epcblog

Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Friday, November 30, 2012

Exodus 32


The people of God are supposed to rest in Him and to serve Him according to His commandments. But do not leave us alone for too long...

Moses was on top of the mountain. There he received the Ten Commandments and many specific provisions from the Lord about life in the Promised Land. Prominent in these instructions were the Lord's directives concerning His worship.

But Moses was delayed, and the people, who had heard the Lord's voice not too long ago, were panicking. They came to Aaron with an instruction that was boldly idolatrous: “Up, make us gods who shall go before us.” Aaron followed their word.

The gold that the people should have freely offered for making sacred objects for the Tabernacle, Aaron instead collected in order to make a calf idol. He then proceeded to schedule a sacred feast for the next day. The people offered up this absurd proclamation: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” Aaron built an altar, and the people rose up early to enjoy the man-made idol, with Aaron claiming that their celebration was a “feast to the Lord.” In came the animal sacrifices followed by eating, drinking, singing, and great celebration. Was this so wrong?

It was at this point that the Lord instructed Moses to go down the mountain. The Lord referred to the people of Jacob as “your people” in talking to Moses. If God should ever walk away from us, how will we go forward? God's Word to Moses: “Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” This had all happened so quickly. The Israelites, the Lord's special nation, were worshiping a golden calf.

God's provisional plan for the future: “Let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” This dreadful pronouncement brought forth in the mediator of the covenant a spirit of intercession for a sinful nation.

The plea of Moses at this critical juncture in the history of Israel was for God's own glory. Would the Lord want to leave the Egyptians with the impression that He was incapable of accomplishing the redemption of Israel, or that He had brought them out of Egypt with evil intent, only to destroy them? Moses reminded the Lord of His own divine promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. God had promised to multiply their offspring. How would slaughtering them in the wilderness fit in with that plan? This intercession caused the sovereign Lord to relent, and surely the mediator, Moses, was changed by the experience.

Now what would happen? They were in the middle of the wilderness. The Lord would not kill them all; that was established. But would He do some positive good for them? Would He lead them into the Promised Land? How would His justice coexist with His tolerance? Before those answers came, Moses went down the mountain to see for himself what had taken place. He was carrying the handwriting of God on tablets of stone, but when he encountered the idolatry of the people, he broke those sacred tablets of Law. Even Moses was angry for the sake of God's holiness. “He threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.” He turned the metal image to powder, added it to the water, and made the people drink it.

Moses questioned his brother Aaron. The man who would be high priest blamed the people, and spoke of the circumstance of Moses' long departure. By this time the people had utterly thrown off the Lord's protective restraints. They had “broken loose,” and we are told that this resulted in “the derision of their enemies.” Even the Gentiles could see that Israel had lost all self-control.

The opinion of Almighty God was expressed that day in the death of many within the camp of God's people. First the Levites took their swords as agents of the Lord's justice by God's instruction through Moses. Three thousand men died by the sword. Then the Lord Himself sent a plague upon them.

Moses sought to make atonement for the nation. He offered himself up in the place of the nation, but God would not accept Moses as a substitute. “Blot me out of your book.” This was the cry of a man who would have stepped into this frightening breach between God's justice and His steadfast love. The Lord's response: “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”

This was bad news, and on that very day, the Lord sent a plague on the people.

We cannot wish away the Law of God. We cannot define sin or its penalties by our own desires. We cannot demand that God accept one of us as a substitute for the guilt of a nation. We cannot win a victory over death and hell by concluding in our own minds that we know better than God.

An acceptable sacrifice must be found according to God's terms. A man far holier than Moses was necessary to accomplish this work of atonement. This Man has finally come. He has accomplished all that was necessary that His death might win forgiveness with God for all who are found in Him.

This is what the cross of Christ is all about. We have the Son of God to lead us to heaven. We have not been left behind in the wilderness to die for our many transgressions. This is the truth about God's love and justice.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Exodus 31


God was the Designer of the Tabernacle. He showed Moses what it should look like on top of the mountain. He commanded him to build it, but it would not be Moses who would do all of the skilled work necessary to accomplish this great project. God would bring gifted men to serve with Moses.

God knew these men. He knew their names. He knew where they were from. He knew their heritage. He knew their gifts. The Lord is the Giver of every good gift, including the ability to follow His instructions in any area of worship or life. Everything we have has come to us from God's kind provision.

God spoke the world into being by His own powerful Word. He ordered the days of creation for His purposes. He has complete command over the new heavens and new earth that will one day be revealed. Though He has this full sovereignty over all these marvelous works from beginning to end, He chooses to work out His great plans by using people.

Bezalel, Oholiab, and others who would serve in various ways, were all part of God's plan. The Lord could have built the Tabernacle instantaneously, but He chose to do it through instructing Moses, and through raising up these craftsmen. By His Spirit He brings forth beauty and glory through the hands of men made in His image. He gives them ability and intelligence. They had knowledge and craftsmanship in order to accomplish their duties. Even though the Lord Himself was the Designer, Bezalel would be called on to “devise artistic designs.” The general instructions would leave room for creative insight under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The men would use the material gifts of God; gold, silver, bronze, and precious stones. They would take these raw materials in their hands and they would create a place of worship. What a task!Their hands would form the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the mercy seat, all the objects used in this system of divine worship. They would build the table for the holy bread, the golden lampstand, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering, and the basin for ceremonial washing. They would make the holy garments for the High Priest and the garments for his sons who would serve with him.

Many decisions were necessary in order to do this work. They were tasked with the building of a great reproduction that they had not seen. Moses saw the original on top of the mountain. His mind would contain that image, but their hands had to do the work of building. For this to be done right, it was necessary that God would be with them in a special way. They needed to make these sacred objects with accuracy so that Moses could affirm that the job had been rightly accomplished. To attain to the correct result would require great skill and insight.

The construction of the tabernacle is a useful parable for us concerning the building up of the Lord's kingdom today. Our resurrected Mediator, Jesus Christ, sends forth His Spirit, and uses His servants. God could just speak his church into being in a moment, but He chooses to use all His beloved redeemed children in heaven and on earth to accomplish this great task. Jesus is the Master Builder, filled with all the fullness of the Holy Spirit. He Himself is the Cornerstone of the new creation. There is no moving away from the foundation that we have in Him. He has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us above. Even now the final tabernacle for the worship of the Lord is being constructed. Our efforts on earth are part of this work. If not, then why are we surrounded by a great cloud of heavenly witnesses? Any movement from death to life by faith and repentance causes heavenly beings to rejoice in the presence of angels. Can we doubt that all our growth in grace and knowledge causes sincere cheers before the presence of God on high?

