Numbers 4:1-20

hey hey good morning good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this where every day you and I we get together we have a little bit of coffee we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together and this year 2024 Lord dwelling we'll make it through Numbers Deuteronomy and Hebrews so glad to be with you today when we have some coffee we'll pray and we'll get into God's word let's pray Lord we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for the blessing of being able to come to you this day to read your word Lord It's a Blessing we have many people don't have to have your word in a language that is spoken and written down and we are grateful for that blessing Lord we pray now that as we read your word your spirit would apply it to our hearts in Jesus's name amen all right so Numbers Chapter 4 numbers chapter 4 we had just picked up last time in Numbers Chapter chapter 3 kind of a brief overview of what the different tribes or the different families of Levi what they were going to be doing with the Tabernacle that was largely to just introduce us to it and it was going to also show us where they were camping around the Tabernacle now in chapter 4 we get more granular more nitty-gritty with what's going on with each of these families of Levi so we start with the kohathites so let's go ahead and read verses 1- 20 then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying take a census of the sons of Kath from among the children of Levi by their families by their father's house from 30 years old and above even to 50 years old all who enter the service to do the work of the Tabernacle of meeting this is the service of the sons of Kath in the Tabernacle of meeting relating to the most holy things when the C when the camp prepares to Journey Aaron and his son shall come and they shall take down the covering Veil and cover the Ark of the testimony with it then they shall put on it a covering of badger skin and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue and they shall insert its poles on the table of showbread they shall spread a blue cloth and put on it the dishes the pans the bowls and the pitchers for pouring and the showbread shall be on it they shall spread over them a Scarlet cloth and cover the same with a covering of badger skins and they shall insert its poles and they shall take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the weight of the light with its lamps its Wick trimmers its trays and all its oil vessels which they with which they service it then they shall put it with all its utensils and a covering of badger skins and put it on a carrying beam over the Golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth and cover it with a covering of badger skins and they shall insert its poles then they shall take all the utensils of service with which they minister in the sanctuary put them in a blue cloth covered them with a covering of badger skins and put them on a carrying beam also they sh take away the ashes from The Altar and spread a purple cloth over it they shall put on it all its implements with which they Minister there the fire pans the forks the shovels the basins and all the utensils of the Altar and they shall spread on it a covering of badger skins and insert its poles and when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the Furnishings of the sanctuary when the camp is set to go then the sons of Kath shall car come to carry them but they shall not touch the holy thing lest they die these are the things in the Tabernacle of meeting which the sons of Kath are to carry the appointed duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is the oil for the light the sweet incense the daily grain offering the anointing oil the oversight of all the Tabernacle of all that is in it with the sanctuary and its Furnishings then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying do not cut off the tribes the tribe of the family of the kohathites from among the Levites but do this in regard to them that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint each of them to his service and his task but they shall not go in to watch while the Holy things are being covered lest they die wow okay so kohathites that's what this is talking about a what's this about the coites have a job right their job is to carry the stuff right all the most holy things they're covering are carrying right the lampstand the the ark the table with the showbread uh the altars right all that type of stuff they're carrying all of it that's their job but there's something that we often see in pictures that's just outright wrong right when they were to carry the ark when they were to carry all the stuff for the Tabernacle nobody would typically see it it was covered over in Scarlet cloth or blue cloth and Badger skins all the kind of material around the Tabernacle would be laid over and put over wrapped around all the the holy articles and the kohathites would then lift them up with a pole through the Rings put it on their shoulders and walk through all the other stuff put on carry beams put on their shoulders and walked around and God says specific times here right it is the job of the priest to make sure that he protects the people right the kohathites if they even see this is the this this is the amazing thing right but they shall not go into to watch while the Holy things are being covered lest they die right and in verse 15 it said if they touch the holy things they could die and then it says even if they see the holy things they could die and so I mean this is where we see pictures and it's just like they're just carrying the stuff and the Ark is open in the wind you know and and everybody could see the lamp say stuff that's not the way it was supposed to be and you know that's actually one of the things that David Gets frustrated with the Lord about he doesn't understand he has to go back I think to the law and find out because one of the people when they have the ark they're excited about it they're bringing it up to Jerusalem the ox starts to you know trip and fall guy puts out his hand to stabilize the ark and as RC Sproul describes in his book The Holiness of God he points out the audacity of that man thinking that the ground was more unclean than he was right the Earth obeys man is not they're not treating God's things the way that God has prescribed and the Lord doesn't treat his Holiness lightly right the Lord doesn't just we we can't just go to the Lord in a Cavalier way right there's this amazing truth as we look at at our calling here right Jesus Christ brings us into the holy place and yet we can become so comfortable with that that we forget that in the Holy place in heaven the people bow and they sing of God's holiness and they have reverence because he has done these wonderful things too often we treat Jesus like the Shir used to say when I was growing up Jesus is my homeboy right there's songs about it's got to be more than just an allegiance he's got it's got to be a relationship we've lost the sense of the almightiness of God and the reverence we ought to have that the King of Kings the master and maker of the universe does love us he brings us into his family he adopts us as his children that doesn't mean that we lose reverence and awe for his Holiness we worship Him in Holiness and in truth I hope as we continue to work through this that that you see God right the the New Covenant is beautiful right there pointing to to in Shadows and types but I hope that as we go through this that you are encouraged that your God is Holy Holy Holy and that he invites you to worship Him in Hool let's pray father we thank you so much that you the chist holy God you have invited us into your presence not in a Cavalier way but to worship you in the Splendor of Holiness Lord please let us love you and follow after you in Jesus's name amen may the Lord bless you may you walk in the joy and peace that comes from Jesus Christ and all see you next time bye thanks for listening to this week's message from God's word for you a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in rural Southeast Iowa we pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week if you'd like to get more information about us feel free to go to the website shareon rc.org we'd love to invite you to worship with us our worship time is 10:00 a.m. every Sunday at