{"id":6931,"date":"2015-09-19T00:05:45","date_gmt":"2015-09-19T07:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=6931"},"modified":"2015-09-18T14:27:50","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T21:27:50","slug":"opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2015\/09\/19\/opening-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

The LORD said to Moses: <\/p>\n

Set up my tent on the first day of the year and put the chest with the Ten Commandments behind the inside curtain of the tent. Bring in the table and set on it those things that are made for it. Also bring in the lampstand and attach the lamps to it. Then place the gold altar of incense in front of the sacred chest and hang a curtain at the entrance to the tent. Set the altar for burning sacrifices in front of the entrance to my tent. Put the large bronze bowl between the tent and the altar and fill the bowl with water. Surround the tent and the altar with the wall of curtains and hang the curtain that was made for the entrance. <\/p>\n

Use the sacred olive oil to dedicate the tent and everything in it to me. Do the same thing with the altar for offering sacrifices and its equipment and with the bowl and its stand. Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent and have them wash themselves. Dress Aaron in the priestly clothes, then use the sacred olive oil to ordain him and dedicate him to me as my priest. Put the priestly robes on Aaron\u2019s sons and ordain them in the same way, so they and their descendants will always be my priests. <\/p>\n

Moses followed the LORD\u2019s instructions. (Exodus 40:1-16)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Worship is more than ritual. Until the tabernacle was built, until the clothing had been made for Aaron and his sons, until the altar and ark, and the lamp stands had been made, until the oil had been pressed and mixed with just the right spices, the Israelites had not performed sacrifices or conducted formalized rituals associated with worshiping God. Centuries later, Jesus would tell a Samaritan woman that one day people would no longer worship God in a temple at all, but rather in spirit and in truth.<\/p>\n

The tabernacle and its rituals were not the essence of worshiping God. They were simply an outward expression of what had been, would, and would continue to be the inner reality in people\u2019s relationship with God. Worshiping God was always performed in spirit and in truth, not by means of the outward rituals. Those rituals were supposed portray the attitudes in people\u2019s minds. Robes, spices, and sacrifice were designed to serve as illustrations of a relationship that already existed.<\/p>\n

Real worship happens when people love God and love the people around them. Real worship is shown by acts of kindness. The outward show can never take the place of a life lived with God.<\/p>\n

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The LORD said to Moses: Set up my tent on the first day of the year and put the chest with the Ten Commandments behind the inside curtain of the tent. Bring in the table and set on it those … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6931"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6933,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6931\/revisions\/6933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}