Those who have gone before us have entered into the Sabbath rest where Jesus lives. He is working, doing His perfect building of the final tabernacle of persons. Yet He is not weary. He does not fall asleep in the stern of a boat anymore. He does not come down from a mountain and walk into situations that bring forth holy expressions of exasperation. He has run the race for us here below. He has taken His place of ruling rest at the right hand of the Father.

We celebrate a day of rest in this and in earlier generations as a testimony to the fact that we too will soon enter that place of rest. Even here below, where we have a cross to bear in following our King, the one who works best is the one who rests most fully in Jesus; in His blood, His righteousness, and His heavenly attainments.

Our weekly rest is a sign between God and us, a sign that we know that the Lord is the One who sanctifies us. The Lord who did His great creation work in six days has entered the realm of the seventh day. Jesus did His work on earth, and has risen from the dead as the Man of a new day. We work by His Spirit as people of that new day. Soon we will be with Him above. Let us work today as the residents of heaven work, walking in the Spirit by the power of the perfect day of Jesus Christ.

God gave Moses two tablets with the testimony of the Law for the Old Testament Tabernacle. Jesus is our testimony, the testimony of the final Tabernacle. All that we have flows to us from the grace that He has won for us through His death and resurrection. His Spirit is the finger of God at work in our lives even now. He is using us to build up a holy dwelling place for God. Who is sufficient for these things?

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Exodus 30


 “How long, O Lord?” We are waiting for the fulfillment of all of these Old Testament signs. Surely God has a plan for His people that goes beyond the limits of this life. Surely the Lord of Israel did not instruct Moses to build all that was necessary for tabernacle worship only to have people live and die with a picture of what the Lord showed to Moses on top of the mountain.

We have followed this picture in our minds' eyes from the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place, through the tabernacle with the other furnishings, into the courtyard containing the bronze altar, and to the priests themselves with their special vestments, first for the high priest, and then for the other priests who were the sons of Aaron. As we complete the descriptions of these sacred objects, we long for something more. The hearts of God's redeemed who have been rescued from bondage thirst for Him. See Psalm 42. We long to be taken up bodily into His presence, yet this is also a fearful thought, because of His holiness and our sin.

The people of the tabernacle were given a symbolic representation of their prayers coming up into the Lord's heavenly sanctuary through the altar of incense. See Revelation 5:8. Until that time when we can be with the Lord more fully, we want our ways of communicating with God to be most fruitful. We know that we need His help.

The altar of incense was much smaller than the bronze altar that was for offering animals to the Lord. The placement of this altar of prayer was inside the tent, just before the veil that separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the tabernacle. If we think of the Most Holy Place as God's side of the tabernacle, and the other space, the Holy Place, as our side, the altar of incense was on our side. We were on our side of the heaven/earth divide. The veil was a border for us that we could not cross. We prayed to God. Did He hear? Would He help us? When was the veil coming down? But now the veil has been torn from top to bottom in the death of Christ. This is a great encouragement. May the Lord answer our prayers during our present distress. Some are in pain. Others are oppressed. We are praying for individuals and whole people groups to be found among the worshipers of the Lord. Lord, hear our prayer!

Our High Priest in heaven intercedes for us. Even on this side of the divide, Jesus has sent His Holy Spirit to us, and that great Immanuel is working in us. We do not know how to pray as we ought. When you do not know what to say, groan from within with true thanksgiving or the deepest mourning. Surely God will help you. See Romans 8:26. Our altar of incense has been purified by the perfect blood of Christ. Our High Priest loves us.

This atonement that is ours is nothing we could have paid for ourselves. We do not have even the smallest copper coin of the perfect righteousness that is required to take care of that debt. But Christ has found the redemption price in the boundless gold of His own obedience. In the days of the tabernacle, God commanded that every fighting man who would serve the Lord would have to give a census tax of half a shekel. That was the cost of liberty below. The price in heaven is much more. But Christ has paid it in full.

The Lord also instructed Moses to make a basin of bronze. He was to place it outside the tabernacle in the courtyard on the way to the Lord's presence. Who could dwell on the Lord's holy mountain? Would the washing rituals of men using the water of earth suffice to cleanse us from our iniquity? Aaron and his sons needed to perform these rituals to show their own need for cleansing. But now we have been cleansed by the water of heaven. We are priests to God through our High Priest, Jesus, the Messiah.

The water of the earth was enough for a symbol of the washing necessary to go into the tabernacle or to offer an animal to the Lord on the bronze alter. But we have a deeper cleansing that has washed our hearts. We have been made alive in Christ by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now we can worship with confidence. Now we can offer up our lives in the simplicity of holy living.

The anointing oil for the priests and the incense for the altar of incense were both of a special composition that the Lord gave to Moses. These were not for common use, nor were any other oil or incense to be used as substitutes for the Lord's sacred purposes.

The sweet oil was for anointing the tent, the holy furnishings, the lampstand, the altar of incense, the alter of burnt offering, and the basin. By this oil, all these would be set apart as holy. “Whatever touches them will become holy.” So much in this world is unclean, but when Jesus touches the unclean, we became clean. What a sweet oil of godliness comes from His resurrection hand! He embraces us with a secure and holy love.

The special incense of sweet spices and frankincense, seasoned with salt, was to provide the aroma for the tabernacle. But now the Lord who breathed life into Adam, and gave the breath of heaven to His apostles, has breathed the fragrant incense of His sacred mouth on us. He is an aroma of life to us.

We say all of this, and it is true. We love the tabernacle and everything in it. Even more, we love the temple of the Holy Spirit, the church. Still we cry out, “How long, O Lord!” Our hearts still yearn for Him. Come, Lord Jesus!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Exodus 29


The tabernacle was a wonderful place of God's presence. The furnishings and garments that God told Moses to make were full of meaning. They were objects of beauty that testified to the Lord's glory. God designed them, Moses could speak of them, and gifted men would make them.

Far more glorious is a man. God knits a baby together in his mother's womb. Even that little child can also be a tabernacle for the the Holy Spirit. One person is more wonderful than the most glorious temples that people can build.

Our destiny is to be priests to God and to one another. Filled with the Holy Spirit, we will offer up ourselves to God and serve one another with joyful hearts and perfected bodies. We are priests now, but we are imperfect. Jesus the Messiah came as the perfect Priest. In Him we are perfect priests.

