Exodus chapters 31-33

Somehow, I managed to lose the application portion of the study notes in my last several posts. It has returned in this one and should remain. For clarity and spelling I write these studies on a word processor then paste them to the website. The format for the study is in the word processor and I forgot the “apply what I’ve learned” portion before. Now it’s there so it should remain.

God’s message to me: God is always with me. I need only picture Him resting in the pillar of fire and smoke somewhere nearby to understand that He is always looking over me. This should be my comfort because He is there to protect me. It should be my fear because He will not fail to notice when I sin.

Promises: God does not forget His promises. The children of Israel did an incredibly stupid thing just a few dozen feet from where they could see God was sitting. Despite the fact that they deserved death God spared them to fulfill his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In truth, God didn’t need Moses to remind Him of that promise but, the principle of prayer is set here. God does know our need and His own promises but that doesn’t mean we have no need to pray for them to be fulfilled. It maintains a rapport with God.

Commands: Keep the Sabbath. The first chapter of this study is completely about the Sabbath. In fact the Sabbath keeps coming up. God created the world in 6 days and on the seventh day he rested. He made that day a Holy day of rest. He maintained his creation, He designed the livestock so that farmers would still have to milk the cows and collect the eggs, but the serious work, planting fields, building shelters etc. , this work He commanded should cease on the Sabbath that the day be a day of rest.

Timeless principles: 2 points. 1) A day of rest is vital to the body for the purpose of stress relief. By giving ourselves a time to decompress we extend our lifespan. 2) There are 7 days in a week. Each day is 24 hours. That gives us 168 hours in a week. We sleep 7-8 hours a day that leaves 16-17 hours available to work. Giving up that 16-17 hours is giving a tithe of the hours in the week to God.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: FIRST, keep the Sabbath. Second act as if God is nest to me all the time, because He is.

more to learn for in-depth study: SABBATH=Saturday or Sunday? The Sabbath is the last day of the week. The Jewish week begins and ends the same as everyone else’s so the Sabbath is Saturday. The Jewish day begins at Twilight and ends at the next Twilight so the Sabbath begins around 6pm Friday and ends about 6pm Saturday. The Apostles and disciples of Christ began to change the day of worship to Sunday in memory of the resurrection. Matthew 28 “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week... And the angel answered and said unto the women ’Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. he is not here: for He is risen, as He said...”

Some would argue that it is improper to worship on Sunday when the Sabbath is Saturday. For those who cannot reconcile the idea I would argue that it makes a good case for the two day weekend. Resting on the Sabbath and worshiping on the first day, or on both days. Shouldn’t worship be an everyday habit? Remember that the key is God set an example from the beginning of the world. Showing that a day of rest is necessary and commanding us to take one as well. Consider that the priests of Israel and pastors of our churches work on Saturday or Sunday, depending on our religion. The Levites replaced the city guard and military units on the Sabbath so that they could take a day of rest. For these ministers of God, the day of rest had to come at another time so that they could do God’s work on His Holy day.

How Stupid Can People Get: The children of Israel watched as the Lord sent plagues against Egypt. They Were led by God in the form of a pillar of fire and smoke. They watched as He drowned the Egyptian army in the sea. They followed Him, in the form of the pillar, to the mountain where He gave Moses the law. God rested on the mountain so that the mountain appeared to be engulfed in fire and smoke. He spoke to the nation from the mountain so that the entire nation was made afraid and begged Moses to speak with Him and relay the message because they were afraid to hear God. Moses went into the smoke to receive the message of God and while the Fire and Smoke that marked God’s position rested on the mountain and the Light of God’s glory shone within that fire and smoke the Children of Israel decided to make an Idol.

God is with us everywhere and all the time. Nothing we do is hidden from Him, ever. This particular case was especially ridiculous. The Israelites knew God was there. They had heard Him speak and the entire mountain shook at the sound of His voice. They had seen the wonders and miracles. They watched as the Pillar became a smoky cloud for shade in the day and returned to being fire for light and warmth at night. This happened every single day. There was not a reason in the world that they would think anything other than that God was on that mountain looking over them.

