Gadfly's Muse

Exodus 37 & 38: Details, Details, Details & Women's Work

Image: Aletheia, 2010, Hattiesburg, Ms

Exodus 38:8 (NKJV) ⁸ He made the laver of bronze and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

These two chapters continue the detailed description of the furnishings of the tabernacle.  We begin to get an idea of the scope of the work as each item is reviewed.  The massive altar, the delicate lampstand, the beautifully proportioned altar for incense and, most importantly, the ark.

Speaking of the ark it must have been a wonder of skilled craftsmanship.  Imagine the gold "mercy seat" extending on either side to the "cherubim" that stood guard at either end.  In 37:8 we are told that these "cherubim" were made of "one piece" with the mercy seat.  Now that is amazing to me.  I assume, since they were "beaten gold" that the entire assembly was shaped by a blacksmith technique of some sort.  As a woodworker I know how easy it is to make mistakes, slips, that detract from the final product.  Since the ark had to be perfect that meant that if the artisan made a mistake on one piece that he might have to rebuild the entire assembly.  That's astonishing to me.  I am probably reading too much into it but it catches my eye.

The other utensils and furniture are presented as impressively designed and constructed.  All too often we tend to think of our "modern" age as so superior to the ancients in all things.  We fail to see the intelligence, skill and craft that these workers displayed.  With only minimal tools by modern standards, with no helps such as sand paper, blow torches, carbon steel chisels and hand planes, they did work that could only be called "priceless" in our classification.  Truly the Holy Spirit shows Himself in such work when it comes from a heart that sincerely desires to serve the Lord and to glorify Him in the work of our hands as much as in the words of our lips.  

Which brings us to the conundrum which is verse 38:8.

Here we are told that the bronze laver was constructed from the "mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle."  Now the laver was to be positioned between the altar and the entrance to the holy place.  It is interesting that the bronze that was used to make it was from women whose regular place of assembly was "at the door of the tabernacle."  

Who are these women?  What does it mean that they were designated "serving women?"  Why did they have mirrors with them as they assembled there?  We have clues about the answers but no one can say with certainty the truth about them.

Some things we do know.  Women in ancient Egypt brought polished metal "mirrors" with them to the temples of their gods.  Even today in some Moorish women regularly incorporate small "mirrors" as ornaments on their clothing.  These mirrors may have been as such ornaments for the women or they may have served some purpose.  We have no real answer but what we know is that the women who gathered there had them available and readily gave up these precious objects for the laver.

Secondly these women are described as "serving women."  The adjective used here is also employed (in its masculine form) for men who are in active military duties.  It is significant that the women are said to "assemble" at the door of the tabernacle... again using a word that has military connotations... we would say that the military unit "mustered" at a certain location.  We are left to ponder the implications.

Evidently, as was still true hundreds of years later as we read in 1 Samuel 2:22, there was some regular ministry that these women yielded up to God in the ordinary conduct of life in Israel.  We are not told that they were specifically chosen for this service, much less that we should consider them "ordained" to such service, or whether they just voluntarily showed up and made themselves available, but that whatever they did was regularly needed.

I imagine, as basically any pastor will affirm, that just as with the modern church, the daily and ordinary housekeeping and support for the tabernacle and its Levites, was done by women who voluntarily gave of their time and efforts to do it.  We know that women and men did not worship together and that women were precluded from some portions of it, but I am certain that there were many ordinary things that needed doing.  Some theologians think that they may have supported the Levites as the women who followed Jesus and His disciples served them.  It is fascinating to consider.

What we do know is that when they showed up at the door of the tabernacle they assembled in some regular order and that they then "served" as various needs presented themselves.  God has always had a special place in His heart and in His ministry for the humble service offered up, in His name, by women.  

Such is the case still.  The roles of men and women are not as clearly distinguished now as they were 50 years ago.  It is no longer unusual for the husband to be the "stay at home dad" because the wife has the higher paying job.  The simple 'pot luck' dinner which is such a staple of Christian fellowship is no longer comprised of food that was prepared only by women.  But everything that is done in the ordinary life of a church is usually, in some very specific fashion, supported by women who serve without very much recognition and seldom with any pay.  I think Phoebe (Romans 16) was just such a woman.  A woman with a big heart and a big love for her Savior.  She was a "servant of many" and such dedicated women will always bring a smile to God's face.

Exodus 35 & 36: It Is A Beautiful Thing

Image:  Glorious Church, 2010, Severn Run E. P. Church (stylized)

Exodus 35:21 (NKJV) ²¹ Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.

Charles Dickens began his most famous (in my opinion) novel with the words "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."  Every pastor and every congregation that has commenced, endured and finished a building program will testify, I think, to the truth of those words.  There is something about "making it happen" that proves the metal of the church.  It hangs together or it doesn't.  And when it's done, and folks look back on it, they either say - "It was worth it" or "Never again."  Sometimes both attitudes are present.

But oh what a thrill it is as the vision becomes a reality.  As the earth is moved, literally, and the foundation is poured... wall frames rise up and are joined and then, one day, it is "under roof."  Just about the entire congregation gathered around our building when that steeple was lifted up by a 200' crane and set in place. (Not without some challenges by the way)  The sheer complexity of the building (when most of it is done by congregational members, often with no construction experience) is daunting and thrilling.  But at last it comes together... because the congregation comes together... all of those "whose heart was stirred, and whose spirit was willing."

That's what makes it beautiful.  The actual building itself, though beautiful, was not the real testimony.  It was the striving together to make a vision happen... that was the miracle... and none of us will ever forget it or the hands that worked to make it happen.

Moses must have had a similar reaction in his day.  How satisfying it must have been to see the children of Israel ransacking their possessions in order to provide for the tabernacle.  It is easy to pass quickly over the description of the various seamstresses, wood joiners, gold smiths and metal workers as we scan the pages and move toward more "interesting" passages yet ahead.  But God included these descriptions for our pondering.  What we see is "wisdom" at work.  It was the wisdom of ordinary people whose knowledge was in their skills that made that tabernacle beautiful... as was the case with our church also.

That movement of the heart that produces such serious commitment and unity comes from vision.  It comes from being aware, at the deepest level, that God has something for you to do in company with your brothers and sisters.  It is the energizing movement of the soul that overcomes obstacles, deals with frustrations, refuses to let petty pride interfere with mutual support and causes past grievances to be put aside, that brings out the very finest in a people or a congregation.

Along the way we see the Church as it should be in all its works.   The great challenge facing any congregation is having a sense of "doing something" or, as it is sometimes expressed, "going somewhere."  People do best when there are concrete goals to pursue as long as those goals, as with the building of the tabernacle, are seen as the will of God for the whole church.  When God gives a vision to His people it is one of the most wonderful aspects of Christian witness.  Let Satan do his worst, he cannot stand against the united, Spirit filled, people of God who are intent upon the Lord's work.

Moses did not build that tabernacle.... the people did.  Severn Run E. P. Church was not built by the pastor (though he hammered his share of nails, etc.), the people did.  And when the continued mission of the church brings people together to "build" God's Kingdom through missions, discipleship, mercy and a host of other callings, then that same sense of being involved in something important prevails.

And that is a beautiful thing indeed.

Exodus 34 - Thine is the Glory

Image:Covenant, 2014, Bombay Hook, Delaware

Exodus 34:14 (NKJV) ¹⁴ (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),

Exodus 34 is a covenant renewal chapter. The people of God had really pushed things to the limit.  Moses' had to plead with God not to destroy them all but to rather remember that they were His people, His covenant people, and that for His own glory and truth He, God, ought to show mercy to them.  Moses, in other words, did exactly what God raised him up to do and now, in Exodus 34, God not only renews His covenant with Israel but also so radiates Moses that Moses' face reflected the shining reality of God Himself.

Much in this chapter finds its NT counterpart and fulfillment on the Mount of Transfiguration.  There Jesus, the prophet greater than Moses, outshines both Moses and Elijah.  There God speaks and declares that this Man, Jesus, is His Son and that the people of God are to listen to Him.  Moses is a foreshadowing of the Great Lawgiver Who came in the flesh and renewed our Covenant with God through the once offered sacrifice of His own Person.  

So much to consider.  How beautiful God's works are.  How satisfying to contemplate.  How solemnly important is His claim on our lives.

Notice in this chapter that God reaffirms that the people that He has created for Himself are a "mission minded people."  They will not be allowed to bask in the reflected glory of Moses forever.  They have been called, pardoned, redeemed and dedicated to a task.  Before them, at the end of their journey lies a land that is to be theirs.  This is their promised land... it is to be their home... it is to be the center of their life with God and they are to discover their joy and their destiny in it.

The only problem, which was no real problem at all, was that it was a percolating cesspool of evil.  Pagans inhabited the land... but not just any old pagans... after all, Israel had just been pulled out of another pagan land, Egypt.  No, this was the land of the "Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite." (vs. 11).  These tribes/nations had, in God's providence, been allowed to sink into hideous depravity for over 400 years.  God had given them over to their sin just like He had given over the whole earth to its sin in the days of Moses, ... just like He had given over Sodom and Gomorrah to their sin in the day of Abraham.  These people were living examples of what happens when God withdraws His restraining grace from the world of fallen sinners.  As one theologian described these nations: "they were not only doing great evil, they loved doing it."  This was the "problem" that stood in the path of Israel.

Two things were commanded of God's people with respect to these peoples.  God's people were not to make any "covenant with the inhabitants of the land".  God's people were to recognize and embrace their calling.  There could be no "mixing" with these people.  There was to be not syncretism in their physical or moral make up.  God's people were to be God's people... period.

God made it very clear why.  As the pressures of warfare mounted the desire for peace would work on the Israelite morale.  They would begin to make excuses for what they saw.  They would begin to think: "They're not so bad... we could settle the land a lot quicker if we just came to terms with them."  God said "No!"  You do that and you will desecrate my people. You will introduce the venomous slime of false doctrines into your teaching and the lure of pleasure will move you to first tolerate and then participate in their depraved ways.  No. Make no excuses for them nor make any allowances for them.  They must not be allowed to be part of your community... you are to make no covenant with them.

Second, God's people were to tear down all the places of idolatry and drive out all those who loved their idols from the land.  God's people are called to warfare with the forces of demonic evil in the world and they are to take whatever steps God allows to overcome that evil.

We must be careful now to distinguish where these two aspects of God's covenant with His people still apply.  I think it is absolutely clear that it applies first and foremost to the sphere of God's visible church.  Within the Church of Jesus Christ there is and there must be a continual war with the pagan idolatry that keeps sneaking in the door.  Far too many Christians have a syncretized religion.  They are "Christian" in the Church and "Secular" in the world.  These people bring the world's ways and ideas into Christ's body and they must be confronted and repudiated.

Today the Church of Jesus Christ is being infiltrated by pagan ideas of child sacrifice (abortion), sodomy (homosexuality), worldly ambition, political aspirations, etc. etc. etc.  These things are clearly repudiated in God's word and yet they are darkening the doors of many congregations and denominations.  Christian college students are under intense pressure to repudiate all that they have been taught about the world, life and morality.  

There can be no doubt that God's people are to be mission minded today in a very similar fashion to that mind God wanted in the Israelites.  Yes we are to teach and preach and proclaim the basic gospel message... but at the same time we are to pay attention to where the war is being fought and we have to get in the battle.

Christianity is not something that is just for the "spiritual" realm.  It was in the days of Moses and in the day of Christ, a war for the whole person and the whole people.  It is not just a matter of the heart and the mind being set on heavenly things... it is also a call to real life in a real world where great dangers and great depravity are rampant.

The Israelites had Moses with his shining face to lead them into their mission.  We have the Shining Light of the Face of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, at our head.  He is greater than Moses and His mission is greater than just Palestine.  His claim is over the entire world and it is our job to go with HIm in His conquest.

 

Exodus 33: Show Me The Way....

Image:  Followers, 2014, Bombay Horn Wildlife Refuge, Delaware

Exodus 33:13 (NKJV)¹³ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”

How privileged this man Moses really was.  Everyday he would go out to the "tent of meeting" where Joshua had kept guard all night (presumably, vs. 11).  Everyday God would meet with Moses there... and talk with him... and encourage him... and establish him in the eyes of all God's people who stood and watched in awe.  God met Moses!  God was with Moses!  Moses found grace in God's sight and God knew Moses by Name! (vs. 17)

Think about it... if you had the opportunity to talk to God, face to face as it were, now, in your present redeemed but still fallen human nature, what would you do?  Would you even dare to do it?  It's a scary thought.  What would you talk to God about?  What questions would be uppermost on your mind?  I don't think questions like "Did Eve have a belly button?" would actually occur to us.  No.. if we could find our voice, which might be doubtful, I think our questions and our requests would be quite profound. 

Moses' request certainly was.

Moses asked God a "contingent" question.  He said "if I have grace in your sight..."  Moses knew that he had found grace in God's sight.  There was no way to explain all that had happened and all the high honors God had heaped on him except by being shown grace.  So Moses is speaking from strength here... "If I have found grace in your sight... as it appears to be the case... then..." and that is where Moses moves to his request.  And indeed it was most profound what he asked of God.

"Show me now Your way... that I may know You..." Knowing God, in biblical language, is always a process... it is always a state of existence... it is always a state of being.  One lives in the knowledge of God and in so living, walks in the light (John 12:35).  So Moses' request is aimed at the heart of Christian discipleship... it is to be shown how to walk... the way that we are to follow... so that in walking that path we commence knowing God.  We are introduced to God, as it were, when we are born again.  But, just as a man doesn't really know his wife until he has lived with her after their wedding day, so a Christian doesn't really begin to know God in that deepening reality of knowing Him, until that man walks with God.. daily... weekly... throughout the years... through the hilltops of joy... through the saddened seasons of grief... through fearful trials that can be terrifying (e.g. the death of a child)... and through the times of thanksgiving when our hearts are brimming with gratitude and joy.

Knowing God as our God... and knowing ourselves as having found grace in God's eyes... is not a mere intellectually held truth.  It is a vital living reality.

Jesus, in His High Priestly prayer in John 17 fulfills this prayer request of Moses.  It is interesting that Jesus' request there has much in common with Moses'.  Jesus says: vs. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.   Eternal life is "knowing God... the only true God... and Jesus Christ whom God sent."  Jesus also told His disciples that "I am the way... the truth ... and the life."  Everything that Moses asked for is summed up in Jesus' own teachings and words.

To know God is to walk with God through Jesus Christ.  It is to see every day as a pathway laid out before us in which we simply walk through whatever that day brings to us, in communion with our God and Christ.  This requires a certain level of discipline in the beginning because the ways of the world have a strong grip on us at first.  But as we commit ourselves to it... and do it... the world's grip begins to loosen and we find ourselves walking in assurance of our grace.

Moses discovered this... and so can we.

Exodus 32 - Bad Moon On The Rise

Image: Storm Brewing, 2010, Vicinity of Regina, Saskatchewan, Ca

Exodus 32:10 (NKJV)¹⁰ Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”

This chapter reveals Moses as a "re-made" man.  His whining cries that he "didn't speak good" as a pretext to get someone else to do what God wanted are a thing of the past.  He is now unhesitating in his implementation of God's commands.  There is no timidity in him now.  Moses has become a decisive leader and... most importantly... an insightful and powerful mediator.  Moses speaks up to God on behalf of God's people and on behalf of God's honor.  He has come a long way.

Two things are clear in this chapter:  (1) the tenuous hold we Christians have on trusting God, and (2) the zeal which God's Holy Spirit creates in us when we keep our hearts and our minds firmly fixed on Him and His promises. 

God's people appear always "prone to wander, .." as the old hymn intones.  Yes, it doesn't take much and we can forget basically everything God has ever told us and done for us.  Look at these Israelites.

Yes, this is a terse account.  Yes, Moses has been up on that strange mountain for a long time and no one has heard from him.  Yes, it would have been easy to imagine that God had "done him in" for some reason or other.  Yes... I can understand how God's people might be tempted.  

But what stupidity they showed.  They had been clearly told not to make images.  And Aaron... how in the world could the consecrated High Priest of the Most Holy God show so little backbone?  It is easy, sitting here on this side of the cross, and looking back on this sorry episode, to find myself getting all self-righteous and contemptuous of the Israelites.  It is easy... but I have to remember, as do we all, that all that has to happen is for any of us to be put into a strange situation... to find ourselves facing a crisis... to be struck dumb as far as knowing what to do... and doubts about the living God flood over our souls.  We doubt... we think something has to be done... so we take it upon ourselves to fix whatever it is that we face.  Along the way we push God and His teachings off to the side.

Isn't this what the Israelites did?  They fell into the heresy of thinking that they needed a "god" that would let them "rise up to play."  They wanted a god who would delight in gilded idols and as a result lend his powers to their aid on demand.  What they wanted was a god they could, to some extent, control.  

All too often that same impulse can come over any of us in a heartbeat.  And God will not tolerate it.  If there is any one lesson that we must learn before we can truly rest in the grace of Christ, it is that this God... this mighty God... is not subject to our control in any way.  We cannot manipulate Him... We cannot placate Him with false promises... We cannot even atone for our own sin.  We stand before Him helpless and totally at His disposal.  He is Holy, Holy, Holy and we are not.  Those words terrify us at first but the more we embrace them and conform to them, the more we discover just how comforting they are.  God is sovereign.  Therefore He can do what He wants.  And what He wants is to show forth His power and grace among us.  He is God... this He will do.  Therefore we must trust and not seek to walk our own paths through this world.  Especially as we see the storm clouds rising.

The second point that we see in this chapter, as I have already mentioned, is the change that the indwelling Spirit makes in us as we obediently believe.  There is Moses... but there is also Joshua who must have been on that mountain, at least to some extent, with Moses.  And then there were those Levites.

Here is zeal for God and His righteousness.  It is the zeal that drives us to intercede for God's people with God Himself.  It is the zeal that unhesitatingly brings justice to bear on those whose lives are an abomination.  It is a zeal that is at peace with God's judgment because we know that He is just and righteous in His judging.  

Jesus said that a "man's enemies will be members of his own household."  This passage illustrates that principle. The Levites were instructed to come in through all the gates... so that no guilty party could escape... and kill all of those who were engaged in the wanton, riotous behavior that flowed from the intoxicated worship of that calf.  They killed only 3,000 so it was not an indiscriminate killing at all.  They were guided by God's Spirit but they showed no mercy in fulfilling their role... no matter who it was that came before them. 

Brothers and sisters, I thank God that He no longer is giving us tasks like this.  Under the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ we are not called to burn heretics at the stake nor stamp out every idolatrous nation with whom we come into contact.  

However we are called upon to seek the purity of our church.  We are called to display a holy zeal for God and His Kingdom and His teachings. That means we are not to tolerate false teachers or false doctrines among us.  There are some questions of doctrine where men and women of good faith can differ.  We can have fellowship and still differ on these.  But in primary doctrines... no!  Our God has given us the deposit of faith in His word and the doctrines that are explicitly stated in that word.  On these things there is no compromise.

Two things we see in this chapter:  how easy it is to fall into unbelief... and how zealous the Holy Spirit makes us when we embrace our God and His Christ.  Both things must be humbly embraced.

 

Exodus 30-31: Holy - It's What God Is - It's What God Makes Us.

Image:  Serious Worship, 2010, Severn Run E. P. Church

Exodus 30:10 (NKJV) ¹⁰ .... It is most holy to the Lord.”

"Holy to the Lord" is the theme of this entire section of Exodus and the content of these two chapters serves to drive this point home in serious degree.  We are told how the table for the incense is most holy.. how the incense itself is most holy... The tabernacle itself is so holy that those who are privileged to enter it must wash with water from the holy laver "lest they die." (30:20).  The anointing oil is holy... so holy that anyone who makes a copy of it for their own private use will be "cut off from his people", cast out of the covenant community, to face the ravages of judgment that will come on those outsiders.  The same holds true for the holy incense.  The holy garments that were to cover Aaron and the other priests were to be made by a very specific man along with his helpers.  He was a man filled with wisdom for doing this kind of work under the tending Holy Spirit who gave them their skill.  

Lastly the day of worship itself is to be holy.  The worship of God on the Sabbath as well as the Sabbath itself was to be a "sign between" God and His people "as a perpetual covenant."  This is not something that God says in the context of the 10 commandments at this point.  That comes next.  The emphatic institution of the Sabbath, as God reveals it, is rooted in its creation ordnance status.  "In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth..." Moses is told and therefore the people of God are to show forth their status as God's special creation in the earth by honoring Him and keeping His Holy Sabbath holy.

I think that God's carefully phrased words of institution here, summing up the Sabbath as a sign, is the key to a supremely important aspect of Covenant living.  The worship of God, as observed by His people, is to be viewed as "most holy"... it is something that is to exhibit a reverence, solemn joy, supreme gratitude and love that is so different from the world... even from the way the world does worship for whatever it worships... that Christians are recognizably different from the world in that worship.

The Christian life should revolve around worship... especially Sabbath worship... most especially Sabbath worship.  It is "most holy" for the "prayers of the saints" (which as Revelation teaches us is the incense that rises up before God) to be offered up by a people who are very aware that they are in the Presence of Holiness.  

Worship is an outward thing... first, foremost and most significantly.  Yes and amen there is a subjective, receiving, inward blessing that comes from it.  But the "sacrifice of praise" which God requires of His people is to be understood as just that... it is something we bring... which we give... and that joyfully and transparently.  All of our "hearing" from God in worship is to be understood and reverently acknowledged as God Himself speaking to us through His word and through the holy man whom God has raised up, as He did Bezalel, and whom God has graced with the Holy Spirit and imparted wisdom and skill in the craft of preaching / teaching.  Listening to God is "most holy."  

The Sabbath is "most holy" and as a result Divinely empowered to facilitate that "rest" which comes from worship.  There is a 'specialness" that governs Sabbath worship.  Oh, I know that weekday private worship and even corporate worship, can be tender and special.  But nothing can rise to compare with the worship of the gathered people of God who understand that their worship is a "sign" that there is a God in heaven, who made the heavens and the earth and all that is in it... and Who, in the fullness of time, sent forth His Son to accomplish the full and complete redemption of His people.  It is unto the end that He be worshiped by these people whom He has created and redeemed that all of history and especially the Sabbath find its meaning and fulfillment.

The holy worship of God, accomplished by the holy people of God, in the holy manner that He has decreed that it be accomplished, is the sign of His Presence in the world.

God help us if we ever forget it.  How self-defeating it would be for the people of God to desecrate their high calling by inserting faddish trends from the world.  How our lives would be diminished when the yearning for holiness which is essential to our created status as Image bearers were denied expression and recognition.

We must be holy in our entire disposition.  Our holiness is not identical to painless-ness.  Aaron had to be consecrated before he ever took on the external dress of holiness.  No, holiness is a matter of the heart that comes from a God regenerated work in us that shows forth in faith and a yearning to be holy.  Yes it requires disciplined turning away from sin but it also pushes us to realize our forgiveness in Christ and to understand what it means to be "washed in the waters of regeneration."  All of this God has done in order to establish us as holy... so that we can worship in a "most holy" manner.

These chapters point us to holy worship as an object of our desire, an institution of our community and the express proclamation of our status.  Worship is serious business ... it is most holy to the Lord.

Exodus 25-27: A House Fit For A King

Image: House of God, 2014, Scotland, UK

Exodus 25:8 (NKJV) ⁸ And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.

These chapters are simply brimming with detail.  That should stop us in our tracks.

We look at the great churches and cathedrals that have been built throughout the centuries and we are impressed.  We wonder how artisans with no computers, no advanced engineering or architectural degrees, could build such soaring steeples.... could fix such beautiful load bearing walls that could allow for beautiful stain glass windows.  We are impressed and we should be.  They are great works.

But imagine this 'tabernacle' described in these verses.  God Himself dictated every aspect of it.  He set down in precise detail how He wanted this tent (for that is what it was) built.  It was to be "just so" and nothing short of precise adherence to His instructions was to be tolerated.

Hmmm... folks... we can't just pass over this.

God intended for this tabernacle not only to be beautiful.. He intended it to be revelational.  He intended it for our instruction in regard to His holiness... His purposes... His covenant. 

It was not "just" a place of worship.  It was a living, concrete statement about His gospel.  God intended to "dwell" with His people in the midst of various structural elements that taught and embodied His Gospel.  That made this structure very important indeed and there is much that we ought to glean from it

There is the "ark of testimony", the glorious mercy seat for the enthroned God of Israel.  The place from which in His Holiness, He was symbolically present with His people... for mercy.  Think about that.  God with us... always with us... and with us in mercy.  God does not dwell with His people in any other capacity.  He does not dwell with us in glares of disapproval.. He dwells with us with the intent of doing all things that must be done for our good... to show us mercy.  This is how God dwells with His people.

From His Throne He looks benevolently down upon the table with its showbread and the candle with its lamps.  His eyes are always on His people... the apple of His eye... the purpose of His creation... the embodiment of all His great works.  We are constantly before Him.  He is not far removed from us, as Paul said, but rather He is very near.  No matter what we face, no matter how difficult our path, no matter how frustrated we are in our progress, yet our God is gazing upon us with tender affection and care.  His Spirit daily attends to us and His Son governs all things for our good.  All this is taught in the layout of the inner sanctum of the tabernacle.

And outside the inner holy place there is the massive altar.  No man could enter the gates of the tabernacle without first being confronted with the reality of his own sin and the awful price that had to paid for his privilege of entry.  At the heart of biblical worship is the constant reminder that God took the initiative... it was He that did something about our sin... It was He that set up that cross as the altar on which a true sacrifice could be offered.  

The altar was immense... it was intimidating... it was awe-inspiring and so it had to be because our sin is no trivial matter and the price of atonement for our sin is beyond our comprehension.  No man comes before God, into the Holy of Holies, except through the altar.  There is no walking around it... there is no side-stepping it... we come to God through the cross or we do not come to God at all.  Think about it... it is there, laid out for us in the design God gave Moses a thousand years before Christ.

Impressive... yes sir.

Today we pay far too little attention to the message our places of worship convey.  Far too often we build worship centers that have far more in common with concert halls than with the tabernacle.  I do not intend for anyone to think that I want to reconstruct the tabernacle or Solomon's temple... I just want to insist that the surroundings in which we worship need to reflect the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We do not gather on Sunday to be entertained... that's what happens in concert halls.  We do not gather to watch a show or clap for performers.  We gather to celebrate the living Gospel that is embodied in the Living Christ and the mercy that He has shown sinners.  We need to participate in worship... we need to have our hearts lifted, not only by the words but by the environment in which we worship.  We are whole human beings and we need to worship with our whole person.  It is not something we "receive" from the paid professionals up front... it is something we enter into and in which we respond to what God is saying to us... in word, song and environment.

Our God was particular about the place He was to be worshiped.... He has not changed.  We need to think about that.

Exodus 23 & 24: Promises and Duty

Image: Living Water, 2016, Vicinity of Asheville, NC

Exodus 24:8 (NKJV) ⁸ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

Exodus 24 is a very intriguing chapter.  In it we learn of a heavenly feast on the side of Mt Sinai where the elders of the people saw the Lord God in some fashion.  The only description we are given is His feet stood on "a paved work of sapphire stone and it was like the very heavens in its clarity."  (24:9-10).  That's not much to go on but as with the three disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration (which has strong ties to this event) I am sure that those elders were so blown away by what they saw that little could be put into words.  The point is that God feasted with His people through their appointed leaders.  That's impressive.

These two chapters detail further how God impressed His Person and His righteousness on His people.  They are given instructions about how they are to judge rightly... neither excusing the poor simply because they are poor nor abusing them because they are helpless.  They are told to remember their God and to go to considerable time and expense to worship Him in His annual feasts.  They are given instructions about the Sabbath both for them and their households but also for the land.   Strangers among them are to be respected and not abused simply because they are not part of the covenant people.  

In other words God's covenant people are to consciously reflect His rule in their lives in a daily disciplined manner.  Our lives are not our own.  They have been to us by a gracious God who has mercifully disposed of our sin and opened our eyes and hearts to the reality of His Person.  This is a life changing, life altering situation and God intends for His people to reflect His authority over their lives in everything they do.  

But what glorious promises come with these instructions.  Think of what God is saying in these sections of chapter 23.  He tells them that because of His Presence with them, as they faithfully follow Him and show forth His authority to the whole world, that they shall be invincible.  They shall prosper in health, in battle and in harvesting the land.  It is to be a gradual thing but slowly, inexorably, they will push the pagan peoples out of the land, because it belongs to the children of Abraham, and they will be given room to live, grow and live in joy.  All of these promises, along with the instructions for living, belong to the form and the content of God's covenant.

A covenant is a binding agreement that cements and establishes a relationship.  Here we see God showing us how He works with us His people.

