Sabbath, July 6th - Genesis 41:55  For the Glory of the Lord

Sabbath, July 13th  -  Genesis 45:24   Do Not Quarrel on the Way

Sabbath, July 20th  -  Exodus 2:25  And God Knew

Sabbath, July 27th - Exodus 6:3  All in All

Sabbath, August 3rd - Exodus 14:13-14  He is Our Peace

Sabbath, August 10th - Exodus 20:1- 6 You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me

Sabbath, August 17th - Exodus 20:7- 11 Taking God's Name in Vain

Sabbath, August 24th - Exodus 20:12-14  Is God Your God?

Sabbath, August 31st - Exodus 20: 15-17 A Broken Wanter

Sabbath, September 7th- Exodus 23:20 - Fix Your Eyes on The Goal

Sabbath, September 14th- Exodus 29:45 - Tabernacle

Sabbath, September 21st- Exodus 33:15 - God's Presence

Sabbath, September 28th- Exodus 40:38 - God With Us

Sabbath, Oct 5th and Trumpets, Monday, Oct 7th - Exodus 36:5  Giving to God; Much More Than Enough

Sabbath, October 12th - Exodus 40:17 Precision

Atonement, Wednesday, October 16th - Exodus 40:32  Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

Sabbath, November 9th - Leviticus 1:1  God Speaks to Us

Sabbath, November 16th  -  Leviticus 6:13  Burning Continually

Sabbath, November 23rd  -  Leviticus 7:15  Thanksgiving

Sabbath, November 30th  - Leviticus 15:31 Uncleanness - aka Sin

Sabbath, December 7th - Leviticus 19:18  Who is My Neighbor?

Sabbath, December 14th - Leviticus 27:34  The Commandments of God

Sabbath, December 21st - Numbers 4:4  The Cross-Eyed Bear

Sabbath, December 28th - Numbers 10:35  Arise, O LORD

Sabbath, July 6th
For the Glory of the Lord
When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” Genesis 41:55

Of all the people in the Bible, Joseph typifies Jesus Christ more than any other I can think of! There are so many instances like this one.  Here, Pharaoh tells the people to go to Joseph - that he would provide the needed bread. It foreshadows Jesus’ first miracle in John 2:5 when his mother told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to - and he subsequently turned the water into wine.

Just as Joseph was sent to his brothers (Gen 37:12), Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24).

Just as Jesus was hated by his brothers (Gen 37:4), Jesus was hated by the world (Matt 5:11, John 15:18, 1 John 3:13).

Joseph was shown favor by his father (Gen 37:3-11); Jesus was the beloved of the Father (Matt 3:17).

Joseph was falsely accused (Gen 39:14); Jesus was falsely accused (Matt 26:59).

Joseph was sold into slavery for 20 pieces of silver (Gen 37:28); Jesus was sold by Judas by 30 pieces of silver (Matt 27:3).

Joseph’s robe was dipped in blood (Gen 37:31); Jesus’ robed was dipped in blood (Rev. 19:13).

Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39:6-8); Jesus was tempted by Satan (Matt 4).

These are just a few of a similarities! Truly, Joseph’s life was a testimony to the coming Messiah! But this shouldn’t be surprising to us! After all, when Jesus was walking with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24:27 says, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”  The Bible is full of foreshadowings of the life of Christ; we just don’t recognize it!

Even Hebrews 11:4 hints at this. Speaking of Abel, it says, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.” Did you get this? Abel lived his life in such a way as to testify to God, to glorify God, to be a witness that God exists.

I suspect if we looked deeply into the lives of our favorite Bible characters, we’d see many who were a witness or a foreshadowing of the Messiah. And like these people, our lives should also point others to Jesus Christ!!

1 Peter 2:12 says, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

Our lives are not about us. We were created for the glory of the Lord. We were made by His will and for His pleasure. How pleasing it must be to God when our lives are a testimony, a witness, a foreshadowing of the great God who we serve.

So, tomorrow morning when you wake up, tell yourself, “Today I will act for the glory of the Lord.”

Amen.


Sabbath, July 13th
Do Not Quarrel on the Way
Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.” Genesis 45:24

I love this verse. It makes the story so real! Think about it! Joseph’s brothers have just found Joseph alive - and second in command in Egypt. They’ve just been given plenty of food. Remember the famine? Remember how Jacob had sent them back to Egypt to get food so they wouldn’t die? Now, not only have they been given food - without having to pay for it, they are also moving to the best land in all of Egypt for the duration of the famine. They also get to take Benjamin back to his father uninjured. Things are very good. What would they have to fight about?

I can just imagine Reuben: I told you not to hurt the boy [Joseph]! Now he’s second in command over all of Egypt. Do you know how he could get revenge? Oh, if you had only listened to me!

Then Judah chimes in: Well, at least, I stopped you from killing him.

Then Dan or Naphtali: Yeah, like you didn’t want to kill him. You just wanted the money selling him could bring.

Or Zebulun: Yeah, it was your idea to kill him in the first place.

Judah: It was not. I never wanted to hurt him.

Asher: Like selling him isn’t a death sentence - normally.

Levi: Uh, guys, who’s going to tell Dad that Joseph is still alive? Who’s going to tell him what you guys did - selling him into slavery and sending him to Egypt? I’m not telling Dad.

And another round of fighting ensues. They have the whole trip home to hash out the events of the past, bickering the whole way. Now, I don’t know that they did this. But I know how families can be. I know the little things they can bicker about - even when life is good.

Picking blackberries: Hey! This is my patch. You go get stuck somewhere else. I want these brambles to poke me.

Swimming in the pool - think about it - you’re already wet: Mom! He’s splashing me. Mom! He’s making too many waves.

Oh, the myriad of bickering points: He’s rocking his chair. He’s humming. He’s looking at me. He’s breathing my air.

I know it sounds funny, but, in reality, it isn’t! Bickering may start small, but it escalates. Pretty soon, there are harsh words spoken. Words turn into feelings which express themselves in actions. Pretty soon, you can’t stand to be around your brother.

And it’s not just families - physical brothers and sisters. It also happens in church families. Really. If it didn’t, then why do we have all of these verses?

1 John 3 :10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 4 :20-21 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly love continue.

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

1 Peter 1:22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

2 Peter 1:7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

1 Peter 2:17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

And a favorite around our household is:

Romans 12:9-10: Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Christopher once read this verse, “Love one another with brotherly affliction. . .” And although we laugh, that’s really the way we love each other sometimes - with brotherly affliction. We shouldn’t. We have been given so much. God has blessed us beyond measure! We’ve been given a Savior to redeem us from our sins. Even if we’re suffering in this life, we’re assured of a glorious future with Him forever. We have so little to complain about!

Jesus has given us a job to do - go and make disciples of all nations - much like the job Joseph gave to his brothers - go and bring all of the family to me. And like Joseph said to his brothers, Jesus could well say to each of us, “You’ve got a job to do. Don’t quarrel on the way.”


Sabbath, July 20th
And God Knew
God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.   Exodus 2:25

I was always amazed as a child that Mom knew so much. She always seemed to know who had committed the misdemeanors. She always had such wisdom to apply to situations. She always seemed seemed to know how we were feeling and why. She even seemed to know what the dogs were thinking!

When I got older and started doing stuff with my friends, Mom knew when I didn’t really want to be a part of the activities, and she knew that it was going to be hard to say no and still save face. So she instantly, or so it seemed to me, devised a way of getting me out of it. I had called home to ask for  permission to do what I really didn’t want to do. All my friends were standing there listening to me, so I don’t think my voice gave away that I didn’t really want to do it. But Mom knew. She listened to the request and instantly asked, “Do you want to do that?” I said no. She immediately said, “Well then, you don’t have permission to do that.” I was delighted! My mom was (and still is) so wise. She just knew.

As you might have gathered, I think my mom is incredible. I believe she is wise and has more common sense than any other two people I know. But I think many people are amazed at the wisdom and knowledge of their parents - except for during those teen and young adult years. But once they get past being young and stupid, it’s amazing how wise mom and dad are again, suddenly, overnight! Parents knowing is a small way that our lives typify God. God is not only wise, He defines wise. There is no one more wise than God! And knowledge? God knows everything - at least everything He wants to know. 

In Exodus 2:25, the word for “knew” is the Hebrew word yada. It’s the same word we see in Psalm 139:23: “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” It means to perceive, to understand, to acquire knowledge.

