Four* Pointer

Prayer for the Persecuted Church (1/31/2012)

2012-01-31T15:10:00.000-05:00

1/22/2012 Indonesia (The Jakarta Post) GKI Yasmin Services Disrupted Again-

A crowd of Muslim hard-liners disrupted about 100 members of the GKI Yasmin congregation as they held divine services at a member's home in Bogor, West Java on Sunday.

"We were conducting our worship at one member's home before people from Forkami and Garis came to our place," GKI Yasmin spokeswoman Dwiati Novita Rini told The Jakarta Post over the telephone on Sunday.

The congregation resisted efforts by about 50 Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers to stop their service, Dwiati said.

"The Satpol PP came around 9 a.m. and were trying to stop our activity because they didn't want any clashes to happen. [House of Representatives member] Lily Wahid was negotiating with one of the Satpol PP officers and the congregation could continue worship," she said.

The congregation completed their service peacefully around 10 a.m. and the demonstrators from Forkami and Garis left the congregation member's home around 11 a.m, Dwiati added.

The Bogor City administration, citing permit application problems, has barred the congregation from from conducting religious services for more than two years, defying a 2010 Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing the congregation's right to hold services at its church building.

Full Story

Pray that God will place a hedge of protection around the saints in Indonesia and that the evil plans of the Islamic radicals will be blocked.

Pray that the Bogor City administration will have a radical change in heart and policy so that it will uphold a 2010 Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing the congregation's right to hold services at its church building.

Pray that the believers will know the presence and peace of Jesus along with the daily guiding wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

Pray for the Gospel of Salvation to be proclaimed with the anticipation of Muslims receiving Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

1/23/2012 Iran (MNN) Raido is Helping Iranian Believers-

Iran ranks #5 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2012 -- a listing of the worst 50 countries known for their persecution of Christians. In spite of the overt hostility against believers, a change has been felt. With the Arab Spring and the recent revolution, it is clear that younger Iranians are actively seeking alternatives to Islam. Muslims in Iran are more open to the Gospel than ever before. New believers face persecution, arrest, and execution because of their faith in the Lord.

Christians know any effort to express their faith can heighten the risk that Islamic authorities might learn of their Christian activities. Words of Hope shares a recent story of "R" and his wife "S," regular listeners to their Farsi Gospel broadcasts.

When authorities learned of their house church activities, "R" and "S" were arrested. After weeks of interrogation, they were released on bail. In a letter to the Words of Hope Iranian team leader, "R" and "S" testified that their understanding of God's Word had been crucial to their perseverance: "We want to praise God for your prayers. While we were in jail, we often thought about you and felt assured that in every situation God is using us. We believe that if we Iranians hear the true teaching of Jesus Christ, by the grace of God we will be able to stand firm in our faith no matter what trials and tribulations come. Jesus is building His Church in Iran."

Encouraged and emboldened by the responses they're getting, the team continues to advance the Gospel in Iran despite the severe restrictions imposed by the Islamic authorities.

One listener wrote, "What the Lord is doing in Iran today is nothing short of a spiritual awakening." Pray for the church in Iran.

Full Story

Praise that the Christians are encouraged and emboldened to continue to advance the Gospel in Iran despite the severe restrictions imposed by the Islamic authorities.

Praise that the Muslims in Iran are more open to the Gospel than ever before.

Pray that the new believers will stay unwavering in their Christian faith as they face persecution, arrest, and execution because of their faith.

1/24/2012 Saudi Arabia (ICC) Saudi Arabian Officals Assault, Strip Search Christian Prisoners-

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Saudi Arabian officials strip searched 29 Christian women and assaulted six Christian men after arresting them for holding a prayer meeting at a private home in Jeddah. The prisoners are currently being held at Briman prison in Jeddah.

"We feel humiliated because the security officials stripped searched us. They used the same glove to search several of us at the same time. Some of my friends are suffering from physical pain to their private parts due to the unsanitary condition of the strip search. We haven't committed any crime. We are imprisoned for worshipping the God of heaven and earth," said one of the female prisoners during an interview with ICC.

In a message for Christians around the world, the prisoner said, "We want you to help us to get out of prison in every way you can, including prayer. Please tell your governments about our plight, contact human rights organizations and others and inform them about us."

Please sign the petition on our asking the Saudi Arabian government to release the Christian prisoners. Call the Saudi Arabian Embassy in your country and ask them to release the prisoners.

United States:             (+1) 202 342 3800
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Pray that the Saudi officials will release the prisoners and respect their religious freedoms.

Pray that the Christian believers will unwaveringly continue to worship and serve the Lord.
Pray that all the officials and Muslims that are involved with the ongoing heinous persecution will learn about Jesus' love and choose to follow Him as their personal Savior.

Pray that the international community, including Congress and the State Department, will rally and cry out for the persecution of believers to immediately cease.

1/24/2012 Nigeria (CDN) Seven Christians Killed in Bauchi State, Nigeria-Many Injured, Church Building Destroyed-

Early morning attacks in Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi state on Sunday (Jan. 22) left at least seven Christians dead and a church building destroyed.

The attack on the Evangelical Church Winning All Church 2, residents of Tafawa Balewa said, was carried out by area Islamic extremists alongside members of the Boko Haram sect, with the church building and surrounding houses bombed. Yunnana Yusufu, a pastor with the Church of Christ in Nigeria in Tafawa Balewa, told Compass that the assailants arrived in the early morning hours and began shooting at Christians in the town. Yusufu said that many other Christians were injured.

Bauchi Police Commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba reportedly confirmed the attack on Tafawa Balewa, saying two soldiers and a policeman, as well as eight civilians were later killed in a gunfight. He added that six suspects had been arrested.

Bukata Zhadi, secretary of the Christian Elders Council in Tafawa Balewa, said attacks on Christian communities in the area have been incessant, with Sunday's attack bringing to 10 the number of Christians killed in the past two weeks in Tafawa Balewa.

Full Story

Pray that those who have lost loved ones via the brutally inflicted murders by Islamic extremists will receive the nurture and love of Christ and that they will also not become embittered.
Pray that the Nigerian Muslims will realize the deception in the Quran and will personally receive salvation from their sins through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pray that the Lord will thwart all hostile plans by the Islamic radicals against Christians.

1/25/2012 Sudan (CDN) Two Catholic Priests Kidnapped in Sudan-

South Sudanese militia loyal to Sudan's Islamic government have kidnapped two Catholic priests in Rabak, Christian sources said.

A large truck smashed through the gates of the St. Josephine Bakhita's Catholic Church compound in Rabak and the Rev. Joseph Makwey and the Rev. Sylvester Mogga were kidnapped at gunpoint by the assailants.

Four days later, on Jan. 19, the kidnappers forced the two priests to call their bishop with a ransom. Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Adwok told Compass by phone that there was no direct communication between the bishop and the kidnappers, though the priests managed to convey that they were being mistreated. The kidnappers have attempted no communication with church leaders since then, Adwok said.

Eyewitnesses told Compass that they saw the assailants severely beating the priests while abducting them. The kidnappers also looted the priests' living quarters, stealing two vehicles, two laptops and a safe.

The incident caused panic and terror among Christians in Rabak, with church leaders saying they fear for their lives as they become targets of the Islamic government and its allied militias.

Sudan has seen a steep increase in persecution against Christians, according to an annual ranking by Christian support organization Open Doors. Sudan-where northern Christians experienced greater vulnerability after southern Sudan seceded in a July referendum, and where Christians were targeted amid isolated military conflicts - jumped 19 places last year from its 2010 ranking, from 35th to 16th, according to Open Doors' 2012 World Watch List.

Sudanese law prohibits missionaries from evangelizing, and converting from Islam to another religion is punishable by imprisonment or death in Sudan, though previously such laws were not strictly enforced.

Full Story

Pray that Rev. Joseph Makwey and the Rev. Sylvester Mogga who were kidnapped at gunpoint will draw close to the Lord during this tumultuous time of abuse.

Pray for their safe release.

Pray that the Sudanese Christians will ardently worship God and proclaim the Gospel through the leading of the Holy Spirit with courage and prudence even in the midst of the tormenting Islamic fanatics.

Pray that the international community will courageously expose, condemn, and demand justice for the brutal victimization of the Sudanese Christians.

1/25/2012 Somalia (ICC) Islamists Arrest a Muslim Father After His Sons Convert to Christianity-

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on January 14 Somali Islamists arrested a Muslim father after two of his teenage children converted to Christianity in Kismayo, Somalia. The two sons of Mo'alim Mohamud Aw-Omar converted to Christianity late last year, and fled their homes following their conversion.

Members of the radical Islamic group, al-Shabaab, accused Aw-Omar of "failing to raise his sons as good Muslims" because "good Muslims cannot convert to Christianity."

According to sources on the ground, the Islamists have refused to release Aw-Omar until his two sons return to Kismayo, which is unlikely to happen because the teenagers will be killed if they return. According to the strict interpretation of the Islamic sharia law that Al-Shabaab follows, leaving Islam is a crime punishable by death.

Radical Islamists have killed a number of Christian converts in Somalia. This is the first confirmed case of a parent being arrested for the conversion of children.

In a statement to ICC, a Somali Christian leader said, "This tactic (of arresting parents for conversion of children) is apparently intended to discourage Muslims from converting to Christianity since their Muslim parents could be held accountable for their conversion. The Somali Islamists have previously tried other failed harsh tactics such as summary executions of converts to minimize the number of Muslims converting to Christianity. Please pray for the Somali Christians, especially those living in Islamist controlled areas in southern Somalia."

Full Story

Pray that all the Christians, including the two sons of Mo'alim Mohamud Aw-Omar, will courageously stay strong in their faith.

Pray that Aw-Omar will come to saving faith in Christ as he realizes the love of Christ compared to radical Islam that is clearly manifested in the death sentence for anyone who leaves Islam.

Pray that Al-Shabaab will respect the religious freedom of all Somalis.
Pray that the believers will share the Good News of salvation that is only through Jesus Christ.

Pray that God will place a hedge of protection around the saints.

1/25/2012 India (AsiaNews) Indian Authorities Arrest a Pastor After Hindu Radical Assaulted Him-

Dozens of Hindu activists of the RSS (Rashtriya Sangh Savayansevak) attacked 20 Christians of the Fellowship of New Life in a private house.

Accusing those present of proselytism and forced conversions, the ultranationalists begun to beat Kishore Kavalekar, a faithful, and Rev. Kalappa Chandrakanth Chavant, then dragged him in front of the whole village. Finally, attackers tied him to a tree near a Hindu temple and called the Haliyal police. The police arrested Rev. Chandrakanth and Kishore, imprisoning them for 24 hours, leaving the RSS activists to roam free.

