Consagrados a Dios / Consecrated to God
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Introduction
Introduction
Why would God save men? For what purpose does God offer forgiveness of sins?
Many people have thought that God saves people so they can live their best life now.
Others believe that God came in the person of Jesus Christ to die on the cross to take away our problems, our sickness, and our fears.
The truth is that God’s purpose in salvation goes much more beyond living life to the fullest. We know this, because there are many throughout church history that trusted in God and suffered greatly.
Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ does not guarantee a life free from suffering.
Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ does not guarantee a problem free life.
So, what is the purpose for which God has saved us?
We find our answer in the book of Exodus. Why did God free the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage?
God tells Moses:
Ex 3:18
“They will pay heed to what you say; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’
Y ellos escucharán tu voz; y tú irás con los ancianos de Israel al rey de Egipto, y le diréis: “El Señor, el Dios de los hebreos, nos ha salido al encuentro. Ahora pues, permite que vayamos tres días de camino al desierto para ofrecer sacrificios al Señor nuestro Dios.”
The children of Israel were being saved so that they may worship God!
They were being saved from bondage so that they could worship God freely, without impediment, without restriction.
God’s purpose in salvation was so that his chosen people could serve him with absolute liberty.
As soon as the people of God were free from slavery God starts giving them specific instructions. We read about these instructions in our 2019 Bible Reading Plan.
speaks about the 10 commandments - God’s law and prescription for how the people of Israel should live.
speaks about a certain tent (the tabernacle) that the people of God were commanded to build:
What what the purpose of this tent? Why would God care about having his traveling people build such an intricate dwelling place?
“Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.
Y que hagan un santuario para mí, para que yo habite entre ellos.
God called his people to build this marvelous tent so that they could come to worship him and he would dwell in their midst.
Notice that even though his people will be sojourning in the desert for 40 years God is firm with his purpose that his people’s calling is to worship his holy name.
God’s promise to his people was:
Ex 19:4
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself.
‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;
and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
“Vosotros habéis visto lo que he hecho a los egipcios, y cómo os he tomado sobre alas de águilas y os he traído a mí.
“Ahora pues, si en verdad escucháis mi voz y guardáis mi pacto, seréis mi especial tesoro entre todos los pueblos, porque mía es toda la tierra;
y vosotros seréis para mí un reino de sacerdotes y una nación santa.” Estas son las palabras que dirás a los hijos de Israel.
God’s calling had not changed. His people were to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, dedicated to his service!
How did the people respond?
All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.
Ex
Y todo el pueblo respondió a una, y dijeron: Haremos todo lo que el Señor ha dicho. Y llevó Moisés al Señor las palabras del pueblo.
They heard what God was asking of them and promptly obeyed. They built all that God had commanded them.
They built each of the pieces of furniture for the tabernacle; the altar of bronze, the altar of incense, the tent itself (the atrium, the holy place, the holy of holies), the ark of the covenant, etc.
As we read the instructions for the building of the tabernacle it is possible to glaze over and loose sight of the reason why God chose to be so precise about these instructions. Why do they even exist in the Bible?
I believe that one reason for such precise instructions is that God must be worshiped in the way that he has commanded. We cannot simply worship God in a way that we think pleases God. We only need to go to the Bible and see what God has commanded.
Because of the many details it is possible to ignore or quickly skip over very important pieces. Today, we want to consider the very special instructions that God gives in regards to the consecration of his priests. We will consider:
The consecration ritual.
What does it mean?
How does it affect us?
I. The consecration ritual.
I. The consecration ritual.
I. El rito de consagración.
I. El rito de consagración.
In the OT God’s worship was to be mediated through priests.
The priests would be in charge of the daily tabernacle/temple sacrifices.
The priests would come before God to intercede for the children of Israel.
For this reason, God had instituted a special ceremony to dedicate/consecrated ordinary men into the office of priest.
We turn our attention to Exodus 29:19-20
“Then you shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.
“You shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of his sons’ right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and sprinkle the rest of the blood around on the altar.
Entonces tomarás el otro carnero, y Aarón y sus hijos pondrán sus manos sobre la cabeza del carnero.
Y matarás el carnero, y tomarás de su sangre y la pondrás sobre el lóbulo de la oreja derecha de Aarón, y sobre el lóbulo de la oreja derecha de sus hijos, y sobre el pulgar de su mano derecha, y sobre el pulgar de su pie derecho, y rociarás el resto de la sangre en el altar por todos los lados.
The ritual itself is very straightforward.
Moses would take a ram and Aaron and his sons would lay their hands upon the ram’s head.
The ram would later be killed and its blood drained.
Moses would then take some of the ram’s blood and would apply it to three places on Aaron’s and his son’s bodies:
The right earlobe
The right thumb
The right big toe
II. What does it mean?
II. What does it mean?
II. ¿Qué significa?
II. ¿Qué significa?
The first thing we should note is the slaughtering of the ram after Aaron and his sons had placed their hands upon him.
