Devotions

responding to elaborate grace

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 35:4-19

⁴ Moses told all the congregation of the people of Israel, “This reflects what the LORD has commanded.⁵ Take from among yourselves a contribution to the LORD. Whoever has an inclined heart, let him bring the LORD’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze;⁶ blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats’ hair,⁷ tanned rams’ skins, and goatskins; acacia wood,⁸ oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense,⁹ and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the sacred pouch.¹⁰ “Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded:¹¹ the tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its hooks and its frames, its bars, its pillars, and its bases;¹² the ark with its poles, the mercy seat, and the veil of the screen;¹³ the table with its poles and all its utensils, and the face bread;¹⁴ the lampstand also for the light, with its utensils and its lamps, and the oil for the light;¹⁵ and the altar of incense, with its poles, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle;¹⁶ the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its utensils, the basin and its stand;¹⁷ the drapes of the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court;¹⁸ the pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the court, and their cords;¹⁹ the finely worked garments for serving in the Holy Place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, for their service as priests.”

responding to elaborate grace

Moses continues to explain every aspect of the ten words that are written on the covenant tablets. The practical outworking of the commands relating to their relationship with God[1] includes the tabernacle worship. So, Moses explains how these wandering Israelites can show their devotion to God in that context.

1. It took willing hearts. Although the requirements for the tabernacle were precise and specified, no one was singled out and commanded to give. These contributions had to come from those who were moved by the Holy Spirit.

2. It took reciprocal love. The LORD challenged those who feared him most to love him. They needed to renew their minds, so that they could respond to his grace rather than his judgment. This event was right after one of the most vile of transgressions committed by the Israelites as a whole: the golden calf incident. It took faith and courage to respond to the LORD in love.

3. It took elaborate worship. The service in the tabernacle was an amazing and complicated spectacle. Each item of furniture and each garment of the attending priests was a teaching tool. It is right and proper to respond to elaborate grace with elaborate worship.

LORD, thank you for your elaborate grace. Teach us how to worship you in ways that reflect your love and grace, and befit your awesomeness.

[1] particularly Exodus 20:2-7.

Posted in giving, love, ministry, worship | Tagged Exodus 35 | 1 Comment

sacred rest

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 35:1-3

¹ Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel and said to them, “These are the words that reflect what the LORD has commanded you to do.² Work should be done for six days, but on the seventh day you should have a Sabbath of sacred rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it should be put to death.³ You should kindle no fire in all your homes on the Sabbath day.”

sacred rest

Believers in Christ are under no obligation to cease working one day a week. Neither this command, nor the death penalty associated with it are repeated in the New Testament as an obligation for Christians. Instead, the apostles allowed those who wished to hold a Sabbath to do so, but told them not to insist that others do so.[1]

But the principle of the Sabbath is not one that anyone should overlook. The LORD rescued the Israelites from painful and humiliating labor as slaves in Egypt. He commanded them to celebrate that rescue by ceasing to labor one day a week. That one day of rest is to be a sacred time, one in which the redeemed reflect upon the grace and mercy of their redeemer.

Setting aside time to reflect upon our deliverance and honor the One who redeemed us from slavery to sin is a good idea for anyone at any time.

LORD, thank you for rescuing us from bondage to a cruel taskmaster.

[1] Romans 14:5-6.

Posted in Sabbath, Sabbath keeping, worship | Tagged Exodus 35 | 1 Comment

intently gazing on the glory

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 34:27-35

²⁷ And the LORD told Moses, “Rewrite these words, because these words show that I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”²⁸ So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.³⁰ Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.³¹ But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.³² Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them everything that the LORD had told him in Mount Sinai.³³ And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.³⁴ Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded,³⁵ the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

intently gazing on the glory

The Israelites initially saw Moses’ face and were rightly afraid. Moses used the veil from that time onward, until the glow faded. He removed it every time he returned to the meeting tent to talk with God again. The veil was not to protect Moses, but to protect the people from the consequences of intently gazing on the glory of the LORD as a rebellious, stiff necked people.[1] It was a reminder that the covenant and the relationship it governs is not quite what it could have been.

