Have you ever wondered, “Now that I am a Christian, what am I supposed to do”? And probably no one ever told you the basics about living the Christian life.
One of the first things we should be told as new Christians is that each day we should begin by praising God. Psalm 50:14 tells us God is speaking to His people and says, “Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High.” When you read the whole psalm, you will understand how much God desires our praise compared with all the other things we think we are supposed to do.
Another thing we should begin doing as new Christians will take a little more explanation. It is a complicated story we hear much about, but this point is rarely ever mentioned.
About the year 1440 BC, God told Moses to return to Egypt in order to bring the Israelites out of captivity and bring them into the land He had promised to Abraham for his descendants. Moses returned to Egypt and with the help of his brother, Aaron, confronted Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave.
We learn that Pharaoh had no intention of complying with the demands of a God he knew nothing of. But God prepared ten (10) signs and wonders to demonstrate His power to Pharaoh so that the Israelites would be released. The first time Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, he demanded a miracle.
The first sign involved changing a shepherd’s staff into a snake. Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing. “But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs”. (Ex. 7:8-13) The second sign involved changing water into blood. Aaron struck the Nile river, and it turned to blood; the magicians did the same thing. All the water in the river, ponds and containers turned to blood, the fish died, and everything had a foul odor. “All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink the water from the river.” (Ex. 7:14-25)
Exodus 8 continues with the third sign using frogs, the fourth sign with gnats, and the fifth sign with flies. In Chapter 9, we read about plagues on the livestock, boils on people, hail that destroyed people, animals, and crops. Eight signs had now been given to Pharaoh. The ninth plague is found in Exodus 10 and is about locusts and darkness.
Exodus 11 and 12 are about the last plague, and Pharaoh’s order to leave Egypt. It cost the Egyptians greatly because the oldest son in each Egyptian family died that night.
Moses led the people out of Egypt through the Red Sea and into the wilderness to Mt. Sinai. During this trip, the Israelites saw God perform great miracles for them by providing food and water. Moses found out these people God had freed were great complainers. Every time they had a little difficulty, they would gripe. Several times they compared their journey into freedom with their lives in slavery, and they wanted to return to Egypt.
Mount Sinai became a life changing experience for the Israelites. Here they met with God for the first time although He had been leading them all the way. “Exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai.” (Ch. 19:1) In verses 3-6, Moses went up on the mountain to speak with God, and God gave him instructions of what to tell the people. In verse 6, Moses was to tell the people, “And you will be My kingdom of priests, my holy nation.”
Moses went back down the mountain and told the people everything the Lord had commanded him to say to the people. “All the people responded together, ‘We will do everything the Lord has commanded’.” Moses returned to the mountain and relayed the people’s response. Moses then told the people to prepare for God’s appearance to them in three days.
In chapter 19, the Lord appeared to the Israelites. Beginning in verse 18 it says, “All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered His reply.”
In chapter 20, we read that the Lord gave the people the ten commandments. “When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightening and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. And they said to Moses, ‘You speak to us and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die’.”
Because the people rejected the Lord’s offer to be His holy nation, His kingdom of priests, the Lord honored their decision. Instead of being a kingdom of priests, they became a kingdom with priests. God then chose the tribe of Levi to be the priests and other religious workers.
What did this chosen tribe do? They offered sacrifices on behalf of the people, and they appeared before the Lord to burn incense as prayers lifted to God for the people. They were the teachers of God’s Scriptures. They were workers who copied the Scriptures and handled other jobs like helping the poor and visiting the sick. They interceded in disputes between people. They cleaned the Tabernacle, the Temple in later years, and the Synagogues.
This system lasted until 70 AD when the Romans destroyed the Temple and it was never rebuilt even though the city was rebuilt by Christians a few centuries later. Because the people had no direct contact with God, their minds and hearts wandered. Over time the people began to forget about God; they didn’t find Him much different from the pagan gods surrounding them, and they worshipped those pagan gods or forgot about God altogether.
But when the Church was established during and after the ministry of Christ and His death and resurrection, God chose to offer the original system to believers. “You are coming to Christ, Who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. . .And you are living stones that God is building into His spiritual temple. What’s more, you are His holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. . .you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:4-9)
So what can we do as Christians? We can choose to be like the Israelites and let God speak to our pastor who in turn will tell us what God said. Or we can claim our role as priests, study what God says through the Bible, and intercede for the salvation of men and women, boys and girls of every language, tribe, people, and nation. Will we accept the challenge to study and pray as the early church did? Are we willing to experience real growth in the church of the living God as the early church did on Pentecost and for centuries after? The choice is ours!