Exodus 39-Leviticus 6: No Ordinary Guy

Exodus 40:9-15   And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall be holy.  10 And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most holy.  11 And thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot, and sanctify it.  12 And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water.  13 And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.  14 And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats:  15 And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.

In this closing passage of Exodus we find the culmination of a year's work in preparing the Tabernacle and instruments to be used for worship and service in the Tabernacle.  The people have given and the people have labored until all things have been done exactly as God commanded.  There is just one problem.  The boards, curtains, and skins of the Tabernacle are just common wooden boards, cloth curtains, and animal skins.  The furnishings of the Tabernacle are just wood that has been overlaid with brass and gold.  The men who have the duty of offering the offerings of the people to the Almighty God are just ordinary men.  So what makes these ordinary items and ordinary people holy and useful for God?  The anointing oil was poured on each of these and the Bible says they were sanctified and made holy.  The mercy seat that Moses would bring and place into the Most Holy Place would, after being anointed, become so holy that for Moses to look upon it or touch it would mean his death.  Aaron and his sons who would share in the normal duties of men would have their lives forever changed by the application of this oil and their lives would now be spent in service to God alone.  No more would the common, mundane tasks of life command their attention but they would be wholly given to service to God.

So here we are today with no Tabernacle and no anointing oil.  Yes, but there is still an anointing by which God makes common men into holy and sanctified servants of God.  God has promised the anointing of the Holy Spirit to every Believer.  This anointing transforms us from ordinary people to holy and sanctified servants of God.  First Peter 2:9   says, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:".  As two great missionaries of the past have said, we should not under live our lives chasing the mundane accomplishments of this world  but we must live our lives to the fullest attempting great things for God and expecting great things from God.

Daily Devotional:  Jeremiah 23:1-6; Isaiah 9:6-7; Zechariah 9:9-10  The Eternal King Promised

Exodus 31-38: Many Hands Make Light Work

This passage continues with the great depth of details about the assembling of materials and laborers for the construction of the Tabernacle and all of the instruments and garments that will be utilized in the worship of God.  God gives us so many details in this section and many of them are repetitive as we move from God's directions for the Tabernacle being given to Moses to the description of Israel's completion of the Tabernacle according to the specifications that they have received.  We are, no doubt, tempted to read quickly over this section not paying much attention to what has been recorded.  I know the thought comes to mind, "We are not building a Tabernacle so this has nothing to do with me".  Well that is not necessarily true.  We are not building a Tabernacle but we are still serving God and worshiping God so perhaps we can find some direction for our lives and ministries in this passage.

Chapter 35 presents us with some insights that I believe would prove very beneficial if we would apply them to our ministry in and through the church today.  We see that two things made this extravagantly expensive and monumental endeavor light work for the people of Israel.  They possessed a willing heart and a wise heart.  These possessions made the work possible.

A Willing Heart:

Exodus 35:4-9   And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD commanded, saying,  5 Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass,  6 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair,  7 And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,  8 And oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the sweet incense,  9 And onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate.

Now here is an admission that it takes a great deal of resources in order to effectively worship and serve God.  Some of these things were very expensive such as gold and silver and some were pretty common things like oil and spices.  In verses 21 and 22 we see the result of a willing heart when this call went out for resources to be given so that the worship and service of God might be established--Exodus 35:21-22   And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD'S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments.  22 And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought God's work languishes because of a lack of supplies, but God points to the fact that it is not a lack of resources but it is a lack of a willing heart in those who have the resources.  When we have a willing heart we see all that we have and give as nothing more than the LORD's offering (35:24) because we have received it from Him, and we bring it so that all manner of work that God is directing the leader(s) of His church to do may be accomplished (35:29).

A Wise Heart:

Exodus 35:10-19   And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the LORD hath commanded;  11 The tabernacle, his tent, and his covering, his taches, and his boards, his bars, his pillars, and his sockets,  12 The ark, and the staves thereof, with the mercy seat, and the vail of the covering,  13 The table, and his staves, and all his vessels, and the shewbread,  14 The candlestick also for the light, and his furniture, and his lamps, with the oil for the light,  15 And the incense altar, and his staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the door at the entering in of the tabernacle,  16 The altar of burnt offering, with his brasen grate, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot,  17 The hangings of the court, his pillars, and their sockets, and the hanging for the door of the court,  18 The pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords,  19 The cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office.

