365 Reflections

The Sabbath regulation is one of the key repeated themes in the book of Exodus. From the moment of their deliverance, God reveals the Sabbath in providing bread for 6 days and not the seventh in Exodus 16. Then the 4th Commandment pertains to keeping the day of rest as holy to the Lord. The command is repeated after the specifications are laid out for building the tabernacle to Moses on the mountain of God in Exodus 31. In Exodus 34, God speaks of the Sabbath shortly after the Golden Calf incident and the re-affirmation of His Covenant with Israel. Now again, here in the beginning of Exodus 35, the Sabbath is commanded! This time reinforced by Moses himself. Exodus 35:1–3 (ESV) Moses assembled all the congregation of the people of Israel and said to them, “These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do. 2 Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord . Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. ...

What if you could have an Moses-like experience with God? Exodus 34:29–33 (ESV) When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. This is a powerful scripture. It helps us read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament. Moses meets with God, comes down with God's word - face shining. The people see that shine on his face and though they fear at first,...

Exodus 34:8-9 (ESV) And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”  How do you respond to knowing God? How do you respond to His compassion, grace, love, faithfulness as well as his just, righteous and certain judgment on the wicked? Hopefully the way Moses does. Having asked to see God's glory and being put in place by God to partake of as much of it as he could, Moses bows, repents and asks for God's blessing knowing full well, the only way the nation will survive is if God forgives them and comes with them,   "for it is a stiff-necked people". Then Moses prays YET AGAIN for the people of Israel. Moses has now prayed 5 times since the golden calf. He is learning how heavy the responsibility is to lead and feed God's people. He is ...

Why do we think God is so angry? In Exodus 34, we see Moses climb the mountain early in the morning to see the glory of God. He desires to KNOW God's glory. The glory of God is His "weightiness" or "heaviness" in the Universe and in our lives. The heavens declare the glory of God, says Psalm 19. People are made for God's glory, says Isaiah 43. The glory of God is what we are made for. The glory of God is what knowing God is all about. When Moses asks for glory he gets a sermon! Notice how God reveals His GLORY to him: Exodus 34:5–7 (NIV)  Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord . 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming , “The Lord , the Lord , the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their ch...

A powerful thought just occurred to me in reading Exodus 33. Do our prayers often get limited by our own false understanding of what God is like? Do we see him as a begrudging old man who only gives us a few cents for candy every now and then and only when we've been good boys and girls? Or do we see Him the way the Bible presents Him: generous beyond our own understanding? I think its time we get our facts straight about God in this regard. For too many of us are living substandard lives in Christ because we think God is not interested in doing more for us than we can imagine! Look at this two verse exchange in Exodus 33 between Moses and God: Exodus 33:17–18 (ESV)   And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” This is God answering Moses' prayer to go with them into the promised land right after He almost divorced them. God had...

In Exodus 33 we are introduced to Moses' prayer life and relationship with the Lord. He had a tent far off from the camp where God would meet with Moses and speak to him as a friend. The next thing we see is an inside look at that conversation. Some call this Moses' intercessory prayer which I believe it is.  Exodus 33:12–16 (ESV) Moses said to the Lord , “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your pe...

Join me as I spend some time in Exodus. We tend to believe Exodus is about escape from slavery. While that is the plot, the theme of Exodus is much much more than a simple and powerful story of deliverance. The key theme of Exodus is coming to "Know the Lord." The phrase, "know that I am the Lord" will appear at regular intervals throughout the book. In Egypt, Israel will grow large but shallow in her relationship to the Covenant Lord of Creation. Egypt will defy the Lord and Pharaoh will state this phrase, "Who is the Lord?" The first half of the book will illustrate WHO the Lord is.  The second half of the book will illustrate what knowing the Lord means. If we are to grow in our relationship with the Lord, this book is a wonderful place to start. So we begin: Exodus 1:1–8 (ESV)   These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjami...

Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. As much as Jesus came to reveal who He was and what He was here to do ... He was equally clear at times what He was NOT here to do.  In this case - He did NOT come to abolish the law or prophets. I'm amazed at the common lack-luster effort many give to know the Jesus in the Gospels. Sometimes "Christians" use Jesus as an excuse to pick and chose what we must do as New Testament Christians.  Many like to cherry pick the passages that are palatable to their personal preference or sensibilities.  But Jesus makes it clear from here on out - the standard is going up, not down.  The law is going to be fulfilled through his life and death and resurrection, but it's not going away. He even says in four verses:   VERSE 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the...