Approaching God

Exodus 40

This chapter describes the setting up of the Tabernacle for the first time.

Moses set up everything in order, in the order God told him to. He had made everything just like God had showed him in the Pattern (the Original in Heaven), now he set it all up. And now the Cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. This sanctified (set apart) the Tabernacle, and the Ark with its Mercy Seat, where God sat in the Cloud between the cherubim. 

This made the Ark too dangerous to be close to, so was shielded by the veil, the Tent over the Tabernacle and the covering over it, as well as the Levites camping around it, between the Tabernacle and the other Tribes. 

Our God is a Consuming Fire--much too dangerous to approach lightly.

That's why there are so many rules and regulations about the Priesthood and the Levitical Order, so these men will be safe when they take care of all the Tabernacle business.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Peoples And Their Lands

Deuteronomy 2: 17-19

The Lord said to me, "Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar. When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot." 

Verses 20-23 give three examples of how God is the One Who determines which Nations will live in which lands: The Ammonites who drove the Rephaites out and settled in their place; the descendents of Esau who destroyed the Horites in Seir and lived in their place; and the Caphtorites destroying the Avvites and settled in their place. 

God says He determined that these peoples would live in these lands, even when they declared war on the inhabitants and destroyed them all.

God has determined that Israel will have all the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The people who want little Israel to give up even the land they acquired in the miraculous "6-Day War" are deceived by the enemy, who hates all of God's people.

I pray for "the peace of Jerusalem" every day, especially since our president has declared it to be Israel's capital. Almost every president since 1947-48 has said he would, but only President Trump has had the intestinal fortitude to actually do it. Another sign that we are in the end of the end times. Jesus is coming soon.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Great Shama

Deuteronomy 6: 4-9

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is One!

This is "the Great Shama," that every Israelite is to recite every day. Shama' is the first word of this verse, meaning, "to hear intelligently, to listen carefully to obey." Israel is to understand that our God is the only One Who is God, and is not any of the other gods that are worshiped among the other peoples.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

God is to be so precious to His people that they are to love Him back with all they are: their emotions, their thinking processes, and their physical strength in all they do. 

And these words that I am commanding you today shall be on your heart; 

We are to consider His Law to be the best and most valuable and most useful and profitable system of living in this World, over every other lifestyle. If we do love God like we say we do, then we want to do what He tells us to do, we will want to please Him.

And you shall teach them diligently to your sons [and daughters] and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

We are to teach our children continually how God's ways will bring the best good to us in our lives at every opportunity, from breakfast time through doing the daily chores and marketing to sitting at dinner and going to bed again. All day long, at home or away, whatever we're doing, in the company of whoever we are doing business with, and alone on the road or in the living room. Every part of every day relates to how God is good to us in showing us His ways to cooperate with how He designed this World to operate, and it will work well for us for our good as we apply it in our lives.

And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

This is like saying, "Tie a string around your finger," to be constantly reminded to apply God's system of Law to every part of every day life. To be aware of how practical God's ways are to our living every day. 

And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

And make known to everyone who approaches your property and your dwelling that you follow God's ways.

God is God, there is no other, none other is anything like our God at all. He is our Maker, our Creator, Who designed everything to work in an orderly fashion, so that everything would progress in the most pleasant and fun way for us, who He loves more than we can imagine.

Do you have children? Do you want your children to live good lives? Lives that are pleasant, fulfilling, and fun? Do you want your children's lives to be meaningful and happy? Of course you do. And you would do whatever you think would help them to do that, won't you?

God has done the same for us. He has made this Earth for us, made us of it, and placed us here. Then He chose one family to give His rules for living to, and if they would follow it, then all the other families would see how wonderful it worked out for them and want to have wonderful lives too, and worship God, instead of all the false gods out there.

Now that Jesus has fulfilled over 400 of the "pictures" God gave us of Messiah, and His Death fulfilled all the sacrificial laws, His Resurrection guarantees a new life for each of us who belong to Him. Now His Holy Spirit of Truth lives in each of us to teach us His ways, and strengthen us to follow it. 

