THE DAILY SERVICE

THE DAILY SERVICE The priests began their morning duties by removing (with whatever help was necessary from their assistants, the Levites) the ashes accumulated in consequence of the burnt offering of the previous evening, to the place appointed for them beyond the camp (Leviticus 6:10-11), and by supplying the fire with fresh fuel. After this, having washed at the laver, and put on their official robes—the garments for glory and for beauty—they were ready to begin the work of daily atonement. The altar fire is now blazing, and the curling smoke ascending heavenwards. There stands Aaron resplendent in his golden vestments, the jewels on his breast sparkling in the morning sun, and beside him are his sons attired in raiment pure and white. The worshippers who are now entering the court are the national representatives (the elders). At length a lamb is led to the door of the tabernacle, where it is carefully examined by the priests; and, being a male of the first year, and without spot or defect, is declared to be a proper victim, and is then led to the north side of the altar, where it is slain, and its body burned in the same manner as the private offerings already described. A meat offering of flour mingled with oil, and a drink offering of wine, accompany the burnt offering (Exodus 29:38-46). The other principal part of the morning service was the offering of incense. The high priest, or other priest appointed to this duty, entered the holy place in the morning. His first business was with the golden candlestick. He trimmed the lamps one by one, removing any dust or other defilement that may have gathered on it during the night, so that it might stand pure and spotless. The lamps, furnished with fresh oil, burned brilliantly, affording ample light to enable the priests to officiate in the sanctuary. Repairing now to the court, he filled a censer with fire from off the brazen altar; and, re-entering the holy place, put it on the golden altar, at the same time dropping a handful of incense on the fire. Immediately clouds pregnant with sweet odors arose, and, penetrating through the veil, were borne onward to Israel’s God enthroned in visible symbol on the mercy seat (Exodus 30:7-11). No mention is made of sacred song in connection with the tabernacle worship in the wilderness; but in the holy land it formed part of the sacred service, no fewer than four thousand Levites being specially set apart by David for conducting the praises of God’s house. The service in the evening was nearly similar to that of the morning. By means of the morning and evening services, the respective sins of the past night and day were atoned for, thus securing at least the remission of temporal punishment, and the continuance of God’s gracious presence in the midst of Israel. The devotion of the whole animal, as a sacrifice, was representative of the people anew dedicating themselves wholly to God. The meat offering accompanying the sacrifice of the morning and evening lamb was an acknowledgment of God as the bestower of daffy mercies. While thanking God by it for mercies received, they also by it looked to Him as the source from whence fresh supplies were to be drawn, so that through this offering we may hear the voice of supplication, as well as of thanksgiving, saying “Give us this day our daily bread.” How meet it was that the Israelites, favored by God above all the nations of the earth, should begin and end the day with these appropriate services! By the offering of incense the priest symbolically interceded with God for the people, the ascending perfumed cloud being the nation’s embodied prayer. Israelites in the court, and not improbably many who gathered around the sacred precincts without, as well as the pious throughout the camp, knowing the time of incense (Luke 1:10), made it a time of prayer; so that with the morning and evening incense, their united supplications might blend, and together reach the mercy seat. The two chief parts of the morning and evening service were typical of the two great parts of Christ’s work. The lamb sacrificed typified His atonement, and the offering of incense His intercession. The daily burnt offering, more significantly than the free-will burnt offerings, prefigured the death of Christ; for while these might be taken from oxen, sheep, goats, or doves, that must be a lamb. Christ is never called an ox, a sheep, or a goat, but He is named the “Lamb of God.” It also foreshadowed more significantly than these other sacrifices the necessity of daily application of the blood of Jesus to a sinner’s conscience, in order to procure his forgiveness. The offering of incense prefigures the intercession of Him, who, with His own blood, passed through the veil into the true Holy of Holies; where, at the heavenly throne, He ever liveth to plead its merits, on behalf of His believing people, as He presents their evening and morning prayers, as well as all their holy breathings to His and their heavenly Father. In the more corrupt ages of Jewish history, the offering of sacrifices and of incense became a dead letter, to the great majority of both priests and people. For by engaging in the services of the sanctuary with impure and impenitent hearts, the people let their sacrifices and their incense become an “abomination to Him” (Proverbs 15:8; Isaiah 1:10-17). This sad result, however, did not arise from any defect in these means of grace. They were God’s appointed means for the spiritual growth of His ancient people, and it was in a prayerful improvement of them that Old Testament saints were made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. Daily communion with God tended to keep the flame of spiritual life alive in their souls. God’s promise to those who frequented the sanctuary was “There I will meet with thee.” The language of pious souls was, “We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, even of Thy holy temple;” and, when deprived of the privilege of worshipping there, they ardently longed for a renewal of it My thirsty soul longs veh’mently,
Yea faints,
Thy courts to see;
My very heart and flesh cry out,
O living God for Thee.