In Hebrews 9:20ff we see the author referring back to this event in Exodus to draw a parallel as well as an extension to the covenant that God has now instituted with us.  Through that passage and others we are taught to see this event in Exodus as being what God does for His people in every age.  There is the calling of the people together in which, as a called people, they form what we call the visible church.  As God gathers His people together, as we see with Moses, we are taught the terms of the covenant.  We are instructed in the facts of His saving acts for us... we are reminded of His holiness and of the high privilege we have been given to be brought into His covenant.  We are pointed toward the price of our blessing, the shed blood of the sacrifice which was offered up on our behalf... we are shown the perfection of the Lamb and how His Sacrifice, once offered, is a full and complete atonement for our sin.  This amazing Good News, this Gospel, is essential to the Covenant.  It was present in the OT in prediction, it is present with us in fulfillment, but it is there and has always been.

We are then taught how we should live so as to reflect our covenant status.  God has called us to holiness, to aspire to holiness, to live righteously, before the watching eyes of the world.  He has given us all that we need to know how to live in a way that reflects His glory.  Every covenant has rules of conduct in it and the whole point of those rules is that in this way we are to flourish in time before Him.  God is still blessing His people and the more seriously they embrace Him and His covenant ways the more they can depend on seeing His glory manifested among them to their delight.

And lastly, every covenant has promises that come with it.  God, as our Holy Sovereign, requires of us obedience and in return He commits Himself to our blessing.  We also will prove victorious in the end.  With our own eyes we will see the evil nations of this world flee before His terrible wrath.  God will avenge every injustice against His Person and His People.  He will slay all His and our enemies.  He will reign victoriously in the land that He is giving us and we shall reign with Him.

Not a bad deal... the Good News for today is to realize just how certain all this is.  These words are not just theological jargon... they are not "God talk" that people think is of no earthly good... these words are certain... they are our proven hope... they are our "take it to the bank" collateral... they will prove true.  How can we be so certain because we have been sanctified to this end by having the shed blood of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, sprinkled on us.  They cannot fail to come true because it would mean that His blood was of no effect.  

This is our inheritance as it was for these Israelites in the events of these chapters.  We have these promises made certain... let us give up our doubts and rest in them.

Exodus 19 & 20: Life & Godliness, Redemption & Law

Image: Iron Bird, 2019, Severna Park, MD

Exodus 19:4–6 (NKJV) ⁴ ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. ⁶ And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

It is the recurrent pattern:  God creates, saves, restores by grace and then gives His law as the expression of His will for our righteousness.

It was such with Adam: created in righteousness and then told how he should live in righteousness.  It was so for Noah: saved in the ark and then given a renewed creation ordnance.  It was true for Abraham: pronounced righteous based on faith then told to walk before God and be perfect.  It was certainly true here for Moses and the Israelites.  It was true for Jesus and the establishment of His Church: Saved at the cross / tomb and then taught to obey all that He has commanded us (Mat. 28).

Of all the Scriptural teachings that bear on this subject this passage, I think, says it most beautifully and passionately.  How clear God is with us in them.  How glorious is the salvation He has wrought and how privileged we are to learn of the purpose of our salvation.

"I have brought you to ME" God says.  "I redeemed you from bondage, degradation, helplessness and despair and brought you, on eagles wings, to ME."  This is why God had saved them in that day and that is why He saves any of us today.  His intention is to establish a covenant relation with us... as individuals yes but supremely as a people, a community of individuals, who are united together in this salvation and rejoice in their inclusion in the new race, the new tribe, the new nation that God has brought into existence.

The people of God, by virtue of being the people of God, are living witnesses to the power of God.  That is why they are saved.  They live in covenant with God and in covenant with each other to help each other live in covenant with God.  We are a holy people... holy to the Lord... and we are solemnly instructed that we are to show forth to the world that holiness by the manner in which we live.  

As Holy Priests before God, a Holy Kingdom of Priests, our message to the world is "We exist!  Look at us and see what our God has done for us.  We are the living testimony to His power and might... to His blessed intention of working in us, through us and with us, to manifest His Kingdom on earth.  Look at us... we are a people who have beheld Him in His power and might... previously in clouds and smoke on a mountain... but in these latter days in an empty cross and an empty tomb.  We have tasted of Him and found Him good.  We are God's people... the chosen of the Lord... and He has given us the privilege of living before Him in testimony to all He has done."

How then shall we live?  How shall we show forth that we are different?  The first and most obvious set of principles is the two-fold division of the ten commandments.  We are to love the Lord, our God, with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength.   This sums up the first four commandments.  The Last six commandments are summed up in loving our neighbor as ourselves.

How distinct we would be from the world if these two ways of love were truly our distinctive way of life!  How shocking we would be to a cynical population who doubts every good thing as being motivated by any other passion than self-love in some way or another.  How attractive we would be, as a people, to those who are hungry for the experience of such love.  This is our call.

As people who love, the ten commandments are naturally open to us.  Yes, they teach us our imperfections and demonstrate our continuing need for Christ and the Holy Spirit.  But they also open up to us a more precise set of guidelines as we ponder each statute and discover the depths of love that each calls on us to display.  

