A Call To Holiness

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels. (Exodus 40:34-38, NIV, ©2011)

Another great moment of significance was witnessed by the freed Israelites and what a glorious moment it must have been.

To know and love God whom they could not physically see might have been a challenge but at this point, they had God reside with them physically as they journeyed to the promised land, a journey that would take them another 39 years.

Why can we not see God and how are we expected to live by faith, not by sight?

God’s Perfection Vs Man’s Creation

 Exodus 39:1,7,21,31,42,43 From the blue, purple and scarlet yarn they made woven garments for ministering in the sanctuary. They also made sacred garments for Aaron, as the LORD commanded Moses… Then they fastened them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, as the LORD commanded Moses… They tied the rings of the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod with blue cord, connecting it to the waistband so that the breastpiece would not swing out from the ephod—as the LORD commanded Moses… Then they fastened a blue cord to it to attach it to the turban, as the LORD commanded Moses… The Israelites had done all the work just as the LORD had commanded Moses. Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the LORD had commanded. So Moses blessed them.

As I read this passage I initially was lost in all the beautiful detail of the work of the craftsmen and I wondered what God had in store for us today.

Like many things in life, sometimes it takes a few attempts to understand and so I did. Reading scripture in a hurry never seems to bear fruit and so today as I re-read the passage, God’s word spoke to me.

What could God want to speak to us by repeating what He spoke to us a few weeks ago when He described these very same elements?

The Precision and Perfection of God

Exodus 38:1-3,8-10,21 They built the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, three cubits high; it was square, five cubits long and five cubits wide. They made a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar were of one piece, and they overlaid the altar with bronze. They made all its utensils of bronze—its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and forepaws… They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Next they made the courtyard. The south side was a hundred cubits long and had curtains of finely twisted linen, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts… These are the amounts of the materials used for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant law, which were recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.

To those of us who are bored by numbers and details, this chapter might seem a bit uninteresting but when we consider their purpose and use, we can really appreciate the significance of what God accomplished.

One of the odd aspects of this tabernacle was that all the articles made of pure gold was never to be seen by man while everything made of silver, brass and fine linen was visible to the eye.

What could God speak to us through these hard to comprehend details and how can we apply it in our lives today?

Perfect Worship Of A Holy God

Exodus 37:1,10,23-25,29 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high… They made the table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high… They made its seven lamps, as well as its wick trimmers and trays, of pure gold. They made the lampstand and all its accessories from one talent of pure gold. They made the altar of incense out of acacia wood. It was square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high—its horns of one piece with it… They also made the sacred anointing oil and the pure, fragrant incense—the work of a perfumer.

Is it not wonderful to hear the fulfillment of God’s instructions to man? Bezalel and the other selected men set about God’s work and did it to God’s satisfaction.

When you read the NASB and the KJV translations, the word ‘he’ is used instead of ‘they’ in the NIV, and it makes one wonder if there was an error.

What is God speaking to us today through this passage and is there hope for us in today’s day and age in these dated stories?

Word Becomes Flesh

Exodus 36:2-7 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.” Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

If anyone doubts God’s ability to know the hearts of His people, this passage clearly shows evidence that what God directed through Moses actually came to pass. God asked the Israelites to give specifically and they did, without ceasing, so much that Moses had to forbid them from giving anymore.

Is the purpose of today’s passage not clear and why then do we need Jesus if God the Father was all sufficient Himself?

Joyful Service, Not A Social Cause

Exodus 35:4-5,10,20-21,30-35 Moses said to the whole Israelite community, “This is what the LORD has commanded: From what you have, take an offering for the LORD. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the LORD an offering of gold, silver and bronze… “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the LORD has commanded… Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments… Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers.

God again is revealed as the master orchestrator as He calls upon His people to serve Him with their offerings and acts of service.

The Israelites step forward and provide more than was needed along with willing hands. What a contrast as compared to the sinful people we have seen this far? Is this reflective of us today?

Veiled Spirituality

Exodus 34:5-7,14-16,25-26,29,33-35 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation”… Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same… “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning. “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God… When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD… When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the LORD’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.

Today’s chapter is precious because it records the words of God and I apologize for not putting all of it in the passage above but I do encourage you to read the chapter before you read any further.

Moses destroyed the previous two stone tablets when he came down and witnessed the Israelites worshipping a hand-made calf of gold and was now called to write it out again while fasting forty days and nights in God’s presence on Mount Sinai.

God issued his commands and they were weighty and revealed His character and nature but are they relevant in our day and time when human laws exist and we have no time for God’s demands?

The Only Certainly In Life

Exodus 33:1-3,5,11,13-14,17-20 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way”… For the LORD had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you’”… The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent… If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest”… And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

God’s anger is intense as is evident from His instructions to Moses regarding His presence with the sinful Israelites on their journey to the promised land. It is a righteous anger and scares the living daylights out of the Israelites who have taken God for granted this far.

However Moses, who seems to share a wonderful relationship with God, continues to find favor in God’s sight and grows in love and respect of God. Is God so biased towards those who love Him and what then would become of those who don’t know Him or love Him yet?

One of the great realities of God is the fact that He does not go back on His promises. God kept His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as we know from History and therefore is faithful to His word.