A willing heart makes us both willing and able to give of our resources so that God's work might be done.  For us today that would mean giving of our resources that our churches would have the means to proclaim the Gospel to our communities through personal evangelism, portray Grace to our communities through benevolence and hospitality, and preach God to our communities and Christians through a vibrant well-supplied, well-situated church facility.  A wise heart also prompts us to give but this time it goes beyond our possessions to our persons.  These people gave themselves for the work of God.  These were not all glorious tasks but they were necessary tasks.  A wise heart helps us to see the need of cutting the grass, raking the leaves, painting the wall, remodeling the room, singing the song, reading the Scripture, inviting the person we met today, etc.  A wise heart helps us to really understand that only what is done for Christ will last.  Judson, a missionary to Burma in the 1800's, said it best when he said, "Be careful ... Don't under live your life".  Those with a wise heart give themselves in service to God so others might be brought to know God that they might worship and serve God together.

So how does God conclude this challenge for us today?  How about with the words of Exodus 36:4-7   And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made;  5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.  6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.  7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.  We find that we have sufficient to do the work of God if we give out of a willing heart and we find that we have sufficient man-power for the work of God if we wise-heartedly give ourselves to do the work.  That's what happened in Israel and the results were a glorious Tabernacle and the abiding presence of God.  I wonder what we could do as a glorious church with the abiding presence of God today?  We can have it if we will remember that many hands make light work.

Devotional Reading:  Ezekiel 20:5-26  The Sins of the People

Exodus 23-30: O Worship the LORD!

As you read through this passage you may have been awed by the simple volume of seemingly meaningless details.  These details include the materials and measurements for building the Tabernacle and the instruments of worship in the Tabernacle.  These details include in depth discussion of offerings to be made including the type of animal and the portions to be burnt, discarded, and eaten and there are even instructions detailing who is to eat the offerings.   The list then moves to the Levitical Priests.  Details are given concerning the anointing oil to be made for them and the application of that oil to the right ear, right thumb and right big toe.  A perfume to be utilized by the priest is also described.  This section continues with the details for the altar of incense and the incense that will be burned on that altar in the worship of God.  So what is the application for you and I living today that do not have a Tabernacle and Levitical Priests?

It appears that the Lord is demonstrating that He is not in agreement with the great masses of people who cry out for an "unorganized religion".  Multitudes of people are professing to be Christians but yet deserting God's instrument of the church for their own forms of worship and service.  These actions are justified with vague assertions to some liberty in Christ to do as they are led by the Spirit.  Well the Bible makes it clear that  God leads us to a form of worship of Him that is extremely organized.  While the rest of the world is descending into a form of self-worship that requires casual dress, short sermonettes, and culture-driven teachings, we are called back on center to a worship of God that is dictated by God.  The music utilized in church should be music that God directs to be utilized for worship of Him not what makes us feel good.  The clothing that we wear should be indicative of the fact that we have come to worship the Most High God which would dictate that it be at least as formal as our daily work wear.  The teaching and preaching of the word of God should not be dictated by the attention span of the people but by the Spirit of God in accordance with the word of God.  It is simple.  All things should be done in accordance with what God has said is acceptable worship not what is acceptable to us.

I hear the cries of those who say what has all that to do with salvation?  I know you are thinking that a person can be saved and listen to any music and look any way.  Exodus 30:15 makes it clear that salvation is the same with all people with these words, "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."  What this passage is talking about is not salvation but worship.  If the plethora of details is any indicator of the heart of God.  God is picky about how He is worshipped.  If we are to look at the word worship to understand why God is so picky things become a little clearer.  Worship means to ascribe worth to.  So when we worship in a way that shows our concern only for our comfort we have ascribed the worth to the wrong one.  So let us worship the Lord but let us worship Him acceptably in accordance with His word.

Daily Devotional:  Jeremiah 1:1-17  Many Kings Fail

Exodus 15-22: Liberty and Liberality

Okay so let's keep it brief today.  In Exodus 16:3 we find a lie that all of us will constantly encounter as we live lives of greater surrender in service to God.  The following accusation will be leveled against God by the world, the devil and even our flesh:  Exodus 16:3   And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.  There will be times when we, like the children of Israel, will be tempted to say or at least think, "Things were better before I became a Believer."