And we are to teach our children every day how good God is and how good He is to us to show us how to live our lives every moment of every day. Then He will bless us with the consequences of our cooperating with how He designed it all to work. 

And also teach them how Jesus is our Lamb of God, the sacrificial offering that was given for each of us individually to atone for our sins and our sinfulness that we were born into. God saves each of us individually, one by one, so that is how Jesus fulfilled that first sacrifice (in Leviticus chapter 1), to save us. 

He also fulfilled the corporate sacrifice that the High Priest was to offer for the whole Nation each year on the Day of Atonement to purchase the whole Earth. That makes Him our Owner by both Creation and by purchase, which gives Him the authority to judge us. 

So if you consider yourself one of many He died for, then you are still under judgment. We all deserve death, and when God calls you to Himself He will give you the gift of faith to believe that Jesus took Your place in death. That's His grace to us, His goodness that we don't deserve. But He considers us worth it.

That's how much God loves us; more extensively than we can ever imagine. No strings attached. It's all of God, for our benefit and His glory.

Even so, come. Lord Jesus!

A God So Near

Deuteronomy 4: 7

For what great Nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord God whenever we call on him?

God had chosen one Nation to be near and to give His directions to, in order that when they lived their lives according to His Law, then He would bless them so abundantly that other Nations would see and want to worship their God also. No other Nation had the Lord God to lead them, they all had other gods, idols, that neither spoke nor saw nor were aware, but were wood and stone. 

Now God has chosen His own out of every Nation, every region, every language, every culture, all over the World. When His people in any Nation rise up to magnify Him in their lives and in their government, then God will bless that Nation. But, like Israel, if that Nation forgets God and turns to other gods, other ways, other paradigms, then God must withhold His good blessings, until they would turn back to Him.

O my Father, You know who are Your own. You know our hearts, that they are deceptive, being polluted by that sin nature we were all born with. Please help us, strengthen us against our own deceptions, to recognize them and repent, turn around our thinking and our attitudes to align with Your ways. 

Then You will bless us with the natural consequences of following how You designed this World to operate on this Earth. Teach us Your ways, Father, and enable us to implement Your rules in our lives and in our government, to magnify Your Name, to give You the credit, the glory, for designing it so, and then we will enjoy all the good things You have given us now, and live with You forever.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Passing The Baton

Numbers 27: 15-23

Since Moses will not be leading the people into the Promised Land, he asks God for someone to do this, so they won't be like sheep without a shepherd (vs. 15-17). 

So God tells him to, take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence (vs. 18-19).

(V. 20) Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. 

Moses is only to give him some of his authority, but they were to all obey him.

(V. 21) He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord...

Joshua didn't have the Lord speak to him face-to-face, as He did Moses; he was to go to the priest who would ask God by the Urim (like dice) that the High Priest kept in the pocket of the breastplate he wore. This is the pattern for all the other leaders after Joshua.

(Vs. 22-23) Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord instructed through Moses.

God had told Moses and Aaron that neither of them would be entering the Promised Land with the Israelites, and Aaron died and was buried on Mount Horeb. So Moses shows his care for the people in not wanting them to be as sheep without a shepherd, and asks God for a replacement.

So God gives him Joshua, who had been Moses' protege. And He makes sure that all the people know that he will have the authority and leadership over them as they enter this Land and begin to conquer the native tribes who occupy the Land now.

O Father, thank You for Your wisdom and Your lovingkindness toward Your people. Thank You for telling us all these stories of how Your people followed You and were blessed, or disobeyed or wandered from You and suffered the consequences. Help us to learn from these ancient people to apply these principles in our own lives today. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

God's Pictures

Numbers 20: 6-12

Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the Lord appeared to them.

The people had been complaining again, and there was no water there.

The Lord said to Moses, "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that Rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the Rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."

All right, this was the Rock that God had told Moses to strike to get water out of in Exodus 17:6. This is interesting: First Corinthians tells us that this Rock was Christ, Who followed the Israelites in that Desert (10:4). So He tells him to just speak to the Rock this time.