God prepared His people for this priestly role in part through His instructions concerning the sons of Aaron. In the Old Testament system of worship they had a special role as priests before God. They were to be set apart from their fellow Israelites for this holy office through ceremonies of consecration that God gave to Moses. But Christ was set apart for His office as our representative from eternity past, and through the key events of His earthly and heavenly consecration. When the fullness of time came, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of His mother Mary. At just the right moment, when He identified with those who would repent and believe, He was baptized with water by John, and the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. When His time came to die for our sins, He offered up Himself as an acceptable sacrifice. But it was especially in His resurrection and ascension that He took His place as our eternal heavenly representative. Now He always lives to intercede for us. He is our High Priest.

The sons of Aaron were not consecrated that way. They were set apart in ceremonies involving the signs of preparation; the blood of animals, the water for ceremonial washing, the holy garments for their apparel, the anointing oil poured upon their heads by Moses. Jesus was set apart by God Himself for His eternal resurrection priesthood.

Aaron and his sons were also to be priests forever. But these men would die. We needed a priest who would not be prevented by death from continuing in His holy office.

By the Law of Moses, the priests were involved in a symbolic ministry of atonement. Dealing with sin always required the shedding of blood. The Old Testament priests were set apart apart for that preparatory ministry by the blood of bulls and rams. But Jesus dealt with sin by His own blood.

In the days of Aaron, the blood of animals sanctified the altar and the priests. That blood did not have the power to work inner sanctification. But we have been cleansed through and through by the blood of Christ.

As part of the ordination ritual, the fat of the sacrifice would be burned on the altar before the Lord. How much more satisfying to God is the righteousness of Christ that supplied for us all the holiness that the Lord required. Even now that righteousness is powerfully at work in us so that we can serve the Lord as we walk in the Spirit of Jesus.

He is the whole-burnt offering that ascends to the Father with our names on His hands. He is the sin offering that has done away with all our filth outside the camp. We live now as priests in Him, sanctified by His blood. We have been cleansed by the washing of water with the Word. We have been touched in our hearts by the holy oil of His Spirit.

Now we eat the bread and drink the cup that assure us of the peace we have with God through Him. These simple tokens of the body and blood of our Savior are better than all the holy bread of the centuries of ritual among the descendants of Aaron. Christ is our present reality. We gather together as a priesthood of believers to worship Him, and we move out as the priesthood of His faithful ones to serve Him all over the earth. In Him, we are a living offering to the Father. We serve and praise God with hands that help and heal. And we that know that we are one in Him who died for us and who rose from the grave. We are in Him even now in heaven.

For centuries, the descendants of Aaron had certain privileges. There was special food only them. They wore garments that only they could wear. They had been ordained to do tasks that only they could perform. Now the people of God have graduated beyond the days of preparation.

In Christ, we have not only been declared holy, we have been and will be fully healed by the touch of His hand. He is the altar that makes us holy. He is our continuous righteousness and forgiveness. There is no need for Him to repeat the cross ever again.

Because of this power, we offer up our bodies day by day as living sacrifices. We do not have to feel that something is missing just because there is no longer a daily sacrifice offered up by the sons of Aaron in Jerusalem. The power of the death of Christ is forever. Now we have a Messiah who has won for us a perpetual priesthood of the holiest love and service to God and one another.

In Jesus and His worldwide church the tabernacle of God has become a person. This Jesus is not only the Messiah for Jew and Gentile; He is the Lord our God. He brought us out of the bondage of sin. We will dwell with Him forever.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Exodus 28


God's commands for worship involved not only a special place, the tabernacle, but also special leaders of worship, the priests. Those priests were to wear holy garments according to the directives of the Lord through Moses. Aaron and his descendants would serve the Lord as priests throughout the entire Old Covenant. They were set apart based on their family heritage, but at the appropriate time of life, they would be set aside by ordination. Their clothing would tell a story that reached into the realities of New Covenant and even into heaven.

The holy garments that God spoke about to Moses were “for glory and for beauty.” They would be made by those who were gifted by the Holy Spirit for this great work and skillful in assembling such garments. The Lord was the designer. He reserved that job for Himself, since everything in the tabernacle, including these special garments, were full of symbolic meaning. The office of the priesthood was a particular calling that a man could not presume to take upon himself, and the clothing that the Lord commanded was one way, together with the ceremonies He ordained, to set apart men for this special blessing of drawing near to Almighty God.

These garments included a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash. The names of the twelve sons of Israel were to be engraved on two onyx stones, six on each stone, and the stones were to be set on the shoulder pieces of the ephod. Twelve precious stones in four rows were to be set on the breastpiece, each one inscribed with one of the names of the twelve tribes. The breastpiece and the ephod, with this constant reminder of the descendants of Jacob, were attached together with cords and rings according to the Lord's instruction. The symbolic importance of this picture was explicit: “Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord.”

The breastpiece of judgment had a special function as its name suggests. The priest was to use the Urim and Thummim to understand the Lord's will for Israel at times when they inquired of the Lord. This too would be on the heart of Aaron, the High Priest. Israel needed the Lord's direction for living, and the use of this system provided that necessary help. God put it this way: “Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly.” The answer of the Lord for the tribes of Israel would be of utmost importance in many challenging situations for years to come.

The hem of the priestly garment would make noise as the priest moved. Bells of gold would be heard when the High Priest went into the Holy Place before the Lord. The Lord said that this was a matter of life and death for the High Priest, reinforcing a message that became more pronounced as the Lord's directives for worship were given through Moses: To come before the Lord in the tabernacle as a priest was a dangerous matter. Only those authorized by God were allowed to draw near to Him, and only with appropriate reverence and awe.

Beyond the names of the sons of Israel, there was one more set of words engraved on a plate of gold and set on the priestly turban. That plaque gave this important directive: “Holy to the Lord.” This requires very little interpretation. The priest, the one who would be a mediator between God and the people of Israel, would have to be a man who was set apart for the Lord's service. Surely the God who gave such a probing commandment as “You shall have no other gods before Me,” and “You shall not covet,” was looking for more than mere ceremonial holiness. The one who would be a priest before God for others would have to possess moral righteousness in accord with the Law of the Lord.

Where could such a man be found? And what would Israel do without a priest that was holy to the Lord? Aaron would soon make a golden calf. Two of his sons would die when they made unauthorized fire. These garments were for real. Approaching God with recklessness could be deadly. The Lord needed to provide an acceptable priest or all was lost, but no sinless priests came from Aaron's descendants.

