A Great Sin

Exodus 32

Moses had been up talking with God on the mountain for about 40 days. We have read all the details that God shared with Moses regarding the building of the tabernacle in the last few chapters. While Moses was up there talking with God, Aaron was left to be in charge of the people. Remember there was about 2 million Israelites that Aaron would have to watch. Because of the idle time the people started to get restless. 40 days is a long time to be away. The people started to wonder what happened to Moses. They started to start wanting to take things in their own hands.

Forgetting the Great Gift

As Moses was gone, the children of Israel went to Aaron and said, “Make us gods.” They were wanting Aaron to make them an idol to worship. Aaron listened and took all the gold from the people and melted it and then made a calf.  This calf was an Egyptian god named Apis. This god was considered to be a manifestation of Ptah, the creator god of Egypt. This god was a calf/bull image that the Egyptians would worship. After the idol was made they took it a step further and said, “These are the gods that brought us out of Egypt!” How sad, they are neglecting that the true God, Yahweh, brought them out of Egypt. Forgetting his constant provision for them, forgetting His leading hand. They took matters into their sinful hearts.

God’s wrath and the Punishment for sin  

Moses was told to go back to the camp and take charge of the rebellious people. God told Moses that he could kill them all for their actions but Moses intervened and said, “no.” Moses went back and was shocked by what he saw. He took the two stones that had the commandments on them and broke them. The whole camp was singing and dancing around this golden image and worshipping it. They were proclaiming that this man made thing brought them to where they were. Moses asked Aaron what happened and Aaron responded with, “The people gave me their gold and I threw it in the fire and look what popped out, this golden calf.” Aaron was guilty because he should have been the one to make a stand for what was right and for the Lord but he did not. OH Aaron, what a missed opportunity.

Moses then said, “Who is for the true Lord, stand by me.” It was a choice of whom you will serve. The sons of Levi stood up and stood by Moses. They were commanded by God to kill those who would not follow after the Lord. Three thousand men and people fell that day because of the result of sin. 

Today

We may not have a golden calf that we dance around but we have our own times of not worshipping the true God. We tend to take for granted, just like Israel, his daily provisions, his protection, and most important his salvation which is through Jesus Christ. We may have had a great time with the Lord and grew and maybe there are some slow times in our life. We become idle in our Christian walk and we wonder what God’s will is for our life. Usually idle time equals trouble because I can think of all the idle time I had and how I have found myself in some kind of trouble.  Joshua 24:15 says, “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in who land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” We have a choice to serve the Lord with all our heart or choose the to please sin. Romans 6:6 says, “We know that our old self, was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” We do not have to choose sin. The sin nature died with Christ. I desire for sin to be killed in my life so that it will not erupt in my camp.  Choose this day whom you will serve!

What are you Good at?

Exodus 21

Moses is still receiving the information from God about the tabernacle. God is detailed in his plans and now he is telling Moses not to worry about how it will come together because there will be able men who will do the detailed tasks. My wife and I are getting ready to buy a house and one of the questions that keeps coming up in my mind is how much work will need to happen at each house that we are looking at. There are some guys that are naturally gifted in the area of construction, there are some guys that do not have to try hard to learn how to fix things, and then there are guys like me. I can’t fix things for the life of me. I can learn how to do certain things but it will take me twice as long as anyone else and it still will not be fixed. God is sharing with Moses that he has raised the right men to do this heavy job. Men who born just for this job.

Bazalel and Oholiab 

In verse 3 it says that Bazalel was filled with the Spirit. He was going to serve as the contractor and be the one leading the construction of the tabernacle. He was going to have an assistant named Oholiab. The task at hand with the construction of the tabernacle was not a small task. This was a great responsibility that they would need the Lord to help with. God chose the right people for the job. These men were skilled in their areas of craftsmanship. 

The Sabbath 

The last section of chapter 31 God speaks to Moses directly about the Sabbath. God established this day for a specific purpose for the people of Israel to keep. This was something that was established even before the 10 Commandments but during creation. In Genesis 2 we see that God created the 7th day for the observation of who God is. God makes this clear while speaking to Moses that the Sabbath was designed for Israel to know about the knowledge of God. 

God has given each of us certain gifts and talents that we were born with and we use all the time. These two men were gifted in certain artistic areas. We are called by God in 2nd Timothy 2:15 to do our best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. I may not be Mr. Construction guy but I can be a worker of God’s Word and handling it rightly. In fact that is what I am called to do. You may be good in sports, art, communication, music, and etc. but we still, as believers, are called by God to handle his word the right way.

