With descriptions in today's reading of the tabernacle and the work of the priests, I thought I'd take the opportunity to backtrack to a related topic from yesterday's reading. In Exodus 19:6 God says, "Although the whole earth is mind, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." The People's Bible author says of this verse, "Indeed, one might call this verse the theme of the entire Pentateuch [first five books of the Bible]!" Okay, so what does it mean?
He explains, "Priests are mediators, go-betweens. Israel as a nation was to be a witness for the Lord to the nations of this world. They were to receive the Lord's promise of salvation and all his revelations pertaining to this. They were to protect and preserve these gifts of the Lord's grace. They were to bear witness to all the other nations that their God was the only true God, supreme Ruler of all, who in his mercy had planned a way of deliverance for all people. In carrying out this service to God, they were to be a 'holy nation' . . . They were a nation set apart, different from the ungodly nations of this world."
Definitely a high calling for the people of Israel! Now realize that, through our faith in Jesus who fulfilled God's law perfectly to redeem us, we are the New Testament people of Israel, and all of this applies just as much to us. Peter writes, "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9). Amazing! That ought to go a long way in answering the age-old questions for us of "Why am I here?" and "What is the meaning of life?"
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