Exodus 6: The Mighty Hand of God

As we closed chapter 5, we see a discouraged Moses asking God- ‘ is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.’

We need to understand, when we take a stand for the Lord, when we are prepared to obey what God has commanded us to do- we must expect opposition.  Moses is being schooled in a school many of us have attended- ‘ the school of hard knocks.’ If we are to take up the position God has for us, we must get alone with God and pour out our hearts as we seek wisdom and strength.  Moses must be bold before the Pharaoh and the people,  but broken before God. Good lesson for all of us to learn.

So as we begin chapter six, we are privileged to hear God’s answer to Moses’ prayerful pleas for understanding of the situation.  God will encourage Moses the same way He will encourage us- with His promises.

God says to Moses: “ NOW, you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of this country.” God’s Hand of mighty power is about to enter the empty glove represented by a discouraged Moses who is at the end of self. Man’s emptiness, the recognition of weakness is the opportunity for God to take the work into His own hands. Jesus would tell Paul, my power is made perfect in weakness.

God reminds Moses ( and us) I am the Lord. God will remind Moses several times- ‘ I am the Lord.’ He will use His covenant name, Jehovah, as well as the name, God Almighty. God Almighty in Hebrew is El Shaddai- the all sufficient and all powerful God. Have you experienced the truth of these names in your life?  Is He Lord? Is He the Promise Keeping God, Jehovah, in your life? Is God your source of power and sufficiency?  Like Moses and the Israelites and all believers through the ages, God’s revelation of Himself to us is progressive. Jesus said in John 17- “ And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only True God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”

Watch what happens when God takes control of the situation. Look at these statements made by God and pay particular attention to those  statements beginning with- I WILL.

“ I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob . I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.” ( Exodus 6:6-8) God started this pronouncement with the statement- I am the Lord and ends it with the same statement.  In between, God reveals exactly what He will do because He is the Lord.  Do you believe God is who He says He is? And can do what He says He can do?

Well, you might be thinking, this is God speaking to Moses regarding some specific things He is going to do for the Israelites 3500 years ago. How does this story have anything to do with me in 2012?  Good question.  First of all, the Word of God tells us God does not change. He is the same today as yesterday as He will be tomorrow and forever. Therefore we are learning how an unchanging God operates in relationships.

God’s word also tells us: “ For everything that was written in the past was to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of Scriptures ( God’s Word) we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)  These stories were recorded for our instruction, so that we might see how an Almighty God works in the lives of His people. Jesus told us His Father is always at work.

Furthermore, Paul writes in Galatians 3 this important spiritual truth: “ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek , slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”

These passages tells us God is immutable ( does not change); His Word is for our instruction, written to teach us about Himself and ourselves; and also we are God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus and thus Abraham’s spiritual seed and heirs according to the promise.

Now look at these “ I Will” statements and how they apply to us as God’s people, His family- sons and daughters.

I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. Who did we say the Egyptians represented?  The Egyptian slave masters represent our old nature, the flesh which kept us in bondage to sin. You and I were powerless to save ourselves  only God could through His Mighty outstretched arm. He reached down to you and me.  He has adopted us into His family- we are His people. He is our God. Jesus said at the Resurrection- “ I am going to my Father and your Father.” And He has given us His Promises and we can  live in those promises for they are now our possessions as His children. We are heirs to the promises. We have been set free from the yoke of sin that enslaved us, we have taken up the yoke of the Lord and are in the process of  learning from Him; casting our cares upon Him.

The Israelites are still not convinced this will happen because they are still in cruel bondage. Sometimes it is the darkest just before dawn. But remember- the situation  is not over until Truth walks into the situation. Truth is about to walk into the situation.

As chapter six closes, Moses is being sent to speak to the Pharaoh to tell him everything God has told him. Moses tells the Lord, I speak with faltering lips, why should the Pharaoh listen to me.  Chapter 7 begins with this amazing statement: “ The Lord said to Moses, “ See, I have made you like God to the Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.” God transmitted His word through His prophets. So Aaron will be Moses’ prophet and will transmit God’s message on God’s behalf. The True and Living God is about to clothe Himself in Moses and do mighty work that only Almighty God can do.  Is this not also what Paul wrote in Galatians when he said ‘you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves in Christ.”

God then tells Moses exactly what to say. He also tells Moses what the response of the Pharaoh will be- he will harden his heart. God in turn will lay His hand upon Egypt with mighty acts of judgment and miraculous signs and wonders. And the Egyptians will know that I am Lord.

Let us see if we can understand why the Lord has chosen this way to accomplish His will. Why is God using this approach to free His people?  We must remember who God is: – God Almighty who has all knowledge, all power,all wisdom and is Holy, Just and Righteous. God  always does what will accomplish the most good, for the most people for the longest period of time by the best possible method.  God does not make mistakes. God has the right to do anything and He always does what is right. Let us consider what God is doing here in this situation:

1. Ultimate purpose is to bring the Pharaoh and Egyptians to their knees so they would be willing to let the Jews leave the land.
2. The Lord is also revealing Himself to both the Israelites and Egyptians and proving He alone is God and there is no other.
3. The miracles and plagues we will read about were also God’s way of judging the gods of Egypt as false and futile. Egyptians worshipped besides the Pharaoh some 80 different deities.
4. The hardening of the Pharaoh’s heart to resist God was also to show the Israelites and us- there is no power that can prevail against Almighty God.

Here in chapter 7 of Exodus, the plagues will begin.  God tells Moses and Aaron, the Pharaoh will say to you-‘ perform a miracle.’ Then they would throw down the staff and it would become a snake. So let’s pick up the story at this beginning of 10 rounds of plagues and miracles.

Verse 11 tells us: ‘Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts. Each one of them threw down his staff and it became a snake.’ What are we to make of these two magicians who duplicated the staff- to –snake feat?  Paul tells us these two magicians are named Jannes and Jambre. ( 2 Timothy 3) Since the Garden of Eden, the devil has attacked God’s word. Paul said in the last days there would be terrible times with people ever learning but never coming to the truth. “ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth, men of depraved minds..” ( 2 Timothy 3).   People today are ever learning today, we have more knowledge than ever before in history. Yet more and more – people reject the Bible as the Word of God, as absolute truth. As a country we have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values.

Here in Exodus is a picture of what the enemy has done in the past and continues to do today. Paul was always warning about the deceiver.  Jesus told us the enemy would plant counterfeit believers in our midst in the parable of the tares in Matthew 13.

Satan also has a counterfeit gospel. Paul warns us of this in Galatians 1: “ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- which is really  NO GOSPEL AT ALL.

Satan has deceived many with a counterfeit righteousness. “ Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” ( Romans 10). Really just describes relative truth, and a ‘I’m okay-you’re okay’ philosophy that is so present in the world today in the name of tolerance.  In fact this self righteousness is part of this counterfeit gospel.  As Christians we believe Truth is represented in the person of Jesus Christ. We believe the Bible is the Word of God and it is absolute truth. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.   These people will not realize their fatal error, until Truth walks in and this world and age ends and a new age begins.

This story in Exodus reminds us Satan can empower people to perform  lying wonders. “ The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.” (2 Thess. 2)   When one does not believe the Truth- they will believe a lie, especially one that validates their sins.

And we see what is the ultimate deception, Satan will produce a false Christ who will deceive the world. ( Revelation 13) ( 2 Thess 2)

Paul described these people who are deceived and those who deceive them- men of depraved minds.  The word depraved means to be corrupt morally. When one is deprived of the Truth, the Word of God, their minds are conformed by the world instead of the Word. And who is the prince of this world?  The devil, the deceiver, who has counterfeited a counterfeit gospel based on self righteousness and convinced many to abandon the Word of God as absolute truth.

Our study of Exodus reveals not only how God Almighty works it also shows us the strategies of the enemy.  And so the battle begins…. You do see it is a battle for the heart, soul and mind of each person, don’t you?

The enemy is clever, wise and experienced. He has tricks up his sleeve like these magicians and can dazzle us with his lying wonders. The enemy will  use educated intellectuals to convince us with their intellectual arguments that our beliefs in this ancient book are a sign of our lack of sophistication and education in this modern world.

Aaron’s staff/snake swallows the two snake/staffs of Jannes and Jambre.  The Pharaoh, however, is not convinced and his heart became hardened and he would not listen to the Lord.

We will notice in the first five rounds of plagues, the Pharaoh hardens his own heart. Then God confirms the Pharaoh’s decision and God hardened the Pharaoh’s heart.  The Spirit will not always strive with man we are told in Genesis. There is a line of no return a person can cross in their lives where they can no longer hear or see the Truth. And they will come to believe a lie.

God has revealed Himself to all of mankind with two witnesses, an external witness and an internal witness.  Romans 1 & 2 describe these two witnesses.  External is creation, God’s handiwork.  “… Since what may be known about God is plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” ( Romans 1:19b,20)  Also Psalms 19 makes it abundantly clear: “ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” Thus they are without excuse.

God’s internal witness is man’s conscience. Romans 2:14-15 tell us:  “ Indeed when Gentiles who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, since they show that the requirements of the law are written in their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing , now even defending them.”

The question is what does one do with this knowledge, with these two witnesses that everyone has seen, heard in their own language and know?  They have received light. The eternal question is what will they do with the light they have received?

Again the Word of God tells us what can happen.  “ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who SUPPRESS THE TRUTH by their wickedness. So one response is to suppress the Truth.

Watch what happens when you suppress the Truth long enough: ‘their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.’ ( Romans 1:21-23)  SUPPRESSED TRUTH LEADS TO EXCHANGING TRUTH FOR A LIE.

Next watch the action God takes, and He does not take the death of the wicked lightly nor does He relish their destruction for God is love and He is not willing that any should perish but all would come to repentance.  However, Jesus said, light has come into the world, but men preferred darkness. They chose not to obey the Word of God and rebelled against the Word of God.  Their thinking became futile, their hearts and minds were darkened. God gives them over to their sinful desires.

Their minds become depraved. They do not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God. When Jesus came to earth, when God the Son became flesh and dwelt among us- what was the response?  “ He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world would not recognize Him. He (Jesus) came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” ( John 1)  TRUTH WALKED IN AND THEY DID NOT RECOGNIZE THE TRUTH.

What happens to those who respond positively to the Truth, to the Gospel?

“ Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13)

“ I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” ( Romans 1)

Do you see the Gospel , the plan of salvation is an equal opportunity plan available to everyone who believes. And God has given everyone two witnesses – so they are without excuse.

Today if you hear his voice- do not harden your heart.

What we are about to study as we look at Pharaoh’s response to the Truth of who God is and his continued refusal to obey God’s commands is a clear picture of what we read will happen in the future in the Great Tribulation. When once again the mighty hand of God will strike but not before a loving God has reached out with the outstretched arm of love and grace. They go together, you know, the outstretched arm and the mighty hand.  Let me show you where they await you.  There- do you see them?  They are stretched out on a rugged cross, the hands are nailed with cruel spikes, but they are stretched out to heaven with one request made by our Savior: “ Father Forgive them for they know not what they are doing?  Have you put your hand in the hand that created the world and everything in it?  Have you allowed those outstretched arms to receive you into his kingdom like the father of the Prodigal did his returning son?

Put your hand in the Hand of Almighty God. He will never let you go.

On the other hand, if you do not- it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.

 

Here in lies the warning:

“ Go to the people and say, you will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For the people’s heart has become hardened; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes (minds). Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” Isaiah 6

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

Exodus 5: When Truth Walks In

Moses, now convinced that God is Who He says He is and is able to accomplish what needs to be done is ready to return to Egypt.  God begins to encourage Moses once Moses determines to obey God and follow His commandments.  Remember –“ Faithful is the One who calls you, who will also perform it.” ( I Thess. 5:24)

As we end the fourth chapter we see how God encourages Moses in the following developments:

*Receives blessing of his father-in-law, Jethro to return.

*Receives the promises and reassurances of God

*Zipporah’s obedience and acceptance of circumcision. Evidently she objected to this after witnessing the circumcision of their first son and would not allow the circumcision of their second son. Moses’  life is in grave danger as God cannot entrust Moses to lead the people if Moses cannot obey one of the oldest and most fundamental commandments. Also a married man must have the support of his wife in decisions to follow God.

*Aaron, Moses’ brother arrives. He encourages Moses and now they are a team, as Paul and Barnabus were, as Jesus sent out the disciples in pairs.

*The elders of Israel believed Moses when he performed the miraculous signs and told them what the Lord had said.

So now as we start chapter 5- the battle is ready to begin as Moses and Aaron have their first encounter with the Pharaoh.

Let’s think for a minute about our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. When He was born a babe in Bethlehem, King Herod wanted to destroy Him. Why? Because this Messiah was a threat to his throne, his way of life, his power base. The chief priests and the Pharisees called at meeting of the Sanhedrin after Jesus had restored Lazarus to life after he was dead and buried for four days. Listen to what they said: “ Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away  BOTH OUR PLACE AND OUR NATION. “ (John 11)

We will see the Pharaoh will view these requests of Moses to let the people go in the same way. This slave labor force is critical to his wealth, his nation and his power base.  The Sanhedrin realized the same was true if Jesus’ rising popularity was not stopped. Notice: God calls Israel his nation and the Israelites- His People.   The Pharisees considered the nation of Israel their nation and the people their people; just like the Pharaoh considered the Israelites, his possession- his slaves.  What we see are an age old battle for the very souls of men, women, boys and girls. What we are about to study is a battle of epic proportions- a spiritual battle between God and satan – as played out between Moses and the Pharaoh.

Three questions will arise as this drama unfolds as we are about the see an electrically charged atmosphere as God Almighty and the enemy of our soul, the devil prepare to do battle.

Moses makes his request known to the Pharaoh as God had instructed him to do:  “ This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: ‘ Let MY  PEOPLE GO, SO THEY MAY HOLD A FESTIVAL TO ME IN THE DESERT.”   (Exodus 5: 1)

You can hear the contempt in the Pharaoh’s reply which is in the form of a question:  “ Who is this Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”

Realize the Pharaoh of Egypt was considered and worshipped as a god. Pharaoh says he does not know this God and why should he obey this God. We can imagine, the Pharaoh was incensed that he- the Pharaoh of Egypt was a god himself and worshipped by his people; furthermore, these Israelites were his property, slaves of Egypt. The Pharaoh  also knew he could not give into this request of Moses for then it would appear he had acknowledged there was a God greater than he was. In his pride, intellect and false security, the Pharaoh would not listen to the words of the Living God. Like a dog about to enter a fight, the Pharaoh’s hackles rise at the mention of a greater deity.

Moses’ request becomes more detailed and he adds an interesting warning:  “ The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God , or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

Request is for three-day journey into desert to hold a festival. Do the math: Three days out- one day of celebration and three days back- seven days total with no work being done.  Plus Moses did not say when they were coming back. Moses also adds the warning- if they do  not offer these sacrifices, God may strike them with plagues or the sword, meaning Egypt could lose more than a few days of work, they could lose their work force.

But do not miss the subtle message here:  Moses is saying our God is a powerful God who can strike either the Hebrews or Egyptians with plagues or the sword.  Moses is telling the Pharaoh, this decision is a matter of life and death. You are being warned, Moses is saying.

Here is the second of the three questions that arise out of this meeting as the Pharaoh says: “ Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor?” In other words ‘why should the work stop?’

As a result of their requests, which are denied, the Pharaoh decides to make the work of the Hebrews who are building his kingdom even more difficult. They are now to make bricks without straw. Previously, the Egyptians supplied the straw making the manufacture of bricks easier for the Hebrews. Now they must collect the straw and continue to make the same number of bricks.

The Pharaoh’s reasoning is as follows:  “ They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘let us go and sacrifice to our God. Make the work harder for the men that they keep working and PAY NO ATTENTION TO LIES.”  ( vain(foolish) ideas-KJV) Pharaoh just called God a liar, the same as the serpent did in the garden.

Now faced with the impossible task of scrambling to find straw and still meet the daily quotas of bricks, the people are beaten severely for this lack of accomplishing their daily goals. The Hebrew foreman appear before the Pharaoh to make their plea for relief from this impossible tasks.

Normally, a slave or representative of the slaves would never be given the opportunity to appear before the Pharaoh, but the Pharaoh knows exactly what he is doing in allowing them to appear before him.  As they make their case, it becomes clear why the Pharaoh has allowed their appearance before him. He tells them these circumstances are all a result of Moses and Aaron’s request to let them go and worship their God.  He is turning the people against the leaders God has placed over them.

Since we recognize the Pharaoh as a type and symbol of satan, we see how this strategy has been skillfully used throughout the ages among God’s people to cause dissension and division so the work of God is neglected and our witness to the world is compromised.

The Hebrews now turn against Moses and Aaron saying look what a mess you have created. We are in more trouble now than before. ‘ You have made us a stench to the Pharaoh and his officials have put a sword in their hand to kill us!’

This brings forth the third question in this encounter which comes from Moses to God:  “ Why have you sent me?”  Moses is upset, he disappointed with the way things are going.  This is a setback he did not understand.  Even though if he would recall, God told Moses, the Pharaoh would respond this way.  But what do we say about setbacks for believers?  With God a ‘setback is a set up for a comeback.’

When you determine to obey God; to step out in faith and do what He tells you to do- you can expect the enemy to attack. Peter said we should not even consider fiery trials as strange.

The circumstances in your life might very well become dire. You might become as upset as Moses and cry out to God- are you doing to do what you said you would do? Are you who say you are?  Am I who you say I am?  When we are mired in negative circumstances we have a hard time as Moses did in seeing God and doubt and fear come into our lives.

Do you see what Moses is learning to do?  He is learning when there is a setback, when the trouble and the enemy comes in a like a tidal wave, we are to take our burden to the Lord and honestly talk with Him about the situation.  Moses in his distress calls out to the Lord. “ Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to the Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and You have not rescued your people at all!”

Wow! Moses has voiced his deepest anguish and from a troubled heart has cried out to God: “ Are You going to keep Your promises or not?”

Moses is crying out to God.

Moses is disappointed in God.

Moses wants God to do what He said He would do.

Moses is worried. Moses is distressed. Moses sees nothing but negative circumstances. Moses is afraid

Now the very people God has sent Moses to deliver have turned against him. They are siding with the Pharaoh and against Moses. They are blaming Moses for their trouble and not the Pharaoh. Moses feels betrayed by the very ones he was sent to set free.  Betrayal is something another Redeemer experienced didn’t He?

At  Calvary, Matthew records this exchange for us:  “  About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ( Matthew 27:46)

Jesus experienced despair, distress and even disappointment. What did he do in his hour of greatest need?  He cried out with a loud voice to God.  The scripture makes this clear.

Listen to this : “ For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, “ Abba, Father!”  David cried out; Elijah cried out; Jesus cried out and the accounts of those who cried out to God throughout the scriptures are numerous.

Can you not sense that Moses’ prayer is earnest, even urgent and there is a sense of desperation as he wants God to do what He said He would do.   Moses , like a lot of us, wants God to do it without us having to go through any hardships. Smooth sailing. No problems.

Just fix this problem, okay God? We are tired of having to deal with it. Be honest- haven’t you felt that way at times about a situation in your life?

Why doesn’t God do it the easy way without any hassle? Isn’t that what Moses is implying? Isn’t that what we think sometimes- God why are you making this world – this situation so difficult, even scary?   These situations we all face- are real and let’s face it- these real life problems are worrisome.

James tells us:  “ Consider it pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trials of many  kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance (patience, KJV). Perseverance or patience must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete lacking anything.” ( James 1)

Paul writes in Romans 5: “ We glory in tribulations( sufferings NIV) because we know tribulation worketh patience(perseverance NIV) and patience, experience(character NIV)  and experience –  hope. A hope that does not disappoint.’

*Two things I want you to notice about both of these passages: both James and Paul use the word  ‘KNOW’. James says you can count trials as a joy only if you know the testing of your faith has as its end goal and purpose to develop patience which matures your faith.

*Paul says we glory in tribulation, sufferings for this very important reason- we know tribulation produces a great benefit in our lives, it produces patience and patience creates an experience that provides us with hope that does not disappoint- a confident expectation in God, in spite of current circumstances.

Here is the question:  Do you know this truth? Have you experienced God doing what only God can do?  These situations in life are to teach us how to trust the Lord. To experience His provision.

Patience, perseverance, persistence – all have the connotation of going on – keeping on in spite of adversity and opposition.

Why is this necessary?  It matures our faith.  Adversity matures, purifies, enlarges and proves my faith. These experiences with God give us hope that does not disappoint for  our hope is in Him and His promises.

There are other benefits also:  when we have suffered , it prepares us to comfort others who are suffering in the same way.

Trust is a learned response. We learn to trust someone through experience of the person proving themselves to be trustworthy.

Here is what you must understand- the day you trusted the Lord Jesus as Savior- you became a participant in a spiritual battle. Here in Exodus, the battle between Pharaoh and the Egyptian army and taskmaster and Moses and the Israelites is a picture of the spiritual battle in which we are engaged. This spiritual battle is one we cannot see- but it manifests itself in our lives in all kinds of visible problems, adversity and troubling circumstances.

And just like the story here, God gets blamed for the problems the enemy is creating. Why doesn’t He do something?  Yet, God’s word, from his own son, Jesus tells us – the Father is always working.   And furthermore, He is working all things together for good for those who love Him  and are called according to His purpose.

Moses knew the truth. God had told Moses what was going to happen and the Lord Jesus has told us what was going to happen. Jesus told us in this world we would have trouble, but rejoice for He had overcome the world. God told Moses exactly what the Pharaoh was going to do, but now circumstances did not look favorable. The truth was things were not going well.

Do you know what or who the truth is?  Truth is a person. Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

He said if you know the Truth, you will be set free.

Here is the process Moses is going through- things are not going as he thought they would go. He is angry with the Israelites – they are such complainers.

He is angry with the Pharaoh who stands against them and is making matters worse.

He is angry with God, or at least disappointed that God does not seem to be holding up His end of the bargain.

He is confused, perhaps thinking- have I misunderstood the will of God?

We will see God’s perspective soon, but we must wait on the Lord. Be patient. Be persistent for the reasons James tells us in James 1 and Paul writes about in Romans 5.

God wanted the Pharaoh to resist so the people could see the mighty hand of God. To experience God in such a way, they would never doubt His ability to deliver them from appeared to be impossible circumstances.

Truth is a person. That person is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Until Truth walks into the situation and circumstances, until the Truth becomes active, present and alive in your life you will not see the whole truth of a situation.

Let’s read just one of the stories of Truth walking into what appears to be a hopeless, impossible, worst case scenarios in the New Testament in the story of the Widow of Nain found in Luke 7:11-17.  The first two verses set the scene and it is a scene filled with hopelessness. A widow’s only son has died and they are taking him in a coffin to be buried.  Stop the story there and  you see the hopeless situation. The truth of the situation is- a widow’s only son has died. She is now alone and without support.  But this is not the whole story is it?

Now let’s look at the rest of the story:  Jesus, the Truth walks into the situation into the midst of the circumstances. What does He do? He touched her son and restored him to life. Henry Blackaby  says: “ Never, ever determine the truth of a situation by looking at the circumstances. Don’t evaluate your situation until you have heard from Jesus. He is the truth.” (Experiencing God)

There are many examples in the New Testament where Jesus walked into a situation and the situation is changed. Jarius’ daughter, the disciples in a storm on the sea;  the man with the son who was demon possessed; Lazarus, dead and buried for four days until Jesus walked into that graveyard;  and of course the crucifixion and resurrection.

The True and Living God is about to walk into this situation. Moses and the Israelites are about to experience the power of God and the reality of faith.

“Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, and to take Him at his word; Just to rest upon His promise, and to Know “Thus saith the Lord. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er! Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! Oh for grace to trust Him more!

Have you learned to take Him at His word?

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

Exodus 4: What Do You Believe?

“Moses answered: “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘ the Lord did not appear to you?” ( Exodus 4:1)

Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25)

Did you ever read something in the Bible and believe God had said He would do something- but you doubted He would do it for you or in your life?  Then you can empathize with Moses. And  Paul would write about skeptical Jews and unbelievers in I Corinthians 1 ‘ the Jews demand miraculous signs..” Yet ‘ while Jesus was in Jerusalem, many people saw the miraculous signs He was doing and believed in His name. But Jesus would not entrust Himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in man.” (John 2)

The story of Moses and the Exodus is not only a story of how to listen to God; but also a story of how to believe God.  We will find we are not that different from Moses. Moses had the distinction of God speaking to him through a burning bush here in the beginning of this story. We have the Old and New Testament, God’s Word to us. We profess we believe in God, we believe in His Word, but do we believe God? Believing God is what faith is really about. And remember: “ Without faith it is impossible to please God and anyone who comes to Him must believe that He is( exists) and rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11: 6

God has promised the land flowing with milk and honey to Abraham and  his descendants. It is the land of His Promises. The Promised Land, Canaan, in the Bible is not heaven. It is not ‘pie in the sky’ when I die. It is Christ Himself , right now in the present , living His victorious life through me. Today you are in one of three places. You are in Egypt, which is a picture of the world and you are enslaved by the Egyptian slave masters, which are a picture of the flesh, the old sin nature. If you are, you can trust Christ now as your Savior. He will be your deliverer as you post the blood of the Lamb on the door post of your heart.  He can take you out of Egypt. Then you can be either in the wilderness or in the Promised Land. The wilderness is a picture of the carnal Christian. Redeemed by faith, believing in Christ, you have been set free from what enslaved you. Now you have let a defeated foe enslave you again. You believed in your Redeemer to take you out of Egypt, but you do not believe He can take you into the Promised Land. As Paul would later write to the Galatians-‘ having begun in the Spirit are you now going to finish  in the flesh?

What we will witness in this story is a generation who will not believe God and not believing God will cause them to live the rest of their lives in the wilderness. This  life is a life  that enjoys neither the sins of the flesh, the fleshpots of Egypt or the milk and honey of Canaan. Or you can live where your Redeemer wants you to live- in the Promised Land.  A life of victory, although there will certainly be battles.

So this is what we want to learn- how to live by faith, walk by faith so we can live in the Promised Land. We want to live a life believing God. We want to live what the Bible describes as an exchanged life:  “ I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; YET NOT I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loves me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. Want to trade in that old life or a new one?   It all depends on what and who you believe.

Here is what we are to believe:

• God is who He says He is.
• God can do what He says He can do.
• I am who God says I am.
• I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
• God’s word is alive and active in me.

Here is an example of how those principles of faith can be applied in this story of two blind men: “ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men  followed Him calling out, “ Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him and He asked them: “ Do you believe that I am able to do this?  Yes Lord, they replied. Then He touched their eyes and said, “ According to your faith will it be done to you,” and their sight was restored. ( Matthew 9)

Do you see what happened?  They believed He was who he said he was. They believed He could do what he said he could do.  He told them their faith in him would empower them to see- to be healed. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and believe He is who he says he is. The word of God was alive and active in those two blind men and it can be so in your life. What do you believe? Do you believe this?

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. ( Romans 4:3)

And we will see as the story of Moses, the Israelites and the Exodus from Egypt unfolds- by faith Moses  refused to be known as the son of the Pharaoh’s daughter. By faith Moses chose to be mistreated  along with the people of God; by faith he left Egypt, by faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled blood so the destroyer of first born would not touch the first born of Israel. By faith they would pass through the Red Sea on dry land.

The more we believe God, the more we are likely to see and experience His intervening power. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) Faith is also a fruit of the Spirit. The more we are filled with the Spirit, the more faith we receive. We are filled with the Spirit when we yield to the Spirit. The Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. If we do not heed the voice of the Spirit, we harden our hearts and God says if we continue to do that- to grieve the Spirit, quench the Spirit- we will not enter His rest. We will stay in the wilderness.

Here is what I want us to see in this story as we study Gods’  ways and study the life of Moses and how Moses responds to these principles:  Does Moses have trouble with the following:

Does Moses believe God is who He says He is?  Well at this point the jury is still out as far as  Moses is concerned. He wants more evidence.

Does Moses believe God can do what He says He can do? Obviously he doubts it, because he keeps expressing his lack of faith. Moses appears to be a man who requires signs.

Does Moses believe he is who God says he is?  No. Moses will continue to tell God he is not capable of doing these things. So obviously Moses does not believe ( if we can use the New Testament terminology) that Christ can do all things through him. And obviously also, the Word of God is not active and alive in the life of Moses at this time.

Moses believes in God. But Moses is having trouble believing God. Can you identify with Moses? He is insecure. He is a product of his life’s failures up to this point. Moses is  not only insecure, he is stubborn, a skeptic and just a little bit of a pessimists as well. So let’s pick up the story here in chapter 4.  God in speaking to Moses has told him what to say. God has assured him the elders of Israel would listen to him. God has given him instructions in what he is to say to the Pharaoh. Has told Moses how, He, God will deal with the Pharaoh’s stubbornness by striking the Egyptians with all types of wonders.

Moses again responds to God by answering –‘ what if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, the Lord did not appear to you?’ Do you see immediately when we look at our check list of what we are to believe – Moses does not believe God can do what He says He can do through Moses ?

God is about to give Moses three signs so Moses can believe : He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do and He can do it through Moses.

First sign:  Throw down the staff in his hand. The staff turns into a serpent. ( I picture it as a Black Mamba or a King Cobra, the most feared and deadly snakes on the face of the earth.) What does Moses do? The same thing I would do- he ran from it. I ran from God for 31 years. Your old nature fears God- for your old nature knows what God will do with it- crucify it. King Herod feared a baby born in Bethlehem. Why? Because  this baby was a threat to his throne.  The serpent has a lot of connotations in the Bible, but we must not overlook the fact that God has once again used something ordinary- first a bush then a shepherd’s staff, a wooden rod probably about 6 feet long.  Here is what we also see:  when we turn by faith to take hold of what we fear- we experience the power of God and reality of faith.

When I was lost and without hope of ever getting sober, what I feared most was Gina, my wife discovering the truth about me and leaving me. I also feared my boss finding out and firing me. When by faith I turned from what I had for years run from and by faith took hold of it- then I began to experience God.  I began to know God and like Moses, I began to learn His different names. And come to believe He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.  I also came to believe I am who He says I am. I believe I can do nothing apart from Him, but can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

But herein lies the problem, if I do not keep God’s Word active and alive in me- my faith grows stale. My conscious awareness of Him at all times grows sporadic.  I am tempted to take my eyes off of him as the world around me distracts me.

After the rod-to-snake-to rod again experience, God tells Moses this is so you may believe that I Am has appeared to you.  Have you had your rod-to-snake experience? Have you had God do something in your life that only God can do- in order you may believe He is who He says He is?

Next sign- God tells Moses to put his hand inside his cloak. When Moses did this and took it out again- his hand was consumed in leprosy. Then God instructs Moses to return the leprous hand inside his cloak and when he does and takes it out again- it is restored, healed.  Both of these miracles confirm the miracles are by the power of God, not Moses. Leprosy is a picture of sin in the Bible, it was also one of the most feared diseases in those times. There was no cure for leprosy and it led to a painful death.

The people of Israel were polluted by sin, as deadly as leprosy. Only God can cure us of sin. He healed us and did what only God can do, cleansed us of our sins, our leprosy.

God then tells Moses if they do not believe the first two signs to take water from the Nile and pour it on the ground and it would turn to blood.

Now having witnessed these three miraculous signs, Moses is convinced and rearing to go forward, right?  Wrong. Can you believe what you read next:  Moses said to the Lord: “ O Lord I have never been eloquent, neither in the past or since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Exodus 4: 10)

Do you see where Moses has disconnected?  He is coming to believe God is who He says He is, but He is not sure He can do  what He says He can do through him, Moses.

Do you see what the problem is?  The Word of God is not active and alive in Moses’ life at this time. “….but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.” ( Hebrews 4:2b)

God has told Moses – I AM – I AM.  And Moses has responded- I am not.

God says to Moses- “ Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go and I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” Exodus 4:11-12.

But Moses said, “O Lord ,please send someone else to do it.” Then the Lords’ anger burned against Moses…”  Moses said please don’t send me- God is displeased with Moses.

‘Without faith it is impossible to please God and those who come to Him, must believe that He is and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.’ Hebrews 11:6

Do you believe God is who He says He is?  Yes or No.  It is a simple question- but on it rests where and how you will live your life on this earth. In Egypt. In the wilderness or in the Promised Land. Where you spend eternity also rests on how one answers this question.

Do you believe God can do what He says He can do?  Yes or no. Or do you have an asterisk by that statement.  And your exception is He can do what He says He can do- but probably not in my life. Like Moses you believe  God is able- but I am not.  You are half right and you are so close to stepping into the  Promised Land.

Do you believe you are who God says you are?  Yes or no.  Again a simple question- but there can be no doubts. If you doubt – you are double minded and James tells us in James 1: “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is double-minded and unstable in all his ways.”

Now if you have answered the first three questions with yes, then there should be no doubt about the answer to the next question:  Do you believe you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you?  Be honest. Do you set some limitations?  Why?

And last but not least- is God’s word active and alive in your life?

Now perhaps you are thinking rationally and your logic is going something like this:  well Moses had an experience that I have not had.  God has not spoken to me through a burning bush in an audible voice. Haven’t had the rod-snake-rod experience, nor the leprous hand or the blood to water deal.  If I had experienced those- I would probably have not been afraid to do what God told me to do or believe Him for anything.

Let’s think for a minute what God has done for you and me, if we are His children, saved and sealed: “ He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all- how will He not along with Him graciously give us all things?  (Romans 8)

If you have been born again, you have eternal life. Eternal life begins at salvation. To have eternal life means you have the Son, Jesus Christ.  You have Him living in you. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. When you have the Son, you have Life.

He is coming again. He may come in our lifetime or we may die before He comes back. Jesus referred to the death of a believer as being asleep, as in Lazarus is asleep.  And Paul tells us when the Lord returns visibly to earth in His second coming, He will set down on the Mount of Olives.  If we are alive, we will be caught up in the air( raptured) but we will not precede those which are asleep.(I Thess. 4)

So if you have been born again, you have become a new creature. When was your Bethlehem?   Mine was September 16, 1977. That was my Bethlehem, that was the day, Jesus Christ was formed in my life. He came to take up residence in my heart, which He now inhabits.  Between that day and the day in the future when returns to the Mount of Olives, the Bible tells us we are to: ‘ offer our bodies as living sacrifices , holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God.” ( Romans 12: 1,2)

Did you see what we must do- transform our minds- renewing it with the word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Let’s take our list and see how it checks out from the last to the first.

Is God’s word active and alive in your life?  This is key.

Do you believe you can do all things through Christ? If God’s Word is not active and alive in your life, you will be like the Galatians having begun in the Spirit and now trying to finish in the flesh.

Do you believe you are who God says you are? The Word of God tells us we are joint heirs with Jesus, blessed with every spiritual blessing, forgiven of our sins, justified and indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit and much, much more.

Do you believe God can do what He says He can do? Have you experienced God doing something in your life only God can do?

Do you believe God is who  He says He is?  If this is settled – why would you doubt or worry. Jesus told us if we earthly fathers know how to give good gifts and we are evil, how much more will our Heavenly Father give us.  After all- He spared not His only Son but gave him up for us all.

Then let’s think about what God has done:

He has spoken to you and me through His Word- not a burning bush.

He has empowered us to take up the spiritual serpents, the fears in our lives, we have run from by the tail. God can then turn these fears into rods, staffs in our lives that God can work through.

He has healed us from the leprosy of our sins. His blood applied to the door posts of our hearts has spared us from the wrath of God. He wants us to live in a land that flows with milk and honey a place He has promised us was ours.

We can only get into the Promised Land by the same way we got out of Egypt- by faith.

“God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Sprit, seen of angels, preached  unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory.” I Timothy, 3:16

Where do you want to live the rest of your life on earth?

