Practicing God’s Presence
Series: Biblical Guide to Wilderness Survival
Sept. 4, 2011
Read Numbers 3:1-20
You know, most people don’t have jobs that can mean life or death if you make a simple mistake. If you’re a teacher or work on a computer, you might get mixed up on a student’s name, or enter a wrong number…but nobodies going to die! Yet, there are some people who have jobs that are dangerous. You might have one! Where everyday, you lit. take your life (or somebody else’s life in your hands…i.e. airline pilots, air traffic controllers, surgeons and parachute packers!) In fact, I did a little research this week and found what I’m calling…the
“Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs & Causes of Death”…
10. Alaskan Crab fisherman –Drowning
9. New York Taxi Cab Driver -Homicide
8. Ice road trucker – Hypothermia & drowning
7. Chinese coal miner – Suffocation, last year
2,631 died in Chinese mines — 7 people a day!
6. Bomb disposal expert – do you have to ask?
5. Tower Dog (tower climbers – Falling
According to O.S.H.A Tower Climbers have more
fatalities per 100,000 workers, than any other job in
the U.S.
4. HV Cable Inspector –electrocution (show video)
3. Afgan Police force - Homocide
2. Kadafi’s body guard –Homocide
And the number #1 most dangerous job…
1. O.T. Levitical Priest – Cause of death? Vaporization!
As we get to Numbers chap.3 &4 this morning, we’re going to see that the ministry and job of the priests was lit. “do or die”! If they didn’t do their job exactly as God told them…it was a one way trip to the morgue. Now lest you think that their job is ancient history, I’m here to inform you this morning that God hasn’t changed, and that we STILL need someone to perform that “do or die” ministry on our behalf! This morning as we skim over these two chapters about the Levitical priests, I want you to see exactly what their job was, who does that job for us today, and what that means.
Vs. 1 starts out with these words…”These are the generations of Aaron and Moses” –Num.3:1. That’s an important transitional sentence, because it’s introducing us to focus on a new group of people. The last two weeks we’ve been focusing on the tribes of Israel, but now we’re going to turn our center of attention on the descendents of Aaron and Moses. They were to become the Levite Tribe, and were given the job of caring for the tabernacle (that tent of Meeting, where God dwelled in the middle of the camp).
According to vs.12-15…All of the little Levite boys were to be counted, and from one month old, they belonged to God! As a Levite, they had two tasks… 1. Guard duty around the tabernacle. That’s what chapter 3 is all about. Remember the square formation of the Israelite camp around the tabernacle from last week? Well, one thing I didn’t mention was that on the inner part of that square, the Levites were to camp, between the tabernacle and the people, to keep the ordinary Israelites at a safe distance away. Because if you accidently came to close to the Tent of Meeting, it was certain death. We’ll talk more about that in a minute.
The 2nd job of the Levites was to carry and care for all the parts of the tabernacle when they were on the march. That’s what chapter 4 talks about… moving the sacred objects of the tabernacle from one camp to the next. For example, the clan of Kohath, camped on the south side of the tabernacle, and their job was to carry the most sacred and important objects…like the ark of the covenant, (the box that contained the two stone tablets with the 10 commandments). Chap.4 vs.4-20 goes into intimate detail about just exactly how that needed be done. For example, they weren’t even allowed to LOOK at any of the holy objects…they had to cover it immediately.
The rest of the chapter goes into detail about the other Levite clans and what part of the tabernacle they were to carry and care for. The Gershonites were to carry and care for the ‘soft parts’ of the Tabernacle like the curtains inside, and the Merarites job was to carry and care for the heavy cumbersome pieces like the bars, pillars, poles and furniture of the tent.
You say, “Well, why is all of this detail and attention given to the Tabernacle? And why does it take so many to do it? (Chap.4:48, tells us that “all the men from 30-50 years of age who came to do the work of serving and carrying the Tent of Meeting numbered 8,580”! 8500 to do this job? Wow! Let me tell you why all the detail and labor…It has to do with what the bible is revealing about WHO our God is! See, our God is both TRANSCENDENT and IMMANENT at the same time. (catch that? Look in notes). To be “transcendent” means that God is so far beyond us, so far above us, so much more intelligent and holy than we are… so superior in quality and achievement than us…that we don’t have a snowballs chance in “H.E.- double toothpicks”, of ever knowing Him! He so far exceeds the limits of our experience…that He’s unknowable. On the otherhand, God is also IMMANENT… in otherwords He’s like us, He’s close to us, we can know Him personally!
Now get this…every other culture or religion worships a god who is either transcendent (distant and uninvolved) or immanent (present with us). But never both.
