The Christmas Shepherds

December 20, 2009 at 10:43 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: ,

The Christmas Shepherds

Luke 2:8-20

We have most likely taken for granted the story of the shepherds out in the cold, dusty field that first Christmas night.  We have been lulled to sleep by our plastic nativity scenes on the mantle, or by little, fidgety boys with their glued-on beards.  Our Americanized perceptions of the shepherds in the Christmas story are clean, likable fellows who behold a great message from a pretty little angel who instructs them to go over the hill to Bethlehem to see a cut, clean newborn all settled in the manger where it was sweet, well-lit, and warm.  The common illustration of the night of Jesus’ birth is void of the dirt of everyday life, the screams of a woman in labor, and the violence associated with bringing a child into this world.  Just as Mary was not a clean, well-dressed girl, the shepherds were not fidgety, pimpled-faced boys standing silently outside the stable in the cold.

Who then were these tenders of the sheep?  To understand who they were, we need to see this rag-tag bunch through the eyes of a first-century Jew.  These men, older boys perhaps (so our nativity descriptions may not be that far off), weren’t very well accepted in Jewish society.  They were somewhat ostracized and ridiculed in ancient Israelite society.  They weren’t the bankers, the moneymen; they did not hold a great amount of wealth.  They were not the priests or scribes; they didn’t handle the things of the temple, the things of God.  Moreover, they stunk!  Spending all day in the field, with the glaring sun, surrounded by dirty, sweaty, and stupid sheep does not exactly appeal to the aromatic senses.  One must remember that there was no Old Spice or Herbal Essence in those days to keep you smelling great even into the night.  In any case, I’m not sure how many Israelite ladies would be attracted to “Scent of Lamb” with a dash of campfire ash mixed in for good measure.  With all that said, it can be seen that the shepherds were not the celebrities of their day, but rather the normal, working-class, blue-collar workers of Bethlehem.  They did provide a great service to their nation however, for out of their flocks came food, clothing, and the sacrifices the priests would bring before God in order to atone for the sins of the Israelite people.

With this in mind, the folks who were not valued or praised in society were of utmost importance to the Lord.  For it was unto them, the lowly, average, working-class, that the Almighty God ordained to showcase the message of His greatest gift.  When you have great news to tell, who do you go to first?  If you ace a test, or make the dean’s list, get a promotion, or a hefty raise, who is the first to know?  You finally obtain by skill and divine luck that elusive hole in one, do you keep it to yourself?  Not a chance!  You tell someone who will rejoice with you, congratulate you, spread the good new further, not someone who will reply sarcastically or uninterested.  After such great news, you do not go running to the donkey Eyore whose depression and utter lack of enthusiasm and joy will shove your joy and elation back to the dirt and grim of the gutter.  The Father had great news to tell his world; news that would alter the course of history forever.  He sees these shepherds as worthy to receive this message of Christ’s birth.  He doesn’t look to the religious, the ‘righteous’, the rich, the Romans.  He sought the humble, the destitute, the normal, everyday, working people. The ordinary, insignificant people in the eyes of the rest of the culture were the first to be equipped and charged by God to proclaim His wonderful works to the world.  These shepherds would never be able to hold the audience of Herod, or Caesar.  Yet, they were the audience of the One King, and it was upon these that the Father was pleased to tell.

In previous times, God chose to reveal Himself and His words through the prophets:  men set apart from normal life to herald the work and message of God.  These shepherds were not prophets like Isaiah or Ezekiel.  For the past four hundred plus years God had been silent in His communication with Israel.  The Inter-Testamental period of the Bible was somewhat dark, for God had no real voice in the public world.   The means through which God would reveal Himself was changing.  It was no longer prophets who would proclaim the word of the Lord, but first and ultimately through His Son, and then through body, the church.  The church, composed of ordinary, everyday people, was to be the means through which God’s mysteries would be revealed to His world.  The shepherds take the first semblance of the work of the church:  to proclaim the Name of Jesus to the world.  They make the most unlikely evangelists.

As these guys were sitting around the fire, perhaps catching a little sleep, an angel suddenly appeared in the sky above them.  We must remember that these shepherds were down-to-earth, tough, weather-beaten guys.  It would probably have taken something very significant to convince them this was truly happening.  Notice their response to the angels appearing: “They were greatly afraid (9).”  Now we’ve all seen angels portrayed in nativity scenes in plays and cantatas; they are usually portrayed by pretty girls who just smile and float above the stable scene, and they sing soothing songs while looking comforting and cuddly.  I’ve never quite been afraid of one of those angels, and if I’ve never been afraid of one of those angels, these guys would not have been ‘greatly afraid.’  This angel must have been terrifying to behold, for these strong, manly men are quaking in their sandals.  They are concerned for their lives, for they think that this angel is here for their judgment, punishment and gruesome death.  This is only after one angel appears; next a whole host of them come into the sky!  The “heavenly host’ was an army, a military corps of angels, terrifying to behold.  They resembled a host to accompany a king.  They were not there to accompany one into battle, but to accompany one into humanity.

These angels came to proclaim a message not of judgment and wrath, but one of life and salvation.  What they came to herald and proclaim was news of a great joy, not of destruction, a universal sound, and a worldwide event.  Essentially, it was a birth announcement:  a birth of a king.  Although announced long ago by Isaiah [7:14/9:6], it was brought to pass here in a field above Bethlehem.  They announced the birth of a Savior, a king, the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ [11].  Throughout Israel’s history they had been looking for a king, for God’s anointed one to come establish His kingdom on earth and to deliver His people from political and social bondage.  The Jews had been under foreign oppression for most of their existence, and presently under the thumb of Roman rule.  Consequently, they were looking for a king who would come in force to take over and bring fierce war to free His people.  You see this mindset even in King Herod as He sought to kill all the babies:  he definitely did not want a king rising from the Jews to usurp his throne and power.  The Old Testament is full of examples and prophesies pointing to a Messiah, a Savior of the Jews.  [Psalm 2:2 / 2 Samuel 7:16 / Daniel 2:44, 7:13-14 / Isaiah 9:6-7]  However, it was not a physical kingdom that was to be set up.  The Jews were drastically mistaken in their conquering king imagery.  The Messiah, Jesus, will return as a conquering king when He comes for a second time.  John the Baptist announced the coming of the kingdom in Matthew 3:2.  The kingdom of God had arrived, but in a different light than what was originally perceived and hoped for.  Instead of the Messiah saving His people from the Roman oppression, He came to liberate them (and us) from sin-filled oppression [John 1:29 / Matthew 1:21].  Jesus came to setup a kingdom of righteousness that was not of this world:  a kingdom to liberate and save those under a reign and tyranny far worse than any of the Caesars.  The reign of sin and death was held over man since the garden, but now He who takes away the sin of world has come.  Real freedom is not freedom to do whatever you wish, but freedom from the sinful life of death and destruction.  Real freedom is deliverance from this life and brought into real life in Christ and it has now come to us [Col 1:13-14].  This can be seen from the angelic song proclaimed that night.

The ultimate reason for Jesus’ birth was to bring glory to God the Father.  For God is seeking above all to make a Name for Himself so all will know the life He has prepared for His creation.  The incarnation of Christ is the summation of all of God’s work, and stands as the key to brining glory to His great Name.  The incarnation brings glory to God for it begins to reconcile His love for sinners and His love for His own Glory.  By Jesus’ life culminating in His sacrificial, atoning death on the cross of Calvary, God placed upon Him the punishment and wrath that we were due to receive for our sins.  Because we are sinful men and women, we deserve death for rebelling against the God who created us.  We are at odds with Him for we think we know how to run the universe, and that we deserve all the glory, but only He can hold the galaxies in His hand, and only He is great enough to deserve the glory.  Our sin separates us from Him, and we deserve to be eternally punished in that separation.  Therefore, we need a Savior to reach out to us and bring us back into relationship and right standing with the Lord [Romans 5:1,6 / Ephesians 2:17 / Colossians 1:20-21].  It was the birth of this Savoir that the angels proclaimed that cold, Christmas night.

The second half of the angelic song speaks of peace and goodwill to men.  The shepherds did not deserve this good news, and neither do we.  For God shows us His love and gives us Christ for us only because He wants to and has pleasure in doing that.  It is His sovereign pleasure that rests on men that allows us to partake of His salvation.  God delivers for us His love, mercy, grace.  This brings peace between us and the Lord, for we did not have to bear His eternal punishment, but Jesus did for us as He hung on the cross.  It is only through God’s goodwill and good pleasure toward us that we have come from death to life and from judgment to grace [Ephesians 2:4-8 / II Thessalonians 2:16-17 / I John 4:9].

After the angles leave the fields, the shepherds do not wait around till morning to go find Christ.  They do not sit around and say “Man that was really cool!  Don’t see that everyday!”  Their response to the Heavenly message is direct and instantaneous.  They are told about the Christ-child, but there was not direct call for them to go seek Him out:  the angels do not have to push them into Bethlehem.  After hearing of the message of a Messiah, they cannot sit around.  Their direct response to the angelic message implies they knew that Christ was coming.  They were Jewish, and they knew what the Scriptures foretold.  This likely motivated their heightened response to go over to Bethlehem.  Luke also does not comment what they had done with their sheep.  They might have just abandoned them on the hillside in excitement and anticipation of finding the Savior, the Messiah.  On any terms, they did not sit back and plan out their strategy, or have a game plan laid out: they went “with haste” to find Jesus.

They also recognized the origin of the message, that it was divine.  This might have been really hard to ignore when the dark night sky is lit up with a heavenly host of brightly shining, angelic beings.  The shepherds recognize that their king has come, and they go out to find Him.  They don’t doubt, or second-guess the nature of Christ’s location.  “A stable?  Are you sure?  You must have misspoken: you meant a nursery right, not a manger?”       They do not question the angelic message of Christ’s birth into a lowly barn, they just get up and go.

The other question that these guys do not raise is the question of their place in this story.  There are no perplexing thoughts of their importance or their significance.  They do not complain “Oh, I am not worthy or good enough to seek the Messiah!  He’d never have me in His presence!  I am just a lowly shepherd.”  These thoughts of relevancy to God’s message are shattered when they realize and understand that
“God has revealed this to us! [15]” Praise God that He esteems the lowly and humble as infinitely worthy to receive the message of salvation and grace.  There is no one too low, or too stupid, or too bad to come into the presence of Christ:  all are welcome at His throne.

It might have proven rather difficult to find the manger and the stable since the angel did not specifically tell them where to actually find Him.  There were no explicit directions (“If you go to first street, take a right until you hit the Best Western and He’s in the stable to the rear”) to find the baby, the shepherds might have had to search for Him a bit.  This search does not discourage them either; they find the baby in the manger and are transformed.  Take a moment to realize the place where God met these shepherds…it was in a barn, a stable.  The shepherds would have been comfortable here.  If Jesus would have been in some fancy inn, or in a palace, the shepherds might not have gone to such extremes to find Him for they would not have been comfortable in the luxury of a hotel or mansion.  God meets us where we are and reveals Himself as relevant in each of our lives, even those uneducated, common, and without beauty in our world.