So when we look at Exodus 2:25: God saw the people of Israel—and God knew, what did God know? He knew that carnal human nature always chooses to do it wrong. He knew it was time to send Moses to rescue them. He knew that the people just wanted relief from oppression but had lost a lot of the knowledge of God’s ways. He knew that just rescuing them wouldn’t change their stiff-necked natures. He knew the incredible devastation that would be Egypt once He brought His people out. He knew how the events of the Exodus would ring down through history as an incredibly important event, which pointed to the most important event to date: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God also knew how the Exodus story would ring in our lives. We live in oppression to sin, in a life and a world that has forgotten Jesus Christ, and we want to be free. But even after God sends Jesus to rescue us and save us from bondage to sin, we haven’t been completely divested of our carnal nature. We’ve been bought by a price, by the shed blood of the Lamb of God. Yet, we still have to die daily, choosing God’s way instead of our own, bringing every thought into submission to Jesus Christ. Our baptism is just the first step in learning to live as a child of the King, just as walking through the Red Sea was only the first step in teaching the Israelites how to walk in God’s ways. They rebelled against God; we rebel against God. God let them suffer the consequences, and we suffer the consequences of our sin. But they were God’s people, and we are God’s when we accept the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

And God knows. He knows what we need to get us from where we are into His kingdom. He knows our thoughts and our hearts. He knows.

I find that extremely comforting. You know, when I was a kid, I loved Mom so much that I didn’t want to disappoint her. My devotion to her helped to keep me accountable, to keep me from making choices of which she’d disapprove. In a similar way, having a relationship with God helps to keep me accountable, helps me to make choices that will please Him - because I don’t want to impair the relationship. Yes, I really do like knowing that God knows.

And you know what, He knows that too.

Sabbath, July 27th
All in All
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. Exodus 6:3

This is one of those very confusing scriptures. Abraham, a friend of God, didn’t know Him as Jehovah? He only knew Him as El Shaddai?

El Shaddai means the “One who nourishes, supplies, satisfies, fills and makes fruitful. We see God telling Abram that He is El Shaddai, God Almighty, and Abram is to walk before Him and be blameless. (Genesis 17:2-3) Then in Genesis 28:3, when Jacob is sent to Laban to find a wife, Isaac also calls God El Shaddai.

Jehovah means “life, permanent existence, without beginning or end, the I AM.”  And there are numerous times when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all refer to God as Jehovah: Gen 24:3; Gen 24:35; Gen 24:51; Gen 26:22; Gen 27:7; Gen 27:27; Gen 28:13; Gen 28:21 . . .

Abraham also names the mountain where God provided the ram for the substitute sacrifice Jehovah-Jireh, God will Provide.

So why does Exodus 6:3 say “but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them”? There are some theories. First of all, the alternate translation from the NIV suggests it should read, “and by my name the LORD did I not let myself be known to them?” Apparently this a completely acceptable translation of the Hebrew. Another commentary (the ESV) suggests that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob didn’t fully experience God’s character the way the Israelites would as Moses led them out of Egypt. God would fulfill the covenant He made with Abraham in very profound ways: He would bring them out of Egypt (Ex. 6:6); He would deliver them (Ex. 6:6); He would redeem them (Ex. 6:6); He would take them to be His people (Ex. 6:7); He would be their God (Ex 6:7); He would bring them into the land that He’d promised to Abraham (Ex. 6:8); and He would give it to them as a possession (Ex. 6:8).

I suppose either of these explanations could be right. Or they could both be wrong. But the idea that I take away from the verse is that God is so huge that a single name cannot encompass everything that He is. Unfortunately in English, we read God, Lord, Master, God Almighty - and we miss enormously what God’s names mean! It’s truly a case of “it loses something in the translation.”

For instance (This list is taken from the NIV Archaeological Study Bible, pg. 90:

God - (Hebrew: Elohim) - names the transcendent Creator of all that exists (Gen. 1:2)

God Most High - (Hebrew: El-Elyon) - Indicates God’s superior position above all the other gods of the nations (Gen 14:18-20)

Lord - (Hebrew: YHVH, Jehovah) - the I Am, associated with God’s covenant with Israel, and speaks to the personal and relational nature of his character (Ex. 3:14-15)

Lord - (Hebrew: Adonai) - reveals God as owner and master of all his creation (Jos 3:11)

God Almighty - (Hebrew: El Shaddai) - Recalls God’s power in creating and sustaining all life (Gen 17:1)

God Everlasting - (Hebrew: El-Olam) - Emphasizes God’s immensity and eternality (Gen 21:33)

God, the One Who Sees - (Hebrews: El-Roeh) - Reveals God’s beneficent omniscience, a God who sees the needs of his people and cares enough to respond with help and deliverance (Gen 16:13).

God, the God of Israel - (Hebrew: El Elohe Israel) - Attests God’s sovereignty and providential watch and care over Israel as his elect people (Gen 33:19-20)

The LORD our Provision - (Hebrew: Jehovah-Jireh) Witnesses to God’s ability to sustain the faithful in trial and testing (Gen 22:13-14)

The LORD of Hosts - (Hebrew: Jehovah-Sabaoth) - Designates God as the creator and leader of the angel armies of heaven (1 Sam 17:45)

There are other names of God:

Jehovah-Rophe - the LORD who heals (Ex 15:26). Jesus is both the waters springing up to eternal life (John 4:13) and the Branch who purifies the water.

Jehovah-Nissi - the LORD our Banner (Ex. 17:8-15; Is 53; Rom 1:3; John 3:14; Rom 8: 31, 37; 1 Cor 15:57

Jehovah-M’Kaddesh - the LORD who sanctifies (Lev. 20:7)

Jehovah-Shalom - the LORD is peace (Judges 6:24).

Jehovah-Tsidkenu - the LORD our righteousness (Jer. 23:5-6).

Jehovah-Rohi - the LORD my Shepherd (Ps 23).

Jehovah-Shammah - the LORD is there (Ezek 48:35).

Do you see what I mean about it losing something in the translation?! Our God is huge! One name only identifies one part of who He is. One name is totally inadequate to give us the entire picture of our great and awesome God.

I can help but think of the song, “You Are My All in All.”  There’s another one, “You’re Everything to Me.” What both of these songs try to get across in their lyrics is the idea that God is the One who gives us life, every good thing, the air that we breathe. He provides all of our needs. He helps us; He rescues us; He strengthens us. He provides what is completely lacking; He does what we cannot do. He saves us. He loves us. He is our God.

I don’t know what the answer is for explaining Exodus 6:3, but I do know that as I look at the Hebrew definitions for God’s various names, I am awestruck by His majesty, and mercy, and love. Oh that I would be wholly devoted to Him that He would truly be my All in all.

Sabbath, August 3rd
He is our Peace
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Exodus 14:13-14

In the book, Where the Red Fern Grows, after Billy had gotten his coon hound puppies, he needed to train them. So he got some little traps which he set around their house. Unfortunately, Sammy, their housecat was most frequently what Billy caught in those traps. It didn’t matter where he set them, or how far away, that cat was so curious about what he was doing and what those traps were, she would stalk him and eventually end up in the trap. Billy related how, one time, Sammy was lying on the front porch with all four legs bandaged, her tail twitching in annoyance. But Sammy never learned, and eventually became so wild no one could get near her. Sammy couldn’t resist those traps.

Now the Israelites weren’t held captive in Egypt by their curiosity - like Sammy - but they were in bondage, and their taskmasters treated them cruelly. They couldn’t get out of Egypt any  more than Sammy could keep from getting caught in those traps. It took God’s strong arm to bring them out of Egypt. It took the devastating plagues which ruined Egypt’s economy. It took miraculous events which had never been seen before and would never be seen again. And it took the obedience of the people themselves in killing the lamb and putting the blood on the doorposts and lintels of their homes.

And even after they’d left Egypt, standing on the brink of the Red Sea, the people found themselves caught again, helpless to do anything to rescue themselves because the Red Sea was on one side and Pharaoh and his army were on the other.  It was very much like Billy and Sammy. Even when Billy put his traps in hard-to-reach places, Sammy still was almost irresistibly drawn - and caught - in them.

As incredible as the story of God’s rescue of the Israelites from Egypt is, it’s meaning goes far deeper for the Christian than just the historical events. You see, before we came to Christ, we were all born into slavery to sin. Like Sammy, our nature couldn’t resist, and perhaps didn’t want to resist, the pull to sin. Like the Israelites, we had no way out of the situation in which we found ourselves. We couldn’t free ourselves from bondage to sin. We needed a Savior.

But God doesn’t just wave a magic wand and declare, “O.K. now you’re saved.” He has to bring us to repentance. Sometimes our heart is hardened and we don’t want to go God’s way until He has completely broken our power - very much like the devastation of Egypt’s gods and economy. Sometimes it takes bringing a person so low, where they’ve hit rock bottom, before they will turn and look up and repent before God. And then, as God starts to move in their lives, they sometimes again find themselves caught. Like the Israelites caught between Pharaoh and the Red Sea, they stand, powerless, with death facing them on every side.

