Bible Through the Year: Episode 10

Week Ten Devotion

We have been reading the book of Numbers for 3 weeks now and It’s been a pretty fascinating look into the wilderness journey of Israel. It started off with the whole nation being broken up into tribes and counted. Then they all celebrated the Passover right before the set out on their first march which began in chapter 10.

The book of Numbers can be broken up into 5 parts. The first part in chapters 1-10 dealt with their time in Sinai and all the preparations for the journey. Then there is a travel section from chapters 10-12. The third section deals with their time in the wilderness of Paran and this is where they sent the spies into the land.

This middle section also shows Israel’s rebellion against Moses, their divinely appointed leader. They lose a military battle against the Amalekites and the Canaanites. There is also a larger rebellion that takes place in Chapter 16 and this is led by a Levite named Korah. This second rebellion was basically a power play and it ended when God caused the earth to open up and swallow Korah and 250 other men who had decided to take his side.

The next travel section, in chapters 20-21, show things getting even worse. God has been leading the people, feeding the people and caring for their every need; but at every turn the people of Israel don’t want to accept God’s plan. They want different food, they want a different leader, they don’t trust God to protect them against their enemies; this whole book puts the rebellious hearts of God’s people on display. Which is crazy considering all that God has done for them and all that He is currently doing to keep them alive.

Now, up to this point Moses has been a really faithful leader. He has gotten upset at times but he has done what the Lord told him to do, but in chapter 20 even Moses rebels. They were travelling again and there was no water for the people to drink so God told Moses to take his staff in his hand and to speak to this large rock commanding it to bring forth water. But Moses didn’t do what God told him to do. Instead, He yelled at the people and struck the rock with his staff.

God still made water come out of the rock but this act of rebellion cause God to discipline Moses and Aaron. Like the rest of their generation they would die in the wilderness and not be able to go into the Promised Land. That streak of rebellion and grumbling that marked the older generation of Israelites had even affected Moses and God wanted to make it clear that He didn’t want that rebellious streak to continue once the people came into the Promised Land.

So, by the time we get into the last section you might think that God is ready to get rid of these people. They have done nothing but grumble and complain and rebel. But in chapter 22, the last section of the journey gets underway in the Wilderness of Moab and we meet a pagan sorcerer named Balaam and the king of Moab named Balak. King Balak happened to see the nation of Israel marching into his land and he was afraid because there were so many of them. He decides to reach out to Balaam and asks him to use his power as a sorcerer to curse the people of Israel but it doesn’t quite work out that way.

Here is something to discuss…

Israel didn’t deserve God’s blessing at all. They have shown their faithlessness throughout this book, but here in this story of Balaam, we see that even when we are faithless God remains faithful. The King of Moab promises to pay Balaam if he will just pronounce a curse on Israel and Balaam agrees to try. He agrees to pray to the Hebrew God and attempt to curse the people but what happens is that God puts His words of blessing into the mouth of Balaam so every time he every time he begins to speak he is not able to curse the people but instead he pronounces blessings over them.

This makes the king really angry but Balaam says, “I’m just the messenger and I can only speak the words that God has put in my mouth to speak.” This happens three more times and each time Balaam attempts to curse them but ends up blessing them. He even talks about Israel’s future king who will subdue and rule over the surrounding nations. Through this pagan sorcerer, God spoke words of blessing over His people, even though they were rebellious and ungrateful.

What does this tell us? Well, it shows us that God is on the side of His people no matter what. God’s grace is greater than their sin. There were still consequences to the people’s rebellion. A whole generation would die off and not see the Promised Land, but God wasn’t going to abandon His promises nor His people. There is more grace in God than there is sin in us.

In the very next chapter (25) we see sin and idolatry taking place in the Israelites camp. God is swift to bring punishment because of this sin, but this does not keep Him from also blessing the people. God has a plan to make Israel into a great nation. He has established them as His people, He has promised to bless them and be their God, He has even promised to bless all the nations through them.

What does this teach us about the goodness and grace of God? What does this show us about our own sinful hearts and tendency to grumble and rebel? The truth is that God shows this kind of grace to Christians as well. We are not saved because we stop sinning and we don’t stop sinning after we are saved. God saved us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) and He loves us despite our ongoing struggles with sin. His grace is amazing. His love is incredible and it never ceases.

When we see the magnitude of God’s grace toward us it should move us to sorrow over sin that leads to genuine repentance. It should bring us to the point where we confess our sin to God and cry out for forgiveness and cleansing. This kind of love should stir our hearts and make us want to love, and serve and obey God more faithfully.

Here is something to meditate upon…

“’Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” We read this phrase in Romans 12:19 and also in Hebrews 10:30 and both of these are quoting what God says in Deuteronomy 32:35. In Deuteronomy God is pointing out that He will judge the nations for their sin and pour out vengeance on those who have sinned against His people.

Vengeance is about justice and our God is a just God. Not only is God just but He is the judge of all the earth. Since He created all things and He is the greatest and best of beings it is fitting that God not only establish the boundaries of justice in laws but also that He uphold justice as the rightful judge of all that He has made. This is the foundation of divine justice and it is important that we understand this as we continue to read the Bible.

I want us to think about God’s justice in two ways: against sin generally and against those who have sinned against God’s people specifically. In Genesis 6 we see a picture of God’s just judgment upon all the world for their sin. The flood was an act of divine judgment. It was a pouring out of God’s wrath toward the sin of all mankind. But in the midst of this judgment, we also see God’s hand of mercy toward the family of Noah.

Mercy is when God withholds from us the judgment we rightly deserve. Every day God’s mercy is shown to this world. His mercies are renewed each morning and it is on account of God’s mercy that we haven’t experienced His judgment for our sin.

But there is another way we need to view God’s justice and it has to do with His vengeance upon those who have sinned against His people. Here in Numbers 31 we see God taking vengeance/revenge upon the people of Midian because they led Israel to sin against God. The people of Midian tempted Israel and led them into idolatry, led them to worship Baal in chapter 25. And God is going to use Israel as an instrument of His justice upon the sin of Midian. In other words, God is paying them back for their sin against His people.