"The complicity between the government forces and the ultra-nationalist BJP- stated the president of the GCIC - is seriously endangering the survival of Christians in Karnataka. Tomorrow, India celebrates the 62nd Republic Day: It is imperative that the secular credentials of our Constitution are guaranteed to be followed in all the states in the country."

"Christians - adds Sajan George - are treated as second class citizens not only by the ultra-nationalist forces, but also the authorities. With the approach of Republic Day, it is time that the State ensures the Christian minority of its constitutional rights. "

Full Story

Pray that the Christians who have been and are being viciously mistreated with beatings will be comforted and strengthened by the Lord.

Pray that the believers will ardently worship God and proclaim the Gospel through the leading of the Holy Spirit with courage and prudence even in the midst of the tormenting Hindu radicals.

Pray that the State will ensure that the Christian minority will receive their constitutional rights.

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A Survey of the Old testament Law--The Sign of the Sabbath

2012-01-27T10:02:00.000-05:00

This week we will look at the final portion of the oldcovenant that God spoke to Moses. The terms of the old covenant are containedin the portion of Scripture that starts at Exodus 20:1 and runs through Exodus31:17. The final command given to the people was the sign or pledge ortoken of this old covenant. That sign or token or pledge was the seventh-daysabbath. If you recall way back in Exodus 24, we talked about how covenantswere ratified, always by blood. But there was also always a sign or pledge thatboth sides would fulfill their part of the bargain. After the flood, God made acovenant with Noah, that God would never again destroy all life on the planetwith water. God put a rainbow in the sky as a token of His faithfulness. In thecovenant that God made with Abraham, God gave the sign of circumcision. Andunder the covenant that He is making with the nation of Israel, God gives the sign of theseventh-day sabbath.

Exodus 31:12-17—12 Andthe LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 13 "Speak also to the children of Israel,saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and youthroughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD whosanctifies you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy toyou. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever doesany work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Workshall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to theLORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put todeath. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, toobserve the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 Itis a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days theLORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and wasrefreshed.'"

Out of all of the Ten Commandments, the keeping of thesabbath is the one that is the most widely debated. Are Christians bound by thesabbath? If so, do we keep it on Saturday or on Sunday? Well, the short answer is this: thechurch, under the new covenant, is NOT bound by ANY sabbath—neither Saturdaynor Sunday. Phrases like “Sunday Sabbath” or “Christian Sabbath” are really notappropriate. The true Sabbath is not a day of the week. The true sabbath iseternal rest in Christ.

Should we come together as a body to hear the word and topartake in the worship of God? Absolutely. Hebrews 10:24-25—24 And let us consider one another in order to stir uplove and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, asis the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as yousee the Day approaching. But keeping the sabbath on any day of the week isnot part of the new covenant. And there are two very simple reasons. ONE—Godsays in Exodus 31:17 that the sabbath is what? “Itis a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever.” This wasthe sign of the old covenant. God tells Israel, “Keep My sabbaths, and Ishall be your God and you shall be My people.” The sabbath was not enforcedon any Gentile nation. It was a sign between God and Israel. There is an interestinglittle passage in the book of Nehemiah chapter 10. The people have come back from the Babylonian captivity, theyhave rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem,and the people sign a decree that they will separate themselves from the pagannations around them. And we find the following language in this decree, in Nehemiah10:31—If the peoples of the land brought waresor any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on theSabbath, or on a holy day. Did this decree say that the Israelites, ifthey found a foreigner selling grain or wares on the sabbath, would put thatperson to death? No. It said they would not buy from the peoples of the land on thesabbath. What does that tell us about the sabbath? It was between God and whom?It was between God and Israel.It was not binding on any Gentile nation—never was, never has been.

Another point I want to make is this: when we think of allthe ordinances and rituals and offerings and sacrifices that we find throughoutthe old covenant, they are all, for the most part, “Work, work, work; do,do, do.” However, the commands concerning the sabbath are what? “Don’twork; don’t do.” Contrary to what many legalistic, sabbath-keeping groupsdemand of their followers, the commands concerning the sabbath were not meantto be a yoke upon the neck of the people. If it was, then we would not see themany confrontations between Christ and the Pharisees over sabbath-keeping. Andwe will see one of these confrontations if we turn to Matthew 12:1-8—1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on theSabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain andto eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Yourdisciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" 3 But Hesaid to them, "Have you not read what Daviddid when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered thehouse of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor forthose who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read inthe law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, andare blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater thanthe temple. 7 But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and notsacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man isLord even of the Sabbath."

In this passage, did Jesus encourage Hisdisciples to sin by working on the sabbath? Well, if He did, then He was partaking in that sin--yet the Scriptures declare Christ to be sinless. So no, they were not working on thesabbath. They were picking a few heads of grain and eating them to ease theirhunger—which they were allowed to do under the Law (Deuteronomy 23:24-25).But the Pharisees had turned that into work. John MacArthur—“In picking androlling and rubbing and discarding, they had been reaping, threshing, sifting,grinding, winnowing and preparing food.” All by picking a few heads of grain and rolling them in theirhands and eating them.

Now, we find a dire warning for those who break the Sabbath, we find it in Exodus 31:14—“Everyonewho profanes [the sabbath] shall surely be put to death; for whoever does anywork on it…shall be cut off.” How does Jesus describe what the priestsdid in the temple on the sabbath? Matthew 12:5—“Onthe Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless.”The priests in the temple “profane the sabbath.” Then look at what He says in Matthew12:7-8—“But if you had known what this means, 'Idesire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” First, He refers to theactions of His disciples as ‘guiltless.’ But He also explains, from the prophetHosea, that it is not the keeping of the strictest letter of the Law that Goddesires, but for men to know God, and that God is a merciful God. A littlelater on He gets into a discussion about how these men would pull out theirneighbor’s goat out if it fell into a pit on the Sabbath. He also reminds them that, in order that the Law not be broken, they would circumcise their male children on a Sabbath if must needs be.

Now, let's remember one thing: when Jesus walked theearth, were the Israelites still under the old covenant? Yes. Were animalsstill being killed, cut up and burned, their blood being poured out around thealtar and sprinkled and smeared all over the temple? Yes. Was the Torah stillbeing taught? Yes. Were the people of Israel still being commanded tokeep the sabbath? Yes. BUT here’s the thing, and the second main point I want tomake—the Pharisees had taken the sabbath and changed it from a day of rest to aday of work. What I mean is this: it was harder for people to keep the sabbath thanit was to not keep the sabbath. They had to spend all day, every waking momentof every sabbath day (keep in mind, they did not refer to it as “Saturday”) worrying aboutwhether or not they were breaking the sabbath! “Oh no! I picked up my mixingbowl up off the floor! Did I just break the sabbath?” There were literallyhundreds of volumes of books being written by the rabbis about what counted as‘work.’

In fact, according to one book I found, even today many “traditional”Jews will not drive a car on the sabbath. Want to know why? Spark plugs. “Turninga key in a car sets the ignition on—which creates a spark—a fire. Not the kind of fire ofbanging two stones together, but a fire nevertheless—a human being creatingwhen God commands that he rest from all creative acts. Granted,some of these (forbidden activities) are so routine and ordinary, with no‘work’ involved, and don’tseem to involve any genuine creative efforts, but that is the challengeof observing the Shabbat to the letter of the Law.” (From a discussion at AskMoses.com, quoted in Brown, Michael L., 60 Questions Christians Ask About Jewish Beliefs and Practices, ch. 15). In fact, this is amisapplication of Exodus 35:4—“You shallkindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”So unless they're firing up their Buick in their living room, they're OK. Nowwe read that and we say “Oh, how silly!” But it’s really not any sillierthan people who want to teach that the sabbath is still binding on the churchunder the new covenant. Because it’s not. Especially the “Saturday” sabbath, which is a misnomerbecause the Jews don’t use the term “Saturday.” They call it “Shabbat.”

The point is this—when Jesus refers to Himself as “Lord ofthe sabbath,” He is telling these Jews, who are still teaching the Law, still keepingthe sabbath, that HE is the one to whom the seventh day was dedicated. HE isthe one who says what can and what can't be done on the sabbath. To them, thatwas blasphemy. In a parallel passage to this, He says in Mark 2:27-28—27 And He said to them, "TheSabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Thereforethe Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." The Pharisees hadgotten it all backwards. They were teaching that man was the servant of thesabbath, when the truth was that the sabbath was the servant of man. Just likePaul said in Galatians 3:24-25—24 Thereforethe law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified byfaith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Thelaw was a servant to point the way to Christ. But now that Christ has come,that servant has been fired (so to speak).

The sabbath was not meant to stir people up to anxiety—it wasmeant to give them rest. From the first day through the sixth day (which washow they refer to what we call “Sunday through Friday”), it was “work, work,work; do, do, do.” But the seventh day was “stop working and stopdoing.” Exodus 31:15—“Work shall be donefor six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD.”Remember that phrase “Sabbath of rest.” It’s going to be very important.Because now we are going to see the next reason why the sabbath is not bindingon the church—that is, that Christ is our sabbath; He is our rest. Hebrews4:1-3—1 Therefore, since a promise remains ofentering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word whichthey heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heardit. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So Iswore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,'" although the workswere finished from the foundation of the world. First, let’s put this incontext. The book of Hebrews is a commentary on the Law. Is all Scripture givenby God? Yes. So, not only is the book of Hebrews a commentary on the Law, itis, in all actuality, GOD’S commentary on HIS OWN Law. It was written by a Hebrewto Hebrews. The people he was writing to would have had a pretty good knowledgeof the Old Testament. Now when we read Hebrews 4:3—For wewho have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in Mywrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,'" we see the word ‘rest’used twice, and having two very different meanings. What is the first ‘rest’ heis talking about? Resting in Christ. Matthew 11:28—“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and Iwill give you rest.” What is the second ‘rest’? When Joshua led thepeople of Israel into the land of Canaan—the “Promised Land,” the ‘rest’the Israelites were looking forward to. Now, who was it that would not enterinto that ‘rest’? It was all those who rebelled in the wilderness (see Numbers14:1-35), because of whom the people had to wander the desert for 40 years.Those who rebelled did not enter into the ‘rest’ they were looking to.

Hebrews 4:4-5 hold the key to this whole issue of the sabbath. Hebrews4:4-5—4 For He has spoken in a certain place ofthe seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from allHis works"; 5 and again in this place: "They shall not enter Myrest." Many times when you read the book of Hebrews you will findpassages that say something along the lines of “God has said in a certainplace [this], and in another place, [this], and again He says [that].” Hedoes that all through the entire first chapter (Hebrews 1:1-14). And whathe’s doing is stringing passages of Scripture together to make a single point.And the point he is making here is that both of these ‘rests’—God resting onthe seventh day (the basis for the seventh-day sabbath) and the people restingwhen they entered Canaan—these were both simply types and shadows of the restthat Christ would bring. God rested on the seventh day, but did He stop workingaltogether? No. John 5:16-17—16 The Jews…soughtto kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "MyFather has been working until now, and I have been working." So evenafter God rested on the seventh day, He did not stop working. He was working evenwhile Jesus walked the earth; He is still working now! The people of Israel looked forward to that day when theywould enter Canaan as their promised rest. Butdid they really ever rest? No. They were always fighting pagan nations and evenamongst themselves. Obtaining a piece of land did not give them rest.

BUT—the rest that we have in Christ is the true sabbath, andwe see that in Hebrews 4:8-10—8 For if Joshua had given them rest, thenHe would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore arest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself alsoceased from his works as God did from His. If you have a KJV, verse 8 isnot correctly translated. It should say If Joshuahad given them rest, not If Jesus had giventhem rest. Through the first eight verses, the Greek word translated‘rest’ has been the generic Greek word for ‘rest.’ BUT! There is another Greekword that literally means ‘sabbath.’ That is the word σάββατον (sabbaton). And in Hebrews 4:9, whereit says There remains therefore a rest for thepeople of God, the word translated ‘rest’ is the Greek word σάββατισμός (sabbatismos).There remains a σάββατισμός (sabbatismos) for the people of God. That word literally means “a keeping of the sabbath.” What does thatmean for us? It means we don’t look at one day out of the week as oursabbath—we look to Heaven as our sabbath.

True rest comes on that day when Christ Jesuswelcomes us into His kingdom. Revelation 14:13—13 Then I heard a voicefrom heaven saying to me, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in theLord from now on.'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they mayrest from their labors, and their works follow them." So if we are looking toHeaven and the rest that Christ has promised us, guess what we do every single dayof the week? We keep the sabbath! By doing that, we remember the Sabbath and keep it holy! Keepin mind, the point the writer keeps making throughout the entire book ofHebrews is how Christ is so much greater than the Law. And if Christ is greaterthan the Law, then the rest He gives is far greater than a day of the week. Thatis why Paul tells us in Colossians 2:16-17—16Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moonor sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is ofChrist. The seventh-day sabbath was a shadow of the true ‘rest’, thetrue sabbath that we look forward to by faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I really think one reason God took the sabbath so seriouslyis because it was a gift He gave them. In Exodus 16 we see God giving thepeople manna. The command was that on the sixth day they were to gather upenough for two days because He would not give them any on the seventh. Exodus16:27-29—27 Now it happened that some of thepeople went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. 28 And theLORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and Mylaws? 29 See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you onthe sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no mango out of his place on the seventh day." In verse 29 God says “The LORD has given you the sabbath.”What happened to those who rejected the gift of the sabbath? They found nofood. What happened to them under the Law? They died. Christ is our sabbath; Heis our rest from our own works. What happens to those who reject the gift of restthat is found in Christ? Eternal death. Those who rejected the gift of the sabbathunder the old covenant were cut off physically; those who reject the gift of thesabbath that is Christ under the new covenant are cut off spiritually, eternally.Hmmm…I think there is a parallel there.

We could go on, literally for months. But the fact issimple—the church, under the new covenant, is not bound by a Sabbath. Saturday,Sunday, doesn’t matter. Should we take one day and rest, and be refreshed, andcome together as a body to worship God together? Absolutely. But there is nosuch thing as a “Christian Sabbath.” Christ is the fulfillment of the commandconcerning the Sabbath. And we are to remember Him and keep Him sanctified inour hearts, and be looking forward to our eternal Sabbath rest which comes fromHim.

Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.

Prayers for the Persecuted Church--1/20/2012

2012-01-20T10:16:00.000-05:00

1/18/12 Sudan (CDN) Sudan Threatens to Arrest Church Leaders -

Sudan's Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments has threatened to arrest church leaders if they carry out evangelistic activities and do not comply with an order for churches to provide their names and contact information, Christian sources said.

THe warning in a January 3 letter to church leaders of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) arrived a few days after Sudan President Omar al-Bashir told cheering crowds on January 3 that, following the secession of the largely non-Islamic South Sudan last July, the country's constitution will be more deeply entrenched in Sharia Law.

"We will take legal procedures against pastors who are involved in preaching or evangelistic activities," Hamid Yousif Adam, undersecretary of the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowment, wrote to the church leaders. "We have all legal rights to take them to court."

Sources said the order was aimed at oppressing Christians amid growing hostilities toward Christianity. Full Story

Pray for both North and South Sudan who have been plagued by anti-Christian hostility and persecution. Pray that the new government in North Sudan will not oppress and persecute the church now that the South has seceded.

Pray for the remaining church in pro-Islamic North Sudan that they will remain strong and faithful to Christ.

Pray for the new leaders in North Sudan, that they might be convicted and changed by God and know Christ as their Lord.

1/18/12 Nigeria (ICC) Religious Cleansing Happening in Nigeria -

With more than 80 Christians killed by radical Muslims since Christmas, a Nigerian church leader believes that Islamists are carrying out religious cleansing against Christians in Northern Nigeria.

In an exclusive interview with ICC, the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, called upon Nigerian Christians to defend themselves from the ongoing problem.

The Christian leader decried the Nigerian government's failure to protect Christians from the killings and accused some security agents of taking sides. He said, "The security agencies are polarized along religious lines. Even when the security agents have information (concerning security measures to be taken against Boko Haram), some of them pass the information to these criminals. This is because some of the security agents are more loyal to their religion (Islam) than to Nigeria as a nation."

In a disturbing development, the violence has also spread to southern Nigeria where Muslims and their places of worship have been attacked in apparent retaliation for the killing of Christians in Northern Nigeria. According to a report by BBC, a mosque and an Islamic school were burned down in the Southern Nigerian city of Benin on January 10. Five people were killed and six were injured in the violence in the city. Full Story

Pray that the violence in Nigeria, towards Christians and Muslims, subsides and peace resumes. Pray that the Christian population does not retaliate to the violence, but rather displays love toward their enemies.

Pray for the Muslims who are determined to wipe out the Christian population in Nigeria.

Pray for the victims and their families, that they may be faithful witnesses to Christ and that they may be comforted during this persecution.

1/18/12 United Kingdom (TheChristianInstitute) Use of Sharia 'Courts' Increasing in UK -

The use of Sharia 'courts' is on the increase in Britain with thousands using Islamic law to settle disputes, according to the BBC. The news comes as a leading barrister claims that Sharia Law is compatible with human rights and beneficial to communities. However, critics say the courts discriminate against women and should not operate as a parallel legal system.

A bill has been brought before the House of Lords by Christian humanitarian, Baroness Cox, to curb the growth of Sharia courts. Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad, a representative of the Islamic Sharia Council at Leyton, told BBC Asian Network that his caseload at the east London council had "easily more than tripled" over the past three to five years - dealing with up to 300 disputes a month.

Sharia opponents believe the law discriminates against women as well as rulings falsely claiming legal jurisdiction over criminal and family law.

In 2009, think-tank Civitas reported than an estimated 85 Sharia councils could be operating in Britain. Full Story

Pray for this disturbing trend to cease in the UK, as it has enormous implications for the future of the European country's legal system.
Pray that the church and those representatives in the government who oppose the implementation of Sharia law will continue to fight its use as a parallel legal system.

Pray for the church in the UK, who, in recent months, has been faced with its own oppression.

1/18/12 Pakistan (CatholicCulture) 2,000 Protest Government's Demolition of Church Buildings -

Two thousand Pakistani Christians, including Auxilary Bishop Sebastian Shah of Lahore, priests, and Protestant leaders, protested the Punjabi government's decision to confiscate Church land and demolish the charitable and educational institutions located on it.

"We shall continue protesting until the government returns all the land it took and pays for the losses," said Father Morris Jalal. "We do not fear anyone and will fight for our rights." Full Story

Pray for Pakistan, as the oppression of Christians continues in various forms.

Pray for the government. Since implementing blasphemy laws, Christians have been a target of frequent legal oppression and even the death penalty for speaking positively about Jesus Christ or negatively about Mohammed.

Pray for the success of these protests, so that the land and buildings can be rebuilt and provide a place for education and worship in Pakistan. Please pray that these protests remain peaceful and loving despite their opposition to the governments actions.

1/16/12 Iran (ACLJ) Under Increased Pressure, Pastor Youcef Refuses to Recant Faith -

Iran is continuing its relentless attempt to force persecuted Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani to recant his faith in Jesus Christ. New reports state that Iranian officials are still pressuring the pastor, who has been sentenced to death for his Christian faith, "to renounce his faith in Christ and accept the prophet Muhammad as his savior."

Pastor Youcef once again refused, remaining steadfast in his faith. Remember, Iran previously demanded on at least three separate occasions that Pastor Youcef recant his faith and convert to Islam at his latest trial, to which he replied, "I cannot".

The Iranian court tasked with making a final determination about Pastor Youcef's fate has ignored its own promise to make its determination over a month ago. Iran's move to further delay a determination regarding Pastor Youcef not only violates international law; it violates Iranian law as well. Full Story

Pray for Pastor Youcef. Give thanks to God for his steadfast faith in Jesus and pray for his faith to remain strong.

Pray for those eyes who are watching Pastor Youcef, that they might see and wonder who this God is that he would lay down his life for before he denies Him.

Pray for Iran, as the church there is exploding and many more pastors and believers may face pressures similar to Pastor Youcef's.

1/14/12 North Korea (Crosswalk) Seven Underground Churches Raided in North Korea-

The underground church has faced increased persecution in North Korea since the unexpected death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on December 17th.

"Three weeks ago seven underground churches got exposed," says Thomas Kim, executive director of Cornerstone Ministries. "It's been very difficult for the last month and I think it's going to continue," he says.

The North Korean leadership apparently fears the kind of insurrection that swept other communist regimes and is now sweeping through the Middle East. "They are scared there will be an uprising," Kim notes. "They are scared by the expansion of the Christian faith because Christians will die for their faith."

"Now the regime is putting out many people to search for the underground church. There is a need to pray for protection," Kim said. Full Story

Pray that this change in leadership may result in eased pressure upon the North Korean church.
Pray for the leaders of North Korea, that they may see the love of Christ in these Christians.

Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are facing some of the most intense persecution in the world. Pray for their faith to be strengthened and that they would remain faithful to Christ.

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A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Picturing the Tabernacle

2012-01-10T11:50:00.001-05:00

(For a more visual look at this subject, go to my earlier posts: Part 1, and Part 2)

Today we are going to continue in Exodus 36. But we’reactually going to begin in Exodus 27, lookingat the tabernacle, or “tent of meeting.” It was the tent of meeting where the priests burned incense and kept the lampstand lit. It was, in fact, the central place where YHVH was worshipped by the people of Israel under the old covenant. But before one could enter the tent (and bear in mind, only Levites could set foot in the tent), they had to enter into the outer court, which was formed by a series of largecurtains. And the details for these curtains are found in Exodus 27:18—“The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits,the width fifty cubits throughout, and the height five cubits.” Now, I'msure the question on everybody’s mind after reading this is…what’s a cubit?Anybody know, off-hand, how long a cubit is? Well, there were two different lengths that were called "cubits", but the one used here was about a foot and a half long (about 18 inches). So, basically, the courtyard would have been roughly 150’ longon the north and south sides, about 75’ wide on the east and west, and near 7½’ high. Weain't even gonna try converting it into metric.

The courtyard and tent were set up in an east-west direction. And to get insidethe court, you had to go to the gate located on the east end. Like so:

So all thetribes are camped around the tabernacle according to their tribe (Numbers2:1-34). Not only that, but there was to be a great space between thepeople and the tabernacle. And it was that space that was given to the Levites to dwell, since they were not given any land. Now, the distance between the people and the courtyard itself was probably about 3000 feet (1000yards). Most sources I've read arrive at that measurement from Joshua 3:3-4—“3When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, theLevites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubitsby measure.” So if you were camped on the west, with Ephraim andManasseh and Benjamin, not only did you have to walk more than half a mile tothe fence, you had to walk clear to the other end of the court—just to get into the courtyard.Now, let’s consider another factor. How many people do you think there were inthe entire camp of Israel?Numbers 1:45-46—45 So all who were numberedof the children of Israel, by their fathers' houses, from twenty years old andabove, all who were able to go to war in Israel—46 all who were numbered weresix hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. That was just thenumber of males from 20 years old and up. This did not include women, this didnot include children. This did not even include the tribe of Levi, which wouldhave been about another 50,000. But that’s for another day. Numbers 23:10—“Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number one-fourth of Israel?” This did not include the tribeof Levi. They were not to be numbered. They were not to go out to war—they weresimply to minister for the people. Which is why God did not allow David tobuild a temple to worship Him, 1^st Chronicles 22:8—"But theword of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have madegreat wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed muchblood on the earth in My sight.’" But I digress.

So there were, conservatively speaking, over ONE MILLIONPEOPLE camped around this court that was 150’ long by 75 feet wide by 7½ feethigh. Let me put it to you this way: imagine TEN Neyland Stadiums—flattened outand spread out. Now, imagine all those people--those ONE MILLION PEOPLE--camped out around a McDonald’s.And not only did you have ONE MILLION PEOPLE, but what did those ONE MILLIONPEOPLE bring with them? Animals! They did not have a “one pet per household”rule. Not every family hadlivestock or sheep, but adding these animals to the crowd—now you seewhat a miraculous work God did in providing for these people out in the middleof the desert. Now, once you go inside the eastern gate, what’s the first thingyou see? The first thingyou would come upon would be the altar of burnt offering. And what wouldbe going on around this altar? The Levites and priests would be killing,cutting up and burning animals. You ever watch the folks in the meat departmentat Kroger’s or Ingles? How long it takes for them to cut up even small cuts ofmeat? Imagine being out in the desert, knowing that you have committed somebreach in God’s Law, and you have to drag your animal more than half a mile tothe court of the tent of meeting. And once you get there, you find a sea ofpeople and animals. And then it hits you—“We might be here a while.”

Anybody ever stand in line for concert tickets? You would be standing in theheat of the day, in the desert, waiting for the priests to kill, cut up andburn one animal after another after another after another. Imagine the stenchof the blood and the waste from having to clean out the entrails, and the smellfrom the burning flesh and burning fat. All day long this goes on. And thenthey may finally get to you. What happens if they don’t? You get to come backthe next day. It ends at sundown. Let’s say you finally get inside the gate,and there stands the priest. And behind him is the altar of burnt offering. Andbeyond that is the laver for washing and finally the tent itself. Like so:

Now, let’s take a look at this tent. The entire 36th chapter of Exodus echoes chapter 26, and describes what wasused to make the tent and how the tent was to be constructed. We’re not goingto do a verse-by-verse study of this chapter—and aren't you glad? We are goingto get kind of an overview of it. When we think of a tent, what comes to mind?Some aluminum poles for the frame, covered by some kind of synthetic,waterproof, polyester/nylon fabric. This ain't that. They didn’t have theoption of pulling into Bass Pro Shops and asking the associate if they carriedColeman tabernacles. They didn't go online to Cabelas.com either. Ireally want us to see the ingenuity behind the construction of the “tent ofmeeting.” But instead of going in order of the verses, we’re gonna work our wayfrom the ground up. And once we’ve seen how the tabernacle was put together,there is a really good application for the church today.

Exodus 36:20-28—20 For the tabernacle he made boards of acacia wood,standing upright. 21 The length of each board was ten cubits, and the width ofeach board a cubit and a half. 22 Each board had two tenons for binding one toanother. Thus he made for all the boards of the tabernacle. 23 And he madeboards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side. 24 Forty socketsof silver he made to go under the twenty boards: two sockets under each of theboards for its two tenons. 25 And for the other side of the tabernacle, thenorth side, he made twenty boards 26 and their forty sockets of silver: twosockets under each of the boards. 27 For the west side of the tabernacle hemade six boards. 28 He also made two boards for the two back corners of thetabernacle. What’s a cubit? About a foot and a half. So according to verse 21, how long was eachboard? About 15 feet. How wide was each board? Little tricky, huh? 2¼ feet. And inverse 22 we see a funky little word, a word we don’t use too often. It’s theword ‘tenon’. The Hebrew literally means “hands.” Think of tongue-in-groove forsiding, or dovetail two boards together. Only this was 100 times better. Soingenious. What they would do would be to carve out niches in the ends of theboards, like curved “hands.” When these “hands” were set inside one another,one after another after another, they would look like one continuous piece,even though it was made up of many smaller units. Kinda like the church shouldbe today, true? That’s for later. This is what these "hands" might have looked like:

When these boards were fitted together, thenthe whole wall was lifted up. And keep in mind, these boards were overlaid witha layer of pure gold. So this one continuous wall would have an almost mirroredappearance. This would reflect the light from the menorah or lampstand. Andbecause it reflected the light from the lampstand, it would increase the amountof light inside the tent. Now, twenty boards on the long sides at 2½ feet perboard equals 50 feet long. Then six boards on the short side times 2¼’ would be13½ feet wide for the western wall. Now on the east side, they used two boards to make the door. One boardon the north corner, one board on the south corner, and the screen in between.All these boards would be set in sockets or foundations, hooked together by thetenons or hands, and fastened together by the bars we read about in Exodus 36:31-33. So, standing up, they would look like this:

Now that was the frame for the tent. As far as the covering, Exodus36:8-10—“8 Then all the gifted artisans amongthem who worked on the tabernacle made ten curtains woven of fine linen, and ofblue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim they madethem. 9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width ofeach curtain four cubits; the curtains were all the same size. 10 And hecoupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled toone another.” This was no lightweight tent you could fold up into abackpack and sling over your shoulder. Each one of these curtains was 42 feetlong and six feet wide. There were 10 of these linen curtains that were joinedtogether on their long side, making for a total length of 60 feet. So thiswould hang over the frame on each end. There were 10 individual curtains,joined together to make one curtain. Kinda like the church today should be,huh? But that’s for later. This curtain of linen was only the first layer thatwould cover the frame we just put together. Exodus 36:14-16—“14 He made curtains of goats' hair for the tent over thetabernacle; he made eleven curtains. 15 The length of each curtain was thirtycubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; the eleven curtains were thesame size. 16 He coupled five curtains by themselves and six curtains bythemselves.” Eleven curtains made of goats’ hair. Each one 45 feet long,so they lapped over the linen curtains underneath them And they were six feetwide joined together on their long side for a total length of 60 feet. Therewere 11 individual curtains, but they were joined together to make one curtain.Kinda like the church today should be, huh? But that’s for later. Are yousensing a pattern?

This curtain of goats’ hair was only the second layer thatwould cover the frame we just put together. Exodus 36:19—“Then he made a covering for the tent of ram skins dyedred, and a covering of badger skins above that.” Now, if you notice,every aspect of the construction of this tent is remarkable. It could be puttogether and taken apart relatively quickly. It was heavy enough to withstandthe high winds that often came up in the desert. Yet it was also weatherproof,the rams skins and badger skins, when prepared properly, were—for all intentsand purposes—waterproof. Good luck finding something like that at Cabela’s. This is what the layers may have looked like:

Now, I could go all Perry Stone and spiritualize each layerand why God said to use this animal instead of that animal, and why blue andpurple and scarlet. I could go Zola Leavitt on you and explain why the thirdletter in the word for “tabernacle” has significance in end-times prophecy. ButI don’t have that much time on my hands. So I'll leave that to men who havebeen called to that work. But there are two very important points I want tomake while we’re here. First: If you did not belong to the order of Aaron, oreven to the tribe of Levi, you do not go into that tent. If you step foot in thattent, what happens to you? You die. Did the magistrates drag you out and stoneyou? Or did God Himself strike you down? They may have had to drag your deadbody out of there, but God would take care of you Himself. You did not approachGod on your own. You came to a priest who was standing in the outer court who wentbefore God on your behalf. Without that priest going to God on yourbehalf, God did not hear you. You were dead to God.

Now, did you come to thatpriest without blood? If you were poor you could redeem yourself with money,but why did you need to bring blood? Because when we sin, something has to die.Romans 6:23—The wages of sin is death.From the very first sin, when God covered Adam and Eve with the skin of ananimal God Himself killed, sins could not be taken away—or even coveredover—unless something died. And even though many people refer to this oldcovenant as a “covenant of works” it was really a covenant of grace, seeing ashow God even allowed something else to die for your sins. He didn’t even haveto give them that. And when you have ONE MILLION PEOPLE in one place, you'regoing to have a lot of sin. And when you have a lot of sin, that calls for a lotof death and a lot of blood. When you sinned, you brought an animal to be killed.That was life under the old covenant.

