Exodus 30:11-16
New King James Version (NKJV)
The Ransom Money
11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. 13 This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the Lord. 15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves. 16 And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.”While reading a few things occured to me. Just as the Father had Moses number the children of Israel in their day, Yeshua says:
John 6:39 - This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
The number of His children [YahWeh's children] has been given to Yeshua [Jesus] - none of that number will be lost as they have been counted to have accepted Yeshua's ransom on their behalf. Just like you and I [if you are a believer].
In verses 11-12 - 11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them.
*Things I see in the Scripture: We see here that in times past every man gave a ransom [as instructed in the Torah] for himself to the Father. He essentially gave a ransom for his family members as well - those who would submit to his spiritual covering/authority over them [man being the spiritual authority of the household, etc].......Yeshua is our ransom - when - we submit to Him spiritually [Ask Him to be our Lord and Savior and choose to walk in His Ways]. He is our covering and our spiritual Authority.
It is up to each of us individually now that the veil has been torn, to be accountable before the Father on whether we accept His ransom [His life on the cross] or not. The ransom has been paid. [His blood has covered our sin so that we would never be eternally separated from the Father] Are you going to believe and receive? Are you going to be counted "among them?"
**Things I see in the Scripture: The ransom removed plague from the people; Just as our ransom Yeshua removes sin from us before the Father as we come to His Throne and ultimately, will remove all plague from our lives in the Kingdom.
15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.
*Things I see in the Scripture: The atonement is being given unto the children of Israel. The Father's chosen people. Throughout Scripture we see examples of the fact that through Yeshua we are grafted in - or - adopted into the family of God - as children of Israel. His chosen people. His chosen people have not changed. They were and always will be the children of Israel. That should not be a stumbling block for us as Scripture says we are grafted into that family which consisted of the entire 12 Tribes of Israel (not just the Jews - tribe of Judah and Benjamin). The following verses point to this very thing:
Romans 8:12-17
Romans 9:1-5
Galations 4:4-5
Ephesians 1:3-6
*Note: The world "law" in Galatians 4:4-5 is referring to the law of sin and death. Not The Law as referred to The Torah [instructions for living a holy life set-apart to the Father - it has not been done away with and is still very relevent for our holy living today]. Within The Torah is the very place we find that a penalty needs to be paid for sin. If we are to interpret law here to mean we are no longer under The Law, The Torah [instructions of the Father] then we have no need of a ransom because we would not know there is a penalty to be paid for sin.
*Things I see in the Scripture above: Whether rich or poor all were required to give the same 20 shekels. None could boast one way or the other that they were somehow more in favor before the Father because of their circumstances. The atonement was being accepted through the choice to be obedient. Just as we have a choice as to whether we are going to be obedient to the call of the Father and accept our ransom - the life of His Son to cover our sin and eternal death. Will we accept that gife of grace? The atonement - and live an eternal life without plague in Heaven?
In these verses I read today, I see yet again how Moses is a picture of Yeshua. I am so in awe that every single word in The Word is still somehow relevent, alive and active for us today. Nothing, absolutely nothing about the Word has been done away with. It is the Living Word! None of it is stagnant or old. If there is one thing the Spirit is Teaching me - it is this:
DO NOT LEAN ON ANY MAN TO TEACH YOU MY WORD!
I AM YOUR TEACHER!
I WILL LEAD YOU INTO UNDERSTANDING!
DO NOT BE PART OF A LAZY GENERATION!
SET YOURSELF APART WITH ME.
DO NOT BE INFLUENCED WITH MAN'S IDEA OF TRUTH!
BE LED TO MY NARROW PATH FILLED WITH LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE AND LEARN MY WAY!
**Final pondering thought: What does the number 20 represent - 20 shekels, men age 20 - etc. I found while looking that the number 20 could represent "expectancy" - that just short of spiritual perfection (which would be the number 21 - 3 times 7). Could it be that all of the Word here is showing that atonement here is just short of what we can expect - - of what we will experience in Heaven with the Father - the ultimate fullfillment of the ransom of our Savior - the eternal, plague free, holy existence for eternity with our loving Father and Creator?
No comments:
Post a Comment