What we see in Numbers 31 is the justice of God at work. God has chosen to use Israel as an instrument of divine justice and they are to carry out God’s punishment upon the nations for their sin against God and their sin against the people of God. The heart of justice that God expresses is retribution or reckoning. He pours out on people what they deserve. This is the essence of a judge’s task. He rewards good with blessing and evil with punishment. 

It is crucial that we understand this as we read through the Bible and it is equally important that we not seek to establish our own sense of justice as we read the Bible. Many will read these stories about God’s punishment on the nations and they will say that it does not seem fair, but we must keep in mind the fact that all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s moral standard. We have to keep in mind that we all deserve to perish under the weight of God’s judgment.

In other words, God doesn’t owe us anything but justice. We don’t deserve anything but God’s just wrath. But in His Love He has chosen to show us grace instead. He has chosen to show us saving mercy instead. So when we see these scenes of God’s vengeance upon the nations it should serve as a picture of what we rightly deserve from God and it should cause us to be more thankful for the grace that we have been shown.

Here is something to pray about…

The book of Numbers ends with some final instructions from Moses about how Israel should conduct themselves once they get into the Promised Land. The tribes were broken up and given their portion of the land. There were plans laid out for the city that the Levites would live in and the cities that people could flee to for refuge. But the bulk of what Moses has to say is written down in the next book of Deuteronomy.

The first two chapters of Deuteronomy recount the last 40 years and the journey that took Israel through the wilderness and this is what I want us to pray about. In these first 2 chapters, God is reminding the people of their past failures. He is helping them to remember these things so that they can guard their hearts against the same thing happening again. God wants us to remember past sins in the hopes that we might avoid the same things in the future.

But at the same time God also reminds them of how He has been faithful to them despite their sin. God is like a loving father, urging his children to do better next time and reminding them of his grace and forgiveness. Let this guide you in prayer this week.

First of all, if there is an ongoing sin struggle in your life right now, then confess it to God in prayer. Tell Him all about your struggle and ask Him to forgive you for what you have done. But also ask Him to give you strength over this sin. Ask Him to make you more concerned with His glory than anything else. Be willing to repent and put away whatever is keeping you from being faithful to God.

All the while remembering that there is more grace in God than there is sin in you. He wants His grace to be the highlight of your story. 

 
 
 

Bible Through the Year: Episode 9

Week Nine Devotion

Last week we started reading through the book of Numbers and it kicked off a little slow. The first few chapters are about numbering all of the tribes, basically, they took a census which is helpful to give us a scope of how many people are about to set out on this wilderness journey. Then the book jumped right into how to address sin within the camp and the point of this was to seek purity before heading out.

Our reading this week will start off much the same way in that chapters 7, 8, and 9 give us details about how to move the Tabernacle, how to cleanse the priests and how to celebrate the Passover. The part about the Passover is interesting because it lets us know that they had been at Mt. Sinai for about a year.

These first few chapters are really about getting the people ready for the journey ahead. They are supposed to be heading to the Promised Land, a journey that should take about 2 weeks. They are finally ready to leave Mt. Sinai and begin what should be a short trip to the land God had promised them. So they got everything ready. They made all the necessary sacrifices and preparations. They blow the silver trumpets in chapter 10 and they are off. But they don’t get very far down the road until they have their first breakdown. Chapter 11 begins with this phrase, “And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes…” This is Israel grumbling in the wilderness and this will not ever be forgotten. The prophets will bring it back up years later. Jesus will talk about it as will other NT authors.

This grumbling is one of the most unreasonable responses that Israel could come up with and it shows how ungrateful they are, how forgetful they are, and how faithless they are. Over the next few chapters, we see three major complaints come out in the form of grumbling. They grumble because they want some meat to eat and they are tired of eating manna. They grumble against Moses and Korah leads a rebellion that ends pretty terribly for him. Then they send spies out into the land and 10 out of 12 of the spies are grumbling about how it is going to be impossible for them to take over the Promised Land.

In other words, they want something different to eat, they don’t really trust their leader, and they don’t really trust their God.

Here is something to discuss…

Let’s discuss the grumbling that we see in these chapters. First, they grumble against God because they are not satisfied with the food that He has given to them. They are sick of manna and they want meat. They even go so far as to say they had it better in Egypt. Pharaoh may have been a slave driver but at least they could eat fish every now and then. So this complaint is not just about food it’s also about God. They are saying that God doesn’t provide for them the way Pharaoh once provided for them. This is first rate blasphemy.

It may seem like a small thing to want meat instead of bread, but essentially this is the same type of rebellion that we saw in the Garden. Rather than trusting in God’s Word and rather than being satisfied with God’s provision, these ornery Israelites are craving the pleasures of their captivity. This is a Biblical view of Stockholm Syndrome and it shows us just how deceitful sin can be.

Our sinful hearts would rather eat a juicy steak in captivity than to eat the bread of Heaven in freedom. Our sinful hearts would rather have our enemies’ leftovers than the bread that God sends from Heaven. Let’s make this a little more personal, we live in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. We have more opportunities and more options than any people who have ever lived and all that we have is a gift of God’s grace.

James tells us that, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…” We are the recipients of the most abundant outpouring of God’s common grace in the history of the world and on top of this, we have the gospel. We are not just blessed with a super-abundance of material things we are also blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly realm (Eph 1:3).”

And yet, we complain that we don’t have enough. We grumble that we don’t have what we want or we let envy gnaw us from the inside. The shiny new car that our neighbors just bought or the upgraded cell phone being advertised entices us and gives way to lust in our hearts. Instead of being content with what we have long for what we don’t have.

At some level this is more than just a desire for good things, it shows a lack of gratitude for what God has done for us. It shows a lack of satisfaction for how God has provided for us. When we complain against God or we grumble because we want more, what does this say about our hearts?

I think this is a real issue in the church today and we don’t always see much less talk about it. So let me encourage you to discuss the materialism in our culture and in our hearts. And ask these questions: Why did Israel complain against God and why do we complain against God? What were they not remembering about God’s power and love? What are we failing to remember about God’s power and love? What were they not believing? What were they saying about God’s provision for them? What does this episode reveal about our own struggles with sin?