Once they see the Christ-child, they cannot hold it in once the message of salvation is disclosed to them before their very eyes.  The shepherds then leave the stable rejoicing, praising God for the glory that was revealed to them.  They tell all of those they can find what has been revealed to them and to the whole world: that God has come to earth and dwelt among His people.  Immanuel; God with us!  Once they have seen Jesus, they are changed and enraptured with the news of God come to earth.

The people around the guys are astonished and confused at what these guys have to say.  Some responses they might have met with were: “Why aren’t you in the fields with the sheep?  What are you doing here in town?”  “Have you guys dipped into the eggnog a little early?”  The folks around them did not understand, for they “marvel” and “wonder” at what the sheep herders have to say.  The people in Bethlehem cannot truly understand what is going on in that stable.  We do not know if the shepherd’s message had any effect on the people of Bethlehem.  It is not disclosed to us by Luke if the people began to steam toward the stable behind the inn.  There were no news journalists, or live media coverage of the event, no mass crowds pressing in on the manger to admire the baby.  Only a handful of rank shepherds to proclaim the news of the Messiah to a lost world.  Their proclamation may have sounded like drunken babble to some and dismissed as only mad ravings.  Many Jews thought they knew what the Messiah would look like; he would not be born in a manger.  “He is David’s son…we will know Him when He gets here.  He cannot be who you say Him to be!”

The shepherds then go back to their fields, back to the sheep.  There were no TV interviews, no book deals (“I saw the Messiah: A Shepherd’s Tale”).  They did not seek publication or a platform, for all we know is that “the shepherds returned” [20].  They go back to their normal, everyday job, to their lives.  Yet, they are completely transformed.  The Son of God has entered their world, made them significant, and made them alive.  Their response to Christ has now been made known throughout the ages.  They worshiped and praised God, and proclaimed His birth to thousands of people across geography and history.  Later on when the nights became cold, or the rain came, as they huddled close to campfire, they would tell the story of that night to each other.  They handed it down to their children and their grandchildren.  “Christ has come!  A Savoir is born!  Even to us!  Us shepherds!”  They might have been in the crowds when he taught on the mountain.  They might have seen the lame walk, the blind see, and deaf hear.  They could have been around when Jesus was mocked, scourged, and crucified.    The shepherds were changed because God opened up the sky to proclaim His message of life and love to His people.

We as shepherds today must accept what God has done for us.  He has told us through His word and through these shepherds who He is and what He has done for man.  He has come to earth as a baby to walk this earth until He came to a cross that was meant for me and you.  His cross and tomb was not the final resting place however, for He only used the grave for three days.  His resurrection transformed history and has transformed all those who believe and trust in His Name.  If we are like the shepherds in this story, we too must be significantly changed by this message of a Savior that has been born unto us.  We have had a message revealed to us; how do we respond?  Do we seek Christ?  Have we found and seen Him?  Have our lives been transformed because of that encounter?  Do our lives praise God and evangelize to our world?  Do we think we are somebody or something now that we have seen Christ?  Do we return to our lives transformed forever because the message of the incarnation of the Messiah has been made true in our hearts and minds?  Do we know that unto us a child is born and unto us a Savior is given?  For Christ has come and invites all of us to see Him and know Him.

Episode #3 – Quail and Salmonella

December 20, 2009 at 10:39 pm | Posted in Episodes in Israel | Leave a comment
Tags: , ,

Episode #3 – I’ll have the Quail with a side of Salmonella

Numbers 11

Psalm 107.8 – “Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men!  For he satisfies the hungry soul he fills with good things.”

  • We have moved through ten chapters of Numbers, and the people have not complained or grumbled once.  They have obeyed and followed God precisely according to his command.  Over and again, the people had done what the Lord had commanded, when the Lord commanded it.  That is, up until Numbers 11.
  • When we last left our wandering group of Jews they were being lead out of Sinai by Nahshon, the ancestor of Christ.  They were following the pillar of cloud and fire—the presence of the Lord.  When we come to chapter 11, they had forgotten their leader.
  • Forgetting the Leader
    • Read Numbers 11.1-3
    • History repeated.  We’ve seen this story before haven’t we?  Remember back to Exodus 14-16 when the people had come out of the Red Sea?  Three days later, they were complaining and grumbling against Moses and Aaron for leading them out into the desert to die of thirst and starvation.
    • How does God respond to their complaints in Exodus?
      • I guess they figured if complaining worked once before, why not try it again?  They were testing God here to see if he would meet their needs in their way.
    • How does God respond to their complaints now?
      • God provided for the people in Exodus in order to strengthen their faith.  They had seen God work time and again in times past, but now God would not step out to meet their every need.
      • While God is long-suffering and patient, he now responds in judgment.
    • What are the peoples “misfortunes” in verse 3?
    • What does Moses then do?
    • If you haven’t noticed thus far, every time something miraculous or significant happens in the life of the Hebrews, they name the place where it occurred.  The name Taberah in v3 means “burning” or “it [the fire] burns” because of God’s punishment.
    • Read Numbers 11.4-10
    • Who is this “mixed multitude”, or “rabble” in verse 4?
      • If you notice in this chapter, the complaining and grumbling was restricted initially to the outlaying group of people known as the mixed multitude.  This multitude, or rabble was a collection of non-Hebrew people who came out with them from Egypt.  They came out for a number of different reasons, but they are the ones who instigate the complaining.
    • What were they complaining about now?
    • Had they forgotten the trails and struggles of Egypt?
    • “They forgot the bondage of Egypt, and remembered only the things that pleased the flesh.”
      • John 6.26-27
      • Matt 4.4
    • How does Moses and the Lord respond here? (v10)
      • The people’s rejection of the manna from heaven was no less than a rejection of the Lord.  Forsaking what God had given them, they were turning their back on the one who gave.
      • This is why the Lord’s anger burns hotly against the people.  They did not appreciate the gift, but were wagging their tongues against the one who brought them out of Egypt.  Rejecting what God had given resulted in swift and destructive judgment.
  • Frustration of the Leader
    • Numbers 11.11-15
    • Up until this point, Moses has responded to the people’s complaints and grumblings with great humility and grace.  When he learns of God’s impending judgment on the people, he fiercely intercedes for them.  At one point, Moses is ready and willing to die in their place as a sacrificial offering.
    • How does Moses react to this current crisis?
      • Moses is ready to die again, not for the people’s sin, but for his own sanity and salvation.  Moses has finally had enough of the people’s complaining and grumbling.
      • He takes some frustration out on the Lord, asking him why he must do all this for the people.  Wasn’t it the Lord’s people to begin with?  Why should Moses have to bear all this responsibility?
      • Moses was ready to face death rather than the unfaithfulness of the people.
  • Faithfulness of the Lord
    • Read Numbers 11.16-23
    • There are two significant problems here:  the people’s rebellion, and Moses’ frustration.  How does God provide to meet both situations?
    • The problem of burnt-out leaders
      • God sends Moses 70 elders to help meet the spiritual needs of the people.  These may have been the same 70 who were called up in Exodus 18 to help Moses govern the people.  There they were to be civil judges to help settle disputes between the people.  Here they are given the gift of prophesy in order to help Moses spiritually lead this rebellious group.
    • The problem of belly-aching people
      • God gave them what they wanted.  He would send meat to feed the people.  Meat not just for one, two, or ten days, but meat for an entire month!  He would send so much meat that they would become exceedingly tired of it.  Meat enough that would come out of their noses and ears!
    • How does Moses react to this news?
      • Even he doesn’t believe that there is enough meat to go around!  In his frustration, his faith has become shortsighted.  He questions God as to the method and manner of feeding the people.  Moses reacts as if he is the one who is to provide for all these people.
    • God gave them what they wanted…in judgment
      • Read Numbers 11.31-34
      • God let them have their own way
      • God gave them quail to eat.  Quail in abundance.  Quail usually migrate from Africa to the North during the summer, so quail in this region is not unusual.  What is unusual and miraculous was the amount of quail that were gathered.  One commentary said that there were upwards of 105 million quail that congregated around the Israelites camp.  This would have been quail aplenty to feed the people.
      • While they were devouring their lunch, they were struck with a plague.  This seems to me to be a food-borne disease that killed them.  Salmonella is a rough way to die in the desert.
      • The place where the people died was named “the graves of lusting.”  The people were killed because they had forsaken the Lord.  In rejecting the manna, they rejected the Lord and lusted only after things that would fill their stomachs. (11.20)
      • Most of the time, judgment comes in the form of God giving people over to what they most desire.  This turning over can be seen in Romans 1.24-28.  God has given man up to a debased mind that rejects God and exchanges the creator for the creation.  God is doing this in order to bring judgment upon people.  Rather than intervening, God simply lets sin and its consequences run their course resulting in punishment and wrath.
      • Psalm 106.13-15:  “But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.  But they had a wonton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert; he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.”
  • Bitter complaining and Poisoned Quail
    • Where is complaining evident in our lives?
    • When life gets tough, do we tend to become bitter towards God rather than beg him for deliverance?  Are we really experiencing “misfortunes”, or are we only concerned about the lusts of our cravings?
    • Read Philippians 2.14-16
      • According to this passage, why are we to do things without complaining or grumbling?
      • How do arguments and questioning detract from the message of the gospel in our lives?
    • Read Philippians 2.4-13
      • Paul was facing extremely difficult circumstances when he wrote this letter to the church at Philippi.  He was in imprisoned, awaiting trial and extradition to Rome so he could appeal to Caesar.  Despite his circumstances, he repeatedly exhorted the church to “Rejoice!”
      • Notice his response to circumstances:
        • Start with the right frame of mind
          • God is sovereign
          • We cannot be thankless
        • Start praying
          • Go to God with Thanksgiving
          • Supplications – Praise and Confession
          • Petition – Asking of the Lord (according to the Word)
          • Seeking God’s glory
          • Peace of God
      • By going to God, Paul was able to endure all of his trying circumstances.  His life here in jail is in direct contrast to the people wandering out in the desert.  They had rejected God’s sovereignty over their lives, and reverted to complaining.  Paul had learned that God was in control of every situation in his life, and he could trust God even if Paul’s life was snuffed out.
      • Paul understood that his sole source in life was Christ.  Despite his circumstances, Paul had learned to rejoice in this life because Christ was by his side.  The people in the desert failed to believe and grasp the significance of God’s presence in their lives.  Instead, they bitterly complained and tested God to see if he would meet their every whim and fancy.
      • God gave them over to their craving because they had not tasted and seen that he was good.  Knowing God is the ultimate satisfaction in this life, for everything is from him, and we need to be a constant state of thankfulness to him despite what comes down our path.  We need to learn with Paul the secret of being content:  doing all things through Christ who strengthens us.
      • Did the people in the desert worry about where they were going?  Did they wonder how they were going to feed their children?  Did they remember how relatively easy they had it in Egypt?  Yes!  Are these legitimate concerns?  Yes!  Yet they failed to ask the most significant question:  How can I except God to provide for me today?  What is he teaching me about him and about myself today?  How can I learn how to be satisfied with what he brings me?

Episode #2: Follow the Leader – Numbers 9-10

November 23, 2009 at 2:56 pm | Posted in Episodes in Israel | Leave a comment
Tags: , ,

Episode #2:  Follow the Leader

Numbers 9-10

  • Who studies Numbers?

    • What is going on here?
      • The book of Numbers, fourth book of the Pentateuch, describes Israel’s departure from Mt. Sinai, their journey toward the Promised Land, and why it took them so long to get there.
      • Numbers is part administrative, part narrative, and part history.  It is difficult to outline for the passages are not laid out chronologically nor are they very logical in their structure.  At times it seems that the material is a hodgepodge of different laws, rules and stories that are loosely connected to wherever the Israelites happened to be at that particular time.
      • Within the book of Numbers are several episodes that describe the behavior of the people.  From faithful obedience in the first nine chapters, to complaining, grumbling, and outright rebellion in the middle part of the book, the character and actions of the people are displayed time and again.  The people are shown to be rebellious, stiff-necked, and defiant of the Lord and of Moses over and over again.
      • Numbers then also goes on to display the nature of the Lord.  Numbers gives evidence to the Lord’s self-description in Exodus 34.  We see God’s sovereign power and his unending faithfulness to the covenant that he made with Abraham.
    • What are the major themes in the book?
      • Historically:  To show how Israel made its way across the desert to the Promised Land
      • Pragmatically:  It was to order and organize the Hebrews into a community and a fighting force
      • Theologically:  To show God acting in faithfulness to his covenant while the people rebelled against him
        • The holiness of God
        • The sinfulness of humanity
        • The necessity of obedience to Yahweh
        • The tragedy of disobedience
        • The utter faithfulness of God to his covenant with Israel
        • The testing of the people and of Yahweh
    • What happens in this book?
      • At Sinai: (1.1-10.10)
        • The people are organized
      • From Sinai to Kadesh: (10.11 – 20.21)
        • Grumbling and Unrest
        • Insubordination against Moses
        • Spies in the Land and the people’s rebellion
        • Insubordination and rebellion against Aaron/Moses
        • Organization of the prophets
        • Moses’ Sin
      • From Kadesh to Moab (20.22-36)
        • Aaron and Miriam die
        • Wars with surrounding nations
        • Balaam, his donkey, and prophesy
        • Idolatry and Immorality
        • Additional laws and organization
        • Preparation for taking the Promised Land

  • Following the Leader

    • Through the first section of Numbers (1-10.10) Israel’s obedience to the command of Moses is illustrated time and again. (1.54, 9.23).  This is unprecedented in the life of Israel!  They are able to obey.
    • The people had been out of Egypt for 13 months, and had been encamped at Sinai for almost an entire year at this point.  The Lord had given orders for the people to be ordered and numbered.  He was preparing them to move out from Sinai and on toward Canaan.
    • In order to lead them across the barren desert, the Lord formed a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to go before the people of Israel.  We initially see this pillar in Exodus 13 immediately before the Red Sea episode.  The pillar of cloud and fire did not depart from before the people until they came into the Promised Land.
    • Read Numbers 9.15-23
      • How were the people to follow the cloud?
      • Did the people know where the cloud was going, or how long they would be gone?
    • The people never knew when the pillar would move or come to stop
    • Comfort yields complacency
      • The people had been at Sinai for 11 months now.  While it was not the best place for a vacation, they had probably grown accustomed to living there and were making adjustments as they needed.
      • Although they were tired of living there, they dreaded the long march across the desert even more.
      • Why is complacency the enemy to spiritual growth?
    • Read Numbers 10.11-14
      • The Lord is ready to lead Israel away from Sinai and on toward the Promised Land.  He is posed to fulfill his promise to Abraham made so long ago.  He commands the people to get up and how to march out.
    • Nahshon leads the people
      • Who is this guy, and why is he first?
      • Nahshon is the leader of the family of Judah, an ancestor to King David, and therefore in the bloodline of Jesus Christ (cf. Matt 1).  In a sense, Christ is leading his people through the desert.  Through the ancestry of Joseph, Jesus is figuratively (and spiritual) leading the people.
    • What does following God look like today?
      • The Lord is the light
        • Jesus said that he was the light of the world (John 8.12)
      • The Word is light
        • The Word is a lamp and a light (Ps 119.105)
        • Those outside the Word do not have access to the light (1 Cor 4.4ff)
      • We are now in the kingdom of light
        • God has shone in our hearts (2 Cor 4.6) and then transferred us away from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light (Col 1.12-13)
      • We are to keep watch
        • Just as the Levites had to watch to see when and where the cloud moved, we must keep watch on our souls and watch where God is moving and leading.
        • Matt 24.42, 1 Peter 4.7
    • How are we to follow God today?
      • The importance of faith
        • The Israelites had to keep a close eye on the pillar, a luxury that we do not have now.  We must trust God to see where he is leading and moving and working.
        • We must trust God, through Christ, with our entire lives to know that what he says is true, and where he leads is best.
        • We can trust God’s guidance because he knows exactly what is best for us, and he sent Christ to live and die on our behalf.  The leader we follow has been in our position and knows our faults and failures.  He is qualified to lead for he has suffered in our place and has our best interests in mind.
        • The Israelites were being lead across the desert with no clear idea of where they were headed.  They had to trust God completely-something they failed to do time and again.  They did not have faith in God’s rule and provision.
      • The importance of counsel
        • Since we do not have a pillar to follow out in the desert, how are we to make decisions about God’s leading?  Is there some Magic-8 ball remedy to deciphering God’s call and will for our lives?
        • Read Numbers 10.29-32
        • What do you think about Moses’ decision to ask Hobab to be Israel’s eyes in the wilderness?  Did this indicate a lack of trust in the Lord?  Why or why not?
      • The importance of action
        • “We ought to learn from this, I think, that while we ever seek the guidance of God in providence, yet we may frequently find direction and guidance in the use of our own common sense, our own discretion with which the Lord has endowed us.” – Spurgeon
        • Why can we not sit around and wait for God to show up in a cloud, a burning bush, or any other mystical means.  God has provided a way for us to obtain wisdom, and we must be obedient to learn from him.  Making choices must be part of what we do as people who follow God.
        • Why can we not sit around to await God to show up in a cloud?
        • The Hebrews were being lead to the Promised Land, the land of rest.  We are moving toward the eternal promised land of heaven.  That way is only obtained by following Christ step by step without any deviance on our part.
        • But what about the day-to-day decision we come across?  While it is necessary to seek God’s will in our life, where do we draw the line as to where we can make a decision on our own?
  • Focusing on the Leader
    • Instead of following the desires of our own heart, let us pursue the kingdom of God.
    • Matt 6.19-34 / James 4.13-16
    • Where have you become comfortable and how is God telling you to set out and move on?
    • Making decisions and making plans in light of God’s overarching provision and governance.  By not putting our desires above the kingdom, we are able to freely make decisions that will glorify him and not compromise our arrival in the Promised Land.
  • The majority of this material came from Warren Wiersbe. Be Counted: Living a Life that Counts for God. and Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton, A Survey of the Old Testament.  2nd Edition.

Episode 1: Missing Leaders and Molten Hamburger

November 16, 2009 at 3:09 pm | Posted in Episodes in Israel | Leave a comment
Tags: , ,