But now, under the new covenant, how many animals do we haveto bring every time we sin? God Himself made one sacrifice on behalf of all whowill believe. He sacrificed His own Lamb, so that He can forgive the sins of allwho come to Him in repentance and plead to Him. John 1:29—“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of theworld!” When we cry out to God and confess that we are a sinner and askHim to accept Christ’s blood on our behalf, God looks at the blood Jesus shedand forgives our sins because Christ’s blood paid for those sins. Could we cometo God before we knew Christ? We were like Gentiles when Israel wasunder the old covenant. We could not take part in any kind of worship of God.

BUT—that is why Paul said what he did in Ephesians 2:11-18—11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—whoare called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the fleshby hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from thecommonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having nohope and without God in the world. Ouch! That’s harsh! Know what Paul issaying there in not so many words? He’s saying “You guys were headed for Hell.You were unclean Gentiles, you couldn’t worship God even if you had wanted to!”13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far offhave been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace,who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandmentscontained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two,thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one bodythrough the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who wereafar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access byone Spirit to the Father. In verse 15, where it says havingabolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments containedin ordinances. What that means is that yeah, Israel was given commandments byGod. But did God say, “Hey Moses, take My Law to the Gentiles so I can savethem”? If you wanted to be saved you had to become a Jew. BUT now, both Jewand Gentile are saved in the same way—by grace alone through faith alone inChrist alone. Not by works of the Law. We don’t have to kill, cut up and burnlambs of the first year at dawn and at twilight every day. We don’t have tobring bulls and goats and slaughter them day after day. Christ made onesacrifice, and that sacrifice was sufficient for anyone who draws near to Godin faith. And we don’thave to keep bringing Him back up and perpetually sacrificing Him continuously likein the Catholic Mass. Hebrews 10:14—Byone offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. A versewhich, by the way, speaks to the fact that if a person is truly saved, they aresaved forever and cannot be “lost” again.

The second aspect I want us to see from the example of thetabernacle is this: The frame consisted of many individual boards claspedtogether. The curtain over the top of the tabernacle was made of many layers ofcurtain which were, in turn, made up of many different curtains claspedtogether. And what do you think is the application for the church today?Suppose they left one of the linen curtains in Kirjath, or they left a coupleof the sockets for the pillars in Ai. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to dowithout.” Not so much. How well do you think that tabernacle would haveheld up in the middle of a windstorm or a sandstorm? They needed every singlelittle part in order for the tabernacle to function properly. And they neededeven the smallest utensils for things like the lampstand and the altar ofincense. Keeping that concept in mind, listen to Ephesians 4:11-14—11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets,some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of thesaints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son ofGod, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.How many offices did God ordain under the old covenant? Two: priest, and highpriest. Under the old covenant, there were many high priests. Why so many? Theydied. Why did they die? Simple—they sinned. Under the new covenant, how manyhigh priests are we ever gonna have? One (Hebrews 6:20). Now, as for thepriests—look in that passage from Ephesians. You see offices like apostle andprophet and evangelist and pastor and teacher. Do you see a separate office ofpriest? No. Why is that? Are we kings and priests to God (Revelation 1:5-6)? Are we a chosengeneration, a royal priesthood (1st Peter 2:9)? YES! We’re all priests! Paul did not mention the office of priest, but Peter did! And he tells us that there is no separate office for priest--that is, there is not this special group of men who alone can be called "priest"--because each and every believer is a priest to his God and King!

Should we all be working toward the same goal? Should weshare in that labor with others of like faith? Some churches have a ministry,and they have this mindset that “This is our ministry! You can't have any partof it!” Does that make sense? Luke 9:49-50—49 Now John answered and said, "Master, wesaw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he doesnot follow with us." 50 But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on ourside." Does this mean we join with just anyone who says they're aChristian church? Like those who call themselves Saints of the Latter-Day? OrWitnesses of Jehovah’s kingdom? No. But like those individual parts of thetabernacle, we should all be working together for the building up of thechurch. We should treat every member of the church the same, because we are notsupposed to be separate and unequal. Like the boards of the tabernacle, weshould join with each other and lift each other up. As those boards that formedthe walls, we should be joining hands with other boards, if you will. Grace CommunityChurch should be, as it were, joininghands with—well, we’ve got a couple families downstairs from Basswood Baptist Church. They want to“join hands” with us to build up the tabernacle called “the church.” Like Jesussaid, if they are not against us, they are for us.

Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.

A Survey of the Old testament Law--The Calling of Bezalel and Aholiab

2011-12-20T10:44:00.000-05:00

Last time we met we looked at Exodus 30. We saw the ransommoney—the half-shekel (according to the shekel of the sanctuary). EachIsraelite from 20 years old and older was to give the ransom money to atone fortheir souls. This ransom could be paid in gold or silver, or bronze. And it wasa weight which would have been equivalent in weight to about 160 coffee beans.We saw the incense that was to be used for burning on the Altar of Incensebefore the veil in the tabernacle—and that was the ONLY thing to be burned onthat particular altar. And we saw how they were to mix the oil for anointing.And how if anyone tried to copy the recipe for the incense or the oil that theywould be “cut off from their people”—a phrasethat God used many times as a way of saying “Do that and I will personallykill you Myself!” And we saw that the gifts that the Magi brought to theinfant Christ—gold, frankincense and myrrh—these may very well have been given for themaintenance and preparation of His earthly “tabernacle” (as many of the NTwriters call our bodies a tabernacle). Today we move on to Exodus 31:1-11.And for this section we are actually going to skip to Exodus 35:4,because it is there that we read these same words almost verbatim, but withfuller elaborations.

But before we get to that, I want us to consider the versesfrom the Psalms that were part of our discussion last time. If you recall (andI don’t expect you to), when we linked Christ with the anointing oil, I readfrom Psalm 45:6-8—6 Your throne, O God, isforever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. 7You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, hasanointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions. 8 All Yourgarments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia (three of the mainingredients in the anointing oil). And I didn’t have time last time, so thismorning I would like to share with you this quote from Charles Spurgeon:

“The excellencies of Jesus are all most precious, comparable to the rarest spices;they are most varied, and to be likened not to myrrh alone, but to all theperfumes blended in due proportion. The Father always finds a pleasure in him,in him he is well pleased; and all regenerated spirits rejoice in him, for heis made of God unto us, ‘wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, andredemption.’ Note that not only is Jesus most sweet, but even his garments areso; everything that he has to do with is perfumed by his person. ‘All’ hisgarments are thus fragrant; not some of them, but all; we delight as much inhis purple of dominion as in the white linen of his priesthood, his mantle asour prophet is as dear to us as his seamless coat as our friend. All his dressis fragrant with all sweetness. To attempt to spiritualise each spice herementioned would be unprofitable, the evident sense is that all sweetnesses meetin Jesus, and are poured forth wherever he is present.”

What He looked likewhen He walked the earth is NOTHING like the way He appears now, in the Heavens,enthroned in glory, with all of creation awaiting the Day He returns.

Well, speaking of the tabernacle—we’ve gotten the dimensionsfor it; we have received the commands of how to prepare the furnishings thatwould go inside it; we’ve been instructed on who would minister in thetabernacle and how they were to be prepared for their service—now the onlything left to do is what? We know WHAT to do and HOW to do it. Now we have toactually BUILD the tabernacle and FASHION all the furnishings and utensils. Youneed to make the STUFF. And even before that, don’t you think you need theSTUFF you need to make the STUFF? “We need to make all this stuff! But wedon’t have the stuff to make the stuff we need to make!” Or did they? Hmmm.

Flip back to Exodus 12. Listen to what happened on the night of their flightfrom Egypt.The Angel of YHVH has passed through Egypt, killing all the firstborn.And listen to what happened in Exodus 12:34-36—34So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneadingbowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. 35 Now the children of Israel had doneaccording to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articlesof silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 36 And the LORD had given the peoplefavor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what theyrequested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. And because they plunderedthe Egyptians, they had all kinds of silver and gold and precious stones and soon and so forth. And now, all it is doing is weighing down their camels andtheir oxen and their donkeys. After all, what good is all that stuff going to do them outin the middle of the desert? Well, I'm glad you asked! Turn to Exodus 35:4-9—4 And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the childrenof Israel,saying, “This is the thing which the LORD commanded, saying: 5 'Take from amongyou an offering to the LORD. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it asan offering to the LORD: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and scarletthread, fine linen, and goats' hair; 7 ram skins dyed red, badger skins, andacacia wood; 8 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for thesweet incense; 9 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in thebreastplate.” What good are all those things they took from theEgyptians doing them out in the desert? Well, now you know!

Now, let me ask youthis—which of the following statements do you think is closer to the order inwhich these things actually happened: (A) The people scrounged what they couldfrom what the Egyptians randomly gave to them, and God said, “Well, let’s justuse what we’ve got.” Or, (B), God told the Egyptians to give the Israeliteswhat He wanted them to have to build those things He would require? Exactly,(B) is the correct answer. Exodus 12:36—Andthe LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that theygranted them what they requested. Aha! God working in the hearts andminds of these Egyptians to give them what they requested. And what things didthey request? Probably things like gold, silver,bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, dyes, oil, spices, onyxstones, and maybe all the kinds of stones that were to be set in the ephod andin the breastplate. Just a guess. The point I want to make is this: God is aplanner. He does not do anything by the seat of His pants—pardon the expression, since He doesn't wear pants, seeing as He does not have a body of flesh and blood.Do you think He knew what He wanted to go into the building of the tabernacleand the clothing of the priests and for all the things that went along withworshipping Him? So do you think He would leave anything to “chance”? He didnot sit on His throne saying to Himself, “Gee, I hope they can find all thethings I want to go into all this! If they don’t I'm going to have to change Myplans!” HE causes all things to work together.

And He had the people gather all those thingsthey got from the Egyptians (and using some of the resources in the area theywere camped). And not only did they need the things—they needed to make toolsto make these things. But even before all that—they needed people to make allthese things. So, Exodus35:10-19—“‘10 All who are gifted artisans among you shall come andmake all that the LORD has commanded: 11 the tabernacle, its tent, itscovering, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; 12the ark and its poles, with the mercy seat, and the veil of the covering; 13the table and its poles, all its utensils, and the showbread; 14 also thelampstand for the light, its utensils, its lamps, and the oil for the light; 15the incense altar, its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, and thescreen for the door at the entrance of the tabernacle; 16 the altar of burntoffering with its bronze grating, its poles, all its utensils, and the laver andits base; 17 the hangings of the court, its pillars, their sockets, and thescreen for the gate of the court; 18 the pegs of the tabernacle, the pegs ofthe court, and their cords; 19 the garments of ministry, for ministering in theholy place—the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons,to minister as priests.’” Did we leave anything out?

Now, the artisansthat God calls out in verse 10. Where had they been for the last 400 or soyears? Egypt. What had they been doing for those 400 or so years? They had beenlearning trades. They had become metal smiths, sawyers, engravers, tapestrymakers, perfumers, architects, weavers, wood carvers, stone cutters, tanners. Allthose skills they learned in those 400 some-odd years in Egypt—guesswhat? God is going to use all of it for His glory. Can you believe that! God using trials and afflictions for His glory! But isn't that how God oftendoes it? Not always, but so many times, He takes what men mean forevil and He turns it around and the outcome brings glory to His name. Rememberwhat Joseph told his brothers when he revealed himself to them in Egypt? Genesis50:20—But as for you, you meant evil against me;but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day.”Another example, He took one of the greatest teachers of the OT Law ever, a manwho was so zealous for the Law that He often received extradition papers tobring Christians to Jerusalem to be killed—God took that man named Saul ofTarsus and used his knowledge of the OT Law to show from that Law just how thatLaw was nothing more than a slave that was meant to take us to Christ. And in perhapsthe most well-known example, He allowed a sham of a trial to take place; Heallowed an innocent man to be tortured and His body destroyed on one of themost inhuman (not just inhumane, but inhuman) instruments of death ever created by depraved human minds—inorder to bring many sons to glory, did He not? And He takes our miserable excusefor a life, which is filled with wickedness and depravity, and He reaches down,saves us, takes out our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh.

Likewise, God was now going to take those skills that theIsraelites learned during their 400 years of slavery to a pagan king in orderto build a tent where He would be worshipped. Now, before we can even make thestuff to make the stuff, the people that are going to make the stuff will needsomeone to supervise the project. Think about it. It wasn’t like Moses couldtake these instructions to Denark-Smith or Creative Structures and say “Heyguys, I got these instructions on how to build this humongoid tent, can youmake some blueprints and get them back to me by the end of the month?” Theycouldn’t get on the internet and go to Cabelas.com; they couldn’t just strollthrough the aisles in Dick’s Sporting Goods or Bass Pro Shop to find something thatcould hold everybody and everything. They had to take these very specific, verydetailed instructions—which were written out, in words, by the way. They had to take thesedirections and convert them into a three-dimensional working model of EVERYTHING INVOLVED. Somebody had to take on this enormous task.

so what did Moses do? Did he go around the camp until somebody stepped up and said, “Hey, I got some ideas!” Did he say to himself, “You know, Ithink my cousin Shimon might be able to cook something up!” No. Remember, who was ultimately in charge of every detail surrounding this project? God! It was His house, and He would be the one to determine who would supervise the building of His house. This was not atask that just any person could take upon themselves. And it is for that reason that we see God say what He says inExodus 35:30-35—30 And Moses said to thechildren of Israel, “See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri,the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 and He has filled him with the Spiritof God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner ofworkmanship, 32 to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver andbronze, 33 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in allmanner of artistic workmanship. 34 And He has put in his heart the ability toteach, in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35 He hasfilled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and thedesigner and the tapestry maker, in blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and finelinen, and of the weaver—those who do every work and those who design artisticworks.”

What do we know about Bezalel and Aholiab? What we read here isall we know about these guys. We find these guys talked about in less that 10verses in the entire Bible—and 6 of those verses are in this section of Exodus.But what is important that we learn about them from this passage? In verse 30? “The LORD has called by name Bezalel.” The samewith Aholiab in verse 34. God calls these men by name to do this mighty work.That is what God does. I think this whole chapter shows the sovereignty of God. From the calling of these men to even hearkening back to thestuff that the Egyptians gave the Israelites as they were leaving Egypt—God issovereign over everything. Now, question: how did Bezalel andAholiab get the job of overseeing the construction of the tabernacle everythingin it? Did someone tack a sheet of paper to a bulletin board for people to signup? Did they put an ad in the Sinai Gazette, “Wanted: foreman for largeconstruction project. Send resume to Moses@burningbush.com”? This was a work ofGod, and as such He called men who would devote their lives to this project, andwho would not allow their egos to get in the way and think they could improveon what God ordered. God Himself chose these men. The same principle applies tothe church. When there is work to be done, God does not necessarily call those peoplethat we humans with our feeble, depraved, human thinking would call. He doesnot call the best-looking—I am Exhibit A of that. He does not necessarily callthe most intelligent—I am also Exhibit B. He does not always call the mostself-confident or the most well-spoken or even the smoothest speakingvoice—Exhibit C, D and E. But He calls those who will make themselves availableto Him.

Think about young Samuel. About 12 years old, living with Eli the highpriest, hears a voice call out to him twice. The third time he says “Here am I, LORD.” Another example from a man whowas in an infinitely different situation—Isaiah. There he was in the throneroom of God, the Lord was seated on His throne, the angels were shouting “Holy, holy, holy.” Shouting so loud they aboutrocked the doors off the place. He realizes he is s sinful man who lives amongsinful people. And Almighty YHVH asks him, "Whomshall I send, and who will go for Us?" And what is Isaiah’s answer?"Here am I! Send me."

There are four words that will change your life more than anyother words you could ever utter: “Here am I, Lord.” Those words changedthe lives of Isaiah, Samuel, Abraham. And even Bezalel and Aholiab. God called,and they said, “Here am I, LORD.” Fast forward about 1500 years. We see Godcalling 12 other men to work for Him. He’s walking by some fishing boats, seessome fellows casting out their nets and He says “Drop your nets and followMe.” And they said, “Here am I, Lord.” Now,God doesn’t always talk in an audible voice—I dare say He does NOT speak in anaudible voice anymore. And if you ever hear anyone say that “God toldme…” or “God spoke to me last night…” then I would bereal suspect of what they were “told” or what was “spoken to them.” God hasspoken all He needs to speak, and we have it here in our Bibles. All Herequires of us is to read His word and say “Here am I, Lord.”

Exodus 36:1-7—“1 And Bezalel and Aholiab, andevery gifted artisan in whom the LORD has put wisdom and understanding, to knowhow to do all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, shall doaccording to all that the LORD has commanded.” 2 Then Moses called Bezalel andAholiab, and every gifted artisan in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom,everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work. 3 And they receivedfrom Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work ofthe service of making the sanctuary. So they continued bringing to him freewillofferings every morning. 4 Then all the craftsmen who were doing all the workof the sanctuary came, each from the work he was doing, 5 and they spoke toMoses, saying, "The people bring much more than enough for the service ofthe work which the LORD commanded us to do." 6 So Moses gave acommandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying,"Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of thesanctuary." And the people were restrained from bringing, 7 for thematerial they had was sufficient for all the work to be done—indeed too much.Now, that’s interesting. What is the command? “Stop giving!!” God does not needevery penny we have—in fact, He doesn’t need anything (Acts17:25). But also, He doesn’t want us to give Him everylast penny we have until we have nothing left to feed our family. He knows howmuch is needed for the work. When that amount was given, He said, "That’s enough."

Several weeks ago we read the account in Luke of the widowwho put her last two copper coins into the treasury and how Jesus rebuked thatsystem that would take a widow’s last dime and send her home to starve to deathwhile they built their beautiful building. Now, don’t get me wrong—I'm notsaying “Don’t give.” Don’t go telling people "Well, this one guy on the internet said we don't have to give."Should we give to the church and the work of the church? Absolutely. Galatians 6:7-10—7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Shouldwe—first of all—give to support our parents when they get older? Absolutely. 1st Timothy 5:8--But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. “Honorthy father and mother.” Should we give to help feed and clothe the poor? Absolutely.That is, those who are TRULY poor; not those who are poor because they drankand smoked and snorted away their food and rent and light bill.

But we are not to give so much that giving becomes a burdento our family. 2nd Corinthians 8:12-14—12 For if there is first a willing mind, it is acceptedaccording to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. 13 For Ido not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; 14 but by anequality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, thattheir abundance also may supply your lack—that there may be equality. Hesays in the next chapter, 2nd Corinthians 9:7-8—7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, notgrudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is ableto make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency inall things, may have an abundance for every good work. If I give awayevery penny I have today to some cause, and I have nothing left, what good isthat going to do—first, for my family, or even to someone who needs helptomorrow? In other words, give what the person needs—but not so much that youburden your own family. That’s what Paul is saying in that passage we read amoment ago, 2nd Corinthians 8:13—Ido not mean for others to be eased and you burdened. It’s what Jesustold the Pharisees. God does not want more than we can give. If He did, Hewould be taking food out of the mouths of widows and orphans, and He would becontradicting the same Law which declares that He will destroy anyone whoafflicts widows and orphans (see Exodus 22:21-24). Matthew Henry—

“Worksof charity, like other good works, should be done with thought and design…Duedeliberation to the matter of our own circumstances, and those of the personswe are about to relieve, will be very helpful to direct us how liberal weshould be in our contributions for charitable uses.”

God does not mean forothers to be eased while we ourselves are burdened. However, we should give outof our abundance to supply others’ lack, so that there may be equality amongall in the church.

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Ransom Money, Incense, Anointing Oil

2011-12-16T11:24:00.001-05:00

Today we are going to study Exodus 30. We will becovering the whole chapter today, looking at three commandments God gaveconcerning the tabernacle. We’ve already seen what it probably looked like;we’ve seen what the instruments of worship—the Ark of the Covenant, the Altarof Burnt Offering, the Lampstand, and so forth—what they probably looked like. Butthere are a couple of items we haven’t seen yet, such as the oil for anointingand the incense for burning on the Altar of Incense. Just as God gave verydetailed instructions for building the tent and the furnishings and thegarments for the priests, He was also very specific about the oil and theincense. You didn’t just walk into Food City and pick up a bottleof ValuTime extra virgin olive oil (in fact, they were not to use virgin oil, but beaten oil. But that will have to wait for another day), nor did you stop at the local gas station and grab somesticks of incense. These things were to be made very meticulously and accordingto the pattern that God would give. But before we get to those things, we’regoing to look at what was called “ransom money.” Exodus 30:11-16—11 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "12 When youtake the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every manshall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that theremay be no plague among them when you number them. 13 This is what everyoneamong those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekelof the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be anoffering to the LORD. 14 Everyone included among those who are numbered, fromtwenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD. 15 The richshall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, whenyou give an offering to the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves. 16 And youshall take the atonement money of the children of Israel,and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it maybe a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to makeatonement for yourselves." Before we go any further, let’s look atsome more terms here. In Exodus 30:13—“(ashekel is twenty gerahs).” And of course we ask ourselves, “Right.What’s a gerah?” A gerah was equivalent to about 16 coffee beans. A shekel ofweight was equal to 20 gerahs or 320 coffee beans.

