| CHRISTIAN LIFE AND DOCTRINE | November 1990 |
The Consecration of the Priesthood
“Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.” —Luke 12:37
OUR THEME TEXT reminds us of a wonderful and long looked-for event. Throughout the Gospel Age the saints have awaited the Second Advent of our Lord. His presence, they have been promised by God’s Word, would initiate the harvest of the Gospel Age. It is during this harvest period, ‘the end of the age’ (Matt. 9:39), that the Lord pledged to make known to his people many additional grand and noble aspects of his plan of salvation. When the time of “blessedness” which the Prophet Daniel spoke of (Dan. 12:12) is fulfilled, the church lass will have many aspects of God’s plan revealed to them in purer clarity.
In his plan of the ages, the Lord set aside the Gospel Age for a particular work that is still progressing, although unknown to the vast majority of Christians. His plans and purposes have been made known only to those who have fully put their trust in him—who have made a covenant with him by sacrifice—who love him above all else—who wish to serve him with all that is within their being.
The Apostle Paul said, “Of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.” (I Thess. 5:1) Brethren in Christ are aware of the times and seasons of the plan of God and are informed concerning God’s purpose in designing the long period which we call the Gospel Age. They know what God’s work has been from the time following our Lord’s death and resurrection, until today. It is the time for the selection of the bride of Christ, the little flock, the church class. The dosing features of the Gospel Age are understood today as the Holy Spirit enlightens our minds concerning the prophecies on the subject.
We believe we have been in the harvest period of the Gospel Age for over one hundred years, and still the work of the harvest goes grandly on. The harvest work consists of gathering the Lord’s wheat into the barn, from the four quarters of earth. And today we are discovering, more than ever before in Bible Student history, that we have brethren in many countries. We find them in Romania, Russia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Nigeria, Japan, South America, and other countries, as well as our North American and European brethren, of whom we have long been aware. Many who had been hidden from us behind the Iron Curtain—now that the Curtain has dropped—have become visible to us! We can correspond with them, talk by telephone with them, we can visit them, and fellowship with them!
We must know the times and seasons in our Father’s plan to prepare ourselves for whatever work takes place at that particular time. Here is a simple illustration of the fact that every work has its proper tenure: If you were driving along a road adjoining a farm and saw a man in the spring of the year with a corn picker and a combine out in his field, what would you think of his knowledge of farming? You might even question the man’s sanity! The springtime is no time to gather in corn or combine wheat or other grain—it must be planted in the spring before it can be harvested. Suppose in the autumn—the latter part of October—you saw a man out with his plow planting corn or soy beans. Something would be seriously wrong! The farmer obviously has his seasons reversed!
How well this illustrates the importance of understanding the time features of the Lord’s work. Many claim to be laboring with the Lord in his vineyard, but since they are unaware that we are living in the harvest of the age, they cannot assist in the harvest work which is in progress. How true are the words, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” (Ps. 127:1) Those whose eyes are open to understand the times and seasons are blessed indeed, and are able to intelligently serve the Lord. “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear.”—Matt. 13:16.
The purpose of the Gospel Age is the call and development of the saints. It is not the time for the conversion of the world to Christ. At this time only a little flock is being selected and trained for the vital occupation, together with Christ, of inaugurating his kingdom work here upon earth for the blessing of all those for whom Jesus died. The Gospel Age is also the time when the sin atonement is completed for the lost world, under condemnation through father Adam. When justice is fully satisfied by the atonement work—when the last member of the body of Christ passes beyond the veil—then the blessings which have been foretold by all the prophets (Acts 3:21) will begin to flow to the world in abundance.
