Transfered Glory

Exodus 35 -40

The last six chapters of Exodus report the execution of the instructions given concerning the tabernacle. It begins with a restatement of the Sabbath command, and ends with the entrance of the glory of God into the tabernacle. The main thing conveyed here is that the glory of God is transported from Mount Sinai to the tabernacle to with the people.

We would close our journey through Exodus by taking for ourselves the words Moses gave to Joshua as he transferred leadership to him:

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. - Deuteronomy 31:8

Next in Open Journal: The Letters of John

Prayer:
Lord, thank you for this journey through Exodus. May I find you going ahead of me to wherever you would lead me. Thank you that I can count on your promise – that you will never leave me or forsake me, that you have a purpose for me I could never dream myself, and that you have a destiny for me, with others, beyond imagining. Through Christ. Amen.

Chiselers

Chapter 34

It’s about us after all. But in a manner of reflection. Moses wasn’t aware that he was all lit up (verse 29). It was, of course, reflected glory that caused his face to glow. That’s this whole saga in one picture: God at the centre, the people as his image (recall Genesis 1:27) . One sense of image is a reflection, as in a mirror or when you look down into a pool of water. Only the reflection is never perfect. It can’t be. The full power and goodness of the original would be too great anyway. There is a mediator, but lately we’ve seen more and more that the role of the people is not so passive, as it was, say, in the crossing of the sea. The people supplied the oil to burn in the tabernacle (27:30). The people offer their own repentance along with Moses pleading for them (chapter 33). Now this chapter has started off with Moses - representing the people to God as well as God to the people – supplying, with some labour, the replacement stone tablets for God to write on. I love that picture. How about making it God autographing your heart with his will for you, no matter how you may have messed up in the past (golden calf, chapter 32).

Prayer:
Let me not forget the point, Lord: In order to mediate your glory to others, it’s not what I give them, but what I offer to you for you to work with. Through Christ. Amen.

The Turning

Exodus 33

This chapter shows how God can both judge and forgive. The sense of judgment I get here looks ahead to the New Testament in that ths simple fact of God’s holy presence with a stubborn people is just too great a difference for the people to tolerate (compare the interplay of light and darkness in John 1 and 3). It’s almost like the effect of matter versus anti-matter. God refuses to accompany the people out of concern for their destruction. And yet there is a way, through a faithful mediator, who is in communion with the Lord and also loves the people (again a hint of things to come). We saw in the last chapter that Moses had a unique position in being both on the mountain and among the people.

For some reason the text itself doesn’t explain, Moses has a tent outside the camp, but even here we find a concession of the Lord who doesn’t completely abandon the people. There is a form of the guiding column of smoke that serves here as a catalyst for the people to worship in repentance from their own place. Here is a new development from the last chapter and more sign of hope. Whereas, before, it was just Moses pleading for the people, now there is still Moses pleading – successfully - for the people, but also the people have their own role of repentance.

The way is being prepared for restoration of the covenant, and yet not based on the actions or any merit of the people or even their mediator (not even Moses can experience the direct presence of God), but on the yet-not-abrogated promise of God, that the actions of the people and their leader are allowed to have a role in re-awakening.

Prayer:
Lord, let us all contemplate for a moment the effectiveness of true repentance over against insistence on rights, influence and privileges. Through Christ. Amen.

Choose

Exodus 32

Scene One: Moses on the top of the mountain. Concluding forty days of instructions from the Lord, the great I Am, and now receiving stone tablets as culmination of this intensive training to pass on to the people he has led out of Egypt. Time to pass all this on. This is what’s it’s all about.

Scene Two: The people are dissing Moses. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. Aaron, it’s up to you man. Give us something real we can follow. We’re tired of visions and promises. Aaron takes their gold and makes a calf out of it. These are the gods (yes, plural for some reason) that have brought us out of Egypt. Aaron tries to cover all the bases, making the worship of this thing have the form of worship to the Lord.

Scene Three: The Lord tips off Moses he’d better get back. Moses has seen both sides. He’s been on the mountain. He knows the people, or does he? So enraged he smashes the culmination of his mountain top experience, and the covenant with the people with it. It's broken already anyway; they abandoned the promise.

Time to start again. Who really wants to follow the Lord, rather than their own inclinations? Choice is hard; here it is ruthless, brutal. Learn the lesson. You can’t it have it both ways, and it’s not about pleasing anyone. Who will follow the Lord? You have to choose.

Meanwhile, Moses pleads for the people, on the basis of God’s goodness and on the basis of God’s own promise.

Prayer:
Lord, show us what loving the people really means. In Christ. Amen.

Rest Room

Exodus 31:12-18

There will be another statement of the Sabbath command at the beginning of another section of instructions concerning the building of the tabernacle (35:1-3). This underlines the close connection between tabernacle and Sabbath. There is much detailed, painstaking work involved in the building of the tabernacle and furnishing it, along with the activities to take place in it.

The tabernacle is intended to be a way to experience the fulfillment of the promise of God to dwell with the people. The Sabbath is a reminder that it is all God’s initiative and power and work, even though humans are given much to do. It all depends on grace. I suppose one way to understand why the penalty for violating the Sabbath is so severe is to see that if the people forget the lesson it embodies they are dead as God’s people anyway.

