Remember

 

Memorial Day has special personal significance for me as I remember my grandmother, “Baba,” who went home to be with the Lord on this holiday when I was fourteen years old. She loved her family sacrificially, enduring many hardships as a young wife, leaving her home and country to begin a new life with her husband, to raise my mother and then me. She was a true Proverbs 31 woman in her generosity, industriousness, and character, and I cherish the Godly legacy she left me as a model of faith (Hebrews 11), charity (1 Corinthians 13), prayer, and service.

Tangible reminders of Baba highlight my life, from photographs on the foyer table and in albums, to tea towels she hand embroidered in the Ukraine, to a print of the Lord’s Supper that adorned her bedroom wall, and even to my medical school diploma, representing the education she helped finance through her thrift and keen business sense.

As we celebrate Memorial Day in the United States, we remember our fallen troops who paid the ultimate price to protect our freedoms, and we thank them for their faithful service. By giving their lives, they showed the self-sacrificing love epitomized by Jesus Christ, Who laid down His life to save His friends (John 15:13).

Jesus paid it all to bring peace between sinful man and holy God (Colossians 1:20). He became sin for us even though He was pure (2 Corinthians 5:21), holy and sinless (Hebrews 7:26), the perfect Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He rose again from the grave on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), proving that He is the Son of God and God Himself, so that all who trust Him as Lord and Savior have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Remembrances of God’s love, faithfulness and provision also abound in the lives of His children. First and foremost, we have His recorded Word (2 Timothy 3:16), His love letter to us explaining where we came from, His instructions for how to live a fulfilled life pleasing to Him (Proverbs, Psalms), and His plans for our future (Jeremiah 29:11). Throughout the Bible we learn of tangible reminders of His goodness.

The Ark of the Covenant contained the Ten Commandments inscribed in stone (Deuteronomy 31:26; 1 Kings 8:9), a golden pot of manna that God provided to feed His children in the wilderness, and Aaron’s rod that miraculously budded with almond blossoms (Hebrews 9:4). Men of God built altars and used Ebenezer stones (Joshua 4:7-24; 1 Samuel 7:12) to remember, honor and praise God for His deliverance.

If we look at our own lives, there too are numerous emblems of God’s blessings. Our spouse and children are answers to prayer for loved ones to fill our daily lives with love, joy, purpose and meaning (Psalm 127:4; Genesis 25:21; Proverbs 18:22; 19:24). Our dwelling, possessions, clothing and food represent God’s fulfilled promise to provide for our daily lives (Matthew 6:33; Psalm 37:25). Treasured mementos, photographs and letters remind us of the legacy left by our loved ones, and how God enabled us to achieve the goals and dreams He planted in our heart (Ephesians 2:10).

Notes written in our Bible, in a prayer journal, or in our hearts prove God’s faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23; Psalm 36:5; 89:1-2)) over and over as He answers prayer in the best possible way, with His perfect timing, working all things together for our ultimate good, for the good of others, and for His glory (Romans 8:28). May we remember the name of the Lord our God, His works and wonders (Psalm 20:7; 77:11), and His Word (John 12:16; 16:4).

As we visit the graves of fallen heroes on Memorial Day and beyond, decorating them with flags and flowers, we remember their service and sacrifice. May we also never forget God’s mercy, grace, and goodness (Hebrews 4:16), from the cross of Jesus Christ, Who died for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8), throughout our Christian walk, and His recorded promise to bring us home at the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) to live with Him and our loved ones in Him throughout eternity!

© 2018 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

Old Testament Worship: Honoring The Trinity

  

    

Photo of Ark replica by Ben Schumin 2007

God is a Triune Being – God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All of His creation reflects His three-part nature, and the attributes of God the Father and names of Jesus also echo their three-fold Divinity. 

Not surprisingly, God designed our worship of Him to praise and to celebrate the three facets of His Being, beginning in the Old Testament, and continuing through the New Testament and into the future.

The benediction given by God for Aaron to speak unto the Hebrew people used the name of Jehovah (the LORD) three times, each with a different blessing:

Numbers 6: 24 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

25 The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 
26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Another Old Testament type, or precursor, to the ultimate worship believers will experience in Heaven appears in the Tabernacle that God instructed Moses to build as the place of worship (Exodus 25). He ordered Moses to collect from the people the materials for the Tabernacle as an offering to Him: three fine metals (gold, and silver, and brass, v.3); fine linen (made from the hemp plant) in three colors (blue, purple, and scarlet, v.4) and coverings of three animals (goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, v.5). These offerings represent the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal categories of His creation over which He gave man dominion (Genesis 1:26-28).

The holiest place in the Tabernacle was the most holy (Exodus 26:33), or Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum approached only by the high priest, and only once each year, to make an offering to atone for the sins of the people. This atonement for sin by the shed blood of a sacrificed animal foreshadows the ultimate atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ, once and for all, as the perfect, sinless sacrifice to pay for all our sins, past, present and future (Hebrews 9:11-15).

Within the Holy of Holies was the ark of the covenant, with the finest gold overlaying shittim wood (Exodus 25:10-22) to symbolize the mystery of Christ in His divinity becoming human flesh (Isaiah 9:6; John 1:14). The ark contained three items (Hebrews 9:4): the stone tables on which God engraved His law to give to Moses (Exodus 25:16, 22); the golden pot containing manna (Exodus 16:33-34) that God provided to feed the Israelites on their journey through the desert to find the Promised Land; and the rod of Aaron that budded forth with almond blossoms (Numbers 17:10), symbolizing purity and eternal life.