So it’s at this point, when the people are clearly, ultimately stuck - with no way out - having reached rock bottom - with death on every side, here’s where we get Exodus 14:13-14: “And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.’ ” Here’s where the story becomes incredibly fantastic for each of us: God fights for us. He opens the way through the Red Sea - the place that would otherwise have been death to us. He holds the Egyptians back - all of those people, elements of society that are so anti-God, and our carnal nature - and He tells us that He will fight for us; we have only to be still - or as the KJV says, “hold your peace.”

It’s called salvation. Jesus saves. Our Messiah is our salvation. It’s not a coincidence that the Hebrew word for “salvation” in Exodus 14:13 is yeshuwah, and  it means “help, deliverance, salvation. It conveys the idea of deliverance from distress, and the source of this salvation comes from outside the situation.” (Zodhiates study Bible).  And it’s no coincidence that the Hebrew word translated in the KJV as “peace” and in the ESV “be still” is charash. It means to be silent, to cease, to hold your peace, to be deaf and dumb. In other words, all of our actions are ineffectual to save us; we just need to stop and recognize the only One who can save us.

There’s a fantastic verse in the New Testament which sums it all up in speaking about Jesus our Messiah. Ephesians 2:14 says, “He is our peace.” Jesus Christ redeemed us through the shedding of His blood and has reconciled us to God. He is the One who has rescued us from the power and penalty of sin. He is our salvation. And He is our Peace.


Sabbath, August 10th
You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:1-6

You shall have no other gods before me. What does this mean? What gods could we put before God? Anything which we treat as more important than God becomes our god. Anything which consumes our attention more than God becomes our god. Anything to which we devote ourselves more than we do to God becomes our god. It could be money, power, prestige. It could be a false god, like Allah or Buddha. It could even be ourselves.

Really? Ourselves? Well, think about it. I know that God said you shall not bear false witness, but I’ll just tell a little white lie. God will understand. You have now set yourself up as a higher judicial standard than God. In effect, you’ve put yourself in God’s place. And it happens anytime you decide that God didn’t really mean what He said, that He’ll understand when you break His commands, and it won’t matter just this once.

It’s silly, really, to have any god before the One True God. The God we serve and claim as our God made everything else. The Bible says there was not anything made than was not made by Him. Nothing. Zilch. Nada! So, by the very definition of what God is - the supreme, the highest power, the most intelligent, the most righteous, the absolute ruler, that over which there is nothing higher - by that definition, anything that we would worship as god isn’t God, can’t be God, and can never become God.

The second commandment is very much like the first one. You are not to make an image of anything and worship it. Most of us have no problem recognizing that we’re not bowing down in front of a tree or a rose or a car. But making an idol of something God created goes farther than that. It ascribes power and glory to a created thing that only belongs to the Creator.

So what does that look like? Do you think money will make you happy? Then money becomes your idol. Do you think your house will keep you safe? Do you think your husband can satisfy your needs? Anything you put in God’s place, thinking that thing can fulfill God’s role, becomes an idol in your life.

So, do you have a god in your life before the Creator? Are you serving an idol instead of God? It’s something well worth considering because God says He’s a jealous God (Exodus 20:5) and He will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 48:11).


Sabbath, August 17th
Taking God’s Name in Vain
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:7-11

When you meet someone for the first time, you are likely to tell them your name. Once you do, your name is tied in their mind to the impression that they have of you. Everything you’ve said and done, how you look, and what you wear are evaluated by the other person. What you say and do is a reflection of who they believe you are.

If you tell them you first and last name, now your words and deeds don’t just reflect on you personally, they also reflect on your family. You’ve introduced yourself with your family name. The other person now files away information about your family based on your words and deeds.

If you tell the other person your first and last name and something else about you, like being a homeschooler, you are now reflecting on yourself, your family, and the homeschool community by your words and deeds.

If you continue on and tell the person your first and last name, that you’re a homeschooler, and that you’re a Christian, now you’re reflecting not only on yourself, and your family, and the homeschool community, now you’re reflecting on God. And that’s serious.

You see, that’s a huge part of what the third commandment means. Some people think that not using God’s name in vain means that they have to stop using God’s name as a curse word or expletive when they’ve hit their thumb with a hammer. The larger part of the commandment is the admonition to not bring dishonor to the God you claim by the deeds and words people around you see and hear.

One of the deeds that lets people know just how very much you value God is obeying the Fourth Commandment. God is the One who set aside the Sabbath day, during Creation Week, and made it holy. He’s the One who gives it as a gift to His people. Part of collection of deeds people around you see is how you obey God’s commands.

Think of it this way: suppose someone made something especially for you. It was carefully thought out. It was for your benefit. It was filled with meaning. But you took the gift and smashed it. You decided to wanted to make something else special in place of that gift. It would be a huge slap in the face of the gift-giver. It would mean you didn’t think much of his gift or of him. That’s what happens when we decide to choose whatever day we want for worshiping God - when God already set aside a day, blessed it, and gave it to us as a gift.

When you think about it, God knows if you’re taking His name in vain if you profess to be a follower of Christ, but you don’t trouble yourself to keep His commandments - starting with the very next one, the Sabbath.

Sabbath, August 24th
Is God Your God?

Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. Exodus 20:12-14

How do you honor your parents? Is it just obeying them? I don’t think so. I think you can obey without really honoring your parents. So what is it that constitutes honoring? It’s showing the respect that is due to them. You show deference. You do what you’re told. You aren’t disrespectful or disobedient.

O.K. Why? For what reason(s) should you honor your parents? Ephesians 6:2-3 says that this command is the first with a promise: that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. That’s a good reason to honor your parents. I’d like to live long in the land.

Another reason is simply because God tells you to. He has the authority. He has given your parents authority over you. You need to honor that.

The third reason is closely tied with the second: that is, when you honor your parents, you are honoring God who told you to honor them. You are obeying your heavenly Parent when you show respect and deference to your earthly parents.

What about murder? It’s easy to see that murdering someone is wrong. You don’t have the right, the authority, to take another person’s life. But what about capital punishment? What about just wars? What about putting to death that person who murdered your child in cold blood?

War is a terrible thing. But a just war is not wrong. When Jesus Christ returns, He will come as the conquering King. The very word “conquering” indicates that He will be fighting a war - and will be winning that war. Also remember that numerous instances are recorded in the Old Testament when God sent the Israelites into battle to take the land - and He fought for them.

What about capital punishment? What about the state putting a murderer to death? It’s Biblical. It’s one of the primary purposes of government. It’s God-given responsibility that the state is charged with administering justly.

So then, personal vengeance must also be Biblical. Oh, it’s Biblical, but it’s not condoned by God. God says that vengeance is His; He will repay. Even in cases of manslaughter, the cities of refuge were established where family members weren’t allowed to exact payment, i.e. a life for a life.

There’s another aspect of this commandment: when you murder, you are setting yourself up as God. He alone has the right to decide when life begins and when life ends. When you take a life, you are taking His authority upon yourself; you’re breaking the first commandment as well as the sixth!

What about committing adultery? Very simply, God made marriage between one man and one woman for life. There are certain behaviors that should only exist within that relationship.

Furthermore, this commandment also speaks to your relationship with God - the One who bought and paid for you with the price of the blood of His Son. You belong to Him and you have no business becoming involved with, messing around with, anything that is not godly. If He is your God, then He’s 100% your God. You can’t hold back 5% of your life where you mess around with things that are ungodly and disrespectful to Him as your Heavenly Parent.

As we continue talking about the ten commandments, you’ll see how each and every one of them is a reflection of how you view God, what your relationship with Him is like, and whether He truly is your God or not. After all, if He’s your God and He tells you not to do something, then if you don’t obey, is He really your God?

Think about it.

Sabbath, August 31st
A Broken Wanter
You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s. Exodus 20:15-17

These three commandment have something in common: you break them because you want something you don’t have. You steal because you want something that isn’t yours. You covet - you look at what someone else has and you want that one, the one that isn’t yours. You bear false witness because the truth is not going to get you what you want, you think - a good name, escape from consequences, or in Ahab’s case, something he coveted and then stole, a vineyard (1 Kings 21).

There’s a phrase for this intense desire to have something you don’t presently have. It’s called having a broken wanter. That means there’s something wrong with this intense desire you have. James says that we quarrel and fight, we murder and covet, because of this broken wanter, wanting the things we don’t have. James says that we don’t have because we don’t ask. Now some people might stop there and say, “Oh, all I have to do is ask God for what I want and He’ll grant it to me.” Doesn’t Matthew 7:7 say, “Ask and it shall be given to you”? Not asking might be the first thing that is wrong in the case of a broken wanter. But James says there’s more. What if you’re asking for something you really shouldn’t have. Can you say, “I really want Keith and Diane’s house” and expect that God will give it to you? Just because you ask doesn’t mean God is obligated to give something to you.

James 4:3 says it this way: When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Oh, you mean that if I’m only concerned about how I feel and what I want (being the god of my own universe) then expecting the true God to be a genie in a bottle isn’t going to work out too well for me? That’s about it. You have a broken wanter because you are acting as if you are the god of the universe and everything’s about you. You want to put yourself first. So you’ve broken the first commandment because you’re putting yourself in the place of God. Now it’s just a matter of which and how many of the other commandments you’re also going to break. If you’re a Christian, or say you’re a Christian, you’re breaking the third commandment because a broken wanter doesn’t bring glory and honor to God’s name, and so you’re taking His name in vain.

A broken wanter reflects a distrust of God, the One who made you and has redeemed you. God is the One who gives every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), the One who knows much more than your physical parents how to give good gifts to those who ask (Matt 7:11). God’s perspective is eternity; His plan is for molding each of us, forming Christ in us, purifying us as a people for His own possession, to bring each of us into His kingdom. If that’s God’s perspective, His goal, He has a plan for how to get us there. And He knows which gifts are for our benefit.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting things. God has given us a world that is full of delightful things. But we have a broken wanter when we don’t want God first. Wanting God first means wanting His ways, wanting His perspective, wanting His plan for our lives, wanting a relationship with Him. That means submission to Him, trust that His ways are best, and contentment with what we have been given.  It means wanting Him most of all.

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

Sabbath, September 7th
Fix Your Eyes on the Goal
Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.  Exodus 23:20

There are some very interesting words in this verse!

Guard is Strongs #8104 - shamar - which means to guard, protect, attend to. It’s from a primitive root which means “to hedge about as with thorns.” It’s translated 283 times as “keep,” as in Genesis 2:15 where God put the man in the garden to tend and keep it.

Way is Strongs #1870 - derek - which means a road, a way, a path; figuratively, it means a course of life. It’s used in Isaiah 2:3  . . .”Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD . . . he will teach us His ways.”

Interestingly, both of these words are found in Genesis 3:24 - where the angel was guarding the way to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. They are also found in Psalm 91:11 where God gives his angels charge over you “to guard you in all your ways.”

This phrase is particularly comforting - knowing that God is sovereign; He’s in control; if you belong to Him, whatever happens to you is allowed by Him.

The second phrase is likewise comforting. To know that there is a place, a specific place, that God has prepared especially for His people is very encouraging. We have, each of us, a deep longing and need to belong. So to know that God has prepared a place gives us incredible hope - the kind of hope that is an anchor for our souls (Hebrews 6:19)!

Can you think of any other verses which talk about God preparing a place for His people? Absolutely! John 14 talks about Jesus going to prepare a place for his disciples. But it’s not just preparing a place - because I prepare a place for the dogs to stay when we go to the Feast, and that’s not very appealing to them. They don’t like staying at the kennel. Why not? Because I’m not there. So look back at this second phrase again:

to bring you to the place I have prepared

The word “bring” is an indication that God is there in that place He has prepared. If the verse read “to take to to the place I have prepared,” it would have an entirely different feel.

Think, then, about the verse as a whole. God is sending an angel to keep you safe on the way and to guide you to the place where He is.

I don’t know who exactly the angel is. That’s rather above my pay grade. But I don’t have to know. That’s God’s area of authority. All I have to know is that God is sending me help to get me to His kingdom. Does that mean nothing bad will ever happen to you or to me? No.  It means that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His promise (Romans 8:28). We have many examples in the Bible of God’s people enduring trials, suffering. What was their response? Regardless of what happened in the lives of God’s people, they kept their eyes fixed on the goal: that place God has prepared for those who love Him (Hebrews 11).

In the same way, we would do well to keep our eyes fixed on the goal, knowing that God is giving us aid to guard our ways and bring us into His kingdom, having the assurance that God is with us. So fix your eyes upon the goal. Fix your eyes upon Jesus.


Sabbath, September 14th
Tabernacle
I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. Exodus 29:45

This word dwell is Strongs #7931 - shakan - and means to settle down, abide, dwell, tabernacle, reside.

Can you think of any other place in the Old Testament where there might be a reference to God dwelling or tabernacling with Israel?

* That’s what the tabernacle was all about.  When the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies, he was in the very presence, the throne room, of God.

* David had a heart to build a permanent dwelling place for God - a temple. But he wasn’t allowed to do it because he was a man of war. Solomon, his son, built a magnificent temple. In 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 is the record of the glory of the LORD filling the temple during the dedication ceremony. Guess when this dedication took place - appropriately -  at the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles. (2 Chronicles 7:8-9)

But God’s promise in Exodus 29:45 wasn’t complete. God was dwelling among the people, but was He their God? We’ve talked before about what it means to be God. It means the people treat Him as Sovereign. They obey Him. They trust Him. They honor Him and are wholly devoted to Him. That didn’t happen in the times of the kings, and they were taken into captivity, first the northern ten tribes and later the Southern Kingdom.

So God gives the promise again in Zechariah 2:10 that He will dwell in the midst of His people. We see a fulfillment of that in the New Testament.

* John 1:14 - The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  This word “dwell” is 4637 - skenoo. It means to encamp, to pitch a tent, to tabernacle.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became flesh and dwelt among us. But during His physical life on this earth did God’s people treat Him as God? Oh, some may have, temporarily. But Jesus Christ was abandoned by all during His trial and crucifixion.

Because of what Jesus Christ did, because He was willing to lay down His life for each of us, and because He was resurrected again, we have the incredible opportunity to have God dwell with us in a much more permanent way. 2 Corinthians 6:16 says that we are the temple of the living God and therefore God dwells within us! We have become the dwelling place of God.

But what is happening inside every Christian is just a small picture of what will eventually happen when Christ returns.

Revelation 7:15 uses that same word for “dwell” - skenoo - to state that God, who sits on the throne, shall dwell among them. The ESV says that God will shelter them with His presence. This theme is reiterated in Revelation 21:3: “Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

Soon, very soon, we’re going to be celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the pictures of this feast is the time when Jesus Christ returns as the conquering King and sets up His kingdom where He will dwell with us and will be our God. Hallelujah!

Sabbath, September 21st
God’s Presence
 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.  Exodus 33:15

Do you remember the events which generated this quote?

God had brought His people up out of the land of Egypt, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, devastating the economy of Egypt, and their pagan gods, through ten plagues. God had rescued Israel from the pursuing Egyptian army, causing the people to walk through the Red Sea on dry ground, but drowning the Egyptians as the water crashed back in upon them. God had made the bitter water sweet. God had provided manna and quail. God had brought forth water from the rock. And God had given the people the ten commandments. The people’s response: (Exodus 24:3,7) “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.”

But then, Moses was gone on the mountain for forty days.

You’d have thought that waiting for forty days would not have been the impetus which caused them to forget God’s commandments and their promise to obey those commandments. They didn’t know what had become of Moses. He’d been gone for so long. So they made a golden calf and proclaimed a feast to the LORD. God was so angry! He was ready to wipe out the entire population right then. But Moses interceded for the people. Then when he went back into the camp with Joshua, Moses broke the stone tablets upon which God Himself had written the ten commandments. Moses ground up the golden calf into powder, scattered it on the water, and made the people drink it. Then God sent a plague on the people because of their sin.

Added to all of that, God tells Moses that He is not going to go with Israel, that the LORD will not go up among them, lest He consume them on the way because of their rebellious hearts. This is disastrous! (Exodus 33:3-4) Moses and the people recognized their extreme need for God, the One who brought all of the plagues on Egypt, the One who separated the waters of the Red Sea, the One who provided direction by day, fire by night, and food and water.

Sometimes people are tempted to think that this is just Moses acting in character again - remember Moses was reluctant to go to Egypt and lead this people in the first place. He told God he didn’t talk very well. God gave him Aaron. But this is different. This is Moses accurately accessing the situation and knowing that if God isn’t with them, they’re sunk.

What about you? Do you have a mindset that if God doesn’t go with you in everything you do that you don’t want to do it? Think about that!! Why would you want to go where God isn’t with you?

Furthermore, do you make it a point to invite God into every part of your life and ask for His direction and involvement? Or do you blithely go about your day thinking you’re succeeding in your own strength, that you’re fine on your own, that you aren’t important enough to bother God with your life - and it’s going pretty well without Him anyway?

Stop.

If God loved you enough to send His Son to die for your sins, if you have entered into covenant with Him (signified by baptism and the reception of the Holy Spirit), if you have, in effect, told Him that you will live by every word that He has spoken, then God is your God. He stands at the door and knocks, waiting for you to open it and let Him fellowship with you. You’re not insignificant to Him. He gave His Son for you! You’re not insignificant to Him. Your cares and concerns are not bothersome to Him. He’s your God; you are His people.

It would behoove all of us to have the mindset of Moses: If your presence will not go with me, don’t bring us up from here.


Sabbath, September 28th
God With Us
For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. Exodus 40:38

If someone were to ask you what the book of Exodus was about, what would you tell them?