So they gathered the people, as instructed, and Moses shows just how angry and upset he was with the people when he said, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this Rock?" 

Then Moses raised his arm and struck the Rock twice with his staff.

Oh-oh, he didn't talk to it, he hit it with his rod, two times! Wow, he was really mad!

Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

God still gave the people the water they needed, but Moses now had a penalty to pay. 

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the Land I give them.

Since this Rock was Christ, and He was struck only once, it looks like Moses spoiled His picture He wanted to give us. Moses' anger cost him being able to enter into the Promised Land himself, after leading this whole Nation for forty years in the Desert and all the way to the border of this good Land. 

God is very serious about the pictures He gives us of Who He is and what He's doing for us. This Rock represented the Messiah that had been promised to Eve, and what would happen to Him. And He was struck only once.

O my Father, thank You for all the pictures You have given us all through Your Scriptures so we would be able to recognize our Messiah, our Savior, Your Son. 

You are very serious about the pictures You provide us, so we will have an accurate idea of what to expect Him to do. Father, You gave us all the Laws that lay out all the things Jesus would do when He came the first time to be our Savior, and He did fulfill the letter of all those Laws. Just as You had told us long ago, we now have that Law in our hearts: The foundation and basis for all the individual laws that comprise The Law is the principle of Love. 

Thank you so much, Father, for Your love for us. Teach us how to love You back, and to love one another with Your love. Help us always to consider the loving thought, the loving deed, the loving word, before we react; that we would respond instead the way You would have us to.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Above And Beyond

Numbers 17: 18

...The rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.

There was a lot going on here in this section of this book. 

A little background first: The Israelites had come out of Egypt with extraordinary miracles worked against their slave-masters, and the Red Sea had parted for them to walk through it on dry ground, while the Egyptian army that followed them was drowned. 

And Moses has received the Law from God on the mountain, and they have even by now built the Tabernacle with all its furniture and the garments for the priests to wear while doing their jobs in the Tabernacle.

And God was still meeting with Moses face-to-face to lead and direct him in everything God wanted him to do.

Now certain arrogant men gathered together against Moses, jealous of his position, and accused Moses of promoting himself over them. 

Moses had never asked for all this. He had never wanted to lead this whole Nation at all, but God put him in that position. Now, when he heard what these people said, he fell down with his face on the ground! (16:4).

Then when God dealt with these complainers, the whole congregation was so shocked that they blamed Moses, again.

Finally, God said He would put an end to all this foolderall, and told him to gather a staff from each tribe, and the staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites (17:5). God is teaching these people instead of destroying them all (see 16:45).

God always does everything He can to deal with each one of us, and all of us, to convince us to follow Him, rather than our own ideas. Remember this when you are going through stuff in your life. 

Now He said that the staff would sprout--Ha! See what it did:

...The rod of Aaron for the House of Levi had sprouted [like He said], and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds (Wow!) (17:18).

God never does a half-measure. He always goes above and beyond anything we could even hope for! He had said that one rod would bud, but it more than budded; it flowered and ripened the almonds, too! Way far above and beyond what any of them expected.

That's how God likes to give: Extravagantly! He likes to overwhelm us with His generosity, to lavish upon us His love and blessings!

O my Father, You pour out Your good gifts upon us so lavishly, according to Your lovingkindness and Your extensive, unlimited Treasures in Glory! You abound to us more than we can understand or withstand! O Father, thank You, thank You, that You are God Almighty, Who does all Your will, all the time, to accomplish and fulfill all Your purposes for all of us. Even when we continually grumble and complain, You teach us to change our outlook, to see as You see, not what the World presents. 

Continue to teach us, dear Father, how to let Your joy of the Lord be our strength as we battle the World, our own flesh, and our enemy in high spiritual places. That we will think Your thoughts, not ours; live according to Your ways, not ours; and do the things You designed each of us to do, to serve You by serving others. 

Then when all has been done, and the time has come, then You will send Your Son, our Lord and King, to return to this globe to set up His Kingdom, sitting upon His Throne. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!