Aaron was a sinful man wearing a turban with a gold plate fastened upon it, and that plate made a claim that neither Aaron nor his sons could fully live up to. They were to represent their brothers among the Israelites as they wore their tribal names engraved on precious stones before the presence of the Lord. Those tribes were full of those who were unacceptable, and they would be represented by priests that were not holy to the Lord in the depths of their hearts.

But now we are accurately counted as holy to the Lord. In the New Testament era we have one great High Priest for both Jews and Gentiles who believe in His Name. Our names are written on His hands. By His wounds we have the forgiveness of sins. He was perfectly holy to the Lord. In this one holy Head, the body of the entire church of Jesus Christ has been counted as holy. Now in heaven, this one High Priest represents us before God, and in Him, we are holy priests before the Lord.

Any priestly clothing we have in heaven comes from the merit and mediation of Jesus Christ. He still loves the tribes of Israel, but also bears the names of many other beloved children close to His heart. God has rendered a judgment of eternal blessing for us in Him. May He grant to His children growth in holiness appropriate for those who are priests of God forever in Jesus, our Lord.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Exodus 27


God's description to Moses of this very important tabernacle building project started with the object where He would be most present. He would dwell over the mercy seat that was to be placed on top of the ark of the covenant. He gave instructions as well concerning the table for the bread of the presence and the golden lampstand. See Exodus 25. The Lord went on to instruct Moses about the building of the tent that would go over these objects, and the spaces inside that tent that would be divided by the veil into the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The frames and the multiple layers of fabric and skins that God told Moses to build were what is specifically referred to as the Tabernacle. See Exodus 26. But there was more for the worshiper to see outside the holy tent. God instructed Moses concerning the space that the worshiper would experience on his way into the tabernacle of God. To get into that place of closer fellowship with God one needed to walk through this outer court. Prominent in that court was an altar where sacrificial offerings were burned before the Lord.

The frame of the altar was to be made of acacia wood and covered with bronze. The altar had four horns, one on each corner. Throughout the history of Israel this would be a place where someone might desperately come and hope for mercy from God and man. Why would the Israelites connect mercy with this altar?

The altar was the place of sacrifice. The blood of the substitute insisted that someone else was killed instead of the worshiper. This is a necessary accomplishment in order for a sinner to come into the presence of the Lord in His heavenly abode. The altar speaks of mercy from God based on a genuinely acceptable sacrifice.

But could the Old Testament system ever deliver that mercy? With its pots for ashes, special shovels, basins, forks, all its bronze utensils; with its grate upon which an animal would be placed and burned, could it really be the place where a true and permanent aroma could come up to God that would be pleasing to Him? The altar could be made perfectly according to the pattern on the mountain, but it is what is put on that altar that must make all the difference. Is there a death that will make a difference to God? Only if there would first be a life that fully pleased Him.

The voice from heaven in the days of Jesus assured us of the pleasing life of Christ. The resurrection of the holy Victim insisted that the death accomplished all that the altar system of the Old Testament only whispered about in the time of shadows.

That bronze altar was in the court of the tabernacle, the area surrounded by curtains that distinguished between the camp and the approach to the tabernacle of God. The ground itself was just ground. It would be the linen hangings around the entire perimeter that would create the special spaces that God commanded Moses to make.

This court was a place for those who could draw near to the God of Israel. All the inhabitants of the earth should have been streaming into that courtyard, petitioning the Lord with hope in His mercy. Yet the time had not yet come for the expansion of the people of God to every tribe and tongue and nation. They should have been there inquiring about the God who would dwell between the cherubim. They should have longed for a sacrifice that would have been acceptable to Him.

Though the nations were not seeking after the great I-AM, He would one day seek for them and find them. His courts should have been flooded with eager worshipers already, and His house should have been a place of prayer for the nations, but it would become a den of robbers before the nations would be glad in Jesus. Instead of a place where people could seek and find the Lord, those in charge of the Lord's holy place would turn His courts into a place of buying and selling for profit. This would be a matter of great concern to the Lord.

Zeal for the Lord's tabernacle consumed Jesus. He loved the dwelling place of the Almighty. He who was God's holy tabernacle was filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit of God.

Without the oil of this Holy Spirit, there is only darkness in the tabernacle of God. If the oil is gone, the light will go out. What if one stumbled in the darkness beyond the veil, falling into the Most Holy Place, where the ark of the covenant was kept, where the Lord dwelt on His great mercy seat? If a worshiper stumbled without the light of God, how could he receive mercy? All that would remain for such a careless person would be an expectation of judgment.

But we are those who have the oil from heaven filling the lamp of our souls. Christ dwells in us. The sacrifice has been offered, and we see now the full brightness of the Lord's holy lampstand. The veil has been removed, and heaven is alive in us, for Jesus lives in us.

Now the nations have met the Lord of Glory who died for us. His sacrifice was acceptable to the Father. We have a light in us that will never be extinguished. Now, in accord with 1 John 1, we are those who walk in the light as He is in the light. We have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Exodus 26


New Covenant worshipers of God are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. See Hebrews 12:1. The tabernacle, the movable house of God that the Lord told Moses to build, once made the invisible world of heavenly witnesses visible, in shadows, to those who worshiped the Lord. The tent of God had angels, cherubim, woven into the fabric of the curtains that formed the tent. God showed Moses what it should look like and then told Him to make it according to that pattern.

In Hebrews 12, the great cloud of witnesses are not only angelic observers. The Old Testament worshipers of Hebrews 11 together with the New Testament children of the Lord who have more recently entered His heavenly household are seeing the church today from heaven. They are witnesses on high from a place where clouds are not a sign of confusion or deception, but of the divine presence. God and His heavenly host see. They are not deceived when people are deceiving others and even themselves. Because we are seen by this heavenly cloud, we are told to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The tent of the assembly of God's people on earth, even during the Old Testament days, was a place of holiness. It was not a tent of tolerating or encouraging sin by sophisticated talk of supposed freedoms that defile the body of Christ. Especially now that Christ, who is our life, has appeared, we should be moving from glory to glory through the Word and Spirit of God. We should be perfecting holiness in the fear of God. See 2 Corinthians 7:1.

The curtains that formed the covering of the framed structure of the assembly of heaven on earth were twenty-eight cubits long. They were large enough to go up one wall of the frame of the tabernacle, over the top, and down the other side of the frame. The width of each curtain was only four cubits, but these curtains were connected with each other in two groups of five curtains each, connecting curtain to curtain with clasps of gold.

On top of these curtains was a second set of coverings, made out of goats' hair. This set had an extra curtain beyond the number of the linen curtains underneath. That extra curtain was doubled over at the front of the tent. Clasps of bronze were to be made that would be put into the loops of gold, making the tent into a single whole. There would be an extra part of the tent curtains, a half curtain, hanging over the back of the tabernacle, and extra length that would hang over the sides. All of this was to be covered by another covering of rams' skins and then a final covering of goatskins on top.

This moveable tent house of God needed frames on which the curtains could be hung up, first on one wall, then over the top, and continuing down the other wall. These structural frames of the tabernacle would be made of acacia wood. The walls would be fifteen feet high. Each section of the frame would be fit together with the next, with special bases to provide stability for the frames. In addition there would be bars going along the tabernacle walls horizontally making all the frames into a sturdy whole. These bars would be thread through rings in the panels. Whatever might be a challenge for us to imagine about this structure is a result of our not having seen what Moses saw on the top of the mountain. The Lord said to Moses, “You shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain.”

The curtains and frames of the tabernacles spoken of so far provided the structure of this special place of Old Covenant worship. But there was one interior curtain that was of great significance. This curtain was called the veil, and it separated the tabernacle into two spaces, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.

As with the outer curtains, cherubim were woven into the veil. This heavenly curtain was a dividing wall that could not be easily breached. God was to be especially present in the Most Holy Place. In that cubic area, 15 feet high, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet long, Moses was to place the mercy seat on top of the ark of the covenant. On the other side of the veil, in the Holy Place, Moses would place the lampstand and the table for the holy bread. This part of the tabernacle was to be twice as large as the Most Holy Place, 15 by 15 by 30 feet long.

The final special curtain was the screen at the entrance of the tabernacle. This screen was at the gateway to the Lord's movable house. This tent was to be made according to the Lord's instruction. It was a tent for God. But when God came to dwell with us as our Redeemer, he took up a different tent, the tent of a human body, as his residence.

The human body, like the Old Testament tabernacle, was to be an impressive though simple setting for God. But this Old Testament tent, with its layers of curtains, and a single golden lampstand with seven lamps would be a place of shadows, as the Old Covenant people eagerly waited for the lights to be turned on. Now Christ has come, and His Holy Spirit dwells within His church. With the death of Jesus, who tented with us, the Old Testament veil has been torn in two, and we have been granted bold access to God. The day of shadows is over. The Light of the World has come.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Exodus 25


Moses and the leaders of Israel met with God on His holy mountain, the mountain of God's Law. A pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness, was under the Lord's feet in that place. They were near Him who reigns from the heights of heaven, and they were still alive.

God spoke to Moses from this point forward in Exodus about the place where the people of Israel would meet with Him. Before He did this, He instructed Moses to tell the people to make certain contributions for the building of the sanctuary. The people should not have had to do this out of compulsion, but willingly. They would give of their own possessions for the building of the place where Israel would worship the Lord.

They would give gold, silver, bronze, colored yarns, linen, animal hides, oil, spices, and precious gems. Where did the Lord's oppressed people get these possessions? Remember that God told them to ask the Egyptians for jewelry and clothing. They put it all on their children, and in this way they plundered the Egyptians. Perhaps it was these spoils of God's holy war that were coming back to the Lord now.

Moses was to build the tabernacle and everything connected with the worship of God according to what the Lord showed to Him as a pattern on the mountain of God. This included three holy furnishings that begin the Lord's instructions to Moses regarding this special place.

Ever since man was forced out of the garden, the problem of being in the presence of God has seemed insurmountable. Now God revealed to Moses a way of connection that would allow the Israelites to be with God. As with all of the Old Covenant revelation, it was part of the Word of God to His people prior to the coming of the Messiah, who is our Immanuel, God with us. Through the place of God's presence built after the pattern God showed to Moses on the mountain, the Lord's people would be further prepared for a future solution to their estrangement from God, when we would have bold access to God through Jesus, our King, and when we ourselves would be the temple of the Holy Spirit in Him.

The Old Covenant instruction on the tabernacle space began with the Ark of the Covenant. This was the very center of holiness in the Old Testament system of worship. This box would require special handling because of the danger of contact between sinful people and their holy God.

On top of the ark there would be a covering of pure gold called the “mercy seat.” This throne of God's mercy would have golden angels on each side that would be a part of the golden cover itself. The testimony of the Lord's Word, the Law, would be kept beneath the mercy seat in the ark of the covenant. There in a place that is called “mercy,” a mercy that somehow sits on top of the foundation of God's Law, God would meet with His people. It is fitting for the Lord to start His Word about His sacred place with this one object. The Lord's presence with us in mercy and holiness is what the tabernacle was all about. Everything about being with the true God was frightening for those who still were waiting for His revelation as to how His mercy and His holiness could exist together. If He was merciful to sinners, how could He be true to His own holiness. If He was holy, how could He fulfill His promises of mercy?

The second object for Moses and the people of Israel was the table for the consecrated bread. The Lord was providing bread from heaven, manna, to sustain His people in their life in the wilderness. His Son would come as the Bread of Life. The consecrated bread of Old Covenant worship was to be set out on this holy table to be a ceremonial picture of the life and speech true priests offered up to God. The manna that the people ate was bread from God. The Lord's bread to us is Christ, and every word that proceeds from His holy mouth. How can we offer up bread to God? Yet we who are now part of the priesthood of the faithful must give back to Him our lives, the true offering of the fruit of lips that confess His Name.

The final object God showed to Moses in this chapter was the golden lampstand. Here was the light of the world. God and the Lamb are the light of heaven, and we who are united to Jesus are to be a lampstand. The church is the Lord's city on a hill. His presence is known to the earth through His covenant people.

These beautiful and holy objects were not explained to the people of God. They were simply displayed to Moses on the mountain in their glory, and He was commanded to make copies of them for the traveling worship house of the Lord in the midst of His people.

Now we see these beautiful treasures in the light of the Redeemer who has come. He is our Ark of the Covenant. In Him justice and mercy have met through the cross. His blood has won for us bold access to God. He is our holy bread. We take and eat the bread, and then we give ourselves away to others. He is our perfect lampstand with its fullness of seven lights. In Him we are living out His mercy and justice. We have become a holy offering to the Lord, living letters of His Word. We are the light of the world. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. May we do this as the Lord's pure gold, fleeing from all impurity, and every secret deception of immorality and forsaken promises.

We have more than the pattern shown to Moses on the mountain. We have the greatest gifts of heaven in us right now through the Spirit of Jesus, our earnest of the life to come.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Exodus 24


The Lord gave Israel the general principles of how God's people might walk in relationship with Him in The Ten Commandments. He also provided specifics that instructed Israel concerning what it would be like to live in The Promised Land. God guaranteed His presence and His blessing upon His people if they would listen to Him.

The Lord is not a sinful man that He should make empty promises. He assured Moses concerning the solemnity of His Word by confirming the covenant with Him. He called up the priests and the elders of the people to witness His commitment to them. They would be further away, worshiping from afar, as Moses drew near to the Lord.

For their part, the people made their commitment again to follow the Lord. “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Moses wrote down God's Word, and he built a simple altar to the Lord. See Exodus 20:22-26. He also built twelve pillars that stood for the people, the twelve tribes of Israel.

The blood of the sacrifice should not be missed here as we consider this confirmation of the covenant. Even though this is the Law, the blood reminds us that we cannot have fellowship with God without the blood of the sacrifice. That blood is the grace of God, free to us, but requiring the life of the appointed substitute.

The blood of burnt offerings and peace offerings was to be thrown against the simple altar that Moses made. This was not an artistic display. It was a holy symbol that spoke of the need of God's people, a need that the blood of bulls could not finally satisfy.

The book of the covenant contained the Word of the Law. That Law needed to be kept. The blood of the covenant was necessary because of the guilt of disobedience. How did God show the people that they needed the blood of an innocent substitute in order to have fellowship with the Lord? He told Moses to take the blood of the bulls and throw it on the people! What a vivid picture! But Israel has always needed the blood of a law-keeping man for true atonement. The bulls tell a story, but God is not looking for a law-keeping bull. He demands a law-keeping man, a man who is willing to take the punishment that the people deserve.

The people again promised to obey. “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” We do make pledges like that. How can we do anything less? But what will we do for forgiveness when we sin? We look for the grace that will come through the sacrificial blood of a true law-keeper.

We need the blood of the covenant. In the Old Covenant, the covenant of shadows and preparation for the Messiah, a bull would do. But who will be the Man of Light? Who will be worthy to stand before the Lord in His own obedience, with the light of God's perfect justice searching out the depths of His being?

God Himself would have to come, but as the new Man. Man had sinned. Man must obey. And now a perfect Man would shed His blood. This blood was important to God. Even in this day of preparation, notice what God said through His servant Moses: “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

The covenant required this shedding of blood in accordance with the Word of Law that was part of that covenant. To disobey the commandment was death. How can those who have disobeyed live? Only through the blood of the covenant.

The old ritual told the story of God's covenant with Israel. The leaders of the people went up the mountain and “saw” the God of Israel. The ritual was commanded for a few Israelites to see a picture of heaven's glory on earth. They came near to the Holy One of Israel and lived. They beheld God. They ate and drank a meal in His presence.

Theirs was a covenant of Law written on tablets of stone which God gave to Moses. We long for something more. We need more than a record of a Law that is external to us. That Law tells a sinner of his condemnation. We need the effectual shedding of blood that cleanses our hearts. Then we need a new Law to be written upon our hearts by the Spirit of God.

This blessing is ours in the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. These gifts have covered more than a handful of key leaders. We have been granted a blessing for all the people of the covenant, that we all might have bold fellowship with God.

The Old Covenant solution told a good story, but we have something better than that story. We have the fulfillment of the Law in the blood of the Messiah, risen from the dead. Now the whole church can eat and drink with God. All who approach the Lord in faith can enjoy a holy meal preparing us to eat and drink with God in perfect fellowship and peace forever. All who have been covered by the true blood of the covenant can eat the Lord's bread and drink the cup that He provides. The body and blood Christ has been given for us.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

2 Samuel 6


The Lord gave His people explicit instructions concerning the transporting of the ark of the covenant. Did everyone forget that it was supposed to be carried using special poles? David had defeated the Philistines and had removed the Jebusites from Jerusalem. He was leading the nation in the holy pursuit of the presence of God. But in the process of serving God, someone decided that it was a good idea to move the ark of the Lord in an oxcart.
That was the way that the Philistines had sent the ark back to Israel. But their pattern was not in accord with the Word of God.
It must have appeared to any spectator that David and the people of Israel were celebrating before the Lord well enough, but then the ox stumbled and the ark began to fall. Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and he died. We learn in this sad chapter that “God struck him down there because of his error.”
The king had a hard time accepting this act of divine judgment. He was angry and he was afraid of the Lord that day. Therefore the ark stayed in a private home for a time, but it became a conspicuous source of blessing to the family in that home.
David determined to try again to bring the ark into Jerusalem. This time, the men that bore the ark of God only went six steps before an ox was slaughtered before the Lord. The king of Israel danced before the Lord with all his might, and the ark was brought up to God under the careful direction of the worshiping king.
David's wife, Michal, the daughter of Saul, presumed to criticize the king for his scandalous exuberance. The king danced for an audience of One, the holy God of Israel. Michal was not impressed. She despised her husband.
So many others in Israel had eyes to see the king's devotion rightly, but his wife could not see anything but disgraceful lowliness. David had been through a painful ordeal in the loss of Uzzah. He wondered about the Lord he served, but he was brought to see Him as the God who was worthy of even more careful obedience and the fullness of joyful devotion. To Michal, her husband's behavior was unseemly.
How do we worship a King who died on a cross for us? What can we say about a God who could find no other way to satisfy His holy demands except through the blood of His sinless Son? How can we live by a Spirit who urges us forward in the exuberance of the full imitation of the Lamb of God who was slain for sinners?
Not only are we called to a life of sacrificial love, but we are to live that life in worship with “joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.” We worship the God who calls us to the lifestyle of the cross. To many this may seem like madness. To us it is the highest privilege of Holy Spirit-filled devotion. We love to worship God. We want to give our lives to Him.
We may not understand why Uzzah had to die. We find it hard to fathom the tragedies that befall those we love. But we know that the way of blessing for us is to continue in obedient worship and service. We do not offer our praise grudgingly. It is our goal in life not only to obey our holy and merciful God but also to enjoy Him forever. Jesus is the true Ark of God. He has ascended to the Jerusalem that is above. He reigns as King forever.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

2 Samuel 5


Finally after so many years of struggle and trial, David was anointed king over all of Israel and Judah. All of the tribes were able to acknowledge that God had prepared David for this day in his amazing service under Saul. They believed the Word of the Lord that God had given so long ago when Samuel had anointed David saying, “This is he.” The people had come to understand what Saul, Jonathan, Abner, and so many others knew about David, “You shall be shepherd of my people Israel.”
The elders of the tribes, David, and the Lord God were there at this great moment as David was anointed as king before the Lord at Hebron. David was still a young men at thirty years of age, but he would reign for forty years.
David set about winning the stronghold of Jerusalem despite its good military position that had frustrated the people of the Lord in prior generations. Continuing in God's command of conquest over the peoples that had formerly been in the land of Canaan, David expressed the Lord's hatred of the Jebusites who had inhabited this territory that would become David's special city. The Lord was with David and gave him victory.
Hiram, king of Tyre to the north of Israel, made peace with David, but the Philistines sought to destroy him. Yet David evaded them, and then, at the Lord's direction, he went up to battle against the Philistines, and the Lord delivered them into his hand.
Once again David inquired of the Lord concerning a further military assault against this enemy nation, and again the Lord told David that He would give him and the armies of Israel victory. He revealed a plan for the defeat of the Philistines, and His servant followed the Lord's instructions and received the good result that God had promised.
These early victories of king David over the Jebusites and the Philistines stood in stark contrast to the fear and defeat that had marked the end of Saul's reign. God was certainly able to establish His people in the Promised Land. But would they be faithful to Him in the end?
The worst enemy of Israel turned out to be Israel.
Our biggest dangers are not the armies of flesh and blood that may be arrayed against us. God used David to defeat armies that had frustrated Saul. But God used Jesus to destroy more formidable foes.
In the New Testament we are assured that our struggle is not first and foremost against flesh and blood. We face angelic powers of great evil that seek our destruction. A most serious foe is the corruption of our own souls within us.
We need a leader that can defeat sin and death. This is what the Son of David, Jesus Christ, has done for us. He has secured for us the best Promised Land in that Jerusalem which is above. Even now, our anointed King is at the right hand of the father, showering us with a better gift than David received when he was anointed as the king over God's people.
We have been anointed not with oil made by human hands, but with the oil of gladness sent from heaven, the Holy Spirit Himself. This good Spirit is now at work within us, putting to death enemies like impatience and self-preoccupation that are unbecoming of those who follow the King who died on the cross for our sins.
Through the power of the righteousness and blood of the Son of God, not only have sin and death been overturned. The devil himself has been defeated, and the wrath of Almighty God has been turned away from the elect. Only Jesus could win for us an everlasting peace with God. There is no greater King over all of God's people than Jesus, the Son of David.

Monday, November 19, 2012

2 Samuel 4


David killed people that others would have spared, and he spared people that others would have killed. He made decisions in a different way from those around him. Those who wanted to serve him needed to observe him and to imitate him.
This chapter describes the murder of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul. During the months of conflict between the descendants of Saul and Judah's new king, David, Ish-bosheth was receding in importance and his general, Abner, was increasing. Eventually Abner decided to bring Israel over to David. He was not able to fulfill this mission, since Joab deceived Abner and murdered him.
These events left Ish-bosheth with a decision. Would he try to take up the fight again against David, this time without Abner, or would he admit that the war was over? Whatever courage Ish-bosheth had was now long gone, and all Israel knew that this man could not be an effective leader.
Nonetheless, those who understood David well would have known that a man like Ish-bosheth should not be murdered through some deceptive plot. If the two men who deceived Ish-bosheth and then stabbed him in the stomach expected to receive commendation from David for their actions they were sadly mistaken.
Their way of life did not show any trust in the Lord. This was not a any courageous vindication of God's Name or the fruit of careful attention to His Word. They acted as men of the world who pursue their own interests in a way that seems most expedient to them. Their plot was not in accord with the mind of the Messiah King at work in His servant David. It was just the way of the world.
David knew well that the Lord had redeemed his life out of every adversity. His trust was in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That trust had a very commendable force upon his thinking and his behavior.
By contrast, the murderous action of these former servants of Saul's son was both brutal and despicable. They did not have a Word from the Lord commanding them to behead Ish-bosheth in his sleep and then to deliver that head to David as a prize. This sort of plan is only pleasing to those who like a good story of treachery. It was not the way of the Lord.
Even though Ish-bosheth had set himself up as an enemy of David, the king of Judah could not rejoice in this murder of Saul's son. No words of flattery or talk of God's purposes could make this brutal action righteous. David ordered the execution of these men and buried the remains of Ish-bosheth with appropriate respect.
We follow a more righteous King than David. The Son of God did what His Father showed Him to do. He followed His Father's Word without sin. He calls us to spend time with Him and to take in His Word so that we will have a heart of obedience to both the Father and the Son.
The world will always say, “May it never be,” when the cross is presented as the wisdom and power of God. We have spent time with the Son of David. We know that His way is the only way for us. He has called us to be true followers of God.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Exodus 23


God put His thumbprint on the Promised Land. In that place that He gave to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He expected that His Law would be followed. That meant that it would not be a place of religious pluralism, though sojourners would be cared for. It would not be a land where they would be able to sacrifice to other gods, but it was a place where they could expect to receive help in their various situations of distress.

The Lord's directives for His people in The Land were not just about spiritual practices that were prohibited. There was a public morality, a way of justice and mercy, that God demanded. In that land it would never be right to spread a false report in order to defraud a weak individual or a despised minority group of their possessions. The Promised Land was a place of truth.

The Promised Land was also a place where the lost were found. In that land you did what was right even for a man who hated you. You looked out for his property, not to secretly steal it, but to return it to him intact.

In Israel, the poor received a just verdict. You didn't have to be able to pay in order get a judge to do the right thing. The God of Israel hated injustice. It was a land where even a foreigner must not be oppressed.

In Israel, time was marked by God's calendar. Living by His time required faith. You needed to enter into His blessing, and let your fields rest in the seventh year. In God's time, there were also seven days in every week. Six were for work, and the seventh was a day of rest for you and for all who were in your charge, even your animals.

In God's time, there was never a special day for calling upon the name of other gods. There were festivals where all gathered in the Name of the Lord. There was a week of Unleavened Bread at the time of the Passover when the Lord brought His people out of Egypt. There was a Feast of Harvest, when you brought forth some of the fruits of your labor to the Lord of the Harvest. At the end of the harvest time there was a great feast of Ingathering where you celebrated before the Lord the great fruitfulness of His provision. These were great feasts for the people of the Land. All the men needed to appear before the Lord God on these special days.