The task that these guys had needed to be handled with the upmost respect. They did not just say, “Whatever.” They actually desired for God to be glorified in his dwelling place. When it comes to respect, do you respect God’s Word? Do you know that it is truth? I pray that we can look at this task that God has for us with respect and love.

God Dwelling Among His People

Exodus 29

We have been reading about God’s designing plan of the tabernacle. He has given Moses the blue prints to how it should look and how it should be made. He even gave detail on where the furniture should go. God then told Moses what the priests will need to wear.  Today we read about the consecration of the priests. This means how they will become holy so they can go before the Lord in the tabernacle.

A Big Deal

One of the biggest events involving the tabernacle was the consecration of the priests. This would take 7 days to do the different sacrifices. This event was nothing to be overlooked. They needed to stick to the details because the priests were the only ones that could offer the sacrifices for the people. If they were not right before the Lord then the people could not offer their sacrifices and they could not be right before the Lord. In this particular chapter, Moses will be the one running the different sacrifices for the consecration of the priests. The priests are Aaron, who will serve as the high priest, and his two sons who will be under him.

They will need to take different steps for this process to be complete. First, they will need to be washed at the entrance with water. Then they will need to make a couple of different sacrifices. They will have to sacrifice a bull that will serve as the sin offering. Then a ram that will serve as a burnt offering, and another ram that will serve as the consecration of the priests and their outfits. The last one was a special meat offering with unleavened cakes and oil. Immediately after this event the priests started with the sacrifices for the people.

An interesting point is in verse 20 where Moses was to take some of the blood from the ram and place it on the right ear, right thumb and right big toe of Aaron and his sons. This was to show that the ear would be sanctified to hear the word of God. The right thumb was to show that the hands needed to be set apart for their performance of offering the sacrifices for the people. The right toe was to sanctify the walk of the priest; so they would walk pure.

The Big Picture

It is easy to get caught up in the details with the consecration of the priests. The point God wanted to make was what was mentioned at the end of the chapter. The whole reason why he brought Israel out of Egypt was so he could dwell among his people. He did this for the redemption of mankind. What else is even cooler about this is that God still had a bigger plan than what even the Israelites could grasp, that was Christ. He would come as our High Priest, who is perfect and was able to be the sacrifice for mankind. Aaron and the priesthood to follow would only shadow the greatness of Christ and the completeness of Christ. When I read about how many animals had to be killed because of sin, and still that did not fulfill the debt with God, I am relieved because Christ was it. There is no need for any more sacrifices for sin, there is no need for anymore bloodshed. Thank You Jesus.

The Court of the Tabernacle

Exodus 27

The description of the tabernacle continues and now God is giving Moses the information on how the court should be made. The court was the place for the Jews to come and offer the sacrifices. Within the court was the Holy Place which only the priests could enter and within that was the Holy of Holies which only the High Priest would be able to enter once a year. The court was the place for worship and for the sacrifices to be made. 

The Bronze Altar

This was the biggest piece of furniture in the tabernacle. It was about seven feet wide, seven feet long, and about four feet high. The corners of the altar were decorated with horns. It is not quite certain what was the purpose of the horns but we do know that there is a reference when accused criminals would grab the horns for protection (1st Kings 1:50). There is reference to God as being the horn of my salvation in Psalms 18:2. Either way the horns served in the sacrifice of the burnt offerings and the sacrifice of an innocent animal needed to be done for the forgiveness of sin.

The Courtyard

The courtyard was like a fence. The bronze altar was inside the fence in the middle of the courtyard. There was only one entrance the courtyard and that is in verses 16-19. Everything served a purpose. The colors chosen for the fabrics were that of beauty. You could only see that if you went inside the tabernacle. If you were to stand on the outside it would have looked like a normal tent, covered in goat’s hair. You would have to go inside and be with God to see the beauty of the place. 

The Eternal Flame

There is little said about the duties of the priest so far but in the last part of this chapter God tells Moses what one of the jobs that Aaron and his sons will be doing. They are responsible to keeping the flame on the lamp going. We read about the lamp in chapter 25. The oil had to be obtained a certain way. The flame had to be on for sure during the evening. The light represented the eternal presence of the Lord.