Until the harvest of this age the Lord has well hidden various features of his plan. Prophetic words, dark sayings, types and shadows, symbolic features, allegories, have all been made manifest to the saints during Christ’s Second Advent. The Lord has come, he has girded himself, and made us sit down to eat abundantly, and has served us meat in due season.—Luke 12:42
In Leviticus, chapter eight, we find a picture of the Gospel Age work, in type. It is an account of the consecration ceremony established by God for the typical priesthood of Israel: “The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread; and gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him; and the assembly was gathered unto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done.”—vss. 1-5
“And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith. And he put the breastplate upon him: also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim. And he put the mitre upon his head; also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront did he put the golden plate, the holy crown; as the Lord commanded Moses. And Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the Tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them. And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them.”—vss. 6-11
These were the Lord’s instructions for conducting the consecration ceremony for Aaron and his sons, to anoint them for the work of the priesthood. (Exod. 28) And we realize that the clothes described that Aaron wore at this time were the garments of glory and beauty. (vs. 40) Thereafter the priests took care of the religious services for the people of Israel, enabling them to maintain their standing before God.
Before the consecration service could begin, those who would serve were first selected. God indicated to Moses that he had chosen Aaron and his sons as the first priests to carry out the religious services of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
Moses gathered the entire congregation of Israel together to watch the scene. Aaron wore the glorious robes, but first Moses washed Aaron. He must be cleansed with water before being robed with the special garments of the High Priest. Finally, the gold mitre was placed upon his forehead. Then Moses took the holy anointing oil and, seemingly disregarding Aaron and his sons, he began to anoint the Tabernacle and its furniture. When that was finished, then Moses approached Aaron to anoint him with the holy oil. What does this picture teach us? Here was Aaron, the high priest, in his consecration robes waiting to be anointed, while Moses went about sprinkling all the articles of the Tabernacle!
In the 16th chapter of Leviticus—another beautiful picture of the sin-offering—Aaron first wore his sacrificial robes. These were the linen breeches and linen coat. Only at the conclusion of the atonement work did he then put on the robes of glory and beauty. This type specifically shows that the priesthood does not assume its glorious robes of office until the sacrificial work of the Gospel Age is complete. In the antitype, the church will then have been resurrected to be with Jesus, when together they will begin to bless the world of mankind. This can take place only because the atonement work is finished.
However, in the consecration of the priesthood (chapter 8), an opposite picture is given. Aaron was clothed in the glorious garments at the very beginning of the scene. Ah, there must be a reason for this. In this typical situation, as Aaron stood there robed from head to toe in the special garments, he represented our great High Priest—Jesus Christ. In the antitype, Jesus was already arrayed in his garments of glory and beauty, anointed of God, authorized by God, selected by God—for the grand work of the Millennial Age, even before he offered up his sacrifice. What a beautiful picture!
In this way God shows that the purpose for which the antitypical royal priesthood has been anointed is to carry out the Abrahamic Covenant—“In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 12:3) This is the end God has in view—it illustrates the ‘glory feature’ when the antitypical priesthood will reign in Christ’s kingdom. So Aaron is dressed in the glory robes right from the beginning. In this way God gave us a preview of what is promised to us even before we began to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, laying down our lives in sacrifice. Our Heavenly Father lovingly gives us these illustrations. When he invites us to work with him, he reveals the purpose of the work. He does not call us to a life of sacrifice without informing us why the sacrifice is necessary, or to what end it will eventually lead.
No, the husbandman that labors must be a first partaker of the fruit. We are even given a foretaste of the fruit before we are invited to the labor. This serves as a stimulus, an energizing principle, that lifts our hearts, giving us courage to walk the narrow way. God gives us a prophetic glimpse of the completed work of the priesthood in glory and honor, bestowing blessings upon the world. Then those invited ones can enter the work with joy and with zeal, and with determination to fulfill their part in God’s plan.