How different is what Paul says about new covenant believers. He says “we all, with unveiled faces are continuously reflecting the glory of the Lord, and being transformed into that same image from one level of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”[2] Like Moses, we can remove our veils, because our meeting tent time is continuous. But unlike Moses, our glow is not fading away, because we can intently gaze upon the glory of God from now on.

LORD, we want your presence – not occasionally, but perpetually.

[1] see Scott J. Hafemann, Paul, Moses, and the History of Israel. (London: Paternoster, 2005).

[2] 2 Corinthians 3:18.

Posted in discipleship, Moses, prayer, relationship with God, witness | Tagged Exodus 34 | 1 Comment

retrying the covenant

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 34:10-26

¹⁰ And he said, “See, I am making a covenant. In front of all your people I will do miracles, such as have not been done in all the land or in any nation. And all the people among whom you reside will see the work of the LORD, for it is an terrifying thing that I will do with you.¹¹ “Observe what I command you this day. See, I will remove from you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.¹² Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or else it will become a trap in your middle of your camp.¹³ You should tear down their altars and break their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim¹⁴ (because you should worship no other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),¹⁵ because when you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they lust after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice,¹⁶ and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters lust after their gods and make your sons lust after their gods.¹⁷ “You should not make for yourself any gods out of cast metal.¹⁸ “You should keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you should eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, because in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.¹⁹ All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep.²⁰ The firstborn of a donkey you should redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you should break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you should redeem. And none should appear before me empty-handed.²¹ “Six days you should work, but on the seventh day you should rest. In plowing time and in harvest you should rest.²² You should observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.²³ Three times in the year should all your males appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel.²⁴ Because I will remove nations from around you and enlarge your borders; so no one will seek your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.²⁵ “You should not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning.²⁶ You should bring the best of the firstfruits from your soil into the house of the LORD your God. You should not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

retrying the covenant

Moses had asked the LORD to retry the covenant – the one that had not even been ratified before the Israelites broke it with a frenzy of uncontrolled idolatry. The LORD consented to retry the relationship. But he also warned that the temptation to rebel and lust after other gods would remain among the Israelites.

The LORD could have “zapped” the Israelites and forced them to never think about betraying him. But he chose not to. He wanted a real relationship, based on shared trust and mutual responsibility. He did not want puppets he could manipulate to his own liking, nor did he want his people manipulating him. A mutual covenant between God and his people was the LORD’s idea. It still is.

So, the sovereignty/freedom paradox continues to this day. God is in control of everything, and we are responsible to him. The Bible teaches both truths. Trusting God does not require our figuring that paradox out.

LORD, we surrender to your new covenant through Christ. Thank you for drawing us to yourself.

Posted in relationship with God, responsibility, sovereignty of God | Tagged Exodus 34 | 1 Comment

renewal plea

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 34:1-9

¹The LORD told Moses, “Cut yourself two stone tablets like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.² Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and station yourself there for me on the top of the mountain.³ No one should come up with you, and let no one be seen anywhere on the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.”⁴ So Moses cut two stone tablets like the first. And he got up early in the morning and climbed Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets .⁵ The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.⁶ The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”⁸ And Moses instantly bowed his head toward the ground and worshiped.⁹ And he said, “If now I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord walk among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

renewal plea

Moses sought a renewal of the covenant originally planned. The LORD had created an opportunity for Moses to seek that renewal, and Moses was ready. The LORD had reminded Moses of his forgiveness and unfailing grace and mercy. So, Moses naturally asked that the original contract be restored and that the Lord walk among his people as before. If this had never happened, there would not have been a conquest of the promised land.

In our lives today, we should expect events to unfold which have the potential to open new opportunities for us to draw closer to the LORD. Rather than just accept our forgiveness as “done deal” and going on with our lives as if the LORD has no other use for us, we should strive for a closer walk. His mercies are new every morning, so we should seek that renewal. I’m not talking about a single “second blessing” of empowerment or sanctification. I’m talking about a constant refilling and cleansing that comes from the Lord walking among us. That is the kind of life we can live in Christ.

LORD, come to us again, and renew and restore us daily.

