Near You & For You
We exist as a constant reminder to the world that God is near them and for them.
I finished 2 Corinthians and realized I haven’t read Mark in a while! Mark is a big deal because it’s almost certainly the Gospel written first, and then used to help the other Gospel writers structure their own versions. It’s concise -- almost tooooo concise -- but Mark has one HUGE priority: the GOSPEL of Jesus! In Mark, Jesus is portrayed as single-minded in His purpose and ministry: to restore humans to wholeness vis-a-vis their relationship with God.
“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
I am also *still* not done with Exodus. I took a break, maybe because quarantine made me lazy. I don’t know. But today I felt compelled to go back and finish what I started. I’m still in the middle of the slightly more tedious portion where God gives *excessively* specific descriptions of each detail of temple life, including, but not limited to, what the high priest was supposed to wear:
“On the lower hem [of the high priest’s ephod] you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, all around the lower hem, with bells of gold between them all around— a golden bell and a pomegranate alternating all around the lower hem of the robe. Aaron shall wear it when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out, so that he may not die.”
So basically. The priest is wearing bells all the time so he doesn’t die. What? I have heard this before but it never really struck me how weird that was. We put bells on animals so we can tell when they’re coming, not to keep them from dying. But that’s not exactly how it worked for the priest.
Something was wrong when you *couldn’t* hear the priest moving. Something was wrong when the sound of his intercessory work was no longer audible.
🤯
It was so important that the Israelites knew that the high priest was acting on their behalf in the presence of God.
Just like, hundreds of years later, it was so important that people knew that God had drawn near to them in the form of the ultimate High Priest, Jesus Christ.
“Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”
The Good News, in Mark’s Gospel, is that God’s kingdom was close, and that God wanted to be WITH His people. He was not vengeful and capricious; He was out for their good. He wanted restoration so much that He would give up everything. And He would continue to work for their wholeness.
There is so much imagery and symbolism here, but what I want to focus on is this: because Jesus is the final High Priest, and because the veil to the Holy of Holies has been torn (Matthew 27:51), we have all been brought into this kind of priestly work. We are ALL called to intercede for the good of people who are still separated from Him.
“...like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. … But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
And those people should HEAR THE METAPHORICAL BELLS of our intercession on their behalf.
I think we are so afraid to offend that, often, we pray for people secretly and serve them quietly and love them gently. There is beauty in this, YES! But...maybe we are secret and quiet and gentle because we are afraid to say “Hey I am not judging you or rushing you but I have something really amazing for you whenever you are ready to step into abundant life! And I pray for you everyday! And I am loving you because of God’s power working in me!”
I think, especially in times like these, the world needs to be constantly reminded that we are not set on their judgment and moral perfection, but rather on their THRIVING and HEALTH and WHOLENESS. Jesus does the work of sanctification *after* the relationship has been restored.
God is near you! God is for you! God made a way for you! God wants to heal you!
THESE ^^^ are the bells that all of us in this royal priesthood wear. Christ ever lives to intercede for us, and we have been given the gift of participating in this miracle. And if the world can’t hear them ringing, something is gravely wrong.