Here is something to meditate upon…

There is something else that I want you to notice in chapter 11 and it has to do with leadership among the people of God. As the people begin to grumble it is clear that God is angry with them, but it is also clear that Moses is a little fed up as well. Moses actually gets angry and does a little complaining himself in Numbers 11:11:

Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all these people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”

So this is pretty strong language coming from Moses and this is quite different from how he handled the golden calf incident. Back in Exodus, Moses pleaded with God not to destroy the people but to show them mercy for the sake of His (God’s) reputation. But here Moses is fed up and even says, “If You don’t plan to deal with these people then you might as well kill me.” This amounts to a prophet pitching a fit.

But in the midst of all this God does something to help His servant. Moses told God, “I am not able to bear the burden of these people alone, the burden is too heavy for me.” So in verse 16 God’s says, “Ok, then go and round up seventy men of the elders of Israel and I will make them officers to help you bear the burden of the people.”

Now, this is the second time that Moses has been told to get help in leading God’s people. The first time it was Moses father-in-law Jethro in Exodus 18 that told him to organize the people in their tribes and to appoint leaders over the people to help him deal with the needs. Now we see God doing something very similar. He is giving Moses a plan for how to organize leaders to help him care for the people of God.

This pattern of having elders lead the people will carry on all the way to the New Testament church and it even continues today. As a church planter in the 1st Century, Paul saw appointing elders as a necessary step in organizing new churches. The task of leading God’s people to the Promised Land does not fall to one man alone but to many. And when these elders are singled out by God they are given gifts that they are to use in shepherding God’s people through the wilderness.

Now, why am I pointing this out? For starters, it is encouraging to me that there is a Biblical connection between what we see in the book of Numbers, what we see in the book of Acts, and what we see taking place in the church today. Secondly, I can’t tell you how thankful I am that God has supplied Cornerstone with a team of godly elders and that I get to serve alongside them.

Here is something to pray about…

In the middle of reading through the book of Numbers, we are also going to be reading Psalm 90 this week. The reason is that Psalm 90 was written by Moses and it draws from this time period of the book of Numbers and Deuteronomy. The backdrop of this Psalm looks at some pretty hard times of suffering, the kind of suffering that Moses experienced in the wilderness. But the thing that stands out is not the suffering but the faithfulness of God.

God is faithful from everlasting to everlasting. He is the dwelling place of His people. Sin is a constant problem for us but God has a plan so that even when we are faithless He remains faithful.

So how does this Psalm lead us to pray? Like this:

12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

13 Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants!

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.

16 Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children.

17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

This Psalm is a ready-made prayer so take some time this week and pray through verse 12-17. Pray to God what Moses said to God. Pray that God would teach us to number our days and not waste them. Pray that God would send Jesus back quickly to heal the brokenness caused by sin.

Pray that we would be satisfied with God’s provision and even rejoice in what He had done for us. Pray that our gladness would drown out our sadness. Pray that God would raise up our children to faith in Christ and lead them into greater faithfulness than our own generation. Pray that God would bless us, work in us and use us in this world for the sake of His glory.

 

 
 

Bible Through the Year: Episode 8

Week Eight Devotion

Last week we started Leviticus and this week we are going to finish it up and begin to read the book of Numbers and this is going to be a welcome relief because where the book of Leviticus is about the meticulous details of sacrifices, rituals, and law; the book of Numbers is about the journey of God’s people through the Wilderness. In fact, the Hebrew name for the book of Numbers actually means In the Wilderness and this book tracks the epic journey of Israel from the base of Mt. Sinai all the way up to the border of the Promised Land.

It is also exciting because we get to see the promises that God made to Abraham coming true, at least they almost come true. By the end of the book of Numbers the people are so close to the Promised Land that they can see it. They will even send spies to check out the land and bring a report back to Moses and the elders. But we will get into that next week. For now, it’s important for us to understand the overview of this book so that we can know how it fits into the bigger picture of God’s redemptive plan.

Now, you might be asking, “What does he mean by the bigger picture of God’s redemptive plan?” and that is a great question. What I mean is that this book actually matters, not just for the details contained in it, but it matters in that it takes us a step closer to God’s plan being fulfilled. The Bible is ultimately one story that contains several key components: how God created all that exists, how rebellion entered into creation through the sin of Adam and Eve, how God promised to overcome that sin and enter back into an intimate relationship with His people.

That’s what we’ve been reading about these last 7 weeks and our reading this week takes us one step closer to seeing a large part of this promise fulfilled. You see, God is keeping His promise to crush the head of the rebellion that began in the Garden. God is keeping His promise to bless Abraham and make his descendants into a great nation that would be the source of God’s blessing on the world.

One of the key components of this was that God would give land to Abraham’s descendants and that is what the book of Numbers is all about. God has rescued Israel from Egypt. He led them to Sinai where He gave them His law. He has returned to dwell with them again in the Tabernacle and now they are on their way into the Promised Land. So that’s what we are in for as we study the book of Numbers together.

But before we jump into that let’s talk about how the book of Leviticus wraps up. Remember that Leviticus shows us what was necessary in order for God to dwell in the midst of His people. They needed to make sacrifices in order to cover their sin, they needed a priesthood that could represent them before God, and they needed to follow a system of laws to help them distinguish between what was clean and unclean. Then right in the middle of the book was the capstone for how God would atone for their sin and make it possible for His presence to dwell in their midst.

One of the questions that comes up as we read through Leviticus has to do with the purity laws and it goes like this, “Why does God want His people to live this way?” Why can’t they eat pork? Why do they have to follow all of these detailed laws? The answer to this is somewhat complex. Just because an animal is unclean does not mean that the animal is sinful in some way.

The point that God is making is not that pork is bad but that our deviation from God’s Word and what He reveals to be good is bad. These laws aren’t about hygiene, they are about God’s people following God’s Word and being set apart (holy) from all the other nations of the world. You see, being in relationship to God affects every aspect of your life and that is one of the major things we learn from this book.