If you said that it’s about the Exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt, you’d be right. If you cited the stubbornly rebellious hearts of these people God had rescued, you’d be right again. If you said it details the giving of the Mosaic law, the building of the tabernacle and the law of the sacrifices, you’d be right again. But the overall impression I’ve gained, as we’ve made our way through the book of Exodus, is that God was with His people - even before they realized they needed Him.

Think of how the book begins: The Hebrew people multiplied in Egypt until the Egyptians grew afraid of their numbers and decided to assimilate them into the Egyptian nation by killing all of the baby boys. God knew they were going to need to be rescued. Moses was born, was rescued by the Egyptian Princess, was raised in Pharaoh’s household, and ended up in the wilderness, tending his father-in-law’s sheep on Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God. God was intimately involved in the events, preparing Moses for the time when he would need to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

I’m sure you could detail the plagues and the numerous miracles God performed as He led the people out of Egypt. But then, even more than just acting on their behalf, God gives them His law - a picture of the character of God. Furthermore, God gave minute instructions for the building of the tabernacle, the high priest’s garments, and the furnishing of the tabernacle. He gave them the privilege of having Him dwell with them. Do you fully understand how very much God was with His people?! He acted on their behalf. He dwelt in their midst. He gave them His laws so the people would act and think like God. Then to cap it all off, He gives them a physical, visual reminder that He is with them 24/7.

For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. Exodus 40:38

So God’s presence was with them day and night throughout all of their journeys!

Do you feel a little envious of the Israelites? Do you wish that God would dwell with you, tell you how to live, and provide you a physical, visible reminder that He is with you, leading and protecting you? I have good news for you. He has - if you have the eyes to see. 

What part of our lives corresponds to the tabernacle? 1 Corinthians 3:16 says that we are the temple of the living God. When you are baptized and have hands laid on you for the receiving of the Holy Spirit, you become the temple, the dwelling place of God. Then His Holy Spirit (John 16:13) works in you to lead you into all truth as you read God’s written word, which contains His commandments. So you have God’s presence and God’s law with you. But what about God acting on your behalf - miracles?

I suspect that each one of you has experienced God’s hand in your life in a powerful way. Could you prove that it was directly God’s hand? No, probably not. But just like some people try to explain away the provision of the quail as a yearly phenomena, you know that God provided them meat to eat. You know that was from God. Some people say that the people crossing the Red Sea dry shod was because there was a natural underwater land bridge. But you know that it was the power of God who dried up the sea bed for the Israelites but drowned the Egyptians as they tried to follow. In the same way, each of you has had events in your lives which you know was the hand of God. Talk about them. Remind each other of them. They are like that cloud of the LORD that was on the tabernacle by day and the fire that was in the tabernacle by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

Sabbath, October 5th
Giving to God
and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.”  Exodus 36:5

God gave Moses detailed instructions on how to build the tabernacle and then commanded that he follow them to the letter. This was to be the place where God dwelt, the place where He would meet with them. It was holy. The furnishings were holy. The people were to be holy.

Why do you think God asked the people to make voluntary contributions from their possessions for the building of the tabernacle and its furnishings? Think about it for a minute. Do you feel more ownership of something that you’ve contributed to or of something that has just been given to you? What has more value to you - something that has cost you or something that has cost you nothing? If Israel had not had a part in the construction of the tabernacle, it would not have had the same value to them.

But where did they get all of the gold and silver, the fine twined linen, the yarns? These people had been slaves in Egypt! Do you remember when God sent the final plague on the Egyptians? He told the Israelites to ask their neighbors for items of silver and gold and for clothing. They came out of Egypt with more than enough for building the tabernacle. God had provided to them what they would need, and more, How do we know that God didn’t require all of it for the building of the tabernacle? Exodus 36:5 says: and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.”

There’s a principle here for our benefits. First, God has given us everything. Everything that we have, everything that we are, is a gift from God. How do we acknowledge that it all belongs to Him, that we’re just caretakers? We give the best back to Him. The Israelites are later told to bring a tithe, a tenth, of their increase to God. But this offering, for the building of the tabernacle, was not a tithe. It was a free-will offering. So how much should you give?

Well, first let’s consider what the tabernacle is analogous to today. We are the temple of the living God. (1 Corinthians 3:16) So we have to ask two questions: What do we need to build that temple? How much of the resources that God has given us is necessary for building that temple?

To build that temple into a dwelling place for God, first we have to repent of our sins, accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, and then, with the laying on of hands, God will send the gift of the Holy Spirit. We give our lives to God. The blood of Jesus has bought and paid for us. It is a work of God. Nevertheless, if we are truly repentant and desire God’s ways, then, once we have been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, we will pursue holiness. That requires time. It requires Bible study. It requires fellowship with like-minded believers. It requires fasting. It requires meditation. It requires prayer. There has to be a willing sacrifice of what you want to do in order to seek God, to have growing relationship with Him. It requires time.

What are you willing to give? How much of your time are you willing to give to pursuing a relationship with God? Could you get to the point where the builder said that you are bringing much more than enough for doing the work that God has commanded you to do?

Romans 12:1-2 says that we need to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, that this is our reasonable and acceptable worship. Think about it. When was the last time you brought much more than enough of your time to God?

Trumpets, Monday, October 7th
Much More Than Enough
and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” Exodus 36:5

When I think of bringing a gift to God, I can’t help but think of the Wise Men who brought gifts to Jesus. What did they bring? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11) Why did they bring these gifts? No commentary is given to us in the Bible as to the reason for the gifts - other than they were coming to worship the king of the Jews. (Matthew 2:1-2) Indeed, gold, frankincense, and myrrh were kingly gifts. But Jesus never assumed His throne; He came as a suffering servant, not as the conquering King. (Phil 2:7) So why these gifts? Scholars have theorized that Mary and Joseph needed the funds these gifts would bring in order to flee to Egypt to escape Herod. Others speculate about the uses of the frankincense and the myrrh. Still, what we’re told from the pages of the Bible is that the Wise Men came to worship Jesus as king.

I think what the wise men did is a type - an event which hints at, foreshadows, what will be in the future. There is coming a day when Jesus will come again a second time. That second time, He will come, not as a suffering servant, but as the conquering King. (Revelation 19:11-16) At that time, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:9-10), just as the wise men bowed before Christ, confessing Him to be king at His first coming.

But there’s more to consider here: When did the knee bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord in the lives of Christians? We did it at repentance and baptism. We repented before Him and confessed that He is Savior and Lord of our lives. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “And because of him [God the Father] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” Look at that! When we turned our lives over to Christ, when we were given salvation through His blood, we gained righteousness, sanctification, and redemption - and one other thing: wisdom.

We aren’t given the credentials of the wise men who visited Jesus as a child in the Matthew 2 account. We just know that they came to worship and bring gifts to Him as part of their worship and confession of Jesus as king. Like those wise men, we, who have been given wisdom, also kneel before Him and confess that He is king.

Now, here’s the piece de resistance: do we have any clue anywhere as to what will happen to those who kneel and confess Jesus as Lord, to those who offer to Him everything they have in complete devotion to Him, to those who are wise? Daniel 12:3 says, “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Look at the comparison between being wise and turning many to righteousness: shining like the sky above or like the stars forever. Part of kneeling and confessing Jesus as Lord of our lives is living in service to Him. We’ve talked about Romans 12:1 before: “ . . . present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” We become wholly devoted to God. Our lives are spent in His service, wherever He leads us. Our mindset is of a servant of the living God - all the time. Does that happen automatically at baptism? No, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we learn to take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5) It’s part of the pursuit of holiness, of purifying ourselves from every defilement out of reverence for God (2 Corinthians 7:1).

So are you wise? Is shining like the stars forever in your future? There’s work to be done now in service to God. The fields are white unto harvest. We’ve a story to tell to the nations. How much of our lives are we willing to devote to the service of God so He can use us to reach whomever He wills? Are we presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him? I hope that it is said of us, as it was said of the Israelites, that we had to be restrained from bringing more to God, that what we brought was much more than enough for doing the work that the LORD had commanded us to do.


Sabbath, October 12th
Precision
In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacles was erected. Exodus 40:17

Did you know that scientists say that there is precisely enough oxygen and nitrogen mix in our air to keep all living things healthy? We are precisely far enough from the sun to benefit from its rays without being burned to a crisp like Mercury or frozen into stasis like Neptune.

Do you know how rare it is to find a flower that has an even number of petals? That’s why it almost always works out to say, “He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me!!” God designed the flowers just to give us confidence in our relationships - or not.

When you stop to enumerate the things that are just right to make life flourish in our universe, how could anyone doubt the existence of God as Creator?!

God is so precise - even when we don’t understand why. We don’t know why the tabernacle was the exact dimensions it was. We don’t know why God was so specific about the stones in the breastplate. We don’t know why God created the light in the visible spectrum to bend at the angles it does, but we sure do enjoy the rainbow it creates.

