“You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to the Lord.’ And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the front of the turban. It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall regularly be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.”
I don’t know about you, but I get an uneasy feeling when reading this passage. Aaron was consecrated to God as not only Priest, but High Priest. He was about as holy as a man can get (at least one that is born into a sinful nature). He goes into the Tabernacle regularly to offer to the Lord. He does it willingly because he wants to please God. To me, that seems like enough. The details don’t matter right? I mean, as long as his heart is right, or going in the right direction, then God can gloss over the details and accept his offering. Right?
Apparently not. Exodus 28 is full of things that the priests had to wear and do so that their offering or work in the Tabernacle would be accepted, and so that they would not die. In this passage we catch a glimpse of the horrendous effects of sin. God made Adam, and had communion with him in the garden. There were no special rules for their meeting – no formality – they just walked in the garden in the cool of the day. This is the type of relationship God wants to have with us. That is His design. Come Exodus 28, and even the High Priest, or especially the High Priest, must wear a multitude of different clothing and symbols and do things in just a certain way. Why? Only because of sin. It is not that God turned sour and doesn’t want to spend informal time with us anymore. God remains the same always. But the stench of sin is so incredibly bad to Him that even if there is a gift consecrated to God that doesn’t meet His standard, the only way for it to be accepted is for the High Priest to bear the guilt for it, symbolised by a plate of gold on his turban.
We make light of the effects of sin when we assume that God is good with a “general direction”, or a “general attitude”. God is not good with anything but perfection. We must remind ourselves of this regularly. How times have changed since the time when Christ himself said that we should cut off our own hand if it causes us to sin. Now we get together and celebrate it, or tell each other its okay as long as we “believe in Jesus”. Which part of Jesus are we “believing” in? Not the part that told us to deal with sin harshly!
As Christians it is all too tempting to forsake the true Gospel. The true Gospel says that God will only accept perfection, and is completely disgusted by anything less. But because of the atonement of Jesus, we have actual perfection. We are washed, dried and dressed in purity because of Jesus. That alone is what we can trust in. That is all that satisfies God. It is not our general direction of moving “towards God”. Our sin is still abhorrent to Him. But it is instantly washed away.
Let’s not pretend that we’re ok, even if we’re doing really well. It’s great if our general direction is toward God. Keep going. That is what God wants. But never forget just how truly terrible our sin really is.
Bread From A Beggar 