Episode #1:  Missing Leaders and Molten Hamburger

Exodus 32

  • What has happened so far?
    • The people have been led out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea and been encamped at the foot of Mt. Sinai.  Two months after they had been led by the hand of God and driven across the desert following the pillar of cloud and fire, they met with God on the mountain.
    • There he had given them the 10 commandments by his own voice (Ex 20).  The people in their fear and dismay, pleaded with Moses to be their mediator with God.  They could not endure the sound of his voice for they were afraid they would die.  Yet, they promised to do everything that God told them.
    • This episode would reveal their utter lack of obedience to and faith in the Lord.  While they had already demonstrated their utter lack of faith during their two-month desert trek thus far, this episode would provide a major low-point in Israelite history.
  • Where was Moses?
    • Moses had been on the mountain with God for almost forty days at this point.  He was doing what the people asked him to do:  become the mediator between them and the Lord!  Yet, when he was gone, look at what happens.
  • The People Rebel (1-6)
    • How quick do the people turn away from God?
      • They had been out of Egypt a little over three months
      • Moses had been gone for almost 40 days
    • Why do they turn away from the God who brought them out and provided for them?
      • It would seem Moses was long gone
      • Where was their faith?
      • Had they lost their connection with God?
    • The people demand of Aaron an image of the god that brought them out of Egypt.  In verse 1, the word “gathered together to Aaron” can be translated as “gathered against Aaron.”
    • What do the people say about their creation?
      • It would be an image of their god
      • It would go before them
      • It was the god who brought them out of Egypt
      • It was to be worshipped
      • It was to be an image of the Lord
    • This is like adultery on the wedding night.  God had just established the relationship with the people by the covenant and regulated it by the law.  The people quickly abandoned the covenant that they swore to keep a few weeks earlier.
    • This episode lies within the context between the giving of the blueprints for the tabernacle and the actually building of the tabernacle.  The plans have been given, but it is not yet built and their actions and attitudes bring into question whether they will ever be true.
    • Everything in their behavior is going completely against what God has laid out in his word to Moses.  This is the ultimate antithesis of God’s true plan for his people.
    • The people incorporated false and pagan rituals into their worship to the God.  Their singing and dancing and playing held strong sexual overtones-practices that were strictly forbidden by God earlier.  They were worshipping a corrupt image of God of their own making and worshipping that image in any way they saw right.
  • God’s response (7-10)
    • What does God call the people?
      • He talks about them being Moses’ people.  He speaks about “your” people, whom “you” brought up
      • Like a parent talking to a spouse about “your” disobedient son
    • What is God ready to do?
      • God is ready to destroy these people, and start over with Moses
      • The people had broken the first three commandments, and deserved punishment
    • Why?
      • These are a stiff-necked people (Define!)
      • They have been like this since the day Moses was introduced to them
      • There was rebellion in their hearts from the beginning.
  • Moses’ Pleadings (11-14)
    • Moses appeals to God’s nature and his promises
    • How does Moses appeal to God on behalf of the people?
      • God’s name will be ridiculed among the nations if they are destroyed
      • He appeals to God’s promises to the patriarchs
      • This is a promise that cannot be revoked – it was based in God’s character and his word.  He had made the covenant with Abraham.
    • How does the Lord react?
      • The Lord relents from destroying the people
      • This is a changing in the work of God, not his nature
      • God is not repenting for any evil that he has committed.  What he wanted to do was legitimate and to a point necessary for the punishment of Israel.  This was not a covenant promise like his promise to Abraham-he could go back on this threat because it was only an intention and was therefore conditional.
      • God is changing his relationship toward the people – his wrath is averted based on his promises.  These promises must have kept the sacrifice of Christ in mind too for that is the only way for God’s wrath to be averted in toto.
  • Moses goes back down (15-29)
    • Moses already knows what has happened in the camp
    • How does he react when he sees and hears the camp?
      • He breaks the tablets in his hands.  This symbolizes the broken law of God that the people had broken in their revelry.
    • Moses then grinds the calf to dust and makes the people drink it
    • He then confronts Aaron (the supposed leader of this bunch)
      • Aaron gives the story with a few key points left out
      • “Out popped this calf” from the fire!  Imagine that!
      • Blame-shifts to a large extent
    • The people had “broken loose”
    • He calls the Levites to his side
    • The Levites go through the camp to kill those who had probably instigated the idolatry and the party.  The whole congregation deserved to be killed for their participation.
    • How is Moses’ command to kill “brother and son” different from God’s desire to destroy the people?  Had not Moses just argued against this?
  • Moses ascends back to God (30-35)
    • What was Moses going back to do before God?
      • Moses returned to God’s presence in order to make atonement for the people’s great sin.
      • He was truly the mediator between the people and the Lord – even going so far to offer himself as the sacrifice for the people.  He confesses the sin of the people before the face of God, and then shows his devotion to the people as well as to God
    • Why would God not accept Moses’ suggestion to become a sacrifice?
      • Moses was not a legitimate sacrifice because he was also a sinful man.  He could not endure the wrath and punishment of God for his life also needed atonement to be made for it.
  • Israel’s sin pictures our own
    • There was a time in our lives before we met Christ and put our trust in him where we were full-blown idolaters.  Now that we have believed and put our faith in Christ, our identities cannot be described as idolaters, for we can only commit idolatry. (see 1 Cor 6.9-11).
    • The people of Israel were making for themselves a god who would go before them and lead them.  They were turning their back on the God who had led them out of Egypt and who had promised them the Land of Canaan.
    • It is easy to fall into committing idolatry even as believers.  This is why Paul warns the Corinthian church of this very thing in 1 Cor 10.  When life gets tough and it doesn’t seem as if God is around for us, we often attempt to hijack control of our own lives and build for ourselves gods who will lead us out.
    • Often this idolatry comes in the form of self-worship and self-reliance.  Well, if God has delayed in coming to me, I think I’ll have to get up and go on myself.  I’ll find a good spouse, I’ll pursue a good career, I’ll build a good ministry.  We abandon the God who has led us out of our Egypt and begin to think that our power and strengthen have allowed us to come this far.
    • We begin to bow down to the idols of our heart rather than wait patiently on the Lord.  If there is something we want, we will sin if we do not get it, and we will sin in order to get it.  It comes back to the second commandment.
    • We even go so far as to build for ourselves an image of God to suit our fancies.  We see preachers like Joel Olsteen and Joyce Meyer speak of a god who will empower us to become prosperous and bless us.  We form an image of God in our minds that distracts from his true nature.
    • In a word, we make a Christ-less religion.  In our attempt at worshipping God, we have replaced Christ from center of our devotion.  When life becomes difficult, we begin to doubt the sovereignty of God, or his good plans for our lives.  We neglect and forget the promises that he has given to us.  We don’t remember his presence on the top of the mountain above us.  We fail to remember the great things he has done in the past, and refuse to give thanks by complaining and grumbling.
    • Idolatry runs deep in our fallen natures, for we long to be the one who makes the decisions and calls the shots.  Demanding that our needs be met, we fashion our own gods to meet our needs rather than seeking the Lord in prayer and Bible study.  Our fallen natures bristle at the command to lose our lives in order to follow Christ.
    • Our idolatrous hearts deserve to be destroyed, just like the people here in the desert.  We have turned away from the one true and living God and have wandered into lusting after other gods.  Yet, this destruction has been averted from those who have trusted Christ.  There is a mediator between us and God who has taken away this punishment and guilt.  There is a mediator of whom Moses is a picture.
  • Moses as a forerunner of Christ
    • Moses in his love for the people would attempt to make intercession to cover over their sin.  He goes so far to even offer himself as an offering before God.  He pleads with God to kill him in place of the people.  The book that is in mind here is the book of the living (Not salvation book).  Moses confesses the sins of the people and seeks and begs for forgiveness.
    • God will not allow Moses to be the sacrifice because Moses was not a suitable substitute.  Moses still had sin in his own life that needed to be atoned for.  There must be another substitutionary sacrifice yet to come.
    • Moses is a picture of Christ who was to come later as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.  Hebrews offers loads of descriptions about this sacrifice (Hebrews 7.23-25, 9.23-28, 10.14).  This sacrifice was able to atone for sin, for he was the perfect sacrifice that was able to bear the weight of God’s wrath.  His life and death became the propitiation that would avert the wrath of God from the lives of those who put their trust in him (1 John 2.2).
    • He has become our Advocate before the Father (1 John 2.1), who plead for us on our behalf (Rom 8.26).  He is ever interceding on our behalf before the Father, for he sits at the right hand of God having entered into the heavenly throne room by his own blood.  Now, before the throne of God above, we have this strong and perfect plea – “Jesus has died to take away my sin!”
    • Jesus cries before the Father on our behalf just like Moses does.  He invokes the nature and the promises of the Father.  He reminds the Father and us what he has accomplished on the cross and through the resurrection.  God’s promise remains—those who trust in him will be reconciled and saved from the wrath that is to come.  We no longer have to drink the poison of our own sin, for that poison has been taken by another.
  • Stop worshipping the Cows
    • This deliverance from the wrath of God is also a deliverance from idolatry.  We have been freed from the penalty of sin and also of its power.  This is why Paul urges the churches to flee from all sorts of lusts and idolatries (1 Cor 10.14, 2 Tim 2.22).
    • We who have been delivered from the bondage of Egypt must live devoted lives to God through the person and work of Christ.  This life will become very hard and we will be tempted to hijack God’s control and lead ourselves into the Promised Land.  We must fight those lusts to build our own kingdoms, our own families, and our ministries.  Often we set up idols that we think is God, but we must destroy them by knowing the true God through his word.
    • There will be times when God seems very far from us, and there is no one around to lead us through the desert.  Remember God’s promise and the cloud of his presence.  His promises will stand, he will deliver us.  But it will be in his way, in his time, and in his power.
    • We fashion for ourselves gods of our own choosing because we think we know what is best – eating, drinking, and rising up to play.  These things are fun for a season, but will settle into our stomachs and poison us.  What is best is to wait upon and rely on God to lead us.  Moses was on the mountain receiving plans for the tabernacle, the place where God’s physical presence would reside in the midst of the camp.  Waiting and trusting in God is much better than bowing before hamburger.

The Tabernacle – Vanishing Shadows in Light of the Substance

November 10, 2009 at 2:23 am | Posted in Exodus | Leave a comment
Tags: , ,

The Tabernacle – Pt 4

The Dwelling Place

Introduction

  • We have seen over the past few weeks that everything in the Old Testament tabernacle was representative of a New Testament reality.  The tabernacle was an extended picture and symbol of what was to come later on in God’s plan.
  • The New Testament will pick up the pictures in the tabernacle and bring them to full light in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  The tabernacle was a parable of who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish here on the earth.
  • This week we will look at the Holy of Holies – the most sacred place in all of Judaism.  It was within this Most Holy Place that the ark of the covenant sat.  There God rested and dwelt among his covenant people.  It was essentially his throne room upon the earth.  There Moses met with him face to face and received instruction concerning the people.  It was there that the priests would make atonement for the sins of the people.
  • The mercy seat atop the ark was the barrier between God’s presence and the law of the covenant.  The blood of the offerings was sprinkled there to provide atonement of the sins of the people.  Literally, the blood separated God from the laws the people had broken in their disobedience.

The Veil

  • Read Exodus 26.31-35
    • Where was the veil in the tabernacle located?
    • What was its purpose?
    • What does this veil tell us about approaching God?

The Ark of the Covenant

  • Read Exodus 25.10-22
    • The rings on the ark were to hold poles by which the priests would transport the Ark of the Covenant.  When were the poles to be in the rings?
    • Why were there to be rings on the ark in the first place?
  • Was the ark to be empty?
    • Was it filled with all manner of spirits as in Indiana Jones?
  • Where was the ark to be placed?
  • What was the Mercy Seat?

The Day of Atonement

  • Read Leviticus 16
    • The High Priest (HP) washed at the laver in the courtyard and dressed in the tabernacle (4)
    • The HP offered the bull as a sin offering for himself and his family
    • The HP entered the Holy of Holies (HH) with the bull’s blood, incense, and burning coals from the alter of burnt offering.
    • The HP sprinkled the bull’s blood on the mercy seat seven times
    • The HP went back to the courtyard and cast lots for the two goats
    • The HP sacrificed one goat as a sin offering for the people
    • The HP reentered the HH to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat and also the Holy Place.
    • The HP returned to the alter of burnt offering and cleansed it with the blood of the bull and the goat
    • The scapegoat was dispatched to the wilderness
    • Afterward, the goatkeeper cleansed himself
    • The HP removed his special Day of Atonement clothing, rewashed, and put on the regular HP clothing
    • The HP offered two rams as burnt offerings for himself and the people
    • The fat of the sin offering was burned.
    • The bull and goat sin offerings were carried outside the camp to be burned
    • The one who burned the sin offering cleansed himself again
  • Hebrews 9.1-10
    • The incompleteness of the old covenant and old tabernacle

The New Temple

  • Study in Hebrews
  • How is Jesus a priest on our behalf?
    • Hebrews 2.14-18
      • Made like his brothers
      • To be tempted
      • To die in order to defeat death and the devil
    • Hebrews 4.14-16
      • Sympathizes with our every weakness
      • Tempted in every way but never sinned
  • How is Jesus greater than the Old?
    • Hebrews 7.23-25
      • Jesus never dies, he lives forever
    • Hebrews 7.26-28
      • He is perfect and has no need to offer sins for himself
    • Hebrews 8.6-7
      • Mediator of a new and better covenant
    • Hebrews 9.11-14
      • Makes himself to be the eternal sacrifice
    • Hebrews 9.23-26
      • Enters the heavenly temple to offer himself once for all
    • Hebrews 10.11-14
      • His work is completed and he sits down at God’s right hand
  • Based on the above passages, what benefits do we have now?
    • A priest who understands our needs and weaknesses
    • A sure and steadfast hope
    • One who intercedes for us forever
    • A sacrifice that eliminates the need for any other
    • He is in the throne room of God even now
    • He has defeated death for us
    • He has provided a new and living way
  • What are we to do in light of this?
    • Hebrews 4.14-16
      • Draw near in confidence
      • Find help and grace in the time of need
    • Hebrews 10.19-25
      • Hold fast to our faith
      • Encourage one another daily
      • Meet together in fellowship to bring us to the throne
[1] A majority of this material came from: Kay Arthur, Bob Vereen and Diane Vereen.  Living a Life of True Worship. (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 2002).

[2] John McArthur.  The McArthur Study Bible Notes.