This was a symbolic action by which Aaron and his sons were identifying themselves with the ram. Through this action, it is as if the ram was taking upon himself their guilt, their sin, their offenses before a holy God and dying in their place.
The priests were not holy in themselves.
The priests were ordinary sinful men that needed cleansing themselves.
The ram was dying in their place demonstrating that even the priests sins had to be dealt with.
The act of placing the blood upon their earlobe, right thumb, and big toe is not directly explained to us. However, it is possible to come to some reasonable conclusions:
Right earlobe
The priests were being dedicated to hear God’s voice.
After all, these priests were to come to God on behalf of the people, but they were also to come to the people on behalf of God.
They were being consecrated to hear God and to pay careful attention to what he had to say.
Right thumb
Throughout the Bible the right hand is a symbol of strength. It is also a symbol of hard work.
In ancient times, a conquering army would cut off the thumbs of its prisoners to humiliate them. Without your right thumb, your right hand would loose its strength to do manual work.
This very likely means that the the priests were being dedicated to do God’s work. They were to work hard for God. They were to rise early; ready to serve the Lord in anything that he asked them to do.
Right big toe
Our feet are used for walking.
In the Bible the image of walking in a certain path speaks about our daily life.
We talk about that path of the righteous or the path of the wicked.
We speak about walking with God or walking away from God.
It is through these symbolic acts that the priests were being reminded of:
Their sin must be forgiven. They must be cleansed from their sin and guilt. For this, an innocent victim must die in their place. Once their sin is dealt with they may be consecrated to serve God.
The priests were being consecrated to hear God’s voice, to work for God, and to walk in his ways.
III. How does it affect us?
III. How does it affect us?
III. Cómo nos afecta?
III. Cómo nos afecta?
The OT may seem so foreign to us. When we read these stories, specially those that talk about animal sacrifices and the worship if ancient Israel we may think that it does not have anything to do with us.
Why did God choose the people of Israel? Why did God call the children of Israel out of Egypt?
‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;
and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
“Ahora pues, si en verdad escucháis mi voz y guardáis mi pacto, seréis mi especial tesoro entre todos los pueblos, porque mía es toda la tierra;
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y vosotros seréis para mí un reino de sacerdotes y una nación santa.” Estas son las palabras que dirás a los hijos de Israel.
The people of Israel was called to be a nation of priests, holy/dedicated to the service of almighty God.
What are we as Christians called to?
The calling of Israel is repeated in the NT by Peter.
God does not change.
The same calling that God had for the children of Israel in the OT is the calling that God has given the NT church.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Pero vosotros sois linaje escogido, real sacerdocio, nación santa, pueblo adquirido para posesión de Dios, a fin de que anunciéis las virtudes de aquel que os llamó de las tinieblas a su luz admirable;
Peter quotes .
He takes this OT passage and applies it to the NT church.
Peter says that believers, who are the NT church, are called to be a royal priesthood.
We are also called to be entirely dedicated to God.
What does this mean to us?
This means that Christ died to deal with our sin.
Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He takes away the sin of all those that believe in him.
We cannot be reconciled to God apart from the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.
Christ, the innocent lamb of God, died for us - guilty sinners, rebels against God and disobedient to his word.
It is through Jesus Christ that we are forgiven of our sins and our guilt is taken away.
This means that all Christians, if they truly saved by God, are part of the royal priesthood.
The Bible does not accept that there are different kinds of believers - some believers that are dedicated to God and others that are more relaxed in their relationship with God.
The Bible does not recognize that there are believers who are entirely devoted to God and those that do not live as children of God.
The Bible does not recognize that there are believers that detach themselves from the local church and the worship of God.
Either you are entirely devoted to God or you are not. Either you serve God or you do not. There is no middle ground.
Why did God save us from our bondage to sin? To live for God!
Why are there people who call themselves believers but do not serve God?
They are in bondage to their sin.
They are in bondage to their pride.
They are in bondage to their addictions.
They are in bondage to themselves.
They are enemies of God.
They are dead in the trespasses and sin.
Christian, this is glorious news!
If we are forgiven we have been concentrated/entirely dedicated to worship God. Our sin has been wiped away. We have been forgiven.
We have been consecrated to:
Hear God’s voice as it has been revealed in his word.
Work for God. We have been consecrated to fulfill God’s calling in our life. That calling may not necessarily be ministry. It is entirely possible that God has called us to be the light of the world in a law firm, in a beauty salon, in a restaurant, in a supermarket, or in a medical office.
Walk according to God’s word.
This is why God has liberated us from our bondage to sin - to serve him and not to continue living a life where we are the center of the universe - but rather our loyalty is to God and his commandments.