“So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests.” Exodus 28:41 NKJV
Last week Margie and I took a few days off and enjoyed our favorite activity together, exploring the amazing sights, sounds, and flavors of new Mexican pueblitos (small cities). Nestled in the foothills and remote mountains of Mexico lie some of the most amazing, picturesque, and awe-inspiring small towns and villages I have ever witnessed. (why didn’t anyone tell me Mexico was so beautiful?) As a result, last week we found ourselves 5 hours east of Guadalajara, Jalisco in what many consider the most beautiful Spanish colonial town in all of Mexico, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. And when you think Spanish colonial, think of streets that were designed for horses in 1542, not cars in 2024. Meaning the streets are about as wide as two horses, not the Toyota Tacoma truck we were attempting to operate on them. And a by-product of the hyper narrow streets is that street parking is almost non-existent. But after circling the city center for a long while, I did manage to eventually find a parking spot near a park and I carefully nestled our truck in for a few days respite.
However after returning a few days later I found what no one longs to find, a small piece of paper on the front window, a parking ticket. In my excitement to find the vacant parking spot right on the street I had not read the parking signs carefully enough and was parked in a spot reserved for the handicapped. Oops. A funny thing about Mexico is that when you get a parking fine the parking police remove either one or both of your car’s license plates. The premise is simple, pay the fine and get your license plate back. Don’t pay it and well, you’ll pay in a different way at a different time as you drive around without license plates. But of course, we did pay and when I went to reinstall the front license plate, I simply stared at the two screws that protruded from the front bumper. Not simple flat head or Philips head screws but some of those new star shaped screw heads with a small metal piece in the middle. Tamper resistant to all and Dan resistant as well. So there I stood, confounded, unable to put the front license plate back on my car as I simply didn’t have the right tool for the job. Folks, there is a valuable lesson here (beyond accidentally parking in a handicap spot in Mexico.) Without the right tool for the job…nothing gets done.
It continues to amaze me how many parts exist in the Bible that call to us to skip over them as soon as we encounter them. Long boring genealogies of really old people in Genesis, check. Seemingly endless outdated laws about livestock , land borders, and weighing stuff in Leviticus, check. And right here in Exodus, an intricate laundry-list of details about every measurement and material needed to construct the tabernacle of God, double check. But the more I draw before the Lord and His Word, praying for His eyes to read the text not mine, the more He faithfully reveals the beauty of these passages to my heart. And this morning He reveals three invaluable tools of the servant of God buried within a chapter on what the priest are to wear. And folks, without these three tools, doing the work of Christ will be as fruitless as me attempting to remove those 2 screws on the front of my truck with just my fingers. (which I tried)
You see, God tells us clearly just how much we can do for Him without Him. And it reads as clear as Austrian crystal in John 15:5:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 ESV
Nothing. Interestingly concerning the word nothing. I recently embarked on a one-month word study and researched every single historical root of the word using Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Latin, and Norse. And do you know what it truly means? It means nothing. (that’s a joke, I really didn’t do a word study) Folks, here’s the rub, nothing is the total absence of something. We can literally do nada, zero, zilch, nil, zip, naught for God unless it involves Him and His Holy Spirit. And just how does God empower His servants to grow His Holy kingdom? I’m glad you asked because the tools needed are right here in Exodus chapter 28 verse 14 and they have not changed in the 2,600 years or so since they were written by Moses about what the priests of God will need to do the job God was giving them.
1) “you shall anoint them.” The word anoint in the Old Testament described the application of sacred oil upon the head. In the consistent idiom of the Bible, it represents the filling and continual reliance upon the power and work of the Holy Spirit. Friends, without the Holy Spirit of God leading, guiding, instructing, and making Jesus Christ real to your heart, you will be as useless as a handbrake on a canoe for the kingdom of God. Abiding and thriving in the Holy Spirit of God daily is the only way that a human can expect to truly serve and bear fruit for the Lord.
2) “you shall consecrate them.” The word consecrate is the translation of two Hebrew words meaning to “fill the open hand.” It signifies the perfect equipping of the anointed one for the ministry that the Lord has called them to. Do you know that if you have been redeemed by Christ that He has a specific job just for you to do? And do you know that you have been perfectly equipped by God to do that job? Folks, your hand has been perfectly filled by God to be the perfect tool He requires to do the job that He will place before you. Don’t squander the gifts God has placed in your hand, get busy, hone those gifts, and watch God use you to produce abundant fruit for His kingdom.
3) “you shall sanctify them.” Sanctify literally means to “make clean” and refers to the spiritual and moral separation from the defilements of this world. Friends, you can’t truly get clean if you spend most of your time rolling around in the mud of this world. God’s Word clearly tells us that in this age satan is thoroughly in control of this world. (1 John 5:19, Ephesians 2:2) And God’s Word also tells us (very strongly) that if we are friends with this world, we are enemies with God. (James 4:4) If you hope to produce fruit for the kingdom of God, you must separate yourself from the dirt, filth, and corruption of this world…to be in the world, but not of it. (John 17:14-16)
Folks, if you have admitted that your sin is out of your control, repented of that sin, and that you needed a Savior in Jesus Christ to pay for the death penalty of that rampant sin, you have been redeemed by the blood of the perfect lamb. (1 Peter 1:18-19) And as a result, God’s Word says that you are now of a member of God’s priestly tribe. (1 Peter 2:5-9) You are now, as a servant of the Lord, called to stand before Him and be anointed, consecrated, and sanctified as a holy priest in His service. And today, you have been given all the tools needed to see your life grown for and in Christ. You have the Word of God for daily study and meditation to guide you in growing in Godly wisdom and righteousness. You have the power of prayer, to consult the God of the universe in the purpose He created just for you. You have the power of fellowship, that is, congregating with fellow Christ-followers to build up the body, share each other’s burdens, and see iron sharpen iron as you call each other into a right walk separated from the evils of this world. And friends, as you desperately seek to walk in these, God promises to use you in mighty ways. (Ephesians 2:10) For just as the parable of the sower says in Matthew 13, you can bear fruit of 30-fold, 60-fold, or yes, even 100-fold for the kingdom of God. And your results lie in your preparation and use of the tools the Lord promises to place in your hand.
I pray today that you commit to use the tools the Lord has given you to produce 100-fold for His kingdom.
God bless you ~ Dan
“The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s Word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matthew 13:23 NLT
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