Today we have been given a light that never goes out and that is the Holy Spirit. He is here right now to guides us. He convicts us of sin (John 16:8). He is here to help us as Jesus even said, “He is our helper,” in John 14:6. The Holy Spirit goes on our behalf and prays for us (Romans 8:26-28). The Israelites looked at the light to symbolize the presence of God, and we look to a light to, that is the Holy Spirit who works on our behalf. He is here in our midst.  

The Tent of Meeting

Exodus 26

Yesterday we saw that God had given Moses the details to some of the important things that will go inside the tabernacle. Today we read about the details to how the tabernacle should be made. There was precise detail that God gave Moses for the building of this tent. The tabernacle itself is described in verses 1-6; the roof and covering in verses 7-14; the walls in verses 15-30; and the arrangement of the furnishings mentioned in chapter 25 in verses 31-37.  The linen was about 42 feet long and six feet wide, there were two sets of five put together for the covering of the tabernacle. It is interesting that the covering is mentioned before the frame of the tabernacle. This shows that God cared more about the aspect of what the tent meant. It was his dwelling place. The covering was to give not only covering but decoration to his place. The only thing was the decorated part was only seen by the priests who served in the presence of God. The inside was to have a curtain that was decorated with cherubim’s sewn on a curtain to separate the Holy place from the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was where the Ark of the Covenant would be placed.   God desired for the inside to be decorated more than the outside. People would look at this tent and see it covered with goat’s hair. You would have to go inside to see the purple linens. I remember my first car was a 1972 Buick Skylark, I called it “Bertha.”  When I first got it, it required not much work, but needed some attention to the engine and the physical appearance of the body. I wanted so bad to paint the outside and put all my money in the looks of the car, but my dad said, “What good is that going to do for you if it is not running?” As I thought about it, my dad was right. The car needed to run more than look pretty. The same thing can be said about our spiritual life. If we put the attention on how we appear to others, such as “looking like a Christian, wearing Christian clothes,” but our heart is not following after Christ than it is pointless. Just like the tent, God wanted the inside to be pure and pretty, our hearts need to be pure and righteous, God can work on the outside for you. How is your heart?

God’s Dwelling Place

Exodus 25

 My wife and I have been watching some HDTV and we love watching how they remodel the different houses and the plans that they have for these homes. Some of these plans are amazing and serve significant purpose for the homeowner. We stop from the laws and rules that God had given Moses and now He is giving Moses some plans on what His house, the tabernacle will look like and what goes in it. All of the provisions for the temple and the stuff that will go in it will be provided by the people. These plans are from the Lord and they have a purpose and God’s is a great architect, look at the universe. You will need to get gold, silver, and bronze, and you will need blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. There will be goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece (3-7). All these things were needed for the decoration of God’s dwelling place.  

The Ark of the Covenant

This is the footstool of the Lord. The ark of the Covenant will be placed in the Holy of Holies. The Ark symbolized the exact place where God was going to dwell with his people. It will be made of Acacia wood. This type of wood is found in the Sinai peninsula and is harder than Oak. This type of wood is great because it does not get insects in it.   The Ark of the Covenant was built with wood and then laid with gold. The Ark could not be touched so there were poles made for it. What rested on top of the Ark was the Mercy Seat. It was the covering of the Ark. On the covering there will be two Cheribim’s (A type of Angel used to deny access to anything unholy to God) made with gold. The Ark was going to be the house for the 10 Commandments.

Table for Bread

The table was made like the Ark and overlaid with gold. The table was to be placed not in the Holy of Holies but in the Holy place. The table was to have molded edges.  The purpose of the table was to house the Holy Bread. The Holy Bread was to symbolize that we are dependent on God for everything. Bread is a basic food that we eat. It symbolizes God’s provisional care. It shows that he takes care of His people, every single day. 

The Golden Lampstand

The lamp stands were used for the practical purpose of lighting the tabernacle because the tabernacle had a covering over it. The lampstand was in the shape of a tree to represent life. It also represented the presence of God as light. It was like the welcoming sign showing that God was home.   

God is our Dwelling, Bread, and Light. 

The Israelites had God dwelling among them in the wilderness and God dwells in us. 2nd Corinthians 6:16 tells us that we are the temple of the living God. We have God with us wherever we go. We do not need to go to a tabernacle or temple but just right where we are. God is our bread too. He is our provider. As the table of bread symbolized God’s constant provision we know that God is our provider with food, clothes, and a place to live. God is also our light. In 1st John  1:5 it says, “God is light and in him there is no darkness.” God is the light that we need to live in this world. Just like these served a purpose to point to God, we know that we serve a great God who is unchanging.