What do you  believe? Do you believe this?

Exodus to Romans: From How to Get Out to How to Get In!

Chapter 40 of Exodus begins with the setting up of the Tabernacle with everything done according to God’s pattern. This is almost like a checklist for a pilot about to take off. Moses carefully repeats everything the Lord tells him to do- almost like the co-pilot does with the pilot.

So let us go through this check list remembering what each component of this earthly tent in the wilderness represents in our lives. Let us go through our check list from the gate to the bronze altar, by the bronze laver filled with water, into the Holy Place where the light of the Lampstand reveals the table of showbread and fellowship and the golden altar where the incense of our prayers come up to heaven to behind the veil to the very throne room of
heaven.

First: did you enter through the gate? John 10 , Jesus says: ‘I am the gate, anyone who enters through me will be saved.’ In John 14, He reminds us: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by me.’ Have you entered through the Gate? Check.

Second: Did you place your sins on the Lamb of God who was slain at the altar of Golgotha? For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. “..when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” Exodus 12. Are you covered by the blood of the Lamb? Check.

Third: Have you confessed and forsaken your sin? “ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” ( I John 1) “ Unless I wash you, you have no part of me.: ( Jesus speaking, John 13) Have you stopped at the bronze laver to cleanse yourself? Check.

Fourth: Are you walking in the light? “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son purifies us from all sin.”(I John 1) Check.

Fifth: Are you enjoying the bread of fellowship? “ And our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. ( I John 1) Check.

Sixth: Are you faithful to watch and pray? Check.

Seventh: Then now you can enter the throne room of heaven with confidence ( boldness) where you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.(Hebrews 4) Are you experiencing God? Do you believe He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do? Do you believe you are who He says you are and can do what He says you can do? Is His Word alive and active in your life? Check.

Then Glory will come down and fill the tabernacle, this earthly tent known as your body. Jesus said He and His Father would come and abide with us. ( John 15)

And surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Check.

Exodus shows us how to get out of captivity. Romans shows us how to get into to the Promised
Land. It shows us how to live life in the power of the Holy Spirit. To be victorious, to be
energized.

Are you tired of all the wrong things in – your life, the lives of loved ones, this country, our
government, our society, our churches and our world in general?

Do you feel like you are trapped in Wal-Mart and forever trying to navigate Vann Drive?

Do you feel like the Israelites in the wilderness who having been delivered from what held you
captive, you are now beginning to wonder is there not more to life than this wandering around
in the wilderness?

Romans is the most systematic presentation of doctrine in the Bible. It is not only the key to
understanding the Bible, it is the key to understanding the secret of the successful Christian life.
A life, by the way, that Watchman Nee referred to as ‘ the normal Christian life.’

Paul will show us in Romans 1-3- all have sinned. In Romans 4 we discover the truth of
justification by faith. In Romans 5, we explore the benefit of justification by faith which is peace
with God. In Romans 6, Paul emphasizes we have freedom from sin’s rule. In Romans 7, we will
learn we have freedom from the law. And in Romans 8, we find what we are all looking for- life
in the power of the Holy Spirit. And much, much more for we will have only reached the half-
way point.

So buckle your seat belt. Stow away your carry-ons. Put your chair in an upright, locked
position, we are ready for take off. Today my goal is to get us to Romans 1: 17 in this part of
our flight. For there we will find the theme of this remarkable letter.

The letter is written by Paul in the year 56 A.D. to the church in Rome. The letter was carried to
the church in Rome by one of the ‘deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, Sister Phebe.( Romans
16) Paul’s desire is to visit the Christians in Rome. As the apostle to the Gentiles, he knows
Rome is the center of the Gentile world and all roads lead to Rome.
My prayer for all of us as we study this remarkable letter, is that it will transform us like nothing
we have ever studied before. It transformed Martin Luther to lead the reformation. It changed
the lives of John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards and many, many saints through the ages. It has the
power to revive us as individuals and as church bodies. It can transform our homes our places
of work and our city and our country. With this message, Paul and a handful of men turned the
world upside down 2000 years ago. This view was stated by the enemies of Paul.

Since that time, I fear the world has returned to its natural state and needs to be turned upside
down again, which in God’s view is right side up.

One thing you will notice about Paul’s writing style- he likes long sentences. His first
introductory sentence in this letter covers the first four verses.

He introduces himself: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus. The term he used there was the word
used for slave. In the Roman Empire at Paul’s time there was an estimated six million slaves.
Paul then continues to further identify himself as one called to be an apostle. An apostle is
one sent by authority with a commission. A representative of a higher authority. In the New
Testament, an apostle was one who had seen the risen Christ and was called out by Him. This
occurred in Paul’s life on the road to Damascus.(Acts 9)

Still identifying himself, Paul states he was set aside or separated for the Gospel of God.
Gospel literally means- good news. Why does Paul refer to it as the Gospel of God? Because it
originated with God and was not invented by man. The Good News is the message that Christ
died for our sins, was buried, and rose again and now is able to save all who trust Him. ( I Cor.
15)

Paul makes a side statement to describe the Gospel as not a new message, but one that was
promised in the Old Testament , beginning in Genesis 3:15 and through the Prophets. Paul
then emphasizes the Gospel and all Holy Scriptures are about God’s son, the Lord Jesus, a
descendant in his human nature from the house of David.

Then Paul describes himself in terms of what his chief ministry is: to call people from among all
the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. Paul was the missionary to the Gentiles.

So in this way, Paul opens the letter with an introduction of himself and presents his
credentials. Now Paul will begin the purpose of his letter. Starting with thanks to God for all
of them for their faith in Christ is being reported in all of the world. Rome was a city of over a
million people. It was a wicked city referred to by others as a ‘cesspool.’ Nero was the emperor
at this time and was ingratiating himself to the people with grand festivals and gladiator
spectacles. Homosexuality and sexual immorality was rampant. Sound familiar. Millions of
people every Sunday watch NFL football games in person in packed stadiums, and on television
with the ability to watch multiple games.

A historical word about the Roman Empire at this time in history: the first two centuries of
Roman rule are referred to as the ‘ Pax Romana’- meaning the peace of Rome. The Roman
Empire maintained peace throughout its empire by sheer, brutal force. Large armies could
mobilize quickly to quell any uprising or rebellion. The rebels who dared to challenge Roman
authority were crucified and left for days on crosses along roadsides leading into a region
as a warning to those who would question Roman authority. Thus the Roman Empire had
constructed and maintained a highway system paved with stone to reach any point in its
empire. It was these very roads that would enable the Gospel to be spread so quickly in the
early days of Christendom. Paul would travel an estimated 20,000 miles on these government
roads and shipping lanes.

Now watch how Paul links himself to the Roman Christians and we will see how we can forge a
link with other Christians and become a force in the world and our culture around us.

First Paul forged a link with these Christians by being thankful for them. Are you thankful for
other Christians? Especially those who are in places of danger or great darkness?

Second Paul forges the connection with prayer for them. Praying for one another is a powerful
connector. Praying for one another leads to another powerful connection –loving one another.
Paul’s love for these Roman Christians is evident in verse 11, where he states; “ I long to see
you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to make you strong – that is that you and
I might be mutually encouraged.” Paul wanted to come to teach the Word of God. Paul loved
to teach the Word of God. Paul says he wants to strengthen their faith, but Paul also knows
he will be encouraged also. When one studies to teach, it is different from just studying for
knowledge and insight. And what the teacher wants to do is cause the learner to learn. When
they get it- and when they respond, the teacher is encouraged as is the student. In this way-
teacher and student minister to each other.

Paul also was linked to these people because he was indebted to them. What does Paul mean?
What does he owe them? Paul had an obligation, an IOU to minister to the Gentiles in Rome.
Since he was called by the Lord Jesus to be the missionary to the Gentiles, Rome was the center
of the Gentile World. He was eager to get there. Are you eager to hear the Word of God? Are
you eager to tell anyone about God and His Son the Lord Jesus? Are you eager to carry out the
Great Commission?

Now let us consider this next statement by Paul: “ I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because
it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then the
Gentile. For in the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith,
from first to last, just as it is written: the just shall live by faith.” ( Romans 1: 16,17)

Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel- socially, morally and intellectually.

Socially, Paul was not ashamed to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in any social setting. Can
you say the same? Have you ever been in a social setting where someone says something that
you know is not true, based on Scripture and kept your mouth shut, because you did not want
to be ridiculed or viewed as a fanatic?

Paul was not ashamed of it morally. In the culture of if it feels good, do it- which was just as
present in Paul’s day as it is today, Paul was not ashamed to shed the light of the Gospel into
places of darkness. He was not afraid to call sin-sin.

Paul was not ashamed of it intellectually. If Paul was here today, he would not be ashamed
to debate with the intellectual agnostic who claims the Biblical creation account of the world
is scientifically impossible. Nor would he feel intimidated that he was a backwards person
who believed in a supernatural, all powerful God who created the heavens and the earth and
everything on it, in it and above it. And Paul knew without any doubt, that Christ had risen from
the grave, despite what the world of science and medicine would say.

Paul would not alter his convictions to adapt to social whims. He would not change the Gospel
and the truth contained within, for the Cross of Jesus still remains the price for sin that sets us
free.

Paul tells us why he is not ashamed of the Gospel and why we should not be also. “ For it is the
power of God for salvation for everyone who believes.” The Word of God is alive and powerful.
It is life giving, life changing and life sustaining. The Gospel is a specific truth by which all men
who believe are saved. This Gospel was ‘not something man made up. I did not receive it from
any man, ( Paul writes in Galatians 1), nor was I taught it, rather, I received it by revelation from
Jesus Christ.”

Paul gives us the specifics in I Corinthians 15: “ By this Gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly
to the word I preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain. For what I received,
I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins, according to the
Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He appeared to Peter and then to the twelve. After that, He appeared to more than
five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of who are still living. Then He appeared to
James then to all the apostles and last of all He appeared to me, as to one abnormally born.”

This specific truth is the instrument used by God to save lives. Notice it is an ‘ equal opportunity
plan of salvation to all – everyone who believes.

This is why satan is so against the Word of God. Why he does not want it in the market place,
the school house, the home or the culture. Satan understands the power of the Word of God.
The Gospel is the Power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. He wants to snatch
the word before it germinates, he wants to crowd it out of the heart before it takes root. In his
boldness, the enemy of God ‘s word has called God’s word a lie and in effect called God a liar.

It is the power to save the lost.

Salvation is the theme of this letter; it is in fact the theme of the Bible.

Salvation I is the greatest need of mankind.

This next verse is the key verse of Romans. “ For in the Gospel, a righteousness from God is
revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last as it is written: the just shall live by
faith.”

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

Law and Order:

There is one other article to go into the Ark of the Testimony- the Ten Commandments written
on the stone tablets. These laws, commandments given by God have not been amended, nor
edited or deleted. They have stood as absolutes throughout the ages. There is a story behind
these tablets which would be placed in the ark of testimony. They were not the original tablets
written by the finger of God. These were the second tablets carved by Moses own hand. We
will want to look at the story behind these replacement tablets.

When asked which law is the greatest, Jesus replied- ‘thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’( Matthew 22)

Do you see the order of the law based on priority- relationship with the Lord is first and
foremost, for being rightly related to God is the only way we can be rightly related to others.
This is God’s law and order. This is His law and this is the order of importance. God does not
change. And guess what- neither does human nature. Human nature longs for something to
satisfy its deepest longings. Elvis Presley was once asked late in his career what did he want
most? His answer: someone to love, someone to love me and something to look forward to. Is
this not the longing of our hearts?

What is interesting is the stone tablets that would be placed in the Ark were not the originals.
Do you remember what happened to the stone tablets written by the very finger of God?
Moses came down the mountain with the two original tablets to confront the sin of the people
and shattered the original tablets to pieces.

During Moses’ absence from the camp while he was atop the mountain receiving the law, the
people grew restless. Exodus 32 describes this great sin the people committed. “ When the
people saw that Moses was so long in coming down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron
and said, “ Come make us gods, who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us
up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

Let us remember that Moses is a type of redeemer. He has gone up on the mountain of
glory after bringing the people up out of Egypt by God’s mighty hand per God’s will. As they
waited for his return, the people grew restless and questioned if and when Moses was coming
back. Has not our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus gone up into the Mount of Glory, the very throne
room of God, and in God’s Presence He now sits at His right hand. Waiting can be tiring and
we know the enemy who goes about like a roaring lion is looking for tired, anxious prey as a
perfect candidate for temptation. One of our human weaknesses is we tend to grow weary and
frustrated in waiting.

After all, here we are in 2012, two thousand years after the Lord’s ascension to the mount of
Heaven. He promised to return, yet we grow weary waiting sometimes don’t we? Waiting to
hear an answer to a prayer, waiting for problems to be resolved, waiting for eyes to be opened,
waiting, waiting, waiting. And so we sometimes, like Abraham, decide we must go ahead and
do it ourselves. Are we not acting like our own gods? Here is what Peter warned us about: “
First of all you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following
their own evil desires. They will say, “ Where is the coming He promised? Ever since our fathers
died everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. But they deliberately forget
that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water .
By these waters also the world at that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word
the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day
is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His
promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient, with you, not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.” ( 2 Peter 3)

So we must not grow weary in well doing, for in due time we will reap the harvest if we do not
give up.( Galatians 6) If the people had waited another day- Moses would have been back and
lives would have been saved.

The Lord has not come down where we can see Him, yet, for this reason, we must live by faith
and not by sight. The world cries out- I will believe it – when I see it. But Jesus told Martha this
truth: “ Did I not tell you, that if you believed , you would see the glory of the God?” (John 11)

Does your faith waver and cut out like an engine which is running out of fuel sometimes?
Do you sometimes find yourself listening to the crowd who says- ‘where is the coming He
promised?’ It is in these times of waiting, we must be on guard. For here is where the enemy
conspires with our old nature to question the wisdom of waiting on a God you cannot see. That
is why people want to make gods, they can see.

Notice in our story in Exodus 32, the people rose up early the next day and sacrificed burnt
offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got
up to indulge in revelry. This word in Hebrew has sexual connotations. Many people rise up
early to sin- but not to pray. One of your first actions to safeguard you against wavering faith is
seek the Lord early. Arise early and spend time in His Word and in prayer- for faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the Word of God. ( Romans 10:17)

This people knew God, knew about God, had seen God work in mighty ways, and yet they
had grown weary in waiting in the wilderness. The wrath of God is about to be revealed from
heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their
wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it
plain to them. Notice how I have made Romans 1 fit this very situation that occurred in Exodus
32. Let’s continue with these verses in Romans 1: “ For although they knew God, they neither
glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish
hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, became as fools and exchanged
the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like man and birds and animals and
reptiles.” ( verse 21-23) Have you ever become foolish and made something more important
to your life than God? People do it all the time. They are like the people invited to the banquet
who had one excuse after another, which was really I have something else I want to do rather
than spend time with you, Lord. Their excuses ran the gambit from relationships- just married,
to business, – just bought some property; to materialism- just bought a team of oxen.

Do you see any parallels? I am going to get involved in church, serving you Lord, someday, right
now we are busy with : __________________________ you fill in the blank, what is keeping
you from serving the Lord, has priority over Him.

And then in Romans 1:28-29: “ Furthermore since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the
knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity.”

Do you see what one does with knowledge is very, very important. Your life depends on it. In
Romans 6- Paul tells us the truths we must know, as time after time- he repeats this phrase: ‘
know ye not..’ In that chapter Paul tells us we need to know and count it as true the following
facts: know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death; we
were raised with Him to live a new life; united with Him in death and united with Him in His
resurrection; our old self was crucified so anyone who has died is freed from sin; know also
that to whomever you offer yourselves to obey, you are slaves to whom you obey; whether
slaves to sin, which leads to death, or slaves to obedience which leads to righteousness. You
have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of righteousness. As a believer, you
are under new ownership. You were bought with a great price.

Remember Egypt is a picture and symbol of the world, a world culture and society that we
know today is under the control of the evil one. The love of idols was born in the heart of Israel
in Egypt. The love of this world is born in the heart of each of us because we are born with
sinful natures. How does a worm get into an apple? The egg is laid in the blossom. The hole in
the apple is not where the worm went in- it is where it went out. We were born with the sinful
nature, the love of this world in our hearts.

Israel had exchanged the glory of God for the image of an animal, a golden calf.

Moses threw the stone tablets, the original tables written with the finger of God breaking them
to pieces at the foot of the mountain. The breaking of the stone tablets was a symbolic act for
Israel had broken the covenant and would have to face the consequences. So here we see- the
10 Commandments are no sooner written, than they are broken. The first commandment was
to have no other god before Me.

What were the consequences? The Levites executed 3000 of the people plus a plague came on
the people of which we do not know how many were killed . God in His grace forgives sins. But
God in His government allows sin to work out its terrible consequence. We reap what we sow.

Do not miss this part of the story. From the very beginning, man has not been able to keep the
law. There is only One who kept it. Jesus said He did not come to abolish the law, but fulfill it-
every jot and title.

In Exodus 33, God tells Moses to leave this place and go to the land I promised you. God then
tells Moses I will send an angel before you to drive out the enemies. But I will not go with you,
because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.

But Moses says- God if you are not going with us- we are not going. Listen to what Moses said: “
How will anyone know your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and
your people from all the people on the face of the earth?” ( Exodus 33:16)

Could it be the church in the 21st century is not growing, is seeing attendance erode, fewer
baptisms, young people giving up on religion because God is not with us and there is nothing to
distinguish us from all the people on the face of the earth?

How will anyone know us unless you go with us, God?

How does anyone know you are a believer? What distinguishes you from all the people on the
face of the earth?

What evidence is evident in your life that you are a child of God?

Is God’s glory reflected in your life? Is God’s glory reflected in this body of believers called West
Jackson Baptist?

So here in this Ark of Testimony- the manna, the budding staff of Aaron, and the Ten
Commandments on the stone tablets were all preserved in the ark.

Only through the death of the Lamb of God, the One to come would there be: true bread from
heaven on which man can live; there would be only One Great High Priest to intercede for us,
the Lord Jesus, who is the True Vine; and since He is the only One who kept the law, fulfilling
every jot and tittle we have freedom.

For the New Covenant could not be established until the Old Covenant was fulfilled, and the
Lord Jesus was the Only One who ever could keep the law. For He was and is the last Adam,
born under the law, tempted in every way we were, but without sin thus qualifying Him as the
One who could take away the sin of the world.

“For if many died by the trespass of the one man ( the first Adam), how much more did God ‘s
grace and the gift that came by grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the man. For
just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through
obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” ( Romans 5)

Here is the question this lesson prompts us to ask ourselves: have you ever been guilty of
creating your own God of making for yourself an idol?

The first two commandments are against idolatry. The first sin we see after the 10
commandments are given is flagrant idolatry with the golden calf.

In the beginning, human beings were made to worship and serve God and to rule over all
created things in God’s name. In Genesis 1: 26-28, we read that God created man in His image,
in our likeness to rule over all created things. Paul tells it like it is in Romans 1: 21-25: “They
exchanged the glory of the immortal God and worshipped and served created things rather
than the Creator.” Instead of living for God, we began to live for ourselves, or our work, or for
the love of others, or for material goods. Do you see how the order has been reversed? We
begin to worship and serve created things and notice when you serve created things, created
things now rule over you, master you. We work to pay for those things and those things we
possess now possess us, as we measure our success by how many things we have.

Here is the truth: what we worship, we serve. For worship and service are bound together. We
will either worship the uncreated God or we will worship created things, which are by definition
– idols.

All sin is rooted in idolatry.

We usually think of sin as doing bad things. But sin can also be making something that is
fundamentally good into the ultimate thing. Sin is building your life and meaning on anything
more than on God.

Sin is building your identity and life – your self worth and happiness on anything other than
God. If you accept this definition- then you realize how subtle and deceiving is the nature of
sin.

Paul says it begins when thinking became futile and foolish hearts became darkened. They
claimed to be wise. That is the first step and it will inevitably lead to the second step-‘they
worshipped and served created things.’

Do you know the reason we turn to idols? The same reason the Israelites did in the wilderness-
we want to control our own lives, though we know we owe everything to God.

This is God’s Law and God’s Order: 1. You shall have no other gods before Me. 2. You shall not
make for yourself an idol in any form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or
the waters below. You shall not bow down to them for worship them.

That is God’s Law and that is God’s Order. Seek First the Kingdom of God and His righteousness
and all these things will be given to you as well. ( Matthew 6:33- the Lord Jesus speaking.)

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

The Mercy Seat

In the Holy of Holies there is only one piece of furniture, a wooden chest of acacia wood overlaid with gold with a solid gold cover with two angels on each end. This chest is commonly called the Ark of the Testimony. The word-‘testimony’ means witness. As we will see each part of it testifies of its Master Designer.   Why is the word ‘ark’ used to describe this chest?  The word ark is used in Scripture for the purpose of preservation. Noah’s Ark preserved Noah and his family and the animals through the flood. The basket Moses was placed in as a child and placed in the Nile River was described as an ‘ark.’(KJV)  The Ark of the Testimony was to preserve God’s witness.

And you will notice the careful instructions for handling the ark – for God intended for His people to move out and be His witnesses. For this reason, everything was made to be transported for God is always at work and on the move.

The cover of the Ark of the Testimony has previously been described as the Atonement Cover. It was a solid piece of gold with two cherubim at each end with wings spread upward facing each other looking down at the cover.  Atone by definition means to reconcile, to make at  one. It was here once per year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter with a sacrifice of blood to be sprinkled on the Atonement Cover, also known as the Mercy Seat.

This Mercy Seat would be the focal point of God’s manifested glory to His People.  All of this, we realize was a picture, a depiction of the One who would come and bring the blood offering for the sins of the world. Listen to Hebrews 4: 14-16 again:  “ Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who had gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet without sin. Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive MERCY and find GRACE to help us in our time of need.”

We find mercy at the Mercy Seat. This is where we find eternal redemption. Notice this is also where Grace is dispensed.

Now let’s add to that what the Word of God tells us in Hebrews 10:  “ Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when this Priest (the Lord Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time He waits for his enemies to be made His footstool, because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Now we see the repeated duties and sacrifices were a picture to each generation of the coming Great High Priest, the One sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Read on in Hebrews 10:  “ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, opened for us through the curtain, that is his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

Let us recall what God told Moses at the outset of the construction of the tabernacle. “ Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” ( Exodus 25: 9) The  pattern was of the Holy of Holies in heaven, the dwelling place of God. “ When Christ came as high priest of good things that are already here, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, that is not man- made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.” ( Hebrews 9:11-12) I take this Scripture to mean, the Lord Jesus entered the Most Holy Place- the Throne Room of Heaven and presented His blood at the mercy seat of God. And this is the only way we can come into the throne room of heaven, by the Blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is why we sing:  ‘Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His Name. ‘ (Down at the Cross)

‘Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me; There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calvary.” (At Calvary)

I was not present there to cry Crucify Him…but my sins were there and they tore His flesh and dug into His brow as surely as the nails, the whip, the thorns and the spear. The physical pain would have been excruciating, but nothing compared to the Son of God who knew no sin, taking on my sins and your sins and the sins of the world, in all their filth and depravity.

And then the most cruel blow- the cruelest blow in all of history…Father God had to forsake His Son, and punish Him for my sins.

Can you even begin to imagine what is was like for God the Father to turn away from His Son. Can you imagine how it must have crushed the Lord Jesus- when He cried out:  My God, My God- why have You Forsaken Me?    Again you know the words to that Song:  “ I’m forgiven, Because You were forsaken; I’m accepted, You were condemned;  I’m alive and well, Your Spirit is within me, Because you died and rose again.  Amazing Love! How can it be ? That you, my King would die for me?!”

Doctrine is clear. The picture portrayed countless times throughout the history of the tabernacle and the temple of sacrifices, and offerings of lambs slain and blood sprinkled on the mercy seat- kept telling us clearly we have all sinned. And without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

It is here at the Mercy Seat- the one in a tabernacle not man-made- that the Lord Jesus performed the duty of the High Priest with a sacrifice once for all- eternal. Done. It Is Finished!

Listen how the Apostle Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit makes it clear:

“ But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood.” ( Romans 3) Did you notice Paul said the Law and Prophets testified to this.  Remember in Luke 24, how the Resurrected Lord told the disciples on the road to Emmaus and the apostles how the law and prophets  testified about him?

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have  peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” (Romans 5)  Do you see the solid rock God placed us to stand on when He lifted us up out of the miry pit?  We stand in His Grace.  For by grace are you saved through faith.  We have been accepted in the Beloved. We have been justified through faith in His blood, the blood of the Passover Lamb of God who takes away our sin and God is satisfied and His judgment passes over us.

The Lord Jesus is not only the Lamb of God, whose precious sinless blood atoned for the sins of the world; He is also our Great High Priest who lives daily to intercede for us and even more- He is our Mercy Seat for He is our Atonement Cover, His our Ark who preserves us.

Mercy there was great and grace was free- pardon there was multiplied to me and you.  Do you now realize how much God desires to show us mercy?  Do you realize – ‘ in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.’ ( I John 4)

This is that amazing love, that amazing love that produced this plan of salvation that while you and I were still sinners Christ died for us.

I have quoted several verses from hymns that deal with this amazing love that produces this mercy.  There is only one conclusion we can come to and the Bible tells us:  God delights in mercy and His mercy extends to all who fear Him. He is rich in mercy and He saved us because of His mercy. His Love found a way to extend mercy and still maintain His Holiness and His Justice – Jesus was the Way. The only way by which we can come the Father.

So when we sing of His Mercy, we are only doing what the Psalmist did when in Psalm 89:1 he wrote:  “ I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever!”

Next we will look at the contents of this precious chest- the golden pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded and the stone tablets of the law. For surely this is a picture book that testifies to God’s glory.

What were the purposes of the manna besides providing food and sustenance for the people in the wilderness?  The purpose of the manna was twofold. First, it provided nourishment. But also Moses told the people in Exodus 16: “ In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the GLORY OF THE LORD. “ What did they see in the evening and the morning?  ‘At twilight you will eat meat (quail), and in the morning you will eat bread.(manna) Besides nourishment, God was allowing the nation of Israel to see His Glory. Later, Moses would tell the people:  “ Man does not live by bread alone but by every word the comes from the mouth of God.” ( Deut. 8:3)  And who was the Word, who was the Bread come down from Heaven?  The Lord Jesus said:  “ I am the living Bread that comes down from heaven.: ( John 6) Earlier in John 5, Jesus said ‘ if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.’

Jesus was and is the Bread of Life come down from heaven. And just as this bread in the wilderness gave glory to God, the bread that came down from heaven was the perfect revelation of God’s Glory.

What is the significance of Aaron’s rod that budded?  Numbers 17 gives us the background for this unusual occurrence that God used for selecting the High Priest. Previous to this event, Moses and Aaron had dealt with a rebellion by Korah, a descendant of Levi, who challenged Moses and Aaron’s leadership.  The rebellion met a fiery end. Then the Lord told Moses to have the leaders of each of the 12 tribes to put their name on his staff and put the staffs in the Tent of Meeting. In the morning, Aaron’s staff had not only sprouted but had budded , blossomed and produced almonds.  This test left no doubt as to whom God had selected. The Lord told Moses to put Aaron’s rod with the stone tablets in front of the Ark of Testimony.

What is the significance and in what way does this provide a testimony or witness?  Remember a tree is known by its fruit. The rod that budded, blossomed and produced fruit was a witness to the High Priest of God’s choosing.  We know the Lord Jesus is our Great High Priest- what fruit did He produce?  In John 15, the Lord Jesus on the way to the Garden where He will be arrested, gave us a picture of fruit production.

Here in this remarkable passage, the Lord Jesus gives us another picture of our relationship with Him.  The Lord Jesus tells us- He is the true Vine and His Father is the Gardener and we are the branches. Our Heavenly Father is a constant gardener, always with one goal to produce more fruit. Why more fruit?  Jesus answers our question:  ‘ Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit.” Jesus is the True Vine, we are the branches attached to Him drawing our very life from Him, as the branch does from the vine. I would say the Holy Spirit is the life giving sap that enters the branch and produces the fruit.

The Father is in charge of pruning. He prunes dead works- services done with selfish  or impure motives not for the glory of God. In addition those dead shoots sap growth from  the rest of the branch. Pruning is a way of shaping and cleaning the plant in order for it to produce more fruit. How does the cleaning take place?  “You are already clean because of the Word I have spoken to you.” ( John 15:3)

God’s Word, we are told, is alive and powerful and sharper than a two edged sword.( Hebrews 4)  God uses the Word of God like pruning shears. He can  prune us with this sharp two-edged gardening tool in His Vineyard to make us more fruitful. I like that the Word is so sharp, the sharper the blade, the quicker and easier the cut. Less pain.

But if this does not do the job, God will use circumstances and trials to finish the job. For He will complete that which He has begun. ( Phil. 1: 6)  That is why James rejoiced in trials and tribulations for he knew growth would be the end result. Perhaps that is why James also said to be a doer and not just a hearer of the Word – for God will resort to trying circumstances to complete the pruning when we do not obey His Word.

I might add, the Father, Our Constant Gardener, chose the place where He would plant us.

So let me close by asking you these pesky questions again?

What are you seeking?  Is it to glorify God, then by being fruitful we glorify Him.

Where are you looking? For in the Word of God we find the direction we are seeking.

What have you found so far?  Is His Word a light upon your path and a lamp unto your feet?

How is what you have found affecting you?   Especially in your walk with the Lord.

What is holding you back?  Are you willing to go with the Lord all the way- or are you trapped on ‘ someday island’?  Someday I am going to finally ______________. You fill in the blank. Many of us live on this island or its twin island- the ‘ if only island.’ One island looks to a fictional future of our daydreams, the other looks back to an island of missed opportunities and mistakes. There is only one island where we should live- ‘this day island’ the island of present reality that greets each day with ‘ this is the day, the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it; also ‘ choose you this day whom you will serve.’ Because I can tell you someday- will be your last day and someday you will stand either before the bema to have your works tested for rewards or stand before the Great White Throne for judgment of your sins.

If you find yourself before the Great White Throne – you will want more than anything –MERCY.

But it will be too late, the time of coming to the throne room to obtain mercy has passed- the door has been shut and no man can open it.

Mercy there was great and grace was free- pardon there was multiplied to me!

Come to the Mercy Seat Now!!

 

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

The Holy of Holies: The Place of Intimacy

Within the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. A chest of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold inside and outside. This single piece of furniture contained three items within the chest:  the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets; Aaron’s rod that budded; and a golden pot of manna.  We will look at these in detail as we study this all important dwelling place of God. The lid of the chest was overlaid with gold with two cherubim angels at the two ends. They faced downward with outstretched wings over the atonement cover where the blood was brought once per year by the High Priest. This is where God’s Shekinah Glory appeared.

First we will look at the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. In Exodus 26:31-33, we read the detailed description God gave Moses of the Veil, or curtain that was at the entrance of the Holy of Holies.

“ Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim worked into it by skilled craftsman. Hang it on golden hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid  with gold and standing on four silver bases. Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of Testimony behind the curtain.”

Blue reminded the people of the tabernacle’s heavenly descent. Purple was the color of royalty, kingship and elegance. Scarlet denotes the blood, the pain, the sacrifice. This veil was to separate the holy place from the holy of holies. Since the tabernacle was carefully constructed after a pattern in heaven according to God’s detailed instructions.  This was a picture of heaven where God was and is enthroned in all His Glory. Glory had come down to man.  Surely this is what the songwriter had in mind when he wrote:  Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!

As we look back over the last few weeks of teaching, we see how God has clearly demonstrated the precise way, the only way we can come to this point and place of intimacy with Him. He has made it clear- there is only one way by which we can enter- through the gate, which Jesus said – I am the gate, anyone who enters through me, will be saved. ( John 10)  We entered by the gate in order to obtain mercy, forgiveness of our sins- by placing our sins on the Lamb of God who was sacrificed on the raised altar of Golgotha. We were cleansed by the blood and the water that came from His side. But now we have the privilege to enter the Throne Room of Heaven, the Holy of Holies  once was separated by the veil.

Let us look at the cherubim and understand their purpose as Scripture teaches us. Their first appearance is in Genesis 3:  23-24. “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After He drove the man out, He placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” God did this ,as He explained,  to keep mankind from eating of the Tree of Life and living forever.  What a calamity and tragedy it would be for fallen man to live forever in a fallen sinful state.   But angels are also used as messengers to proclaim the glory of God. So they are to protect us from God’s presence which we in our sinful state could not stand in and to proclaim God presence. They are both protectors and proclaimers.

One must be prepared to stand in God’s presence. Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. Keep in mind, God does not change. And to enter into His presence is not only to enter into a place of intimacy, but also a place of revelation.  Both of these should be our goal, for the chief end of mankind is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Are you enjoying God’s presence in your life?  Or does the idea of going into His Presence bother you?

There will be those who never enter through the veil, for they have their hearts covered with a veil of unbelief.  Only the Lord Jesus can remove the veil when they turn to the Lord and believe His Word and trust the Lord Jesus. ( 2 Cor. 3)  But this veil that separated and protected those who could not stand in the presence of a Holy God was done away with in the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice.  “ Therefore, brother, since we have confidence to enter into the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain(veil) that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. “ ( Hebrews 10)

What happened to Moses when he was exposed to the Glory of God? A change took place . It always does. Moses’ face was radiant after his encounter with God’s glory.( Exodus 33:29b) tells us:…’ he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.’ A change takes place in our lives when we have been in His presence. A change that we are not aware of- but others are aware of. Gina noticed this change in me first- she told others-‘I have a new husband.’   The light of His Glory of His Presence sheds light on the knowledge of God and His Word.  We now have received the Spirit of God that we might understand what God has given us. We can understand spiritual truths. Before we did not have the Holy Spirit, and the man without the Spirit cannot accept the things that come for the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.( I Cor. 2)

But the light of God’s presence also does something else. The light exposes our sins. The Word of God is alive and powerful and is now compared to a two-edged sword that divides asunder the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  The more clearly we see Him, the more clearly we see ourselves and say woe is me.  Peter said depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Paul referred to himself often as ‘chief among sinners’ because the closer he came to the light, the more it exposed his sinfulness.

Behind the veil- it is a place of wonderful intimacy. But be prepared it is a place of humility for that is one of the aspects of true intimacy- it breeds true humility.

So Christ took away the veil and made a new way to enter into the Holy of Holies through His flesh.

However, the veil of unbelief continues to blind those who have not turned to Christ for only in Him is the veil taken away. So when even unto this day, when they read Moses the veil of unbelief is on their hearts, their minds are blinded to the truth.  Jesus in the parable of Luke 16 said- if they do not believe Moses , they will  not believe me.  They read the account of creation and their minds are blinded,  this is foolishness to them for anyone to believe God created something out of nothing.

“ Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all,with open  face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” ( 2 Cor.3: 17, 18 KJV)

How do we become transformed to be like Jesus? Very simply, as we stand face-to-face looking into the glory of Jesus Christ, we shall be changed into His image. This is  what these verses in 2 Corinthians 3 tell us. As we fix our eyes on Him, guess what?  We take our eyes off of ourselves and the Spirit of God begins to change us, to transform us, to conform us to the image of the Son of God. This is the power of the Word of God!

*The Word of God tells us if you stand with your face in the Word of God- learning and beholding the glory of God, the Spirit of God will transform you into the image of the Lord Jesus. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make us like the Son of God. He uses the Sword of the Word to circumcise the flesh from our heart so that we might love the Lord with all our heart.

James warns us- do not merely listen to the Word of God and so deceive yourselves. Do what is says- obey it. James says anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what is says, is like the man who looks in the mirror  and looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. (James 1) You must obey the Word of God for it to have its transforming affect.