Thus, these three items symbolize God’s judgment in His Ten Commandments that no one (except for Jesus) can keep perfectly (Romans 3:23); God’s sustenance and provision for all our needs (Ephesians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 9:10-12); and God’s reconciliation with sinful man through His Son (2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Hebrews 2:17). Through Jesus’ sinless sacrifice, His perfect righteousness is attributed to our account (Romans 4:22-24), allowing us eternal life with Him in Heaven.

Moving outward from the Holy of Holies was the sanctuary, or holy place, containing three pieces of furniture: the table of shewbread (Exodus 25:23-30), the lampstand (Exodus 25:23-31), and the altar of incense (Exodus 30:1-10). In Hebrew, the word for “shewbread” means "bread of the face of the Lord," foreshadowing Jesus as the bread of life (John 6), the only sustenance the believer needs. The loaves of shewbread were set before God for one week before the priests were allowed to eat of it, suggesting that worship should come before fulfilling our daily needs (Matthew 6:33).

The lampstand, which later symbolizes the church (Revelation 1:12-20) was the only source of light in the holy place, just as Jesus Christ will be the only source of light in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:23). The altar of incense symbolizes the prayers of men rising as a sweet-smelling savour to God, as an act of worshipping Him (Psalm 141:2; Revelation 8:3-4).

Like the Tabernacle, the Temple was also designed by God in three parts: the outer Court surrounding the Holy Place, and the innermost Sanctuary or Holy of Holies), with the Holy of Holies in the shape of a cube of three equal dimensions (1 Kings 7).

God prescribed and ordained not only these places and articles of worship, but also times and holy days of worship. These were needed before the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins reconciled sinful man to Holy God, allowing believers instant, continual access into His Presence. Praise God that we may now enter boldly unto the throne of grace! (Hebrews 4:16)

© 2012 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

Remember

Memorial Day has special personal significance for me as I remember my grandmother, “Baba,” who went home to be with the Lord on this holiday when I was fourteen years old. She loved her family sacrificially, enduring many hardships as a young wife, leaving her home and country to begin a new life with her husband, to raise my mother and then me. She was a true Proverbs 31 woman in her generosity, industriousness, and character, and I cherish the Godly legacy she left me as a model of faith (Hebrews 11), charity (1 Corinthians 13), prayer, and service.

Tangible reminders of Baba highlight my life, from photographs on the foyer table and in albums, to tea towels she hand embroidered in the Ukraine, to a print of the Lord’s Supper that adorned her bedroom wall, and even to my medical school diploma, representing the education she helped finance through her thrift and keen business sense.

As we celebrate Memorial Day in the United States, we remember our fallen troops who paid the ultimate price to protect our freedoms, and we thank them for their faithful service. By giving their lives, they showed the self-sacrificing love epitomized by Jesus Christ, Who laid down His life to save His friends (John 15:13).

Jesus paid it all to bring peace between sinful man and holy God (Colossians 1:20). He became sin for us even though He was pure (2 Corinthians 5:21), holy and sinless (Hebrews 7:26), the perfect Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He rose again from the grave on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), proving that He is the Son of God and God Himself, so that all who trust Him as Lord and Savior have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Remembrances of God’s love, faithfulness and provision also abound in the lives of His children. First and foremost, we have His recorded Word (2 Timothy 3:16), His love letter to us explaining where we came from, His instructions for how to live a fulfilled life pleasing to Him (Proverbs, Psalms), and His plans for our future (Jeremiah 29:11). Throughout the Bible we learn of tangible reminders of His goodness.

The Ark of the Covenant contained the Ten Commandments inscribed in stone (Deuteronomy 31:26; 1 Kings 8:9), a golden pot of manna that God provided to feed His children in the wilderness, and Aaron’s rod that miraculously budded with almond blossoms (Hebrews 9:4). Men of God built altars and used Ebenezer stones (Joshua 4:7-24; 1 Samuel 7:12) to remember, honor and praise God for His deliverance.

If we look at our own lives, there too are numerous emblems of God’s blessings. Our spouse and children are answers to prayer for loved ones to fill our daily lives with love, joy, purpose and meaning (Psalm 127:4; Genesis 25:21; Proverbs 18:22; 19:24). Our dwelling, possessions, clothing and food represent God’s fulfilled promise to provide for our daily lives (Matthew 6:33; Psalm 37:25). Treasured mementos, photographs and letters remind us of the legacy left by our loved ones, and how God enabled us to achieve the goals and dreams He planted in our heart (Ephesians 2:10).

Notes written in our Bible, in a prayer journal, or in our hearts prove God’s faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23; Psalm 36:5; 89:1-2)) over and over as He answers prayer in the best possible way, with His perfect timing, working all things together for our ultimate good, for the good of others, and for His glory (Romans 8:28). May we remember the name of the Lord our God, His works and wonders (Psalm 20:7; 77:11), and His Word (John 12:16; 16:4).

As we visit the graves of fallen heroes on Memorial Day and beyond, decorating them with flags and flowers, we remember their service and sacrifice. May we also never forget God’s mercy, grace, and goodness (Hebrews 4:16), from the cross of Jesus Christ, Who died for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8), throughout our Christian walk, and His recorded promise to bring us home at the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) to live with Him and our loved ones in Him throughout eternity!

© 2018 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives