Tag: Moses

The Tabernacle Reveals the Goal of the Exodus

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

What’s the main point of Exodus?

Before we dive in, consider this outline. It’s taken from this commentary by Peter Enns.

  1. Departure from Egypt (chs 1–15)
    1. Prelude (chs 1–6)
    2. Plagues (chs 7–12)
    3. Departure (chs 13–15)
  2. Mt. Sinai: Law (chs 16–24)
    1. Journey to Sinai (chs 16–18)
    2. Ten Commandments (chs 19–20)
    3. The Book of the Covenant (chs 21–24)
  3. Mt. Sinai: Tabernacle (chs 25–40)
    1. Instructions for the Tabernacle (chs 25–31)
    2. Rebellion and Forgiveness (chs 32–34)
    3. Building the Tabernacle (chs 35–40)

    The Reason for God’s Deliverance

    We need to make one distinction before discussing the main point of this book. The Passover and the Red Sea deliverance were the central events of the book. Many passages in the Bible reference these episodes.

    But why did God deliver his people?

    Part of the answer is that God is compassionate! God saw his people suffering, heard their cry, and saved them with his strong arm (Ex 2:23–25; Ex 6:6). But God himself gives another reason.

    God delivered his people because he wanted to be with them. Let’s take a look at the evidence.

    • God tells the Israelites, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (Ex 6:7). The larger context (Ex 6:1–7) connects God’s saving work in Egypt to his covenant with Abraham. The exodus is a result of God’s covenant love for his people.
    • When Moses sings after coming through the Red Sea, he praises God for guiding the people “by your strength to your holy abode” (Ex 15:13). He also says God will “bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established” (Ex 15:17). Moses knows God has a dwelling with Israel in mind.
    • From Mount Sinai, God tells the people: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 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; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:4–6). God didn’t just bring the people out of Egypt, he brought them to himself to be his treasured possession out of all the earth.
    • Finally, consider the tabernacle. When God first gives Moses instructions about taking contributions for and building the tabernacle, he states the purpose of this massive undertaking: “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Ex 25:8). At great expense of materials, labor, and time, God wants a place where he can dwell with his people.

    Here’s my attempt at the main point of Exodus: God delivered his people, at great cost, that he might dwell with them.

    Here’s another way to say this: the tabernacle shows us the goal of God’s saving work. This explains why so much of the book of Exodus (16 chapters!) is about the tabernacle. While the destination is the promised land, the goal is fellowship with God.

    So Much Repetition

    Before studying Exodus over the past year with my church, I hadn’t realized how central the tabernacle is to the book. Think about it—all the way back at the burning bush (Ex 3:21–22), God promised that the Egyptians would give their gold to Israel. And this same gold was used to build the tabernacle!

    It’s significant enough to notice that, from the outline above, more chapters in Exodus are devoted to the tabernacle than anything else. But the repetition involved trumpets this emphasis through a megaphone.

    The instructions for the tabernacle given in chapters 25–31 are repeated almost verbatim in chapters 35–40. A side-by-side comparison reveals very few differences. It would have been so easy for Moses to write, “And the people built the tabernacle according to all of the instructions that the Lord commanded.” Why do we have so much repetition?

    Moses wanted to emphasize the people’s obedience. Especially in light of the golden calf incident (more on that next week), it was important to say that the Israelites made the tabernacle exactly the way God commanded it, in every last detail.

    But, as happens so frequently in the Bible, this repetition points to importance. Moses is taking us through all the embroidery and curtains and utensils and furniture again so we’ll see just how important the tabernacle is. This is the place where God will dwell! Even before the people have a place of their own, they have a God of their own who loves them and will be with them.

    God’s Everlasting Presence

    Perhaps the implications for us are easy to see. If God delivered his people, at great cost, that he might dwell with them in the exodus, how much more has he done this for us!

    The cost of our redemption was the life and agony of the very Son of God, Jesus. Our destination is heaven—the new heavens and the new earth where we will dwell with God (Rev 21:3) forever. The goal of our redemption is restored fellowship with God. Christ died “that he might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3:18).

    But this fellowship with God begins at regeneration, not glorification! We enjoy God’s presence right now, as God the Holy Spirit dwells with us. If your mind reels at the thought of so great a truth, join the club. It’s staggering.

    Post credit | Photo credit

    Pray According to God’s Character

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Prayer is often born of need. We hunger, we are lost, we are confused, and we cry out to God. He has the power and authority we lack.

    As we grow in Christ, we get to know God better. And as we read the Bible, we see mature saints praying in mature ways.

    Moses Pleads With God

    As the nation of Israel was making and worshipping a golden calf, Moses was on Mount Sinai. God was furious, and he let Moses in on his thinking.

    And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore 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.” (Exodus 32:9–10)

    Israel’s idolatry was so offensive that God was ready to start over. Ponder that for a moment; it is staggering.

    But Moses wasn’t ready for God to destroy his people. In Exodus 32:11–13 Moses pleads with God to relent. This is a powerful prayer, and it’s instructive to examine Moses’s logic.

    As Moses prays, he draws on God’s words, actions, and revealed character. Moses knows God and speaks with him as a friend (Ex 33:11).

    Petition 1

    O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? (Exodus 32:11)

    Moses reminds God he has rescued his people from Egypt. The key argument, however, is just beneath the surface. What’s the reason God has brought them out of Egypt? Yes, he saw their suffering and felt compassion—he wanted to deliver them from a bad situation. But there’s more.

    God redeemed his people because he wanted to be with them! By his rescue God was taking Israel to be his people and pledging himself to be their God (Ex 6:7). Moses sang about God’s loving redemption bringing the people to his house (Ex 15:13,17). God himself said how he bore Israel “on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Ex 19:4). Most notably, we see God’s purpose for the tabernacle.

    And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. (Exodus 25:8)

    God can’t dwell with his people if he exterminates them.

    Petition 2

    Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. (Exodus 32:12)

    Now Moses is concerned with God’s reputation. He doesn’t want the Egyptians to have any ammunition for accusing God of “evil intent.”

    Don’t brush this aside, because God is quite concerned with his reputation! He wanted the exodus to confirm his identity (YHWH) to the Egyptians (Ex 7:5; 14:4). His actions will bring him glory and proclaim his name in all the earth (Ex 9:16). God is particularly concerned that Pharoah and his army recognize his glory (Ex 14:17–18).

    For any lesser being, a devotion to one’s own glory would be idolatry. But for God, there is no one greater! To avoid idolatry, God must promote his own name above all others. Moses knows this, so he appeals to God’s holy desire to glorify himself. His glory is at stake if he kills the Israelites.

    Petition 3

    Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ (Exodus 32:13)

    Moses knows that God is a promise keeper. And Moses knows that this promise to the patriarchs must be fulfilled.

    We’ve read this promise earlier in Exodus (Ex 2:24). Moses tells us that God “remembered his covenant” with the fathers, and this moved him to act when Israel cried out from their slavery.

    God has also told Moses to remind Israel of this promise. Moses tells the people that God will take them out of Egypt to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ex 6:8).

    To Moses, the idea of God starting over is outlandish. Despite the horrific sin the people have committed, God has promised. And because God cannot break his promise, he must relent.

    God Responds

    And he does relent. We read this immediately after Moses’s prayer.

    And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. (Exodus 32:14)

    Moses served as the mediator, crying out to God for mercy on his people. Moses appealed to God’s character and his promises, and God responded. What a loving God!

    In Moses, we have both a picture of Jesus and a model for ourselves. God’s righteous wrath “burned hot” against Jesus instead of us. We should have been wiped out, but Jesus stepped in.

    Jesus is still our mediator (Heb 7:25, Rom 8:34). Based on God’s character, his promises, and what Jesus has accomplished, Jesus prays for God’s ongoing favor toward his people.

    We pray as well. As we pray for ourselves, our friends, our enemies, and those on the other side of the planet, Moses’s prayer provides instruction.

    Let’s get to know God better through his word. Let’s rejoice in his purposes and his character. And let’s pray to him based on who we know him to be.

    Post credit | Photo credit

    When God Promises His Presence

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Moses’ call is one of the most striking in the Bible. A miracle, dialogue (with God!), promises—it’s all there.

    The whole story—from big plot points to small details—is fascinating. At the center, we see a man questioning his call. We have a lot to learn from God’s response.

    The Background

    The beginning of Exodus 3 finds Moses in Midian, the country to which he ran when Egypt was no longer safe. He has a wife and family, and he works for his father-in-law as a shepherd.