A parallel for me is preparing for worship, or doing any of the Lord’s work in the context of his church. We are to work hard and well. The work can be be exasperating; it can and does bring conflict, wear and tear on people. We can even experience evil in the setting of doing the Lord’s work. But at some point we all have to say regularly what I find myself saying to myself and praying to God before heading into weekly worship: “It’s not about me, Lord.” If no one appreciates what I do on a human level, it doesn’t matter. If no one knows how much time I spent on this, it doesn’t matter. If not one knows or cares what personal demons or practical frustrations or human annoyances or unfairness or other cr** I felt I had to deal with, it doesn’t matter. The truth is, anyway, I dish out my own measure of cr**; I am not fair to others; I can be and am a pain or disappointment or source of frustration to others on a regular basis. I have no credentials worth anything in heaven for what I do. I deserve hell. It is only because of the sacrifice of Christ and the choosing of God to dwell with all us needy, self-serving, self-absorbed, petty, squabbling little brats of his that I am able to do anything at all and any of us have any hope. On that basis, then, I and others together can address the things that can’t be glossed over that are wrong and need working on, to clear away the clutter of human behaviour that can obscure the light, and even the voice of God calling perpetually for there to be light.

So it’s not much for God to expect us to set aside all our striving for a bit to focus on him, since without him we are dead anyway. But with him, and because of him, we are glorified, set above the angels, live in anticipation of, and sharing now, what he has in mind for us, for no other reason than that he wants it for us.

Prayer:
Let this be a Sabbath moment for you to totally fill me and renew me. In Christ. Amen.

Gifted

Exodus 31:1-11

These days when we speak of gifts of the Holy Spirit, we distinguish them from natural abilities. Gifts of the Spirit are gifts that accompany our our sealing with the Spirit for salvation, and enable us to serve in our own way for our own time. God chooses those gifts (e.g. teaching, serving, preaching, evangelism, speaking in tongues) from the time he conceived us. I disagree with the teaching of Alpha that we can ask God for specific gifts of this kind. Rather, It is our job to discover what it is God has chosen for us. When we talk in our church – according to the Purpose Driven Church way of things – of discovering our SHAPE for ministry, we spend some time exploring what our Spiritual gifts are (S), along with our Heart (what gets us excited, motivate us), Abilities, Personality, and Experiences.

It is not clear from this passage from Exodus if the natural ability and skill given Bezalel is considered a gift of the Holy Spirit, or whether this is given him along with a gift of the Spirit. The difference is not critical; the point is it all can and is all used in the service of God and building up of his people.

Prayer:
Lord, let no one think they have nothing to offer. Let not one be intimidated by seeing people who seem to have it all together and can do all kinds of things. Let us see the strength of your church in the little offerings, the small gestures, the seemingly insignificant acts of love that no one know about. The stars will fade. Your Word and Spirit acting through each of your humble and eager servants will have amazing results. Praise you, Lord. Amen.

the dwelling of God is with people

Exodus 29 and 30

There is much scholarly discussion that such elaborate ceremonies as are described in this section, and through this part of Exodus, must come from a later time and have found their way into the text here. That would explain how such highly developed ritual would be described in a time when Israel was basically in formation in the desert. It is not necessary to engage in such speculation, however, to get the essential point made at the end of chapter 29: Whatever is done is intended to point to the presence of the Lord with the people:

"So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.
– Exodus 29:44-46

The furnishings, the vestments, the rituals – they are all part of the language and culture of the time that the Lord used to point to his presence. He uses what the people can relate to in order to remind them of a purpose and destiny beyond those things. Those things become idols when they are allowed to have value in and of themselves.

The actions of the Lord with Moses (e.g. the burning bush) and Pharaoh (plagues; the deliverance of Israel at the sea parting) were to point to the author of the actions, that both would know the “I Am” (3:14). The law was then given to the Israel as a written expression of life as the people of the “I Am.” Now we must see all the detail of the religious life of Israel as part of that movement, however obscure and confusing those details may be to us.

With the next chapters, the story line resumes.

Prayer:
Lord, in a time when we have witnessed a mosque stockpiled with weapons becoming a battleground, keep our place of gathering and everything associated with it focused on you, and pointing to you in every way. Through Christ. Amen

A Different Set of Vestments

Exodus 28

I guess I’m way under dressed.

Prayer:
Lord, let me let you clothe me in my priestly function – representing the people to you - with loving prayers for my people, and – in the other direction of prophetic function – feeding people with your Word; to promote and model the priesthood of believers, and the ministry of people to one another, and mission of reconciliation to the world. Through Christ, our great high priest, prophet, and King. Amen.

Horns of the Altar

Exodus 27

This passage provides the scene for hard human stories that would have been played out to a climax here. By taking hold of the horns of the altar, one fleeing from blood revenge could claim sanctuary (see 1 Kings 1:50-51). The horns were a symbol of the atonement that was effected at the altar. If we are troubled or confused be the elaborate detail of the tabernacle design and detail, let it be seen as lending importance to the central need addressed at the centre of it all: reconciliation between human and God, and human and human.