And guess what?  The glory you receive from being in God’s presence and experiencing this most precious intimacy can fade as we fail to come into His glory on a regular basis. This is why spending quality time in Bible study is a must.  Study to show yourselves approved. Obey the Word as the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make us like the Son of God. This is truly a miracle of transformation.

I believe we do not fully understand the glory of God.  But the writers of the Westminster Catechism asked this rhetorical question: What is the chief end of man?  That is to say- why was man created and why does man exist?  Their answer:  To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. I submit to you – the only way to enjoy God forever, beginning now on this earth is to glorify Him , for this is the reason we were created and exist.

Adam and Eve were the first to behold the glory of God as they walked with Him and talked with Him in the Garden of Eden while they were  without sin. Next the Glory of God appeared on the mountaintop to Moses. And after the Tabernacle was completed it was His Glory that filled the Holy of Holies. When Solomon’s temple was completed His Glory filled the temple.

Then the Glory departed. It was not glimpsed again until the Word who was God became flesh and dwelt among us. And John says in the Lord Jesus we have seen His Glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father.  And Jesus told Phillip – ‘anyone who has seen me, has seen the Father. (John14)

One day in the future, the Lord Jesus is coming again and once again we will behold His Glory. Until then – we can enter into the Holy of Holies , for the veil has been removed and we can spend time in His Presence and behold His glory.l

Remember what is woven into the veil?  Cherubim.  What do these angelic creatures do? Protect and proclaim. Listen to this proclamation from the seraphim in Isaiah 6:3: “ Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of His Glory.” God possesses glory by the very virtue of who He is.

So let us step now behind the curtain of this tabernacle and look at the place where the glory of God appeared all those centuries ago. The Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, this tent in the wilderness was small. It measured 10’ by 10’ by 10’. The only thing in there was the ark of the covenant.

One cannot help but wonder – why did God choose such an ordinary small place to dwell among His people?  Why was this place of intimacy so common- a tent of all things sitting on the ground?!

Because of all the places God could dwell, He has chosen to dwell in me. This  earthen vessel, this jar of clay that is our bodies, now contains the treasure of God Almighty indwelling each believer.   What did Paul tell us?  “ Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Cor.3)

Paul also tells us we dwell in earthly tents.  “ Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed  with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling so that the mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Cor. 5)

Did you get that? God has made us for the purpose of indwelling us.

We know these tents we live in are temporary, just as the tent God first dwelled in the wilderness was temporary.  But we know what awaits us is eternal, even though now we cannot see it. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is  eternal.  This is why we are told we must live by faith and not by sight.

So how do we glimpse His glory?  How do we experience this intimacy in what was once a 10X10X 10 tent on this earth?

Our Holy of Holies has four sides also. It is right here with us at ground level. Step inside and you will see the Lord Jesus from all four sides of this Holy Place.

See look there- He is King. Turn to the next side- Our King is a Servant.  Wait – look at this side Our Servant King is the Son of Man, God clothed in flesh. And finally look at the fourth side- He is God.   Where in the world am I seeing this four sided view of God?

In Matthew- He is King.

In Mark – He is Servant.

In Luke- He is Son of Man.

In John- He is the Word, who was with God, He is the Word, Who is God.

Every day, we have as a privilege to enter this Holy of Holies as the Royal Priesthood. For it is in His Word, in the Four Gospels, the study of the Lord Jesus’ life on this earth that we behold His Glory, the One and Only come from the Father full of grace and truth.

This is the Gospel, the four books God has chosen to present the Lord Jesus, God in Flesh.

Paul said: “ I am a servant of the Gospel.” The Gospel tells us of the unsearchable riches of Christ. This Gospel tells us of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. In the Gospel, God wants us to grasp this love  and how wide and long and high and deep it is. For these four dimensions describe a love that knows no bounds, is everlasting, sacrificial and unconditional.

Is it so amazing that we can walk with Him and talk with Him, just as surely as Adam and Eve did in the Garden. We can enter into the Holy of Holies, the throne room of heaven. We can glimpse His glory in the pages of this Book, called the Word of God. It is life giving, life changing and life sustaining. Read it to be wise. Believe it to be saved. Practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you.

This word of God creates faith and produces change. It frightens the devil, causes miracles and heals hurt. Obey it and it will develop character and most amazing the Spirit of God will use the Word of God to make us like the Son of God.

The High Priest entered the Holy of Holies only once a year. We are encouraged to enter the throne room of heaven boldly with confidence. We can enter daily.  Do you believe this?

This is what is showing us- He wants to be in our life. He wants to share His life with us. He wants to be our life.

So here is what you can do- starting now:

You can make it your custom to enter the throne room of heaven, the holy of holies every day.

I suggest and the Bible tells us to seek Him early.

This hymn tells us what awaits us.

“ I come to the garden alone,

While the dew is still on the rose.

And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me and He talks with me

And He tells me I am His own.

And the Joy we share as we tarry there – none other has ever known.

If you are saved, God has deposited His Spirit in you. He has chosen our hearts as His Home. It is temporary, for our permanent home is being prepared. Jesus said He was going to prepare a place of us- so that where He was we would be with Him also.   But He said He would not leave us alone- but would in the person of the Holy Spirit abide with us.

“ If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you all things, and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 15)

Do you know why we have the privilege to see the glory of God?  Because Jesus asked His Father for us to see His glory.

“ Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you love me before the creation of the world.” ( John 17)

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, express in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” ( Ephesians 2:6)

WELCOME TO THE HOLY OF HOLIES!  ARE YOU ENJOYING YOUR VIEW?

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

If You Can?

“Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘ How long has he been like this? From childhood, he answered.
It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us
and help us. If you can?, said Jesus. Everything is possible for him who believes. Immediately
the boy’s father exclaimed, I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.” ( Mark 9)

We are all familiar with this story of this man and his son and their encounter with Jesus. We
can certainly identify with this man can’t we? We have all had something we wanted the Lord
to do and yet our faith wavered and we were not sure the Lord would do it. So we ask ‘if you
can.’ We know all things are possible with God, but sometimes we are not sure if the Lord will
do what we have requested.

I do not want to make prayer complicated, nor do I want to oversimplify it and turn God into
some kind of vending machine that if we put in the right change we will get what we ask for-
yet the Lord has given us the pattern for prayer, the privilege of prayer, and in fact I believe the
devil fears prayer more than anything because prayer releases the power of God.

What I want to do is remove the ‘if’ as much as is possible.

Because unanswered prayer or not being confident of what we are praying for is frustrating and
confusing. And we know God is not the author of confusion, it is the enemy who does not want
us to believe God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.

Jesus’ disciples must have experienced this same frustration and confusion for they ask the Lord
to teach them to pray.

Jesus told us we should always pray and faint not- not give up. ( Luke 18)

Paul instructs us: “ Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is
God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” ( I Thess.5)

And we know the prayer of this boy’s father was answered as he prayed: “ I believe, help my
unbelief.”

Yet the Word of God tells us of the frustrations of saints of old:

“ O Lord, how long shall I cry and You will not hear?” Habakuk 1.

“Oh that One would hear me! Behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me..” Job 31

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“ How long will You forget me,O Lord? Forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?”
David in Psalms 13 Have you not had times in your life when your prayers reflected the same
emotions? The same frustrations and even doubts? Of course we have.

Yet in Hebrews 4 we are told: we can enter the throne room of heaven boldly, with confidence,
to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

And John writes : “ This is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to
His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us- whatever we ask- we know that we have
what we asked of Him” ( I John 5) Oh, but you say- there is that IF again. Yes it is there for a
reason- to protect us.

As we have been studying the details of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, we realize this is
more than a tent. It was a place where God dwelled. As we have studied this physical structure
and its furnishings, we must realize that what God desired in Israel physically, He desires in us
spiritually. That is- God wants to prepare a place within us spiritually where He may dwell. Our
heart is His Home, His Dwelling Place. And anyone who has entered in by the gate, the Lord
Jesus will be saved. Anyone who has by faith laid his/her sins on the Lamb of God who was slain
and who took away the sins of the world is saved. And the Lord Jesus saves to the uttermost,
because He lives forever at the right hand of God to intercede for us in intercessory prayer.

Jesus said : Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it will be opened.

It is the very nature of God to desire a fellowship with you and me. It is His desire for us to call
on Him.

“ While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the Word of the Lord came to
him a second time. This is what the Lord says, He who made the earth, the Lord who formed it,
and established it- the LORD is His name. Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and
unsearchable (mighty) things you do not know.” ( Jeremiah 33:1-3)

See the promise in the third verse: God says call on Me and I will answer you. Is that not what
Jesus said in Matthew 7 that if we asked, and if we sought and knocked that it would given,
found and opened. God says I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you do not
know. How does God answer- yes, no, wait. Paul asked three times to have a thorn removed
and the Lord said no. The Lord said my grace is sufficient. It is always sufficient. He also said the
thorn had a purpose in God’s plan for Paul to receive the fullness of the Lord’s strength. For the
Lord told Paul in weakness, His strength is made perfect.

The second verse here tells us who is making this promise- the Lord who created everything-
the Lord who created everything out of nothing. Can He not do what He says He will do? Who is
like the Lord God Almighty- there is no other.

And I would have you notice the first verse for it tells us the circumstances Jeremiah finds
himself in when God makes this promise, Jeremiah is in prison.

Jesus tells us in John 5:17, His Father is always at work. So we know God is not slack in
answering our prayers and keeping His promises. He is at work.

We must remember when we enter the throne room of heaven, we also have entered into
God’s time zone, where a thousand years is as a day. He lives in the eternal present. You are
now on His time schedule.

But is in Romans 8 we discover what the goal of God’s constant work is: God is working all
things together for good, for those who love the Lord and are the called according to His
Purpose. Great- you say, God is working it out for our good. You do understand what God’s
definition of good is , don’t you? It is right there in the following verses God working everything
together for good and His defines this good work as our being conformed to the image of His
Son.

In fact, let’s look at these verse in Romans 8 and follow the logic of Paul to remove the “IF”.

We want to believe and we want the Lord to help our unbelief. We want to lay hold of the
promises, to claim what is ours but how can we be sure? How can we be certain of what we
hope for and sure of what we cannot see?

The answer in a word, is Faith. ‘ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what
we do not see. For by it the elders received a good report.” ( Hebrews 11:1,2) The KJV says:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Corrie Ten Boom said: Faith sees the invisible; believes the unbelievable and receives the
impossible.

Let’s read Romans 8:28-35.

Paul asks these questions: What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can
be against us?

Now listen with your heart as to what God has done and it will remove the ‘if’ from your ‘if you
can.’

Paul tells us the evidence we have that God has provided to remove the ‘if’ from your life and
remove the doubts and unbelief from your heart and mind.

“He (God) spared not His only Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with
Him (Lord Jesus) freely give us all things? This is evidence , the irrefutable evidence of God’s
love for us, for His commitment to us. Looking at the cross how can we doubt what God thinks
of you and me? (Romans 8:32)

It’s about a simple message and do you really believe It is about the cross. It is about a King who
died for His subjects. What shall we say to these things? God states clearly He knew me in my
mother’s womb, and He saw my last day before the first ever began. God is the director of the
movie of your life- and He has determined He will work all things together for good.

Who can be against us? Interesting in Jeremiah 33:2, God reminds Jeremiah who is making the
promise- the LORD who created the earth, who formed it, who established it. This is Almighty
God. When He is for us- the scales will be tipped in favor of those He is for. In fact if those who
were against us, were on one side of the scale- they would be like a feather and the God who is
for us – who is Our Rock would be like a five ton rock place on our side.

Paul says who can bring a charge against us? You see the world, our old nature and the devil
will try and convince you – you cannot trust God to act on your behalf as He has acted in the
past for others. God is the same, He never changes. We have been justified. No evidence can
be brought against us, no charges can be brought before us in a court of law. The Judge of the
Universe has declared us Not Guilty. Innocent of all charges. God has executed Jesus Christ, His
Son for our sins.

When you come face-to-face with such a love as this- how can you not have confidence in the
love and favor of God. In fact verse 34 asks the question: Who is it that condemns you? It is
Christ that died for you, and is risen again who is even now sitting at the right hand of God who
lives forever to make intercession for you. He is our advocate. He is our defender.

And the last question Paul asks is: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And he
answers nothing can separate us. Not persecution, not famine, or nakedness or peril or sword.
Neither life nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to
come. Nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ( Romans 8:35-39)

God told Jeremiah ( and us) the One who promised to answer our prayers is the Lord Almighty
who created everything out of nothing. Who has all power, all knowledge, and is Our ever
Present Help in time of need.

Because we believe this, because we see the clear evidence of His love and commitment to us,
we can enter the throne room of heaven with confidence.

Now God tells us we must be cleansed of our sins. Psalms 66:18 states: “If I regard iniquity
in my heart , He will not hear me.” Notice it does not say if we sin, He will not hear us. For
He has told us when we sin, we have an advocate who lives forever at the right hand of
God to intercede for us. So when we confess our sins, He is faithful to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.

We are told – we have not, because we ask not. Prayerlessness is a sin. How can we neglect
something so wonderful?!

We are told we have not , because we ask amiss, to consume it ourselves. Selfish prayers will be
answered – no.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Our Faith is in Almighty God. He made sure Jeremiah knew who it was who was telling him to
pray and He would answer.

Do you believe He is who He says He is? For He has revealed Himself as a loving Father who
loves to give good gifts.

He has revealed Himself as a Warrior, Our Shield and Defender, a Mighty Bulwark is He.

He has revealed Himself as the Creator.

He has revealed Himself as a God who will allow His only Son to die – so that you and I might be
adopted by Him into His family.

He has revealed Himself as a God who cannot lie and keeps His promises.

He has promised to forgive and forget our sins. Sometimes the promise to forget is as
important as the promise to remember and He has engraved my name and yours in the palm of
His hand as well as inscribed it in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

He is our provider, our sustainer and our everlasting Father.

He has promised to answer our prayers and show us great and mighty things which we know
not.

No wonder Jesus said we ought always to pray and faint not.

IF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING- HAVE PITY ON US AND HELP US.

IF YOU CAN, said Jesus. Everything is possible for him who believes.

Now we know the man asked the Lord to help him overcome his unbelief. This prayer was
answered for this is God’s will that believe in Him and the One whom He sent.

Jesus also told his disciples this kind of spirit ( in the boy) comes out only by prayer.

Faith is never perfect is it? There can be unbelief mixed with belief.

Let’s look at Daniel 2 :17-23.

God revealed deep and hidden things to Daniel. He knows what lies in darkness and light dwells
with Him. God gives us, like Daniel, wisdom and power. He gives us understanding.

So remember what the promise of God is : Call on me and I will answer. What can the answer
be? Yes, No, or Wait. But that is not all, in calling on Him – He will show us great and mighty
things we know not. Paul’s answer to his prayer to remove the thorn was NO. But in and
through the ‘thorn’ the Lord showed Paul something great and mighty he did not know. The
Lord showed Paul and us how His strength is made perfect in weakness. Remember God will
answer you in His Word, for His Word is: ‘…God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting, and training in righteousness so that you may be thoroughly equipped for every
good work.’ ( 2 Timothy)

God is going to answer you prayer. And if you will ask, seek and knock- He will show you great
and mighty things you know not. It may require an adjustment on your part- from major to
minor. But God has promised to show you.

About that there is no – IF.

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

The Table of Shewbread

As we look to our right in the Holy Place we see the Table of Shewbread. This was a small table made of acacia wood and overlaid with pure gold. It measured 3 feet by 1.5 feet and 2 feet, 3 inches high. It held 12 loaves of bread representing the 12 tribes of Israel. The priests baked the bread with fine flour and it remained on the table for a week and every Sabbath the priests would remove it and eat it in the Holy Place, then put fresh bread on the table.

The table was fitted with gold rings for transportation. The plates and dishes were of pure gold, as well as its pitchers and bowls for the pouring out of offerings according to God’s detailed instructions to Moses. In Exodus 25:30, God instructs Moses: “ Put the bread of Presence on the table to be before me at all times.” The bread of Presence, traditionally called “shewbread” refers to the presence of God Himself.

The table and the bread were a picture of God’s willingness and desire to have fellowship with man. It was an invitation to share a meal and friendship with God Almighty. Jesus showed his willingness to eat with sinners- tax collectors, prostitutes and the down and out. In fact Jesus came so that we might have fellowship with God, Our Creator.

The well known Psalms 23 tells of a table set before us: “ Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou annointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.” The anointing of one’s head with oil was the customary treatment of an honored guest at a banquet.

One day we will sit at a table He has prepared for us. It will be the great wedding dinner, a great banquet with the bridegroom at the head of the table and we, the church, the bride of Christ will be there clothed in fine linen. “ For the wedding of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean was given her to wear. Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” (Rev. 19)

In the meanwhile, Jesus should be honored as the head of our table- the place of fellowship. We used to eat together as a family when I was growing up every night. My father sat at the head, my mother to his right, then my little sister, me and my brother. We were asked what we did in school that day, or football practice or for my sister- piano lessons, etc. It was just a time to come together and eat a meal together and have a conversation.

When our children were at home, we ate supper together. We had the same type of conversations. It was a family time. I don’t to make us sound like the Waltons or Leave it to Beaver- but there was a time when family was gathered together around a meal. It still is part
of our family as we gather for Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas, cook-outs in the summer, and other events. All of our children love their mother’s cooking and she always prepares what they like. Eating together is a part of fellowship. And when we gather together as family- who should be at the head of the table as the most honored guest- but the Lord Jesus. Martha, Lazarus’ sister strikes me as someone who set a great table and was fastidious about her meal
preparations and making sure the guests felt welcome and she had prepared their favorites.

Look at John 12: This event occurs after Lazarus was raised from the dead. “ Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among
those reclining at the table with Him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume, she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped it with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

Like Lazarus, if you have been born again, you have been raised from the dead. Lazarus represents the new life enjoying personal, intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus. Martha is serving Him out of her gifts and love, and Mary is worshipping Him . Is this not a picture of the Holy Place where enlightened believers enjoy sweet fellowship with the Lord?

This Table in the Holy Place was a place of fellowship. Being asked to sit and eat with someone is a sign of acceptance.

Jesus said: “ I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never go thirsty. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet many died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.: (John 6)

God so desires our fellowship that He was willing to come to earth from heaven as our ‘bread of life’ to give eternal life to all who partake in it. At his last meal with His disciples, Jesus described himself as bread again: “ While they were eating, Jesus took the bread, and gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: “ Take and eat, this is my body.” (Matthew 26)

Not only is Jesus the Lamb of God who we led to the altar the place of death and placed our hand on His head to transfer our sins to, He is also the bread of life. John tells us in John 1: In the beginng was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He then tells us-the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus, the God –Man, the bread of heaven who came down in order that a man may eat and not die.

Come and taste and see the Lord is good. ( Psalm 34)

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me. Revelation 3.

Now let us look again at this table for it is made of wood and overlaid with pure gold. Wood represents humanity and pure gold represents diety. God and the priests communed at this table of shewbread. This is a picture of the ministry of reconciliation.

Notice also God gave specific instructions for a border for the table. “ Also make around it a rim a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim.” ( Exodus 25) The purpose of this rim was to keep the articles of the table from falling off, so nothing would be lost in transportation.

Notice the rim is as wide as a man’s hand. What did Jesus, the Good Shepherd say: “ ..no one can snatch them out of my hand.” ( John 10)

When we study the ephod of the priest, we will see the names of the tribes of Israel inscribed on stones fastened to his ephod as a memorial before the Lord. But Isaiah 49:16 tells us where our names are engraved. “ See I have engraved you on the palm of my hands.”

Do you believe God is Who He says He is? Do you believe He is able to do what He says He can do? Then marvel at this: not only is your name recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life, it is
engraved on His hands. How can that be? May I remind you the size of His Hands- He has the whole world in His hands. “ Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His Hand or with the
breadth of His hand marked off the heavens?” ( Isaiah 40)

Now let us look at the bread. Hunger is a signal from our body that we need nourishment. To satisfy that hunger, we eat. Eating is not only necessary for life and strength, it is enjoyable. To lose one’s appetite for food is a dangerous threat to our well being physically. Thirst is also a signal from our body we need water. Jesus said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

The world offers all types of alternatives to satisfy our God- given appetites in ungodly ways.
And like sheep who go astray, we are prone to wander. Like the Prodigal Son, we are sure we
know how best to satisfy our appetites with the things of this world. It is a moment of coming
to one’s senses, like the prodigal in the pig pen, when we realize in our Father’s house there is
all that satisfies our appetites.

The bread was described in detail in Leviticus 24:5-9. Here God instructs them to take fine flour,
so it is without yeast or leaven. He tells them the exact amount for each loaf. The 12 loaves,
one for each tribe, is set in two rows of six each on the table. Along each row they also are to
put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be an offering
made to the Lord by fire. The loaves were cooked in ovens heated by fire. The bread is set out
before the Lord each Sabbath on behalf of the Israelites, a lasting covenant. It was to be eaten
by the priests only and eaten in the Holy Place. The Hebrew word for bread is lechem- which
means bread or grain. The Hebrew word for shew is peneh, which means countenance or face.

Now lest we get lost in the details, we must remember all of these things were representative
and shadows of things to come. Abraham had told Isaac on the mountain, God Himself will
provide a lamb for the burnt offering; John the Baptist pointed out to John and Andrew the
Lord Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The manna in the
wilderness was a picture and shadow of the One who would come, as the manna , the bread
come down from heaven, the Lord Jesus said, I am the bread of heaven.

The Lamb was slain. The bread was broken. The blood was poured out like the wine offering.

Let us put this together. The showbread sat on the table for six days when it was eaten of the
seventh day, the Sabbath it was replaced by fresh bread that would sit there for the next six
days in Gods’ presence in the Holy Place. On the Sabbath it was eaten by the priests.

The Sabbath was the day God rested after six days of creation. He rested – not because He
was tired, He rested because He was satisfied. He saw all of His creation and said it was good.
The bread without leaven made of fine flour crushed from the grain, and cooked by fire and
accompanied by sweet smelling incense sat in His presence until He was satisfied.

When we read the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, we read of the Lord’s suffering on our behalf . “
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to
the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By
oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak for His descendants? For
He was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people He was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death though He had done
no violence nor was there any deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and
cause Him to suffer and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering…” ‘After the suffering of
His soul, He will see the Light of life and be SATISFIED.

The One Sacrifice that every other sacrifice had been a shadow of… a symbol of the Lamb of
God who would be slain and the blood posted on the doorpost of our hearts so when God saw
the blood, He passed over. He was satisfied.

Now understand on the day at Golgotha, the unleavened bread, the Bread of Heaven, was set
before God. And the sun ceased to shine early that Friday afternoon so the Sabbath would
come earlier. The sun set early that day, I believe because God wanted to hasten the end of
His Son’s agony. “He (God) shall see the travail of His Soul( Lord Jesus) and shall be satisfied.”
Isaiah 53:11, KJV.

From that moment, the way to the Holy of Holies was opened. The veil in the temple was
rent from the top down in the Holy of Holies in the temple of Jerusalem that Friday afternoon
almost 2000 years ago.

“ Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters, and you have no money come, buy and eat.
Come buy wine and milk without money or cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and
your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, LISTEN TO ME, AND EAT WHAT IS GOOD.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his
way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and He will have mercy on him and
to our God for He will freely pardon.” (Isaiah 55)

These verses remind us finding God’s forgiveness is a priority and implies there can come a time
in one’s life and in God’s timing where this forgiveness cannot be found. In Luke 14, Jesus tells
a parable of a certain man who prepared a great banquet. He sent out the invitation. He told
them everything was ready.

You see to partake of the bread of the Lord’s Supper one must have been forgiven of their sins.
In fact the Lord’ Supper where we take of the bread which represents His body is a celebration
of the forgiveness of our sins. It is at the table where family gathers . It is a place of fellowship.
It is through faith and forgiveness that we find this sweet fellowship.

Can you smell the bread baking? Do you realize that even now our Heavenly Father is
preparing a great banquet. And He is sending us out with the invitation: Come everything is
ready we tell those we meet. The Father waits for all of His children to be seated at the table
before we eat, before He passes the bread.

Realize you cannot come to the table, to the great banquet unless you have come by the brazen
altar, and cleansed yourself in the laver. My mother always told us to wash our hands before
we came to the supper table.

The table is not a place of salvation or conversion, that must take place before. The table is a
place of fellowship and family. It is where we have our faith strengthened and our covenant
renewed.

We can only have fellowship with God and commune with Him in the Holy Place when we come
by the way He has instructed. We enter the Gate, ( Lord Jesus said I am the Gate) to come to
the altar where the lamb was slain and our sins were covered and God’s judgment passed over
us, because He was satisfied.

We enter the Holy Place after our time of cleansing at the laver, where we confess our sins, and
the Lord Jesus tells us He will cleanse and purify us from our sins.

Then having the Word of God revealed to us by the Holy Spirit we can worship Him in Spirit and
in Truth.

WE must accept what God has accepted- His Son’s blood as an atonement for our sins. He is
satisfied with us because He is satisfied with Jesus.

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

Exodus 3: Are You Listening?

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in rebellion during the time of testing in desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said their hearts are always going astray and they have not known my ways. So I declared on oath in my anger , they shall never enter my rest.’ ( Psalms 97)

As we ended last week’s lesson, God had spoken to Moses through the burning bush and called Moses to go to the Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt .  Rather than agreeing with God, Moses began to protest he was not qualified to take on such a task.

God’s reply was: ‘I will be with you.”    This should be all any of us should need to know in order to do what God has called us to do.

What are we to make of Moses’ reluctance to take on the task God has given him? Is Moses’ reluctance a sign of true humility? True humility when it comes to our relationship with God is not thinking poorly of ourselves, but not thinking of ourselves at all. Our thoughts should be centered on God’s all sufficiency, on God’s will and God’s glory- not our perceived inadequacy.  Have you ever known someone who when asked to do something- professed they were not qualified?  Sometimes it is a convenient excuse for laziness. Other times, it is a thinly veiled guise to solicit compliments and praise as the person seeks to have others tell them how qualified they are, how talented, etc.,.

Notice in verse 12, God does not begin reassuring Moses he is qualified, or intelligent, or wise. God simply tells Moses- “ I will be with you.”  What else could Moses need or want, when God Himself has promised His presence? God is ever present in the life of each believer. Our confidence is not in our abilities, but in God’s.

“ Faithful is He that calls you, Who will also perform it.” (I Thess. 5:24)

What is true for Moses is true for each believer.  But as we shall see, Moses is a ‘ what if’ type of person. Have you ever played the ‘ what if’ game?   Satan loves to throw those ‘ what-if’ darts at our mind.  And when we  allow him to play this dart game with our mind, we must remember not who we are- for we are all insufficient, weak and unqualified in our own strength. We must remember who God is. Paul knew what it was to allow the enemy to fire those darts at his mind, and he tells us what we must do in 2 Corinthians 10:  “ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension (imaginations) that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Do you ever go out into the future and imagine negative ‘what-if’ situations? Hope is always in the future. Faith is always in the present. There is only one way to bring future hope in God’s promises into your present- by faith. “ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for…”

It almost seems as we listen to Moses’ list of ‘what-ifs’  that he was not listening at all to God when God told Moses:  “  I will be with you. And this will be a sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt you will worship God on this mountain.”  Our Heavenly Father sees the end from the beginning and here He is telling Moses beforehand, when Moses had brought the people out of Egypt, he would come here to this mountain and worship Him.   Have you ever been guilty of not listening to someone and thinking ahead of what you wanted to say or ask and missed what the other person said?

This is the case with Moses, who is already so busy thinking ahead of all those ‘ what-if’ questions, he evidently missed what God had just told him – he would bring the people out of Egypt.   The enemy gets real busy firing those ‘what-if darts’ when God is trying to speak to you.

I want to say to Moses, if I could, are you not listening, Moses?  Did you not just hear Almighty God just tell you, assure you –  He would be with you and you would bring the people out of Egypt?  Yet as we look at Moses and wonder what is wrong with you, Moses?  Have you not read the Lord Jesus told us ‘ not to worry about our life?’   Yet, we worry don’t we?

Many of us will recognize ourselves in Moses, the What-if Worrier, as he begins his list of worries and what-ifs.  In fact, as we just observed, he was so busy worrying and conjuring up future- what if situations, he missed entirely the assurance of God’s promise to be with him.

Here is Moses’ first what if situation:  Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you’ and they ask me, ‘ what is His name?’  Then what shall  I tell them?’   Moses is worried what others will think of him.   He is thinking, imagining the different future situations and all the problems he will encounter.  We must consider the possible problems we will encounter, but we must never leave God out of the equation when solving the problem.  It might be a cliché, but it is certainly true we do not know what tomorrow holds, but we know the One who holds tomorrow.

Here is one thing Moses is doing right that we must learn to do also.  Moses is turning his thoughts into a conversation with God, which is exactly what prayer is.   “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Let us learn from Moses, the What-If Worrier- to turn our thoughts into discussions with God. Let worries be like the warning light on your car’s dashboard, to check engine- maintenance required. The Lord knew we would worry, so He gave us these instructions what to do when we worried. When worries cause the warning lights on your mind’s dashboard to flash- what do you do to maintain peace?  Take it to the Lord in prayer.

The power of the mind is awesome.  It is the control tower of character, conduct and conversation. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So it stands to reason, if our minds and the thoughts we think are that powerful and influence our behavior that much, we must not consider it strange the enemy would launch at all out attack on our minds.  This is why we are told to transform our minds, and replace the wrong type of thinking with the right kind of thinking.

Now let us consider the answer God gives to Moses regarding what His name is.  “ God said to Moses,” I AM WHO I AM. This is what your are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”  God also said to Moses, “ Say to the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your fathers- the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob- has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 14,15)

The phrase- I AM in Hebrew is closely related to God’s personal name- Yahweh. Jesus used this phrase several times including in John 8- when he proclaimed: “ Before Abraham was I AM.” And the timelessness of this name is referred to in Revelation 1:4-“ from Him which is and which was, and which is to come.” And in Hebrews 13:8- ‘ Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Couple of questions:  Did God not have a name known by the people before?  Yes. God had been known as Jehovah for centuries, the patriarchs, God just named, knew this name for God. What did Moses want to know when he asked God ‘ what shall I tell them when they ask what is your name?   Names had meaning and told something about the person.  For example: Moses – meant drawn from the water.  Moses named his first son, Gershon which means- a stranger in a strange land. Perhaps one of the most meaningful name given to a man was the name- Methuselah, which meant- ‘when he dies, it shall come’, referring to the flood.

Because of the answer God gave to Moses, we can infer Moses’  question really meant- what does your name mean, God? What  kind of God are  You?  You see, our knowledge of God is progressive. It was progressive in the Bible and our knowledge of who He is –  is progressive in the life of each believer.  Even the disciples who spent three years with the Lord Jesus, who was God in flesh, wanted to see God the Father. And Jesus told them He and the Father were one, if they had seen Him they had seen the Father.   You come to know God as you experience God. And it is God who initiates contact and invites you to join Him, just as He contacted Moses  that day long ago. Moses was not looking for God- God came looking for Moses.

I AM WHO I AM  denotes who God is:  He is self-existent, has always existed, was never created. He is self existent , independent with no dependence on any other and as such is all sufficient. He is eternal and unchanging.

But this names also means to His people I AM everything you will ever need. Later Jesus would tell us:  I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the true vine.   God would be to the Israelites : their supply of bread, meat, and water. He would be their guide who would lead them with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. He would their rear guard, their protector and their commander-in chief. He would be their everything. He was trying to prepare them to live in the Promised Land, by learning to trust His promises. Life in the Promised Land is not eternal life in heaven. It is life here and now with all its problems. We must learn to live life by faith in God and His Promises, just like the Israelites had to learn.  We learn to trust God as we experience God as a Promise Keeper who is always faithful.  To not live in the Promised Land is to wander in the wilderness.

Jesus said of himself: ‘the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his father is doing…’ John 5. Learning to lean on and trust the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding is a difficult lesson to learn.

God continues in Exodus 3:16 &17: “ Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: “ The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob- appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivities and Jebusites- a land flowing with milk and honey.”

God then tells Moses the elders of Israel will listen to you.

One of the many lessons we will learn or see portrayed for us in the story of Moses and the Exodus is how God deals with us and speaks to us individually. Jesus came to show us the way, although throughout the Bible are stories of men and women learning to follow the Lord, to listen to His voice, to develop a relationship with the True and Living God.  From Noah who when warned about things not seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family; to  Abraham who went out not knowing where he was going to Moses who wanted to make real sure it was God who was speaking to him, and giving him directions.

HOW GOD SPEAKS TO US

“ In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.” ( Hebrews 1)  God spoke in various ways in the past: angels, dreams, visions, small, still voice, miracles etc.  Today He speaks to us through the Bible, God’s Word, prayer, circumstances and the Church.

Here are some things we must remember:

God initiates contact. We did not seek Him, He sought us. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. No one comes to the Lord of their own initiative, they come as a result of being drawn to the Lord Jesus by the Father. (“ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..” John 6)

Jesus said in John 5,  “His Father was always at work, to this very day and I, too, am working.” Then Jesus who lived his life as a man, even though He was God in flesh, said:  ‘the son can do nothing by himself, he can only do what he sees his Father doing…”  Jesus never operated independently of the Father. The temptations of Satan in the wilderness were temptations to operate independently of the Father. The enemy tempts us to do the same today.

Now let us observe what God, the Father is doing, let us see where God is working in this story. At the end of Exodus 2- we see the Israelites groaning in their slavery and they cried out and their cry went up to God.  God was working in the lives of His children, the Israelites. How was He working?  He was causing their lives to be bitter with hard labor. He was causing them to become sick and tired of Egypt- the world and its false offer of sin as fulfilling.  This was God working in their lives. What the enemy would use to destroy you, God will use to deliver you.

At the same time, God was working in the life of Moses and was inviting Moses to join Him in this work of freeing His people.  In his study, “Experiencing God”, Henry Blackaby explains this is God’s mode of operation.   God is always at work.  He shows us where He is working and invites us to join Him.  It will call for an adjustment in our lives, a sacrifice.  He asked the disciples, John, James, Andrew and Peter to leave their lives and businesses as fishermen and follow Him and He would make them fishermen of men.  He asked Abraham to leave his family and his country to go to a place He, God would show him.

He spoke to Moses through a burning bush. How God spoke to Moses is not as important as the fact God spoke to Moses.  Since our Lord is the same today, as He was yesterday as He will be forever- we can be assured He can and will speak to us today. He can and will show us where he is working. He can and will invite us to join Him in the work.

Here are some very sobering verses:

“ Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles: Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.” ( Matthew 7)

“He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” ( John 8:47)

“The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” ( John 10)

God called Moses by his name. His call to Moses was unique.

Moses made sure it was God’s voice –he did not want to be deceived

Moses would come to know exactly what God was telling him to do. He did not have to guess. Neither did Noah or Abraham. But they did have to respond by faith, as will Moses. ( So will you and I.)

When you read Scripture do you personalize it?  Do you place your name there in the Scripture?

We experience God when He shows us where He is working and invites us to join Him. Can you imagine, a very important person, inviting you to work with him on a project that is near and dear to him. It will be the beginning of a relationship. Can you imagine what this experience will do to your life?  Can you imagine how you will proudly tell others how you worked with this important person on this important project?  How you developed a relationship with this important, even powerful person who now knows your name and calls you a friend?

Now can you imagine you have the opportunity to come alongside the Creator of the Universe – who wants you to join Him in a work near and dear to His heart. He wants to show you where He is working because He loves you.  He knows your name- He calls you His friend. He loves to spend time with you.  What an experience awaited Moses, Abraham, Noah and the disciples. And no less experience awaits us.