We can hold God to His word but can God hold us to ours? We make great promises in times of strife with the hope of getting out of our painful situations but when things come to pass, we are quick to forget and slow to acknowledge God’s hand of favor in our lives.

The Israelites who were there witnessed God’s favor on Moses and realized their guilt and put away their ornaments to show God their mournful hearts.

Is it not such a reflection of our lives when we live in the path we believe we know best and often stumble, are picked up, claim to learn from our mistakes and get back on the same path only to stumble again?

Brokenness is such a reality of our lives that we don’t see an issue with being broken. Our sinfulness has grown to a point where we are comfortable in our brokenness and can explain it away as just a yin in the yang of life!

Today it seems easier to make an idol and appease a God more to appease the inner need in ourselves to make peace with this unknown God. Is that the God we follow and can we find favor with God as Moses did?

With the unpredictability of life these days, death is the only constant we live with and that is not comforting. Would we rather live in the painful certainty of death or do we want hope that is beyond this physical life itself?

Jesus Christ, the only son of God is the hope God gave us. He lived among us, led a pure and sinless life, was betrayed, flogged and killed, was raised up from the dead to live again and all of this was for the sole purpose of bringing us back to God again.

God provided through Jesus a way back to Him and all we need to do is humble our prideful selves before Jesus, submit our sinful lives to Him, ask for His total forgiveness and the rest is His work in our lives.

Like Moses, every person who submits themselves to Jesus Christ is transformed by God for His glory and used to transform the lives of others by leading them to the cross.

Are you transformed by God’s love and leading others to this ocean of love or are you still trying to live life blindfolded?

In His Loving Service,
ServantBoy

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

If you would like to know about Jesus, then please click here.

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End of Grace, Start of Judgment

Exodus 32:1,4,9-10,21-22,24,27-29,33-35 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from 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”… He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt”… “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation”… He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?” “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil… So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”… Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day”… The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.” And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

After such a good run this far today’s chapter was a disaster in that the chosen people of God failed miserably. They chose to worship an idol because they had no patience for the God of Moses and therefore suffered the consequences.

What truly got to me was God’s wrath and judgment as displayed in the gruesome murder of the idol worshippers and worse still was the lie spoken by Aaron but how his life was spared. Is God really a merciful and gracious God?

Pride And Stumbling Blocks

Exodus 31:1-6,12-13,16-17 Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you… Then the LORD said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy… The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.’”

How beautiful is it when God reveals His desires for us? After God described the beautiful dwelling place He will live in to be with His people, He reveals that the materials are provided to the Israelites, as are the skills and the calling.

God certainly has shown total and perfect control in all He does and He has a beautiful way of using His people to achieve His objective. What then happens to great men like Moses and what is this about the Sabbath?

One great challenge we face as humans is our pride. Pride has served as a great stumbling block to many in their walk and continues to be among the greatest battles we face daily.

We today deal with challenges such as lack of self-confidence, low morale, poor esteem, low self-worth, etc. as issues that affect our personality and we try to work hard against it.

Children are taught from a young age to take charge, be leaders, be individual and confident in their presentations, we reaffirm them, motivate and inspire them, etc. to help them work away from the issues of low self-esteem.

With God, things seem to be very different. First God chooses a man who stammered, who had no face among the Egyptians or Israelites because he murdered and ran away, who was just a shepherd tending flocks and lived under the grace of his father in law Jethro.

Moses was that man and God used him to accomplish the great task of shaming the great Egyptians and freeing the Israelites from 430 years of bondage and slavery, all without an army or wealth or physical strength.

As Moses leads this great nation of over two million people across the sands of the desert to the promised land, God then establishes other men from among the nation to take up other responsibilities.

Clearly God is not in the process of making one man superstars but rather works on using each of His chosen ones to do His work when they are willing and ready.

When we are transformed by God’s love, we are each called to serve God and some may be called to be the face while others may be called behind the scenes but no single person’s role makes them any less important to God.

Further, God makes it clear to the Israelites that they were to keep the Sabbath without fail and the consequence of not keeping it was death! Seems a bit stiff as an expectation, you might wonder.

When we contrast those words of God to the words and actions of Christ in the 4 gospels, you are left shocked as were the Jews of Jesus’ day because we see that our understanding of God’s words are not complete and Jesus reveals the meaning and purpose of God’s word.

Read these passages from the gospels and think about Jesus’ response: Matthew 12:1-16; Mark 3:2; Luke 6:1-5; Luke 13:10-17; John 6:2-18; John 7:23.

On the sabbath day, Jesus healed people and ate grain from the fields and this stirred up the keepers of the law who lived by this commandment in Exodus 31:16-17 and Deuteronomy 5:14.

Jesus responded to them asking them how they felt about David’s actions when he and his companions were hungry and went into the temple and ate the consecrated bread. It was unlawful for them but not for the priests.

Furthermore, priests work on the sabbath day and that is certainly unlawful as per the law, yet they are considered innocent. The problem here was not the action but that God desired mercy, not sacrifice.

Sabbath was the day of rest from regular work but it is a day to celebrate God’s goodness to us. We are called to spend the day worshipping God. No law must be understood so as to contradict itself. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the sabbath and the day is to be dedicated to Him for His glory.

In His Loving Service,
ServantBoy