NKJV 365 Day Reading Plan / For Acceptable Worship

NKJV 365 Day Reading Plan

Day 318 of 365 For Acceptable Worship This chapter contains the account of a census of the twelve tribes for the purpose of establishing the number of able-bodied males to fight in the army of Israel. Members of the family of Levi were excluded because God had called them to special service, that is, to administer the affairs of the tabernacle and all its furnishings. Several terms are used in the Old Testament for the tabernacle. The term "tabernacle of the testimony" (1:50) is used when attention is drawn to the presence of the ark of the testimony (Ex. 31:7) which contained the two tablets of the testimony, the Ten Commandments. This name for the tabernacle reminded Israel of the inseparable link between worship and obedience. One of the tasks of the Levites was to guard the tabernacle from being profaned by unlawful access which brought the wrath of God upon the congregation (Num. 8:19; 18:5; 22). God sets His own terms for worship. While the ceremonial restrictions for worship in the Old Covenant are done away in Christ (John 4:21), the moral requirements for acceptable worship remain. Jesus tells His followers that the Father seeks worship which is in spirit (from the heart) and according to truth (as He has revealed Himself). Taken from The Devotional Daily Bible Numbers 1:47-54 NASB 47 The Levites, however, were not numbered among them by their fathers' tribe. 48 For the L ord had spoken to Moses, saying, 49"Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor shall you take their census among the sons of Israel. 50 But you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it; they shall also camp around the tabernacle. 51 So when the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites shall set it up. But the layman who comes near shall be put to death. 52 The sons of Israel shall camp, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own standard, according to their armies. 53 But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there will be no wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony." 54 Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all which the L ord had commanded Moses, so they did.