Then the LORD said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to Aaron: In all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect will qualify to offer food to his God. No one who has a defect qualifies, whether he is blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, or has a broken foot or arm, or is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or has a defective eye, or skin sores or scabs, or damaged testicles. No descendant of Aaron who has a defect may approach the altar to present special gifts to the LORD. Since he has a defect, he may not approach the altar to offer food to his God. However, he may eat from the food offered to God, including the holy offerings and the most holy offerings. Yet because of his physical defect, he may not enter the room behind the inner curtain or approach the altar, for this would defile my holy places. I am the LORD who makes them holy.” [Leviticus 21.16-23]
Over and again, God reminds Moses that He, the LORD is holy. In this part of the Bible, references to God's holiness abound. It seems God is intent on establishing the fact that He is holy and because He is holy consideration must be given to what may or may not come into His presence.
In the passage above, God is very specific why imperfection may not come into His presence - it would defile God's holy places.
So, let's see, the Tabernacle was one of those holy places. Why? Because God dwelt there. And, where is God today? In heaven. So, we may conclude that, Because God dwells there, heaven is a holy place.
Furthermore, if heaven is a holy place because God dwells there, then defects cannot be present there because they would defile God's holy place! So we may conclude that sickness, disease, and defects of any kind are not present in heaven.
Having arrived at the conclusion that physical defects cannot be present in heaven, we may then see the importance of Jesus teaching His followers to pray: "May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." [Matthew 6.10b]
You see, every miracle Jesus performed was an execution of this teaching about how to pray. Because blindness cannot exist in heaven, Jesus made unseeing eyes conform to the way it is in heaven - seeing! Because cripple legs cannot exist in heaven, Jesus made worthless limbs conform to the way it is in heaven - functioning and strong! We could go on and on here with every miracle Jesus performed!
If defects are unacceptable in God's presence, how could we ever conclude that God would put defects upon people that He wants to be in His presence? It cannot be.
And so, when we do not understand why defects are upon people, we should NEVER assume God did it! We should however conclude that defects are the work of sin (as is defined clearly in Deuteronomy 28) and then get to work as Jesus worked to impose the standard of heaven (no defects) on earth. It starts in our prayer life!
To simply pray, "May Your will be done," is, at best, insufficient, and, at worst, disobedient! Our prayers should ALWAYS reflect the understanding that heaven (God's presence) dictates what God's will is and is not. And if defects are not allowed in heaven, we can be 100% sure how we are to pray for people on earth!
We need to hush all the religious doctrines and theologies that make God's will out to be mysterious. Every definition of heaven found in the Bible shines light on God's will on earth. Every definition of what may or may not come into God's presence is our definition of what may or may not exist in our presence on earth! Why do we know this? Because Jesus taught us to pray, "May your will be done on earth, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN." [Matthew 6.10b] And furthermore, every miracle Jesus performed confirmed God's will for humanity - and Jesus' command that we do as He did gives us all the direction we need to understand God's will on earth.
Now, before letting our minds go to work explaining why we do not look like Jesus today - before we resort to doctrines and theological nonsense to explain away our "Jesus-responsibility" on earth, why not just repent for our unbelief and purpose in our hearts and lives to look and act like Jesus in every circumstance? Just because we do not see the results we should see does not relieve us of the responsibility to do the works of Jesus! If anything, our powerlessness should drive us to fast and pray more (not make excuses).
Father, I am compelled once again today to fast and pray more.
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