I also want to point out that Israel does not become the people of God by following these laws. These laws come after God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. No these laws are intended to guide them as the people of God.

There is one phrase that appears over and over as you read Leviticus and it is this phrase, “I am the Lord your God.” This is a shorthand way of God reminding Israel that he had redeemed them, set them apart to be His people, and He wants to dwell among them and be their God. What this phrase means is that obedience to these laws should be a loving response to their loving Redeemer.

Leviticus 20:26 "You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine."

Here is something to discuss...

Let’s discuss Leviticus chapter 26 which outlines for us the blessings that God would give to Israel for their obedience and the punishment that God would pour out on them for their disobedience. I’ve always found this fascinating. It was common for ancient Near Eastern nations to establish treaties/covenants with other nations and these treaties included sections on blessings and curses. One king would covenant with his vassal in this way, “If you keep our covenant, then I will take care of you. But if you break our covenant, I will punish you or remove my protection from you.”

That is exactly what we see in chapter 26. God is the King establishing the covenant blessings and curses with His people. If they keep the covenant God will bless them above every nation on earth, but if they break the covenant God will discipline them. If they continue to break the covenant, then God promises to remove His protection from them and give them over to their enemies.

Now, the point of this is to encourage faithfulness to God. He wants to bless them but over time we will see Israel break the covenant again and again. The curses that God promises here will come to pass to the point that He removes His protection from them and they eventually become slaves again when they go into exile. But even then the story is not over.

We are all covenant breakers. We all deserve to receive the curses because of our sin. But in His love God sends Jesus to set us free from the curse and to bring us the blessings contained within a whole New Covenant. In the New Testament book of Matthew Jesus communicates a whole new set of covenant laws along with the blessings that it will bring.

So here is what I want you to do, take some time and read through Leviticus chapter 26 then read through Matthew chapters 5-7 and for discussion compare these two passages. There are many similarities but there are some striking differences as well.

Here is something to meditate upon...

Let’s turn our attention to the book of Numbers and think about what we see in the ordering of the camp. In chapter 2 we read that all the tribes are to order themselves within the camp in particular positions but every tribe is to be facing inward toward the tent of meeting. The Israelites are organized in such a way that the Tabernacle sits at the center, signifying that God is at the heart of this nation.

It’s also interesting to note that the tribe of Judah is placed on the Eastern side of the camp. And because the nation will be travelling east to the Promised Land this means that Judah will be leading the march. As one of 12 tribes, Judah has the pride of place. They will be the first to engage in battle if it comes. They will also be first to see the Land of Promise come into view. In essence, they are leading the entire nation as they strike out in obedience to God. Now why is this significant?

In Genesis 49:8-12, Jacob (Israel) gathered all of his sons together and he pronounced blessings over each of them and when he came to Judah he made something clear. Judah would stand out among his brothers. Judah would conquer his enemies and all of his brothers, the other 11 sons of Jacob, would bow down to him. Jacob went on to say that the ruling staff would not depart from Judah until all the people gave him their obedience. This blessing means that we should expect great things from the tribe of Judah. And that is what we get. King David is from the tribe of Judah and when he becomes king we will see him deliver Israel from their enemies and rule as a worthy leader of God’s people. But David is only a partial fulfillment of Jacob’s promise. In the end, Jesus is also from the tribe of Judah. He will one day conquer our enemies for good. He will also deliver and rule over God’s people forever.

Here is something to pray about...

It’s not difficult to find something to pray about as we read through Numbers. The thing that jumps out to me and probably to you as well is all the grumbling that comes from God’s people but we won’t get into that until chapter 11. So what do we see in the first 6 chapters that might lead us to pray?

One thing that stands out in the first few chapters is what we read in Numbers 5 and 6. The people are counted, they are organized and they are ready to march out but before they go there is concern over their purity. God wants to remind the people that if they are going to march out as His people they need to pay attention to His Word. They are to guard their ritual integrity, their moral purity, and their faithfulness to the law of God. They are covenant people even as they are on their way to the Promised Land.

If someone is found to be unclean or someone is found committing sin, they need to confess that sin and make restitution. This is not that different from the instruction given to Christians as we journey through this life on our way to the Promised Land of Heaven. We are to be faithful the Lord’s Word. When we stumble in sin we should recognize it, confess it to God and others (when appropriate), and we should repent of that sin, making the necessary restitution to those we’ve sinned against.

So spend some time praying about your life right now. Pray that God would lead you into greater faithfulness and obedience to His Word. Pray that God would reveal your sin to you and soften your heart so that confession and repentance comes quickly. Pray that God would soften your heart and lead you to forgive those who have sinned against you. Pray that you would be humble and seek forgiveness from those you have sinned against.

Finally, pray that God would keep Cornerstone, her members and leaders, faithful and joyful as we journey together in this world on our way to God’s Promised Land. 

 

Bible Through the Year: Episode 7

Week Seven Devotion: (Download PDF)

The glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle

This week we finish up the book of Exodus and begin to read through the book of Leviticus. And this might be a challenge for us because the book of Leviticus is tedious, repetitive and somewhat difficult. It’s not difficult in the sense that we don’t grasp what it is saying. God is crystal clear on what His expectations are, but this book is difficult in the sense that we struggle to understand why all these laws and rituals are necessary. Why is it important to God that we eat some things and not others? Why is it important to God that every little detail of Israel’s life together is spelled out for them?

 So, before we begin to read this book it is important to remember what we have seen up to this point so that we can keep Leviticus within the scope of the Biblical story line. The Bible starts with a Garden where God and man dwell together in peace and relationship, but sin entered the Garden and caused separation between God and man. Because of their sin Adam and Eve were banished (exiled) from paradise and they had to strike out on their own away from the presence of the Lord.

So mankind had a relationship with God but lost it because of sin. But then a few chapters later we see God reach out to Abraham and establish a relationship with Him. Not only that, God also promises to bless him, make him into a great nation and to restore fellowship between God and man through his descendants. God is working to restore the relationship that sin damaged.