We are the incredible benefactors of a world that works beautifully and harmoniously because of the precision of God’s design.

So then we read in Exodus 40:17 that God gave precise instructions about the day to set up the tabernacle. The Israelites may not have understood why God wanted them to set up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month in the second year, however that didn’t excuse them from following His commands.

Similarly, when God gives us precise times and ways to worship Him, He adjures us to observe them. Period.

And you know what, just like we benefit from the Sun’s rays being at the precisely perfect distance, and just like we benefit from the precise refraction of light to create a rainbow, we benefit greatly from celebrating God’s Holy Days as He designed them.

As we stand here in the middle of the fall holy day season, quietly contemplate the perfect precision of God and then thank Him that He is so!


Atonement, Wednesday, October 16th
Cleanliness is Next to Godliness
When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, as the LORD commanded Moses. Exodus 40:32

I remember seeing a cute sign in a bathroom when I was a kid: Cleanliness is next to Godliness. It didn’t set well with me. I remember thinking, evaluating: Was that really true? I didn’t think so. I knew there were people who might be clean on the outside, but inside they were not so clean. They were not what I would call godly. They needed to wash their hearts from evil. (Isaiah 1:16; Jeremiah 2:22; Jeremiah 4:14)

Still the rituals of washing were important to God. In Leviticus 16, during the activities done on the Day of Atonement, the high priest washed before He put on the holy linen garments (Lev 16:4). Then, after he’d taken the blood into the Holy of Holies and after he’d confessed all of the sins of the Israelites on the head of the second goat, he took off the holy linen garments and washed again (Lev 16:24) before offering the burnt offering on the altar.

Did you notice what two things were sandwiched between the first and second washing, the two things that were done while wearing the white linen garments? First the high priest made atonement for the Holy Place, which was in the midst of the uncleanness of the people (Leviticus 16:16). The Holy Place had to purified. Second, all the sins of the people were confessed on the head of the second goat (Leviticus 16:22). The people’s sins were taken away.

Titus 2:14 talks about these two aspects of atonement as well. Jesus gave Himself to 1) redeem us from all lawlessness (the second goat taking away all iniquities) and 2) to purify for himself a people for his own possession (the first goat purified the Holy Place).

We are the temple of the living God (1 Cor. 3:16). We must purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit out of reverence for God (2 Corinthians 7:1).

We are also the priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). God promised in Malachi 3:3 that He would purify the sons of Levi - the priesthood.

This is what Jesus Christ accomplished when He gave Himself for us, to sanctify us, having cleansed us by the washing of water with the word, “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:26-27).

We, God’s people, are analogous to the temple, the priesthood, and the bride of Christ. All three must be clean, washed, purified. And all three must be righteous - the opposite of lawless, workers of iniquity. Both our redemption and our purification is accomplished in Christ.

Maybe cleanliness is next to godliness.

Sabbath, November 9th
God Speaks to Us
The LORD called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, Leviticus 1:1

The book of Leviticus is replete with the phrase “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying.” In the first six chapters, we find it seven times - already! Why was Moses so careful to write down that these were words he had received directly from the LORD? Look at the title of the book. Leviticus was written to the Levites; it is a book of holiness. God was specifying exactly for His priest and Levites how they were to act.

We, as followers of Jesus Christ, as those 1 Peter 2:9 says will be a royal priesthood, we might be tempted to desire that God would speak to us as He did to Moses. Has the thought ever crossed your mind that life would be so much more simple if God would just speak to you and tell you which way you should go? You know, here’s the way; walk ye in it (Isaiah 30:21).

Maybe He’s already said everything we need to know.

It’s kind of like children in a family. Have you ever experienced this? One child comes in with mud on the bottom of their shoes from playing outside. Mom says, “Take off your shoes before you track it all over the floor.” The child takes off his shoes. The second child comes into the house in time to hear Mom’s words, but he doesn’t take his shoes off. Mom says, “Didn’t you hear me tell Mike to take off his shoes?” What’s the second’s child’s answer? Oh, you know it! He says, “I didn’t think you meant me too.” The mom is exasperated because the logical, reasonable deduction is that you take off your muddy shoes so the floor doesn’t get dirty - regardless of who’s wearing the shoes!

But does this really apply to God and what’s in the Bible?

Do you remember the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man? It’s found in Luke 16:19-31. Many people think this parable is talking about heaven and hell. That’s a discussion for another time and place. Instead, focus on is the idea Jesus relates in the middle of this parable: The rich man wants Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers so they won’t end up in that place of torment. What does Abraham say? “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” When the rich man protests, Abraham reiterates, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

Do you get this?! God has given us everything we need in the Old Testament! Moses is the first five books of the Bible. The Prophets cover Isaiah to Malachi! Additionally, to our benefit that was not available when Jesus walked the earth, we have the gospel accounts - which record Jesus’ life and resurrection from the dead! What did Jesus say in the parable? If someone doesn’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they wouldn’t listen even if someone - even Jesus - rose from the dead! Look at how Jesus reaffirms how very valuable the Old Testament is in our process of becoming holy!

Yes, salvation is a free gift from God. But once we have entered into that covenant with Him, we are not supposed to stay there. We’re supposed to walk worthy of the calling we have received (Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:10, 2 Thessalonians 1:11) We’re supposed to go on to holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1).

Stop to consider: maybe, just maybe, this book of holiness which God gave to the Levites, the priesthood, is also a book of holiness for us who are be purified into a royal priesthood for His glory. Maybe, just because we won’t understand how it all applies in our lives, maybe there’s much more than we ever realized. Maybe Leviticus, as well as the Old and New Testament,  are contained in a book through which God speaks to each of us today.

Sabbath, November 16th
Burning Continually
Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out. Leviticus 6:13

There’s an eternal flame which burns on the Eternal Light Peace Memorial in Gettysburg National Military Park. It was dedicated seventy-five years after the end of the war to the soldiers who fought and died there. The plaque reads: “Eternal Peace in a Nation United.” The fire which is kept burning is supposed to represent the peace and unity which exists in our nation.

If you google “eternal flame” you will find dozens of memorials all over the world which have a fire burning continuously as a memorial to someone, in memory of a group of people, or to an idea.

It’s quite possible that all of these memorials and customs are built on this command in Leviticus 6:13: Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out. We’re not told why, but there are still some principles we can apply to our lives based on this verse.

First of all, in order for a fire to be kept burning continually, someone had to be diligent to gather fuel and feed the fire - even on the Sabbath.  Extrapolate that out; apply that principle to our lives today: there is never a time when our service to God takes a vacation. If we belong to Him, we are His servants even when we’re cold, tired, hungry, or when we don’t feel like it. If we’ve been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ and belong to God, then we’re God’s servants . . . continually. Revelation 7:14-15 talks about those who have come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. It goes on to say that they serve God day and night in his temple and that God dwells among them. They serve continuously.

Secondly, the fire was for the presentation of sacrifices and offerings. In addition to the sacrifices to deal with personal guilt and transgression, there were peace offerings. There were special sacrifices on the Holy Days. There were special sacrifices every Sabbath. There was a morning and evening sacrifice every day. So think about a sacrifice. It couldn’t be a sacrifice unless it cost you something. If you give away something you don’t want, that’s not a sacrifice. If you give something that is valuable to you, that’s a sacrifice. So what’s valuable to you that you can give to God? Time. Money. Your goals and desires. Your praise - because in praising God you are verbally acknowledging that He is God and you are not. He’s Sovereign and He is worthy of praise. Once you truly believe that, you’re ready to sacrifice your very life. We are to be living sacrifices to God - and Romans 12:1 says this is our reasonable service. We not only serve continuously, we serve with all of our being. We are wholly devoted to God.

There’s another thing we can learn from the fire being kept burning continually. When someone sinned, they were to bring a sin offering once they were made aware of the transgression (Leviticus 4:27-28). They didn’t have to wait until the first of the month. They didn’t have to wait until the Day of Atonement. Once they became convicted of their sin, they brought a sacrifice to deal with that sin right then. Similarly today, when we become convicted of sin, we need to go to God, repent, and have the relationship with God restored, through the blood of Christ. We know that we don’t have to wait until Sabbath or until the Day of Atonement because Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us. So the fire was, to them, a reminder to repair the relationship as soon as possible. We can apply the same principle in our lives: when we know we’ve sinned, we need to take care of it. As the saying goes, we need to keep short accounts.

It was kind of sad to be at Gettysburg and to see that flame at the Peace Memorial. It’s in memory of men who gave their lives - on both sides - and yet, our nation is not united. Eternal flames burn at the JFK memorial and numerous sites in memorial of other people who have died - and yet, what those people were like, who they were, is slowly being erased from the collective memory of all of us. These fires remind us of death. The fire on the altar, however, points to life - reconciliation with God through the blood of Christ for those who are wholly devoted to Him. It truly was, and is, an eternal flame.