The Tabernalce – The Fragrance of Worship

November 2, 2009 at 2:43 am | Posted in Exodus | Leave a comment
Tags: , ,

The Tabernacle – Pt 3

The Smell of Worship

Introduction

  • The tabernacle was a very sensory place.  It was designed to incorporate all five senses into worship of the Lord.  The people were to lay their hands on the goats and lambs that were to be slaughtered for their sins.  The priests used their hands to prepare the sacrifices.  Subsequently, they washed their hands in the bronze laver before ministering in the Tent of Meeting.
  • Portions of the sacrifices were given to the priests and their families for food and drink.  They tasted the animals and the grain that were brought to God in order to bear the iniquity of Israel before the presence of God.  They were also to eat the bread of the presence that was placed on the table in the Holy Place.
  • Imagine the sounds of the tabernacle:  The bleating of sheep, the cries of oxen, the prayers of the priests, the songs and rejoicing before the alter of God, the silence that accompanied the Day of Atonement.  The Tabernacle was a very busy place with a myriad of sounds that reminded the people of worship and of the God in whose presence they stood.
  • It was the light of the lampstand that gave light to the entire Tabernacle.  The light shone so the priests could continue to minister in the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.  Being the only light, it was the source of all sight.  Also, the image of the cloud of God’s presence hovered over the tabernacle reminding the people of God’s intimacy with them.
  • The last sense that the Tabernacle appealed to was the sense of smell.  Imagine the aroma (or odor) of the daily sacrifices.  Dozens, if not hundreds, of goats, lambs, bulls, and birds were sacrificed on the alter daily.  The fragrance of death and sacrifice wafted throughout the camp reminding the people of their sin and the provision that God had given to them.  The other source of aroma in the Tabernacle came from the Alter of Incense in the Holy Place.  It is there we now turn.

The Alter of Incense

  • Read Exodus 30.1-10
  • Within the ancient Jewish temple, the alter was positioned before the Most Holy Place, where God dwelt among His people.  What was the purpose of this alter?
    • The purpose of this alter was to offer incense before the Lord.  It sat in front of the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies.
    • On the alter, Aaron was to make atonement once a year.  He was to sprinkle the blood of the sin offering over top of the alter before he entered the Holy Place.  On that day, he was also to take some coals from the alter with him into the Holy Place while he burned incense upon it so that it filled the Holy Place, protecting him from the presence of God.  See Leviticus 16 for more description.
  • How do you think the incense smelled?  How long was it to be burned?
    • The incense was a sweet fragrance to the priests who ministered before God.  It was to be burned perpetually – night and day.
  • What do you think is meant by strange or forbidden fire?
    • While this statement is not fully clarified in the text, it can be assumed that it is any incense that is not specifically prescribed by God.  It would be a presumptuous offering, one that was out of line with God’s command.  We have a very specific instance of this strange fire in Leviticus 10.  The sons of Aaron offered strange fire from their censors on the alter, and were immediately killed for their actions.  From the context, it would also appear that they were also drunk.  Suffice it to say, that strange fire would ignite God’s wrath and punishment.

The Smell of the Sacrifices

  • In Leviticus 1-9, all of the sacrifices were laid out and explained to Moses and to Israel.  Numerous times, the phrase “an aroma pleasing to the Lord” appears.
  • These sacrifices were pleasing to God when they were offered with obedience and faith.  The smell of worship wafted up to God so that he could see and smell the obedient actions of his people.

The Sacrificial Smells of the New Testament

  • Ephesians 5:1-2 / 1 Peter 2:5 / Romans 12:1
    • Ephesians 5 tells us that Christ was also a sacrifice to God.  How was He a sacrifice and how was it “fragrant” or “sweet-smelling” before Him?
    • Peter tells us that we are now priests in God’s house, rather than the Old Testament priests at the temple.  What types of sacrifices are we to offer in place of the bulls, goats, and birds?
    • How are we to offer these sacrifices to God in everyday life?  Give specific illustrations.
    • How are they a “fragrant offering” before the Lord?
  • Psalm 141:2 / Revelation 5:8, 8:3-4 / 1 Thessalonians 5:17
    • According to these passages, what is the incense we ‘burn’ today?
    • In Heaven, where are the bowls of incense located?  What does this indicate about our incense today?
    • If the incense in the temple was to be burned continuously, what does this say of our prayers?  How can we accomplish this in everyday life?  Give specific illustrations.
    • How is that a “fragrant offering” before the Lord?
  • Obedience – Not to mitigate our actions, but how we act is also a pleasant aroma to our God.  We obey Christ because He is worthy of all we are.  We please and glorify Christ by giving to Him ourselves and our all.  Our lives are pleasing to Christ when we are obedient to Him, when we are sacrificing ourselves to prove His glory to the world.
  • Actions and Attitudes – We give of ourselves, of our desires, our well-being, or perhaps our physical life for the cause of Christ.  We offer our body, our money, and our resources as an offering to God.  It is well pleasing to God when our actions are overwhelmed by an attitude of worship.  It is not necessarily what we do, but how we go about doing it that is pleasing to the Lord.  We can go burn bulls and not feel repentance.  We can build houses for the poor out of guilt; we can give money out of “duty” or compulsion.  Only if our heart is right, can we be well-pleasing.

The Aroma of our Lives

  • 2 Corinthians 2.14-17
    • The passage bears the image of the Roman Triumph where a conquering Roman general would lead those whom he had conquered in battle through the streets of Rome in a triumphal procession.  He would parade before the emperor who was in his full, regal splendor.  The general would be in a chariot leading his captives to the arena where they would soon be put to death.  Along the entire parade route, there would be censors of incense burning throughout the city.  The fragrance would permeate the city reminding the people of the overwhelming victory that had been won.
    • Paul picks up this imagery as he pictures himself being led by Christ before the Throne of God.  The incense of Paul’s life rises up before the King and the rest of the people attesting to the reality that he has been conquered by Christ.  Christ is leading him to death, yet it is a death that ends in life.  Paul also pictures himself as being part of the triumphing army.
  • Before we were Christians, what did our lives smell like?  What characterized us before we had a relationship with Christ?   (cf. Isaiah 64:6)
  • Now that we are new creations in Christ, how then do we smell before God?  Why do we not smell like ‘new-Bob’ or ‘new-Judy’?  Why do our lives smell of Christ? (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21)
  • Why do we smell like death to some and life to others?
  • We are impacted by the world around us.  If we stay in a smoke-filled room, we will emerge smelling of smoke.  My first job when I was fifteen was a busboy in a small restaurant.  Every Saturday, I would go wash dishes, clean tables, scrub pots, clear trash, and mop floors.  After six hours or so of working in the kitchen, I would reek.  Anything from grits to dishwashing detergent, I would bring home with me the smell on my hands, on my clothes, and even in my hair.  As soon as I got back home, I would have to soak in the shower for quite a while to allow the soothing, hot water to soak over me as the soap and shampoo cleaned and cleared the stench of grease and potatoes and burnt biscuits out of my skin.  Before I could do anything else, I had to marinate myself in soap and body wash because nobody wants to sit next to a pile of human gravy and leftover fried eggs.  I couldn’t just run home and spray a dash of Old Spice on me and expect cologne to cover the rank smell of decaying chicken fingers that was ever so pungent about me.

We as people once reeked of sin and death before we met Christ and trusted in Him for new life and salvation.  We were like the leftover grits: hardened, stale, and stinking.  Spending all our time in the filth and stench of sin, our lives became associated with sin, bondage, and death.  Our lives began to reek of sin and death much like the possum I saw lying in the road on my way to church tonight.  As sinners, we had been run over by the freight train of sin and decay, left to die on the highway of life without any sense of hope or future.  We were in need of some major help, but we just didn’t need help, we needed to be made alive.

God in His holiness cannot even get a whiff of sin (Habakkuk 1:13).  His very nature prevents Him from allowing any sin near Him.  We as sinners cannot approach the throne of God without being clean from sin, without the smell of sin washed from our body.  Before we came to know Christ, we thought we could peel ourselves off the asphalt, drag our sorry carcass over to the shoulder, and clean ourselves up, make ourselves smell better—to smell of life—in order to approach God.  Yet how can dead people make themselves alive?  How can a muddy child clean himself off if he continues to sit in the mud pit?  The prophet Isaiah commented on our estate when he spoke, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6).  Nothing in our own power can made us clean and smelling wholesome, nor can anyone else with sin clean us up.  Two kids playing in the mud cannot clean one another off:  they must have someone who is clean to wash the mud and filth off of them.

Now Christ, by His death and resurrection, has made us alive if we trust in Him and put our faith in what He has done.  Because He bore our punishment and sins, He became the sacrifice for our sins, bearing the wrath of God in His own body on the tree in order to bring many sons to glory and everlasting life.  We no longer have to smell of sin, nor do we have to be controlled by it.  Knowing we can do nothing in our own power to wash ourselves, we believe in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.

Those of us who are now Christians and believers in Jesus’ work have been redeemed from the torments of this life of sin.  We no longer smell like yesterday’s garbage in the presence of God.  For Jesus’ blood washed over us and took away our guilt, condemnation, and stain of sin that once dominated our lives.  We are now able to enter the presence of the Most High because we have been overcome by the “fragrant offering and sacrifice” of Jesus Christ in our place (Ephesians 5:2).  Therefore, because we are now redeemed and saved from the life of sin, we cannot go back to living and smelling like the rest of the world.  We must be holy for our Father is holy (1 Peter 1:16).  Because we are Christians, we are to smell wholesome, soothing, life-giving and long-lasting because we have been bathed in Christ.  We can’t keep living in the filth of this world and think we can just Febreze our lives once or twice a week in order to ‘refresh’ ourselves.  We are characterized by how we smell.  Our fragrance will tell people what we live for: either the stale beer from last Friday’s party, or the life-giving smell of Christ.

 

Let me try to illustrate this thought with a quick example.  Last year, I moved into a new apartment.  The former tenant had vacated (actually, the landlady had to kick him out) the apartment a few weeks prior to my arrival.  He had loaded up his truck and taken off with all his possessions, but his presence still lingered in the apartment.  Being a smoker, and a rather dirty person, he left his stain on the floors, the carpets, and in the walls.  The old tenant left the apartment smelling rather disgusting.  Before I moved in, the landlady installed new carpet, touched up some paint, and cleaned house in preparation of me, the new tenant.  As I moved in, it smelled Clorox clean.  However, after a short time, the old tenant’s effect on the apartment began to show up:  the cigarette smoke that was imbedded within the walls and floors began to show their presence and some of the quick fixes the maintenance man preformed started to fall apart again.  The old tenant that had vacated the apartment still had a major effect on my life as the new tenant.  To add to the old tenant’s influence on the smell of my new apartment life, the neighbors around me contribute to fouling the air inside.  The fellow above me enjoys his cigarettes too and sits on his balcony four to five times a night which allows the trailing smoke to enter into my open windows.  The lady below me is originally from India and enjoys the indigenous food of that country which produces an absolutely horrid odor somewhat akin to burnt hairspray and rubber.  Not to say that those folks are completely responsible for the air quality in my apartment, as I continue to learn how to cook, I will occasionally burn something, or let a pot burn over onto the stove top.  This in turn sets off the smoke alarm, and fills the kitchen with the pleasant odor of charred hamburger.  As you can see, my apartment life is heavily influenced by fragrances from past tenants, neighbors, and poor culinary skills.