There is great "Good News" in God's law.  It stands over and against the un-redeemed as a merciless accuser but to the regenerate heart it is God's loving discipline moving us on His paths and opening up to us a new quality of life.  "Oh, how I love Your law!" the Psalmist enthuses in Psalm 119:97.  "Great peace have those who love Your law..." he says further down in verse 165.  

When we, at last, discover that sin no longer holds dominion over us... that we have been freed from our shackles and enabled, more and more, to conform to Christ and live in accordance with God's law as did He, so our lives move to new levels of wisdom, discernment and (can you believe it?) contentment.  This is our inheritance in Christ.  This is the purpose of our salvation.  This is the joy of living in covenant with God through Christ.

".... Saved, to a new life sublime... Saved, by a power divine... Saved... Saved... Saved"  - (Gospel song)

 

Exodus 16-17: "These People YOU Gave Me Are Driving Me Nuts"

Image: Seeing Red, 2019, Severna Park, MD

Exodus 16:29 (NKJV)  ²⁹ See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”

Exodus 17:4 (NKJV) ⁴ So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

One begins to get a sense for just how tough old Moses had it in those days.

The one thing the people of God were very good at was complaining.  Now, I admit, when you're hungry, you're hungry and I know that I can be a bit grumpy then also.  But these Israelites go over and beyond.  They looked back on the days of their slavery and what they "remembered' was having "pots of meat" and eating "to the full." (16:3)  Somehow the beatings, the brick making and the contempt they endured slipped from their mind!  

So, they complained... to Moses... about Moses.  Old Moses gets a bit testy himself.  Why are you complaining about me?  It is the LORD that you are despising! This scenario is repeated twice in these chapters interspersed with manna raining down from heaven, quail in abundance, water flowing from a rock and victory over the Amalekites.  These are no small miracles.  The Israelites were not a disciplined army at this point.... they were essentially a rabble fighting with whatever weapons they had stolen from the Egyptians but through Divine intervention they won.  The manna we are told continued for 40 years (16:35) so that the Israelites were never really facing starvation.  In that day and time famine was one of the greatest fears.  I imagine that there were lots of nations that faced serious food shortages during that time and yet here are these Israelites with sufficient food for all their people.  The people of God had plenty to celebrate.

But they continued to complain.

It is in this context that God affirms His Sabbath.  Notice that this is well before Mt. Sinai.  Any idea that the Sabbath of God is "only" a ceremonial feature of the Mosaic Law is foolish.  The Sabbath is a creation ordnance, instituted by God at creation and continuing for all time.  Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God and He alone has the authority and power to change anything about it and He has.  The Sabbath is now officially the Lord's Day celebrated on Sundays instead of the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday, but it is the same Sabbath.  It is a day of rest... created for God and for His people.  It is a day in which the ordinary pursuits of life, the toils of making a living, doing ordinary chores, etc. are to be set aside.  

God gave His people an abundance of food on the day prior to the Sabbath so that they did not have to worry about what to eat on that day.  Very few people today, especially in our country, can say that He has not done the same thing for us.  We have pantries with canned goods, refrigerators with fresh food, water from the tap and loaves of bread in the bin.  Is there really any reason why we should not observe the Sabbath as God here requires of the Israelites?

Note how seriously God takes their weakness.   "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?" He asks when they foolishly do exactly what he told them not to do on the Sabbath.  God is serious about it and so should we be also.

Now, all of this ties together in God's providential wisdom.  The people of God are most often very weak.  We are weak in our faith, self-centered in our aspirations and jealous of our comfort.  When life comes down on us in one way of the other, these traits surface in complaints.  Maybe we aren't as vocal as the Israelites... but we do it.  Most often we just turn passive aggressive... whatever complaint we have we just stuff it into some hole and then go ahead and do what we want to do regardless of what God has said.  When confronted we act surprised and say something like "Who me? I was just doing what I had to do.  Who knew that God didn't want me to do that?"  Every parent knows that behavior in their children on occasion and we can see why we are "children" of God.  

The cure for a complaining spirit is the Sabbath.  If we come together with our brothers and sisters and we remember the mighty acts of God... the manna He supplies... the water He brings out of a rock... the victories He has won for us... as well as the great history of salvation of which we are beneficiaries... then there cannot be a word of complaint coming forth from us.

Spiritual rest is not just a Sunday nap (though I love mine).  Spiritual rest is the soul relaxing refreshment that comes from remembering just how blessed we are.  Life not only becomes more bearable it becomes a source of joy when we do this.  Daily life gets in the way of that through out the week.  The Sabbath is the cure.

The Israelites only dimly understood this.  They saw the Sabbath as just one more irritating pain in their rear end.  They didn't observe it and therefore they did not reap its benefits.  The People of God have had to learn the lessons the Israelites had to learn over and over again throughout the centuries.

Regretfully... we are still learning it.