There would be other feasts in the nations all around Israel, but the children of God were not to bring the ways of those nations into the Promised Land. They used leaven. That was not for Israel. They let the fat of their offerings remain until the next morning. That was not in accord with the Lord's Law. They kept the first and best of their produce for themselves. Israel was not to do this. Israel needed to have faith in God. Other people undertook all kinds of ceremonies that they imagined to be for their safety and help. Israel had a God who had established a different way of worship and life for His people.

God would send an angel, a Messenger from heaven, to protect Israel on their way to The Promised Land. They needed to hear His voice. They needed to follow Him. Who was this great Messenger of the Lord? Certainly the Lord would send prophets, and the Commander of the Lord's Army would appear to Joshua. But who was the Angel of the Lord, so closely associated with God Himself? We do know that when Jesus came, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” He was the final Messenger of the Lord. Any earlier messenger prepared the way for Him. Any later messengers were His ambassadors.

Israel was to hear the voice of the Messiah in any of those earlier messengers that the Lord granted to them. They needed to carefully obey Him. That was the only way of safety and life in the Lord's covenant community. It was the way of faith; believing in the voice of the Son of God.

When Israel considered what it would be like to be led by the Lord's Messenger into The Promised Land, they needed to resist two powerful temptations. They needed to reject the religion and morality of the people who were in the land before them, and they needed to forget about their own former practices that came from their contact with others, whether the Egyptians to the south, or the Syrians that were their ancestors.

There could be no continued presence of Canaanite religion or ethics in Israel. Their holy places needed to be destroyed. The Lord Himself was casting them out of this land. He would not tolerate His people following the practices of foreign worship or imitating there ways of life. Israel was to be different. If they would follow Him in the Land, He committed Himself to great blessings for the nation; blessings of bread and water, future generations and healing, long life and security.

The true Messenger of the Lord has won all of these blessings for us. He has the best and most secure Promised Land reserved for us in the heavens. There we will have food and friendship beyond anything that we experience in our lives now. Our healing of body and soul will be complete, and we will live forever with the Lord and His people in the safety of God's eternal kingdom.

Jesus has placed more than His thumbprint upon His kingdom in heaven. The indelible mark of His wounds have claimed for us the new heavens and earth. All of what Israel could have been here below was only a shadow of what God has now for His chosen people in Christ.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Exodus 22


Not everyone is motivated by the love of God. People who are motivated by the love of Christ for them don't have to be browbeaten into attending worship or into giving to the work of the Lord's kingdom. They want to worship God. They want to give. They want to serve. But some people are simply not moved by the love of God displayed for us in the cross of Christ.

This does not mean that such people are completely without motivating influences. Many get up in the morning and go to work even though they do not love God and do not enjoy their jobs. They are motivated by something else. They need the money. Many people who do not love God still refrain from certain illegal activities that they might love to do. The threat of sanctions constrains their behavior.

This suppression of public evil was one of the purposes of the Law in Israel. The manifold consequences of stealing a neighbor's animal should at least slow down the sensible thief. We need Law, not because it could ever lead us to peace with God, but because, among other reasons, it is necessary for civil order in a broken world where people murder, steal, and commit adultery.

There can be no stability in a community where one man does all the work to maintain a fruitful field, and a second man sends his animals there to feed. If you did that in Israel, God's Law said that the penalty had to come out of your own field. If you started a fire and that fire got out of control and destroyed a neighbor's crops, you had to pay for what the other man lost. If you took responsibility for another man's goods and then claimed that those goods were suddenly stolen, you and the owner might both need to stand before God on that matter, so that the judges could sort it all out.

If people had no evil inclinations, rules like this would be unnecessary. If we were all perfectly motivated by the love of God, we would not need to talk about restitution. But in this world, the real world, even the best people can be overcome by unholy impulses. We do need a system of civil restraints. Even Christians in the New Testament era need to know that civil authorities do not bear the sword in vain. See Romans 13:1-7.

In all cases in Israel, civil order was not only a matter of divine Law. It also included the discernment of those judges who used that Law after hearing the facts of the case from both parties in any suit. Even more, justice was to be lived out in the fear of God. God knew the truth that one man might try to hide from his adversary or from a wise neighbor serving as a judge between the two men. God cannot be fooled, and He is very powerful.

Even the relationship between a young man and woman was not left to the impulses and emotions of the two parties most directly involved. The father was to be a protector of his daughter, and the public had an interest in the honor of neighbors. This was the way of the Lord for Israel.

The Promised Land was not a place for those who practiced sorcery. It was not a nation where people were allowed to practice bestiality. It was not to be a society that was open to false religion. It was God's country. It was to be a light to all nations. It existed for God's special purposes.

Sojourners were welcomed there, and they were to be treated with respect, but they could not force God's land to tolerate their religion and their moral opinions. They were a minority who should be cared for, just as those who were in need because of the loss of a husband or parents. God promised His people that He would be watching them, and that He cared for the stranger and the weak. Maybe a wicked man might not care about God's feelings on these matters, yet he should pause to consider God's promise to kill with the sword those who made married women widows, and who turned little children into fatherless orphans.

Israel was to be different from all the other nations of the world. It should have been a place where the hearts of the Lord's people went out to the destitute, lending to them without interest, and making sure that even the poor man who had to put up his cloak for a pledge at least received it back at night to keep his body warm. If not, then God would hear the poor man's cries. God is a compassionate being. He expected Israel to be like Him in mercy and love.

These matters of public order and righteousness were requirements for God's chosen people. They needed to honor God and those in authority over them. They were to give to the Lord their first and best out of all that God had given to them. They were to be consecrated to God.

But Israel was not holy. They did not love God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. They did not love their neighbors as themselves. They did not adequately attend to any of His laws. They did not even rightly enforce these ordinances for civil order. Israel failed.

What do you do when Israel fails? You need the provision of a new and successful Israel.

Jesus is the new Israel of God. He is the Son of God who obeys all civil law, all ceremonial law, and even the weightiest matters of mercy and justice. He took upon Himself the curse that fell upon Israel for their disobedience.

God cares about civil order in His church and among the nations of the world. He knows that we will not all be perfectly motivated by love for Him and for one another in the way that we should be. But He has sent the true Israel, Jesus, to live in love and to die for us because of His amazing love for His people.