Let us return for a moment to our previous allusion to how Moses ‘ignored’ Aaron during the ceremony of the consecration of the priesthood until after he had sprinkled the Tabernacle and its furniture, when finally he poured the remaining oil upon Aaron’s head. Why did Moses follow this sequence? We believe it is because God wished to indicate that even from the initial planning stages—eons of time in the past—he knew exactly how his plan would develop. The satisfactory sin offering made by our great High Priest, and all the priesthood, had been in his mind long before the typical actors came upon the stage of history, and still longer before the time came for the ones pictured—Christ and his church—to come upon the scene. Thus, while Aaron and his sons stood there (those who would fulfill the typical atonement work) they watched Moses sprinkle the Tabernacle and all the furniture.
Who did Moses represent in this picture? He represents God, himself. As strange as it may seem, Moses is the chief actor in Leviticus 8. Aaron and his sons merely obeyed his orders. They do hardly anything at all in this picture. They put their robes on, but Moses did all the work. They do have a small part as we shall see, but Moses is the busy character. He washes the priests, and handles the blood, and takes care of the animals. This is a good illustration of how God does most of the work in the consecration of the antitypical priesthood. We are invited to submit to his leading and his will. But only as we cooperate with him in the carrying out of his grand design do we receive the full blessing. It is God that does the calling; it is God that justifies; it is God that sanctifies; it is God that pours out his Spirit. He begets, he directs, he blesses, he supplies all our needs.
All this work is done through our head, Christ Jesus. But it is God who is doing the work. “It is God which worketh in you,” Paul said, “to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13) “He poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.” (Lev. 8:12) As Moses poured the holy anointing oil upon the head of Aaron it eventually ran down over his garments, onto the rest of his body.
Notice, however that it was his head which was anointed. Again, in this small action God teaches a wonderful lesson: It was Jesus, our ‘head’, who was anointed with the Holy Spirit as he rose from the Jordan River. He went to John the Baptist as soon as he became thirty years of age to be baptized. We, as body members, do not receive our anointing as individuals. We only receive our anointing as we come in under our head. As the holy anointing oil, poured upon our Master, runs down to touch the fellow-members of his body, they come in under this anointing arrangement. Here again the Lord shows us that our acceptance by him is only as we are in Christ—a member of his body. How beautifully this was signified in the enactment on this memorable day many millennia ago!
In this arrangement we are pictured by the sons of Aaron. “Moses brought Aaron’s sons, and put coats upon them, and girded them with girdles, and put bonnets upon them; as the Lord commanded Moses.” (Lev. 8:13) We see that Aaron’s sons also had their robes on, and they took their position with Aaron. But their robes were different from his robe. They had on the sacrificial garments. They were in position before Moses—Aaron and his sons ready for the remainder of the drama to begin. This was very significant antitypically.
Moses brought the bullock for the sin offering into the Court. Notice that Moses is still the central actor here. “Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering.” (Lev. 8:14) Moses slew the animal, but before this, Aaron and his sons had placed their hands upon the bullock’s head, indicating by this act that it, in fact, represented them. It pictured that what happened to the animal—it was slain and laid upon the altar of sacrifice to be burned—represented their humanity being sacrificed as a sin offering for the camp of Israel.
“Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about … and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation. And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar.” (Lev. 8:15,16) Certain choice portions of this bullock were burned on the Brazen Altar in the Court—the inwards, the life producing organs. Then the main portion of the body, “his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp as the Lord commanded Moses.”—vs. 17
With the introduction of this first animal sacrifice, we see a wonderful lesson portrayed to us. God is here showing us in type what happens to the humanity of the Christ as it is sacrificed as a sin offering for the world. The body of the bullock was burned “without the camp.” This is a picture of Christ’s suffering and death when he left his heavenly home and came to earth as a sin-offering for mankind. Paul says he “suffered without the gate” (Heb. 13:12), and he adds, “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.”—vs. 13
The stench which arose from the body of the bullock burning outside the camp to offend the nostrils of the people nearby, was another clear picture. It symbolically pointed forward to the sacrifice of the humanity of the Christ as the world views it. Oh, it is such a waste of time! It is a stench in their nostrils. They see nothing beautiful nor useful in it. It is not appreciated by the world to any degree.
