Scripture

“Insert the Urim and Thummim into the chest-piece so they will be carried over Aaron’s heart when he goes into the Lord’s presence.”

Application

This is a beautiful picture of the High Priest carrying God’s will in his heart. The Urim and Thummim were used to determine God’s will in specific issues. They were part of the High Priest’s ceremonial clothing.

Jesus is our High Priest. He did not carry the Temple title or role, but the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives Him this title.

Out High Priest carried God’s will in His heart. Everything He did was to please the Father.

The night before He was killed to pay the price of our sin, Jesus prayed, Father if possible please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”

We also are priests under the great High Priest. Therefore, the will of God should always be in our hearts. Above all other things, we should be wanting to say to God, “Not my will but yours be done.”

How do we live in the will of the Father? We must read the Bible daily to have God’s instruction in our heart. We must also cultivate the habit of listening to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer

Father, I desire in my heart to place your will over all other things. Please help me to make this a reality in my life every day. Amen.

Scripture

“Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the Ark of the Testimony behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.”

Application

The Tabernacle, and later the Temple, had a graduated series of areas that kept sinful people away from the glorious presence of the Lord. So gentiles, women, men, and priests could only advance so far.

Only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place, and then just one each year on the Day of Atonement.

By contrast, we Gentiles, who were once far off, have been grafted into God’s people. And in Christ we can enter the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s presence, at any time.

We need no elaborate cleansing rituals and sacrifices. All of this has been done for us in Christ.

We are all priests in God’s kingdom. Therefore we have not only a privilege but a responsibility to draw near to God, to pray and interceded for the lost- not just one day a year, but every day.

The curtain of the Temple was torn at the time of Christ’s death. The barrier to entering the presence of the Lord is gone.

So let us enter boldly to the throne room of the King of Kings.

Prayer

Holy God, thank you for pulling down every barrier between you and me. Thank you that in Christ you have provided the sacrifice for my sins. Amen.

Scripture

“Be sure that you make everything according to the patterns I have shown you here on the mountain.”

Application

I have to confess that I don’t get very excited about the items in the Tabernacle. Some people get great revelations about the shape and design of the various items. I am not wired that way.

But Moses was told to make everything according to the pattern that God showed him on the mountain.

According to Ephesians, we are temples of the Holy Spirit. Therefore it is essential that we build our lives on God’s pattern.

This means that we are to be holy- dedicated to God’s purposes. All of our ambitions and plans need to be surrendered to Him.

It means we are to be obedient. When we receive guidance from the Holy Spirit, we should follow Him and not our own thoughts. When we read something in the Bible we should obey it.

We are meant to be clean. That means we should not indulge in sin.

The Tabernacle was the place in the wilderness where people met with God. We should be the places where people come and find the living God because of our words and lifestyle.

Prayer

Lord, please make me into a living holy vessel for your purposes. Amen.

Scripture

The glory of the Lord fell on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day, the Lord called Moses from inside the cloud.

Observation

The Lord instructs Moses to come up to the mountain with Aaron and the seventy elders.

Moses goes to the people with all of the instructions the Lord had given him. He builds an altar and makes a sacrifice on behalf of the people.

Moses then goes up to the mountain with the elders. There they see the glory of God. They eat a covenant meal in the presence of the Lord.

The cloud of God’s presence covers the top of the mountain. After six days, the Lord calls for Moses to come up into His presence.

Application

Mount Sinai was a holy place because the Lord chose to reveal His glory there. The elders saw the Lord, and they were not killed by the experience.

Moses was called to go up and spend forty days in the glory cloud of the Lord. This is not something done lightly.

It is worship and holiness that allow us to enter into the hidden places of the glory of God.

Worship allows us to enter into God’s presence. In fact real worship- not just singing worship songs- attracts the presence of God. When we set our hearts in proclaiming the awesome nature of God, then it is like heaven inhabiting the earth.

Holiness is a heart totally sold out to living according to God’s plans for us. It is not about rules and lists of do’s and don’ts, but about so wanting more of God that He becomes the focus of our thinking and our desires.

Prayer

Father, help me to devote my whole life to you- my thinking and my doing. May I walk in the glory of our presence. Amen.

Scripture

You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working. This gives your ox and your donkey a chance to rest. It also allows your slaves and foreigners living among you to be refreshed.

Application

This chapter has laws relating to justice and religious requirements, including the sabbath and the great festivals of Unleavened Bread, Harvest, and Final Harvest.

Our society has completely abandoned the concept of sabbath. The idea that businesses and shops should shut down for one day a week seems quaint and old fashioned.

I live near a railway line, and it amazes me that even on Christmas Day and Good Friday, freight trains leave Narrabri laden with grain or coal. Really? We cannot stop moving non-perishable goods for even one day or two days in a whole year?

Of course, Covid has brought about forced sabbaths for many people because of lock downs and other restrictions. Many people have discovered the restfulness of avoiding the daily commute as they worked form home. Perhaps the Lord is using this pandemic to remind people of the need to rest.

Human beings need the weekly reminder to slow down and rest. We are more than work units or economic consumption units. There is a need for each of us to stop for one day a week, and rest.

Sabbath is trusting God to supply enough in six days to satisfy the seventh. In the wilderness He produced manna that lasted two days, but only on the day before the sabbath.