Jesus talked a lot about hearing his words and believing them. He talked about even the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. A lesson and truth clearly portrayed in the restoration to life of Lazarus- who even though he was dead and buried over 3 days, heard the voice of the Son of God and came back to life.

Our God is a God who speaks and acts. One of the most convincing ways to tell others about Him is to describe what he has done in and through your life. To talk about what God has done for you and for other people you know.

And when you do- God says they will listen to you, for He will open their ears. Not all will hear, and that is profoundly sad. They have seen the light and prefer darkness. Our job is to shine the light, to tell what God has done and is doing.

God is still speaking- the question is: are you still listening?

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

The Altar of Incense

So far we have entered through the gate, mindful that Jesus told us in John 10: “ I am the gate and whoever enters through me will be saved.” In the courtyard we encountered the brazen altar sitting on raised ground where the innocent sacrifice, the lamb without blemish was brought. After the brazen altar was the brazen laver filled with water for cleansing. This was used only by the priests and was placed before the entrance to the Holy Place, the first of two compartments within the Tabernacle Proper.

So we entered into His courts with praise for here is where grace is obtained, where sins are forgiven and we are washed white as snow.  All of this was a portrait of the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.

In the Holy Place we found light and fellowship in the Holy Place with the Menorah to light our way and the Table of Shewbread a place of fellowship.

The other article of furniture in the Holy Place was the Golden Altar of Incense. It was placed in front of the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place.

The Golden Altar of Incense was a square that measured 1.5 feet by 1.5 feet and was 3 feet high. It was made of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold.  Four horns protruded from each corner. It also had a gold molding around it.( Exodus 30) Notice the differences between this altar and the brazen altar in the courtyard. The differences are : size, material, and the sacrifice that was offered on each. The altar in the courtyard was larger, made of brass, not gold and was the place of animal sacrifices. The altar in the Holy Place was overlaid with gold, smaller in size and burned incense, not animal sacrifices. Both burned continuously and both had four horns that protruded from each corner.

The incense burned in the Holy Place was an equal mixture of four spices . Three of those spices are unknown to us today, but the fourth was pure frankincense. They were ground into a compound that can best be described as a perfume. This perfume was never to be used personally outside of the Holy Place.  God also instructed the priest was never to offer any other incense on this altar, or any burnt offering, or grain offering or drink offering.

Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would anoint the four horns with blood as an atoning sin offering for the generations to come.

The incense was a symbol of prayers and intercession of the people going up to God as a sweet fragrance. God wanted His dwelling place to be a place where people could approach Him and pray to Him. “ …for My House will be called a House of Prayer for all nation.” ( Isaiah 56:7)  Jesus twice cleansed the temple, and the accounts tell us He overturned tables and made a whip of cords and drove the moneychangers out and told them: “ My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it into a den of robbers.” ( Mark 11)

Remember everything God is telling Moses to construct with these specific details is after a pattern in heaven.  In Revelation 5:8 John records this scene in heaven: “ Each one had a harp and were holding golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” And again John describes for us the pattern in heaven in Revelation: “ Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne.”

There can be no doubt what this incense offered up to God was- it is the prayers of His People. And God’s House, His Dwelling Place is to be a House of Prayer. David understood this and  in Psalms 141 prays to God:  “ may my prayer be counted as incense before Thee..”

Obviously the incense at the Golden Altar represents the prayers of the people.

It was here in the Holy Place where Zechariah was burning the incense when the angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him –“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you will name him, John.”  This would be John the Baptist. What is interesting is Zechariah and Elizabeth were well past the age of bearing  children, which Zechariah expressed to the angel, when he said ; “ how can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

What is encouraging here regarding answered prayer is more than likely Zechariah and Elizabeth , who were without a child, had probably prayed for years to have a son. More than likely as the years went by, they had ceased to pray. But the angel says your prayer has been heard.  God answers prayer in His timing, not ours. And He does it in such a way for it to have the maximum impact to do the most good for the most people for the longest period of time in the best possible way.

The incense is a symbol of our prayers. The altar is a representation of Christ who is our High Priest and intercessor before God the Father.  Jesus prayed for people when he was here on earth, he prayed for the generations of believers to come and for his disciples. He prayed for us on the cross. He prayed for God to forgive me and you.  His prayers came up to God as a sweet smelling incense. And just as the prayers of Zechariah and Elizabeth were answered probably years after they quit asking God for a child, believing it no longer physically possible, God answered His Son’s prayer to forgive me on September 16, 1977. Almost 2000 years after He prayed  that prayer.

“ He(God) who did not spare His Own Son, but gave Him up for us all- how will He not also along with Him( Lord Jesus) graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those God has chosen?  It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died- more that that, who was raised to life- IS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD AND IS ALSO INTERCEDING FOR US.” (Romans 8)

“Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. Such a High Priest meets your needs- one who is holy, blameless, pure and set apart from sinners exalted above in the heavens. Unlike other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and for the sins of the people. He sacrificed once for all when He offered Himself.” ( Hebrews 7)

Since we have been forgiven of our sins through the blood of Christ, we can come boldly to the throne room of prayer to pray in Jesus’  name.  This is because our praying is based on His work, not our merit. It is in His powerful name that we are saved and in His name we live, speak and act. “ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask anything in my name, and I will do it.” ( John 17)

The blood of the sacrifices was placed on the horns of the brazen altar to cleanse and purify the believer from his/her sins. Horns in the Bible represent power. This was the power of His Blood to cleanse us of all our sins.

The blood was placed on the four horns of the Golden Altar of Incense on the Day of Atonement and they represent the power of His blood in prayer as we confess our sins and ask for His forgiveness.  “  There is power, power, wonder-working power in the Blood!”

James said ‘ we have not because we ask not’. James also said ‘ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” ( James 5:15-16)

Prayer is so powerful and so neglected. No wonder God has to allow us to get into desperate situations in order to spend time in prayer.

In the Garden on the night of His arrest, Jesus told the disciples “ Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation.” ( Mark 14)  Want to keep from falling into temptation?  Watch and pray.

Want to keep from worrying and being anxious?  “ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything BY PRAYER AND PETITION, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” ( Phil. 4)

“The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He awakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”(Isaiah 50) It is in prayer combined with Bible study- the Lord speaks to us.

Why would anyone who understood the power of prayer and how precious our prayers are to our Heavenly Father neglect to pray? ?   For to neglect to pray is to forfeit the peace of God that passes understanding; to be shielded against temptation and sin; to forfeit worry and sleepless nights; to not hear from God personally.

But most of all- we forfeit enlisting the help and intercession of the One who sits at the right hand of God who intercedes for us.  Archimedes said if you gave him fulcrum large enough and a lever long enough and a place to stand outside of the world- he could move the earth through the power of leverage.

Do you understand what we have in prayer?  Our fulcrum is the Word of God. Our lever is prayer. And look where the end of the lever is- in heaven at the right hand of God. And we press down with faith and guess who is helping us- the Holy Spirit within us and none other than the Lord Jesus Christ!

Now do you understand why Paul wrote this?  “ He(God) who did not spare His Own Son, but gave Him up for us all- how will He not also ALONG WITH HIM(LORD JESUS) GRACIOUSLY GIVE US ALL THINGS ? ( Romans 8)    Do you believe this?!

Let’s look at an example and a parable regarding fragrant worship as recorded in a story in Luke 7: 36-50.  Here Jesus is at a dinner at the home of a Pharisee, named Simon. While reclining at the dinner table a woman who is described as ‘a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town’ learned Jesus was here having dinner. She came in with an alabaster jar of perfume. We are told in Matthew and Mark’s account she broke this jar.  She anointed his feet with the perfume. The Pharisees knowing this woman’s lifestyle, thought to themselves- ‘ if this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is – she is a sinner.’

Jesus then told a parable to Simon concerning two debtors. One owed a huge sum of money, the other owed a small sum. But neither could pay their debt. The moneylender forgave them both of their debt. Jesus then asked Simon who would love him more?  Simon replied: I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.  To which Jesus said you have judged correctly.

Jesus then told Simon:  You did not wash my feet when I came, you did not anoint my head with oil. But this woman has anointed my feet with perfume, washed them with her tears and kissed them. “ I tell you, her many sins are forgiven- for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little- loves little.  He then tells the woman: ‘ your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you.’

Her lavish gift did not save her- her faith in Jesus did. Her lavish gift was an expression of love for the forgiveness of her sins, not the basis for the forgiveness of her sins, Jesus made that clear.

What we see is a story of fragrant worship.  All of us are in debt. None of us could or can pay our debts. It matters not if your debts are small or large.

So notice this about fragrant worship:

*Fragrant worship is costly. It is sacrificial. It is given out of an expression of love for what the Lord has done for you.

*Fragrant worship cannot be released sometimes until the vessel is broken. “ You do not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings . The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart, O God you will not despise.’( Psalms 51)

*Fragrant worship is not hindered by others. This woman was not afraid to appear foolish before others in her extravagance to worship the Lord.  I have seen many a football fan appear and act foolish in support of their team.  I also am reminded of a story I read years ago of a man who was saved and desired to be a witness to as many as possible. He traveled on business by train, living in an era before the travel by air was possible. He carried a large suitcase containing his samples and on one side of the suitcase he had printed in large letters:  I am a fool for Christ. When he noticed the crowd looking at his sign, he smiled and turned the suitcase to the other side where he had printed in large letters:  Whose Fool are you?

*Fragrant worship in this case of this sinful woman was accompanied by tears. Our prayers do not always have to accompanied by tears, but often I find my tears come as a result of two emotions:  a broken heart, desperate about some situation in my life or the lives of loved ones; but also tears of gladness that come from the gratefulness of all that God has done and is doing in my life or the life of a loved one.  Both of these situations create an atmosphere of worship because both of these situations remind me and make me aware of Who it is I am talking to. Are you consciously aware of God’s presence in your life?

*Fragrant worship comes as a result of what God has done in forgiving our sins. For we are reminded of what He gave up in order to forgive us of our sins. Love like that cannot help but produce worship from deep inside.

And there in the Holy Place of enlightment and sweet fellowship we consider what God has done. And we agree with John who wrote:  “ How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God.”

Here are some facts to remind yourself of when you enter into a time of prayer:

• I am deeply loved by God.
• I am completely forgiven by God.
• I am fully pleasing to God.
• I am totally accepted by God.
• I am a new creature – complete in Christ.

These truths apply to all who are saved. Whose sins have been covered by the Blood of the Lamb.  Who now have the privilege to have their prayers come up to God as a sweet smelling incense.

Do you believe this?

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

The Holy Place: The Lampstand

After cleansing himself at the bronze laver, the priest entered the Holy Place.  As we previously discussed, in the wilderness the only ones qualified to enter the Holy Place were the Levite priests. However, as Christians we have become a royal priesthood and can enter the Holy Place after cleansing ourselves at the bronze laver. I John 1:9 tells us how we are cleansed through confession and godly repentance.

Knowing human nature, we would first look at the light to our left from the Menorah. So let us familiarize ourselves with the Menorah, the Golden Lampstand.

Physically, the lampstand stood at the left side of the Holy Place. It was hammered and shaped from one solid piece of gold. There are no specific dimensions to give us the size, but just from the fact it was from one piece of gold would limit its size. The lampstand had a central branch from which three branches on each side extended.  Did not Jesus say: I am the vine- you are the branches. (John 15) The central branch from which the other branches extend, therefore the central branch represents the Lord Jesus.

Each branch looked like the branch of an almond tree, containing buds, blossoms and flowers. These seven branches would hold seven lamps filled with olive oil. This lampstand with its seven cups filled with olive oil burned continuously. It was the only source of light in the Holy Place.

There is so much for us to glean here- we will look at nothing else but this piece of furnishing today. Our eyes are drawn naturally to the light. Light stimulates vision- without light we can see nothing. You will notice we are told how the lampstand was to be made, but God gives no dimensions, no measurements.  The lampstand was shaped and fashioned out of pure gold. It would have been a tedious task, as the gold would have to be constantly placed into purifying fires to shape it.  We know pure gold is a symbol of deity. This might also be why there are no dimensions, because God in His purest form is infinite, cannot be measured.

Again Moses is given the instructions and told to make them after the pattern, which is in heaven. So let us look into heaven for a moment with the aid of the Apostle John’s description in Revelation 4. “Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.” Remember the number seven in the Bible symbolizes fullness, completeness or perfection. We will look at Luke 4:20- where Jesus reads from the Scrolls of Isaiah then connect that with the verses from Isaiah 11.

What are the seven spirits of the God?  Isaiah 11:  “ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. ( Jesse was David’s father. The stump refers to the kingdom of Judah which was all but destroyed following the Assyrians and the Babylonians exile and the destruction of the temple.)  From his roots a Branch will bear fruit. ( This is the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.) The Spirit of the Lord will be on Him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord and he will delight in  theSpirit of God.”  The central branch of the lampstand from which the other branches come is the Spirit of the Lord.  From the Spirit we receive wisdom, understanding, counseling, power, knowledge  and the fear of the Lord. All seven of this attributes were manifested in the Lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus himself said in John 8:  “ I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

In John 12- Jesus states: “ I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” ( john 12:46) The only light in the Holy Place comes from the lampstand its seven bowls.

Notice the structure, shape and detail of the lampstand is of a tree – a central vine with branches.  Jesus told his disciples and us on the eve of His arrest in John 15:  “ I am the vine and you are the branches.” He goes on to tell us His Father is the gardener or vine dresser and as such : “ He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit, while every branch  that does bear fruit He prunes  so that it will bear even more fruit.”

Let’s take these two pictures  of branches bearing fruit and light that scatters darkness so we might see  all that the Spirit wants to reveal to us.

A TREE IS KNOWN BY ITS FRUIT ( Matt. 12:33)

A simple statement of fact- a tree is known by its fruit. Aaron’s rod sprouted blossoms and bore fruit- almonds.  What fruit are we to bear?  The fruit of the Spirit, which is described in Galatians 5:22,23:  “ The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness(meekness), and self-control, against such things there is no law.” We are told to live by the Spirit and we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Jesus said abide in Him and we would bear much fruit. Abiding in Him is maintaining a living communion with Him through obedience. So clearly we see the picture- He is the vine, we are the branches we grow out of Him, our life comes from Him as a branch in Him.  The sap that flows from the vine is the life source of the branch, it is also what produces the fruit. For Jesus said a branch apart from Him could do nothing. But by bearing fruit, we glorify the gardener, the vine dresser- who is our Father in Heaven.

As believers we are called the branches- who abide in the Vine, sprouting out from the Vine drawing our life from the Holy Spirit that flows in our life. We can quench the Spirit can’t we- and when we do we cut ourselves off from the life of the Lord Jesus.

We are also called the Bride of Christ. Where did Adam’s wife , Eve, come from? His side. God put Adam to sleep and from his side created a bride for him.  God did the same with the last Adam, the Lord Jesus, who was put to sleep at Calvary and from His side came His bride. Look again at the lampstand- do you see the middle shaft comes up from the ‘root’ of the lampstand and the branches come out of the side of this shaft.  Again the picture of the vine and the branches that come forth from it.  And listen to what Jesus said in this most amazing statement:

“ I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.” (John 17:23)  I in them, and You in Me.  Longest word in that statement has five letters. There is not a word in that statement that cannot be spelled and understood by an 8 year old. Yet when placed in this sequence describing the most wonderful yet mysterious union- it is perhaps one of the most incredible statements and truths in the universe!    Do you believe He is in you, and the Father is in Him and we are being made perfect in One?  IT’S ABOUT A SIMPLE STATEMENT AND DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE?

The almond tree blossoms before all other trees in the spring in Israel. It is also the last tree to drop its leaves in the fall. The olive tree is the last fruit to be harvested in the fall season. The husbandman of the orchard watches for the blossoming of the almond tree for this is his signal to begin pruning the olive trees.  Listen to these verses in Jeremiah 1: “ The Word of the Lord came to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? I see the branch of an almond tree I replied. The Lord said to me, you have seen correctly, Jeremiah, for I am watching to see that My Word is fulfilled.” The almond tree was synonymous in Hebrew with ‘awakening’.  The word the Lord used for ‘watching’ was similar and from the same root word as the Hebrew word for awakening.  Our Heavenly Father is the husbandman, the vinedresser who prunes in order to produce fruitfulness that comes from His Word being fulfilled.

Here we see two trees come together- the almond tree and the olive tree, for it is the olive oil that provides the fuel placed in the lamps of the Menorah to give light in the Holy Place. Together they are representative of the Holy Spirit and the light of the Word of God, i.e., Psalms 119 ( thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light upon my path).

Without this lamp and its light, the priests could not see what was in the Holy Place.  For also in the Holy Place was the table with the ‘shewbread’ . Twelve loaves of bread which the priests ate on the Sabbath. This eating of the bread is a picture of God’s willingness to fellowship with us. God was willing to eat with us sinners. He invites us to eat with Him. Hear the Savior’s request in Revelation 3: “ Behold, I stand at the door and knock and anyone who hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.”

Jesus was the bread of life  and in Luke 15, the Pharisees criticized Jesus because he ate with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes. As the bread of life Jesus said,   it is only through His broken body, which He told his disciples at the Last Supper was broken for us that we can have fellowship with God. Jesus is also called the Word of God, and we are told ‘man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.  We cannot understand the Word of God or spiritual truth until we have the Holy Spirit to shed light upon it for us.  The other piece of furniture was the altar of incense, which we will see in future lessons represents our prayers going up to God.

Now putting this together- we look at fellowship with God through His Word (the bread) and prayer ( incense), neither of which  can be done without the light from the Menorah where the almond tree and olive oil come together to produce enlightenment – so we may worship God, fellowship with Him in Spirit and in Truth.

 

YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.  Matthew 5:14

“ The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord , searching all the inward parts of the belly.” ( Proverbs 20:27)

Where did the fuel for the lampstands come from? Leviticus 24 gives us the answer: “ The Lord said to Moses: “ Command the sons of Israel to bring clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may burn continuously. The lamps of the pure gold lampstand before the Lord must be tended continually.”

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the room. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they might see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Now let’s see the symbolism here:  first we see man, and man alone of all creation has a spirit. A spirit placed in him as a lamp of the Lord. A lamp that can be filled with oil, the Holy Spirit and ignited by the One who is called the Light of the World, the Lord Jesus.

And after being lighted we are to be filled continuously and placed on a lampstand to give light to the world around us.

Notice the fuel is clear olive oil, virgin olive oil from pressed olives.  Jesus is referred to as the vine  in whom all believers are grafted.  Where did the Lord Jesus go the night of His arrest?  The Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane.   Do you see how ‘ pressed’ He was there?  The Lord cried out He was overwhelmed with sorrow. He was pressed like the olives were pressed and squeezed and strained for pure oil. He was beaten and hammered like the pure gold to create the lampstand.

Jesus told the disciples it was necessary for Him to leave them so the Holy Spirit could come. He is called the Spirit of Truth, Counselor, the One Who Comes Along Side, who will never leave us or depart from us.

The Holy Spirit is the fuel or the oil that lights our life and our way. The world cannot understand spiritual truths without the Holy Spirit to reveal those truths to them. These truths we believe are foolishness to them.  He is our helper, our comforter and our teacher.

We like the cups in the branches of the lampstand are to be filled with Him continuously. If we are not filled with Him, it is because we have quenched the Spirit.

Know this- when we are born again, the fuel of the Holy Spirit comes into our lives  ignited by the One who is the light of the world . Although this light can never be extinguished, the brightness of the flame entirely depends on how much of the oil we allow Christ to pour into us continually and how clean the bowl is. It also must be placed on the lamp stand to provide light, not hidden under a basket.

In fact the entire Godhead, the Trinity are involved in this work in your life.  God the Father offered the light and sent the light into the world, while also creating man with a lamp to receive the light and the oil.  God the Son, the Lord Jesus came bearing the light to all who would receive it.  The Holy Spirit came to add oil and oxygen to fuel perpetually.

If you and I do not burn brightly- it is not because God has limited us. It is because we have limited God with our disobedience which always arises out of unbelief. This is because we  have some area in our life that is blocking the flow from the vine to the branch. We have some area of disobedience and sin in our life we will not confess and repent from and thus our lamps remain dirty for He cannot cleanse us unless we confess and repent.

So ask yourself the following:  do you believe God is Who He says He is?  Do you believe He is able to do what He says He can & will do?  Do you believe you are who He says you are- a royal priest, a joint heir with Jesus, blessed with every spiritual blessing?  Is the Word of God alive and active in your life through obedience?  For this is what keeps the flame burning brightly and the oil flowing and the fruit being produced.

 

What are the first spoken words of God in the Bible?  “ Let there be light” Genesis 1:3

What was the world like before that command?  ‘Now the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.’

That was a picture of my life before I was saved. I was in darkness and my life was without shape, or purpose and empty.  But the Spirit of God was hovering over my life.

I was in darkness and chaos until I saw the light shining in the darkness.

God’s first commandment was ‘ let there be light and there was light. God saw the light was good and He separated the light from darkness. God called the light- day.”

Our sun the center of our solar system is a star that appears and shines during the day. It is a ‘day star.’  Peter said:  “ We have a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you do well to take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the daystar arise in your hearts.” ( 2 Peter 1:19)

The center of our life is the Son. He is the light of the world. In Him is life.

Every day when you arise God the Father has an agenda for your life. For the Word of God tells us He delights to order your steps.

And every day you arise, God the Son desires to walk with you and talk with you and communicate the Father’s agenda through His Word  and His life for He is the Way, the Truth and  the Life and no man comes to the Father except by Him, through Him.

And every day you arise, God the Holy Spirit  works in you a desire to obey God and the power to obey God.

For you see as a Royal Priesthood, we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and God will be faithful to provide you with everything you need.

Remember your duties as a Priest.

So first things first- enter through the gate and present your body a living sacrifice.

Cleanse yourself as you look into His Word , the mirror which shows you what needs to be confessed so He can cleanse you and purify you of all unrighteousness. Do not forget to keep the lamps filled with oil and the fires burning continuously as we will see the other daily duties we have as we follow God’s pattern for fellowship with Him.

The Lampstand was the only source of light in the Holy Place. Without it the priests could not see how to perform their duties and worship God. God wants us to be enlightened. God wants us to offer Him intelligent worship, not ignorant, superstitious worship.  Jesus told the woman at the well, ‘ you Samaritans worship what you do not know.’

Our prayers to God are enlightened by His Word and the Word is opened to us as we pray. Both the study of the Word of God and prayer must be energized and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the very fuel that lights the Lampstand.

It is interesting the Israelites in the camp could not see what the priests did in the Holy Place. Only God saw what the priest did in the Holy Place. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF A CHRISTIAN’S LIFE IS THE PART THAT ONLY GOD SEES.(Warren Wiersbe, Be Delivered)

“ Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.” ( Psalms 119:105-106)

I was a seeker for light in a dark world, I looked for truth but settled for lies. I had been blinded, I couldn’t see, Till the Star in Bethlehem’s sky opened my eyes.

I have seen the Light shining in the darkness, bursting through the shadows, delivering the dawn, I have seen the Light whose Holy Name is Jesus, His kingdom is forever, He reigns on Heaven’s throne!!

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

Exodus 25-27: The Place Where God Dwells

The tabernacle was a sanctuary built for God according to His throne room in heaven. This
would be the place He would choose to dwell among His people. The Tabernacle would be the
focal point of Israel’s national life from the time God brought the people out of Egypt under
Moses until they settled in the land of Canaan for 400 years. Israel would worship God in the
Tabernacle from a distance separated by the Veil from the presence of His Glory in the Holy
of Holies where He hovered above the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant. Only the High
Priest in all his priestly garments would enter one time per year on the Day of Atonement to
sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat.

A word about ‘atonement’ before we begin to examine the Tabernacle and its furnishings: the
word atonement carries with it the idea of the Just, Holy, Righteousness of God’s nature being
satisfied . God’s law required death as a penalty for sin. When God saw the blood, signifying the
death of an innocent sacrifice, He was satisfied that the demands of the law were carried out.
Sacrificing an animal on an altar did not take away the Sin. Man was still sinful. The sacrifice
only pictured what was necessary for sin to be forgiven-death and the shedding of blood. The
blood provided an atonement or covering for sin. Thus through obedience these people were
placing their faith in the future sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus, who takes away the
sin of the world. In the same way we express faith in the Lamb of God by looking back to His
sacrifice.

In other words, sin required a payment and God developed a payment plan. Paul writes in
Colossians 2-“ He (God) forgave us ALL our sins, having cancelled the written code with its
regulations , He (Jesus) took it away nailing it to the cross.” (NIV) The KJV puts it this way; ‘
blotting out the ordinances against us.’ In Paul’s day this was a business term referring to a
certificate of indebtedness written in the debtor’s handwriting.

Thus this ritual was practiced over and over and was a shadow of things to come . “ The law is
only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not realities themselves. “ (Hebrews 10)

“Day after day every priests stand and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers
the same sacrifices, which can never take away the sins. But when this Priest ( Lord Jesus our
High Priest) had offered for all time one sacrifice( his own death and shed blood) He sat down
at the right hand of God.” ( Hebrews 10: 11,12)

“ Since that time ( approx 33AD) He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool, because by
one sacrifice He had made PERFECT FOREVER THOSE WHO ARE BEING MADE HOLY!” ( Hebrews
10:13,14) Notice the tense of the verb- we are ‘ being made Holy’ this refers to the process of
sanctification. We have been made perfect in position, but unfortunately not in practice. So
we pursue holiness with obedience, but will not be perfect in practice until we see Him- face to
face, then we will be like Him.

Our goal in this study is to see the pattern God has given us whereby we may enter into the
Holy of Holies. For this is our destination and our privilege as God’s children to enter into
throne room of heaven, where we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

OVERVIEW OF THE TABERNACLE AND BASIC LAYOUT

The tabernacle consisted of a tent-like structure covered by a rug-like covering to protect it
from sun and rain and elements. It was within a courtyard that measured 150 feet by 75 feet.
This was enclosed in fence made of linen hangings held by pillars. This fence was approximately
7 feet high.

The tent or Tabernacle proper was divided into two compartments- the Holy Place and the
Holy of Holies. The tent consisted of acacia wood ( a very hard wood impervious to decay)
overlaid with gold and fitted together to form the walls. These two compartments measured
45 feet by 15 feet. On top of these walls were four layers of curtains which acted as the roof.
The innermost layer was woven with fine linen and embroidered with figures of cherubims.
The second layer was made of goat’s hair, probably similar to cashmere. The third layer was
made of ram’s skin dyed red. The outermost layer was porpoise skins, thus providing a water
repellent layer. These curtains were pinned to the ground with loops and clasps.

Throughout the Tabernacle we see yarns of blue, purple and scarlet. Blue obviously served
as a reminder of the Tabernacle’s heavenly descent. Purple represented kingship, royalty and
elegance. Scarlet denotes the shed blood and the pain.

THE GATE

There was only one entrance into the courtyard, a gate 30 feet wide that always faced due east.
The gate was located directly in the center of the outer court on the east end. The gate was
covered by a curtain or screen made of finely twisted linen in blue, purple and scarlet.

The one and only gate is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way through which one
can fellowship with God and worship Him. To do this we must enter in through the gate to the
place where God dwells.

Jesus said: “ I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through
me.” ( John 14:6)

Jesus again said: “ I am the GATE, whoever enters through me will be saved.” ( John 10:9)

“ Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to
life and only a few find it.” ( Matthew 7 :13-14) Jesus speaking in the Sermon on the Mount.

The act of entering the gate to the Tabernacle was significant to the Israelites. By entering
the gate, one could find forgiveness of sin and fellowship with God. The first thing they
encountered when entering the gate was the Brazen Altar which served as a reminder of man’s
sinfulness and the need for a blood sacrifice in order to fellowship with God. One needed
to repent and offer sacrifices for their sins. Those who did not repent were not entering
the ‘narrow way.”

THE BRAZEN ALTAR

We will spend more time here since this is an important act. The brazen altar was situated
right inside the courtyard upon entering the gate to the Tabernacle. The Hebrew root for altar
means ‘ to slay or slaughter’. From Latin, the word alta means high. Therefore, an altar means a
high place for sacrifice. The altar stood on raised ground, higher than the surrounding furniture.

Do you see the picture here? This is a picture of our Sacrifice, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
lifted up on a cross, a place of slaughter on a high ground called Golgotha.

This altar was made of acacia wood overlaid with bronze. Bronze is symbolical of judgment in
the Bible. It measured 7.5 feet on all four sides and 4.5 feet deep. Four horns projected from
the top four corners and a bronze grating was inside to hold the animal.

The altar was the place for burning the animal sacrifices. It showed the Israelites that the first
step for sinful man to approach a Holy God was to be cleansed by the blood of an innocent
creature. For a sin offering, a person had to bring an animal – a male without blemish or defect
from the flock or herd to the priest at the Tabernacle gate.

Listen to the process as God instructed: “ He must present it (the sacrifice) at the entrance of
the Tent of Meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. He is to lay his hand on the head of
the burnt offering and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him”. ( Leviticus
1:4) By placing his hand on the sacrifice, the person was identifying with the sacrifice. His sin
and guilt was being transferred to the animal .

Did you know the person bringing the sacrifice not only placed their hand on the head of the
animal, but also were responsible for cutting its throat with their other hand? They would
feel the animal shudder in pain and fear and hold their head as its life bled away. In fact in the
Passover, the sacrifice was brought into the home four days before it was slain. Do you realize
your sins led the Lord Jesus to the cross like a sheep to the slaughter. We laid our hands on His
Head to transfer our sins and with the other hand- we cut His throat.

God the Father never asked anyone to sacrifice their child on an altar did He? Yet our Heavenly
Father so desired to have a personal, intimate relationship with us, He gave us His only
Begotten Son, that whosever should believe in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.
( John 3:16) Not only did He not withhold His only son, He refused to hold his head when He
died and for that reason the Lord Jesus, God’s Only Son cried out in anguish- My God, My God,
why hast thou forsaken me? What kind of love is this- that God would let His son die in my
place? Because the Lord Jesus was forsaken- you and I are forgiven.

Why blood, Lord? “ For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make
atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” (
Leviticus 17:11)

“The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, for without the shedding of
blood there is no forgiveness. ( Hebrews 9:22)

“…and when I see the blood, I will pass over.” ( Exodus 12)

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were
redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. “( I Peter 1)

Although the blood of animal sacrifices covered over the sins of the Israelites, they had to
perform the sacrifices over and over, year after year for they continued to sin and could not be
freed permanently from their guilty conscience.

All of this pointed to the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world
with a once and forever perfect sacrifice.

“ This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” ( Mark 14.24)

“The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially
unclean sanctify them so that they may outwardly be clean. How much more, then will the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse
our conscience from acts that lead to death, so that WE MAY SERVE THE LIVING GOD!” (Hebrews 9:13.14)4

“We have been made holy ( our position) through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all… by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy…and
where these have been forgiven , there is no longer any need for sacrifice for sin.” (Hebrews 10:
10,14, & 18)

Horns were a symbol of power and strength in the Bible. These horns were used to secure the
sacrifice on the altar. Blood from the sacrifice was dabbed on the horns of the altar, signifying
the power and strength of the blood to atone for sins. ‘What can wash away my sins- NOTHING
BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS.’

When God instituted the Passover – the Passover Lamb was also eaten

What did Jesus say to His disciples on the night of His last Passover supper with his disciples:

“ When He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, Jesus
said: ‘Take and eat – this is my body.” (Matthew 26)

Earlier Jesus taught them this: “ I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood, you have NO LIFE IN YOU. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real
drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. ( John 6)

This was not cannibalism but pointed to the crucified Christ as the source of eternal life.
Appropriation of Christ as our Passover Lamb as God’s appointed sacrifice.

Sacrifices of all kinds were made at the brazen altar. The priests were in constant action around
the clock. It was required at nightfall for Aaron and his sons to slay and burn an evening
sacrifice that God commanded to be left burning on the altar all night. They were to rise early
in the morning to wait for the last ashes of the sacrifice to fall through the brazen altar’s grate.
They usually fell at dawn. They were then to carry the ashes outside of the camp. Ancient
Hebrew history records when the last ash fell, the priests blew the trumpet and cried out” “ IT
IS FINISHED!” Remember what Jesus said regarding the law- He came to fulfill every jot and
tittle. Thus when He cried at Calvary- It Is Finished. He bowed His head and gave up his spirit.

(We must remember as a Royal Priesthood we must keep the fires burning. The resurrected
Lord shared the Word of God with the disciples on the road to Emmaus and they exclaimed: did
not our hearts burn within us?)

The sacrificial system God demanded of His people had the following purposes: there must
be a payment for sin and God had a payment plan. It was a plan that was NOT devised as an
afterthought- it was a plan agreed upon and set before the foundation of the earth was laid.

THE BRAZEN LAVER

There is one other article of furniture in the outer court and it was the brazen laver. It was
situated between the brazen altar and the entrance to the Tabernacle proper. It was made of
brass. In fact the brass came from the mirrors the women had received as gifts when they left
Egypt. Remember all the materials in the structure of the Tabernacle and the courtyard and
all the furnishings were supplied as a free will gift or offering from the people. And everything
they had was given to them by the Egyptians when they left Egypt. It was God who placed in
the heart of the Egyptians to give to the Israelites out of their own riches. So in essence, God
was asking the Israelites to give what He had already supplied them with. Everything we have is
from God and every good gift comes down for our Heavenly Father.

The Word of God is compared to a mirror and James warns us not to look in a mirror and the go
away forgetting what we look like. A mirror can also be something that represents vanity and
pride in appearance. To give up their mirrors was an act of dying to self and selfish pride. The
laver was filled with water and was for ceremonial cleansing by the priests before entering the
Holy Place. They were instructed to cleanse their hands and feet or else they would die.

The purpose and lesson is clear : before we can truly come before God for cleansing we must
examine our selves to see how we have sinned or erred. Your confession of sins must be
specific and an examination in the Word of God, the Mirror shows us the error of our ways.

The Word of God is also referred to as water. Listen to Jesus in John 15- where he tells his
disciples he is the vine and they are the branches and His Father is the Vine Dresser. He tells
them ‘ you are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”

How do we stay cleansed? Psalm 119 tells us- thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not
sin against thee.

Jesus performed the role of the bondservant on that last night and took off his outer garments
and took the basin of water and begin to wash the feet of the disciples. An embarrassed Peter
said Lord do not cleanse my feet. To which Jesus replied, ‘ Unless I wash you, you have no part
of me.” In other words you cannot enter into fellowship with me unless you are cleansed.

Peter replied then- wash me all over. Jesus answered : A person who has had a bath needs only
to wash his feet ; his whole body is clean.” (John 13) The person who has been saved , need
not be saved again when they sin; however, when they sin to restore fellowship they need to
confess their sins. And when they do we are told: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins, and purify (cleanse) us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).

There we see it clearly in the outer court- there is blood required and there is water for
cleansing. Cleansing that comes after examining one’s self in the mirror of God’s word.

Now look at the cross- we see the blood streaming down- poured out for us on the altar- a high
place of slaughter. Then see the water that comes from His side from the Roman spear. Blood
and water.

“Therefore we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the BLOOD of Jesus, a new
WAY, opened for us through the curtain, (the veil) that is His body and since we have a
great High Priest over the House of God. Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled (with blood) to cleanse us of a guilty conscience
and having our bodies washed with pure water. “ Hebrew 10: 19-22.

Now are you beginning to see God’s pattern, His plan?

Copyright © 2010 Linda Benthal
Last modified: 08/12/14

Exodus 25: The Tabernacle

“ Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle
and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” ( Exodus 25: 8,9)

Notice 3 words in the above scripture: sanctuary, dwell and tabernacle. Sanctuary is a
consecrated place, a place set apart for worship of God. Tabernacle is a resident and referred
to a shepherd’s hut or tent or even an animal’s den or lair. Dwell means to live, meet or stay.

