The Daily Word of Righteousness

Three Works of Grace, #11

And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. (Exodus 27:1)

The Three Symbols of Judaism

The three major symbols of Judaism are the Altar, the Lampstand, and the Booth. God's will for mankind, beginning with the elect, the saints, the true Israel of God consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, who are the firstfruits to God of mankind, is revealed in the Altar, the Lampstand, and the Booth.

The Altar. First of all, God wants all people, especially His elect, to know He is God. The Altar means we have been created to worship God, not to go about as being gods ourselves. We are to bow the knee in worship in every aspect of our life.

We are to receive God's plan of salvation through the blood of the cross and not attempt to create our own righteousness, whether by the Law of Moses or by any other moral code.

When an individual places the world first in his thoughts, emphasizing what he eats and drinks and wears, his sleep, his play, his work, his reproductive activities, he or she is little more than an animal. He may be brilliant and industrious, highly talented and personable, but he is little more than an animal.

Man was created to worship God. This is the meaning of the Altar. When a person does not center his life around the worship of God, presenting his body a living sacrifice that he may prove God's will for his life, he or she is not man.

The first work of grace, salvation through the blood of the cross, depends on our choice—whether we are to find our own way in life or else to bow the knee to God and accept His rule over us through Christ.

The Lampstand. The seven-branched Lampstand of Jewry is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, and also of Christ—the One anointed with the Holy Spirit of God.

It is the will of God that people look to the Spirit of God to help them in every aspect of life as they seek to worship and serve God. The wisdom and energy man needs to conduct his affairs in a manner pleasing to God can come only from the Spirit of God. Human wisdom and energy can never enable us to serve God as we should.

God desires that we be just and upright. Only the Spirit of God can enable us to be just and upright in our dealings with people.

God desires that we be holy in personality and behavior. To be holy is to be set apart to God for His special purposes. Only the Holy Spirit can enable man to think, speak, and act in a manner that is of God and through God. The flesh and soul of man will always think, speak, and act in a spiritually unclean manner. Man cannot be in the image of God and part of God except as the Spirit of God makes possible such separation to God and His purposes.

God has given us the ability to speak in tongues so we might learn how to yield our spirit to the spirit of God and thus to enter the Sabbath rest of God. Tongues are the rest and the refreshing for those who look constantly to God for guidance and strength from His Spirit.

To be continued.