    While carrying out his shepherdly duties, Moses is confronted not only with the famous burning bush but also with God himself (Ex. 3:6). God announces his compassionate intention to free his people and take them to a good land, and he plans to send Moses to do this enormous work. Moses isn’t exactly ready for this.

    Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11)

    The Question

    Moses might deserve some criticism for his later excuses (recorded in Exodus 4), but this seems like an honest, natural response. Who am I to do this? Consider some of the reasons behind his question.

    Moses doesn’t have a great history with Pharoahs. Though he grew up in a previous king’s home, that same man tried to kill him (Ex. 2:15).

    Moses has been away from Egypt for about 40 years. The Hebrew people last saw him as nosy and scared (Ex. 2:14). Will they remember him? Will they follow him?

    Not being a military or political leader, Moses wasn’t an obvious choice for this job. He was just a shepherd in the wilderness. He didn’t seem prepared or qualified.

    Finally, Moses tried to stand up to Egyptian oppression once before, and it did not end well. Moses killed an Egyptian he saw beating a Hebrew (Ex. 2:12). But instead of being grateful, the Hebrews resented Moses putting himself in the place of “prince and judge” (Ex. 2:14). What would they say if he tried to take charge, give orders, and lead the nation?

    God’s Answer

    On a first reading, it doesn’t seem like God answers Moses’ question.

    He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:12)

    God gives Moses a personal promise and an outward sign. The promise is simply I will be with you. Is this answer supposed to be reassuring?

    Yes! If we consider how God has revealed himself to Moses, we’ll see why this promise is comforting.

    God is sovereign and mighty. He began to call Moses with a miracle (the burning bush). He makes the very place where he appears holy (Ex. 3:5). He is the covenant-keeping, faithful God of Moses’ ancestors (Ex. 3:6).

    But God is also tender and compassionate. He has seen the hardships of his people, he has heard their cries. He knows their sufferings and has come down to deliver them. (See Exodus 3:7–9.)

    God wasn’t concerned about Moses being lonely. His presence isn’t that of a stuffed animal, a guard dog, or even a best friend.

    God promises his holy, fiery, powerful, loving presence. With his own background and qualifications, Moses didn’t know where to start. But with God’s presence, he would be unstoppable.

    God Qualifies Us

    There’s at least one lesson for us to learn here. By God’s presence, he qualifies us for our callings.

    The Bible frequently uses Moses and the Exodus to point to Jesus and the cross, and this is no exception. The calling of Moses corresponds to Jesus’ baptism. God anointed Jesus for his saving task by sending the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:9–11).

    God makes the same promise to each Christian that he made to Moses. By his Spirit, he will be with us. (See John 14:15–17 and Hebrews 13:5.) God calls us to himself and then to particular roles and tasks. His ongoing, holy presence with us qualifies us for our calling.

    This doesn’t make our calling easy or even something we’re supposed to face on our own. But God’s abiding presence means we can face even the scariest challenges with confidence.

    Post credit | Photo credit

    Links for the Weekend (5/1/2020)

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

    The Subversive Habit of Boastful Prayer

    Trevin Wax has written before about subversive habits, by which he means habits which help keep the story of the Bible as the central story governing our lives. In this article he talks about the sort of prayer that boasts in the Lord and not in ourselves.

    Boasting takes it up a notch, and in prayer it becomes subversive precisely because our natural inclination is to turn our praise toward ourselves, to speak highly of our treasures, our strengths, and our accomplishments. When we turn our focus away from ourselves and we look for reasons to boast in God, we push aside what is lesser and we grow in our love for the God we now adore specifically.

    Zoomed Out: Freedom from Consuming All the Resources During Quarantine

    R.D. McClenagan is exhausted by all of the content available for him to consume during the Coronavirus lockdown. He writes to remind us that the measure of how you’re doing as a Christian is not how much you are consuming or producing, but the quality of the life of your soul.

    I want to give you the freedom to seek Christ and his kingdom first in this time—the freedom to be Mary in an online Martha world (Luke 10:38-42). There are many tasks to accomplish and there are many resources out there to accomplish them, but the most important task is to set your heart unto the Lord in this time. You don’t have to make your life group the most dynamic it has ever been, or figure out how to live generously like never before by the time stay-at-home orders are fully lifted, or feel the pressure to continue to project a greater spirituality to online masses than you actually have in your soul.

