Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for revealing himself in his Word and ask him for understanding.
Read
Scripture Passage
Numbers 18:1-7
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
God assigned Aaron and his sons responsibility for the sanctuary and priesthood, gave the Levites to assist with the tabernacle, and reserved priestly service at the altar and behind the veil for Aaron's household. These offices were gifts carrying serious duties and boundaries.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Numbers 18:7
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
The transcript contains no explicit Best Verse choice. Verse 7 best captures the passage's focus by describing the priesthood as God's gift for service while maintaining the boundary around that holy office.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Receive Jesus as the heavenly high priest who offered himself as the sacrifice, and respond to that gift by living as part of his holy people in worship, prayer, and praise.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every weekday morning you and I, we have a little, whoa, hold on here, hold on here. We have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. Hold on. And this year, 2024, you know what books we're going through? Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Hebrews. All right, apparently she wants some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's word.
Just a sip, just a sip. Okay, that's good. You took three sips. Alright, I'm gonna have some coffee. Don't give me a lot. Oh, don't worry. I am not giving you a lot. Let's pray. God, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for your word. You are a good God. And we thank you that you have revealed yourself to us in your word. Please help us to understand in Jesus's name. Amen. All right. So we are at Numbers chapter 18. Numbers chapter 18, and we have the first eight verses. You ready? Oh, tired, tired. Here we go. Nope, no coffee. Then the Lord said to Moses, you and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear the iniquity related to the sanctuary. And you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity associated with your priesthood. You hear what that says? Right.
If there's stuff wrong with the sanctuary or the priesthood, whose fault is it? Aaron and his sons, do you know what their job was? They were the priests. Yeah, so if the priests don't take care of the sanctuary, who's fault is it? The priests and his sons. If they don't take care of the sacrifices and stuff, whose fault is it going to be? The priests and his sons, that's right.
Also bring with you your brethren of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you while you and your sons are with you before the tabernacle of witness. They shall attend to your needs and all the needs of the tabernacle, but they shall not come near the articles of the sanctuary. and the altar, lest they die, they and you also." So if the Levites came near and they started acting like priests, what was going to happen? They would die, but who would also die? Not God. God cannot die. The priests would die, too, because they didn't do their job guarding and protecting.
They shall be joined with you and attend to the needs of the Tabernacle of Meeting. For all the work of the Tabernacle But an outsider shall not come near you, and you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, that they may be no more wrath on the children of Israel. Behold, I myself have taken your brethren, the Levites, from among the children of Israel. They are a gift to you, given by the Lord. To do the work of the tabernacle of meeting Therefore you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar behind the veil and you shall serve I Give your priesthood to you as a gift for service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death All right. So what had God given to? Aaron and his sons the priests He gave them the priesthood, that's right And was anybody else supposed to take the priesthood?
Nope. Nope. Right. Yeah, if they did, they would die. That's right. But this was a gift to them. It was it was a blessing. The Levites got their blessing to help and to work. Nope. The help and to work in the tabernacle. And the priest had their blessings to actually do the sacrifices. Did you know that we have a priest? Who's our priest?
God? Specifically, Jesus. Um, so God is Jesus and God? So Jesus is God. He's the God-man. He's the second person of the Trinity. But Jesus is a priest forever in the order of, not of Aaron, but of, you ready for this big name? Melchizedek. So that's two guys? Nope, there's three persons in one God. So we're all three? There's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. Not separate, not different modes or something like that, but three in power and glory and essence.
The Holy Ghost? The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. I don't know why they call it the ghost. The word is Hagios Numatos. What is that? Holy Spirit. But the old the King James translated ghost, but you're right, there's kind of weird things about ghosts now, aren't there? Yeah, well, we are, but I believe in God. Well, you believe in God, though? Well, I believe in God and ghosts because that a book about ghosts. Well, we could talk about ghosts some other time. But Jesus is our priest in heaven. Yeah, Jesus is our priest in heaven. Jesus offered up a sacrifice. Do you know what his sacrifice was? Himself. Himself, yeah. And that's a gift to us.
Yeah, okay, are you ready to pray? OK, Lord, thank you so much for Jesus Christ, our high priest. Thank you for that gift. Thank you for the gift you have given us. Lord, we are priests also now in Jesus and a holy nation, a royal priesthood. Lord, we pray that we would live our lives as a living sacrifice and that we would offer up to you the sacrifice of praise and the incense of prayer. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.