For example, in Islam “Allah” is transcendent…He’s supposedly high and holy, but you’re not going to catch him playing ball with the guys! On the otherhand, Norse gods like “Thor” were totally immanent…almost too immanent! They were just like us…feasting and fighting, marrying and committing adultery…if it wasn’t for their superpowers…you wouldn’t even know they were a god!
But the God of the bible isn’t one or the other…He’s both! He’s completely transcendent and at the same time completely immanent. According to Isa.57:15, He says that “He lives in a high and holy place (trans)…but at the same time, “He is contrite and lowly in spirit” (immanent). Isa. 55:8-9 tells us that, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts…That vs. is telling us that God is sooo far beyond us, that we can’t understand why He does what He does. Yet so many people judge Him! Crazy! We would have to know more than He does to judge Him! Arrogant! Yet… at the same time, the same God whose ways and thoughts are far above ours…tells us that He created us in His image!
We see these two characteristics of God in Numbers 3 & 4. He set up His tent in the midst of the camp…with the people…He was close to them…dwelling in their midst…but at the same time his tent is surrounded with mystery and danger. Ordinary people couldn’t approach it. The Levites could…but they better do it according to God’s instructions…or they were toast!
So now we come to the meat of the matter…What is your view of God? And is it correct? It’s very important how you view God, because it makes the difference in the way you approach Him. Do you have a ‘transcendent’ view? An immanent view? Or…do you have a balance of both? If you’re going to really understand who He is, you’re going to need to have a balanced view of God. In fact, I find that very few people have a balanced view of God! It’s either one or the other. A lot of it has to do with the way your were raised or taught. For example…if you were raised in a more liturgical background like Catholicism, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Lutheran… you see God as more distant and hard to approach and know. Many Catholics approach Him in a foreign language, with a lot of mystery and rules and regulations, pomp and circumstance. The thought of knowing God personally and intimately is a very difficult concept for you to wrap your brain around.
Now, just as dangerous is a completely immanent idea of God. It’s the idea that God is my buddy. My co-pilot. That we can approach Him anytime or anywhere whether we’re holy or not. When we pray, we kinda waltz into His tent and say, “Hey God! How ya doin’ today? Yo, Big Daddy in the sky! What do you have for me today?” Call me a ‘fuddy-duddy’ if you want, but that bothers me! God tells us to in Psalm 100:4 to,“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; …Even the Lords Prayer (that Jesus taught) shows us that we need to come into His presence with a sense of awe and reverence…
”Our Father who is in heaven…HOLY is your name!” Do you do that? If not, then you need a dose of God’s reality…because He’s so holy if you were to see Him as He is…you’d vaporize! In fact, that’s why the bible says that “no man can look Him full in the face and live!”
Take Aarons oldest 2 sons for instance…
In vs.2-4, we learn about 2 of Aaron’s sons (Aaron was the brother of Moses)…He and his sons were appointed to be priests, but his boys did it wrong and paid the ultimate price! Let’s read about it… READ Numbers 3:2-4. Apparently instead of using ‘kosher’ coals from the altar to burn their incense, these guys used coals from an unauthorized source. As a result (according to Lev.10:2) fire came out from God’s presence and burned them to a crisp! You say, “Wow! That’s pretty drastic measures! Knee jerk reaction God! Yea, but drastic situations require drastic actions…(Story of logger who cut off toes. Insurance adjuster…”Why did you call an ambulance? Should have called a “TOE” Truck! HA! )
That would be funny if it wasn’t such a serious situation. Drastic situations require drastic actions. Because we don’t truly understand how powerful and how HOLY God is today, we don’t understand how offensive and blasphemous our sin is in His presence. What we may think is a “little, tiny” transgression is magnified a 100 million times in God’s presence!
As a result, we don’t realize what kind of danger we’re in! We’re in danger of losing our eternal life! Jesus told us that sin (in any form) is so serious that it would be better for a man to plucked out his lustful eye or cut off stealing hand than to go into eternity with sin in our lives. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Mt.5:28-30. The moral of the story? Serving a holy God in the wrong way is hazardous to your health! Aarons younger sons learned from their older brothers mistakes, and lived long lives. Air Force pilots have a saying, “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots”. The same is true with O.T. priests…there were no “old, bold” priests!
The threat of death from God’s holiness, is a clear and present danger, and so Numbers 3 & 4 are warning us not to take Him too lightly! Even moving the objects associated with God was serious business. I remember watching after the Japanese Tsunami, how carefully and methodically they moved around those nuclear reactors. Every move was calculated and scripted…why? Because if the radiation was to ever breach it’s container…they were dead men. The Levites approached their job with the same seriousness… moving the Tent of Meeting from one place to another in the desert was like transporting a nuclear reactor around…only worse! One slip, one wrong move like Aarons sons…and it was over!