Fast forward to the book of Exodus and you remember that God saved Abraham’s family from slavery, He led them out into the wilderness, He made a covenant with them, and gave them plans for a special tent called the tabernacle. This tabernacle was the one place on earth where God’s presence would dwell among His people. So in a sense, God was restoring a part of the Garden of Eden, but there was still a big problem…sin.

And this remaining sin problem was illustrated for us at the end of the book of Exodus. Once the Tabernacle was complete we read that the Glory of God came down and filled the Tabernacle. God has come down to dwell on earth again and within reach of the people. The book closes with God dwelling in the midst of His people again, but it also ends with Moses being unable to enter the Tabernacle. If anyone should be able to go in and see God, talk to God, have fellowship with God it would be Moses. But he couldn’t come into the presence of God, at least not yet.

Here is something to discuss…

Why was Moses not allowed into the presence of God? For that matter, why aren’t any of the Israelites allowed into the presence of God? Well the short answer is that we are still corrupted by sin and the long answer is found within the book of Leviticus.

In this book, God gives His people three ways that He will address their sin and make them able to live in His presence. Those three things are rituals, priesthood, and purity laws.  The rituals deal with animal sacrifices which are quite gruesome and repetitive, but very important. The priesthood is made up of a select group of men who follow very strict guidelines in order to remain ritually pure and these men are allowed to enter into God’s presence as representatives for the people. Then third, there are a whole bunch of purity laws that teach Israel how they can remain pure and what kind of things would make them impure.

Now, these three things (rituals, priesthood and purity laws) work together to help us understand what is required to live in the presence of God. Let’s talk first about animal sacrifices. Why is it necessary for a creature to die in order for our sin to be covered? Good question, and the answer is found in Leviticus 17:11 and 14.

V. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

V. 14 For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life.

The big idea around blood and atonement in the sacrificial system is that in order for us to have our sin removed and to be able to commune with God there must be a payment made. Since a creature’s life is in its blood and God requires blood for the cleansing of our sin, what God is teaching is the idea of substitution. Either we are going to die in our sin and outside the presence of God, or a substitute is going to die for our sin so that we can come into the presence of God.

So how would I encourage you to discuss this with others? First I would encourage you to read Leviticus 16-17 paying special attention to what the priest’s do. Then ask these questions, “What insights does this ritual give us about our sin? What does this teach us about the character of God? How does the sacrifice of atonement highlight both the justice and mercy of God at the same time?”

Here is something to meditate upon…

Let’s think about what we see taking place in chapter 10 with Nadab and Abihu. These two guys are Aaron’s sons and they had gone through all of the rituals for purification that were necessary for priests. So they should be ready to serve but as they start to go about their role something goes terribly wrong. They offer strange and unauthorized fire before the Lord and they are killed on the spot.

They did something that they were not commanded to do in God’s presence and as a result they were punished immediately. Now, what does this tell us about coming into God’s presence? It tells us that we come into God’s presence on His terms and not our own. The offense of Nadab and Abihu was that they assumed they could fulfill their duties to God in their

own way instead of the way God prescribed but they were wrong and they paid the price for their mistake.

God’s laws are not intended to harm us they are intended to protect us. The laws God gave to the priests should have prevented this from happening but in their arrogance these two sons of Aaron chose to disregard God’s law and still tried to come into the tabernacle.

So what can we meditate on in this story? What does this say about God’s holiness that even the priests don’t get off easily? What does this say about God’s law? What does this teach us about the nature of worship? What does this teach us about the other religions in the world that seek to come to God on their own, apart from faith in Jesus?

Here is something to pray about…

The book of Leviticus is filled with purity laws which are aimed to set the people of God apart from all the other nations. Since Israel lived near the very presence of God on earth, they were to reflect the uniqueness, holiness and purity of God to the world. So God told them things they were supposed to do and things they weren’t supposed to do.

Some things are clean and other things are unclean. Some actions keep us pure while other actions make us impure. It wasn’t always sinful to be unclean or impure, but you couldn’t come into God’s presence until you had undergone the necessary rituals to make you clean or pure again.

But these purity laws are intended to set the children of Israel apart as the unique people of God. Leviticus 11:45 says, “You shall be holy as I am holy.” This is a mark of God’s people today as well. In 1 Peter 1 we read this:

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

By faith in Christ we are declared forgiven of sin and are able to come into the presence of God because Jesus has made us ritually pure. But this doesn’t mean that we should have no concern for holiness. Our obedience doesn’t save, Jesus does, but our obedience is a mark of our salvation. It is a fruit of what Christ has done in us. So pray that God would help you to grow in your faithfulness to Him. Pray that God would help you to understand the role of saving grace in your life and the call to holiness as well. Pray that we would grow in our appreciation of the holiness of God and that God would help us to live in such a way that we reflect that holiness to the world around us. 

 

 
 

Bible Through the Year: Episode 6

Week Six Devotion: (Download PDF)

A Look at the Covenant, the Tabernacle and the law of God

The book of Exodus kicks off with the story of how God rescued the people of Israel through a series of plagues that confronted Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt while also displaying the power of Yahweh over all. The result was that God’s people were freed from slavery and the high point of the first part of the book showed God delivering His people through the Passover event.

In the Passover, God promised to take the first born sons in Egypt but He also promised to spare the first born sons of Israel. The sons of Israel would be spared only if a Passover lamb was sacrificed in their place. So God’s people made sacrifices and they took the blood of the sacrifice and put it on the doors to their houses so that when the Lord came by He would see the blood on the door and pass over the family inside.

Then God led the people through the water of the Red Sea and into the wilderness. But while in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land the people began to grumble against God. It was almost as if they had forgotten what God had saved them from, and what He had done for them to get them out.

But now as we pick up our reading in Exodus 19 we see the second half of the book get underway and it is highlighted by God giving the 10 commandments, various laws about social matters, then He gives very specific instructions about the tabernacle and all the things that go into it. But one of the most important things we see in this half of Exodus is that God makes a covenant with His people at Mt. Sinai.