How important is teaching on the tabernacle and its furnishings? Consider the weight God gives
it in comparison to creation. God gives only 10 words to describe the creation of the universe
in Genesis 1:1; and in the same chapter stars are only given 5 words- “ He made the stars
also.” Yet this tent in the desert with its 6 furnishings is given over 50 chapters and numerous
verses in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, Leviticus and Hebrews in the New Testament. The
description and instructions are in very clearly defined details as God tells Moses to follow this
pattern exactly.

Why is this structure and its contents so important? Because it speaks of salvation, the glory
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ and His shed blood, more precious than silver and gold. It also
reveals what is the great desire of God which is to dwell among His people. And in doing so, it
shows us the pattern of how we are to enter into that personal, intimate relationship. It is this
relationship that from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, God has initiated and created
us for.

The construction of the tabernacle begins from the inside – out. God starts with the Holy of
Holies, a place where the mercy seat was located. It was in this most sacred place behind the
veil, the high priest entered once a year with the sacrificial blood to be sprinkled on the mercy
seat for the atonement of the people’s sins.

This is also where the process of salvation begins with us- from the inside –out. Starting in the
heart, the center of mankind, we shall see how we enter into an intimate relationship with Holy
God. The story of the Bible is how sinful, mortal mankind can enter into an intimate relationship
with a Holy, Immortal God. We will discover how this incredible, seemingly impossible
relationship can be made possible through the ministry of reconciliation.

So here is the invitation of this study and of the truth that so many of us do not consider our
highest privilege: “ Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence (boldness), so that
we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.” ( Hebrews 4: 16) Did you get
that invitation? You and I can enter into the Holy of Holies boldly, confidently to receive mercy

and find grace to help us in our time of need. Is there anything in this world or in our life that
could be greater?

Who in their right mind would turn down an invitation to enter into the very throne room
of heaven? We must realize what this privilege has cost. It required the sacrifice of the Only
Begotten Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrected Lord Jesus told Mary at the empty
tomb that Resurrection Sunday, ‘ I am going to my Father and YOUR FATHER’. Holy God is my
Father. He loves me and you and calls us His Treasure. For surely where your treasure is there
will your heart be also. We will see in this story hopefully, fresh again how great is the love the
Father has lavished on us. For we love Him, because He first loved us. Everything we are and
everything we do should flow out of this relationship with Him.

But take note of God’s instruction: God can only meet with us if we follow His pattern, His plan.

God will meet with His people, the Israelites in the wilderness in this tabernacle, just as He once
met daily with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But in order to meet with Him, there must
be reconciliation.

Look at 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21 : “ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the
old has gone, and the new has come. All of this is from God who reconciled us to Himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of recon reconciliation, that God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. (We are therefore Christ’s
ambassadors, as though God was making His appeal through us.) We implore you on Christ’s
behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might
become the righteousness of God.”

Do you understand what has taken place when you are saved? You are a new creation by an act
of God, who is Creator of all things. You can begin again because you have been born again.
Here are four characteristics of this new creation:

1. New morality- as defined by God’s Word. This is what He has done here in Exodus, God
has given them His Word, His instructions of this new morality. It is what He does for
us today, when we get saved we have a new code of conduct and morality defined by
God’s Word
2. New Mind- we are to no longer be conformed in our thinking by the world, but have
our minds transformed by the renewing with the Word of God. The mind is the filter for
our heart. Our goal is to think on things above. To so transform our mind, the Word of
God acts as a filter, dissecting every thought that enters our mind and taking captive any
thought that opposes the Word of God.

3. New mandate- new agenda , a new purpose. I now begin to understand why I exist.
For my purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The purpose driven life is to
carry out the 2 greatest commandments: to love God with all my heart and to love
my neighbor as myself. This will result in : worship in spirit and truth, evangelism,
discipleship, fellowship and ministry.
4. New Master- as His bondservant I live for Him, not myself. Sin is no longer my master. I
renounce sin, self and satan. My pledge of allegiance is to my King.

Who you are controlled by is who yield yourself to obey. Sin is no longer your master. You do
not have to yield to sin which leads to death, you can yield to righteousness which leads to life.

So let us look at the story so far – from Genesis and the Garden of Eden to this place in the
wilderness. Act 1 on the Gospel is played out in the Old Testament. Act 2 of the Gospel takes
place in the New Testament, in the life and times of the Lord Jesus Christ – the crucifixion, the
resurrection, the ascension, the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. We are living
in the midst of the final Act 3 of the Gospel and as such are to be His Ambassadors with the
message of reconciliation. The curtain on Act 3 will come down and we do not know exactly
when that will be- but signs around us tell it could be soon.

Let us look back at the Fall in the Garden and the results of that fall. Act 1, Genesis 3: 8- God
curses the serpent and announces the judgments on Adam and Eve. The serpent is cursed and
shall crawl on his belly and eat dust. There will be enmity between the offspring of the serpent
and the offspring of the woman. For the first time after sin and death enter the world we see
the two classes of mankind- the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman. I take
these two classes to be the lost and the redeemed. In John 8, Jesus tells the Pharisees , ‘ you
belong to your father, the devil and you want to carry out his desires.’

God tells the serpent, the seed of the woman will crush his head. God then tells Eve she will
bear children and God would greatly increase your pains. Pains- plural. Not just physical pain
of childbirth, but mothers suffer greater sorrow over their children than father.

Adam has the ground cursed. He will be involved in painful toil and by the sweat of his brow will
he produce his food and there will be thorns and thistles. Thorns are representative of sins. For
like sins- they embed themselves in the flesh. We must remember the ram that God provided
in place of Isaac was caught in the thorns by his horns. Our Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God had his
head caught in a crown of thorns, our sins as it were embedded in His flesh. And it is interesting
that Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 asked the Lord three times to remove a ‘ thorn’. The Lord refused
to do so saying: My grace is sufficient and my power is made perfect in weakness.

Grace was perfected the day the Lord wore a crown of thorns for you and me. Do you see what
happened when sin entered the world- death entered, hardship, fear and shame. But a plan
had already been formulated in anticipation of this fall. The plan of salvation we are told- was
laid before the foundation of the earth.

But in the meanwhile, and it does get mean, life is difficult. The Lord Jesus told us in this
world we would have trouble, but He had overcome the world. Peter said we should not
even consider it strange when we encounter fiery trials. Life is about problems and learning
how to deal with them. Now do you see why it is so important we understand the meaning of
the tabernacle? For it is in learning how we can enter into the throne room of heaven with
confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our times of need.

“ You are worthy , our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all
things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” ( Rev. 4: 11)

God did not create us because He needed us- He created us because He wanted us. Look at
the beginning at Adam and Eve. They lived in a perfect place, the Garden of Eden, a paradise.
Perfect in every way. No sickness, no storms, no stress, no bills, no children.

So where did sin come from? Where it always comes from- the heart. The heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked! In fact, the enemy’s favorite lie to whisper in our ears-
is follow your heart.

Now what does this have to do with the tabernacle, you must be wondering? You see God
wants to prepare a place to dwell with you. Your body will become the temple of the Holy
Spirit, and your heart – that innermost part of being- will be His Holy of Holies. God wants your
heart- all of it, not part of it – our WHOLE HEART. He is telling us- make a sanctuary for Me and
I will dwell with you.

So follow the story of the Bible thus far in a quick overview:

*After the Fall, Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden and death has now
entered the world. Guilt produced fear and shame. The Lord Jesus despised shame and died to
rid us of it.

*Cain and Abel are just a precursor of the horrible things to come, as we read of the first
murder. Can you imagine the devastation, the grief in the home of Adam and Eve? Not only had
their son, Abel been murdered, it was committed by their other son, Cain.

By Genesis 6 God has decided to destroy the earth and mankind with the exception of Noah
and his family- 8 souls who will survive.

*Next comes the Tower of Babel. God’s had instructed Noah and his sons to multiply and fill
the earth. Man has decided to not follow God’s command, but follow their deceitful, wicked
hearts and stay on the plains of Shinar where they build the Tower of Babel. Man wants to
make a name for himself, while God wants a people called by His Name. As a result God
scattered the people and gave them different languages.

(Today, I think God is allowing man to develop one language and build a new high tech Tower of
Babel with computers which allow them to do almost anything their mind conceives and their
heart desires and they are developing one language again. All of this I believe is in anticipation
of setting the stage for the last scene of Act 3 of the Gospel when the Anti-Christ steps on the
stage)

After the Tower of Babel we are introduced to Abraham and the beginning of the nation of
Israel through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The journey to Mount Moriah where Abraham is
instructed to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice is a turning point. Abraham is kept from sacrificing
Isaac for God sees He has Abraham’s whole heart- withholding not even his own son from God.
And Abraham tells Isaac- God, Himself, will provide a lamb for the burnt offering. And in the
Gospel of John, we hear John the Baptist tell John and Andrew the Lord Jesus is the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world.

What we must remember about the sacrifice of the Lamb of God is this: God provided not just a
sacrifice for us- He supplied a sacrifice INSTEAD OF US.

So far in the story- from of Genesis to Exodus 25, God has been preparing the hearts of the
people to make a place for Him to dwell among them.

So also in our lives, God has been preparing a place in our lives in which to dwell. The Holy of
Holies is patterned after what is in heaven, as we will see in our study.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote: “ That God may grant you to be strengthened with
might through His Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ MAY DWELL IN YOUR HEARTS,
through faith.” ( Ephesians 3:16,17)

Understanding the tabernacle’s truths will help us to better understand what is without
question the most remarkable Christian doctrine which is that Jesus Christ Himself through the
Holy Spirit actually enters in our hearts, settles down and dwells with us- lives with us in the
human heart.

How does this happen? Jesus told us and his disciples: “ If a man loves me and keeps my word,
my Father will love him, and We will come to him/her and make our HOME WITH HIM. ( John
14:23)

Now here is what is interesting at we look at those last hours before the cross. Jesus said He
was going to prepare a place for them, so that where I am – you may be also. ( John 14) How
could the Lord make his home with them – if He was leaving them?

They found out on the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of the Living Christ was given to
the Church and each believer. Now they understood, God did not dwell in Herod’s temple
in Jerusalem- nor in any temple made with hands. God would through the miracle of the
outpoured Spirit dwell in the human heart.

The body of the believer had become the temple of the Holy Spirit, the heart the Holy of Holies
the home of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “ Behold I stand at the door and knock; and if any one hears my voice and open the
door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with Me. “ ( Rev. 3:20)

God’s instructions for construction the tabernacle begin with the inside to the place where God
would dwell- the Holy of Holies. This is where He begins with us- with our hearts as He knocks
on the door of our hearts.

We will see in the lessons to follow- the preparations necessary to enter into the Holy of Holies
in the tabernacle and we will see how- we, who were once outside can enter this Holy of Holies
with boldness.

It is an amazing story about an amazing God- whose greatest desire is to dwell among His
people. My prayer is that through this study, Christ may settle down and dwell in your heart by
faith.

Exodus 21: The Bondservant

“ Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.” ( Exodus 1:8) New
Ruler- New Rules. And we know what followed, the new king began to make slaves of the
Hebrews.

Following the 10 plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of the Egyptian army by
God, we read: “ I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. The Lord is my strength and my
song, He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God and I
will exalt Him. The Lord will reign forever and ever.” ( Exodus 15) This song of praise, called ‘
the song of Moses and Miriam expressed the desire of the people to serve God as their only
King forever and ever. They wanted a theocracy with God as their King ,or so they thought.

“Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a KINGDOM OF PRIESTS A HOLY
NATION.” (Exodus 19:6- God speaking)

The nation of Israel has said God will be our King forever and ever.

God has said to Israel as a nation and individuals you will be My Kingdom of Priests.

Then God as their New Ruler gives the people the New Rules, the 10 Commandments for their
good. These will keep them from returning to the bondage or yoke of sin and slavery again. Our
old nature thinks of freedom as not being under authority- but yet is under the yoke of Christ
and under the yoke of God’s law that gives us to freedom to do what we ought to do. If we stay
under the yoke of His Word, Jesus said we are His disciples indeed, and we shall know the truth
and the truth will set us free. ( John 8)

Then following the giving of the 10 commandments God gives the people the following
guidelines for how to deal with those who broke the laws.“ Now these are the judgments which
thou shall set before them.” (Exodus 21:1) Judgment is defined as a decision after judging.
God is both the law giver and the judge. “ For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our lawgiver,
the Lord is our king; It is He who will save us.” ( Isaiah 33:22) Just as today we have legislative
process which makes law and a judicial system which enforces the law with penalties for those
who are found guilty of breaking the law. This is the basis for our system of justice.

The Israelites have been freed from the kingdom of Egypt and now under a new Ruler- God
Himself. Again we see the picture of what has happened to us who were enslaved in sin and
sin was our master. “ Who has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us
into the Kingdom of the Son He Loves, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.”(
Colossians 1:13)

1) The rule of God is the best, because it is the way to blessing.

Many refer to this government of Israel as a ‘theocracy.’ This means the nation of Israel was
under God’s rule and God’s rules. The different forms of government in the Bible are:

*Patriarchal- family rule under the father as head of family. Thus God’s rule to Honor your
father and mother.

*Theocracy- God as direct ruler of the Israel.

*Judges- People forgot God as men ruled. But what happened is best described in Judges 17-‘in
those days Israel had no king and everyone did as he saw fit.”(NIV)

*Monarchy- the rule of a human king, i.e. King Saul, David and Solomon

Theocracy has a bad name in the modern world, because it is confused with ecclesiocracy
– which is the rule of the church. The rule of the Islamic clergy in Iran is often incorrectly
described as a theocracy, because the clergy have control of the government. Theocracy is
not God ruling through the church or clergy, a true theocracy is God in direct rule over the
people. The church or clergy must never rule the state. As we have seen in Iran and even in
Christianity’s past how dangerous it becomes when the church uses the coercive power to
advance its cause. The Crusades are an example of this abuse. And today we see the results of
militant Islam as it uses force to win converts.

Now when we read these judgments that Holy God has prescribed for the treatment of
servants, injuries, violence, murder, protection of personal property, witches or sorceress,etc.,
we find ourselves ( or at least I did) shocked at the severity of punishment. For we read to not
let a witch live, and we think of the Salem witch hunts. We read of a man cursing or smiting
his father or mother being put to death and we think this punishment does not fit the crime. It
is too harsh, but when we read of a man who kills his mother and father- we want him to pay
with his life, don’t we?

This is what, for me, has made this lesson so difficult. Then I realized, I did not have a problem
with God destroying the earth and all but 8 souls in the flood. For the account of Noah and
the flood tells us God knew what was in the heart of every living soul and when He saw that it
was only evil all the time, He destroyed them. Same with Sodom and Gomorrah. It was like I
was cheering from the bleachers- yeah God – let ‘em have it! But when it comes to sin or sins I
consider less serious, or that I might have committed, I want Gods’ mercy not His judgment.

And somehow in all of this we have forgotten that the- ‘wages of sin is death.’ Some will say
this is the Old Testament God. But we must remember God does not change. Through the
Word of God we learn our God is a God of love, mercy, grace, kindness, and forgiveness. But we

2) must also know He is a Holy God, a Just God, a Righteous God. If you want to know how much
God hates sin- look at Calvary. For there He spared not His Only Son in order to free us from the
captivity of sin.

“For whoever keeps the WHOLE LAW and yet stumbles at just ONE POINT is guilty of BREAKING
ALL OF IT.” (James 2: 10) Uh-oh… so guess what we are all guilty. None of us are righteous.
And we must be holy as God is Holy, our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the
Pharisees said Jesus. We deserve to go to hell. Don’t like that, do we? That is why when we
read of what the Holiness of God demands, our old nature in conspiracy with its confidant
the serpent of the Garden wants to argue with God and God’s Word- and our old nature of
rebellion rears up and says-‘ that is not fair, God.

Guess what? The Word of God says: “ When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but
sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and
destroy. But you- who are you to judge your neighbor?” ( James 4:11-12) There is only One God
and you and I are not Him!

Now when we look at these judgments we must take notice of the first judgment God deals
with is – SERVANTS. Why did God present this judgment first? I believe because if we do not
understand the principle of servitude, of being a ‘bondservant’, we will have trouble with the
authority of God’s Word, and will find ourselves listening to our old nature, which whispers in
our ear- this doesn’t sound fair to me.

God does not condone slavery as is clearly stated in Exodus 21:15, in which God says anyone
who kidnaps another to sell him, will be executed. This is the type of slavery in which America
indulged in the 17&1800’s until the Civil War and freeing of slaves and abolishing slavery in
America. Here we see servants who are freed after 6 years and in Deuteronomy 15, God
instructs the master to send them away with provisions.

But in verse 5 we see a servant who declares upon being offered his freedom says something
very interesting: the servant says “ I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go
out free.” This is a choice for the rest of his life. The judges were to be present for his public
declaration and he is marked by having his ear pierced with an awl . Do you understand what
the role of a servant is? A servant is devoted to serving another to the disregard of one’s own
interest. A bond is something that binds. He has declared in front of judges and is marked with
a hole in his ear. “ for whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake shall find it.” ( Matthew 16:25)

Understanding the role of a servant is key to understanding our relationship to God. A servant
gives up his/her rights to live independently, declaring they will not go free, but will serve their

3) master for the rest of their life because they love their master.

God wants us to obey Him, to be His bond servants. He is our master. We are told if we seek
first His kingdom and His righteousness – He, our Master will provide all our needs. You see the
bondservant did not have to worry about any of his needs, they were all met by his master.

Look at our supreme example, Jesus: “ Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality
with God something to be grasped, But He made of himself no reputation and took upon
him the form of a bondservant, and was made in the likeness of a man. And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a
cross” ( Phil 2:6-8)

Jesus came to do the will of His Father. He washed the feet of his disciples as an example.

“Yet it shall not be so among you, but whosoever desires to become great among you shall be
your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be a slave/bondservant of all. For
even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for
many.” (Mark 10:43-45)

So how does one become a bondservant? By doing the will of the Master.

It is written , man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth
of God. ( Matthew 4) If you love me – you will keep my commandments.

You become a bondservant by serving your Master in obedience to His Command. His
commands are to be your desires. My Utmost for His Highest! His will be done in earth as it is
in heaven- that is how His Kingdom comes, that is how we serve Him- with service to Him and
others through obedience to His Word.

Jesus said come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My
yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for
you souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light. ( Matthew 11)

The one who is truly free is the bondservant. The one who has chosen to serve only God. No
matter what happens, the servant lets his Master take care of it for him. Submitting yourself to
God completely. You will experience the peace that passes understanding.

Moses was called God’s servant.

David said : “ I am your servant. Give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies.
(Psalm 119:125)

Look at how we come to regard God’s word when we are His bondservants: “ Your word is

4) pure; therefore your servant loves it.” ( Psalms 119: 140) A bondservant does not question the
commands of his master.

Paul, James, Jude, Timothy, Peter all referred to themselves in their writings as ‘bondservants of
Jesus Christ.

Are you struggling with obeying all of God’s Word? Has the enemy built a stronghold in an area
of your life? Has the heart of your old nature deceived you into believing you can live outside
certain laws of God?

A bondservant signs away his personal rights. He says to His Master I will not go free. I will
serve You and You alone. My utmost for Your Highest.

We are as a country in America- a type of a democracy. A pure democracy is a government in
which the supreme power is held by the people. Our particular type of democracy is a republic
which is a government by elected representatives.

A true theocracy where God rules and reigns from a visible throne will not be accomplished
until the Thousand Year reign described in Revelations, where the Lord Jesus shall establish His
Kingdom on earth. Then will the kingdom come and His will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

Until that time for the rest of our lives on earth, we who are redeemed, seek to have His
Kingdom to rule and reign from our hearts.

Now don’t miss this: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have
pierced(opened) burnt offers and sin offering you did not require. Then I said-‘ Here I am, I have
come – it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will , O My God; you law is within
my heart.” ( Psalms 40-6-8) Do you see what is more important- obedience. Now let us apply
this to our Lord Jesus: “ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “ Sacrifice and
offering you did not desire, but a body prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased. Then I said, Here I am- it is written about me in the scroll-I have come to
do your will, O God.” (Hebrews 10:5-7)

The Lord Jesus is saying: I love my Master, and my wife,my bride and my family, I will not go
free. His ear was not opened with an awl, a spike against a door post. No, He was nailed to a
cross with spikes through his hands and feet. And as the bondservant was recognized by the
hole in his ear- Our Lord Jesus, the Savior Servant- is marked by the holes in his hands, his feet,
his side.

Here then is our prayer as His bondservants:

Most High God, thank You for all You have done and are doing and going to do. For You are

5) Who you say You are and can do what you say you can do. And we are who you say we are and
can do what you say we can do. For we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. You
are the only True and Living God. You are the King of the Universe. And one day every knee
shall bow and tongue confess that you are Lord.

Who in the world am I that You, King of the Universe should take notice of, much less send your
son to die for me.

Please, please help me to desire and be more than anything, Your bondservant. And may I
wisely use and invest the talents, you my Master have given me to increase them. May your
Word be active and alive in my life through unquestioned obedience; so when you return, I will
not be ashamed.

Teach me to be a good servant!

Amen

Exodus 20: “Who are we for, Daddy?”

 

“ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom

you will serve, whether the gods of your forefathers served beyond the river, or the gods of

the Ammonites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the

Lord.” ( Joshua 24) Have you publicly proclaimed who you will serve? Who are you for?

 

“Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (

Matthew 4, Deut.8:3) Do we fully understand this statement? Life is found in God and sustained

by a relationship with Him and His Word. Well being depends upon trust & obedience. This

tells us what the divine intention of God was in giving mankind the law. Man was to receive the

Word of God directly from God’s mouth. We are then to yield in unquestioning obedience to it.

 

King Solomon, David’s son, was considered one of the wisest men to ever live. His reign was

known for the building of the temple and numerous other works and in the words of the Queen

of Sheba who came to see for herself the greatness of this king, she remarked: “ The report

I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not

believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me;

in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard.” In other words, King Solomon

was successful beyond anything she had imagined and yet, when we read Ecclesiastes, we hear

this mighty King who looks back on his life, his accomplishments, his reputation and makes this

statement: “ Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly Meaningless! Everything is meaningless.: ( Eccl

1:2)

 

King Solomon is stating what he had learned from experience that in spite of his learning, the

honors he had received, the building projects, the sensual delight, money, riches, power and

possessions it was meaningless without God. Life not centered on God is without purpose and

meaning. He then writes in Eccl. 12:13-“ Now all that is heard; here is the conclusion of the

matter: Fear God and Keep His Commandments, for this is the WHOLE DUTY OF MAN.”

 

Did you get that? One of the wisest and most successful men in history, wealthier than Bill

Gates, a greater manager of assets than Warren Buffett is giving you in one concise statement

what is the purpose and main duty of man- to fear God and keep His commandments.

 

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering

the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for

the eater; so is My Word that goes from my mouth: It will not return to me void, but will

accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” ( Isaiah 55) God is telling

us His Word will achieve its purpose for which He sent it.

 

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“ For whoever keeps the WHOLE law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all

of it.” ( James 2:10) Pay attention to those – ‘alls and wholes’ we are to love the Lord with all

our heart, trust Him with all our heart and seek Him with all our hearts- Whole Heartedeness

leads to a desire to keep the whole law.

 

Peter said, “we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of

God which lives and abides forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the

flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls away; but the Word of the Lord

endures forever.” I Peter 1;24,25.

 

“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness

the ENGRAFTED WORD , WHICH IS ABLE TO SAVE YOUR SOULS.”(James 1:21)

 

“The Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than a two edged sword, piercing even to

the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of

the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” ( Hebrews 4:12)

 

We are told if we meditate on his word day and night we will have fruitful lives; we are told to

study to show ourselves approved; to hide His Word in our hearts that we might not sin against

Him; to pray always.

 

I have quoted all of these to support the quote from Moses and Jesus regarding the

commandments- we are to live by EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF

GOD. The Ten Commandments are a chain,to break one is to break all.

 

These passages are linked to the common thought that human life is perfectly conditioned

when it is governed by the Word of God. Why with this emphasis on its importance- would we

not strive to keep the Whole Law? Are we deceived into thinking that we can break the law of

God without consequence? Has your old nature convinced you –no one is perfect, rationalizing

your disobedience? Paul said: God Forbid- that we who are dead to sin, should live any longer

in it.

 

The Word is not only the incorruptible seed which brings new life, and lasts forever. It also has

a singular purpose- the purpose of all Bible study is obedience. This will also grow our faith , for

faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Obedience to His Word is where we

find rest. Paul tells us clearly: “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to

obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one to whom you obey-whether slaves to sin, which

leads to death, or obedience which leads to righteousness? You have been set free from sin and

have become slaves to righteousness.” ( Romans 6)

 

Do you realize the Word of God is the Key to unlocking the gates of your prison?

 

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It is clear sin is no longer our master. We have exchanged the yoke of sin for the yoke of Christ.

( Matthew 11). The Lord tells us when we are yoked to Him, we will find rest. He also tells us

when we are yoked to Him we will learn from Him. We are not only slaves or servants to that

which we are yoked, we are also students of that which we are yoked to. And don’t miss this-

you will never be without a yoke- of one kind or the other. Make sure you are yoked with the

Lord Jesus.

 

Now as we look at the fifth commandment to Honor your father and mother, we are now

turning from those commandments that were given to govern our relationship with God to

those laws which shall govern our relationships with others, beginning with our parents.

 

Many theologians believe the first five commandments were on one stone, and the last five on

the second stone. This makes this commandment in their thinking a ‘ bridge commandment’; a

pivotal commandment that segues from Godward to manward.

 

Let’s think about this: Jesus told the disciples to ‘ let the little children come to me, and do not

hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who

will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” ( Luke 18) What do we

know about a child’s relationship with parents? It begins in complete trust and dependence.

This is exactly what true humility is. We depended on our parents for everything and we

believed there was not anything they could not do. The kingdom of God belongs to those who

like children are prepared to receive it as a gift. It cannot be achieved by human effort. It can

only be entered by those who know they are helpless, without claim or merit.

 

So our relationship to God as God has commanded it in the first four commandments in a

child’s life will be based on, influenced and shaped by their relationship with their parents. I

remember once when my sons were small and we were watching football games, one of them

asked me: “ Who are we for Daddy?” When I told them who I was for, they immediately were

for that sports team and the truth of it is- they are still for those teams now as grown men.

 

Who are we for, Daddy? What a question. The answer is: “For by Him all things were created:

things in heaven, and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or

authorities; all things were created by Him and FOR HIM.” We are for God, for the Lord. We

were made for God, to have a relationship with God, to worship God. Every person needs God,

because we were all made to worship. God set eternity in the heart of man.( Eccl. 3) That is

why the first commandment is to have no other gods before Almighty God who created us.

 

Notice that God’s commandment is to honor both father and mother. It is God’s plan for a

family to consist of both a father and a mother for both of them are a prerequisite to form a

true representation of God to a child and consequently to the development of a child’s full

 

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possibilities and potential. Which means a marriage between a man and a man or a woman and

woman does not meet God’s plan for a family and thus the raising of a child. That is also why

divorce and the single parent home is so difficult and painful, because it is not God’s plan for a

family.

 

So using this commandment as a bridge let’s see how we apply it to the first four

commandments:

 

•

 

If we are for God, we are not going to have any other gods before Him. We are loyal to

Him. ( A Red Sox fan would never be for Yankees.)

If we are for God, we will not have any idols in the form of anything. He is Number One-

and He will not work in second place.

If we are for God, we will not misuse His name, or take it in vain.

If we are for God, we will not forsake the assembling to worship Him in spirit and truth

one day out of seven. ( You wouldn’t miss a home game, would you?)

If we are for God, if we love the Lord Jesus, He said we would keep His commandments.

 

•

 

•

•

 

•

 

Who are we for, Daddy? Who do we follow? If the keeping of His commandments is a

barometer of who and what we follow- how are you doing? What defines a ‘ follower’? What

defines your relationship with God?

 

How do we evaluate our relationship with God? The way most of us evaluate or measure is by

comparison. We grade ourselves by comparing with others, which means we are starting off

by grading on the curve. That usually means to make yourself feel better, you will compare to

someone who is not doing as well as you are. Or we have certain criteria- which include: how

often we attend church; what ministries we are involved in; our giving or how many short-term

mission trips we have been a part of. We also have those list of things we do not do that add

points to our grade: we do not smoke or drink, dance or swear. ( I hesitate to mention this- but

probably many Muslims are doing better in some of these categories than we are.)

 

The truth is we are to measure by the plumb line of God’s Word and by the Life of the Lord

Jesus.

 

In Kyle Idleman’s popular book, “ Not a Fan”, he asks the question ‘ are you a follower of

Jesus?” Then he proceeds to explain by scriptural examples the difference between a ‘fan’

and a ‘follower.’ A fan is described as an enthusiastic admirer. A follower is a little more

challenging to answer.

 

Here is what Idleman writes: “ When we decide to believe in Jesus without making a

commitment to follow Him, we become nothing more than fans.”

 

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Let’s look at a passage that is the heart of the gospel, John 3. A man named Nicodemus a

well known and learned rabbi, a distinguished member of the Sanhedrin comes to visit Jesus

at night. He is an enthusiastic admirer of Jesus, having heard his teaching and witnessed his

miracles.

 

The encounter turns out to be a very uncomfortable and challenging encounter for Nicodemus.

Nicodemus would have to choose between his religion and a relationship with Jesus. If

he became a known follower of Jesus, Nicodemus would lose his standing in the religious

community and the Sanhedrin. Losing his position would involve a loss of status in the

community.

 

Are you beginning to see the impact? Following Jesus costs something. Nicodemus would have

to decide, he would have to commit.

 

Now having just looked at the first five commandments we begin to think, maybe we are not so

bad. Maybe we can give ourselves pat on the back.

 

Now we look at the last five commandments:

 

Thou shalt not kill. Okay- I am alright here. Yet Jesus warned against anger with one’s brother

without cause. This also means we are to honor life, for all life is a gift from God

 

Adultery Jesus said began when a man lusted in his heart after a woman. Sin begins in the

heart.

 

The commandment not to steal is a commandment to respect personal property. You are not to

steal time from your employer, steal someone’s good name with gossip or steal from God what

belongs to God.

 

We are to respect the truth and not tell lies or slander our neighbors. I believe this also means

gossip and tale bearing.

 

We are to control our desires by not coveting what others possess. Coveting reveals the power

of thought. The mind operates as a filter for the heart. To covet means to desire enviously.

Coveting begins with a thought that leads to a desire to take pleasure in those things God has

forbidden. Coveting leads to a lack of respect for others. It also leads to idolatry. Coveting is

primarily where the ungodly search for happiness. The first and last commandments deal with

what’s in ones’ heart. And the 8 commandments in-between are the outward actions of what

began in the heart. The first commandment is about loving the Lord thy God with all your heart,

soul, mind and strength. The last commandment is about loving your neighbor as yourself. The

eight commandments in-between are all based on keeping those two commandments. If we

love God with all our hearts- there will be no other god , nor idol. We will revere His name, not

 

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take it in vain. We will remember to set aside one day in seven to worship Him in spirit and

truth.

 

Also if we love our neighbor as ourselves we will not commit: murder, steal, slander and bear

tales against our neighbor nor will we covet our neighbor’s possessions.

 

These commandments tell us how we are to behave as believers. Our behavior should match

our beliefs, right? When they do not match – when our walk does not match our talk, there is

a problem. And it is a heart problem. For it is with the heart one believes.

 

For if we say we are for the Lord. If we say we are Christians we must know if we are for the

Lord: there is no forgiveness without repentance. There is no salvation without surrender.

There is no life without death. There is no believing without committing.

 

Let me tell you what these commandments do- they make you ask some questions that make

you uncomfortable. They are like that red light flashing on your car dashboard that says check

engine. You can do like one person did and put a piece of black tape over the red light, so

everyone who gets in your car will not say-‘ Hey, did you know your check engine light is on?”

 

Or you can examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. Take a look under the hood, take a

look at your heart. “Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do

you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you- unless, of course,you fail the test? (2Cor. 13) And I

trust you will discover that we have not failed the test.

 

Real faith is simple faith. Real faith trust God not self- just like a child trusts his/her parents.

 

You test to discover or prove your faith. To prove something- you need proof, evidence. Are

you bearing fruit? Can you show your faith by your works?

 

Know yourself. You need to know that you know that you know.

 

Joshua knew who he and his household were for, didn’t he? As for me and mine- we are for the

Lord, he said.

 

YOU NEED TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE FOR!

Exodus 20: The Ancient Stone Boundaries

“ When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of STONE  inscribed by the finger of God.” ( Exodus 31:18)

The theme of the 20th chapter of Exodus is about three things:  giving of the 10 commandments; the effect of God’s visit on the people; and instructions concerning the altar. Interesting these instructions regarding the altar are given in the same visitation by God as the giving of the 10 Commandments. Then as you think about this, you realize the law and the altar go together.

The Law serves as the mirror that reveals our sinfulness and need of a Savior. The altar with its sacrifice and shedding of blood must be there for the covering or atoning for the sins. You have a mirror in your bathroom which is a picture of the law. And sitting below that mirror is a basin for washing away the dirt the mirror reveals. You cannot wash away your filth with a mirror – neither can the Law wash away your sins, only reveal them.  There is a basin though, a fountain, filled with blood  drawn from Immanuel’s veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.  What can wash away my sins?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

God never gave the law as a means of salvation. “ …For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” ( Galatians 2:16)

So the rhetorical question Paul poses in Galatians 3 explains why the Law was given: “ What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through the angels by a hand of a mediator.” (Gal. 3:19)  Also Paul explains:  “ the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor.”

When Jesus came , He came not to do away with the law, but to fulfill it- ‘every jot and tittle.’ In this way, Jesus who was fully God and fully man was qualified to be our perfect sacrifice.  The Lamb of God must be without flaw, perfect, having never sinned in order to take away the sin of the world. “ For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goat should take way sins. Wherefore when he(Jesus) came into the world, he said:” Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared for me.” ( Hebrews 10)

“ Lo I have come to do they will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.’( Hebrews 10:9)  The Lord Jesus took away the first covenant by fulfilling it, keeping the law without ever sinning. This enabled him through the atoning sacrifice of his life to establish the second convenant- the New Testament.  So we must never say the Law is not important or that we are not to keep it.

In this way a Holy God was satisfied. God did not give us His Spirit because we kept the law, for none of us could keep the law. Instead God gave us His Spirit because we trusted Christ.

Now let us listen the voice of God as He spoke these words: “ I am the Lord Your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other Gods before Me.”   God is stating the facts of their relationship: I am the Lord.  He is the one and only God, creator of the universe, maker of all things seen and not seen in the universe. In Exodus 19: 5- He reminds us- ‘ the whole earth is mine.’ His earth, His creation, His Rules. Second fact God reminds us, as believers, is He is Our God. Just as Israel entered into a covenant with God as His People, we have also as Christians entered into a new covenant through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Third fact: God reminds the Israelites and us- it is He who has brought us out of bondage. As my Kinsman Redeemer He has purchased me and as the song says-He paid much too high a price. God therefore deserves my obedience.

We are saved by His grace through faith. But that does not mean because we are not saved by the keeping of the law, that we somehow can break the law at will without consequences and discipline. Paul when encountering this abuse of grace said: “ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” ( Romans 6)  God wants to bring our will in union and harmony with His will. That is why when Jesus taught us to pray- He taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.”

Let us look at the situation Moses and the people of Israel found themselves in: God had just delivered them out of bondage, out of the slavery they had found themselves in-in Egypt. The Ten Commandments were given as a plan, a strategy for staying out of slavery. That these ancient commandments were written on stone tablets was significant. For Proverbs 22: 28 says: “ Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers.”