Posted in dependence upon God, discipleship, renewal | Tagged Exodus 34 | 1 Comment

wanting more

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 33:18-23

¹⁸ Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”¹⁹ And he said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will show grace to whom I will show grace, and will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for a man should not see me and live.”²¹ And the LORD said, “See, there is a place by me where you should stand on the rock,²² and while my glory passes by I will put you in a crevice of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you should see my back, but my face should not be seen.”

wanting more

Moses and some of the Israelite elders had already seen God from a distance.[1] But no one had ever seen God face to face. Since Moses was now privy to one-on-one time with God as a mediator for the Israelites, he enjoyed fellowship with his almighty creator. Anyone who has ever experienced this naturally wants more. So, Moses boldly asked for a glimpse of the LORD’s cheeks.

But (as is his privilege) the LORD said no. The LORD had a plan to make his presence known through the visible entrance of his only Son.[2] Until then, his people will have to settle with other ways of him revealing himself to them:

He will display his goodness.
He will proclaim his name.
He will show grace (unmerited love) to some.
He will manifest mercy (unmerited forgiveness) to some.

So, Moses did not get his prayer answered directly that day. Instead, the LORD arranged a glimpse under controlled conditions. It was a taste of what is to come. Moses would have to be content to see a poor reflection of his God.[3] One day all Israel would see him face to face. One day we will too.

LORD, we accept the temporary limits you set for our relationship with you. But we, like Moses, long to see you face to face.

[1] Exodus 24:10.

[2] John 1:18.

[3] 1 Corinthians 13:12.

Posted in faith, Jesus Christ, Moses, relationship with God | Tagged Exodus 33 | 1 Comment

a prayer to be different

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 33:12-17

¹² Moses told the LORD, “See, you told me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in my sight.’¹³ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now how you do things, so that I may know you in order to find grace in your sight. Consider that this nation is also your people.”¹⁴ And he said, “My face will go with you, and I will give you rest.”¹⁵ And he said to him, “If your face will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.¹⁶ For how should it be known that I have found grace in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are different, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the land?”¹⁷ And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name.”

a prayer to be different

Moses’ prayer is the prayer of every godly leader who has tried to make a difference in the world. He wants himself and his people to be different from those who do not know the LORD. If that difference is not there, then there is no sense going on.

This is an intense and challenging time for Moses and Israel. They had just gone through a horrible ordeal because of the rebellion at Sinai. Moses wants some assurance that all the time and life that he has invested will actually matter. He reasons that if God has truly saved him by grace, and called the people of Israel by grace, then it should produce a difference in their lives.

The difference begins here. It starts with asking the LORD who called us to turn us into the people he wants. It is seeking the inheritance that is promised because of God’s grace. We came to the LORD just as we are, expecting forgiveness through Christ. But we cannot stay there. We strive to be changed by that grace.

God’s answer to Moses is reassuring. He said “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name.”He will finish what he started.

LORD, we thank you for the grace that called us to yourself. We trust that same grace to change us into the different people you want us to be.

Posted in discipleship, leadership, Moses, sanctification | Tagged Exodus 33 | 1 Comment

reverent fellowship

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 33:7-11

⁷ That was when Moses had taken the tent and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he had called it the meeting tent. And everyone who wanted to inquire of the LORD would go out to the meeting tent, which was outside the camp.⁸ Whenever Moses had gone out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent.⁹ When Moses had entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses.¹⁰ And when all the people had seen the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door.¹¹ And the LORD had spoken to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not leave the tent.

reverent fellowship

God’s people had sinned greatly, and there would be consequences. Some of the consequences we have already seen: an immediate violent death of about 3000 souls at the hands of the obedient Levites, and a plague that would kill even more. But another consequence is seen here in this passage. The presence of the LORD can no longer reside in the tabernacle, because it is in the midst of the camp. God had told Moses that if he were among the people, he would strike them again because of their rebellion.

So, the next church where God will meet with Moses – for communication purposes – is another meeting tent. This tent was placed well outside the camp, symbolizing the distance between the people and their God. It would not contain any of the elaborate furniture of the tabernacle, and it would not be frequently visited and maintained by the priests. It would stand empty except for brief intervals when Moses would enter it to speak with the LORD on behalf of the Israelites. Joshua would stay nearby, guarding and maintaining it.