Here is something to discuss…

First, let’s ask the question, “What is a covenant?” A covenant is an agreement between two parties that binds them together to work for each other’s benefit. Covenants were often written between two countries, like peace treaties today, only in this case it is the One True God making a covenant with a people with no nation, no king, and no land…at least not yet.

In Exodus 19, the people have reached Mt. Sinai and God speaks to Moses saying,

4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

So Moses shares this covenant invitation to the people and in verse 8 they respond saying, “Yes, we will do all that the Lord has spoken.” Now that the covenant has been agreed upon, God comes down upon the top of the mountain and it was like a dark cloud of smoke, lightning, and thunder had formed on the mountain. Then God called Moses to come up to Him as the people’s representative and God gave him the 10 commandments which would form the basic terms of the relationship between God and His people.

This is a significant step in the Biblical story because what this covenant and the laws that go with it mean is that God is establishing the terms of how man can come back into his presence. Remember that back in Genesis 3 this privilege was lost when Adam and Eve sinned. Their relationship to God was affected and they could no longer come into God’s presence. They were banished, but here we see God has already delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt and now He is making his presence accessible through this covenant relationship with Israel and later on with the rest of the world.

So what would I encourage you to discuss with your family, your friends or your community group? The relationship between grace and law in the covenant between God and man. Notice that God’s gracious work of salvation comes before the law is given. Which means that we do not obey the law in order to become the people of God, but rather we become the people of God by His grace and then the law is given to guide us as the people of God.

The law of God certainly set the people apart from all the other nations of the world, but the distinguishing mark of God’s people from this point forward is that God delivered them from slavery to Egypt by the blood of a lamb.

Here is something to meditate upon…

When Adam and Eve sinned against God they lost access to the Garden of Eden and along with it they lost the ability to come into Gods presence. But with this new covenant in place God is making a way for the people to come back into His presence. It takes place through a priesthood, and requires ritual sacrifices and purifications for sin, but it also requires a tabernacle, which was basically a sacred tent. The word tabernacle actually means God dwells with Us.

The blueprints for the tabernacle were extensive. There was an outer courtyard with an altar, and then inside that there was a tent that had two spaces, the outer room and the inner room. The inner room was called the most holy place and this room was home to a golden box known as the ark of the covenant. On top of this box were two carved angels and something called the mercy seat.

Now everything about this tabernacle and the things in the tabernacle serve as symbols. There are angels woven into the wall coverings, the room, tables and utensils are covered with gold, there are lampstands shaped like almond trees; and each of these symbols is intended to echo back to the Garden of Eden where God dwelt in the midst of His people.

The tabernacle serves as a place, a location on earth, where God and man can dwell together, it’s like a portable Garden of Eden. Later on in Israel’s story we will see king Solomon build a permanent tabernacle for God and it is called the temple. The temple would become ground zero for the worship of God in the world all the way up until Jesus came.

Jesus’s presence on earth changed things a little bit because He was God in the flesh and through Jesus people were able to come into the literal presence of God. In fact, John’s gospel says that Jesus came to tabernacle or dwell among us.

So this tabernacle that God tells His people to build is a really important part of the story line of God’s people all the way to the end. If you fast forward in your minds to the end of the Bible and the book of Revelation. In Revelation 21, we see God bringing a new holy city down from Heaven that will serve as the place on the new earth where God and man will once again dwell together. That city is a lot like the tabernacle in that it is filled with trees, it is covered with gold and there are angels present.

So as you read the description of the tabernacle in Exodus 25-30 and 35-40 be sure to slow down and meditate upon the details and what they mean for us today and what implications they have for our future as God’s people.

Here is something to pray about…

Before Moses could get down off the mountain with these new laws and the plans for the tabernacle the people had already fallen into idolatry. He comes down the mountain and sees them all worshipping a golden calf that Aaron made with some of the jewelry they brought out of Egypt. The glory of God is still visible on the top of the mountain when the children of Israel break the first two laws: no other gods and no graven images.

If we know ourselves at all then we know that we are not much different than Israel. We are quick to create idols in our hearts that we then give our allegiance, our hope to, even our worship. So I want to encourage you to pray that God would keep your heart from idols. Pray that God would allow us to see where we give priority to things in such a way that they take away from our devotion to God. Pray that God would keep our hearts, lives and families free from idolatry so that we can live faithfully as His new covenant people.

Conclusion…

Next week we will be reading Exodus 39 thru Leviticus 18 where we continue to see God leading His people and revealing His laws for how they are to live as His people in the world. So plan to join me again next week as we continue to read through the Bible in 2017.

 

Bible Through the Year: Episode 5

Week Five Devotion: (Download PDF)

Summarizing the life of Joseph and the lessons he learned.

The story of Joseph’s life is heart-wrenching at times but it also shows us how God might lead us through long stretches of injustice and still accomplish His purpose. Joseph went through some terrible days and some difficult years and he became a really weepy guy, but in the end, the hardships didn’t defeat him. God preserved him and transformed him into a man like no other.

On account of God’s blessing, everything Joseph did, prospered. While in slavery he became Potiphar’s most trusted servant placed in charge of all the household affairs. In Egypt, Joseph grew to become the 2nd most powerful man in the nation. He was a wise and cunning. He was a leader of men, a leader of business, an industry leader, successful in everything he touched. He grew to become a great man, but he also grew to be a great man of God.

At the end of the book when Joseph and his brothers come together after the death of their father there is a great deal of tension. But Joseph has come to accept the truth behind all the hardships. He had come to understand that God had been with him all of his life and was working out His perfect plan not only to prosper Joseph, but also to preserve Joseph’s entire family. What his brothers meant for evil, God meant for good.

Joseph’s trust in the providence of God had a powerful effect on his life. He was able to forgive those who had wronged him. He was able to embrace those who had hurt him. He was able to help those who had sought to end his life. Joseph had come to see that God’s good purpose went much deeper than the evil intentions of others. As Joseph came to see God’s providence at work through his hardship he was able to look beyond the pain and rest in, even rejoice in, God’s perfect plan.

Here is something to discuss…

Throughout the book of Genesis, there is a command of God looming over the story of humanity. “Be fruitful and multiply…” was the command given to Adam and Eve but their sin got in the way of them fulfilling this command. Then after the flood, the same command was issued to Noah but once again sin got in the way.

