FBC Daily Devotional – April 2, 2021

Well, a Good Friday to you, and indeed, it's called that, isn't it? Good Friday?

And some have asked the question, why is it called Good Friday? I mean, this is the day that Jesus was crucified.

Why is that a Good Friday? Well, it's a Good Friday for us, because if he had not died on that cross in our place, then we are the ones that would have to die eternally.

But he did die for us, and that is a good work that he has performed in our behalf.

And he has done so as our great High Priest, offering the sacrifice of himself for our sins in his own body on that cross.

And for that we are truly grateful, and that was indeed a good work of the

Lord Jesus in our behalf. Well, I should be,

I suppose, giving a devotional related to the crucifixion, or perhaps

Resurrection Sunday, but I made a pledge at the beginning of the year that these devotionals would focus on the

Scripture -reading passages for the Scripture -reading plan. And I just want to be faithful to that.

So, you read today Exodus 39 and 40, and then in Psalm 35.

I just want to focus in Exodus 39 and 40 on four ideas that come out.

One of them has to do with the garments that Aaron and the priests had to wear.

Isn't it interesting to you that God specified that they had to be dressed in a certain way to carry out their functions in the temple or the tabernacle?

They couldn't just wear their everyday common clothes to go in and do their service. Now, that is not, by the way, a basis for saying that pastors have to wear a certain clerical garb, or that when you go to church you have to have a certain kind of clothing to go to church.

That's not the case at all. Remember that the priests, especially the high priest, was a picture of and representative of Christ.

And as the high priest was to go into the Holy of Holies every year, he had to be clothed in a particular, distinct manner, lest the whole affair be defiled.

And what this points out is that the priests have to be properly clothed to enter into God's presence.

And you know what? We are. And we're not properly clothed if we wear a suit and tie on Sunday or a certain kind of dress or whatever.

We're properly clothed when we're clothed in the righteousness of Christ. When you trust

Jesus as your Savior, God in his grace imputes unto you the righteousness of Christ, wraps you in the robes of Christ's righteousness, which gives you the authority to go boldly into the throne of grace and to meet with the

Lord. So, let's give thanks that if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you are robed properly as a priest, robed in the righteousness of Christ.

The second thing I want to point out is these 12 stones that are on the breastplate, the breastpiece that Aaron was to wear when he carried out his functions as the high priest.

And on that breastpiece were 12 precious stones, and one of the names of the tribe, a tribe's name was engraved in each stone.

12 different stones, one for each tribe in Israel. And what that emphasizes is the preciousness of God's people to God himself, that they are on his heart just as they are resting against the heart of the high priest.

And correspondingly, our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, as he carried out his high priestly ministry, offering the sacrifice of himself on that cross, he carried in his bosom the people who would be his people.

As he said, my sheep know my voice and they hear me, they follow me.

Those are the ones that are on the heart of Jesus as he hangs on that cross, dying in their place.

And then thirdly, on Aaron's head, there was this turban. He wore a turban, and on the turban was placed a gold plate that had an inscription on it, and the inscription said,

Holy to the Lord. So, now watch this. When he would go into that Holy of Holies every year, he was wearing this turban, and on his forehead was this inscription, this name, the

Lord, Yahweh. And that he, the priest, is consecrated, separated unto

Yahweh, unto the Lord. Alright, now what's significant about that is in Revelation 21, where we read this fantastic account of the

New Jerusalem, which is the Bride of Christ, which is the Church, we're told in Revelation 22,

I'm sorry, 22 verse 4, that those who comprise the Bride of Christ will see his face, and they will have his name on their foreheads.

So just as Aaron would go into that Holy of Holy place every year where the

Lord dwelt, and he would figuratively and through a cloud see the presence of the

Lord, even that was veiled from him. But he had that name of the

Lord on his forehead. But there will be no cloud in the New Jerusalem for the

Bride of Christ. There will be no cloud, there will be no mist, there will be no incense smoke that prevents us from seeing the

Lord. We will see him face to face. We'll see his face, and his name will be in our foreheads.

And then the last thing I wanted to point out is the chapter in the book of Exodus ends with an emphasis, you see it repeatedly, this phrase repeated over and over again, it says, as the

Lord commanded. As the Lord commanded. They made this thing as the

Lord commanded. They built the tabernacle and put it together in the way that the Lord commanded.

They made the incense as the Lord commanded. They did everything as the

Lord commanded. And what this is emphasizing, particularly on Moses' part, what this is emphasizing is the total meticulous obedience of Moses to carry out exactly what the

Lord told him to do. And it says, then he finished the work.

He did exactly what the Lord told him to do, and he finished the work.

This is a pretty strong encouragement to you and to me, isn't it?

What is the Lord telling you to do? What is he telling us to do collectively as God's people?

What is he telling us to do individually as an individual Christian? Would that we were as meticulous in our obedience to do as the

Lord commanded, as Moses, so that at the end of our days we can say we have finished the work?

May that be our prayer. May that be our goal. May that be our desire, even in this day.

All right, well, have a good rest of your Friday. And trust, if you can make it

Sunday, Easter Sunday, we'll be having a sunrise service, or calling it sunrise service, but at 8 o 'clock it's the service.

The sun will be well up by then. But anyway, we call it sunrise service at 8 o 'clock, and that's going to be followed by a little breakfast brunch kind of thing, and then

Sunday school Bible study time at 9 .30, and then the morning worship service on Easter Sunday at 10 .30.

So if you can make it to any of these things, you'd be more than welcome to join us, and I trust you will.

One way or the other, be able to worship the Lord, the risen Savior, on Resurrection Sunday, the

Lord's Day. Well, until then, have a good day, and I trust