# 19 2025 Dev. Ex.30:7-8. All of Life is Worship! Read all of chapter thirty first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Ex.30:7-8 “Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning… again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.”
Ex.30 Moses is up on the mountain with God, for one more chapter, he is given the detailed instructions concerning the tabernacle, and vestments. This chapter is going back to making implements for the tabernacle, collecting funds, mixing anointing oil and mixing incense.
Vs.1-6 “Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense. It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high—its horns of one piece with it.” Overlay it with gold. It must be placed in the Holy Place before the Lord.
Vs.7-10 “Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.” Only incense and only the prescribed incense must be burned. Further, atonement must be made once a year for the incense alter.
Vs.11-16 Atonement “When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Everyone, rich or poor must pay the same, half a shekel. This money was to be used for service of the temple.” Atonement is a theme that runs throughout services at the Temple, but this was an atonement for their lives. Most scholars think that this was a yearly atonement, foreshadowing the atonement of Jesus for us, once and for all. Thanks be to God!
Vs.17-21 “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a bronze basin with its bronze stand, for washing.” This was used to wash the hands and the feet of the priests. They must wash their hands and feet with water every time they ministered sacrifices, burning incense and lighting the minnora. Cleanliness is paramount when approaching God. Psalm 24:3-4 “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.”
Vs.22-33 “Take the following fine spices…liquid myrrh…fragrant cinnamon…fragrant calamus… cassia”, to be mixed with olive oil to be used as anointing oil. It was used to consecrate Aaron and his sons, as well as all the furniture and all utensils and the tabernacle. It came with regulations, with the pain of expulsion from the community; “Do not pour it on anyone else’s body and do not make any other oil using the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred.”
Vs.34-38 “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred.” It is to be holy, and put some in front of the ark. This incense must not be copied or burned other than on the alter of incense, under the pain of expulsion from the congregation.
Take note; the vestments, the tabernacle, all the color, gold and all the furniture, and spices are geared to all the senses. There are churches geared to that end, many of those churches are full. Reformed churches are geared to theology, the mind and the heart. In more progressive Reformed churches, they have a theology for the road of living, prayer, professional projection, lighting, and more contemporary music, which is growing those churches, a healthy dose of addressing the senses is included. All of life is worship, thanks be to God.
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Heavenhigh 