Therefore the ransom money, a half-shekel, would be about 160coffee beans. Now, this shekel is different than what you would find in otherplaces in Scripture that talk about a “shekel of silver” or a “shekel of gold.”This was the “shekel of the sanctuary,” andthis was paid by every male 20 years old and older. Now, what was the amount that the people were to give? Onehalf shekel. If you owned 10,000 head of livestock, how much were you commandedto give? Onehalf shekel. If all you had was some loose change in a little sack, how much wereyou commanded to give? Onehalf shekel. Exodus 30:15—The richshall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel. Thepoor were not exempted because they were poor; the rich were not penalizedbecause they were rich. Everybody gave exactly the same amount. No more; noless. So, that leads us to this question—if a person is rich, how are theysaved? Christ. If a person is poor, how are they saved? Christ. Is there one way for the poorto be forgiven of their sins, and another for the rich? Way back in Exodus 23,we saw that there was one Law for both Jew and Gentile, and that there was oneGospel for both Jew and Gentile. The same is true for rich and poor. The richare saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The poor aresaved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Now, we find the reason for paying this ransom was “for the service of the tabernacle of meeting” (Exodus 30:16). If we were to read in Exodus 38, wewould see that when they did take the census and gathered the money together,they came up with one hundred talents and 1775 shekels of silver (Exodus38:27) and that they used that silver thus: Exodus 38:28—And from the hundred talents of silver were cast thesockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil: one hundred sockets fromthe hundred talents, one talent for each socket. Then from the one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels hemade hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals (tops of thepillars), and made bands for them (to holdthe curtains). A talent was 3000 shekels—a whole bunch of coffee beans. Or,about 94½ lbs. The “sockets of the sanctuary” were the bases for the pillarsthat held up the tent, the “sockets of the veil” were the foundation of theframework upon which the veil was hung. They could have used that silver forany purpose, but they were led by God to use it for these purposes. Now, let’sthink about this a minute. The silver from the ransom money was used for whatparts of the tabernacle? They used the first 100 talents for the foundation, theground if you will. Then, they use the rest of the ransom to finish the pillarsand make the bands that would hold the whole tent together.

Hmm. Isn't that interesting? The tabernacle and thetemple—many times in the OT we find them referred to as the “House of God.” Well,in the NT the church is called the “House of God.” Hebrews10:21—Having a High Priest over the House ofGod. 1st Peter 4:17—Timehas come for judgment to begin at the house of God. Then listen to whatPaul says in 1st Timothy 3:15—Iwrite so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house ofGod, which is the church of the living God—then what does he call it? The pillar and ground of the truth. Hmm. Isn't thatinteresting? The ransom money—the silver and gold—was paid to build the “ground”of the tent. The ransom that Jesus paid—His blood—was paid to build the“ground” of the church. The church is the ground of the truth. We were ransomed,by God, to be built into a spiritual house devoted to the worship of God by theLord Jesus Christ. 1st Corinthians 3:16—Do you not know that you are the temple of Godand that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Under the Old Covenant Goddwelt in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle; under the New Covenant He now dwellsinside of each believer. Ephesians 2:19-22—19Now, therefore, you are…fellow citizens with the saints, and members of thehousehold of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles andprophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom thewhole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in theSpirit. The people paid their ransom, and that ransom went towardbuilding the house of God. They were redeemed by their silver and gold—BUT!! Weare redeemed by something greater. Jesus Christ gave His life as a ransom; 1st Timothy 2:5-6—5 For there is one God and oneMediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransomfor all, to be testified in due time. Matthew 20:28—“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, andto give His life a ransom for many.”

The next thing we’re going to look at is the oil foranointing. Exodus 30:22-33—22 Moreover theLORD spoke to Moses, saying: "23 Also take for yourself qualityspices—five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much sweet-smellingcinnamon (two hundred and fifty shekels), two hundred and fifty shekels ofsweet-smelling cane, 24 five hundred shekels of cassia, according to the shekelof the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. 25 And you shall make from these aholy anointing oil, an ointment compounded according to the art of theperfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 With it you shall anoint thetabernacle of meeting and the ark of the Testimony; 27 the table and all itsutensils, the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense; 28 thealtar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base. 29You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches themmust be holy. 30 And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them,that they may minister to Me as priests. 31 And you shall speak to the childrenof Israel,saying: 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32It shall not be poured on man's flesh; nor shall you make any other like it,according to its composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on an outsider, shallbe cut off from his people.'"

500 shekels of liquid myrrh wouldweigh about 14 lbs., and of course 250 shekels of the other ingredients wouldweigh about 7 lbs. each. This mixture would weigh about 42 lbs. altogether. Thenmix it all into about 5 quarts of olive oil. It’s not so important that youknow what the ingredients were, that’s kind of interesting. The main point isthis: this oil was to be used for one purpose and one purpose only—to anointAaron and his sons and to anoint the tabernacle and the furnishings inside it. Whatwould happen to the soul that found the recipe and said “Hmm, I’d like tomake some of that for the house.” They would be “cut off.” That is a phrasethat you find in many places throughout the Law. And it means, in a way, to beput to death. There is a difference between the phrase “he shall be put todeath” and the phrase “he shall be cut off from his people.” When one was “putto death” it was carried out either by the people themselves or by the civilmagistrates in an official manner. However, one was “cut off” directly by the handof God Himself (we’ll see an example shortly). Anyone who made anything likethis holy oil could look forward to the Hand of God Himself taking their life fromthem and “cutting them off.”

Next, we’re going to see the incense that was to be burned onthe Altar of Incense, in Exodus 30:34-38—34And the LORD said to Moses: "Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha andgalbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equalamounts of each. 35 You shall make of these an incense, a compound according tothe art of the perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. 36 And you shall beat some ofit very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tabernacle ofmeeting where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. 37 But as forthe incense which you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves,according to its composition. It shall be to you holy for the LORD. 38 Whoevermakes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people."There’s that warning again. This was the incense that was to be burned on theAltar of Incense. And this was the ONLY THING that was to be burned on thataltar. We would see that if we read Exodus 30:9-10—“9 You shall not offer strange incense on it, or a burntoffering, or a grain offering; nor shall you pour a drink offering on it…10 Itis most holy to the LORD.” If we were to fast-forward to Leviticus 10 wewould find the most well-known case of one being “cut off” for burningsomething on the Altar of Incense that they ought not to have been burning.

Leviticus10:1-3—1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons ofAaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offeredprofane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire wentout from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. 3 And Mosessaid to Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke, saying: 'By those who comenear Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must beglorified.'" So Aaron held his peace. There is an application inthat episode for us today. A growing sentiment these days in some churches is: inorder to appeal to this generation, we must combine the things of God with thevulgar and profane things of the world. Churches are playing music that is—noother way to say it—vulgar, satanic (whether outrightly so or in a more subtlefashion). And then you have youth “pastors” who think that to appeal to thekids their supposed to be pastoring (by way of the word of God), instead theyfeel the need to act like children themselves. Which is why so many youngpeople leave the church once they leave home. They’ve been subjected to yearsof “stupid youth pastor tricks” and all kinds of nonsense, so to them church isnothing more than a social club. It makes no impact on their life. Which iswhat happens when we do what the priests were doing in Ezekiel 22:26—“Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holythings; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have theymade known the difference between the unclean and the clean.” Thesechurches are, in a way, guilty of offering up “strange fire” to the Lord. Listento this from an article I found:

“You see at least fifty kids standingaround…in a circle watching and laughing at something. You move closer into thecircle and see the youth pastor and a kid trying to eat a banana throughpantyhose covering their heads. You look around and notice no open Bibles, nosound of hymns or worship music, and no one praying. All you see is just agroup of teenagers watching an adult and one of their peers awkwardly trying toeat a banana. You think to yourself, ‘Is this supposed to be church? This looksmore like a party!’ Well, unfortunately, this is church now. Youth group usedto be opening your Bible and hearing what God had to say to you. It used to beled by someone older, someone with more experience and wisdom on how to live agodly life. It used to be about learning to listen to God and keeping Him closeto your heart. Not anymore…The youth pastor might read a verse or two, but onlyafter losing the kids’ attention and respect because of his display of lookinglike a fool.”

Amen. Want to know who wrote that? The girl that wrote thatwas 16 years old. The same principle that God displayed when He destroyed Nadaband Abihu—“By those who come near Me I must beregarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified.”

OK, so what we have seen now is those things that were necessaryfor the construction and sanctification of the tabernacle, and for the prayersof the people to be heard by God. We have silver (or gold) for the ransommoney. We have myrrh in the anointing oil. We have frankincense to be burned onthe altar of incense. Let’s see…gold, myrrh and frankincense. Seems as thoughI've seen a list similar to this somewhere in the NT. Matthew 2:11—And when they had come into the house, they saw the youngChild with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they hadopened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, andmyrrh. But all that OT Law stuff is so boring and has nothing to do withJesus! The gifts that the Magi brought were specifically for the support andsanctification of the tabernacle of flesh of Christ’s body and for the prayersof the saints. And before we begin, although I wrote and taught this lesson back in July, I think it's not a little ironic that I am getting around to posting it a week and a half before Christmas. And on that note,let’s get rid of some myths. These men were not kings. They were “Magi,”probably philosophers or astronomers. But not kings. There were probably morethan three. They did not show up until Jesus was about 2 years old—meaning,they weren’t at the manger. So “We Three Kings” and all the pictures of thewise men at the stable—we can get rid of them, because they are wrong. At anyrate. Oh, by the way, Isaiah 60:6—Themultitude of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah…theyshall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD.

First, the gold. The ransom money under the OldCovenant, which was used to redeem the people. Now, under the New Covenant itis Christ’s blood that provides our ransom and redemption from sin. Romans3:24-25—24 Being justified freely by His gracethrough the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as apropitiation by His blood. Propitiation simply being a fancy way ofsaying “To satisfy a debt.” 1^st Peter 1:18-19—18 You were not redeemed with corruptible things, likesilver or gold…19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb withoutblemish and without spot. Ephesians 1:7—InHim we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according tothe riches of His grace.

