Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Can you hear the bells?

On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, around its hem, with bells of gold between them,  34 a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe.  35 And it shall be on Aaron 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 does not die.  Exodus 28:33-35

CF family,

I think I'll always treasure this "sound" of the ministering High Priest making atonement for the sins of the people after this week's message.  I can imagine the fugitives in crowds around the tabernacle......pin-dropping silent.....and listening to the ministering Priest behind the veil and the ringing of the bell that told all he still lived.  It makes me hear the bell as Christ preaches on the mount....as He walks on the water.....as He cleanses the temple....as He washes the disciple's feet.....and then as He goes from trial to trial, beaten and mocked.........and then dragging a cross-beam to Golgotha.  I can hear the bell as He heaves on Calvary.....as He thirsts.  And then the silence as He breathes His last.  What a pregnant horrible silence that must have been for the disciples, for Mary and Martha, for His family members....for Joseph of Arimathea.

Can you imagine "hearing" this silence while you stood with the fugitives outside the tabernacle on the Day of Atonement?  What would happen to your sin?  Would you be consumed by a Holy God?  Or condemned?  Would your fate be like the fates of Nadab and Abihu?  Can you imagine the looks on people's faces in the crowds if the High Priest's bell stopped ringing!??!

But then......after you've imagined this for a moment....imagine the joy that would come when you hear the bell ring again!!!!  Just when you thought all was lost and you were doomed.......imagine hearing it ring as He burst forth from a borrowed tomb on a dewy Sunday morning!?!?  Then know that since that first Easter morning every note and every plink of every piano key or guitar string or vocal chord or cymbal joins these tiny bells in song as we worship a risen and reigning and ruling King and High Priest!

That's hope fodder right there, people of God.  That'll give you some perspective as you go about this week whatever you face.  I hope and pray you're hearing the bells.

I love y'all and am so blessed to serve you,

Ben  

The Spring of My Hope

From "The Valley of Vision", a collection of Puritan Prayers:

Glorious Jehovah, my Covenant God,
All Thy promises in Christ Jesus are yea and amen,
and all shall be fulfilled.
Thou hast spoken them, and they shall be done,
commanded, and they shall come to pass.


Yet I have often doubted Thee,
have lived at times as if there were no God.
Lord, forgive me that death in life,
when I have found something apart from Thee,
when I have been content with ephemeral things.


But through Thy grace I have repented;
Thou hast given me to read my pardon in the wounds of Jesus,
and my soul doth trust in Him, my God incarnate,
the ground of my life,
the spring of my hope.


Teach me to be resigned to Thy will,
to delight in Thy law,
to have no will but Thine,
to believe that everything Thou doest is for my good.


Help me to leave my concerns in Thy hands,
for Thou hast power over evil,
and bringest from it an infinite progression of good,
until Thy purposes are fulfilled.


Bless me with Abraham’s faith
that staggers not at promises through unbelief.
May I not instruct Thee in my troubles,
but glorify Thee in my trials.


Grant me a distinct advance in the divine life;
May I reach a higher platform,
leave the mists of doubt and fear in the valley,
and climb to hill-tops of eternal security in Christ
by simply believing He cannot lie,
or turn from His purpose.



Give me the confidence I ought to have in Him
who is worthy to be praised,
and who is blessed forevermore.