Guard Against Casually Approaching God (Exodus 28:35) by DAVID PLATT for Radical / McLean Bible Church
“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 28:35)
Oh, you’ve got to get this picture. This is talking about a golden bell that will be on the hem of Aaron, the priest’s robe when he ministers so that when he goes into the holy place, the holy of holies, he will be moving around, and people outside will be able to hear him, and they will know that if that bell stops making a noise, that means Aaron has stopped, which means they will need to pull him out, and there’s actually a way so that when he goes into the most holy place, they would be able to, if Aaron was struck down in the presence of God, he would be able to be pulled out.
So, just imagine the intensity of that scene. When this person goes into the most holy presence of God, and everybody around is just listening to make sure that bell is still making a noise because everybody’s in silent awe of the fact that there’s a person meeting with God, and their life is at stake in that.
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When I read this verse, I just am reminded of the seriousness in a sense, certainly here in the Old Testament, but even in the New Testament under the new covenant through Jesus, the seriousness involved in coming before God, and I’m convicted in my own life. So, there’s a sense in which like pray without ceasing. So, I want to pray before God as my father. I have access to his presence all the time, so I want to speak to him all the time. At the same time, I never want to forget the reality of whose presence I’m in, and I find myself doing that, and I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I’m praying. I can just bow my head like before a meal or even in the church, like I can bow my head and pray, “Dear God.” And I can just start to talk, and I’m not even thinking about who I’m talking to. Like that’s dangerous. I don’t want to pray like that. We should never pray like that. We should pray, realizing who we’re talking to with a sense, an ever constant sense, of awe at who God is and the fact that we are before him.
