“Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death” (Numbers 18:7).
TEXT — Numbers 18:1-7
Message
Serving the Lord is not a cheap thing. There are specific duties that God demands from those who will serve and minister to Him. The Israelites, after witnessing the awful consequences of the rebellion of Korah and Abiram, expressed words of alarm and bewilderment about dealing with God: “And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish” (Numbers 17:12).
In today’s text, God reassured Aaron of His choice and that of the Levites to serve as ministers in the tabernacle. He stated their general and specific duties within and outside the tabernacle. Aaron and his sons, and the entire house of the Levites were to have full responsibility for carrying out all the requirements of the sanctuary. Both he and his sons were to have the full responsibility of the whole system of offerings and sacrifices.
The passage warns strangers to keep off the tabernacle. They were not to join the priests in their hallowed assignment “that there be no wrath anymore upon the children of Israel” and to prevent unnecessary deaths.
Today, God is looking for those who will worship Him in spirit and truth, and serve Him with their whole hearts. Because God is holy, it is important that we do His work in the way that He authorised and not for the sake of vainglory. It is not even enough to have good intentions like Uzzah, which was carried out in a way He does not approve and turned out to be a tragedy.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
Good job ever
The Lord is good