The boundary stone was like a fence, a visual reminder of what belonged to the owner. Outside of that boundary was outside of the legal limits. God’s commandments are our ancient boundary stone and when we go outside that boundary stone, we are outside the legal limits.

So what do we do?  Remember our old nature is deceitful above all else. And what it does over the generations is to move the boundary stone. Saying it is permissible to go outside this boundary. It is acceptable. No longer is it considered a sin to practice homosexuality- it is an alternative life style. And for a man to marry a man or a woman to marry a woman is not unnatural as the Word of God says- it is a civil right.

The boundary stone is a visible reminder of the limitations set by our King. As a nation, once who proclaimed to be under God, we have moved the boundary stone, the visible reminder, because people do not want to retain God in their thoughts.

The Bible tells us when the people do not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God and His boundaries, God gives them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. And as a result of removing the boundary stone, they have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They have become enslaved.

Having removed the ancient boundaries, having removed the visible reminder of the 10 Commandments from the public school and the public arena, we have returned to bondage through our sins which enslave us as  individuals and as a nation.

Today we see the extreme of sin, Paul wrote about in Romans 1. “ Although they know God’s righteous decrees that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do those very things, but also approve of those who practice them.” The extreme of sin is applauding , rather than regretting our sins and the sins of others.

“DO NOT MOVE AN ANCIENT BOUNDARY STONE SET UP BY YOUR FOREFATHERS.”  ( Proverbs 22:28)   Let us consider these laws written on ancient tablets of stone.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

1. You shall have no other gods before me. God delivered the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt to show Himself as the one and only true God. Plague after plague, God was showing His people and the Egyptians – He was the only true God and there was no one like  Him.  He has also said- you cannot serve two masters. How does the devil tempt us? Through lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride of life. Pride makes a god of self. Covetousness makes a god of money- materialism the lust of the eyes. Sensuality makes a god of appetites- lust of the flesh.
2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image-any likeness  of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord Your God , am a jealous God, visiting iniquity(NIV says punishing the children for the sins of their fathers) upon the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands who love Me and keep My commandments. The KJV says visiting inquity of the fathers upon the children for three or four generations. God does not punish children for the sins of their parents. God is telling us He sees the adverse effect the sins of the parents and grandparents has on their children. We know from experience -alcoholism shows up, as does abuse, racism, and other sinful behavior taught by actions and behavior of parents and grandparents.  Now, having declared Himself the only True God and denouncing polytheism, the worship of many Gods, God now deals with ordinance of worship. In Colossians 3:5 we read….’ Covetousness is idolatry.’ An idol is a substitute for God. It is anything you give more of your time, loyalty, and dedication to than God. It can be money, possessions, success, knowledge or even other people. It is what you treasure. And Jesus warned against laying up your treasure here on earth, where moths corrupt and thieves steal, but lay them up in heaven, where moths do not corrupt and thieves do not break in and steal. And then the Lord Jesus tells us why this sin of idolatry is so serious: “ For where your treasure is there will be your heart also.” God in giving this commandment also gives us the reason for this commandment- He is a ‘ jealous God.’ He is jealous in a good sense, in that God always wants what is best for His own. Just as parents and grandparents do, just as spouses do for their mates. God knows no one or no possession, or any position or recognition in this world can satisfy the longing of our hearts. This world is temporary. Our main task in this world is to decide whom we will serve, and in doing so we determine where and with whom we will spend eternity. Do you know what you and I can do as Christians?  We can help to bring blessings to the succeeding generations.  For all I know, I am today a teacher of His Word because of the answered prayers of my mother, grandmother and great-greats in my genealogy. There is another reason we are not to make images. God is Spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and truth. People who do not know what they worship- want an object they can touch and see and identify. But our worship, God is telling us must be governed by the power of faith not sight. Jesus said to Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen me, and yet believed.  (John 20) Jesus also told Martha at the tomb of Lazarus: “ Did I not tell you, if you would believe you would see the glory of God.” ( John 11)  Images appeal to the power of imagination, not the power of faith.
3. The third commandment is ‘ you shall not take the name of the Lord Your God in vain. Are you noticing how many times, the phrase, ‘the Lord Your God’ is used. If God is your God you are to have no other Gods before you; if the Lord is Your God, you are to have no idols and you are not to take His Name in vain. Using God’s name in vain is cursing- profanity, right?  Well, that is one way we use His name in vain. But we need to understand how important God’s name and titles are. There are, by some counts over 700 names or titles for God and the Lord Jesus in the Old and New Testament. Moses wanted to know God’s name at the burning bush. So Moses understood that God’s name and title played an important and unique role in the Bible and in the life of a believer. His names and titles reveal His nature, His attributes, His Person, His power and especially His Glory. Psalms 8 is all about His Name. It begins:  “ O Lord , Our Lord how excellent is Your Name in all the earth, who have set Your Glory above the heavens.” Jesus when he taught us to pray, said we are to pray this way:  “ Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be they name…” Because of the greatness of His Name and the Power of His name any use of His name that brings dishonor on Him or His character is taking His name in vain. If a person swears by God’s name to legitimize an oath and breaks that oath or lies under oath sworn to God, it is in vain and in a court of law it is perjury and punishable. And God says He will not hold anyone who uses His name in vain- guiltless. The Lord Jesus’ name has been elevated above all names and we are told that one day every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. As believers, we have taken His name- just as a bride takes the name of her husband, we have as the bride of Christ taken His name. We are called Christians. When you take His name and yet live in deliberate and continuous disobedience to His commands, you have taken His Name in vain. You have committed spiritual adultery, you have misrepresented your King. You are a disloyal ambassador. What did God say on that mountain top so many years ago?  He said ‘He would not hold them guiltless.” Listen to what are some of the saddest and most sobering verses in the Bible: “ Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of the Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “ Lord,Lord have we not prophesied in Your Name, cast out demons in Your Name, and done many wonders in Your Name? And then I will declare to them, “ I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7) These are those who used His Name in vain, and God is holding them guilty. The Judge has brought down His gavel, they are guilty of perjury, they have used His Name in vain for their own glory and not the Glory of God. His name is Holy as He is Holy. We are to esteem His Name, honor His Name as we revere Him and worship Him and glorify Him. For the chief end of mankind is to glorify God and to do less is to take His Name in vain. Do you remember when the president of Venezuela spoke at the UN in NYC a few years ago and called George Bush a devil?  It made Congressman Charlie Rangel so angry and he told the media why. He said George Bush is my president and it makes me angry when someone comes into my country into my city and profanes my president. You may not agree with Charlie Rangel’s politics but he got this one right. In my opinion it goes back to Charlie’s days in the military , where he was a decorated hero. He was also a soldier who when push comes to shove- will always stand for his commander-in-chief. Congressman Rangel is a devout Democrat, but above that I believe he is an American. Anyone who has been in the military understands the oath of loyalty- as Christian soldiers and ambassadors we must uphold our oath of loyalty and revere the Name of our Creator and our Savior.
4. Now the fourth commandment which deals with the ordinance of worship is explained in Exodus 20: 8-11 and we read:  “ Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” God instructs them they are to do no work and God connects it to creation and how He created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Designating the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Now this commandment is a special sign between God and Israel that is not only associated with creation but also associated with the deliverance of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Look at Exodus 31: 16 & 17 and God says: “ it is a sign between ME and Israel forever.” The Pharisees would later add man-made laws as to how one could observe and keep the Sabbath holy.  This laws of does and don’t s, the Lord Jesus did not obey because they were not God’s law and as such were false teaching which He came to set straight. For example: according to the man-made laws of the Pharisees, a man could get his ox out of a ditch on the Sabbath, but the lame man who was healed and could walk and picked up his mat had broken the law; as Jesus had broken it when he made mud to place on the blind man’s eyes to restore sight to a man born blind.

God’s Word and yes even His laws, His list of do’s and don’ts function to tell us that we were made by Him, for Him, in His image and for a personal relationship with Him. He could no more leave us ruined and helpless than a father could his child. He longs for our well being and that is why He came for us, to rescue us.  God is our Father, He wants the best for us, His children.

On those ancient stones- He gave us  instructions, boundaries to guide us to live the ‘ abundant life.’ He knows we are prone to wander, and have a tendency to be guided by short-term gains without concern for long-term effects.  We need guidance. We need boundaries. We need guardrails to keep us from going astray.

God tells us if we do what He tells us do to do- we will be uniquely happy. We will grow and thrive like a tree planted by the streams of water.

The boundaries He set for us are contained in His Word written by the One who designed us.

All bondage or enslavement begins with sin. All bondage promotes sin. God’s commands, His ancient boundary stones – were given not to enslave us but to keep us free.  It is for freedom Christ set us free.

“Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers.”

Exodus 2&3: Burned Out

In Acts 7, we read  Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin. It is an amazing sermon based on Genesis and Exodus that holds the Sanhedrin spellbound as Stephen recounts the history of God and His people beginning with Abraham. In Acts 7:20, Stephen begins to tell the story of Moses and tells us this about Moses’ first 40 years : ‘Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.’

God was preparing Moses to be the leader of the nation of Israel. To be the one God would use to deliver them out of Egypt and slavery. Egypt was a highly developed civilization at the time of Moses.  Egyptians had made great strides in engineering, mathematics, and astronomy. Their study of the stars and their movements gave the world one of the first accurate calendars. Their engineering capabilities enabled them to build pyramids and buildings that are still a wonder in the world today.  The priests and doctors of medicine became masters of embalming. Their leaders were proficient in organization, war and administration.  All skills, Moses would need to lead over 2,000,000 stubborn people out of Egypt.

Moses knew he was a Hebrew, not an Egyptian. In Exodus 2, we read of an incident which will lead to a series of events that consume the next 40 years of Moses’ life.  Jesus told us in John 5, His Father is always at work. Sometimes, it does not feel like it, does it?  We seem to be going nowhere, maybe stuck in a dead-end job, or just caught up in the mundane, ordinary daily events of life on the back-side of nowhere. But in your quiet moments with God, you sometimes sense there is something you are supposed to be doing. There is something missing in your life that the day-to-day activity is not satisfying.

It seems Moses concern and identification with his people is leading him to become more concerned with their plight. Here in Exodus 2- we read Moses went out to where his own people were and watched them in hard labor. Seeing a fellow Hebrew being beaten by an Egyptian slave master, Moses intervenes and kills the Egyptian and hides his body in the sand. Once again we look to some verses in the New Testament that reveal the restless spirit that Moses was experiencing and his thought process as described in Acts 7 and Hebrews 11.  Acts 7 tells us : Moses after killing the Egyptian thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. ( Later they did not recognize Jesus was their Redeemer-Deliverer either).

Hebrews 11 tells us of the decision Moses had reached by this time as God was working in his life and creating a restless spirit that knew something was missing. We read in Hebrews 11: 24-26: “By faith, Moses  when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.”

Do you see Moses as he was when he went out and killed this Egyptian?  He was obviously sincere in his desire to help his people. Acts 7 reveals Moses thought this was what God had intended for him to do. He was  to lead  the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery.  However, Moses’ impetuous actions shows a man who lacks patience and also a man who is depending on his abilities and thought the Israelites would recognize God was using him because of his qualifications. He was after all described as- an educated man, mighty in words and deeds. Moses believed the people would accept him as their leader because of who he was and what he knew.

Here is a clue for us in this event that would change the direction of Moses’ life. The KJV tells us in verse 12:  ‘ he looked this way and that way, and when he saw there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.’ Did you notice which way Moses neglected to look?  He neglected to look up.  It says when Moses ‘saw no man’, he slew the Egyptian. Moses was sensitive to the presence of man, but insensitive to the presence of God.  He was more ‘man-conscious; than ‘God conscious’.  It is very easy to fall into the trap of seeking man’s approval rather than God’s approval. Moses at this time in his walk did not possess a conscious awareness of God at all times.  This was going to change.

We know that God’s ways are higher than our ways and in this story we see this clearly time and time again.  Moses attempting to free his brethren from the Egyptians  by killing one Egyptian and burying him in the sand.  He must not have done a very good job of burying him, for he was found out almost immediately. A picture of what happens when man tries to do God’s work  man’s way.

On the other hand, God buried the whole Egyptian army in the Red Sea, never to be seen again.  God is completely capable of taking care of His own business. Moses was being humbled. He had been a ‘ somebody’ for forty years. And now to prepare him to lead, God will take him to the backside of nowhere working for his father-in-law as a shepherd.

God would humble Moses on the backside of nowhere as a shepherd for the next 40 years in Midian . Did it work?  Listen to this description of Moses many years later: “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” ( Numbers 12:3)

As chapter 2 of Exodus  ends it tells us of our multi-tasking Heavenly Father who not only was preparing Moses, but was also preparing the Israelites.  God was getting their attention as we read ‘ the Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of the slavery went up to God.’ We are told God heard their groaning, looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.  Did you know that what concerns you- concerns God?  God has used the very thing the enemy would use to destroy them, to wean their hearts of their love for Egypt and create in them a desire for the Promised Land.

As chapter three begins, a period of 40 years has passed. Moses a shepherd of his father-in-law’s flocks is married to his daughter, Zipporah and has a son. One who had known Moses when he was a prince of Egypt would not have recognized this older man. He would have been written off by the in crowd as a nobody. Yet we know our Lord has told us in weakness, His power is made perfect.  And God uses the foolish, the weak and the base –  the nobodies to confound the things that are.  Moses had become an empty glove about to be indwelt and filled with the hand of Almighty God.  God more often sends us to the School of Failure to teach us our most important lesson which is- apart from God we are nothing. Moses no longer possessed the good looks and fine physique of 40 years ago. He no longer was dressed in the finery befitting a prince of Egypt. His conversations were with the sheep, his wife and family, not the intellectual and powerful movers and shakers of Egypt.  Yet in God’s view, here was a man who had become in the world’s opinion a nobody- was somebody God could use.

This lesson of Moses life is a lesson to be learned by all of us.  God has something for each Christian to do. God has a direction He wants to take us in and we must learn from this story how God will call us.

The call of God on your life does not depend on who you are.

The call of God on your life does not depend on what you know.

The call of God on your life does not depend on what others think of you.

The call of God on your life does not depend on what you can do.

The call of God on your life does not depend on what you can see.

And obviously based on the story of Moses who is 80 years old at this time, the call of God on your life does not depend on how old or young you are.

The call of God on your life depends on your taking time to turn aside and see. What did Jesus first say to John and Andrew on the day they first met him after John the Baptist pointed Jesus out as the Lamb of God. He said to them- Come and see.  He said to his first disciples he called- Follow me and I will make you fisher of men.

Moses saw a bush, an ordinary old bush that was on fire, but not consumed. He said: “ I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why this bush is not burnt.”(Exodus 3:3 KJV)  God did not say a word until Moses turned aside. Then God called him by name.  God called.

God may allow some events in your life that you do not find necessarily pleasant. Sickness, failure(by the world’s standards), adversity, heartache are not the things we want to encounter, are they? We would like to be Joseph the 2nd most powerful man in Egypt, but do we want to go through the “ Joseph years” of being cast in an empty well, sold into slavery, accused of sexual assault and end up in prison??

If you are a child of God, then the story of Joseph, the story of Moses reveal that whatever is happening in your life is what God has decided is best. It may take years to see the results. And some of those are seemingly years spent on the backside of nowhere. And if we do not believe God has a plan for our life, we will not be looking for where He is working. We will not be conscious of God at all times and we will not look at the ordinary events that might actually be extraordinary events, we will not spend time enough with God to hear His still, small voice. And as a result we will not turn aside and sadly miss an opportunity to experience God.

Did you ever have a thought come into your mind, you needed to do something? Something simple like, go over and talk to someone; go by and see an old friend; write a note or encourage someone, or ask someone about their relationship with God. Joseph took the time to turn aside when he saw the dejected look on the faces of the baker and the cupbearer who had been thrown in prison. He asked them why they were so sad. And he took the time to listen to their dreams.   Sometimes when we take time to turn aside- it becomes a turning point in our lives.

God’s delays are not evidence of unconcern. These delays are a time of preparation.

Moses turns aside and God calls him by name- Moses, Moses.  What a life changing moment. Do you know that you know that Almighty God knows your name?

Did you know one of the Psalms is credited as being the prayer of Moses?  Psalm 90 is titled : A prayer of Moses the man of God.  Psalm 90: 10 states : “ The length of our days is seventy years- or eighty if we have strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow , for they quickly pass, and we fly away.” Then in verse 12, Moses writes: “ Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” When we were young, we had no thoughts about mortality and thus we were not as accountable to God were we?  We were not interested in accomplishing things for God, but for ourselves.

Do not think God does not still have something for you to do regardless of your age, or background.  In the life of Moses, God gets his attention with a burning bush.  Do you see the significance?  Not only is Moses 80 years old and written off by everyone, including himself as a life that has no significance.  A life of missed opportunities, of bad decisions and wrong turns, a life that  did not and does not count.

You know what- Moses viewed his life like that bush. Like the bush Moses was just existing in a deserted land on the backside of nowhere as insignificant as this lowly bush.  Yet when God ignited this bush which did not burn out, it got Moses attention. Moses said ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight, a bush that does not burn out.’ God is about to ignite Moses’ life with a fire that cannot be extinguished. And God can and will do the same thing in the life of each of us.  God is an empowering fire. God can use a bush; He can use an 80 year-old fugitive, and God can use and empower you and me.

You know what else I like about the story of Moses?  God is going to call Moses and Moses is going to have a readymade list of excuses why he cannot go.  Beginning with- ‘who am I to go before the Pharaoh?  In other words, Moses said I am a nobody. You need to pick someone else. Someone more qualified.

God’s answer to Moses is the only answer we need when it comes to answering God’s clear call on our lives.  God told Moses : “ I will be with you.”

If God is for us- who or what can be against us?

Do you see what has happened to Moses in this story so far?  In his first forty years, Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt and the Egyptians, mighty in word and deed. When he decided he was going to do to free God’s people in his own wisdom and his own strength- the fire of self accomplishment burned out rather quickly didn’t it?  He burned out in 24 hours and now for 40 years had been a heap of ashes.

If the bush Moses turned aside to see had been dependent of its own substance to sustain the flame, it would have burned out quickly.  But it was not the bush that sustained the flame, it was God in the bush that sustained the flame.

Notice also that God’s presence turns anything He is present in- to Holy Ground.  That is why we must learn our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Our hearts are His Holy of Holies. The fire in our hearts is sustained not by our substance but by the presence of God’s glory.

If you are born again, all you need is what you have- Christ in you. Nothing less and nothing more. You are already victorious. You have everything you need.

Every day, you can take time to turn aside and present your body a living sacrifice for God to use for His glory.

Are you burned out?  Going through motions- same old – same old.  Guess what? You have been trying  to use your own resources- and  you have burned out and are a heap of ashes. But the Lord can make your heart burn within you again- ignite your life and nothing can extinguish the fire of God’s presence in your life as you turn aside to see.  “ Did not our hearts burn within us while He walked with us and talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24)

Every morning when you arise, you have the opportunity to turn aside to spend time with the Lord. He will walk with us and talk with us in His Word.  He can ignite the fire within our hearts. He can also keep it from being extinguished.

Every day God the Father has a plan and agenda for your life. He is the One who delights to order your steps.

We also have God the Son, the Lord Jesus who communicates the Father’s agenda to us through His Word and His life. He is after all – the way, the truth and the life.

Finally we have the Holy Spirit who indwells us. His task is implementation. He works in us the desire and the power to do God’s will.

Exodus 18-19: Imitation of Life

Imitation  is defined as the action of imitating. Imitating is defined as “ to follow as a model.”  ( Webster’s American English Dictionary)

In chapter 18, we see Moses’ reunion with his father-in-law, Jethro, and a model of government or structure that allows a ministry to grow and be flexible within the boundaries of Gods’ principles.

Jethro upon being reunited with Moses wanted to hear all the details of everything that had happened with the Pharaoh and the Egyptians.  Telling our story of what God has done in our lives is the most effective way of witnessing.  The man who was born blind repeated what had happened several times to those who wanted to know. In doing so, he became proficient in summarizing what had happened to him.  Listen to what he had to say as the Pharisees questioned him. “ He ( Jesus) put mud on my eyes and I washed and now I see.” Further questions from the Pharisees resulted in this response:  “ Whether he is a sinner or not,I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind and now I see.” This blind man was no theologian, but his story was his story and nothing could change what had happened.

Having told my own story of conversion many times , I am able to condense it when necessary. I recently was at a funeral where I saw an old friend I had not seen but once in the last 40 years. He asked me how was I doing?  Having a limited time to tell him what was the most significant thing in my life I told him this: “ By age 31, I was an alcoholic, without hope.  On September 16th, 1977,near suicide, I asked the Lord Jesus to save me. From that day forward I was not only saved, I got sober, sane and successful. It was the Lord who did it.” My old friend smiled at me, but also looked at me rather strangely.

Many of us will attend reunions of various types in our lives, family reunions, school reunions, etc.  We need to remember what Jesus said to the Gadarene demoniac who was demon possessed man who lived in the graveyard ; did not wear clothes and cut himself. Jesus delivered this tortured man from the demons and the people came to see him. The formerly demon possessed man was dressed and in his right mind sitting at the feet of Jesus. This delivered man who had been set free wanted to stay with Jesus, but Jesus told him to go home and tell how much God had done for him.    I can identify with that man. That is why I tell people – Jesus saved me, and got me sober, sane and successful.  I have been sitting at his feet ever since.  So tell your story as Moses tells his story of what God has done. Go home and tell them all that God has done in your life.  You do have a story to tell, don’t you?  To God be the glory- great things He has done.

Upon hearing the story of what God had done in rescuing the Israelites from Egypt, Jethro is moved to praise the Lord. In fact, I believe Jethro becomes a believer. Listen to his response to the testimony of Moses: “ Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods, for He did this to those who treated Israel arrogantly.”

As  Jethro stayed on for several days, he observed Moses’ average day. Moses served as judge for the people and from morning until evening, he listened to cases and their disputes. Jethro tells him this is not good. You will wear yourself out and be no good to God or the people. You cannot do this alone. You need help.  As Christians we are to bear one another’s burdens. The pastor and staff cannot do the work of the ministry alone, they need help.

Jethro  suggests a representative structure where there are those in positions of leadership over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Therefore everyone knows who they can go to for help or to resolve problems and disputes. If the case is too difficult for the one who is over 10; they go to the one who is over 50 and so on , until only the most difficult cases go before Moses.

As Chapter 19 of Exodus starts we hear God speaking from the mountain top:

“ Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said,” This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: “ You yourselves have seen what I did in Egypt, and how I carried you on  EAGLE’S WINGS and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” ( Exodus 19:3-6)

Let us look at some scriptures that reference to the eagle and also look at the eagle and how God created them to be an example and illustration for us.

Deut. 32: 9-11:  “ For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. In a desert land he found him in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an EAGLE that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on pinions. The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him.”

Isaiah 40: 30,31: : Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.:

Psalm 91: 1-4: “ He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God, in Him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover me with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be my shield and buckler.

Psalms 103:5- “ Who satisfies my mouth with good things; so that they youth is renewed like the eagles.”

Jeremiah tells us the eagle builds his nest in lofty places. However, did you know eagles are not born knowing how to fly instinctively. Eagles have to be taught how to fly. Eagles are born with a different instinct called imprinting. It means they imitate what they see and observe. They imitate their parents. Do you remember what Paul said in I Corinthians 11: 1?  Paul said ‘ imitate me as I imitate Christ.’ And Jesus who came to give us the example we are to imitate, lived his life this way:  “ I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees the Father doing because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” ( John 5:19) Jesus lived his life as a man imitating what his Father showed him what to do. He did this so we could imitate Him, or as the popular wrist band- ‘wwjd’ stands for ‘what would Jesus do?’

So it is with the eaglet who learns how to fly, hunt for food and live as the parents model for the eaglet how they are to do those things.

The eagles nest is not only built in high places, it is quite a strong structure. A full grown eagle weighs 8-10 lbs. The nest is built of strong sticks, lined with mud and feathers and often fur of animals. So it is strong, warm and secure. As a way of getting the eaglet ready for life on their own or maturity, the eagles take the following steps. First they remove the inner lining of the nest, so it is less comfortable, not as cosy as it used to be.  The mother and father eagle bring food to the young eaglets and often hover above them so the little ones begin to beat their wings in hunger and anticipation and the beating of their youthful wings causing them to rise a few inches above the floor of the nest.  It is like a baby learning to first roll over, sit up and crawl.

The next step in dismantling the nest is the destruction of the sticks. By now the eaglet has reached a stage of growth known as the ‘ fledgling’. At this stage in development and maturity, the eaglet is losing the baby down and growing flying feathers.  Now the nest is no longer a place where they must stay. They must leave their nest.  For the Israelites, Egypt was their ‘nest.’ It was like a prison of which they could not free themselves, but it was a type of comfort zone- they had food to eat, shelter and life was a predictable routine. But as God made it less comfortable, He stirred up the nest, so they no longer wanted to be there.

The next step is the scariest one. The eagle pushes the eaglet out of the nest. The eaglet begins a free fall and in desperation begins to flap their wings . The parent eagles are nearby and with the capability of diving at speeds up to 100 m.p.h. they can swoop down and catch their young before they are dashed on the rocks. This event occurs several times until the young eagle has learned to soar upon the currents of air.

Then they are ready for the next step to learn how to hunt and gather food and nourishment for themselves, so they can mature, have a family of their own and in turn teach others to imitate them as they learned to imitate their parents.

So we see the three stages of life in this example in nature that God has given us and referenced to for our study.

We are in one of three stages:

1. Baby Christians.  Still in the nest the baby Christian has to be fed the milk of the word. They are learning to trust the Lord and to imitate those mature Christians around them.
2. Eaglets experiencing the ‘ stirring of our nest.’ God has brought troubles into your life. You are being stirred out of your comfort zone, and you don’t like this change.
3. Some of you are in that free fall right now today, having been pushed out of the safe nest of a comfort zone. It was a structure you were accustomed to and had spent considerable time furnishing. It is scary- it can sometimes seem like a nightmare but He will catch you and bring you to Himself.  Remember it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. He is teaching you how to fly, for it what you were created to do. He will also teach you how to gather food for yourself and He will never leave you or forsake you.

Until the eaglet is set free from the nest, it can never experience the freedom of flying as God intended and created it to do.  Let’s take a closer look at our story of the Israelites in Egypt.

When Joseph was sold as a slave by his brothers and ended up in Egypt, God was using Joseph to build a nest for the ‘fledgling’ nation of Israel. A famine drives Jacob and his family to Egypt where they are reunited with Joseph who now is the 2nd most powerful person in Egypt. As a favor to Joseph, the Pharaoh of Egypt gives them  a place to live in Goshen. The nest is being built. It is comfortable, there is plenty of food, and it is a secure place. But is a place of preparation- it is not their home and destination.

Then 400 years later, there comes a king who no longer remembers Joseph and the Israelites, now a nation of two million people are viewed as a threat and become the slave labor force of the Egyptians.  The nest  is becoming uncomfortable. God uses the Egyptians to stir up the nests and make their lives uncomfortable. They have a desire to get out of the nest, but as we have seen in the story so far- it gets scary outside of the nests at times and the desire to return to what is known, seeing it as being better than the unknown.

So if it is for freedom for which Christ set us free, the first freedom is freedom from the nests. This is a picture of redemption. We have been set FREE FROM in order to discover the FREEDOM GOD INTENDED FOR US TO LIVE IN.   An eagle was not born to live in a nest, no more than a baby is  born to live in a crib and a high chair.  We must first experience the freedom from the nest to discover the freedom we are to live in. The eagle is created to be at home in the air, to soar above the earth. Only there can the eagle enjoy the FREEDOM TO  live the life for which they were created, fulfilling their purpose.

We were set free from that which enslaved us. (Redemption)

This freedom allowed us to grow and mature.   (Sanctification)

And with maturity came the freedom to fulfill our purpose for which we were created- the ministry, the Lord had for us. ( Walking in the Spirit)

When we experience the trials and tribulations that God uses to mature us and take us to new heights and complain about the tests we are behaving like children again, aren’t we? And what does God do with these immature Israelites?  He disciplines them.

Who shall renew their strength and mount up with wings as eagles? Who shall run and not grow weary? Who shall walk and not faint?

Those who wait upon the Lord. Waiting is the act of staying in our present circumstances for further instructions.

“Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait,I say on the Lord!” ( Psalms 27)

Can you imagine some eaglet wanting to fly before it has its flying feathers?  Can you imagine a ‘teenage eaglet’ who just learning how to fly- wants to dive at 100mph before it knows how to use its tail feathers to navigate?

Learning to fly for the eagles involves a step-by-step process. Trust is a learned response. Faith is a condition of the heart. “ If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe…” ( Romans 10: 9, 10a)  God the Father wants to teach us to trust Him with all our hearts. So the strong winds of adversity will stretch our wings of  faith, as we learn to soar above the troubling circumstances on tested wings of faith.

Do we panic sometimes and resort to childish behavior?  Of course, we all fail tests at times, but in each failure you learn something, don’t you?  You learn what not to do. Those costly lessons of failure are often the most useful. The most common mistake we make is to get in a hurry and thus get ahead of the Lord.

You cannot learn how to solve problems without having problems to solve. You cannot learn how to swim by watching a video and practice your swimming strokes on the den floor, you have to get in the water. You cannot learn how to trust the Lord until He puts you in a situation where you have to trust the Lord and not lean on your own understanding. And each time you learn how to wait for the Lord, to wait upon Him, even though it gets scary- guess what? You learn to soar like an eagle.

Quite often as parents we experience what is known as the ‘empty nest.’ Our children reach a level of maturity and leave the nest. Our job as Christian parents was to imprint upon them our life in Christ for them to imitate.  To prepare them to leave the nests, for that is where they will learn to trust God and find the life they are intended to live.

Freedom from our sinful nature at redemption leads to freedom in the  process of sanctification. There we are being conformed to the image of Christ to grow up to maturity. This process leads to freedom to carry out the purpose for which we were redeemed – the ministry the Lord has for each of us.

When we choose to wait on the Lord, He rewards us by allowing us to discover His will and renews us with physical energy. He enables us to win battles and receive answers to prayer. He fulfills our faith while working on our behalf.

If we have the instinct of ‘imprinting’ as eagles do, the one we are to imitate is the Lord Jesus who showed us how we are to live.

“ Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly beloved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loves us and gave Himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” ( Ephesians 5:1,2)

“Dear friend , do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.” (3 John:11)

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. “ Hebrews 13

“ We do not want you to become lazy, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” ( Hebrews 6:12)

These things were written for our examples. We are write them, imprint them on the tablets of our heart.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Our life is to be an imitation of His Life.

Exodus 17: Onward Christian Soldiers

“ Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus going on before; Christ, the Royal Master, leads against the foe. Forward into battle see His Banners go!” That hymn was sung in March 1969 in the National Cathedral in Washington at the funeral of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Notice in the first verse of this chapter, we are told the Israelites are traveling from place to place as ‘the Lord commanded.’  With this being the case, then where they find themselves encamped at Rephidim with no water is exactly where the Lord has led them. When there is no water, the Israelites quarreled with Moses and said; ‘ give us water!’

Why has God led them to such a place as this? Well, having previously failed the test of trusting God to supply them with water- God test them again to see if they have learned their lesson. We see once again they have failed to learn their lesson and quarrel with Moses. Again their unbelief causes them to not believe the Lord who has proved Himself over and over to them.

Why do they continue to fail the test?  Their hearts are still in Egypt. They are out of fellowship with the Lord and the result is:  anger, bitterness and stress which are the recipe for doing something unreasonable- such as stoning Moses.

Sometimes a person can become so angry, bitter and emotional they will hit a wall with their fist.  Several years ago, a tragedy occurred in Humboldt, when a young man upset and angry  over the loss of a football game ran headlong into a brick wall with his helmet on. The result was a broken neck, paralysis and death not long after. Everyone who read or heard the story reacted with great sorrow that such an impulsive,  irrational act committed in a moment had such a devastating effect.  Oh- that we would view sin as that devastating!

You know what people want when trouble or tests come into their lives?  Someone to blame; a scapegoat.  The Israelites once again blame Moses as the one who is the reason for their difficulties. “ Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and our livestock die of thirst?”

Can you see the expression on Moses’ face as he cries out to God: “ What am I to do with THESE PEOPLE?   It is no longer my people or the Lord’s people- it is ‘ these people.’   Moses has had it with this ungrateful, unbelieving people.

Moses will name this place in the Desert of Sin- Massah and Meribah.  Massah means to test; and Meribah means to quarrel or rebel.    A place of testing and rebellion.

If these things were written for us as examples as Paul tells us what does it mean to us?  It means that God can test us in the everyday experiences of life. The tests and trials are for one purpose- to strengthen our faith and mature our character. James learned this and as a result counted tests and trials as a joy- for he knew the outcome was the development of patience which matures our faith.

The Bible is a story of how God interacts with His people. We read their accounts, their stories and we see ourselves in these stories.  You and I  are creating and living our own story of how God has interacted with us. And like the Israelites, we can draw a map of our lives and we can see the Massah’s and Meribah’s in our lives.  Places of testing; places of rebellion. Places where we quarreled with God and blamed everyone else for our problems.

Every difficulty God permits us to encounter will become either a test that make us better or a temptation that can make us worse, and it is our attitude that determines which it will be.  Scary , isn’t it? If in unbelief we start complaining, quarreling and blaming God, temptation stands at the door ready to pounce upon us like a roaring lion and rob us of an opportunity to grow. We will fail the test and we will have to go through the course again. But that is not the worst part- when we failed the test, we missed an opportunity for growth and maturity.

We must renounce the flesh and resist the devil. Give them not one inch. Do not concede anything to them.

I was in the optical laboratory business for over 20 years. We  fabricated prescription lenses, and from the time I first entered the business, it was accepted there would be breakage. Quality becomes a sliding scale. Until finally one accepts 10% breakage as normal and from their things get worse. It starts with an attitude, a mindset that  Zero defects is impossible to achieve. Bringing in quality team to re-engineer our lab was a major undertaking. The first thing they did was put in a system of checks and balances. Steps of preparation and calibration we made each day to make sure our equipment was accurate. They then explained that breakage of one pair of lenses did not cost us double as we assumed. They told us it costs triple, because when we ran the same job for the second time, we could have been running another job for the first time. But the greatest illustration was when we ran our payroll checks on payday and deliberately  had  them average between 8 and 10% less than their normal pay. When everyone began to complain- we said- hey – no one is perfect. You allow for 8-10% error- so why not give us the same room for error in your paychecks.  They got the point. It is not just having to do it again- it is missing the opportunity for profitable growth that impacts you personally.

Let’s think about a  couple of verses most of you know for a moment:  “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For Whom He did foreknow, He did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son…” ( Romans 8: 28,29a)

Now do you begin to see what this is about?  God wants to conform us to the image of His Son. How does the Potter shape the clay into a vessel of use- he puts it on a wheel and through pressure both inside and outside the vessel by his hands, the potter shapes the vessel for his purpose. God in same way shapes our lives by the tests and difficulties He allows us to encounter. By trusting God and His promises in these encounters our minds are transformed and our behavior changes. In this way-we are being conformed( shaped) to the image of His Son.

But in each encounter, the enemy of our soul, the devil in alliance with our old nature , the flesh and the world wants to conform us to the world, of which the devil is the prince of power.

We are in this world physically, but not of the world spiritually. The Lord Jesus gave Himself  for our sins that we might be delivered from this present evil world, according to the will of God our Father.( Galatians 1)  And Jesus in John 17 in his prayer to his Father on our behalf tells us: ‘w e are not of this world , as He is not of this world. Jesus prays to His Father in the Garden- not to take us out of this world but keep us from evil.