Do you take God too lightly? I think I do sometimes! See, the tradgedy of Nadab and Abihu’s deaths were that they were preventable! They were warned! See, God’s not some kind of “Cosmic Kadafi”, lashing out unpredictably and eliminating innocent bystanders! NO!... He gives very clear and understandable instructions…so that we know exactly how to act and what to do. The purpose of all these detailed instructions is given to us in Num.4:19…”so that they may live and NOT die, when they come near the most holy things”. The reason God goes through all this detail is so that He could dwell with them, without destroying them! He wanted to be a blessing to them, not a danger.
What we need to understand in our age is that God hasn’t changed in His commitment to holiness. I don’t think we realize that today. If anything, I think we error on the side of God’s immanence in our culture today. We don’t realize what we’re dealing with here! We take sin for granted and really don’t deal with it as seriously as we should. We’re like 3 year olds being sent in to run a nuclear power plant! How well is that going to turn out Randy? Randy worked for years as a nuclear plant inspector…He’ll be the first to tell you, how dangerous that stuff is if handled incorrectly, but what an incredible blessing it is when it’s handled right!
God has given us detailed instructions in His Word, telling us how we should live. And they’re not just suggestions…they’re commands! And our lives depend on us obeying them. I remember when we were raising our kids…taught them to obey our voice. (explain, Matt. and run into street with car coming). Their little lives may lit. depend on immediate obedience! So God gives commands to save our lives…some are NO!...others are “Yes”…
• Don’t commit adultery or murder
• Do honor your father and mother
• Don’t take advantage of the poor and helpless
• DO speak the truth in love
God gives us instructions for the same reason any good father or mother does…so they can enjoy a good life!
See, one of the reasons we sometimes disobey or reject God’s laws is because we’ve forgotten that’s he’s transcendent and all powerful. Just like our teens sometimes… at a certain age, they don’t believe that their parents are smarter or stronger than they are anymore. At 5 you think your parents know everything, at 15 you’re surprised that they know anything at all! When you’re 30 you’re amazed at how much they’ve learned in just a couple years! Like Mark Twain said, “When I was a boy of 17, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around! But when I turned 21, I was astounded at how much the old man had learned in 4 years!” So you start asking for their advise again. In the same way, when you really understand how wise and holy God is…you begin to love and obey His law.
At the same time you have to remember that God is not only transcendent…but He’s immanent. That’s another reason teens don’t obey their parents. They think they’re out of touch…”You just don’t understand!” If you think God is TOO high, too holy, too out of touch…then you’re going to say to yourself, “God doesn’t understand what I’m going through…why should I go to Him?” But because God is with us…He knows what we’re going through and the struggles we’re having.
But we’ve still got a problem…because God is holy and I’m not…if I mess up…it’s still instant death! How many of you know I’m going to mess up? How many of you are going to mess up? That’s why Gal.3:10 says, “For all who rely on the works of the law…are under a curse…”. The fact is…none of us can be perfect, but yet perfection is the standard! See, God doesn’t grade on a curve! All it takes is one sin, one slip, one infraction of the law…and zzzzzzip! God didn’t say, “You know the last 99 times you packed up my furniture you didn’t sneak a peek at the holy things…so I’ll let you off the hook this time.” Nope…one single glance in the wrong direction and it was curtains! In fact, it’s surprising that any of the Levites or Israelites survived!”
Today, nothing has changed…God doesn’t grade us on a curve. “Well, at least I’m not as bad as THAT guy! That’s comparative holiness…but God demands perfect holiness. Any imperfection in God’s presence is enough to condemn us to an eternal hell. So what are we going to do? Nothing! Because we can’t do a thing about it. The answer is found in the fusion of transcendence and immanence. Jesus is that fusion! In Jesus, the high and holy God took on a body of flesh just like us, and lived with us! Jesus, the transcendent, holy God, took into himself the death that we deserved for our sins. Christ died so that we could approach the one and only Holy God. Not because we’re so righteous and holy, but because He is! Jesus came to live the life of perfect holiness that we could never live! He died the death our sins deserved so that we can come into the presence of a perfect, holy God and know Him without dying!
On the otherhand, if God took his holiness so seriously in the O.T. that He killed those who took it lightly…we can’t take obeying Him lightly either! According to I Peter 2:9, we are called to be a “royal priesthood, a holy nation in his service.” That means that every single one of us needs to take our duty to serve God as seriously as the Levites took it in Numbers! In fact, I think it’s a privilege to take up His cross and carry His message wherever I go!