My apartment life is exactly like our Christian life.  The old tenant is sin.  When it lived within our lives, it held complete control and reigned free doing whatever it wished.  Everything it did resulted in destruction, decay, and death.  But that tenant was evicted with the coming of Christ:  when Christ came, He began to cleanse our lives out, ridding us of that sin that reigned in our lives.  He changed the carpet out, painted the walls, and cleaned us out through His blood on Calvary.  Sin and Satan were thrown to the street, never to reside within us again.  However, when Christ moved in, sin had left its effect upon our lives:  the stench of sin continues to linger in our lives.  Its consequences still continue to haunt us like the broken ice machine in my freezer.  No matter how much the smell of the old tenant permeates back to the apartment, he does not live there, another has taken his place.  Sin does not have reign over our lives anymore and we are not characterized by it any longer.  When Christ comes into our lives to save us from that resident sin and ultimate death, he does not take us out of the world, but He leaves us here.  Just as my apartment continues to sit within the complex surrounded by other neighbors, our Christian lives are affected by the people and sin living in this world.  Despite our life within this world, we cannot allow it to influence us any longer.  We must close our windows and doors to bar sin from entering our life and affecting the quality of our new life.   As Christ moves into our lives, we are also not totally rid of new sin:  we will continue to sin while in this body in the same way I may continue to burn my dinner on occasion.  Our lives, however, are not characterized by that burnt spaghetti; it is to be characterized by the warming fragrance of the future marriage supper of the lamb.

In order to combat the influences of these three smells, I must in my apartment be always cleaning and running an air purifier.  If I leave for the weekend, I can still perceive the smell of the old tenant and neighbors, albeit faintly, upon my return.  Their effects are still around; therefore, I must be constantly in the habit of cleaning and burning candles and running the air purifier.  Our lives as Christians must be conducted in the same way: We must continually fight the smells and influences of our old life and the life of the world around us.  The effects of sin, both past and present, as well as the world continue to wage war on our mind and our will.  We must be immersed in Jesus and His Word.  We cannot allow ourselves to become slack in Bible study, devotional time, prayer, and fellowship with other believers.  For if we become lax in seeking to cleanse our lives, sin will begin to creep in and characterize our lives again:  the presence of Christ will be overshadowed by sin and this world if we do not fight their influence.

We want others to see and savor Jesus Christ just as we have.  Therefore, what we smell like will show people around us what we stand for and what we believe to be worth living for.  As Christians, believers in the soon-coming King, we are to stand for and live for the only One of eternal, all-sufficient glory and worth.  If we hang out in the world, we smell like the world.  If we hang out in the Word, we will smell like the Word.  As we hang out in the Word and marinate in its goodness, we will begin to reflect the life-giving fragrance of the Eternal King of Glory.  Before us is a choice:  to smell like death and decay, or to smell of life.

If you have seen the recent Old Spice commercials, it tells that smell is the sense closest tied to memory.  Now this gives us a rather fitting example.  If people walk by and smell your life, what will they smell and thereby remember?  Will folks remember Christ, or last night out on the town?  Will they be intrigued by you because you smell different, or will they take one whiff of you and realize you are just ‘one of the guys’ at the bar?  There is a proverbial line in the sand in this passage:  to smell like the world and its soon-coming death, or to smell like Christ and eternal life.

To disperse the fragrance of Christ to this world, we must be immersed in Christ himself.  We must be clean because we have showered in the life-giving river of Jesus Christ.  Remember when I came out of the restaurant, I could not just spray a quick blast of cologne and then go out to the mall.  Too many folks today think they can go to church once or twice a week to get their hit of spiritual, Christ perfume.  Perfume and cologne fade quickly, and the true fragrance of our body odor will permeate through our lives.  We must become clean through the blood, and continually bathe in the Word of Christ in order to be completely characterized by His resurrection life.  The more concentrated we are in His word, the more His fragrance will disperse through our lives.

Notice that the fragrance of our lives reaches both the nostrils of God and of other men.  Is our life pleasing to God?  Does He still smell sin on us, or the blood of His Son?  If we are redeemed, do our lives disperse an aroma of obedience, prayer, and sacrifice?  Do people around us at church, school, work, and at home smell Christ in us?  Nobody wants to smell you as you really are, just go to a sixth grade classroom or nearby locker room.  We as people stink, there is just no getting around that.  Just as we must bathe ourselves daily to wash the dirt and stench away of normal life, we must bathe ourselves daily in the Word and work of Christ to broadcast His Name to the world.  If we are soaking in His Word and in His presence continuously, we will not be able to contain the fragrance of Christ that will flow from our lives to this generation.  Because we have been with Christ, people will notice, and remember.  Like the Old Spice guy at the party, we will catch the attention of all those around us; for we do not smell like everybody else, because we have been made clean by the blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

 

The Tabernacle – The Holy Place

November 2, 2009 at 2:34 am | Posted in Exodus | Leave a comment
Tags: , ,

The Tabernacle – Pt 2

The Living Room – The Holy Place

The Courtyard:

  • We saw last week the three elements of the courtyard of the tabernacle:  The door, the bronze alter, and the laver.
  • There was only one door to the Tabernacle by which people could enter.  They could not come into God’s presence by whatever means they deemed appropriate.  They had to enter through the one gate.  No jumping over, no digging under – simply moving through the one eastern gate.
  • This one door showed that there is only one way to God even today.  That way was made open through the blood of Jesus Christ.  He said that he was the door (John 10), and he was the only way to the Father (John 14.6).
  • The first thing that one encountered when they came into the courtyard was the bronze alter – the place of sacrifice.  It is only through sacrifice and death that one can approach God.  Because it was the first piece that one approached, it showed that there must be a sacrifice for our sins before going before God.
  • That sacrifice was given by Christ on the cross.  His one sacrifice was sufficient to cleanse all sin, and effective for all time.  After his death on the cross, there was no need for any more animal sacrifices to point the way forward, or to remind us of sin.
  • Beyond the bronze alter, there was a large bronze laver where the priests would wash his hands and feet.  This was a both a ceremonial and physical cleansing that happened before the priests could minister in the Tabernacle proper.  The priests must be clean before they can approach the Lord, just as our hearts and lives should.
  • The alter points to our justification before God – the legal standing that we have based upon our faith in Christ.  Our sin and guilt has been crucified along with our old nature on the alter of God’s wrath.  We no longer bear that sin, but are now alive and free before God.  Yet sin still lingers in this life, and we must daily cleanse ourselves of its effects.  Like Peter at the last supper, we are no longer under the punishment of sin, but our feet must be cleansed perpetually since we still walk around with our flesh.

The Holy Place:

  • We must remember that the tabernacle was God’s dwelling place upon this earth – it was his home among the Hebrews.  God did not simply visit them at various times – returning to heaven between trips or going somewhere on vacation.  He meant to establish his continual presence among the people forever.  The tabernacle was to be his house – the home where his presence dwelled.  With that notion, we must see the tabernacle not simply as a tent in the desert with various ordinances and activities, but as a house with furniture that showed permanence.
  • The Holy Place thereby illustrated the ‘living room’ of God.  The three pieces of furniture illustrated various parts of a home.  They served as a spiritual illustration as well.  The table of the Showbread, the Golden Lampstand, and the Alter of Incense had Old Testament and New Testament meanings and implications.  To those we now turn.

The Table of Showbread:

  • Leviticus 24.5-9
  • Exodus 25.23-30
    • Did God need to eat the bread?  Was he hungry and in need of sustenance?
    • What do you learn about the bread from these passages?  Where was it put, when, where and by whom was it eaten?
      • There is a certain recipe
      • It was set out in a certain way
      • It was to be done every Sabbath
      • Eaten by Aaron and his sons to help sustain those who worked in the tabernacle
      • It was to be a memorial portion to God – an offering before the Lord
    • What do you learn from the mention of time?
    • Showbread comes from a Hebrew word that means “bread of the face” or “bread of the presence.”  In fact, in Exodus 25.30, “Presence” is literally “face.”  The showbread was set on the golden table before the face, or presence of God, who dwelt in the Holy of Holies, just on the other side of the veil.”
  • John 6.30-35; 48-51
    • Context of this passage:  Jesus had just fed the 5000 with the bread and the fish.  The people wanted to take him to be king and place him in power for what he’d done.  They had the stomachs filled, and wanted to harness his power for their own good.  They appealed to Moses and the bread he provided to Israel.
    • What do you learn about Jesus here in this passage?
    • What are the promises connected with eating this bread?
    • What are the parallels and contrasts between Jesus and the manna in the desert?
      • Temporal                         Eternal
      • Not satisfying                 Eternally satisfying
      • Man died anyway             Gives eternal life
      • Physical                           Spiritual
      • People complained            people complained
      • Supplied by God              Supplied by God
  • Deuteronomy 8.2-3
    • Where do you see this concept in the NT?
    • What is the manna compared to in these passages?
    • What lesson of application can we extract from this concept?
    • What are the truths pictured in the table of showbread that would help us worship God in the right way?  Note who at “the bread of the presence.”
    • What is the correlation between worship and God’s word?

The Golden Lampstand:

  • Leviticus 24.2-3
  • Exodus 25.31-40
    • What do we learn about the golden lampstand?
    • What was to burn in the lamp?  Where did it come from?
    • How long was it to be burned?  Who was responsible to see that it kept burning?
  • Isaiah 49.6
  • John 1.1-5, 9
  • John 8.12
    • Who is the true light according to these verses?
    • What does Jesus do for men?
    • Do you see any significance in these verses and the fact that the only light in the holy place was from the lampstand?
    • How does the lampstand in the tabernacle give us a picture of Jesus Christ?
  • Matthew 5.14-16
  • Ephesians 5.8
    • What do you learn about those who follow Christ?
    • What is the relationship between “walking in the light” and living a life of true worship?

Tabernacle – Part I

October 12, 2009 at 1:09 pm | Posted in Exodus | Leave a comment
Tags: , ,

The Tabernacle – Pt 1

The Courtyard

The Tabernacle:

  • We saw last week that the tabernacle was to be the dwelling place of God, a place that the people would build so God could dwell in their midst.  It would be built according to the plan Moses was given on the mountain.
  • If you look at Numbers 2, you find that the tabernacle was to be placed in the center of the Israelites camp, with all the tribes assembled around it.  The tabernacle was to be the focal point of the national assembly.  Everything they did was to be focused around God’s house.
  • The tabernacle stood for almost 500 years before Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem.  That stood for almost 400 years before it was destroyed by the Babylonians in the 586 BC.  The temple was rebuilt at the time of the return, and beautified by Herod at the time of Christ.  In 70 AD, the temple was destroyed by the Romans and has never been rebuilt.
  • When the tabernacle was originally built, the glory of God filled the tabernacle with such force that nobody could enter the tent.  That presence filled the tabernacle until the time it was destroyed by the Babylonians.  The presence of God never returned to Israel in the form of a cloud to fill the temple.
  • The presence of God did not disappear forever though; it was manifested in the person of Christ (John 1.3, 14).  The person of Christ shows the Father perfectly (Hebrew 1.3 / Colossians 1.19, 2.9).
  • After Christ ascended to Heaven, believers were then indwelt with the Holy Spirit.  Believers became the temple of the Holy Spirit, where God would reside on the earth (1 Cor. 3.16 / 6.19-20).

