“And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually. In the tabernacle of meeting, outside the veil which is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel.” (Exodus 27:20, 21 NKJV)
As the LORD details the building of the tabernacle, the first positional work detail he assigns is for Aaron and his sons to tend the lamp stand and make sure it stays lit. Make sure the lamp never goes out. It is to be lit 24x7x365. Always on.I wonder why?
I have my opinion – which is why I have a blog. 🙂 Honestly though, I wonder if I fully comprehend all God was (and is) trying to communicate with the “eternal flame”.If you remember when the Israelites first left Egypt, we see the LORD continually before them in the form of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. I have to thing that was one of the most amazing things to see in human history. This grand, enormous pillar that would lead from the front and them move to the back to protect them. This amazing phenomenon that would morph from a cloud to fire. I wonder if it made any sound as it burned or transitioned from cloud to fire or fire to cloud?
But I also wonder – beyond the literal guiding and protecting – if it was to keep a constant reminder before the Israelites that God, the LORD himself, was ever present and constantly guiding and protecting.
See, here’s what I know. I am a very forgetful creature and I live among a host of very forgetful creatures. We see it all through the great exodus of Israel from Egypt and actually all through the Old Testament that Israel continually – and quickly – forgets the goodness, the love, the greatness and the authority of our great God. I wonder if God ordained and established the eternal flame to not only be a visible and constant reminder to Israel (and me) that He is always present with guidance and protection. I wonder if He created it to be tended so that Israel (and I) would constantly remember that and that they had vowed to obey his statutes, covenants and ordinances.
This leads me to ask myself the question, what do I have before me – that I need to continually tend – to continually remind me that Christ is IN me and WITH me to provide me with guidance and protection?
Running After Papa…