Was Jesus appreciated when he walked the three-and one-half years of his ministry, which led to the cross? Was he appreciated by the world? No, he was considered an outsider and an upstart by the religious community and the Jewish rulers. Those who sat in Moses’ seat, who should have been the ones prepared to accept him and recognize the Messiah, were the ones who disassociated themselves from him. His ministry made their lack more apparent. He did not favor their position as the leaders of Israel, but instead told his followers to do as they said, but not to do as they did. Eventually, hated and hunted by the religious leaders, he was crucified through their evil efforts.
Can the body members of Christ expect better treatment at the hands of the world, particularly the religious community? No, “If the world hated me,” Jesus said, “they will hate you too—the servant is not above his master.” We should expect similar treatment—a ‘burning without the camp’ where we go to ‘meet him’—a stench in their nostrils. We should rejoice that we have the privilege of being counted worthy of such an honor!
The inwards, or vital portions of the bullock, were burned in the Court on the Brazen Altar. This was a sweet smelling savor to the Lord. Only those who are pictured as being in the Court—the believers or justified ones—could appreciate the sacrifice of the Christ during this Gospel Age. To some degree we who believe in Christ can appreciate his sacrifice now. Sometime in the future we will appreciate it to its fullest extent!
Leviticus continues, “He brought the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.” (Lev. 8:18) Again, the same procedure is followed as with the bullock. Then Moses killed this animal and “sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about, and he cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat. And he washed the inwards and the legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses.”—vss. 19-21
In the Tabernacle pictures, burnt offerings indicated God’s acceptance of the sacrifice of the animal which preceded it. Thus because the ram was burned, it signified that the offering of the bullock had been accepted. The ram was cut in pieces, and the inwards and the legs were washed. It is significant that the head did not need the washing—the head, representing Jesus, who did not require special cleansing. But the body members—representing the church class—need to be washed.
Then everything was placed together upon the altar. The whole animal was again joined, but now in pieces. Because it was acceptable to the Lord as a burnt offering, it was a sweet smell unto him. This showed how God manifested his acceptance of the great sin atonement work of the Christ, head and body. First those within the Court appreciate Christ’s offering to God and its acceptance by him. Later, in the Millennial Age, the world of mankind will also learn to appreciate Christ’s suffering and death on their behalf.
After this, Moses brought into the Court another animal which was called the ram of consecration. “Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram,” teaching the same lesson as before—that it pictured them. Again, Moses slew the animal. Notice that it is still Moses—picturing God—who does the sacrificing. After the ram has been offered, Moses took its blood and “put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.”—vss 22,23
Here a completely different procedure is followed in the use of the blood of the third animal. Moses placed a few drops of it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot. Then he did exactly the same to Aaron’s sons. After that, Moses sprinkled the remainder of the blood upon the altar round about. What lesson could this be meant to teach?
First to be sprinkled with the blood was the High Priest, which teaches the preeminence of Jesus over the under-priests, the church class. This blood was put first upon the right ear, and then the thumb of the right hand, and then the great toe of the right foot. This is a beautiful illustration of what the consecration of the priesthood means to each individual member of the Christ—first to Jesus and then to his body, as represented in Aaron and his sons.
Oh, what a beautiful picture! The blood was placed upon the ear of the High Priest. This was an expression of the fact that Jesus’ hearing would be always attuned to his Father’s commandments, and his Father’s Word and will. He said to his followers, “The Word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” And again, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” “I and my Father,” he also said, “are one.”—John 14:24; John 10:30; John 5:19
He was so in tune with the Father’s plan and purposes and will that he was absorbed, not only in the hearing, but also in doing God’s will. This is shown in the blood being put upon the thumb of the right hand—the hand being an active instrument of the human body. And then the blood was placed upon his right large toe—his feet were also willing servants to do the Word and will of his Father, as quickly as his ear heard it.