The Door:

  • There was only one doorway that led into the temple, the eastern gate.  What is the picture that God wants us to see in this pattern?
  • John 10.7-9
  • John 14.6
  • What do you learn about Jesus in these verses?
  • How does this fit with what you learned about the “gateway of the court?”
  • How does this apply to worshiping God?  Can a person worship God apart from Christ?

The Alter:

  • Exodus 27.1-3, 8
  • The first thing you encountered when you entered the courtyard of the tabernacle was a great bronze alter.  On the alter, the priests offered sacrifices the people brought to the tabernacle.  The first nine chapters of Leviticus detail seven different types of sacrifices that were made there.
  • Leviticus 1.1-9
  • Why was a sacrifice needed?  What is meant by the word atonement in v4?
  • What was the procedure for the person bringing the burnt offering?
  • What was done with the blood of the offering?
  • Since the bronze alter was the first piece of furniture in the tabernacle, does this tell you anything about how one approaches God to worship Him?
  • John 1.29
  • Hebrews 10.1-12
  • Why weren’t the offerings of bulls and goats satisfactory?
  • What do we see about Jesus in these verses?
  • Why did Jesus have to die, to offer His body as a sacrifice?
  • What did Jesus’ offering of His body accomplish?  How long is that effective?
  • Can you see the correlation between the alter and the cross?
  • What do you learn from this in respect to worshiping God, especially if everything in the tabernacle leads to the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies?
  • Atonement:  literally means to cover.  It is often used for the concept of covering over sin with the blood of a sacrifice that makes it possible for sinful man to approach a holy god.  It can also carry the connotation of cleanse, appease, dis-annual, forgive, be merciful, pardon, purge, put off, or make reconciliation.

The Laver:

  • Exodus 30.18-21
  • What was the purpose of the bronze basin?
  • Who used it?  When did they use it?
  • What would happen if they didn’t use it?
  • What does this tell you about worshipping God?
  • Psalm 24.3-5
  • 1 Cor. 6.11
  • Ephesians 5.5-6
  • 1 John 1.9
  • Who can approach a holy God?  Who can stand in his presence?
  • Why did Jesus die on the cross and give himself up for us? (Eph 5).
  • We know we have forgiveness of sins through the shedding of Jesus’ blood, but is there another form of cleansing that takes place in our lives after we become God’s children by faith in Jesus?
  • When we sin as a believer, what is our responsibility?
  • What will God do in response?
  • From all that you have seen, do you think we can worship God apart from being cleansed and clean?
  • Sanctify:  the word itself means to make holy, to purify or consecrate

Rest Stop – Exodus 20.8-11

September 28, 2009 at 5:10 pm | Posted in Exodus | Leave a comment
Tags: ,

Rest Stop

Exodus 20.8-11

Hebrews 4.11 – “Let us strive to enter that rest…”

  • Review of Last Week:
    • The first two commandments were bound strictly together.  There were to be no other gods above and before the One, True, Living God.  With that, there were to be no images of other gods, nor were there to be any images, molten or mental, of God Himself either.
    • Anything that takes the place of God is considered an idol.  It is not necessarily an image of wood or stone, but anything that takes the place of God in our hearts.  In short, an idol is anything we fear, trust, or desire above God.  These are the words of worship – something that should be reserved for God alone.
    • Idols can found in everyone’s life.  Idolatry is the most discussed topic in all the Bible.  It is also the most subtle.  Idolatry can infiltrate every heart, and it leads inevitably back to a worship of self.
    • It’s interesting to see that once God identifies the number one priority in our lives, he gives us a means to fight against idolatry and for a pursuit of Him above all else – a Sabbath rest.

  • Sabbath in the Old Testament:
    • What was the purpose of the Sabbath in the Old Testament?
      • The Sabbath was to be the sign of the covenant (Exodus 31.13)
      • It was to be holy and set apart to the Lord (Exodus 20.11, 31.12-16)
      • It was given for physical refreshment (Exodus 23.12)
      • It was for solemn rest (Exodus 31.14-15)
      • To know the Lord (Exodus 31.13)
      • To reverence the Lord (Lev 26.2)
    • What was the penalty for breaking the Sabbath?
      • Death was the penalty for breaking the Sabbath (Exodus 31.14-15)
      • God was serious about keeping the Sabbath
      • In fact, one of the main reasons that the Jews were cast into Assyrian and Babylonian exile was because they failed to keep the Sabbath and the remaining feasts holy and sacred.  God sent them into 70 years of captivity because they failed to honor the 70 sabbatical years. (See Jeremiah 17.19-27, Nehemiah 13.16-19)
    • What was the Sabbath rooted in?
      • The Sabbath was rooted in the fact that God rested on the seventh day after creating the world in six days (Gen 2.1-3)
      • God was not tired in the least after creating the world.  He did not need a break or a vacation.  Why did he rest then?
      • God’s rest is not one of physical refreshment, but one of accomplishment – much like a king who has rest from all his enemies.  This is a rest in knowing that the work has been completed and he sits back and relishes it.  God is taking it all in and declaring it to be “very good.”

  • Sabbath in the New Testament:
    • What did Jesus think of the Sabbath?
      • Mark 2 (cf Matthew 12)
      • Jesus and his disciples are seen gathering grain and eating on the Sabbath.  Moreover, Jesus is seen time and again healing people on the Sabbath.  Jesus worked on the Sabbath much as his father worked on the Sabbath.  Jesus then declares himself Lord of the Sabbath.
      • The commandment was superseded by Jesus.  Jesus in John 5 makes himself equal with God the Father, prompting the Pharisees to want to kill him.
      • Jesus also declares that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  God in his grace had given the Hebrews a day off – a day of respite amid a heavy work week.
      • Sabbath was given so man could take time out to contemplate his sinfulness and God’s holiness.  It was not an idle rest.  It was a day set apart to the Lord.  It was to point them back to creation and to realize that God had created them, and they were dependant upon God.
    • Where is the Sabbath law commanded in the NT?
      • There is not a strict commandment to keep the Sabbath in the NT
      • In fact, there are restrictions that essentially nullify the commandment.  (Colossians 2.16 / Romans 14.5-6)
    • On what day did the New Testament church worship?  Why?
      • The early church began to gather on the first day of the week, Sunday. (Acts 20.7). This in fact became known as the “Lord’s Day.”
      • It was instituted because Christ rose on the First day of the week.  He rested (in the grave) on the Sabbath and rewrote history by rising on Sunday.  This is why we gather together to worship on Sunday.  It is the start to the week.  It is God instituting a new creation.

  • Sabbath in a believer’s life:
    • How are we to treat the Sabbath today?
      • Sabbath rest today is not one of outward compliance with some rigid rule or commandment.  When Jesus rose, he obliterated the need to keep the Sabbath in a physical manner – we are free to treat every day alike.
      • On the other hand, we are still to keep the mindset of Sabbath rest.  We are to take time off in our week to focus on God.
      • We need a physical break in our week, as well as spiritual refreshment
    • What is the purpose of Sabbatical rest for us today?
      • Sabbath is a mindset of rest in God.  It is a cessation from our own efforts and a complete and joyful resting in God alone.
      • Sabbath still needs to have a physical nature to it
        • We are not machines.  We cannot run 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, or we will crash and burn.
        • We are creatures, dependant upon a creator who gives us life and breadth.
        • We still need sleep, vacations, days off.
        • By taking time off during the week, we need to refresh ourselves physically because we are frail and fragile, in need of God, in need of a readjustment in our focus, and a need of sleep.
        • It is easy to buy into the notion that we can do everything we put our minds to.  We as Americans believe we can, so we do.  We must understand the Glory of Limits – we are not God, we are creatures.
      • Sabbath is a spiritual reminder
        • That we are to rely fully on God for our physical needs.  It is a looking backward to the creation and the Garden.
        • Normal duties of the week are set aside to focus upon God and his salvation.  It is a looking forward to a new creation and a new Garden.
        • To remember what he has done in our lives spiritually.  We should take time out to contemplate our sin, and his holy anger and wrath against that.  If we have a low view of sin, we have a weak view of God.  It is also a day to avoid sin by fellowshipping with God and other believers.
        • Sabbath is not a day of idleness.  It is a day of worship – of celebration and delight in the Lord!
        • Isaiah 58.13-14 / Psalm 46.10 – Our delights and our pleasure should be found in God alone.  Taking a Sabbath rest will reorient us to following God and seeking to delight in his holiness rather than our fleshly agenda.
    • How can Sabbath rest keep us from idolatry?
      • It is easy to convince ourselves that we must work relentlessly to build our kingdom, and to further our pursuits in this world.  We can work seven days a week to build our own kingdom.
      • Sabbath rest helps us readjust our priorities to his.  By taking time out of our routine and our work, we expose our hearts and cause them to rely on him.  Taking time out when we could be working to our own agendas cause us to forsake making those idols in our lives.
      • Taking time out in our week focuses our hearts on worshipping the one true and living God.  We look to him for sustenance and strength above ourselves and our fleshly priorities.
    • Our generation is one for sleeping late and being habitually lazy.  On the other hand, there are many who overwork to keep ahead and accomplish big goals.  How can these two extremes be detrimental to Sabbath rest?
      • Laziness is condemned over and over in Scripture.  The sluggard does not image God.  It is six days we are to work, and rest on one day.  Sabbath is not a day of idleness, but of furious rest.
      • Workaholic people often burn out quickly, neglect families, and neglect God.  They believe that they are master of their own universe, and can run their lives better than God.
      • Louie Giglio’s idea of furious rest illustrates that we have to strive to enter that rest, and we must work because God is working.  Yet we rest in his work, because he is God and we not.

  • Sabbath is an eternal rest:
    • Is Sabbath rest an end in itself or is it pointing to something greater?
      • Hebrews 4 exegetes Psalm 95 which speaks of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness.  God had promised His rest to the people of Israel.  This rest was the land of Canaan – a land flowing with milk and honey where God would give them rest from all their enemies.
      • Yet, this physical land was not a final rest, for Hebrews speaks of another rest that Joshua could not provide.  The physical land was a shadow or the real Promised Land – a new creation that God has prepared.
    • What then is our final Sabbath rest?
      • Our final rest is in Christ.  It is his righteousness that saves us, not our own self-righteousness.  We are resting in his death and resurrection – it is a rest of faith.
      • We are looking forward to a final rest apart from this world.  A rest that we cannot gain on our own, but one that is graciously offered to us through Christ.
    • How do we obtain that rest?
      • By faith (Heb 11)
      • By striving to enter (v 11).  Although we cannot gain entrance into this rest on our own power, we are called to work for God in partnership with him in our conforming to the image of His son.
      • We work, much like Paul, with all his energy that he powerfully works within us.  Despite our efforts, we are still resting in God’s strength, through faith, to obtain that rest.

Sabbath is ceasing from our own efforts and resting fully and joyfully in God.

