Everything about the tabernacle rituals points forward to Christ and to what is now a reality for us under the New Covenant that he inaugurated. In this rich tapestry of symbolic meaning the role of the Levites plays an important part. The Levites were just one tribe among the other tribes of Israel, but they symbolise what all God’s people would become under the New Covenant. God says of us now exactly what he said of the Levites then: “They are to be mine” (3:13). Christians often see their church leaders as equivalent to the Levites. And indeed, they are, but not to the exclusion of everyone else. Under the Old Covenant, God called the Levites to be the ones who maintained the tabernacle worship (from washing dishes to serving as priests in the Holy Place) so that the wider community could be blessed by God through it. In the same way God calls all Christians to take responsibility to maintain the house of God (however humble or elevated that contribution might be), the church, so that the wider community might be blessed through it. Don’t leave the business of ministry to a select group of ‘professional ministers’. The role of church leaders is to “equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:12). The works of service are therefore not the role of a select few but the responsibility of every member of the church. When we all take responsibility for the ministry of the church then we rise “to become a holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:21).
Reflect on what part God is calling you to play in the ministry of his church.
Read Numbers 3 and 4