How often the prophets speak of Jesus’ obedience to his Father’s commandments, even unto death. God manifested his pleasure in Jesus again and again, during his sojourn on earth. “This is my beloved Son,” he once said, “in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17) Then again, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye him.” ( Matt. 17:5) On another occasion when Jesus asked his Father that his life of sacrifice might glorify the name of his Father, we read, “Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” (John 12:28,28) Those who were in the vicinity thought they heard thunder.
To them it was thunder, but the one whose ears were meant to hear the words knew that it was the voice of God giving him encouragement. How wonderfully God speaks, so that only the ears of the ones who have been anointed can hear the message of truth. Others nearby just hear some thunder! How wonderfully God works with his people! When God speaks to us, we hear his message. And we are glad to cooperate with him in sending out the glad tidings to all others whose ears will hear. The beauty of the plan of God for the salvation of mankind as we try to express it with our stammering tongues and quivering lips, is—to the ear untouched by the blood—just confusion, and trouble, and the noise of thunder.
“And he took the fat, and the rump, and all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right shoulder and out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the Lord, he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat, and upon the right shoulder: and he put all upon Aaron’s hands, and upon his sons’ hands.” (Exod. 29:22-24) To paraphrase Moses’ words, we would say, “Now Aaron, you and your sons come together here, I want your hands in one place. Together you all must hold this shoulder with these various types of cakes on it, and then I want you to wave it before the Lord.” Aaron and his sons obeyed. Moses gave the instruction and they began to wave the portion of the ram’s body with the wafers, before the Lord, and the congregation was gathered together to celebrate the occasion.—Lev. 8:1-5
“Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering: they were consecrations for a sweet savour it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord.” (Exod. 29:25) It was Moses who placed the offering on their hands and while they waved it was Moses that determined when the waving was complete and it was Moses who then took this offering out of their hands and burned it upon the altar for a sweet savour to the Lord. What does this picture to us? Well, this dramatic scene shows again that it is God who places our sacrifice into our hands and he expects us to wave it before him, and not lay it down, until he says “enough, well done, I’ll take it from your hands.” It is God who invites; it is God who determines when we begin and when we complete the sacrifice.
No doubt Aaron and his sons’ arms became weary holding the parts of the animal and the cakes, and from waving it before the Lord. However, they had to continue to wave it until Moses released the burden from their hands. Perhaps we experience, as did the antitypical priesthood, similar hardships—our sacrifices will cause us to become tired and weary. Perhaps we sometimes inwardly long for deliverance from our burdens. But the Lord is pleased to watch and wait, just as Moses watched and waited. Until a certain time arrived when Moses determined that a sufficiency of waving had been accomplished, and removed the burdens.
“Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before the Lord.” (Lev. 8:29) It was Moses’ part in the wave offering of the consecration ceremony. (Exod 29:26) Here is an additional feature of the picture that arouses our curiosity. As a final feature of the consecration ceremony Moses took the breast of the ram of consecration and waved it before the Lord and then burned it. What lesson can we see in this? Perhaps since Moses represents Jehovah, our Heavenly Father, and it was he who had invited us to bind ourselves to him in fulfillment of our consecration—a covenant by sacrifice—he in turn binds himself to us with all his promises, that he will help us to fulfill our obligations to him.
Oh, how this strengthens our hope of completing our vow successfully, does it not? Not only do we have all the exceeding great and precious promises that he has given to us to lift us up! We have this hope as an anchor that reaches within the veil to give us assurance that with his strength we can carry out our commitment to God. Not only did he give us promises but he gave his covenant and then he added his oath! God’s word alone is sufficient, but in addition to all this God gave his oath. Since he could not swear by anyone greater, he swore by himself, that he would fulfill his covenant. Paul tells us, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called.”—Rom. 9:7
The Lord saw that we needed all these assurances—covenants, promises, and even his oath. When God predestinated the formation of his royal priesthood he also foreknew the type of material from which they would be formed—the “dust” of the earth. (Ps. 103:14) His plan was to ask men and women, weakened by sin throughout the centuries, to follow in the footsteps of his Son during the Gospel Age. They would need all the assurances he could give them! Do you think God gave one promise more than was necessary? No, he gives only as many as he knows we need.