Sabbath, November 23rd
Thanksgiving
And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning. Leviticus 7:15

Leviticus and Numbers have a lot of information about how to perform the sacrifices and offerings, but there’s not often a lot of why. Why were certain offerings killed in one place and others in another? Why was the peace offering offered on top of another sacrifice? Why could the peace offering not be eaten the following day? We’re not told why, but we can make some observations about this peace offering for thanksgiving:

1) Jesus is our peace. (Ephesians 2:14, Isaiah 9:6) I wonder if that’s why Luke 2:14 records the multitude of angels praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth . . .” The peace who was Jesus Christ was/is the only true peace we have! Jesus Christ is the only way to have peace with the Father - through belief in the saving power of His sacrifice and resurrection.

2) The peace offering could not remain until the next day because it would start to decay. Since Psalm 16:10 (later cited in Acts 2:27) states that God would not allow His Holy One to see corruption, this is a further indication that the peace offering indeed represents Jesus Christ. And there’s precedent for this idea of the sacrifice not remaining until the morning and the connection to Jesus: whatever remained of the Passover Lamb the next morning had to be burned (Exodus 12:10).

Perhaps this offering, like most of the other offerings and sacrifices, symbolizes what Christ does for us - for our relationship with the Father. Christ makes it possible for us to not only be reconciled to the Father, but also to have fellowship - and to be at peace - with the Father.

3) Because the peace offering could not remain until the next morning, there’s another observation we can make: each day is a new day. Each day, we need to thank God for who He is and what He’s done.

This week we’re celebrating Thanksgiving Day. That’s right and good. But we can’t give thanks to God on one day a year and call it good until Thanksgiving rolls around again next year. We’re so quick to ask for our grocery list of wants - healings and blessings. We should begin each morning with a prayer of thanksgiving to the One Who gave us everything we have and Who loves us so much He’s planning our future with Himself.

He is our peace and we need to be much more diligent to offer thanksgiving to Him that it is so.

Sabbath, November 30th
Uncleanness - aka Sin

Thus you shall separate the people of Israel from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst. Leviticus 15:31

I believe this verse is talking about identifying sin, being convicted of sin, dealing with sin, and then restoring the relationship with God. So many people have trouble identifying sin in their lives - probably because we are sinful creatures. Romans says our carnal nature is enmity against God. So even if we recognize something as sin, our heart, which is deceitful and desperately wicked, comes up with all the reasons why it doesn’t count. Let’s work through an example:

I don’t want you coming into my house with muddy shoes on.

The first time you come in with muddy shoes, I stop you, tell you to take off your shoes, and clean up the mess. You protest. “I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to come in with muddy shoes on.” Ignorance does not give you a get-out-of-jail free card. You still have to immediately take off your shoes and then clean up your mess.

So the next time you come into the house with muddy shoes, you follow your older brother in. Just because he’s walking in first doesn’t mean that you’re both not in trouble. You’re still in my house with muddy shoes on!

So the next time you come into the house with muddy shoes, you tell me, “But I’m only going to the bathroom. I’m going right back out.” O.K. but you’ve still brought muddy shoes into the house. Just because you’re only spreading mud over a short distance, for a short time, because it’s convenient for you doesn’t mean that you haven’t brought mud into the house. Now you immediately take off your shoes and you clean up the mud.

So the next time you come into the house with muddy shoes, you wait until you know I’m gone to the store. You know what the rule is, but since I’m not home, you ignore the rule. Now it doesn’t matter whether you walk just a little ways or all over the house. When I get home and I see mud, I will track down the culprit.

So the next time you come into the house with muddy shoes, you say, “I know you don’t like muddy shoes, but I’ll clean it up later and I’ll wash all the dishes for you.” Does that make it okay? Can you make the infraction go away by doing something to make up for it? No, you can’t. You see, when you bring mud into the house, it is very hard to completely get rid of. Even though my hardwood floors are durable, they get scratched, and there are cracks and crevices into which the mud can be ground. You can’t completely eradicate the effects of the mud when you scrub the floor. In addition, by doing what you know I don’t like, you are telling me you don’t really care about my feelings and therefore, you don’t value the relationship very much. You would rather break my rules because you want to - and then try to buy me off later. It doesn’t work. Oh, I’ll give you extra chores to do - but that’s punishment to try to make it so painful for you to break my rules that you’ll stop doing it.

So the next time you come into the house with muddy shoes, you’re riding a relationship high. We’ve enjoyed one another’s company recently. We’ve been very close. So you say, “I know you love me so much that you won’t mind if I just walk across the floor with mud on my shoes.” Does a close relationship now give you license to break my rules? No! It just causes a breach in our relationship!

O.K. So do you see some of the excuses we use to avoid dealing with sin? Ignorance, other people, short duration, convenience, no one will see, works, or presuming on the relationship. These are the same excuses we use in other situations too - and they work about as well.

Let’s go to a court of law. The rule is you must tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Well, right off the bat, the judge has taken away your first excuse: you can not plead ignorance! But what if you know someone else is lying to the court, can you lie too? Oh you can lie, but if you are caught, you’re still in trouble. What if you think that you’re a good enough liar that no one will know? That’s kind of like walking through the house when I’m gone. There’s still evidence, and if you get caught, you will be prosecuted.

What if you try lying just a little bit? Or because you’re embarrassed to tell the whole truth? It’s still a lie. You’ve sworn at the very beginning to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If the judge can prove that you’ve lied, even just a little bit, he’ll throw the book at you!

What about works? Can you lie in a court of law, but then go give the person you hurt $50? Does that make it right? Does that negate the fact that you lied? No.

What about presuming on the relationship? What happens if you know the judge - if you just happen to be his niece or nephew? Can you lie and not pay the consequences - just because he loves you so much? No! There’s not a free pass to lie because you happen to have a good relationship with the judge. In fact, if you do lie, you’ll probably ruin the good relationship you have with the judge. Because you’re related to him, your lie damages his reputation as well.

Now that we’ve gone through some examples in the physical life, try applying the same logic, the same excuses, to sinful things in life. Take anything: stealing, bearing false witness, committing adultery, breaking the Sabbath, eating unclean foods, murder, taking God’s name in vain. Take any sin and try applying the excuse. Is it okay to steal just a little thing? No. If it’s stealing, it’s stealing. What about breaking the Sabbath? “I’m only working into the Sabbath 30 minutes. God’ll understand.” What about murder or abortion? “What if I do 30 hours of community service at a pregnancy resource center?” Does that cancel out the fact that I took a life?

Now, let’s deal with one other area of sin - being salt and light in this world. Let’s suppose you bring a friend over to the house and you are outside playing. Your shoes get all muddy. What are you going to do when you get ready to come inside? You’re going to tell them to take off their muddy shoes. You’ve already been through the learning process. You know that ignorance is not going to keep me from being upset that someone is in the house with muddy shoes. Just coming in a little ways is not going to work either. You know what I expect. So you have a decision to make: are you going to tell your friend what’s expected and possibly risk the friendship, or are you just going to let him experience the displeasure of Mom? If you truly like this person, you educate your friend because you want him to be welcome in our home. You want me to give you permission to invite him back.

We are, if we call ourselves Christians (followers of Christ), salt and light in this world. When the opportunity arises, what do we do? Do we tell the person next to us what is sinful in God’s sight? Or do we just keep quiet? Do we more concerned about their relationship with God or with our comfort level in confronting them? Some people say that it’s not the business of Christians to tell other people how to live.

Look again at this verse in Leviticus 15:31. Moses and Aaron were charged with keeping the people separate from their uncleanness lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling God’s temple which was in their midst. From the time Aaron was high priest, this was the job of the priests - educating the people to know God’s ways, to identify sin, to be convicted of sin, and to deal with sin so that they could have a relationship with God. We are, according to 1 Peter 2:9, a holy priesthood. God has called us to be His servants. As such, we have a responsibility to call sin sin. How to do that is a whole other subject.

Right now it’s enough to realize that there is no excuse for sin. Recognize it for what it is, repent and stop doing it. You don’t want to die in your uncleanness.

Sabbath, December 7th
Who is My Neighbor?
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:18

There’s a lot packed into this one verse! Let’s start with definitions: Vengeance is getting even, settling the score, for a personal injury, real or imagined. God never gives an individual the authority to take vengeance. Think about what happens when a person takes vengeance. He gets even and then some. Words become a push. A push becomes a shove. A shove becomes a fist fight - until a knock-down, drag-out, all-out war ensues.

Furthermore, vengeance is not justice. Justice is the prerogative of the government, working as God’s agent, and ultimately, God’s prerogative. God says, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay” (Romans 12:19). Vengeance in the hands of the individual is not usually justice, but in God’s hands vengeance is just.