By the time we get to Genesis 48 we see that something has shifted. God has taken this responsibility upon Himself.

Gen 48:3 And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’

God is now going to take this into His own hands and be the One who ensures that His people will be fruitful and that they will multiply. By the time the book of Exodus opens we see that God has kept His promise to the point that the land was filled with the descendants of Israel.

Don’t miss the grace of God in this exchange. What God has commanded His people to do, He will ultimately fulfill himself. “What He demands of us, He does for us.”[1] This principle helps us understand the way the gospel works. The gospel tells us that everything God demands of us for salvation, He provides for us in His Son.

God requires righteousness from those who would seek to come into His presence and on our own, we cannot achieve that. But the good news is that God provides the righteousness we need through Jesus who perfectly fulfilled the law of God on our behalf and then died in our place to cover the guilt of our sin. God provides what He requires.

Here is something to meditate upon…

When Israel started out it was nothing more than one large dysfunctional family of shepherds hoping to avoid starvation by coming to Egypt. But in the first few pages of Exodus, we read that God blessed Israel, multiplied them and made them exceedingly strong. So strong in fact that Pharaoh and the people of Egypt had reason to fear an uprising. Pharaoh responded by forcing them into harsh slavery.

But God wasn’t about to sit back and let His people suffer. God appears to Moses and calls him to be the human instrument that confronts Pharaoh demanding freedom for God’s people. And when God appears to Moses He says His name is, “I AM.” By declaring that He is “I AM” God is asserting His self-existence in the universe and His sovereign involvement in the lives of His people.

When Moses brings this message to Pharaoh he is almost ignored. Pharaoh is foolishly confident in his own authority and he dismisses God in favor of the Egyptian idols. Then God begins to send plagues. “The plagues were not stunts, they were statements.”[2] One by one, the plagues God sent served to discredit the false gods of Egypt. The gods of the people were shown to be powerless frauds, which would have shaken the people to their core but it also revealed that there was truly no power behind Pharaoh’s throne.

Two things are taking place in this, God is fighting for His people and He is also establishing His glory upon earth. He wants all the earth to know that He is God and there is no other. Spend some time meditating on the lengths to which God has gone to fight for His people and to make His name known in the world. Think about how God can use you to bless the church and bring glory to His name.

Here is something to pray about…

The Exodus is one of my favorite books in all of Scripture because it shows God as supreme over all the false gods of this world. It shows God using the smallest of creatures (gnats, flies, frogs, and locusts) to bring about the surrender of the most powerful human civilization on earth at that time. If God can use these tiny creatures to change the world surely He can use a wretch like me.

As you think on this I would urge you to pray that God would use you to make a difference in this world for the sake of His Kingdom. Pray that God would soften your heart to His glory and His purposes in Christ. Pray that God would give you gifts that you can use in service to Him and as a help to others. Pray that God would allow you to grow in confidence, not because you have some great thing to offer, but because God delights to use even the smallest of His creatures to spread gospel change in this world.

Conclusion…

Next week we will be reading Exodus 19 thru 38 where we continue to see God leading His people through the wilderness, establishing them as a nation, caring for them every step of the way, and then revealing His law to them. So plan to join me again next week as we continue to read through the Bible in 2017.


[1] English Standard Version Gospel Transformation Bible Notes (pg. 69)

[2] Ray Ortlund Journey Through the Bible 2016

 

Bible Through the Year: Episode 4

Week Four Devotion: (Download PFD)

As we continue our reading in Genesis 30 we see the kind of familial dysfunction that could become a script for daytime TV dramas. On the run from his homicidal brother, Jacob finds his way to his uncle Laban and upon arriving Jacob meets Laban’s daughter Rachel and falls in love. Then after a brief family reunion, Jacob makes it known that he wants to marry Rachel and is willing to work as a shepherd for 7 years in order to earn her hand.

7 years goes by and Jacob comes to claim his prize but there is a twist in the story. Laban throws a party to celebrate the wedding and then late that night when the new husband is waiting in the tent for his wife to join him, Laban sends in Leah his other daughter and Jacob doesn’t realize what has happened until the next morning.

How could a family member pull such a trick? Jacob is furious at his uncle’s treachery, which is a bit ironic considering that Jacob himself was on the run because he had done something equally as treacherous to his own brother Esau and his father Isaac. Think about the irony of Jacob’s anger in how this went down.

Anyway, by the end of chapter 29 Jacob is married to both Leah and Rachel but he still has to work for another 7 years to pay for it. But the drama in this family is far from over.

Something to discuss…

Perhaps you’ve noticed that there is a pattern to the family drama we see in Genesis and it goes back to the curses that God announced in chapter 3. God promised that as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin:

Gen 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring…

Quite literally, God promised that opposition would persist between the offspring of the woman, which represents those on the side of trusting God, and the offspring of the serpent, which represents those on the side of the snake in the garden. We see this curse playing out in four examples through the book of Genesis.

There is competition between Cain and Abel, that leads to murder. There is hostility between Ishmael and Isaac that leads to abuse and abandonment. There is opposition between Esau and Jacob, which has led to Jacob running for his life. There is also resentment and abuse that takes place between the Sons of Israel and their brother Joseph. In other words, God has kept his promise to put enmity between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of the serpent.

But there is something striking about this theme (the war of the seeds) and it has to do with what it reveals about God’s plan of redemption. In each case, the brother on whom God’s favor rests is not morally superior to the other. In every case both brothers are sinful.

Abel offered a sacrifice to God because he knew that he was a sinner in need of pardon. Isaac was well aware that he was a sinner in God’s eyes and this lesson was etched in his heart as he lay atop the wood as the potential sacrifice for sin. On two separate occasions, Jacob stole from his brother the two most valuable things he possessed, his birthright and his blessing.

Both parties are sinful, but God’s purpose of salvation stands not on the basis of man’s merit it stands upon the basis of God’s mercy alone. The enmity between the men continues even to this day and the only solution, the only means of true peace is found in the final Seed who came to crush the serpent's head. Jesus is the one who came to free us from this enmity and redeem us from the sin that plagues us all.