So what is the cure for this type of thinking?  A good dose of reality will help.  I was not in Egypt with the children of Egypt but I am sure that if the Egyptians were not willing to give them straw to make their own  bricks they were probably not feasting by the flesh pots and eating bread to the full.  We need to evaluate our days of being lost not based on the struggles that we now face with the flesh but upon the bondage and tyranny of the flesh prior to salvation.  It is true that before salvation we were free to do whatever happened to pop into our minds, but it was also true that we were really not enjoying this freedom and many of the things that we occupied our time with were not the result of desire but of compulsion.  We were the slaves of alcohol, drugs, pornography, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness and a host of other things.  We need to look at the reality that we have been made free in Christ Jesus.  Let us determine to stop romanticizing and be real.

We also need to take a good look at the provisions that God has made for us in Christ Jesus.  The children of Israel came to the waters of Marah and could not drink the water because it was bitter, but God provided a means to make the water sweet.  They complained of a lack of food and God rained bread out of heaven and supplied their need.  In Horeb the people again found themselves without water and God brought forth water out of the rock for them.  So what is in this for us?  God has provided the same things in the Lord Jesus Christ for us Who declares Himself to be the Bread of Life and the Living Water.  There is satisfaction in Christ for our every need and abundant provisions.

So when we are experiencing the battles of the Christian life what are we to do?  We are to remember the liberty that God has given us and God's liberality towards us in Christ and stay in the fight.

Daily Devotional:  1 Samuel 15:17-23  Saul Fails and Is Rejected By God

Exodus 7-14: Never, Never, Never Give Up!

Today we have experienced one of the greatest epic adventures ever recorded in the history of the world. In these chapters we find the record of the exodus of the Jews from Egyptian bondage through an unmatched display of divine power on their behalf. This is typical or symbolic of the deliverance that God provides for every person that is born again through repentance and belief of the Gospel.

Let's have a short class on typology. Typology is a doctrine of theological types; especially : one holding that things in Christian belief are prefigured or symbolized by things in the Old Testament. This simply means that the interaction of God with Israel in the Old Testament are symbolic of the spiritual interaction of God with all of humanity. Now with that being said, there are certain people and places that universally symbolize certain spiritual truths. For instance, Egypt is symbolic of the world. By world, I mean the system of living that man has developed outside of the authority of God and His word. So this encompasses all of the lost people of the world and all of the cultures of the world. Israel, on the other hand, is typically a picture of those who have been converted by grace through faith. Israel is representative of all of those who have placed their lives under the authority of God and His word for all matters. So now the exodus of Israel takes on new light as we see it picturing God's deliverance of the redeemed from the bondage of the world and its rebellion against the authority of God. Pharaoh sums up this rebellion with the words of Exodus 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

Now I would like to draw your attention to a lesson on compromise couched in this narrative. Three times the world attempts to get God's people to compromise with them. We can learn from their suggested compromises and the response of Moses how the world will tempt us to compromise and how God would have us overcome the temptation.
Compromise #1: Serve God in the World
Exodus 8:25-28 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. 26 And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? 27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us. 28 And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.
Response #1: Moses points out that they cannot worship God in the midst of the wickedness of Egypt. He gives as his reason the fact that the abominations or gods of Egypt such as calves and sheep and goats would be their sacrifices to the true God and they would not like it. We too are called to come out of the world (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) after salvation. We too have to realize that many of the things such as educations and material possessions that the world places a high premium on are to be counted as nothing when they interfere with service to God and we are to give these things in service to God. The lifestyle of a Christian will simply point out the sinfulness of such lifestyle choices as homosexuality, drunkenness, atheism, etc.

