Heralds Digest

  “And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.” ‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭2:13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ With all the listed offerings in the tabernacle of meeting, including burnt offering, peace offering, and grain offering, the common denominators comprise the use of fire and salt. While the fire connotes the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the salt signifies the preservation of the goodness or grace of God. Irrespective of the size, choice, and the type of provisions on the basis of the strength, the elaborate procedures must engage the use body and soul of the offerers of sacrifice. Therefore, salt offers the necessary preservatives to the taste that is capable of wearing dullness. Likewise, life’s services to humanity as sacrifice to the Lord are often challenged by dullness, discouragement, and disappointment. Without a consistent supp...

  “According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. Then Moses looked over all the work, and indeed they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, just so they had done it. And Moses blessed them.” Exodus‬ ‭39:42-43‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Every serious service provider or product manufacturer in a competitive marketplace is concerned about customer’s review and complete satisfaction. Since the outcomes of these reviews control market participation and penetration, many business owners will leave no stone unturned in a bid to influence market participants and generate unworthy satisfaction reports. But those who envision services to humanity as services to God know that the Creator of heaven and earth cannot be mocked. Since they are truly convinced that only sincere services guarantee complete satisfaction, all efforts are channeled to ensure regulatory standards are followed in service planning, execution, and delivery. On the tabernacle project, it ...

  “Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord had commanded Moses. And with him was Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer, a weaver of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and of fine linen.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭38:22-23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ One of the amazing beauties of collaboration was demonstrated by Bezalel and his associates towards the construction of the tabernacle, instrument of services, and the design of the order of services. In spite of the diverse spread of discipline and specialties of the workmen, the coordination of all activities by Bezalel was simple; because his submission to instructions from Moses was equally simple. Otherwise, Bezalel could have challenged the supervisory right on the basis of the lack of Moses’ experience and expertise; or he might have promoted his right to independent judgment on the basis of his endowment with divine wisdom. It implies that complex service deliveries may involve th...

  “So Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.” And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done—indeed too much.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭36:6-7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The surplus supplies for the work of the tabernacle in the wilderness was definitely a perfect illustration of sufficient provision for all of human needs, which are according to God’s perfect will. When the scriptures say that the Lord will provide for all our needs according to His riches, and not according to our resources, it is evident that our needs must be adopted as God’s needs or vice versa. Unfortunately, most of the time in life, human’s personal needs are irrational, selfish, and inconsiderate. And when these needs are not supplied,  the true motives behind the needs are readily manifested through anger, in-fighting, and the destabili...

  “And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying: ‘Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze…” Exodus‬ ‭35:4-5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Generally, there is nothing special about sacrifices. It is the normal call of responsibility to everyone who care to step out for the needs of others. The most important thing is that, even though we are motivated differently, people are generally motivated based on self interests; while making sacrifices in all our life’s relationships and commitments. In the Old Testament, and with all the lists of items from the Israelites’ material possessions, the rush for people to outrun one another on the basis of class and status is evident. And just as Moses emphasized the focus of God only on those who are of a willing heart, we know that God is always focussed on the gift in the believe...

  ““See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭31:2-3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ A focus on the service requirements towards the construction of the tabernacle, holy garments,  ark of the Testimony, temple furniture and utensils, and the compounding of the incense and anointing oil for the holy place is both scary and complicated. But at the end, God told Moses “ See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the [Service] Spirit of God” . The referenced Spirit here is far from the intelligence of men. Whenever the service spirit in life’s projects and engagements is limited to the accumulation of Human Resources, we are always right to be concerned with all deliverables from our service offerings. Whereas, God is not really concerned about human ...

  “And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭28:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The uniqueness in the grace version of the holy garments for Aaron and his sons cannot be mistaken: “ And you shall make holy garments…for glory and for beauty ”. This grace comes with the embodiment of God’s glory and the empowerment of human beauty. Prior to the construction of these holy garments, the humanly-endowed grace garment in ministers can only boast of the accumulation of skills, worldly wisdom, material wealth, and earthly achievements. Unfortunately, these achievements may only minister to the flesh and provide different kinds of emotional excitement. Whereas, the divinely-inspired grace garments are engraved with the passion for the souls of the people, like Aaron’s garments had the names of the sons of ...