Christ in all the scriptures Redemption a requirement for worship

 Christ in all the scriptures

Awareness of redemption  Exodus 30v11-16

We have already seen how the script of the tabernacle portrays God approaching man in chapters 25-27; and the way for man to approach God in chapters 28-30.  Such a high privilege assumes that it is God who sets out the terms of approach.  In these verses we have the first requirement, that those who approach God must be redeemed.  This may seem obvious to all, but it is not so in the present world, nor was it back then.  We hear people say glibly, "I pray every night", when scripture says "The sacrifice of the lawless is an abomination to the Lord"-Proverbs 15v8; again "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination"-Proverbs 28v9; also Psalm 66v18 "If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me".  The only prayer God hears from a sinner is the cry for mercy on repentance, like the cry of the publican in Luke 18v13, "God be merciful to me a sinner".   It's too easy to talk about "our prayers for you", when the same people have rejected salvation.  Again, we constantly witness billboards outside so-called churches, inviting the public to "come and worship with them".  This is a fallacy for only those who are redeemed are called to worship.

"When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them"-30v12.  All of God's people are numbered and all are redeemed.  "The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His, and, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity"-2nd Timothy 2v19.  Redemption is the great subject of Exodus, and it focuses on a people who were in slavery in Egypt but who were redeemed (bought back) by blood and by Divine power.  The point here, however is not simply the fact of redemption but their own personal awareness of it, "...then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul"-v12; "This shall they give every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary"-v13; "Every one that passeth among them that are numbered from 20 years old and above shall give an offering unto the Lord"-v14.  "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls"-v15.  This was a token amount, (very small in value-in modern terms, only a few pounds).  The offering was not based on status or wealth, as in fact the ransom of the soul is priceless-Psalm 49v7-8.  Every one came to God on the same basis, and He accepted them for the silver that represented the true redemption cost.  There is a wonderful thought in Romans 3v24 in this respect...(All sinners understood-v23) "Being justified freely by His grace (it costs us nothing) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (it cost Him everything!)  All we are are sinners in His sight who have come short of His glory, who have been enslaved to indwelling sin, who are now redeemed (bought out of bondage at infinite cost).  Only on this basis can we approach in prayer/worship.  Anything we bring in offering is minute compared to the cost of our redemption.

The purpose of the half shekel offering was to make them aware of the meaning of redemption whereby they were able to worship Him.  When we come, we don't worship out of a sense of our own goodness or abilities.  We come in full assurance but in humility, that only the sacrifice of His majestic person has made this high privilege possible.  This is the first principle of worship, we offer to Him but a little of which He has showered on us.  Do we understand the meaning of redemption?  Do we know that only on redemption ground can any of us approach Him?  Do we come to worship Him out of a sense of our own worthiness, or in the awareness that only because "in Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins"-Ephesians 1v7?

One aspect of redemption that is often missed is that the Redeemer now owns us, "lock, stock, and barrel"!  He owns us individually; Paul to the Corinthians, 1st epistle 6v19-20 "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and spirit which are God's"

He owns us corporately  Acts 20 v28 "Take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which He has purchased with His own blood".  The church does not belong to overseers or deacons or any other group, each church belong to Christ.

He owns all churches universally   Ephesians 1v13-14 "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also that after that ye believed (better-having believed), ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory".

The little they were asked to offer went toward the maintenance of the work of the tabernacle-there is a material cost in the work of God.  Redemption ground and all that it means, symbolised by the half shekel offering, is the first principle of worship.  It is the centre and circumference of true worship.  The silver offered was quantified to the last shekel-Exodus 38v25-28, and was used as the foundation for the boards and the pillars; also the tabernacle was surrounded by the silver hooks and chapiters on each external pillar.  The silver which represents redemption is fundamental to the worship of God.