, even worse than silence, maybe Moses is hearing the grumbling of the thousands of Israelites outside the courts. An occasional "What's taking so long?" rising above the crowd. "Oh for Pete's sake!!!!" (or the Hebrew equivalent to the name Pete).

And now beads of sweat are dripping down Moses' forehead, making a puddle on the goat hair curtain. He's thinking about his nephews again, Nadab and Abihu who God killed for offering "unauthorized incense" in the temple (Leviticus 10). He's worried he didn't do something right perhaps. Moses is starting to get freaked out: was the curtain supposed to have been sea cow hide instead of goat skins? The crowd noise outside is pounding in his head. Where is God????!!!!!

He straightens his breast piece and counts, for the 10th time, to make sure there are still twelve stones on front. Did one of the artisans misspell the name of "Issachar" carved on that stone? Is there one "S" or two in Issachar???

He looks at a thread on his robe to make sure it is of gold, blue, purple and scarlet yarn. He's practically loosing it now because the purple thread looks kinda mauve!!

If Moses wasn't OCD when he started all of this, he definitely is by now.

But God still did not fill the temple. Moses braces himself for the lightning bolt that is surely on the way to make him extra crispy. Waits for the thundering wrath.

Instead Moses heard a different sound outside the tabernacle. So he went out to look and get some fresh air, clear his head.

Outside there are twelve leaders, one from each tribe of Israel. They have six carts and twelve oxen. The carts are heaping to overflowing with offerings brought from their people: silver plates, gold dishes, sacks of grain, flour and oil. There was a huge string of animals, practically receding to a vanishing point into the distance: bulls, rams, goats, oxen, lambs. Each of the twelve tribal leaders had collected a mass of silver and gold from his people then melted it down to make a huge silver plate, silver sprinkling bowl and golden bowl for an offering to the Lord.

I imagine Moses seeing this huge crowd, the twelve leaders proudly standing next to the rich and generous offerings from their people, the grumbling of people replaced with the braying of animals. He must have wept.

And for the next twelve days, the leaders of each tribe presented the offerings of their people and brought them before the altar (vs 10). Gifts of worship to the Lord. This was a vast amount of resources and a genuine sacrifice from the people.

At the end of the twelfth day of offerings, something remarkable happened. Moses went back into the tabernacle, past the outer court, through the holy place, parted the curtain in the Holiest of Holies. And he heard the voice of God speaking to him from the mercy seat on the ark. God arrived!

Only after the 12 leaders of Israel brought their offerings, scarifies, and worshipped at the altar, then God filled the tabernacle. And how much did Moses worship the Lord in that moment!!

There are some great applications here for Christian leaders:

1. Our relationship to God is fruitful only when we add worship to our work. It is not enough to just go through the tasks of ministry. God is so pleased with our offerings of worship, sacrifices of praise and the Holy Spirit speaks to us within the temple of our hearts when we sit at the altar of God in worship, bringing not just words and songs of praise, but also offerings of time, treasure and talent.
   
   Many times and for extended periods in my life I've just been counting threads on my spiritual life, re-arranging the meat fork on the altar, but not worshiping the Lord with all I have. And then I wonder why there are crickets chirping in the background, not the voice of God.
   
   
2. The combined weight of silver brought by the 12 leaders of Israel was 60 pounds. The gold weighed 3 pounds! Just the precious metal alone was worth over $100,000 in 2011 dollars. Add in the value of the food and animals, and the offering was probably equivalent to millions of dollars back in the day.
   
   What is the value of the worship we bring to the Lord? Is it easy and convenient? Or do we return to the Lord with the abundance He has given to us? Too often in my life, the sum total of my worship to Him consisted of one hour on Sunday morning. But not even a full hour because half of that time was a sermon I didn't remember longer than the time it took to reach the coffee service. And not even 1/2 hour because most of the first worship song I missed because I was late. But even during the remaining worship songs I was thinking about what happened the day prior or would happen the next day. And I was also distracted by that guy who was singing too loudly. And the lady's perfume in front of me that was too strong. So maybe there was 6 minutes of worship that week. Sweet.
   
   
3. The leaders of the twelve tribes were responsible for collecting the offerings from the people. Our job as leaders is so much more than getting students to attend a bible study, or retreat, or a big gathering where they get pummeled by a dodge ball (though that's certainly a bonus). But one of our goals as leaders is to see our students come to the place where they are offering themselves as living sacrifices to the Lord (Romans 12:1). And then, after that, the students would desire to join the great commission to make disciples of others who then offer themselves as living sacrifices. May the line of worshipers approaching the altar stretch far into the distance.
   
   
4. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. We no longer need to have goat hair, or anointing oil, or sea cow hides. (Although a sea cow hide jacket would be pretty awesome!) Because Jesus offered his blood and body, one sacrifice alone, then we can approach the throne of grace and presence of God with boldness (Hebrews 4:16). We are now the temple of God (Heb 3:6) and He's not waiting for us to make a fancy box out of acacia wood covered with gold. But sometimes we make worship, ministry and service to God a long list of rules, adopt a legalistic code that kills the grace of God. We need to guard the liberty we have in Jesus carefully so that the gospel does not get replaced with a "to do list". We are asked to love God with all our hearts, soul and strength and love others as ourselves. Period.
   
   
5. Where did the Israelites get such huge wealth for their offerings? After all they were a desert nomadic tribe that just came out of 430 of years of Egyptian slavery. God provided it to them out of His abundant sovereignty. When the Israelites fled Egypt, the Lord predisposed the Egyptians to give the Israelites their treasure on the way out of town (Ex 12:35-36). They were utterly plundered by the Israelites. I picture some sort of Jedi mind trick scene:
   
   Hebrew: [waving his hand Jedi style] You want to give me your awesome 48" LED TV.
   Egyptian: [swirly hypnotizey things in his eyes] I want to give you my awesome 48" LED TV.
   Hebrew: And your sweet iPad 2.
   Egyptian: And my iPad 2.
   
   So the bounty the Israelites brought to God for the tabernacle was from God in the first place. This is like a Dad giving his kid a $20 bill so the kid can buy a father's day gift. How sad would it be if the kid only spent $1 then bought $19 worth of candy for himself?
   
   Everything we have has been given to us from the Lord. Everything. God asks us to be responsible stewards of the blessings placed in our care. And as He's given to us, we give back to Him in love and worship.
   
   A nearly identical scene is repeated for Solomon's Temple in 1 Chronicles 29 - 2 Chron 5:
   
   1) Generous offering stewarded by the leaders of people. 
   2) Release of praise and worship
   3) God filling the temple. 
   
   It is as if we need to generously give our stuff to others, to make a void that will be graciously filled by God.