The Idol Factory – Exodus 20

September 22, 2009 at 1:19 am | Posted in Exodus | Leave a comment
Tags: , ,

The Idol Factory

Exodus 20

Isaiah 45:21-22 – “There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.  Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”

  • God is God alone:
    • God is not the head of some pantheon of gods.  Remember that the people of Israel had just escaped a highly polytheistic Egypt and were heading toward a polytheistic Canaan.  This call to worship God alone was also a call to monotheism.
    • In fact, God’s exploits in Egypt showed in fact that the Egyptian gods were not gods at all.  God has complete, sovereign control over the entire universe – there is no rival to God.
    • What types of gods are there today?
      • There is a multitude of religions out there that claim a different god apart from Yahweh.  Islam has Allah, Hindus have a pantheon of gods, and there are countless animist cultures who have gods and spirits.
      • Often today in America, we might not see many of these so-called gods, but we do see their affects in and around our lives.  Pluralism reigns supreme in today’s world.  While we might not worship other gods, our friends, co-workers, and family members do.
      • Moreover, many church-goers worship a god who is a conglomerate of many other gods.  They have a syncretistic view of God – he has characteristics of the true Yahweh sprinkled with characteristics of countless other gods.
      • Perhaps the biggest god in today’s society is the individual themselves.  Humanism has become the main religion of the western world.  We have crowned man as the highest achievement and placed ourselves on the throne of our lives.  We worship at the throne of our own ego, uprooting God’s rightful place in the universe.

  • Nothing Looks like God:
    • No images of other gods
      • It should go without saying based on the first commandment, that we cannot make an idol of anything in nature that represents any of the other gods.  This is forbidden over and over again in the old and new testaments (See Romans 1.23 for a NT example).
    • No molten images of Yahweh
      • The second commandment also covers the possibility of making an image that was to represent Yahweh himself.  Moses speaks to this in Deuteronomy 4.11-19.  When God came down on the mountain, the people saw no form, they only heard his voice.
      • They were not to make an image that would represent God on this earth – for nothing in this life could come close to reflecting the image of God.
      • There were to be no idols because:  an image would distort and obscure God’s glory, and give convey a false idea about who God is.  Images confuse people into believing that God has a body, or that God is limited in some way by his shape or body.
      • This image would distract us from the true nature of God and lead us into sin and under a greater punishment.  We would be worshipping something that was not God.
      • This is what happens in Exodus 32 when Aaron makes a golden calf for the people to worship.  The people would worship the calf and hold a feast to the Lord.  This was not God – this is why it deserved so great a punishment.
    • No mental images of Yahweh
      • While few of us probably have an image or an icon we bow to and worship on a daily basis, we do have mental images that we have developed over the years.
      • We cannot think of God as we well like.  God is not made in our image, we are made in his.  If we conjure in our minds a view of God that is contrary to what the Bible says God is, they we have broken the second commandment.  Our idol has been made of our own speculation and imagination.
      • Not having a visual image “summons…us to recognize that God the Creator is transcendent, mysterious, and inscrutable, beyond the range of any imagining or philosophical guesswork of which we are capable – and hence a summons to us to humble ourselves, to listen and learn of him, and to let him teach us what he is like and how we should think of him.” (Packer, Knowing God 48)
    • Idols of the Heart
      • Idolatry is the most discussed topic in all of the bible.  In the OT it was defined as idolatry, and in the NT it was spoken of mainly as lusts and desires.  Idols are anything that has taken the place of God in our lives – a desire, a want, a need that rules our hearts and lives.  This is something we have come to fear, love, and trust above God (see Sande, The Peacemaker)
      • Calvin said that our hearts are “a factory for idols” and that we “are experts in inventing idols.”  Idols are what we give priority to above God.
      • All idolatry leads back to self-worship.  We place ourselves on the throne of the universe and seek to have our needs and desires met above all.  This is a deep-seeded problem that affects every aspect of our lives.
    • The Word alone shows us the Father
      • The Bible shows us who God is and describes to us what he is like
      • If our vision of God is outside of this realm, we are in violation of the first and/or second commandment.   If we neglect the image of God we see in the Scriptures, we have rejected God himself, constructing a god of our own choosing.  How is this different than constructing one from wood or stone?
      • Jesus Christ shows us a full picture of the father
      • (John 1.14, 14.9-12; Colossians 1.15, Hebrews 1.3)
    • What does it mean that God is jealous?
      • This is not the petty jealousy of man for man.  This is a jealousy as a husband for his wife.  It is zeal to protect a love relationship and avenge it if is broken.
      • Packer puts it this way:  God “Demands from those whom he has loved and redeemed utter and absolute loyalty, and he will vindicate his claim by stern action against them if they betray his love by unfaithfulness.” (Packer, 171)
      • Moreover, God is jealous for his holy Name (Ezekiel 39.25) – who he is and for his own glory.  God is the ultimate in the entire universe and therefore is concerned about his reputation, his character, his glory.
        • “His name is his nature and character as Jehovah, the LORD, ruler of history, guardian of righteousness and savior of sinners – and God means his name to be known, honored, and praised. (172)
      • God longs for his name to be praised throughout the entire universe.  When the people he chose, the people on which he placed his own name, disobey and run away after other gods, God must punish them because he is jealous for his name to be made famous, and also for his people to worship him alone – the one true God.
  • Here’s How Isaiah sees it:
    • Isaiah 40.12-26
    • Against Idols:  41.21-24, 49 / 42.8-9 / 44.9-20 / 45.20-22 / 48.5
    • He is the Only God:  43.11-13 / 44.6-8 / 45.5-7 / 45.18 / 46.8-11 / 48.12-13
    • He alone deserves Glory: 43.7, 21 / 45.15-17 / 48.11
  • God’s name is not worthless:
    • Cursing and Derision:  This is only the surface area where we can take the name of the Lord in vain.
    • Incantation and magic words:  People would use the name of a deity to bring about new crops, fertility, or to curse others.  They would invoke the deity by using his name in an incantation or series of magic words.
    • Oaths and promises:   In ancient times (and even some today), people would often swear by the Lord.  Many times these oaths would be blatantly broken despite the fact that they invoked the name of God in their disobedience.  God’s name was seen as worthless if an oath or promise was not carried out.
    • The name of the Lord is summation of who he is, and what he is like.  When we invoke God’s name, we invoke his character – who he is.  When we claim the Lord’s name over our lives and lifestyles, we are truly representing Him.  If we disobey, or fail to represent him clearly, we are distorting other’s image of God.
    • This leads to idolatry and the worship of a non-God.  God’s name is majestic in all of the universe, and if we claim the name of God over our lives, we must live as if his name is majestic in our own life (Psalm 9.10, 33.21 / Isaiah 50.10 / Acts 4.12 / Romans 10.13)
    • You can see this today when people claim that God wants them to be happy, or that God told them to get a divorce.  We try to invoke God’s name to sound spiritual a majority of the time, but often it leads to a denigration of the name of God.  We cause God’s name to be ridiculed in the world rather than honored and praised. (See 2 Timothy 2.19 / Titus 1.16 / Col 3.17)
    • It is seen not only in our words, but in our actions and lifestyles.  Our lives can make God’s name seem worthless in the eyes of an unbelieving world.

  • The remainder of the laws:
    • The remaining commandments are simply to govern our relationships with other people.  Jesus spoke of the second greatest commandment as loving your neighbor as yourself (Mt 22.39).  On the night he was betrayed, he gave the disciples a new commandment:  To love one another (John 13.31-35).
    • By loving other people, they would draw people to God.  People would know they were Jesus’ disciples because they loved one another and gave of themselves to meet other’s needs.
    • This love is derived from a love for God.  When we love God, we will see other people as God sees them – in need and in trouble.  Our love will image forth God to a lost and dying world.

  • The purpose of these stipulations:
    • When Jesus came, he did not do away with the law and the Prophets, in fact he came to fulfill them.  By living a perfect life, he upheld the entire law.  Moreover, he became a curse in our place so we would not have to bear the lethal punishment for not keeping the law.  We must now have faith in Christ that he lived a perfect life and took that punishment upon his own head, imputing his righteousness into our own lives.
    • Yet the laws do not simply go away.  While we do not have to conform to all 613 laws that Moses handed down, we are to abide in the commandments of Christ, for even he said that if we love Him, we would keep his commandments (John 14.21-24)
    • His laws and commands are different from the OT laws to some extent, but they are rooted in the spirit of those laws.  Paul speaks that we are dead to the Mosaic law, but we now live in the Spirit under the law of Christ (Galatians 3-5).
    • Jesus said that the law could be summed up by “Love God, Love People.”  Additionally, John declared, “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” (1 John 3.23)
    • Now we are commanded to believe, trust, and have faith in Christ.  To love him, and to love others so they too can see him.
    • Essentially, God wants us to know Him (John 17.3).  In order to know him, we must know truth about him – we cannot love someone we don’t know.  The goal of salvation, and for the law in the OT, is a relationship between God and man.  God has established a relationship with us through the death and resurrection of Christ, and it is a relationship based solely upon grace.
    • The OT laws, and the commandments of Christ are to:
      • Teach us who God is, and what he has done
      • Show us our position in Christ
      • Show us what stands in the way of our relationship
      • Teach us how to love God more accurately
    • The goal of the Ten Commandments and every other law given in Scripture was to govern the relationship between man and God.  To have a healthy functioning relationship, we must know who God is – we must know his name.
    • We can’t let any other priorities sneak in and claim the throne of our lives.  We cannot allow molten or mental images to detract from the true picture of God given in the Bible and in the face of Jesus Christ.  We also cannot misrepresent God by our careless words or unholy lifestyles.
    • Once we clear away the misunderstandings and faulty views of God in our lives, we must turn outward and love and serve others so they too can see God clearly and accurately so as to turn their lives over to God as well.
    • These laws are not burdensome, but a blessing.  By keeping them (Through the power and strength of the Spirit) we will be able to behold our God and rejoice in his great character and his great salvation.

Packer, J.I.  Knowing God.

Sande, Ken.  The Peacemaker.

Mahaney, C. J. The Idol Factory.

http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=A1040-01-51

http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=A1040-02-51

http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=A1040-03-51

New Take on an Old Law

No other gods before God

Exodus 20:32                                                Acts 14.15/Matthew 10.32-39

No Idols, molten, or mental

Exodus 20.4-6                                              1 John 5.21

Do not consider his name worthless

Exodus 20.7                                                  James 5.12 / John 14.12-14

Honor the Sabbath

Exodus 20.8-11

Honor your parents

Exodus 20.12                                                                Col 3.20-21/Ephesians 6.1-3

Do not murder

Exodus 20.13                                                                Matthew 5.21-22/1 John 3.15

Do not commit adultery

Exodus 20.14                                                                                Matthew 5.27-30

1 Cor 6.9-10, 18-20

Do not steal

Exodus 20.15                                                                                Ephesians 4.28

Do not bear false witness

Exodus 20.16                                                                                Ephesians 4.25, 29

Colossians 3.9-10

Do not covet

Exodus 20.17                                                                                1 Timothy 6.5-10

Luke 12.15

John 13:34: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Next Page »

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.