Standing at the feet of God(for all intents and purposes), they demanded that Aaron take over(because Moses was gone), that he make them an idol to worship, and that he lead them in worshiping the idol. Then they not only worshiped and had a feast for and sacrificed to a false god and idol but, in the obvious presence of the Almighty God that had delivered them from so much they gave the idol credit for their salvation. No wonder God wanted to kill them all. He settled for having the Levites kill about 3000 of them.

The first copy of the law was written on stone tablets by the hand of God and, having encouraged God not to destroy the Israelites in anger, Moses threw a fit and broke the tablets. The second set of tablets were carved by Moses. In both cases it was a WRITTEN RECORD. Just a reminder that we are not dealing with things that were written hundreds of years after they happened.l.,,,,,,,,

Exodus chapters 29-30

Sanctify the priests

God’s message to me: God is righteous, holy and just. He cannot abide in the presence of sin. Everything placed before him in the temple had to be consecrated to Him. Cleansed and atoned for then anointed to His service.

Promises: No sin is too great for God to forgive. He has prepared an atonement for our sin and a path to sanctify us to His service.

Commands: That which is meant for God is meant for Him alone. It is not intended for general use by anyone else. Using those things meant for His service and glory in a manner that does not serve and glorify Him is wrong.

Timeless principles: There is an idea I come across pretty regularly. People think that their tithes and offerings can be delayed when they need to use them elsewhere. The idea is that they can always pay it back later. These passages make it clear that these things are meant for God and putting them to other use is wrong. It is difficult to live up to this when the bills are due and the gas prices skyrocket and the kids need new things for school but, Serving God first and foremost will allow God to help you through all the rest.

more to learn for in-depth study: It’s difficult, for us, to understand all the sacrifices and atonement rituals of the Old Testament. God provided rules of atonement and blood sacrifice to atone for the sins of those people. When Christ died on the cross he became the ultimate sacrifice. A sinless man was executed in brutal fashion to make up for all our sins, past, present and future. Because of Jesus Christ, we no longer need all these rituals and devices.

There are some basic principles that still exist today. The Tithes and Offerings we bring to God at our churches are to be used for the maintenance of our church and to provide for our ministers. In later portions of the Old Testament we will see that the temple is neglected as the priests tend their fields and businesses to provide for their families and them selves. This was a result of the failure of the people to bring their offerings to God and thereby support their ministers.

It is true that some churches are small and don’t have the budget to provide for the ministers needs. In this case it is incumbent upon believers, not only to find more ways to support their ministers but, also, to grow the church so that it can better support them. God didn’t call them to a life of poverty and the constant need to find other ways of supporting themselves. He called them to serve Him, teach His word, Lead His people and build His church. God calls the church body to provide for the needs of it’s ministers so that they can concentrate on their jobs.

Your pastors teach the word, manage the church and it’s finances, pray with and tend to the sick, perform your weddings and funerals, lead the prayer ministries, oversee the efforts of the other teachers and workers in the church, and continually go to God in prayer and study to better serve you by serving Him. Is it to much to ask that they have a nice home for their family, good clothes to wear when they are representing God and your church family, Food on their table and provision for the ministries they oversee?

Does your church provide food or supplies to the needy? Does it have outside ministries in the hospitals and prisons? Do they provide Sunday school and other teaching programs? Do they have fellowship meals and socials for the fellowship of the saints? How do you expect these common ministries to be fulfilled if your pastor has to do all that and hold down a full time job to feed his family? How can the church prosper if the pastor is working 40 hours a week to provide for his family and another 40 to keep up the church? When is your minister supposed to spend time with his children?

The most important message here is that we are to support the church and the ministers so that the body of believers can be properly served.