There were always some, even in the most corrupt ages of Jewish history, who worshipped God in spirit and in truth, and who, like David and Isaiah, and Zacharias the priest, and good old Simeon, drew water daily out of these wells of salvation, and in every bleeding sacrifice beheld the bleeding “lamb of God.” It is so still. The means of grace to some are a savor of life, to others a savor of death. There are still, as of old, many merely formal worshippers. On the other hand, there are many, and an ever-increasing number, who profit by waiting upon the Lord in the Christian assembly, and delight greatly when their steps are bent thitherward, like the pious worshipper of old who sang joyfully, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” And while in the sanctuary they engage in spirit in the same exercises as Old Testament saints did in the tabernacle and temple, the great sacrifice is held up in the Christian assembly, not in type but in truth. Every faithful minister of the gospel considers it his greatest honor and privilege to hold it up. “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There, too, incense is offered up—even the praise and prayers that ascend from the altar of renewed hearts—to the heavenly throne. Do you delight in visiting the courts of the Lord’s house? If so, it is well. Wait upon the Lord there, and you shall be satisfied with the goodness of God’s house, even of His holy temple. Few sanctuaries are open for worship on the ordinary days of the week; but we believe the time is coming, and may be near at hand, when in every town or district, at least the doors of one Christian meeting-place will be thrown open for those who are inclined, and who can find it convenient to come together to seek God’s face, and communion with Him who has said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst.” The privilege of daily worship may be enjoyed at the family altar, and by all believers in their own closets, and surely no true Christian will be content with less than morning and evening service. Christians are under deeper obligations than Old Testament saints were, to begin and end the day with exercises implying thankfulness for mercies received, sorrow for sin, the consecration of themselves, and all they have, to Him who bought them with His own precious blood. Our first look every morning, and our last one every night, should be to the atoning Lamb of God; our first notes of praise when we awake, and our last ones ere we fall asleep, should be songs of praise to our adorable Redeemer; our first givings at the dawn of day, and our last at its close, should be the giving of ourselves anew to Him who gave Himself for us. If we live in daily communion with God, we will go on unto perfection, every day exhibiting more and more of the beauty of holiness. Thus living, we need not be afraid to die. How calmly at night we may lay our head on our pillow, and close our eyes, knowing if they should never open again here, they will open in that bright world where there is no night, but endless day; or, when leaving our dwellings in the morning to pursue our daily calling, how cheerfully we may go forth, knowing that if death should overtake us by the way, and prevent us from ever again re-entering our earthly habitation, we shall find a home in the skies. Or should we, like the great majority of our fellows, have some little warning of our approaching desolation, how peaceful our dying-bed will be: the entrance of the last enemy into our chamber will not overwhelm us with terror. Having long been in the daily habit of looking with child-like trust to Jesus, and of committing our souls to His keeping, we know that He will not forsake us when we come to stand on Jordan’s bank, but will fulfill His promise, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” He will then hold out to us His own loving and almighty hand; and as we place ours in it for the last time on this side of the river, we need not fear, but feel safe and happy, assured that He will conduct us in safety through the stream—”The narrow stream of death”—and bring us into the better land, and into His Father’s house of many mansions.

Jesus, the vision of Thy face
Hath overpowering charms,
Scarce shall I feel death’s cold embrace,
If Christ be in my arms.