Prayer

Lord, help me to trust you for my needs, to put you at the centre of my working life, and to worship you in my sabbath rest. Amen.

Scripture

You must nor mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Application

Reading sets of laws which seem to relate to an alien culture is not immediately edifying.

In the rules in this chapter we see how the Lord wanted the Israelites to protect the rights of people to own property, and to protect the dignity of vulnerable people such as widows, orphans and foreigners.

The principle of the property laws is that everyone should be confident that their property is being protected from unscrupulous people. So the rights of everyone, but especially the poor, are being protected.

The Israelites were also required to care for the vulnerable people such as widows and foreigners. Even slaves were protected to some extent.

These laws show that God cares about everyone, both the rich and the powerful, and the poor and powerless.

As christians, we need to make sure that we do not support Government policies which disenfranchise the poor or lead to their oppression. We also need to look out for the “invisible people” ourselves and do what we can to help them survive and thrive.

Prayer

Lord, please show me the groups of people and the individuals you are calling me to help. Amen.

Scripture

And the people said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen. But don’t let God speak to us directly or we will die.”

Observation

The Lord gives the Israelites the Ten Commandments: do not worship other gods; do not make idols; do not misuse the Lord’s name; remember the sabbath; honour your father and mother; do not murder, commit adultery, steal, testify falsely, or covet other people’s things.

When the people hear the voice of the Lord and thunder, and they see the smoke and lightning, they are afraid. They ask Moses to speak to them from God.

Application

The biggest mistake a person or a group of people can make is to say, “Don’t let the Lord speak directly to us.”

God wants us to have friendship with Him. He loves us and longs to dialogue directly with us.

Most of His words are more ”still small voice” than thunder and trumpet blasts. But some people remain afraid of hearing God for themselves.

The demand that a pastor or prophet does all the communing with God places too heavy a burden for the minister, and absolves other christians from their own responsibility.

It can lead to error, arrogance or manipulation.

God wants each of us to hear His Holy Spirit for ourselves. He wants each of us to read the Scriptures for ourselves. He wants each of us to pray to Him for ourselves.

God is a relational God. He loves people and He wants us to talk to Him and listen to Him.

Prayer

Thank you Lord for the knowledge that you want me to listen to you as well as to speak to you. Please help me to be open to your Spirit all the time. Amen.

Scripture

“If you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on the earth. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.”

Observation

The Israelites arrive at the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses climbs the mountain to meet with the Lord.

The Lord announces that Israel is His special treasure, His royal priesthood.

Then the Lord announces that He will descend on Mount Sinai the following day, and the people need to prepare themselves. They must not touch the holy mountain.

The Lord comes down, covering the mountain with smoke and sounding loud trumpet blasts. The Lord calls Moses up to the mountain.

Application

The Lord tells the Israelites that if they obey Him, they will be His treasure, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.

God sees each of us as His treasure- precious, beautiful, lovely. Often we feel unworthy of such a value. We may be plagued by guilt or shame, or just feel that we are unlovable.

Yet God is determined to love us. He places a high value on every single one of us. We are His treasure.

We are a kingdom of priests. The church together is that kingdom. It is hard to comprehend that God wants us to be in His presence, worshipping Him and interceding for other people.

We are God’s holy nation. The word “holy” means “set apart for God’s purpose.” I am not my own. I was bought at a price. I therefore cannot do any old thing that I want to do. I cannot wilfully follow the dictates of my old sinful nature. I have been set apart by God for a holy purpose.

God is building up His kingdom, claiming us as His treasure, His royal priesthood.

Prayer

Father, you call me your treasure, your holy priest. This is too marvellous to understand. Please help me to live totally surrendered to you, to do only what you call me to do. Amen.

Scripture

“Teach them God’s decrees, and give them instructions. Show them how to conduct their lives. Select from all the people capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as leaders over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty and ten.”

Observation

Moses father- in- law, Jethro the priest of Midian, comes to visit Moses. He had heard that the Lord rescued His people from Egypt.

Jethro confesses that the Lord is greater than all the other gods because He rescued the Israelites from Egypt. He then offers sacrifices to God.

The next day, Moses hears people’s disputes all day long. Jethro tells Moses that he needs to delegate this role to others who can lead groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, or ten. This leaves Moses to teach people and show them how to live to honour the Lord.

Application

The Jethro Principle enables church leaders to be effective without being burnt out by the demands on them. This is one of the principles under-girding cell churches. We place people into small groups whose leaders are coached and mentored by experienced leaders of leaders, who themselves are mentored by others.

The same principle can be described as the Spirit of Sonship. Every person needs to have a spiritual father (or mother), with every member of a congregation also submitted to the “father of the house” that is the Senior Pastor.

Moses was being overwhelmed by the demands of the people in little matters. Many pastors face the same issue of having to be consulted over every church member’s personal life.

When people are being pastored by “under- shepherds” who are themselves being pastored, with everyone only directly responsible for a few people, the burden of care is shared. The pastor is then freed to teach, preach and set the direction of the church.

How awesome it is when the Body of Christ functions in the wisdom and grace of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer

Thank you Father for the wisdom in your word. Help me as a pastor to not take on too many burdens that are not mine to carry. Amen.