The place in our church building where we worship together is still called a “sanctuary.” Newer churches or churches undergoing change tend to call such a place a ‘worship centre’ or some such thing, or even just an auditorium. I wouldn’t be in rush for such a change, especially if we can be reminded of the central meaning of sanctuary, as a place where we focus on the atoning work of God – now in Christ – and consider fully, prayerfully and in commitment together the implication of the sacrifice of Christ on the altar of the cross for us all.

Prayer:
Lord, may user-friendly praise and worship, or ‘upbeat’ services, or marketplace tactics never lead us to shrink from witness to the central reality of what you have done in Christ, but point to your work more fully and effectively. Amen.

Access

Exodus 26

Access: You get frustrated trying to get it with your cable or phone company when you have a problem. Access: Do my kids really have more than a grunt or an “I’m busy right now” when they seek it from their dad? Access: Do people have ready and meaningful access to the resources or leadership in their church that they need? Do we give others the access to our listening hearts? It’s easy enough for us to complain about the access we don’t get, and overlook the access we withhold.

God withholds nothing. When Jesus died, there was a tear in the curtain in the temple that separates the most holy place – where originally the ark was housed - from the merely holy place, signaling our direct access to God. When we pray in Jesus’ name, the Father receives our prayers as from his own Son.

Prayer:
Lord, it can be a bit confusing to us why you directed so much detail in the design of the tabernacle in ancient times, but then, we weren’t there, were we? What matters is what we know now: that you sent your Son to be our Lord, brother and friend. Thank you for this immediate access. Through Him. Amen.

Give Me Oil for Your Lamp

Exodus 25:23-40

The bread of the Presence (verse 30) signified God’s presence to the people, and yet it was an ongoing offering to God. Or, to say it the other way around, it demonstrated dedication to God, at the same time it meant the supply of God’s presence.

Similarly, the light of the oil lamps was a demonstration and sign of God’s lighting the way for the people – even though the oil that enabled the lamps to shine was brought from among the people. The priests tended the lamps, but the oil came from the people.

The number 7 (verse 27) indicates completeness or wholeness. There is beauty of order, completeness, wholeness; in this elegant arrangement of basic spiritual formation for the people: God supplies everything, but the people bring to the life of the tabernacle, from what God has supplied, the means for experiencing God’s expression and for receiving the pledge of his presence.

Prayer:
Thanks for calling us into partnership with you, God. You supply everything, yet you give us meaningful responsibility. Although you are totally in control, things are not the same no matter how we fulfill that responsibility. May my life bring all the oil of service to you I can, that you may burn all the more brightly. Through Christ. Amen.

The power of the ark is not lost

Having read of the origin of the ark of the covenant (Exodus 25:10-22), here is a bit of a ‘sidebar’ on the thread othe story of the ark in the Old Testament.

The ark is the central ‘character’ in the crossing of the Jordan in Joshua 3 and 4. When the feet of the priests carrying the ark touch the river, the water is stopped up and the whole nation of Israel crosses.

The ark becomes prominent in the Bible again in 1 Samuel, chapters 4 to 7. After a battle with the Philistines goes especially badly, the Israelites decide to bring the ark into battle. This really backfires because the Philistines are so unnerved by this move they compensate with extra effort. They not only defeat Israel, again, but also capture the ark. Their celebration at this is short-lived, however, because the ark brings disaster and disease to the Philistine towns it gets handed around to like a spiritual grenade. They finally put it on a cart to see where the cattle will pull it; if it heads back to Israelite territory, that will be considered to clinch the prevailing theory that the ark has brought all the trouble they have been experiencing. The animals pulling the cart head straight for Israelite territory, where it ended up staying at the house of a man named Abinadab, whose son, Eleazar was consecrated to guard it (1 Samuel 7:1).

The ark story thread emerges again in 2 Samuel, with the story that culminates in David’s wild dance accompanying the ark into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5 and 6). But then we hear of the ark again out in the field (2 Samuel 11:11), although it finally rests in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 15:24-25). The last thing the Bible clearly records about the ark is in 1 Kings 8, which describes Solomon moving the ark into the most central – inner sanctuary – of the temple.

There is nothing in the Bible that says what happened to the ark. It is possible invading Egyptians took it. See 1 Kings 14:25-26, which says Shishak of Egypt took all the treasures of the temple (This gives some plausibility to the plot line of Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which the ark is dug up in Egypt!). The other main theory is that it was either lost or stolen during the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24).

A comment in Jeremiah 3:16-17 may be seen as part of a direction in the prophets from depending on external things (altars and arks) toward seeing humanity’s connection with God more as more directly a matter of mind and heart. You don’t find that in the Jeremiah passage yet, however, but rather there is a vision of Jerusalem as a gathering place for Israel and “all nations” to honour the name of the Lord. People will no longer even mention the ark, says Jeremiah; “It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made” (verse 16).

Prayer:
Praise to you, Lord, for your guidance to your people with this sign and pledge of your presence. Thank you even more that you commit to live within us as we turn to you in trust, so that we may know your power in personal ways. Through Christ. Amen.