Something to meditate upon…

In our reading this week we will meet Joseph in chapter 37. He is the youngest of Jacob’s 12 sons and he is also his father’s favorite. He was shown special treatment when Jacob gave him a colorful coat that was admired and envied by the rest of the family. But Joseph also had a gift. He was a dreamer and God had given him the ability to interpret dreams.

One-night Joseph has a dream where he saw that he would grow to be the ruler over his father, mother and all of his 11 older brothers and for some reason Joseph was sure that all of his family would be excited to hear about this dream. He was wrong. His brothers considered killing him because of his dream but in the end, they settle on selling him into slavery. And from this point forward Joseph’s life is pretty terrible.

Here is the question that I want you to meditate on, “Where was God as Joseph was being mistreated?” You’ve probably heard questions like this before. People who’ve been through difficult trials often want to know where was God when they needed Him most. Let’s be honest and say that it is a tough question to answer and most often we don’t understand why God allowed the trial until long after it has past.

But in Joseph’s case, there is a clue and it has to do with the city of Dothan where he found his brothers. Years later, the prophet Elisha and his servant found themselves in the city of Dothan and they too are surrounded by enemies. The servant was afraid and Elisha prays that God would open his eyes and allow him to see.

2 Kings 6:17 So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Sometimes we don’t see God at work but this passage reminds us that He is present, working all things together for our good and the good of His people.

Something to pray about…

I think the temptation is for us to get angry when hard times come our way. Our tendency is to be frustrated when it doesn’t appear that God is working in our lives. But rather than allowing our trials to discourage us or lead us to anger I want to encourage you to let them lead you to prayer.

Pray for God’s comfort when the world is rough. Pray for God’s peace when life is filled with fear and chaos. Pray for God to give you a glimpse of how He is working in your life. Pray for God to use you for His glory and for the good of His people even when people are meaning to do you harm.

Conclusion…

Next week we will be reading Genesis 48 thru Exodus 18 where we continue to see God keeping his promise to bless the family of Abraham and to redeem them from the wickedness that crept into our hearts in the Garden.

 

 

Bible Through the Year: Episode 3

Week Three Devotion: (Download PDF) 

As the book of Job comes to a close we see the longest running dialogue of God in all of Scripture in Job 38-42. God enters into the conversation not as an additional contributor but as the One whose address brings finality. For most of the book Job has spent his time arguing that there was no sin in his life that brought about his suffering and his friends have been arguing that he must have sin in his life to bring such suffering about.

But when God enters the conversation they all have to put their hands over their mouths. The debate ends not because God answers all the questions but because He reveals Himself. He doesn’t give Job a deeper understanding of the reasons for suffering, instead He gives Job a deeper understanding of God.

Something to meditate upon…

Every one of us will go through times in life when we do not understand what God is doing. We will face times when we don’t have an answer to the most pressing question in our hearts. We will go through times when we are confused, fearful, and/or hurting and we want to know what God is doing. But more often than not, God doesn’t reveal His will of direction to us except in hindsight.

In other words, we will not fully understand what God was doing until the trial is over and we are able to look back on it with greater wisdom and clearer vision. But what God does want from us in every circumstance is to trust in Him. What God wants for us is a deeper understanding of who He is and how He can be trusted.

What God did for Job was to gradually reveal Himself in deeper ways than He had before. He gave Job a greater vision of God. He showed Job something that brought him to the point of humility, confession and repentance. Job learned that he needed to know God more than he needed to have his questions answered.

Psalm 27:4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

Something to discuss…

We are also getting back into the book of Genesis this week as we pick up our reading in chapter 12. Up to this point the book has been showing us the history of the cosmos at a macro level. It covers creation, fall, the spread of sin, the judgment of God in the flood, and the tower of Babel in just 11 chapters. But from chapter 12 onward the story slows down significantly by focusing on everything that happens in three generations of one family. Why the change of pace?

Genesis 3-11 give us a big picture view of just how extensive is our rebellion against God, but starting in Genesis 12 we see just how amazing is God’s grace to sinners. God singles out one man, Abram, and chooses to make this man the head of a new redeemed humanity. The body of the Biblical story of redemption begins with this man, but the question is, “Why did God choose Abram?”

Was he special? Was he a man of God? Was he more righteous than other men? The answer to these questions is no. In fact, according to Joshua 24:2 Abram was an idolater who worshipped the false pagan gods of the Chaldeans. But God chose this man despite his sin and promised to bring salvation to all the people of the earth through him.

Why did God choose Abram?

Deuteronomy 7:6 The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery,

The reason why God chose Abraham, better yet, the reason why God chose to save anyone is because of His love. It is not because of our worth, nor is it because of our works; it is because God has chosen to love us and therefore He purposed to save us. The foundation of the work of redemption throughout the history of the world is the love of God.

Something to pray about…

In Genesis 22 God tests and deepens Abraham’s faith. For 25 years Abraham waited for God to fulfill His promise to give him a son. Then after Isaac is born and is growing up God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son as an offering to the Lord.

What is going on here? Is God going back on His word? Can you imagine the thoughts running through Abraham’s mind and the emotions running through his heart? I imagine that this was a difficult command for Abraham to face. But in the end he trusted and obeyed the Lord. He trusted that if he obeyed, even when it didn’t seem to make sense, that God would take care of him, his son and the plan of redemption.

In the end, Abraham passed the test because he was willing to do whatever God commanded him and God revealed more of His plan for how he would bring salvation to the world. God provided a substitute to die in Isaac’s place and this scene points forward to the true lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world.

Pray that God would give us grace to pass the tests of faith that He sends our way. Pray that our example of faithfulness in hard times would be a testimony to the next generation. Pray that God would strengthen our trust in Him so that even if our lives are on the line we can trust that He will accomplish His plan.

Conclusion…

Next week we will be reading Genesis 27-47 where we continue to see the generations of Abraham’s family grow in their faithfulness to God and we begin to see how God accomplishes His purpose in strange ways.