O.K. So we don’t take vengeance. We leave it to God. But God goes on to say that we can’t bear a grudge either. That’s hard. We can often keep ourselves from taking vengeance overtly, but grudges have to do with our relationship with the other person. A grudge is the persistent feeling of ill will, anger, or hatred towards another person because of the injury received, perceived or real. We think that the grudge is just in our minds, so it’s okay if we don’t deal with it. The problem is that our ill will affects our relationship with that person - and they may not even know why. Grudges keep us from truly forgiving them for the wrong we received. Matthew 6:14 says that if we don’t forgive our brother his trespasses, neither will our Father forgive our trespasses. God takes holding a grudge that seriously!

In fact, God wants His people to love each other as they love themselves. Did you get that? This verse is in the middle of Leviticus. It’s been a part of the way God expected His people to conduct themselves from the beginning!

But, from the beginning, people have tried to find loopholes in God’s commands. In Luke 10, a lawyer asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what he thought he had to do. When the lawyer answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27), Jesus told him that was the right answer. But the lawyer wanted further clarification: “Who is my neighbor?”

That’s what we say to ourselves when we read Leviticus 19:18.  . . . but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  We think, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered the lawyer, and us, with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus basically told him that your neighbor is anyone with whom you come into contact. In other words, who isn’t your neighbor?

From the beginning, God has been concerned with relationships - repairing the damage that is done because of our carnal, human nature. He tells us that we can’t take vengeance - it’s not our right; we can’t bear a grudge - we must forgive if we want God’s forgiveness; and we have to love our neighbor - all of the people around us - as ourselves.

It’s worth some thought: who isn’t my neighbor?

Sabbath, December 14th
The Commandments of God
These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. Leviticus 27:34

Have you ever been with some friends when one of them said, “Hey, do you know how to play ____________?” When you say that you don’t, they enthusiastically tell you they’ll teach you. They launch into the rules, but fairly quickly say, “I’ll just tell you as we go along.” So you start, and they keep adding rules as situations come up, and you have a great time. You’ve learned a new game.

I don’t like learning new games that way. I like getting the instructions out, reading through all of them, and then starting the game. As I come upon a situation and I don’t remember the rule, I refer back to the instruction sheet. That way I know I’ve read all the rules; there won’t be a rule that I’ve missed because the situation never came up.

God’s commandments are like that. If you notice in this verse, the very last thing that is recorded in the book of Leviticus is that all of these commandments we just read (the entire book of Leviticus) was spoken to Moses while he was on Mt. Sinai with God. Do you remember how the book of Leviticus starts? It’s God speaking to Moses. These two verses are like bookends on the entire book. God said these words. This was not a case of, “I’ll explain as we go along.” God gave them everything they needed.

My children like learning new games by telling new rules as you get into situations. It helps them remember the rules better. And that’s okay for a game. But what do you do when it’s life and death, blessing and cursing? What do you do when keeping the rules means maintaining your relationship with God and drawing closer to Him? What do you do when you’re playing for keeps? You want to know all of the rules up front. That’s what God did for His people. He told them all of the rules before they ever left Mt. Sinai. He basically gave them the instruction manual for making life work before they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. He didn’t keep adding laws as they went along.

I don’t know about you - but this changes my perspective a little on the book of holiness that we’ve just finished reading. It helps me see it as a whole, as an instruction manual that needs to be read at the beginning of your journey of pursuing holiness. And when you know you’ve taken a wrong path, it’s okay to refer back to the book.

Sabbath, December 21st
The Cross-Eyed Bear

This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things. Numbers 4:4

Have you heard the story of the mom walking by her daughter’s bedroom? She peeked in to see her daughter, with all the stuffed animals lined up in rows, delivering a 4 year-old’s rendition of last week’s sermon. The mom stifled a giggle and walked away shaking her head when she heard her daughter introduce one of her stuffed animals to the rest of the “congregation” as the cross-eyed bear.

The “cross I bear” made as much sense to that little four year-old as it does to many unbelievers. The little girl filtered what she heard from the pastor the best she could - and it came out “cross-eyed bear.” Similarly, unbelievers cannot fathom what it means to bear a cross and why Christians would willing to do so.

The phrase comes from Jesus’ declaration, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).

What is this cross?

Jesus gave a little more information in Luke 9:23-25: “Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (NIV)

Taking up your cross involves denying yourself. It’s the process of dying to sin. Romans 6:6 says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” In other words, it’s the process of denying our desires and agenda “to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

That’s hard. Our carnal nature still wants preeminence. It’s the battle described in Romans 7:14-25. It takes persistent discipline and whole-hearted devotion to God. The Holy Spirit, working in us to grow that new creature in Christ, will not beat us over the head to do God’s will. The Holy Spirit guides and teaches, but we still have to respond. We have a choice to make, daily, of choosing God’s ways and not our own. As we choose God’s way, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we crucify the carnal nature.  And that’s our cross.

This idea of picking up and carrying something - and following Christ - is not exclusive to the New Testament. Look at this verse in Numbers 4:4:This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things. The sons of Kohath carried the ark of the covenant, the lampstand, the table of the bread of the Presence, the golden altar, and the bronze altar. These most holy things were a burden; they were heavy; they required commitment, dedication, persistence, and reverence. Carrying these most holy things was not easy, but it was an incredible privilege God assigned to them.

Similarly, our walk, the cross we bear, is not easy, but it is an incredible privilege to have been chosen by God. As we walk the path He’s ordained for each of us, it requires commitment, dedication, persistence, and reverence. We are living witnesses of the holiness of our God as we carry our cross. In other words, you’re introducing the people around you to the God you serve.

To whom have you introduced the “cross-eyed bear”?


Sabbath, December 28th
Arise, O LORD
And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.”  Numbers 10:35

My children watch the three Narnia movies over and over: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Last night, as we were watching Prince Caspian again, I was so struck by the theme running through it. You see, every time one of the characters tried to do something on their own, in their own strength, according to their wisdom - apart from Aslan - it didn’t turn out well. When no one believed Lucy that she’d seen Aslan, and so they wouldn’t follow her across the gorge, they ended up wasting time and retracing their steps. When Peter decided they’d waited for Aslan long enough; it was time to attack the castle, a lot of Narnians died. When Knickabrick decided to get the power they needed through the White Witch, a dangerous course was narrowly averted by Edmund, who’d had prior experience trying to get power through the White Witch. Woven throughout the movie is the theme that if you are not following Aslan, if you’re not looking for him, if you’re trying to do things your way, it is not going to go well. Rather, you have to trust him.

Similarly, Israel had seen God’s almighty hand, His divine power and absolute authority. They had seen it and experienced it, over and over, from the time God sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt. They’d seen and experienced the plagues. They’d seen and experienced the miracles of crossing the Red Sea dry shod, the manna, the water from a rock, and the bronze serpent, to say nothing of the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. And yet, they complained and grumbled and rebelled over and over again. They just didn’t want to trust God - to trust and obey Him with all their hearts.

So now, when Moses speaks this blessing, it’s been a year, a month, and six days since God delivered them from Egypt on that first Passover. They are getting ready to move, to leave Mt. Sinai for the first time. They have their duties assigned. They have their marching order. They have the goal of the Promised Land before them. Now, Moses speaks a blessing. Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you. 

This is a very odd blessing. Why would Moses say to Jehovah to arise? Why would Moses speak a benediction that God’s enemies would be scattered? Like God’s enemies could stand before God. Inconceivable! Absolutely ludicrous! There is no one who can prevail against our God. He is the Almighty. He is the Creator and King of the Universe. So, really, the blessing isn’t Moses blessing God. It’s Moses identifying Israel with God. He’s subtly saying that they want to go where God is going; if God doesn’t go with them, they don’t want to leave this place. However, they do believe God is going with them, but they also know God doesn’t always make the path easy. The road ahead may lead to encounters with enemies and those who hate both God and His people. Moses is gently beseeching God that the way won’t be fraught with danger; nevertheless, whether it is or not, Israel wants to go where God goes.

What about you? Do you want to go where God leads you, regardless of the enemies before you, the hatred you may encounter, the difficulties in the way? Do you truly comprehend how crucial it is that you trust God despite the troubles you face? Do you truly comprehend how crucial it is that you choose to go God’s way rather than trusting your own strength, your own wisdom, your own desires? Do you truly comprehend how crucial it is that you go with God - no matter what?

In the end, Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, and Prince Caspian trust Aslan and they are dramatically victorious - despite the many difficulties and sorrows they endured on the way to that victory. Similarly, Jesus our Messiah will be dramatically victorious - and if we are with Him, if we trust Him despite the many difficulties and sorrows we endure, we will see and experience that victory with great joy! I don’t know about you, but I want to go with God! I want to say: Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you!