This is why Paul admonishes us in Romans 12- to ‘ present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable, perfect will of God.’ See the formula:  presentation plus transformation equal the revealed will of God.

Watch how God provides them with water. Moses is instructed to take some of the elders and to take the rod and smites ( strikes) the rock. From the rock comes water. Now I do not have to interpret this- for the Word of God has interpreted it for us.  Water is a picture of the Holy Spirit. (John 4 &7) The rock is a picture of Christ. ( I Corinthians 10 tells us this).  The smitten rock is a picture of Christ crucified. For the Holy Spirit could not come until Christ was crucified, ( smitten) resurrected and ascended into heaven.

When we sin- we quench the Spirit; so when we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful to cleanse us and restore us. In Numbers 20, when once again water is needed, God tells Moses to speak to the Rock, but Moses strikes it again. And for his disobedience, he will not enter into the Promised Land. The rock had been smitten before; Christ died once and forever for all our sins. All that is necessary is to confess our sins, to speak to Him for cleansing and filling- not smite Him again

Then came the Amalekites…..

Who are these people?  Enemies of God and Gods’ people.  Descendants of Esau, Amalek was the grandson of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. They are a picture of the flesh. For once we have been delivered out of our Egypt, this present evil world, we now have an enemy. For the flesh wars against the Spirit. They are contrary to one another. The enemy, the Amalekites come up against the people to keep them from entering the promised land. The land given to us represents the fullness of God that is available to us – the redeemed. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

The descendants of Esau are called Edomites and include : King Herod, who killed the male babies under age 2 in Bethlehem in attempt to kill the Messiah,the Christ child. They include such evil, plotting men as Haman in the book of Esther who would have all Jews killed.

Now for the first time we are introduced to another important person in the history of Israel and the exodus- Joshua. Joshua is instructed by Moses to choose some of his men and go out and fight the Amalekites.  Moses will go up on the mountaintop with staff of God in his hands. Accompanying Moses will be Aaron and Hur.

Now as the physical battle is waged Moses will hold the rod up to God. As long as Moses held his hands up, the Israelites were winning; and likewise, when he lowered his hands and the rod, the Amalekites were winning.  When he tired, Aaron and Hur took a stone for Moses to sit on. Aaron and Hur stood on each side and held his hands up and Joshua and his men overcame the Amalekites.

God tells Moses to write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure Joshua hears it again and again. The Amalekites must be destroyed. No compromise. The flesh must be destroyed, no compromise.

Moses built an altar and called it: The Lord is My Banner;  Jehovah Nissi.  For hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord . The Lord will be at war against the Amalekites ( think flesh, old nature)from generation to generation.

Do you see what happens when we trust God?  We learn something about Him, we receive a new revelation regarding Him.  He is our Banner, Jehovah Nissi. He leads us in battle, He fights for us, He is our Victory. Whenever you succeed in trusting God with all your heart, the greatest outcome is not just that you passed the test. The greatest outcome is you experience God in a way you have not before. You have personally learned a new name for Him. It will bring a change in your life and also a new responsibility. This new knowledge reveals another facet of God that will allow you to trust Him all the more.

Notice God allowed Moses, Hur, Aaron, Joshua and the men of Israel to be actively involved in the battle. He could have destroyed the enemy with the blink of His eye, an army of mighty angels or with a breath from His nostril God could have destroyed them as He did the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. But God chose to use imperfect human beings to accomplish His purposes. Jesus seemed to go out of His way to select 12 men( of which one was a traitor) who had no obvious talents, education or skills besides being fishermen, tax collectors and such. Surely many of the Pharisees thought when the Messiah came, if he came in their lifetime, would involve them in his reign, since they were so accomplished and learned.  But God  has chosen the weak, the foolish and the base to confound the wise and the mighty.

Joshua and his army would learn to trust God and fight; Moses and his associates would learn to trust God and intercede in prayer; and God would do the rest. In this way, using this method God’s people would grow in faith and God’s name would be glorified.

Moses held his rod up to the throne of the Lord. The rod represented the power of God. Moses in holding it up in intercessory prayer was confessing total dependence upon the power and authority of Almighty God.

It was not Moses or Joshua or the army of Israelites who defeated the Amalekites- it was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who prevailed. It was the Lord of Hosts.

Now we might not be Joshua or Moses but everyone one of us can be like Aaron and Hur. We can pray, we can intercede and continue steadfast in prayer.

This also reminds us this is exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ does in heaven today. He ever lives to make intercession for us as we fight the battles of life, and His strength never fails. (Hebrews 7:25) In addition to that we also have the Holy Spirit within us who intercedes and prays for us and guides us in our praying when we do not know how to pray. ( Romans 8)

Now as I mentioned earlier when our lab went through this program of re-engineering our lab, an important part of our success and reduction of breakage was in our preparation each morning.  A careful checking of our equipments, calibrating our machinery and making sure everything was in place.

How do we start our day as Christians, realizing an attack from the enemy can come at any moment?  We make sure our equipment is in place.  We gird our loins with the belt of truth. This is the first step, as the Word of God is engrafted into our souls. The belt that Paul referred to was the belt which the Roman soldier hung his sword from, attached his breastplate to and tucked his robe into so as not to be tripped up in the battle. Second we make sure the breastplate of His righteousness is in place.  The enemy would accuse you of not being deserving of God’s favor, but we must remember it is His righteousness that was given to me at salvation.  Feet must be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Footwear was and is always important to a soldier in battle. It gives us traction and enables us to stand firm. The helmet of salvation protects our head, our mind from the blows of the enemy. And the shield of faith is what quenches the fiery arrows. Without faith it is impossible to please God and those who come to Him must believe He is who He says He is.  Do you see by trusting Him, Moses and the Israelites have learned and experienced God as their Banner.  And we then take up the Sword of the Spirit ,which is the Word of God. Notice all of this is preparatory to enter the battle- which is waged in prayer.

May I say when our lab went through this re-engineering program, our quality improved immensely.  We had faith in the system and for a while we were faithful to do everything we were taught to do.  But after time, we begin to compromise and our standards begin to erode and our practices began to revert to old behavior and we would find ourselves in a crisis mode once again.

The same is true of our walk with the Lord. We will sometimes find ourselves compromising- giving in to our old nature. You realize your old nature wants to be in charge, don’t you?  But you and I cannot serve two masters.

When we got saved, God did not re-engineer our old lives did He?  He regenerated us- that is we became new creatures- we were re-gened.

First God reveals our need for Him. He shows us how apart from Him we can do nothing, but we can do all things through Christ in us. God shows us who we really are- depraved beings with deceitful hearts and desperately wicked. This is part of the lesson of learning to trust God.

When we come as Christians to believe we can operate independent of God, we will find ourselves in the wilderness, complaining and quarreling about the unfair circumstances in our lives.

The Lord told us in this world we would have trouble, but that He had overcome the world. And how do we overcome the world- by faith. By believing God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do. Believing we are who God says we are- a royal priesthood, a peculiar people. And making sure everything is in place by having the Word of God active and alive in our lives.

So how are we to live in troubling times? “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed: we are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.  We look not at things which are seen but at the things which are not seen; for the things seen are temporal; but the things not seen are eternal. ‘ ( 2 Cor. 4)

We are in a battle. Things are not what they seem. And we each have a role to play. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war. Christ the Royal Master leads against the foe, forward into battle – see His Banners go!

Exodus 16:Manna- The Breakfast of Champions

Manna in the Bible is a picture of the Lord Jesus who called Himself, ‘the Bread of Life’ in John 6. Manna also is a symbol of God’s Word.  And this reminds us Jesus was called the Word in John 1 and also tells us in John 8 and John 14- He is the  Truth.  What we want to look at in this lesson is the instructions God gives to the people of Israel in how to gather manna.

From this we will apply spiritually how we can gather our daily bread, our manna from God’s Word. To help us –‘study to show ourselves approved, rightly dividing the truth’; I want us to remember three  principles that will help us be the most efficient in studying, meditating and gathering our daily bread for our own spiritual growth.

“ I keep six honest serving men, they taught me all I know. Their names are WHAT and WHY and WHEN; and HOW and WHERE and WHO.” Rudyard Kipling.

“The slower we go, the more we see.” ( Anonymous)

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and the meal most often skipped.” ( Mayo Clinic)

The first quote is known by every newspaper reporter, writer and journalists, but these questions can also serve us in study of the Scriptures. They can guide us in our study.

Let’s start with Why we study the Bible:  direction; encouragement, prevent spiritual drifting, transforms our lives. ( Not a complete list- but you get the idea.)

Then we look at the scripture we are reading and apply these questions:  Who are the main characters and the audience; what are the main events; when did this take place; where did it take place; why did it take place and how did it happen and how do I apply these principles to my life. Also apply these when tests and trials come into our life.

The second quote about the slower we go, the more we see –  is similar to the quote- take time to smell the roses and other similar sentiments.  It is also what Ben Franklin observed when he said’  haste makes waste.’  We were at one time in a hurry to be older weren’t we; a hurry to leave home; a hurry to get started in a career ; a hurry to get married; a hurry to have children; and hurry to be successful. And now we look back and realize- why were we in such a hurry to get through something so precious as life and why did we waste so much time on things that are of no eternal consequence at all. Make sure you do not hurry in your devotional time and those six questions can guide you in your study time.

And last but not least- starting your day with a healthy breakfast has long been known to be a cornerstone for good health.  Our spiritual health also depends upon starting the day with our Daily Bread, the One who is called the Bread of Life. Make sure you take time to have both types of food each morning- physical and spiritual.

The Israelites are now approximately one month in their deliverance from Egypt; their freedom from slavery. They are in desert of Sin between Elim and Mount Sinai.  The rejoicing from their passage through the Red Sea where the Egyptians were destroyed did not last long.  Three days after that joyous event, their journey into the desert without water led them to bitterly complain to Moses. The rejoicing stopped and the complaining started. They were thirsty. They were in a dry and thirsty place.  Their mouths were dry, their lips cracked and their only desire was for water. Jesus said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. God was going to show them He was the only one who could satisfy their deepest longings.’ Like the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God! My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? ‘ (Psalm 42)   You see God is our source of everything we need. He will lead us to the place where we can find no rest- our hearts are restless. We long for something to quench our thirst the world has not been able to satisfy. And so the Lord brings us out of our slavery into freedom and leads us to a place where He  can begin the process of filling us with Himself as He cuts us off from the fleshpots of Egypt. It is a process. It takes time and God is in no hurry. There are no shortcuts. The slower we go, the more we see. There is more to life than the speed with which we live it. We are so impatient, when patience is an important part of the process of maturing.

Next came Marah, the bitter water made sweet and then the twelve springs at Elim, where each tribe had their own spring.  What a picture of the fruitful Christian experience.

Now several weeks later the whole community is grumbling and complaining about the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  ( Almost sound like Southern Baptists, don’t they?)

As I am preparing this lesson, I am in Fort Madison, Iowa.  But guess what? They changed the meeting location to Burlington, Iowa, 20 miles away. They also changed my time on the program placing my travel arrangements in disarray even further. I have complained to the parties involved and threatened to go home.  Then after reading this scripture- I have apologized to the involved parties.   When things do not go right or as we had planned- it produces stress doesn’t it? Our old nature rises up at  unexpected moments and all of sudden we are no different from the Israelites.  God allows us to be squeezed to reveal what lurks in our heart.

Remember the Egyptians who enslaved the Israelites are a picture of our old nature which held us captive in sin.  The Pharaoh and his advisors realized when they let the Israelites go, they had let their work force go and said, ‘ what have we done?’ Your old nature is not going to give up without a fight. And your old nature is in alliance with the devil and a godless- Bible hating society and world which conspires against your new nature.  In other words, your old nature does not fight fair. And your old nature always picks an opportune time of testing to begin to question the wisdom of your decision to follow God. “ What have we done?”

Listen to the argument of the Israelites to Moses and Aaron. “ If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt. There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into the desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” ( Exodus 16:3) Does your old nature ever rise up in a stressful time of testing and lead you to imagine the worst possible scenario?  Notice also, the old nature wants to glorify the past and  minimize your sins and sinful behavior.

We must always be prepared for the battle. It can come after mountain top experiences and it can also come when we are tired, emotional or  stressed in some fashion. It can come after good news or bad news. We are the people of jam-packed schedules, scurrying to and fro, accumulating more and more stuff that takes up more and more of our time as we work to pay for and take care of stuff we bought. We live in a society and culture that emphasizes and rewards and achievements that come at the expense of  busy schedules. We worry about the security of our investments and strive to be financially independent and whether we admit it or not, we are still trying to impress others with  our accomplishments.

Jesus was never in a hurry was He? Walked everywhere and average walking speed is 3 miles per hour.   His ministry only lasted a little over three years. He never traveled over 60 miles from where He was born. Yet He accomplished so much in such a little time we need to observe how he did it. Have you not learned as you travel through life- the slower you go, the more you see?

Or are we like the Israelites worried about tomorrow, our provisions, what we will eat. Are we so busy going to and fro we are not slowing down to enjoy what life is really about?

Do we resent in moments of temptation- we can no longer enjoy sin?  Do we long to go back to our Egypt? Do we long to satisfy our sinful appetites?  If you are a former smoker- do you remember how when you were quitting how wonderful cigarette smoke smelled to you?

The early days of freedom, a new nature just beginning the journey is when your old nature is most easily aroused and tempts you to turn back at the first sign of testing.

God supplies the whole nation of Israel with manna in the morning and quail in the evening. Moses tell them God will ‘ rain down bread from heaven.’ God has given us everything we need and He is not stingy. He told Adam and Eve they could freely eat from all of the trees in the magnificent Garden of Eden but one.  In providing their daily bread, God has rained it down from heaven, with instructions to gather as much as they need.  Notice they must gather it early in the morning, for it appears like frost and will melt as the sun rises.

Here is a principle:  what God has graciously provided, we must industriously gather. Do you arise early in the morning to gather your daily bread?

Do you understand what God is doing with the Israelites?  He is putting them on a new diet. He is giving them an appetite for the things of God- the bread that comes down from heaven.  My old nature and your old nature had an appetite for the things of the world. We had no taste for the things of God, although He invited us to taste and see that it was good.

When times of trials occur in your life do you ask God – ‘why is this happening?’  Is this your main question?

Or do you wonder- How can I get out of this?

Or do you finally ask God- What can I get out of this? What lesson can I learn?

Interesting the manna was to be collected early in the morning before the sun melted it away. Do you see the application here:  we are to start our day early with the word of God, our daily bread, because if we wait too long to meet with God, the day becomes cluttered and the time melts away. “ And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating; and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.” ( Exodus 16:19-21)  Notice also the manna was gathered by each man. This was to be a personal experience.

THE BREAD OF LIFE

In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John we read of an event in the ministry of Jesus where he fed the crowd with 5 loaves and two fish with 12 basketfuls left over. The next day the crowd found Jesus and Jesus told them they sought him not because of the miracles, but because he fed them.

The discourse that followed came as an answer to the crowd who asked Jesus-‘ what must we do, that we might work the works of God? This appears to be a sincere question. Jesus answers: “ This is the work of God that you believe on Him Whom He has sent.” ( John 6:29) Without faith it is impossible to please God and those who come to Him – must believe He is who He say He is and can do what He says He can do.

The Jews ask for a sign. They wanted Jesus to produce his credentials. And they referred to the manna their fathers did eat in the desert. Jesus then told them He was the true bread come down from heaven.

Jesus said “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they all died. I am the living bread which comes down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:48-51) Guess what? Many quit following Jesus that day. His answers to their questions was to believe in Him. They wanted Him to do what they wanted and they also wanted to be able to say they deserved it.  They wanted their lifestyle plus Jesus. Not a life that was Jesus, and  Jesus alone. Their old natures wanted to coexist. Did not the devil promise Jesus he would give him the kingdoms of this world if he would bow down and worship him, the devil?

Moses  told Aaron to put a container of manna and lay it up for the generations. In the Holy of Holies there would be these three items in the ark :  Aaron’ rod that budded; the pot of manna; and the Ten Commandments.  The lid of the ark was the mercy seat where the High Priest sprinkled the blood.

The Ten Commandments speaks of the fact that Christ alone kept the Law, every jot and tittle. The bread speaks of his body given for us- our spiritual food. And Aaron’s rod which budded speaks of the resurrection. The blood sprinkled on the mercy seat  speaks of His Blood shed for us- His life for ours. Because of this God can extend mercy and forgiveness to man, the sinner.

Isn’t it interesting that Moses would tell the people in Deut. 8- that man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  Jesus after His Baptism and the beginning of His ministry was led by the Spirit into the  wilderness, just as God led the people of Israel all those years before. There Jesus would go without food for forty days as  He fasted an prayed to prepare for the ministry and to do God work. And we are told the tempter came to Jesus and said if you are the son of God command these rocks be turned into bread.  Jesus quoted this same scripture from Deuteronomy.

Now we know we will have problems and trouble in this world. Jesus told us that- but He also told us He had overcome the world.

Now we know the enemy can through our old nature get us to imagine the worst case scenarios- as the Israelites were prone to do. They were convinced they would starve to death.

Would complaining about the problem and imagining the worst case scenario solve the problem? No, of course not.  When dealing with problems we must first of all deal with facts – the reality of the problem, not our imagination. Take those thoughts captive and cast down those imaginations in obedience to Christ.( 2 Cor 10).

Now instead of complaining- pray. Lost your car keys and you are in a hurry?  Instead of getting stressed out- pray. Prayer quiets your soul and puts you in touch with the One who has all knowledge. He rearranges your priorities and your thinking. Real problems can be solved by careful thought, discussion with others and sound advice. But prayer comes first.

The slower we go, the more we see. You know why we miss so much of life?  We are moving too fast. I fly across the country numerous times per year.  I fly at 35,000 feet and over 500 miles per hour. What can I see?  Not much. No detail.

You know why else we miss seeing so much?  We have wandering eyes- the lust of the eyes. We must focus our eyes  on the Lord. We must set our eyes on things above,not on things on earth. What led Lot to move down to Sodom and Gomorrah? We are told in Genesis 13, quarreling arose between the herdsmen of Abraham and the herdsmen of Lot. So they decided to separate . Abraham would allow Lot to choose and he would take what Lot did not choose. In other words, Abraham trusted God  to choose for him. We are told Lot ‘ looked up and saw the whole plain of Jordan was well watered like the land of Egypt.’ We are told Lot chose for himself and he pitched his tent toward Sodom.  God said to Abraham: “ Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north, and south, east and west. All the land you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.” And God tells Abraham-“ Go, walk through the land, the length and breadth of it, for I am giving it to you.”

The land is consistently the symbol for us of the fullness of life in the Spirit of God. Filled with the fullness of God. This is all yours, if you are willing to let God make the choices in life for you. Lot chose for himself on the basis of what he saw, considering the physical and material aspects. If we will lift our eyes to see what God has already given us, to let God choose for us then we can enjoy life to the fullest- the abundant life.

Daily we make choices don’t we? Do we take time to lift up our eyes and look to the Lord for direction- or do we look like Lot did with a world view rather than a heavenly view?

When we get set free from the sin and sins that enslaved us, when we become new creatures, we need to understand who we are and what we possess.

Ask yourself this question:  in my life, do I want my life to be limited to my abilities or do I want God what God wants to do for me and through me?

Many people believe breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day.  Research shows children do better on tests who eat a healthy breakfast. People who eat a healthy breakfast are more likely to maintain a healthy weight. Breakfast makes one’s metabolism run higher. In other words – starting each day with a healthy breakfast is cornerstone of maintaining good health.

Starting your day with the Word of God, the Manna of heaven is necessary to maintaining a healthy spiritual life.

Manna is the breakfast of champions.

Exodus 14/15: Trust is a Learned Response

“Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.”  ( Proverbs 3:5,6)

The verses of Proverbs 3:5,6 are well known and interesting verses. If you trace back to the first verse of that chapter, I believe this is a commandment. I want you to look at the two ALL’S.   Trust the Lord with ALL your heart and acknowledge  Him in ALL your ways.  To live in the land of Gods’ promises call for whole hearted trust . If you and I do not trust Him in an area of our life- in that area we are still in the wilderness, leaning on our own understanding . You can trust the Lord with all your heart to save you, to take you to heaven when you die- but the question is can you trust the same One who took you out of Egypt to take you into the Promised Land?  Why then do we sometimes in certain areas ( ways) lean to our own understanding when we have been told not to? The answer we lean to our own understanding because ‘ the heart is deceitful above all else!”

Learning to trust the Lord requires we attend school.  Life is our classroom and the Bible is our textbook, the Holy Spirit our teacher.  We know from our educational experience there are exams and there are pop tests. The painful experiences of life teach us some of our most important lessons.  That is why Paul admonished Timothy and us to ‘ study to show ourselves approved, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’(2 Timothy 2)

As we begin our walk in the new life, having been set free from the slavery of sin- we said there were three responsibilities we now had:  following God ( obedience); trusting God and praising God.  We will see these in this lesson.

Having followed God, the Israelites find themselves in what appears to be an impossible situation between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. Sometimes to teach us to trust Him, God puts us in a situation where we must rely on Him and Him alone.

Notice what Moses instructs the people to do:  Do not be afraid. Fear Not. ( one of the most often repeated phrases in the Bible.)  Fear is the enemy of faith. Fear enslaves one. You cannot talk about freedom without talking about fear.  Remember the first time ever fear occurred in the world?  When Adam and Eve sinned. Listen to Adam’s reply to God’s question: ‘Where are you? He replied, ‘ I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree..? the Lord asked these questions to get Adam and Eve to look at their situation, and link their consequences to their disobedience.

The emotion of fear first appeared as a result of sin.

FDR in his famous radio address entering into World War II said: “ The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Now I am not talking about a natural fear that comes from when you see a truck coming toward you on your side of the road; or a snake in your path; or a snarling bear in the woods- that fear is a natural fear that causes you to react and respond, often with added adrenalin to flee fear. I am talking about a fear that enslaves one, paralyzes you and keeps you from moving forward or taking action. A fear of failure, a fear of the future, a fear  or phobia that keeps one from becoming and having what God has for us.  You do realize God is not hung up on rules, don’t you?  How can you say that when they are so many do’s and don’ts in the Bible?  God had to make the rules because of our sins.  Look at what God had as far as rules in the beginning:  “ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “ Of EVERY TREE in the garden you may FREELY EAT;  but of the TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL YOU SHALL NOT EAT, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” ( Genesis 2) Only one rule.

Freedom with parameters and boundaries was designed by God, because as our Creator He knows how we function best. Freedom is found within the boundaries of His laws and commandments. He gives us rules to protect us from sin and its consequences.

Paul’s young protégé , Timothy, evidently had a fearful spirit that was keeping him from being all that God had created and gifted him to be.  Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1: “ For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Three things God has given us to overcome the spirit of fear:

1. God has enabled us with His Person, the Holy Spirit in us, the Power of Christ. A current praise song tells us: “ No guilt in life, no fear in death- that is the power of Christ in me.”
2. God has enriched us with His love. I John 4 tells us: “ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God and God in him.”
3. God has given us a sound mind. A mind that has been transformed and renewed by the Word of God. ( Romans 12; John 8). This sets us free from fear. If you fear God – you will not experience these other types of fear.

But you say- well I still get afraid when I think about what can happen or even troubling circumstances I am currently experiencing.  Psalms 56:3,4- “ What time I am afraid I will trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”(Do you see why trusting God is so important? It is the antidote for fear.)

“See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers told you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.” ( Deut 1)

Moses tells the people not to be afraid. To stand firm and see, experience the deliverance of God.

Exodus 14:15 is an interesting verse. “ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” There comes a time, when we need to quit praying and move on in faith, believing God has already given us what we are asking for, because He has promised  He would do it.

When you forget God’s promises you start to imagine the worst possible scenarios.  Have you noticed how doubting God’s Word opens the door for fear.  Unbelief creates a type of amnesia that erases God’s Word and His promises from our memory. It makes us doubt God’s word and we begin to worry and become anxious, fearful   Did not Jesus tell the disciples when He got in the boat to go over to the other side. Yet half-way across a violent storm on the Sea of Galilee made them forget and created such a fear the disciples awoke Jesus with the complaint- ‘ don’t you care if we perish?!” The Lord rebuked the storm and rebuked the disciples with a penetrating question: ‘Where is your faith?” God will lead us to the place where our only resort is to rely on Him. In the classroom of life is where God will teach us to trust Him.

As  we continue this study we will continue to see how God brings test after test to the Israelites to teach them to trust Him.  Is this not also true in our lives?  Does your life feel like sometimes God has brought you to a place where you cannot do anything about your circumstances?   Are you angry with God because of these circumstances?  Are you frustrated, fearful, and discouraged and ready to throw in the towel?  There is a time to be still, to wait on God. Here is what I try to do when I am waiting on Him: I pray, I study His Word, I review His Promises.  I confess my sins. Remember – unbelief is a sin. I obey what He tells me to do. I believe He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.  I believe I am who He says I am and can do what He says I can do.  We do this when the Word of God is alive and active in our lives.

But when I study His Word and He tells me I already have what I am asking for- then I move out by faith, for we walk by faith and not by sight.

Let’s open our text book(Bible) for minute and turn to two verses- Romans 5:1,2: “ Therefore since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which now stand.”  Here are some questions to test your knowledge:

*Are we being justified now and or in the future or is this already done? Have been is past tense- this is already an accomplished fact if you have placed your faith in the Lord Jesus.

*Is peace with God something to be accomplished in the future? No it is present tense- we have peace with God. Know what else- Jesus has given us His peace. These are two of the possessions we have- we are justified with God and have peace with God.

Now this is an open book test, so look for the answer to this question in Romans 6:6,7. Here is the two part question:  Do you know what has happened to your old nature?  Do you know why this is important ?  Answer:  Our old nature has been crucified with Christ.  Answer to 2nd question:  This is important because now our old body of sin has been done away with and we are no longer slaves to sin, because anyone who has died to sin has been freed from sin.

Do you believe God has given you everything you need or ever will need?  If you do not believe this- you either are ignorant of His promises and provisions or you are guilty of unbelief.  Again our text book provides us not only with promises but examples and illustrations of God ‘s ability to do what He said He would do.  Paul said : “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry  it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” ( Phil. 1)

Are you confident God can do what He says He would do?  As a student you must learn also to discern if there is a condition to the fulfillment of the promise.    Education involves the discipline of learning. Learning how to study and apply what one learns requires discipline and repetition.  Again, we turn to the Apostle Paul as he instructs Timothy to ‘ discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness.’

We all know this story of the Red Sea parting: The subsequent miracle that delivers the Israelites on the other side through dry land of a parted sea while the waters drown and destroy the Pharaoh’s army.

What are our three responsibilities:  following God; trusting God; Praising God.

Exodus 15 starts out with a song of praise , a hymn that praises and celebrates their amazing delivery. The enemy is drowned and their freedom is complete.  Has not our enemy been defeated, has not our old nature been crucified?  Our freedom is complete, isn’t it?

This hymn has four stanzas, and is probably why so many our hymns have four stanzas. The first stanza announces Gods’ victory; the second describes God’s mighty weapons and God is called a warrior, a Man of War; the third stanza praises Gods’ character and reminds us there is no God like you, majestic in holiness and awesome in glory, working wonders; and the four stanza reminds them of God’s faithfulness.

Later on we read in Joshua the Canaanites feared the God of the Israelites because they had heard of Him mighty deeds.  Where is that fear of God today?  People laugh at our belief in a Sovereign God who created everything and rules over everything.  Prior to the flood in Noah’s day, the Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time, 24-7.  Jesus said – as it was in the days of Noah, so would it be with His second coming.

I do not imagine we could have found a happier bunch of people than these Israelites on that day of their passage through the Red Sea. God had done a great work and showed Himself faithful to keep His promises.

But just three days later- another tests comes and the going gets tough and the grumbling, complaining, unbelieving returns.   We all like it when life is going well – the cotton is high and living is easy.  We like tasks that are easily accomplished; but God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.  We must learn here that we are also to be as watchful after the victory as we were before and during the battle.

Three days in the desert without water will create a dangerous, if not potentially fatal situation. “Where is the water? What are we to drink?” God was testing the hearts of the people, not because He did not know the condition of their heart- but because they did not realize the condition of their hearts.  “ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?”

The Lord tests us to encourage spiritual growth and bring out the best in us. The devil tempts us to bring and the worst in us and to encourage spiritual immaturity.  In every tests from God is the temptation to grumble and complain and try to manipulate our way out of it.

Here is why learning to trust God is so important:  the attitude we take toward difficult circumstances determines the direction our life will go, for what life does to us depends upon what life finds in us. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Peter thought he was a fearless- and Paul who thought a thorn removed would enhance his ministry.

If we trust and obey God and His Word, we’ll pass the test and grow. If we fail the test we will remain immature and not grow.  We could end up wandering through life as the a whole generation of Israelites spent the 40 years wandering in the wilderness instead of entering into the  promises of God.

God has led the people to the wilderness. He will also lead us to our wilderness experiences. The wilderness experience has a purpose: to teach us to trust God and depend on God completely. When we learn to trust Him in the wilderness, we are able to enter into the Promised Land, into His Rest. “ For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the Word which they heard  did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” ( Hebrews 4) The Promised Land always lies on the other side of the wilderness.

Here is what we must learn in our lives from the example of the Israelites’  response to the tests:

*Complaining doesn’t solve problems. Worrying does not- it is counter-productive. Cursing the darkness does not bring light.

*Running from the problem and returning to Egypt does not solve the problem.

The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. A heart that deceitful above all things and is desperately wicked is a heart that is not right with God.

We must follow Moses’ example and cry out to God. We are to cry out in faith and then obey Gods’ orders. God can change our situation and make the bitter –sweet. He can give us something else like the springs at Elim- 12 of them, one for each tribe. Or God can give us the grace we need to bear our circumstances. He did not give Paul removal of the thorn, He gave Paul an understanding and revelation that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. The Lord gives grace to the humble, to those of us who realize we can do nothing apart from Him. Then we realize when we are weak , we are strong. Do you understand this principle?

God showed Moses a tree, which when he casts into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. ( Some would make this a picture of the cross- and I am not saying you cannot use the text in that fashion. However, the main lesson is by following God, trusting Him and obeying Him, God will never lead us where His grace cannot keep us).

Here is the key to passing the examinations and tests of life :

God said,” If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes,if you pay attention to His commands and keep all His decrees, I will not bring on any of you the diseases I brought on the Egyptians , for I am the Lord who heals you.” (Ex.15:26)

How many classes have you attended in your pursuit of education where they instructor tells you right up front- if you want to pass the is course you must listen carefully, study the text book and do the exercises I tell you to do. You must also attend class.  If you do you will pass.

Now if life seems to be just one test after another- maybe your complaining is evidence of unbelief.  Obedience on the other hand is evidence of faith.

Understand if life were nothing but tests- we would be discouraged. However if life were all pleasure, we would never learn discipline. The Lord knows exactly how to balance the experiences of life. So be grateful the Lord blesses us enough to encourage us and burdens us enough to humble us. He knows just how much of each we can take.

Follow Him in obedience.

Trust the Lord in all your ways. You see in some ways you have not completely trusted Him and that is way you continue to have worries and grumbling in certain areas of your life. Trust Him in all your ways, and He shall direct your path. Quit leaning to your own understanding.

Trust  is learned in the classroom of Life- where the Holy Spirit is our Teacher and the Word of God is our text book .

Read this text book, the Word of God  to be wise. Let it fill your memory and rule the heart and guide the feet.

Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.

It is given to you in life, will be opened in judgment, and be remembered forever.

It is where you will learn your greatest lesson – trust the Lord.

For Trust is a learned response.

Exodus 13/14:  No Shortcuts

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going!” ( Beverly Sills, Opera Diva)

Hebrews 11:28-29 tell us: ‘By faith Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.’

When trouble, trials and hardships occur there are three choices you can make when life gets tough: (1.) Escape- attempt to manipulate your way out; (2.) Deny there is a problem; (3.) Endure.  Guess what?  Growth and strengthening occur during endurance.

If one looks at the map, by leaving via Northern Egypt the journey to Southern Canaan was a journey of no more that 4-5 days.  You probably already know it would take them 40 years to get there.  As you shake your head at the stubbornness and disobedience of these Israelites, let’s not be too quick to condemn. Let us look at our own journey. For as surely as the Israelites numbering probably over 2,000,000 were taken out of Egypt in one night; it took 40 years to get Egypt out of the Israelites.  I was saved in a moment on September 16, 1977. I was taken out of my Egypt in one moment, but 35 years later, I find there is still a lot of the world ( Egypt) in me.

Remember  it is for freedom that Christ set us free. I remember when my parents took me to college at Murray State in the fall of 1963.  I experienced a false freedom, which was actually not freedom at all, but a beginning of being enslaved. This false freedom is a perceived freedom to do what we want to do, what we like to do.  True freedom is the freedom to do what we ought to do. Jesus said: “ if you continue in my word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. I discovered, painfully and slowly, (I might add )freedom is not a toy to play with but a tool to build our lives with. Freedom involves accepting responsibilities. The Israelites were in the process of being set free. What would they do with their freedom?

The question we must ask ourselves is what have we done with our freedom?  If freedom comes with responsibilities , are you doing what you were set free to do?

Paul tells us : ‘ There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” ( Romans 8:1,2) Compare law of gravity with law of aerodynamics. We have a choice, we no longer have to serve sin or yield our members to sin but yield ourselves to God. We have been made free of sin.  If you sin ( and we all do) it is not because you had no choice, it is because you chose to sin.

We all have heard God’s ways are higher than our ways. God’s way is almost never the nearest way or the shortest way- but it is always the best way.

God had multiple reasons for leading the Israelites on this particular course. Let us look at God’s checklist as He planned the journey for very specific reasons:

1. He was going to lure the Egyptian army into a trap that would destroy them.
2. He needed to humble the Israelites in the wilderness, teaching them to depend upon Him.
3. God had laws to be given; ordinances to be instituted and covenants to be sealed.
4. God was going to ratify His contract with Abraham.
5. God knew what lie ahead and knew the Israelites were not ready, prepared or trained for battle. Slavery had broken their spirit. These were raw recruits who yesterday wielded a trowel and could not turn easily to wielding a sword. Deut. 32- tells us God will bring them up like an eagle does her young; she stirs up the nest, but hovers over her young ready to catch them as they learn to fly by degrees.

Yes we were saved in a moment, just as Israel was delivered in a night- but trust is  a learned response and we learn it by degrees as the eaglet learns to fly.

Now we said freedom involves accepting responsibility.  There are three important responsibilities if we are to live the abundant life.

1. Following the Lord.
2. Trusting the Lord
3. Praising the Lord.

We will see these three responsibilities addressed in the next three chapters ( Exodus 13,14 &15).

Whenever one starts a new job, or takes a new position one of the things  we ask about and want to make sure we understand are the benefits provided by the position. We are not only new creatures when we get saved, we have a new position. Our position is in Christ. Do you understand the benefits you enjoy in this new position? Are you utilizing those benefits? No wonder Paul was always praying for believers for God to give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation that they might know the : hope to which they are called; the inheritance we possess and the mighty power that works in us.

Do you realize God brought the children of Israel out of bondage that they might enjoy the benefits of His blessings. Do not be deceived by the enemy.  He wants you to fall back on the false freedom that you can now do what you want to do, what your old nature wants to do because you have been forgiven of your sins.  What a deadly deception!  DO NOT LIVE YOUR LIFE AS IF SIN DOES NOT MATTER!  TAKE SIN SERIOUSLY.  The enemy uses sin to rob us of our joy and take away our possibilities and thwart our potential and kill our witness and influence. He would have us wander in the desert aimlessly living a life of mediocrity instead of the abundant life God has for us.