Compromise #2: Give Your Children to the World
Exodus 10:8-11 And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are they that shall go? 9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD. 10 And he said unto them, Let the LORD be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. 11 Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
Response #2: No Way! Moses explains to Pharaoh when he says they should leave their children that they will take their children with them. I have been amazed at the number of people that try to convince Christians that they should not teach their religious views to their children. The world cries out for us to, "Just let the children form their own opinions". I wonder why they do not follow this philosophy when it comes to sports teams. I have seen many a parent with just a toddler dressed in LSU gear from head to toe. I wonder why they don't take this philosophy of withholding information from the youth when it comes to illicit sex? Schools abound with sex education classes so that children can make "informed decisions", but the world says to us to let our children make uninformed decisions about God or better yet let them teach them. We need to take seriously the admonition of Deuteronomy 6 and make our homes a Bible College for Children. Each parent must take seriously their God-given responsibility to teach the truths of God to their children. This is not a guarantee of salvation but it is the proper response of parents who desire to see God save their children and use them for His glory.
Compromise #3: Leave Your Material and Financial Resources in the World
Exodus 10:24-26 And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you. 25 And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God. 26 Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we come thither.
Response #3: It All Belongs To God! Pharaoh wanted Moses and the people to leave their resources in Egypt while they serve God but they refused. Moses wisely said they did not know what God would require of them and they must have something of value to offer God. I have often been amazed at the people who decry tithing as a throwback to the Old Testament law and feel that giving under grace should be at the discretion of the individual. I have noticed that unlike the Lord's treatment of the law in the Sermon on the Mount where the requirement under law was increased under grace, these people seem to always decrease the giving requirement. God teaches us with Moses' response here that our spending and giving should reflect the level of our commitment to the Lord and His work in this world through the churches. We have to face the challenge to lavish spending on ourselves in an effort to keep pace with the world and thereby find ourselves unable to give to the Lord's work systematically and generously. I have not been able to discern the effects of the economic downturn upon the living of professing Christians, just their giving. No second and third vehicles have been sold to finance increased evangelism and missions; no savings accounts have been hacked into to provide for the hurting in the congregations; no pensions have been depleted to prevent the facilities from becoming dilapidated; etc. You at Grace do a great job at giving, but generally American Christians are not giving to God but leaving their resources in the world.

Let us remember the words of Winston Churchill when the world attempts to get us to compromise, "Never, Never, Never Give Up"!

Daily Devotional: 1 Samuel 8 The People Demand a King

Genesis 49-Exodus 6: Excuses, Excuses, Excuses!

Exodus 4:1-12 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. 6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. 10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

Here is one of those passages that really needs no explanation but can really be a blessing to us if we will make proper application of the truth being taught. Moses has been put on notice by God that he is the deliverer that Israel has been waiting for in Egypt and he is to go to them and deliver them from the bondage of Egypt. So Moses begins to praise God for choosing him for this very important task and pleading with God for the grace to accomplish the task...Right? Wrong! Moses begins to make excuses about the people's lack of belief and his lack of abilities. So what does God do? Does He say, "You're right Moses I must have the wrong man?" No!

God points out the provisions that He has already provided and the provisions that He will provide Moses to carry out His will. In verse two God draws Moses' attention to what he already has as the resources that God will use to carry out His work through him. It is the stick in Moses' hand and the hand that holds the stick that God chooses to use to convince the people of the validity of Moses' claims that God has sent him to deliver them from the bondage of Egypt. Moses then turns to what he doesn't have as an excuse. Moses highlights his inability to speak well in verse ten but God's rebuttal is in essence, "I know. I made your mouth." After dealing with these provisions that Moses was not recognizing in his life, God presents Moses with another provision...His Presence in verse twelve. God promises to be with Moses as he carries out the ministry that God has given him. So what is the take-away from this narrative?

God knew that He would give us the ministry of reconciliation and rescue that the Gospel makes possible. God knew that we would be given the task to deliver men from the bondage of sin and self and reconcile them unto God through the power of the Gospel. God has provided us with the things we would need for the task and they are already in our hand as Moses' staff was, we just may not recognize them. God has made us for the task. We may need to allow the Lord to hone some skills and abilities, but God has fearfully and wonderfully crafted us for this ministry. Finally, God has given us the wonderful provision of Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit living in every Believer to guide and comfort us as we carry out the work of the ministry. God isn't taking any excuses because He already anticipated them and has made provisions for them so we may as well stop giving them. So let's join God wholeheartedly in the ministry of reconciliation and rescue of the multitudes in bondage to self and sin through the power of the Gospel. Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Daily Devotional: Judges 2:10-19 Cycles of Disobedience