    The Case for Donating Your Stimulus Check

    Many people have seen or will soon see some money from the federal government make its way into their bank account. How should we use this money as faithful citizens of the kingdom of God? David Ingold suggests that for some people, a faithful response might be to give some or all of the money away. Whether or not you agree with his conclusion, the questions he asks (as well as the resources he provides) in this article are valuable.

    The Kingdom of God is like the Shepherd who goes out into the wilderness to find the one lost sheep. It’s when prisoners go free, and the lame walk. It’s the age of Jesus, our crucified King who left his glory and riches behind to be born of a poor, virgin girl, a girl who sang out: “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.” It’s the widow who gives her last dollar into the offering.

    Was Moses Really the Author of the Pentateuch?

    There is both internal and external evidence in the Bible for Moses writing the first five books of the Old Testament. Here is a short video (just 3.5 minutes) from William Wood of Reformed Theological Seminary laying out the arguments.

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    The Incarnation of Aaron

    Posted onAuthorSarah Wisniewski

    It was a rough mom day: Toddler up early, breakfast residue on the table, cold coffee, quick tempers all around. By about 9:30 a.m., I needed a hug. So much so that I scooped up my unruly child and asked for one. 

    She peed on me. 

    I should have turned to God, should have been like Susanna Wesley (mother of John and Charles) and thrown my apron over my head to pray. But what I wanted was clean clothes and, still, a hug.

    Prayer is effective, and the Holy Spirit’s presence is real. But some days you just need something to touch.

    God wants us to turn to him in all circumstances, whether crisis or joy. He genuinely cares for us! He also knows that we are physical beings—he made our bodies with their needs and limits. Even Jesus, when he took his most fervent prayer to God in the Garden of Gethsemane, brought friends. 

    A Physical Brother

    Before Moses was a patriarch, leader of Israel, and Scripture author, he was a shepherd offering three separate objections to God. Out of excuses, he finally asked God: “Please send someone else” (Exodus 4:13). 

    God’s response is equal parts comforting and humbling: “Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, ‘Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart’” (Exodus 4:14, emphasis added).

    Aaron, led by God, was already on his way to Moses, probably before the bush began to burn. If Moses had trusted God and accepted his mission, Aaron still would have come to aid him. God knew that tangible, personal support is important for physical beings. God himself declared: “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). 

    We are certainly to seek comfort, wisdom, and solutions from God through prayer and Scripture as a first resort. God often responds to those prayers through people: friends, the local church, spouses, doctors, and therapists. Sometimes he uses dogs, warm blankets, or coffee. Much like Aaron, our help may be on its way before we think to ask. 

    A Physical God

    Aaron appears in the desert as an incarnate demonstration of God’s presence and provision. In that way, he is a type of Christ. 

    God knows our need for physical connection so intimately that he made himself incarnate, in a body that sleeps and cries and eats, in the form of his son Jesus: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). 

    Jesus knows our weakness, sympathizes with our suffering, and stands with us in temptation, because he has physically experienced it all as we have. Ours is not an abstract God out of touch with our lives, or a haughty God who refuses to interact with our menial existence. Ours is a loving God who humbled himself to experience life in the world he himself created. God became physical, so we can trust that he understands our physical needs and desires.

    A Physical Savior

    Aaron was later appointed the first high priest of Israel (Hebrews 5:4), the intercessor between the people and God. But he, like all his successors, was an imperfect high priest: he had to sacrifice for his own sins, in addition to those of the people (Hebrews 5:3). 

    As our perfect high priest, Jesus lived through the range of human experiences but was without sin. He then offered up his own body as the physical sacrifice, the shedding of blood, that was necessary to forgive our sin and fully restore our relationship with God (Hebrews 9:22). 

    Because Jesus physically lived and physically died (and physically resurrected and ascended!), we can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). 

    The weather is turning crisp. It’s the season for warm drinks and cozy sweaters. Thank God for these tactile comforts! Call out to God in your struggles—but also maybe call or text someone. Man wasn’t meant to be alone. The help God sends may be a spiritual peace, a miraculous intervention, or simply a friend to hug.

    Photo credit