“When the Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, thought that was shorter. For God said, “ If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.” (Exodus 13:17-18)

Notice what else Moses was careful to do: “ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath they would take his bones out of Egypt and bury him in the land of his fathers.” (vs.19)  Do you realize that even though we die physically, our prayers do not die? Seeing this coffin of Joseph’s reminded the people of the story of Joseph whom God delivered through hardships to become the second most powerful person in Egypt. The story of Joseph reminded them God is faithful and a promise keeper. It reminds us our prayers that we might not see answered while we are still living, might be answered after we have died, for prayers are answered in God’s perfect timing.

The Lord went with them guiding them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. As the Israelites would look back on these events, they would realize God led them the way He did because God did not want them to be overwhelmed by the enemy.  God has promised us as we begin our journey, that He will never allow us to be tempted or tested above that which we are able to bear but will  make a way to escape. (I Cor. 10)

Chapter 14 continues the story of the Exodus from Egypt. God then gives Moses directions to turn back and encamp between Migdol and the Red Sea.  Have you ever been in a situation where you seem to be between a rock and a hard place?  Have you ever looked at your circumstances and said- I will never be able to get out of this mess?

Remember we have to believe God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.

If we are to follow God, we must believe this. His Word is our Pillar of Cloud and Fire to guide us.

Must know God has a plan. Jesus told us in John 5:17, His Father is always working. Proverbs 19:21 tells us- ‘ many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.’ Psalms 31:14 states: “ But I trust in you, O Lord . I say you are my God . My times are in your hands.” Jeremiah 29 tells us God knows the plans He has for us- plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future.’

• Now the question comes to mind- what if I have not followed God and find myself in what appears to be a hopeless situation. Then you must face your greatest fear. Get honest with yourself, your loved ones, with God. Ask, Seek and Knock. If you want to know something- ASK.  If you want some help- ask. God comforts us when we are in trouble and in turn we are able to comfort others with the same comfort He has comforted us.  The Bible tells us there is no temptation or test which has taken you but such is common to man.  In other words, you are not alone, there are other believers who have suffered and been in the same situation. The Prodigal Son came to realize if he was to get out of the mess he had gotten in- he had to go back to his father and ask for forgiveness and ask to be taken back not as a son but a servant.
• You must believe God has a plan for you. You must face your problem
• Then after asking, seeking,knocking through prayer, study of Scripture and advice from Godly men/women- you will discover God’s plan and steps you must take. Then you move forward in faith, for we are to walk by faith and not by sight- you have put yourself in a position of relying on God and His promises.

We must move forward in faith not in fear of the circumstances. We must remember God brought us out to take us in to give us our inheritance.

God liberates us and then leads us through the varied experiences of life. We live one day at a time and each day is an opportunity to know God better. Each day is a day to claim by faith all that He wants us to have. Something happens in this process, we come not only to know God better; we come to know ourselves better also.

Now by studying stories in the Bible like Exodus, we learn how God operates. God plans a route for us. Nothing in our lives takes Him by surprise.

Do you know what God’s immediate destination is for the Israelites? Mount Sinai. What was to happen at Mount Sinai?  God would give detailed instructions how the Israelites were to live having now been set free.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

When you decide to walk by faith and not by sight, expect the Lord on occasions to take you on paths that may seem unnecessarily long and circuitous. You must remind yourself the Lord knows what He is doing. He is not in a hurry, and as long as your following Him , you’re safe and in the place of blessing.

There are times when we are not sure which way God wants us to go, but if we wait on Him, He will eventually guide us.

Now meanwhile, back in Egypt the Pharaoh and those left realized they are letting the Israelites, their labor force leave at a time when they need their labor to rebuild what God has destroyed.(Exodus 14:5-9) The enemy never gives up easily. He will continue to come at you, even though he is a defeated foe.  A desperate enemy can be a dangerous enemy. We need to remember our old nature, our flesh is our enemy. “ The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?” ( Jeremiah 17)

Do you remember what occurred in the life of Jesus following his baptism as he prepared to begin his earthly ministry?  Matthew 4 tells us of this event following Jesus’ baptism: “ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” The Greek verb translated tempted can also be rendered ‘tested.’ This was divinely intended by  God, the Spirit led Jesus to this place.  God has led the nation of Israel to this place- between the  Red Sea and the Egyptian army.

Of course in the temptation of Jesus we learn how he used the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit to defeat the enemy and thus his temptations.  What is interesting is do you know where Jesus quoted from in each of the temptations?  Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy’s teaching is about the love relationship of the Lord and His people and the emphasis is a call to total commitment to the Lord in worship and obedience.  In this farewell book of Moses to the people, Moses looks back and tells them:  “ Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.” (Deut. 8)

So looking back now at the beginning of the Exodus we see God led his people to a place where they are pinned between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea.  Once again we see the old nature rise up and use fear and doubt to take one’s thoughts captive.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you appear to be trapped between a ‘rock and hard place’ with no place to go? Have you ever looked at a situation and in your human wisdom believe there is no way out- I will never get out of these circumstances? Your hope begins to ebb as your faith erodes. But ask yourself this- what is your faith in? Just as Jesus asked the disciples in the boat- where is your faith?

Certainly we have experienced those periods of hopelessness and disappointment. And we must look at those situation and circumstances because it is in those we realize apart from Him – I can do nothing. But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  What connects us from realizing we can do nothing about our situation to realizing we can do all things through Christ?  FAITH.

“Now faith is being sure of what  we HOPE for and CERTAIN of what we do not see. This is what the ancients(elders) were commended for.”( Hebrews 11:1-2)     Faith is confidence that God will do what He has promised. Abraham’s faith was based on the promise of God that he and Sarah would have a son. By faith the Israelites kept the Passover and sprinkled blood on the doorposts; by faith the people passed through the Red Sea on dry land.

Living by faith in the promises of God  requires we are familiar with God’s promises to us. God was teaching the Israelites : He was who He said He was and could do what He said He could do. They were learning –they were who He said they were and could do what He said they could do.  This happens when the Word of God is active and alive in our lives.

When we begin the journey of the new life following our Passover and Exodus- God will lead us as surely as He led the Israelites with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. We have His Word to guide us as a lamp unto our feet and a light upon our path. The Spirit whispers to us in our ears through the word to turn to the right or left or to wait upon the Lord.  Our Heavenly Father delights to order our steps and He wants to teach us to trust Him with all our heart and not lean to our own understanding. Then He promises to direct our paths.

But after 35 years of following Him and 66 years of living- I have discovered there are no shortcuts to any place worth going.

Exodus 12:  The Passover

The three plagues that followed the sixth plague of boils were:  plague of hail; plague of locusts and plague of darkness.

The first six plagues had brought irritation, pain and hardship- but the next two plagues of hail and locusts had brought utter destruction to their economy as their crops, livestock and servants were destroyed.  The Pharaoh continues his same pattern of asking Moses to intercede on his behalf and stop the plague and he, the Pharaoh would let the people go. Each time the plague stopped the Pharaoh would not keep his promise.

In chapter 10, God instructs Moses to ‘ tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and performed my signs among them and that you may know I am the Lord.” ( Exodus 10:1-2) It is good for each generation of new believers to hear personally what God has done for previous generations.  This story is still being told after 3500 years.

After the devastation of the hail storm that had brought major damage to Egypt, the Pharaoh’s counselors advised him to let the people go.

The locusts come and they covered the ground until it was black. They ate everything that was not destroyed by the hail storm. This was the eighth plague.  We are told in Exodus 10, ‘ the Lord hardened the Pharaoh’s heart and he would not let the people go.’ ( Ex. 10:20)

The ninth plague was darkness over the land of Egypt for three days, while the sun shone in Goshen.  As unbelievers, we all walked in darkness, but as believers we walk in the light as He is in the light.  What an ominous warning was this darkness as it preceded the 10th and final plague- the death of the first born.

I have summarized these last plagues preceding the Passover as they follow the pattern of previous behavior on the part of the Pharaoh.  The death of the first born was the tenth and final plague and God made it clear it would occur to every first born in Egypt including the cattle. Is there significance in the death of the first born? Yes. A study of Genesis reveals God often rejected the first born son and accepted the next son in the line.  He chose Abel, then Seth, not Cain. He chose Jacob, not Esau. He chose Isaac not Ishmael.  The symbolism is clear:  we must be born again. The first born son represents the natural man, a descendant of Adam and thus his sinful nature. We must be born again by faith in Jesus Christ and then receive God’s divine nature and are accepted in the Beloved.

 

WHERE IS THE LAMB?

This question asked by Isaac in Genesis 22:7 introduced one of the major themes of the Old Testament as God’s people awaited the coming of the Messiah, the Lamb of God. It was John the Baptist, who pointed out the Lord Jesus to John and Andrew and said: “ Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” ( John 1:29)   Exodus is a story of redemption and the Passover Sacrifice is one of the clearest pictures in Scripture of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus at Calvary.

God’s program for redemption contains three essential elements:  a redeemer, blood, and power. Surely we have seen the power of God in this story up until now and we recognize Moses is a type of redeemer sent to free the people from slavery. And now we will see the blood applied to the doorpost as all three elements come together in this final plague.

It is also interesting to note what encounters with the Lord produce in the individual- a heart that is softened and yields or a heart that is hardened into unbelief and rejection.

Exodus 12: 1-“ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, this month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.” God is saying this is the dawn of a new day of such significance it would herald an entirely new era in the lives of the people. It would be a day to be remembered. Do you remember the day you were redeemed?  Do you have a day to be remembered? (There is an interesting side note here as you study the calendars – the civil calendar and the sacred calendar.  Noah kept an accurate record of their days in the ark. This was before the sacred calendar was given. When we look at the record in Genesis 8- we see the exact day of the month the ark rested. It was the 17th day of the 7th month.The Hebrew calendar celebrated their new year in what would be our September-October day, they still celebrate Rosh Hashanah then, this year it will be on September 16th. Now look at the sacred calendar- the seventh month of the civil calendar becomes the first month. When was the Passover Lamb taken in?  On the 10th day of what was the 7th month of the civil calendar; sacrificed on the 14th day, which means the Lord Jesus was resurrected on the 17th day of the 7th month according to their civil calendar the very one Noah measured his days and months by.The ark rested on Mount Ararat on the very day the Lord arose.)

This Passover would also be the first of the national feasts the nation of Israel would celebrate.( They still do-3500 years later.)

Just as each of us as believers have an Exodus story if we are redeemed, we have a Passover Holiday to celebrate. It is in honor of the day you applied the blood of the Lamb to the door post of your heart and God’s judgment passed over you. It was the birth of the nation of Israel and it is your spiritual birthday. Celebrate it and tell your children and grandchildren about it. It was the beginning of a new life, a journey to be taken with God leading you to the Promised Land.

The instructions from God continue and they are rich with illustration, prophecy, symbolism and type. Each family was to take a lamb who was one year old, and without blemish into their household on the 10th day. The number 10 is a number of testing in the Bible. (The Ten Commandments were and/or are a test.)  The lamb would be taken care of by the family until the 14th day when it was to be slaughtered at twilight. The Lord Jesus entered into Jerusalem on the 10th day of the month -four days before the Passover.  We read in Matthew  the crowds welcomed Jesus and shouted: “ Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “ Who is this?” John the Baptist identified Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. ( John 1:29)  Paul writes in I Corinthians 5:7- this Jesus is the Passover Lamb.   And to the woman at the well in John 4 who said- ‘I know that Messiah ( called Christ) is coming. When He comes he will explain everything to us.’ To which Jesus declared: I who speak to you am he.

Have you answered the question:  who is this Jesus?

The significance of the lamb being one year old represents a lamb in the prime of its life. Psalms 102 tells us Christ  was ‘ cut off in the midst of His days,’ that is the prime of His life.  The lamb was to be without blemish or defect.  Peter wrote: “ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but from the precious blood of Christ,  THE LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH OR DEFECT.” ( I Peter 1: 18,19)  “ God made Him Who had no sin, to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)  Just as this one year old lamb without defect or blemish was slain in place of the first born of Israel, the Lord Jesus was our lamb slain in our place. Our substitute- whose blood satisfied God the Father and when He sees it posted on the door post of our heart –God’s judgment passes over us.  The blood was collected in a basin when the lamb was slain and then applied to the door posts of the house with hyssop leaves.  We apply the blood by faith. The hyssop plant was a small flimsy plant.  To give you an idea, today Jewish families substitute parsley for hyssop in observing the Passover meal.  Our faith may be as flimsy as the hyssop plant, or as small as a parsley sprig, but it is not faith in our faith that saves us- it is faith in the Blood of Christ  shed for us.  It is not enough to know the blood saves one from judgment, it must be applied by faith.

Notice the blood was applied to sides and tops of the doorframes, but not the threshold. The blood is not to be trampled on.

Also notice- the blood was sprinkled before they ate. We cannot have Christ , our Passover Lamb, without first applying the blood to the door posts of our heart.

Peter called this blood- precious, more precious than silver or gold. It is God’s Holiness and God’s Righteousness which demands a sinless life should be given for sinful man. The blood is primarily for God.  “ When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” The blood is atonement for our sins.  Just as the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement with a blood sacrifice to be sprinkled on the mercy seat, we read in Hebrews 9 : ‘ When Christ became our High Priest of the good things that are already here, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but He entered into the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood having obtained eternal redemption.’ The blood satisfies God’s Holiness and Righteousness. Therefore the blood is primarily for God and we apply it to the doorposts of our hearts with hyssop of faith, God no longer sees our sins for they are covered by the blood.

Redemption from our sins requires: atoning blood; death, and resurrection. At the cross- we see the blood poured out by the Lamb of God. John the Baptist said this Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. I John 2 states this is the atoning sacrifice for not only our sins, but the sins of the world.   Burial is another important component as the first death leads to a grave, for death is the payment for sin. (Everyone born the first time physically will die. But those born the second time will not die the second death.) Then comes resurrection. Resurrection is the validating stamp- that says payment in full accepted. When Christ rose on the third day it was the sign of God’s acceptance. If Christ be not risen our faith is in vain; but He is risen indeed.

You cannot inherit unless the one leaving the inheritance dies. And you cannot inherit if you are not an heir and written in the will. If you are saved- your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and you are joint heirs with Christ.

God’s detailed instructions continue:  “ That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over fire, head, legs, and inner parts. Do not leave any of it till morning, if some is left till morning you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste, it is the Lord’s Passover.” ( Exodus 12: 8-11)

The lamb was roasted with fire and was  the main dish. There were two side dishes of bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Fire speaks of judgment and Christ was judged for our sins. The Lord Jesus our Passover Lamb  bore the fire of God’s judgment for our sins. He was the ‘ propitiation for sins; and not only for our sins but also for the sins of the world.” (I John 2:2) Do you now understand why Christ cried out on the cross: “ My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?” Do you see what He has endured- the scourging, the spikes, the thirst, the spear, the broken heart and the awful bitter cup from which He drank? Can you imagine a King who would die for His servants?  Can you imagine a Father who would let His Son die for you – while you were yet a sinner and cared nothing for Him?

Notice how they are to eat the Passover Feast- ready to begin the journey immediately. So it is with us- we must feast on Christ- He is our symbolic flesh we eat to provide us with the strength to sustain us on the journey through the wilderness of testing to the Promised Land of the spirit filled life where we battle giants.

What was the significance of unleavened bread?  Leaven or yeast represents sin and refers to that which is evil and of the old nature. Unleavened bread represents that which is right and new and not puffed up.  The Word of God is unleavened, pure and unmixed with error. Jesus was the Word of God, Manna from heaven. The Word of God, the Bible is our manna and we must feed on it daily for it sustains us spiritually in the journey of life that follows our redemption.

Jesus referred to the teaching of the Pharisees as leaven.  “ Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” ( Matthew 16)  Jesus was referring to their false teaching that was based on mans’ tradition and works rather than obeying God.  Jesus also referred to the leaven of the Sadducees who mixed Old Testament teaching with Greek culture and philosophy and did not believe in the resurrection or spiritual beings .

The bitter herbs were to remind the Israelites of their bitter bondage in the land of Egypt. Never forget the awfulness of the slavery of sin.  If we are not careful when difficulties come in the wilderness journey, we tend to remember the ‘ good old days’ in Egypt.  This is the deceitfulness of sin.

Remember the last plague before the Passover?  The plague of darkness. It is often so in the life of an unbeliever that God allows such a darkness in one’s life, they desperately want light. Who is Jesus?  The Light of the World.   The Passover represents a turning point and a new walk, where we no longer walk in darkness but in light.

Listen to Paul’s description of what the personal results of your Passover should be:  “ There is therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. “ ( Romans 8:1,2)

Our walk, our life indicates our new relationship with God. Our Passover is to symbolize a new beginning and new walk a new journey.  Egypt was picture of the world that held our old nature enslaved by sin under the prince of this world, the devil. The only way we could get out  was to be redeemed. How does Gods’ program of redemption work?  There must be a redeemer, one who can pay for your redemption; there must be blood and death as payment for sin; and there must be power, the power to forgive sin(s) and create life.

You and I could not get out of our bondage, we were powerless over sin. Our old nature could not be redeemed- for a Holy God cannot inhabit that which is stained with sin. God has shown us symbolically the first born is not acceptable- it is the second birth that is acceptable. We must be born again of the Spirit and water, the incorruptible seed, the Word of God.  For by grace are saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God , not of works lest any man boast.  So we applied the blood of the Lamb to the door posts of our hearts with hyssop of faith.   Our old nature must be crucified with the Lord Jesus at Calvary. You might say- I do not feel that I have been crucified.  Your faith is not in your feelings but in the fact  of God’s Word. It states we were placed in Christ Jesus at His Crucifixion.  We must accept this fact by faith, reckon it to be true, and then yield ourselves to the Spirit and walk in the newness of life.

Our new journey, our new life, our new walk begins with redemption, our Passover.  The exodus from our Egypt cannot occur until this takes place.  The Passover, a picture of our redemption prepares us and equips us to begin the journey which takes us out of bondage into the Promised Land.  The Promised Land is not a picture of heaven in the future.  It is picture of Christ in us, the Hope of Glory now in this present world and life. It is the Spirit filled life.

In fact, a careful reading of the 40 years in the wilderness records only one celebration of the Passover and that was in the second year.  Since the Passover represents our redemption, there is only one place it can fully be appreciated and celebrated and that is in the Promised Land, the Spirit filled, Spirit-led life in the here and now.

Let  me take you ahead in the story, for I know you know it well, but just for a moment let us consider the picture being revealed to us in type in this historical event.

Egypt is a picture of the world.  The Egyptian soldiers, the slave masters are a picture of our old nature that held us captive in the world. Pharaoh was a type of devil not wanting to let the people go, as surely as the devil,the prince of this world desired to keep us enslaved. Moses was a type of Christ, a redeemer empowered and qualified to set the captives free.

Now also understand when we were born the first time physically we were descendants of Adam.  He could be viewed physically as our great grandfather multiplied by all the generations since Adam.  We are referred to in Scripture as being in Adam.  We were in his loins, as surely as you were in the loins of your great grandfather. We inherited a sinful nature from Adam and our sin and sins come naturally to us, it is hereditary. We need new parentage if we are to ever be delivered.   That is why Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again. For you cannot see nor enter the kingdom of God unless you are born again of the Spirit and the water.

How can one get out of the old Adam and thus the old nature into the new nature?  Only way out of Adam was death. Only way into the New Life was to be born again.

What we see in this story- if you will allow me to put the next several chapters in a brief summary is a picture of salvation: death, burial and resurrection to walk in the newness of life. All portrayed by the following actions in the order they take place:  first- the blood of the lamb, the crucifixion of the Lamb of God at Calvary supplied the blood to cover our sins. But the cross which caused the blood to be shed, the atoning death of the Lord also provided the means by which the Lord put to death our old Adamic nature.  “ I am crucified with Christ.. past tense. Romans 6 tells us we are baptized into Christ buried with Him, united,planted with Him in death.  What happened to the Egyptian soldiers, the slave masters?  They were buried in the Red Sea, never to be seen again. What are they picture of?  Our old nature.  But Paul tells us in Romans 6- if we are united with Him in the likeness of death, we will be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, to walk in newness of life.  What happened to the Israelites at the Red Sea? God delivered them to the other side, just like he did Noah and his family.  They came through on the other side to walk in a new life, just as we did . ( In fact Peter refers{1Peter3} to Noah and his family being saved through the water and this water symbolizes baptism; and Paul refers to the passing through the Red Sea as being baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea {1 Cor. 10} )

Is it possible to understand this process of being united with Christ?  Consider the word Paul uses in the original Greek- ‘ sumphutos’, which is translated –planted with or united or grafted. Do you understand the principle of grafting or engrafting? It is the process whereby a planter can take a portion from one fruit tree, called a ‘slip’ and transfer it into another tree. The process involves cutting off the poor or diseased tree which will be engrafted and placing the portion from the good healthy tree into the cleavage of the other tree and binding them together.This is the only way a poor, diseased tree can bear good fruit. Now if a man can engraft the life of a good  tree into the poor tree after cutting off the old tree, cannot God engraft the life of His Son into our lives . Jesus tells us He is the True Vine, the one from which His Father the Vine Dresser takes the graft. He cuts off our old diseased life which could not bear good fruit at the cross and then inserts the life of His Son into us. ( Doesn’t that make you want to sing those old songs about loving, and clinging to the Cross where you first  saw the light?)

GOD HAS DONE EVERYTHING! There is only one fruitful life in all of the world and history. It is the life of God’s Only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this life has been grafted into millions and millions of lives throughout history. It is called the ‘new birth’ or being’ born again’ because it is the reception of a life  you and I did not have before. It is NOT my old life changed at all; it is altogether a new life, a divine life,  for Christ has become my life. I know for me there is no other explanation for what happened to me. Even my wife remarked as she observed the change in me- ‘ I have a new husband.’

“ I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

Now remember the Lord wanted the Israelites to tell the story of their redemption to their children and grandchildren.  What kind of story does one have to tell if they spend their lives wandering in the wilderness?  It is for freedom that Christ set us free.  ( Galatians 5) This means the Lord redeemed us out of the slavery of our ‘Egypt’ to take us into the Promised Land, to give us life and life more abundantly.

Can you imagine how unimpressed a young boy would be in the day of Moses after spending year after year in the wilderness existing on a diet of manna and quail.  What kind of life would that be? It was  certainly not a land flowing with milk and honey and certainly not the abundant life.  One would imagine- what kind of God do you serve?

Where is the Lamb, the Christ ? If you have been crucified with Christ, then Christ lives in you and you have been set free. His life has been engrafted into your life. Your old life has been put to death.

Now the journey to the Promised Land begins and as we shall see it will include a wilderness journey.

But know this: the Passover is the divine way of deliverance.

Exodus 1: The Story of Deliverance

In I Corinthians 10 Paul wrote ‘ these things happened to Israel as examples and were written down as warnings for us.’ In the book of Exodus we will see the things that happened to Israel that are an example and a warning to us.

Exodus is a story of redemption, Moses the deliverer, the miraculous escape of the nation Israel from Egypt, the plagues, the Passover Lamb, the Ten Commandments and the Tabernacle.  The establishment of the Tabernacle, the materials used in this Tent of Meeting are given much detail in the Bible. When you consider that God described the creation of the heavens and the earth in a mere 10 words, you understand God is saying the Tabernacle is very important by the detailed description and instructions in its establishment. The Tabernacle, as we will see is a picture of salvation, of sacrifice, of shed blood. It is the story of redemption and deliverance. But most of all it is a picture of the most astounding theological fact in all of Christianity.  God Himself would come with His Son in the person of the Holy Spirit to reside, take up abode in the heart of the individual believer. It would be God’s dwelling place.  “ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..” God wants  to live in the midst of His people.  Our heart is His tabernacle.

The story of Exodus and the story of the Bible is –Redemption.  God’s program for redemption contains three essential elements. First, redemption is by a divinely sent deliverer-redeemer. Secondly, redemption is by blood. And thirdly, redemption is by power. The book of Exodus and the story of  Passover and the last plague could not give us any clearer Old Testament picture of redemption.

We will come to know God better through this study also. This was something Moses came to want more than anything, just as many others have through the ages. We must understand what we think about God shapes our relationship with Him. Misconceptions about God can certainly create barriers in our relationship with Him. If you see Him as a harsh judge or genie who is supposed to provide you with everything you desire, you are not seeing Him as He really is.   So as we go through this study, I want us to answer these questions for ourselves: What do I think about God? What does He think about me? After all this is the basis for our relationships with others, why would it not be the same basis for our relationship with God?

Let us begin with a Spiritual Vision Examination. This will help us determine how well you see God. For the science of vision is the study of how light is transformed into our perception of the world around us. Since our Lord Jesus not only created light, but is referred to as the light of the world, let us see how we manage the light we have received. If the light is not properly controlled, then we do not see the world as it really is.  The most common problems are refractive errors which can be corrected with ophthalmic lenses, prescription lenses.  So let us see if our vision of God is distorted. Let us look through some lenses that are biblical revelations about God to check our ‘spiritual vision ‘and see if we need ‘ spiritual glasses.’

First Vision Test: “ To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?, says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these ? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” ( Isaiah 40)  In the first part of our spiritual vision examination, God uses a familiar eye chart. He has lift our eyes and look to the heavens.  Do you see them? They are as plain as the big E on the eye chart. It reveals this simple, but astounding fact:  God , the Creator of the universe, is not like us, there is no one to whom He can be compared.

Second Vision Test:  “ For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became as fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals.”( Romans 1) This person is so nearsighted they have reduced God to a manageable size. He is a god of their own making, which is not God at all.

The last part of our vision examination includes a three part exam in the three ways God reveals Himself: (1) God reveals Himself through nature. Clear evidence of His existence is seen in the created order. Psalm 19 declares:” the heavens  declare His glory. The skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they display knowledge.” If you cannot see this- you need spiritual glasses. (2) God reveals Himself through His Word. Did you know from birth to age 12, we get 80% of our knowledge through our vision system? Therefore we must be able to see to read. We learn to read and we read to learn. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and we must learn to see with the eyes of our heart, with the eyes of faith. God is a communicator who has revealed Himself through creation and through His Word, the Bible written in our own language.  (3) The third and best way is through His Son,the Lord Jesus. He was seen, heard and touched. And the Lord Jesus told Phillip and us- if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. Have you seen the Lord Jesus? Have you seen Him with the eyes of your heart?  “ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see, for by it ( faith) the elders received a good report.” Hebrews 11.

“Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus!”

So let us learn the lessons Paul  says we must learn from the nation of Israel and how God interacted with the children of Israel and their chosen leader, Moses. And we will see the story of our lives mirrored in the lives of these people. A people who could go forth one day with great confidence in their God, only to become fearful at the first sign of trouble, real or imagined.

Were you ever afraid of the dark when you were a child? Or afraid of the ‘boogeyman’? We all had some fears when we were children, and some we never outgrew. In fact those fears which grew out of our childhood imaginations simply grew up for many of us to become adult fears- that all seem to grow out of what I call the ‘ what-if syndrome’. What if I lose my job? My health? A loved one? Finances? Home?  A child gets in trouble? Grandchildren?    You get the idea- we all have some fears that creep into our lives at some time or other. How do you deal with those fears as a Christian?  For it seems our faith and confidence in an Almighty God leaks out of the bucket of our lives and is replaced by these’ what-if’ fears.  All of a sudden we are slaves to our fears.

The solution, the antidote for the poison of fear is faith in a Faithful, Loving, Almighty God. He is able to deliver us, His children.  In the story of Exodus there are many themes, but one we see over and over is a fearful people who have their Almighty God deliver them from one fearful situation after another. They will escape through the Red Sea parted by God to find themselves fearful in a matter of days – seemingly having forgotten what God has done and is able to do. These people truly seem to take one step forward in faith and two steps back in fear. Their bucket of faith seems to leak like a sieve.

Our lives may not face the dramatic tests the Israelites faced in Egypt, but we soon realize as Christians our lives are marked by tests. In each test, which are allowed by our Heavenly Father, the question is will I trust God?  Are you a slave to your fears?  Then remember, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus came to set us free. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand Firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” ( Galatians 5)  In the story of the Exodus, we see the redemption of the world in type. We also see more types of Christ in this book than any other book in the Old Testament. In fact Jesus said, “ Moses wrote of Him.”

The story of Exodus is actually a continuation of the story of Genesis. In Genesis 15 the Lord tells Abraham: “ Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.” We know of course how the tribes of Israel ended up in Egypt from the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. The book of Exodus picks up the story 430 years later.

After the death of Joseph and his brothers we read: “ Now Joseph and his brothers all the generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous and the land was filled with them.” The seventy souls that had come out of Canaan with Jacob and his sons to join Joseph had in the 430 years since grown into a nation of approximately 2,000,000 + people. God had placed them in Egypt in order for them to grow into a nation.  We read in Genesis 46, they settled in the land of Goshen and were separated from intermarrying with the Egyptians because we are told the Egyptians detested shepherds.

In verse 8, comes a turning point in the nation of Israel: “ Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph came to power in Egypt. Look , he said to his people, the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous, and if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country. So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses  as store cities for the Pharoah. But the more they were oppressed the more they multiplied. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of hard labor.  They were slaves in a country not their own.

Here is a picture for us:  Egypt is a picture of the World, the culture and society in which we live. (An idolatrous world, a materialistic, immoral world.)   The slave masters are a picture of sin and sins which held us captive before a redeemer delivered us from bondage. The Pharaoh was a picture and type of satan. Moses is a picture of a redeemer, deliverer. We will see other types as we study this amazing story.

Why was God allowing this suffering? God was weaning their hearts from Egypt. He was making the life which they used to love into something they came to loathe. Has God ever done that in your life?  Has He allowed some sin you loved, come to be something you loathed? He did this in my life regarding alcohol.  It was so much fun and exciting as a teenager and in college to indulge in drinking and partying.  But over a period of time, it became something I hated and hated myself for doing. It made my life bitter and I had become a slave, unable to free myself. Like the Israelites in Egypt, I needed a Deliverer.

You see for a period of time, Joseph served as second ruler in Egypt, his family was greatly respected. After Joseph’s death, his memory was honored in the way the Egyptians treated the Hebrews. This was God allowing the nation of Israel to grow and increase and become a nation of over two million people. All of this was part of God’s plan.

Guess what else was a part of God’s plan?  Affliction, adversity, and hardship. God had told Abraham his descendants would go to a strange country. They would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

This new pharaoh was not happy with the rapid growth of the Jewish population. He feared they would join with their enemies and fight against them. So this pharaoh began a program of turning them into slave labor. ( Sound familiar? Think WWII and the Holocaust of Hitler that led to the death of six million Jews.)

So step 1 in this new pharoah’s anti-Jewish program was to enslave the Jewish people and afflict them with hard labor. All of sudden the people began to remember this place was not their home. God had a Promised Land for them. They began to cry out to God. Sometimes God applies pressure to squeeze out of us what is infecting our lives.

Step 2 in this pharaoh’s program to rid himself of the growing population of Jews was to order the Jewish midwives  to kill all newborn Jewish sons.  In allowing only the daughters to survive, the daughters would eventually be married to Egyptian slaves and absorbed into the Egyptian race. A whole race of people would have been erased from the face of the earth.  In the battle taking place in the heavenlies, we see the enemy of God, Satan attempting to thwart God’s plan for a deliverer who would crush the head of the serpent.  But God would not allow such a thing to happen, as we read the midwives feared God more than they feared the earthly king of Egypt. They saved the male babies.  Sometimes God puts everything is a perspective, where we see everything in black and white- right and wrong, no shades of grey colored by compromise and a conforming society and culture. When we do, we know we must obey God and not man.

When the Wise Men brought news of the birth of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus to King Herod, he sought to keep this from happening also by having all male boys under age two in Bethlehem killed.  But once again God made a way for the baby Jesus to escape, just as God did for Moses.

When questioned why the male babies were not being put to death and allowed to live, the midwives told the pharaoh, the Hebrew women delivered their babies before they got there.

When this tactic failed to work the king came up with another plan to kill the male babies.

The pharaoh then ordered to all his people: “ Every boy that is born is to be thrown into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

Like Hitler, the Pharaoh became obsessed with destroying the Jewish people. In fact, many historians believe if Hitler had not wasted so much time, resources and manpower exterminating the Jews, the war could have turned out different. God will not allow His People to be extinguished from this earth- not in the time of Moses, or Hitler or many of those who have attacked them through the centuries. The fact that Israel became a nation once again in 1948 after not existing as a nation for almost 2000 years is a testimony to the power of God and how His Will cannot be thwarted.  To realize the magnitude of this re-emergence as a nation would be similar to returning America back over to the possession of the Indian tribes

Before we begin the story of Moses, think about what has happened to the people of Israel in this period of time.  Quite often in life, it is only with the passing of time and looking in the proverbial rear mirror we see and put into perspective what God has been doing.

When Jacob and his sons and their children joined Joseph in Egypt some 400+ years before, they were 70 souls in all. Joseph, the long-lost favorite son, was second in command of Egypt and the hero who had led the people through a devastating famine. In the story of Joseph, we see heartache, bitterness, and sometimes the unfairness of life. Joseph is sold into slavery by his own brothers, falsely accused of sexual assault by Potiphar’s wife and ends up in an Egyptian prison, where he may have been incarcerated for up to 10 years.  His rise to the second in command was miraculous. But God had been preparing him for that role for years. In fact, Joseph had to look in the rear view mirror of his life and see God’s hand when he told his brothers- ‘ you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, for the saving of many lives.’

So in the beginning, the 70 souls that represented the fledgling nation of Israel lived in favor with the rulers of Egypt. Then God allowed them to fall into disfavor with the rulers of Egypt and their lives became bitter.

Peter said as Christians we should not consider it strange to fall into fiery trials. We have Joseph as one example of how to deal with trials. And on the other hand we have the nation of Israel in the story of Exodus and how they react and respond to trials.  When we hold up the mirror of God’s Word, I wonder which image you see ? Are you responding like Joseph or the children of Israel?  God’s eye test really allows us to see ourselves as we really are, doesn’t it?

In Chapter 2, we meet Moses. Moses is one of the heroes of not only the Jewish people but of Christians everywhere.  He is the most remarkable type of Christ in the Old Testament. Moses is seen as a deliverer-savior, a prophet, a lawgiver and mediator.

Moses was a Levite, both by his father and mother, Amran and Jochebed. He had an older sister and brother, Miriam and Aaron. Jochebed becomes pregnant at the time the Pharaoh has decreed all male babies are to be thrown into the Nile River.  This means, Egyptians and Egyptian soldiers would have been on the lookout for any male babies. When Moses is born, we are told his mother saw he was a ‘ goodly child and she hid him for three months.’

Realizing she could no longer hide the child, Jochebed puts him in a papyrus basket, coated with tar and pitch to prevent it from leaking and places it in the reeds along the Nile River. We know the story well as Moses the baby is placed into the river. His sister Miriam follows to see what happens.  God sends the miniature ark safely into the hands of no one less than the Pharoah’s daughter.  And thus begins one of the great stories of the Bible- the story of the Exodus of God’s people out of the bitter slavery in Egypt to begin a journey to the Promised Land.

Do you recall how God delivered you out of your Egypt? Out of your slavery in which you were held by the cruel taskmaster of sin?

Are you living today in the Promised Land or are you wandering in the desert of carnality?

Paul writes in Colossians: “ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him…”   How did you receive Him?  By grace through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.  We are saved by grace through faith in Him and we are to live the same way- by grace through faith in

We get out of our Egypt by grace through faith in Him and we will enter into the Promised Land the same way- by grace through faith in Him.

Life is a by grace through faith in Him operation from the beginning to the end.