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A House Prepared

The Place

8 Arise, O LORD, to Thy resting place;
Thou and the ark of Thy strength.

When we cry out for God to arise to His resting place, we are seeking a twofold honor of Him. First, we are seeking that He would take possession of the place we have prepared. But this is not enough. Many people own vacation properties, yet these are not the places they live. They are only places that are visited. They are not a resting place, but a stop-over. We cry out to God to arise to His resting place, the place of His abiding. We seek for Him to take up residence in the house we have prepared for Him.

It had been a long journey for the Ark. From the high place at Shiloh, to the house of Abinidab, to the house of Obed-Edom, to the tent in Jerusalem. Each of these places had been chosen by God, yet they had not all been prepared in accord with His ways. Even where the preparations had not been as they should, they had been blessed by His presence, so long as He stayed. But where preparations had been made, He stayed longer.

We are places chosen by God. If we want God to stay, we have to prepare! And we have to prepare things His way. This is not just a party, or a gathering of friends that we prepare for, it is the visit of a dignitary, of the Dignitary! The best we have will not be enough. We are preparing a diplomatic compound, a place for God to stay in foreign territory, an island of the heavenly kingdom in the midst of this land.

When diplomats go to serve in foreign lands, great care must be taken to learn the ways of that land. If they misunderstand the ways of that nation, their offered blessings may be taken as curses, their fine gestures may do no more than offend. When we seek to serve in the house of the LORD, we are in the same position. We must learn what is proper in His lands, so that we do not offend. If we will not learn His ways, we are ever in danger of causing offense when we meant only to honor.

The Priest

He has chosen us as places for Him to reside. He has declared us His diplomatic compound. As His resting place, we serve not only as compound, but also as the staff in the compound. He has a name for His serving staff. He calls them priests, or Levites. He has instructions for His serving staff: Be ye holy as I am holy (1Pe 1:16). He tells us to sanctify ourselves (Lev 20:7). How?

Sanctification is the separating of ourselves from the world, the dedicating of ourselves to God. We belong to Him. (Nu 3:12 - I have taken the Levites from among all Israel. They shall be Mine. Ex 29:44 - I will consecrate the tent and altar. I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons as priests to Me. Ex 19:5-6 - If you obey, and keep My covenant, you shall be My own possession. You shall then be as a nation of priests, a holy nation to Me.) Sanctification is holiness. It is our best emulation of God's essential nature.

When the ark first came back to the land, God's holiness was forgotten, and men went to look upon the ark. God was not pleased. He struck down many among those who came, causing them to cry out, "Who can stand before this holy God?" It was these men who sent word to Kiriath-Jearim, that they might come and take the ark away (1Sa 6:19-21).

Consider also Joshua's words with Israel at the end of his days.

Jos 24:14-20

14 "Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

16 And the people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. 18 "And the LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."

19 Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins.

It has required God's own intervention to bring us to the place where we can serve. It has taken His own Son to sanctify us, to consecrate us to His service. Will we serve Him? Then we must conduct ourselves according to His will. We must serve Him on His terms and no other. As servants it is not for us to make the rules, it is ours to obey without question.

When God established His priesthood, He determined the clothes that the priests would wear (Ex 28). These were designed "for glory and for beauty." (Ex 28:2)

All was made of gold, blue, purple, and white linen (Ex 28:5). Gold is symbolic of purity and nobility. (Job 23:10 - When He has tried me, I shall be as gold.) Blue was significant of the sky, and thus, of heaven. This was the color of the tassels which were to remind the Hebrews of God's commandments (Nu 15:38-39). Purple was a color reserved for royalty at peace (among the Romans), given by princes as a special privilege to those they wished to honor. (Royalty at war, wore crimson). Linen, as with gold, is symbolic of purity and nobility.

Upon this were set cords of pure gold, and precious stones (Ex 28:17-20). These gems were to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. These, along with the two stones of judgment were worn on the breastplate, so that they would be "over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord; and Aaron shall carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually." (Ex 28:30).

Most important, there was the engraved seal that was worn on the forehead: "Holy unto the LORD." (Ex 28:36). Why was this important? Scripture tells us this seal was worn so that the offerings of the holy things would be acceptable before the LORD. This seal was a reminder, also, to the priest, that He was one separated from the world. He was to be different, set apart for the LORD's work, to respond to the LORD's command.

Those who would serve God must serve Him in accord with His will. Not only had God decreed the raiment of the priest, He had decreed that they be as He is: holy. The seal was not to be just decorative words, but to be the truth. The inward character of the priest is to be as splendid as their attire. We are clothed in Christ's righteousness. Our character should match our clothing. The Holy Spirit works within us to achieve this goal. It remains to us to work with Him.

Matthew Henry writes, "Righteousness is the best ornament of a minister." One could argue it is the only legitimate ornament allowed the minister. We are a nation of priests. We are all to be ministers unto God. Righteousness is our only legitimate ornament. Anything less than righteousness in us is a discredit to God. We saw this in David, when he prayed that nothing in his actions be found to be disgraceful to God. This needs to be our heart cry: Let nothing we do bring dishonor upon the God we serve.

The People

In the place of rest that God seeks, we are both Temple and priesthood. We are the house and the servants. We are also the people that come before Him, seeking His favor. Here, too, there is a proper order. We come before the King of kings. If proper order was right and appropriate before the king of Persia, moreso before the King of all kings! What is that order? We are to come before Him boldly, yet with proper awe. We must, with Isaiah and so many others before us, recognize Whom we approach, and how unworthy we truly are.

Isaiah knew it. "Woe is me, I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips." Peter knew it. In our wiser moments, we know it. Yet we forget. We come to Him not boldly, but rudely. We demand that He satisfy our desires. We demand that He bend to our wishes. When we come, we ought to come seeking His mercy, not demanding His favors. Favors are just that: things done out of kindness, not out of demand.

At the same time, we are to come joyfully, knowing we come to our Father! He gives good gifts. He does not deny His children. Let His children sing for joy, for when the come to Him seeking mercy, they will find it! This is as much a part of the proper order as the awe. We are commanded to rejoice! It is an ordinance for us. We are to rejoice in the mercy of God in allowing us to ask. We are to rejoice in the goodness of God in answering our prayers. We are to rejoice in the providence of God in giving us faithful ministers, in making us faithful ministers.

We are the temple, and we are the priests, and we are the worshipers come to honor God. In all these roles, let us do our duty, that God may look upon us and be pleased. May he find in us a dwelling place prepared in obedience to His directions, staffed by a people prepared to obey His commands.