I think we take the presence of the Lord for granted in the church today. As we read this portion of Numbers, we see how delicate and holy the things of the most Holy place are. The Mercy seat, the ark, the lampstand, the table of shewbread and the golden altar, and all their utensils, could not be touched. They were made so poles could be inserted for carrying them or they were put in a beam. They were completely covered with several layers of fabrics, opr badger skins. No one could touch them, or they would die. What a perilous task this was for the Kohathites. And Eleazar, Aaron,s son, was to carry the incense, the light, the daily grain offering and the anointing oil.
Today, we are constantly asking for the presence of the Lord, or the anointing, to enter into our services, but we often come marred and unholy. We wait until the end of the service, if even then, to listen to the altar call for salvation, or rededication, instead of doing this before we go to the tabernacle. If we truly desire the presence of the Lord to fill the place, then we must come to church after confessing our sinWe have come to the place where we think our sin can only be forgiven
at the church. How can we expect the presence of the Lord to enter a place that is unholy? God desires purity.
I urge you, my friends, to take time to repent and confess before the service begins, maybe even before you go to God’s house. I remember at PLM we were required to be in the sanctuary 30 minutes before service, sit in the next seat available near the front, and sit quietly in prayer. No talking, no singing, no whispering. Juts humbly bowing your head in prayer. Asking God to forgive you of any wrongdoing the week, or the day before. It was a solemn time, a holy time, a time when God could move in our hearts and prepare us for worship and the word.
In our church, we have a fellowship time before the service, where everyone gathers in the kitchen and eats some kind of sweet thing and has coffee. We haven’t seen each other for a week, and have to catch up, you know. It’s not about God, but about our cars, or our health, or homes, or some other worldly thing. Personally, I have decided to stop going back there, and just go into the sanctuary and pray while listening to the worship music being played. I love that time with the Lord. I wish we all could do that and have our fellowship time after the service. We must always remember that God cannot be in a room where sin is present, unless the sinner is repenting of that sin. Then He will come and restore us and abide with us.
What will we do with this portion of scripture? Will we start to come to church purified, or will we continue to come stained with sin? It is alright for the sinner to go into the house of the Lord because God knows the heart. But we, as a royal priesthood, should have our sins covered by the blood before we even get there. Then we can expect the Holy Spirit to move in our midst!
God's Maintenance Man 