Jesus put it this way in one place, “Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Matt. 19:24) The world is so attractive to us as natural men and women, that it takes all the help God has provided to encourage us to mortify, to deaden, the desires of the flesh so that the desires of the Spirit may become energized. How can we completely mortify or deaden the desires of our flesh? We can ‘will’ aright, but we cannot ‘do’ aright. We feel like the Apostle Paul, when he said, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” “For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”—Rom. 7:24,15
Yes, the Lord knows that we cannot actually or perfectly fulfill this covenant we have made by sacrifice. He has ordained an arrangement whereby the will and the intent of the New Creature is reckoned as perfect, because Jesus died to pay for our sins. Therefore, God attributes perfection to those who are New Creatures in Christ Jesus. What wonderful grace God gives through this arrangement on our behalf, we who are but creatures of the dust. The Lord tells us that if we continue to set our affections upon things above, and not on things of the earth, he will count the will for the deed!
We can clearly see the need for the sin offering. A mass of sin engulfs the whole world. It has led them captive and has bound them with chains of slavery from which they could never break forth and become free. It is impossible for man to deliver himself from the sin which works in him, the motions of which are in his heart, and mind, and flesh, and which eventuate in death. But God, in his great love, is preparing the agency that will completely destroy all sin during the thousand years of the kingdom. All the effects of Adamic sin will be destroyed. Christ shall reign until he has put down all enemies of God under his feet, “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is [Adamic] death.”—I Cor. 15:25,26
Yes, the Christ, will be in a position to free the world from the slavery of sin and death, and eventually will lead them into the condition which Paul describes as “the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:21) Then, when the kingdom is delivered up to God at the conclusion of the reign of the antitypical priesthood, God will eventually be all and in all.—I Cor. 15:24-26
What a wonderful plan the Father has revealed in measure to us! He has made us drink of it, feed upon it, joy in it, so that it absorbs our time and our attention and our energy. How can we show him in some small way how much we love him, his ways, his character, and his Son? By our little sacrifices from day to day—pictured in the consecration ceremony—by the blood being put on the sons of Aaron’s ears, and their thumbs, and their large right toes. Just as his consecration affected Jesus, so it must affect us. We must keep the hearing of our ears constantly attuned to the Word of the Lord, and follow through with the actions of our lives.
Jesus made two statements that encompass the entire realm of ‘hearing’ which are necessary for the New Creature. He said, “Take heed what you hear” (Mark 4:24; Luke 8:18), and “Take heed how you hear? When we are given the privilege of seeking to carry out our consecration, let us remember to allow the strength of our right hands, and our right feet to do his bidding. These efforts will be acceptable to God because we are following the Lord’s directions which we have heard with our ears! God appreciates our feeble efforts to have our feet run swiftly in his ways. In the descriptions, both in the Old and the New Testaments, of the lives of God’s people, there is always attached to them the idea of motion. Faithful followers of Jesus are either running, or walking, or working—they are striving, they are sacrificing. They are always in motion, there is always activity—hands are working; and feet are running—because the ears are attuned to the message of God. They hear and they want to obey.—Ps. 1:1
Those of us who appreciate the types and shadows of the Tabernacle which God carefully designed and preserved for us, should reflect upon their lessons. This meditation will bring us much joy and pleasure, strength and hope. We know and love God’s Word, yet it is important to refresh it in our minds—it is so easy for us to forget. These truths leak out, and unless we keep filling the vessel, the leaking out could overtake the filling—and soon we could be empty.