Two lessons the Israelites would learn from this temporary arrangement seem almost opposite to each other. On the one hand, the respect each showed Moses when he met with the LORD was a welcomed change from the disrespect and derision they had shown him before the incident with the golden calf. Their reverence for the LORD and Moses was refreshing. That lesson had been learned. On the other hand, the meetings that Moses would have with the LORD in the meeting tent were described as fellowship in the most casual of terms.

Prayer and worship before the LORD of the universe is always a matter of balance of both of these elements. We must come before him reverently, but he also wants us to fellowship with him intimately. It is no surprise that we often struggle for the right balance of these two emphases.

LORD, show us how we can fear you rightly, and fellowship with you closely.

Posted in discernment, fear, fellowship, Moses, reverence | Tagged Exodus 33 | 1 Comment

this discouraging word

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 33:1-6

¹ The LORD told Moses, “Go on up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’² I will send an angel in front of you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.³ Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, or I would consume you on the way, because you are a stiff-necked people.”⁴ When the people heard this discouraging word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.⁵ Because the LORD had told Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, so that I may know what to do with you.'”⁶ Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

this discouraging word

We need to stop and camp out at these words before going further. Notice that the LORD is sending his people to the promised land, but not agreeing to go with them as he had done before. Their horrible sin at the foot of Sinai has caused a change in plans. Finally, the people get it. They strip off their fancy ornaments and begin to mourn. They realize that they could not have gotten this far if God had not been present with them. They begin to ponder their fate if they try to do God’s mission without his presence.

Fast forward to a Galilean mountainside. Jesus, having called his disciples to him, gives them their mission to make disciples of all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. Just before sending them to Jerusalem to wait for empowerment for that mission, he adds: “see, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[1] Believers in Christ need not be concerned that they might lose the presence when they are involved in the mission.

LORD, thank you for the promise of your empowering presence as we seek to accomplish your mission.

[1] Matthew 28:20.

Posted in dependence upon God, missions | Tagged Exodus 33 | 1 Comment

perhaps I can make atonement

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Exodus 32:25-35

²⁵ And when Moses saw that the people had lost control of themselves (for Aaron had let them lose control, so that those standing with them gossiped),²⁶ then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who belongs to the LORD? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.²⁷ And he said to them, “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his friend and his neighbor.'”²⁸ And the sons of Levi did what Moses said. And among the people that day about three thousand men were killed. ²⁹ And Moses said, “Today you have shown yourselves committed to the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you[1] this day.” ³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. So now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”³¹ So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Now, this people have sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold.³² But now, if you will forgive their sin- but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”³³ But the LORD said to Moses, “I will blot out of my book the one who has sinned against me,.³⁴ But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; see, my angel will go before you. But on the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”³⁵ Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

perhaps I can make atonement

This horrible day in the existence of God’s people would forever settle the place of the Levites as his chosen priests among their countrymen. It would also show Moses the extent to which God was willing to forgive the sins of the nation as a whole due to his intercession. Moses thought he could appeal to God to forgive the entire nation of their part in the golden calf incident. He learned that he could not. There could be no general atonement for that apostasy. Instead, the LORD told Moses “I will blot out of my book the one who has sinned against me.” In other words, no. The LORD was going to punish the guilty nation with a plague.

The LORD did not rebuke Moses for trying to intercede to save his people. The picture we get is that the LORD was pleased that Moses tried. But we also get a picture of a God who says “for this sin, there must be punishment.” God is a God of forgiveness, and we are all grateful for that, because we all need his forgiveness. But judgment day is coming, and it is real. Christ went to the cross because the LORD could not ignore our sins. For those who reject Christ, judgment is coming, and there will be no forgiveness. The LORD will blot their names out of his book.

LORD, help us to reach the lost around us. They need to hear the gospel message of forgiveness in Christ before it is too late.

[1] plural.

Posted in atonement, idolatry, judgment, Moses | Tagged Exodus 32 | 1 Comment