The myrrh. Which was the chief ingredient in the anointing oil. Psalm45:6-8—6 Your throne, O God, is forever andever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. 7 You loverighteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed Youwith the oil of gladness more than Your companions. 8 All Your garments arescented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, by whichthey have made You glad. See if you see what I see. Psalm 45:6—Your throne, O GOD, is forever… Who is being spokento there? Then Psalm 45:7—Therefore God, yourGod, has anointed You. Who is being spoken to here? So obviously, inPsalm 45:6, it is the 2^nd member of the Trinity that is beingreferred to as God. In fact, in Hebrews 1:9, the writer makes the pointthat God the Father is saying these things to God the Son. Read Hebrews 1, allof it, and you will see that the writer is making it as clear as he possiblycan, without coming right out and saying it, that Jesus Christ is God. Then Psalm45:8—All Your garments are scented with myrrhand aloes and cassia. The same ingredients we find in the holy anointingoil.

Finally, the incense. In the tabernacle and thetemple the burning of incense was meant to symbolize our prayers rising toYHVH. Revelation 5:8—The four livingcreatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having aharp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.This does NOT mean that we are to pray to angels and dead saints as the RomanCatholics do. What did Jesus say? “Pray in this manner,‘Our Father, which art in Heaven’” (Matthew 6:9). But that’s foranother day. Malachi 1:11—“From the rising ofthe sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; inevery place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering; for Myname shall be great among the nations,” Says the LORD of hosts.

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Consecrating Aaron and His Sons (Part 3)

2011-12-07T10:13:00.001-05:00

For the last two weeks we have been studying the variousofferings that Aaron and his sons were to give before they could be consecratedinto the priesthood. They had to make atonement for their own sins before theycould offer sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. These offerings weresymbolic; they were meant to paint a picture of the One who would come and notsimply cover their sins, but take them completely away. Just to kinda review,they were to bring a bull, two rams and several types of bread. The bull waskilled; the fat was burned on the altar. But the flesh, skin and dung weretaken outside the camp and burned there, symbolizing Christ being crucifiedoutside the city walls of Jerusalem.This was a “sin offering” or a “purification offering.” Then the first ram waslikewise killed, and all of it was burned on the altar. This being the secondpart of the “purification offering.” Then the second ram, that we saw so muchof last week, was also killed, its blood was applied to the ear, thumb and bigtoe of Aaron and his sons to sanctify their ears, their hands and their feetfor service to the Lord. Then they took the fat, along with one loaf of eachkind of bread, waved it back and forth as a “Wave Offering,” and burned it. Thenthe brisket and the right hind quarter were tossed up into the air as a “HeaveOffering,” signifying that they would love the LORD with all their heart, souland strength. These two, together, painted a vivid picture of the cross.

Next, we see what they do with the rest of this second ram. Exodus29:31-33—“31 And you shall take the ram of theconsecration and boil its flesh in the holy place. 32 Then Aaron and his sonsshall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by thedoor of the tabernacle of meeting. 33 They shall eat those things with whichthe atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; but an outsidershall not eat them, because they are holy.” This same ram whose blood ison their ear, thumb and toe; the same ram whose fat was waved as a waveoffering and whose breast and thigh were heaved as a heave offering. Now, theytake this ram, boil what was left, and then eat that meat—along with the breadthat was offered with the fat—at the door of the tabernacle. Just as the sonsof Aaron were consecrated (sanctified, set apart) to the tabernacle priesthoodby partaking of “those things by which atonement wasmade”—the bull, the two rams and the bread—we too are consecrated(sanctified, set apart) to God by partaking of “thosethings by which atonement was made”—only now, that which makes atonementfor us is the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the boiling and eating ofthis ram was done somewhere between the bronze laver and the door of thesanctuary; it was not done inside the tabernacle. These things were to be doneonce the tabernacle was constructed and all the furnishings (the lampstand, thealtar of incense, the table of showbread and the Ark of the Covenant) werearranged inside it. But if you notice, not one drop of blood from any of theseanimals has been taken inside the tabernacle. In fact, at this point, the onlythings inside the tabernacle are the furnishings. There is a reason for this,and we will see that later on.

So once they boiled what was left of this ram, they were togather around and eat. Together. This was a symbol of unity among those of theOT priesthood. Are we kings and priests to God? Are we a royal priesthood?Jesus repeats this same principle in His prayer the night before His crucifixion.John 17:20-23—“20 I do not pray for these alone,but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they allmay be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be onein Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which Yougave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I inthem, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the worldmay know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”Jesus’ prayer is that we who are now children of God would dwell together inunity, that we would give place to our fellow Christians and strive, above allelse, for Christ to be glorified in us. And when Christ is glorified in us, theFather is glorified in us

We got to talking last week about Christian unity. We, asChristians, are joined together into one body. And what is that body called? 1 Corinthians 12:12-14—12 For as the body is oneand has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are onebody, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into onebody—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made todrink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.Have you ever seen a foot, by itself, hopping down the street? What about aneyeball? A pancreas? Stomach? You're not going to see one body part goingalong, by itself, without the other parts of the body. Our body needs certainorgans to function. 1st Corinthians 12:20-25—20 But now indeed there aremany members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I haveno need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need ofyou." 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to beweaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to beless honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable partshave greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But Godcomposed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should havethe same care for one another. Is a wealthy Christian more importantthan a poor Christian? And anybody who tells you that you're poor because youdon’t have enough faith or you haven’t “sown the right seed” or you're under agenerational curse or you have some sin you haven’t repented of—they're justshowing their ignorance. Because that poor Christian was important enough toGod that He sent His Son to die for them—if they're that important to God,shouldn’t they be important to us?

Let me give you anexample from the human body. Without the brain, the whole body will die, true? Ifthe brain isn't getting enough oxygen, the body will divert blood from the armsand legs to the brain. Because the arms and legs give up the blood that theyneed, the brain can get the blood it needs, and the whole body can survive—evenfor just a little while longer. Now, let’s apply this to the church. Withoutsaying that one member of the church is more important than any other, whatdoes this illustration mean for the church? That when one of us has a need,then another who can fill that need should supply it. 2nd Corinthians 11:9—And when I was present withyou, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren whocame from Macedoniasupplied. Macedoniabeing the region in Greececontaining the cities of Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. And this is the point James makes in James 2—not saying thatwe are saved BY works, but that we are saved in order to do good works. And ifone does not do the works that faith demands, he says James 2:14 (NASB)—What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faithbut he has no works? Can that faith save him? The KJV, the NKJV—theyboth leave out the word “that”. The NASB correctly translates it as “can that faith save him?” 1st John 3:17—But whoever has the world's goods, and seeshis brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of Godabide in him? MatthewHenry—

“It pleases God that some of the Christian brethren should be poor,for the exercise of the charity and love of those that are rich. And it pleasesthe same God to give to some of the Christian brethren this world's good, that they may exercise their grace in communicating to the poor saints. And thosewho have this world's good must love a good God more, and their good brethrenmore, and be ready to distribute it for their sakes.”

So, since we are one body, it is obvious that we should carefor others in this body. Some NT verses to finish up. 1st Corinthians 12:26—And if one member suffers, allthe members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the membersrejoice with it. Romans 12:15-16—15Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the samemind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associatewith the humble. Philippians 2:2-4—2Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord,of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but inlowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of youlook out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.If one member hurts, we should all hurt with them. If that member receiveshonor or blessing, we celebrate with them. Christian unity. Read Acts 2 formore on that. And it is this Christian unity that was to bind Aaron and hissons together in that Old Covenant priesthood. It was eating of this onesacrifice that bound them in unity. We—spiritually—eat of the one sacrifice of Christ, although we do noteat His literal flesh and drink His literal blood as they claim to do in theabominable Roman Catholic Mass.

Exodus 29:34—“And if any of the flesh of theconsecration offerings, or of the bread, remains until the morning, then youshall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.”Once this ram was cooked and eaten, if there was anything left over itwas to be burned. How much of it was to be given to anyone who was not at thistable? None. Matthew 7:6—“Do not give what isholy to the dogs.” This was a special table, an exclusive supper thatonly Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to take part in. No one else had anyright to partake of this. Now, last week we read a verse from Hebrews that Ithink is probably rooted, at least in part, in this occasion. Hebrews 13:10—We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernaclehave no right to eat. Are we kings and priests to God? Are we a chosengeneration, a royal priesthood? BUT—we have been ordained, not by human hands,not by the laying on of hands by any human authority. We have been chosen, setapart by God Himself. Not because we somehow “deserved” it. But Titus 3:4-5takes away any hope of earning God’s forgiveness. And being set apart by God asa royal priesthood, we have an altar that no one who is trying to establishtheir own righteousness can eat from. While they are trying to make themselvesrighteous—which they can never do—we have been made righteous by God, by Himtaking our sins and laying them on the head of the Lamb that He provided, andgiving us the righteousness of God in Christ. No one can ever earn that. Youcan “heave” all your sins up in the air all you want—but if you do not knowChrist they will always come back to you. But we have a great High Priest whohas taken away our sins forever, and they will never return to us.

Now, to finish up, Exodus 29:35-37—“35 Thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, according toall that I have commanded you. Seven days you shall consecrate them. 36 And youshall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement. You shall cleansethe altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctifyit. 37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. Andthe altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy.” Alesson here about persevering to the end. How many days did Moses and Aaron andAaron’s sons have to bring bulls and rams and bread, kill, cut up, burn, wave,heave, boil and eat? Seven days. How many days in a week? How many days didJoshua and the army of Israelmarch around the city of Jericho?How many days did Noah leave the door open on the ark before the rains came?How many days in the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Suppose Eleazar said, “Youknow, I've been eating boiled ram and oily bread for five days straight. I'm takingtoday off.” How well do you think that would fly with God? This was sevendays they had to do this. If you do not complete the seven days, you do notpass “GO” you do not enter into the priesthood. There is a lesson in there forus.

Many people think of Christianity as a “religion.” That’s allthey think of it. They think that if they go to church on Sunday, they'resomehow saved. But being saved, sanctified, set apart to God is not a one day aweek thing. It’s not something you dabble in for a little while, leave itbehind and say, “Well, I had some experience in the church, so I'm prettysure I'm going to Heaven when I die.” But twice in the gospels, we findthese words of Christ, Matthew 10:22 (and Matthew 24:13)—“He who endures to the end will be saved.” Not, “Hewho goes a little way, does a few good things, then returns to his old wayswill be saved.” Too many times what some call “discipleship” is this: “Praythis prayer, ask Jesus into your heart and you'll be saved.” This producesmore false converts and more spiritually dead “church people” than anything.You ask that same person, years down the road, and they’ll say “Yep, I gotthat straight a long time ago. Prayed the prayer, I'm saved. Now if you'llexcuse me I'm late for happy hour.” Listen to 1st Corinthians 9:24-27—24 Do you not know that those who run ina race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you mayobtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in allthings. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishablecrown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as onewho beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection,lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.Paul is telling us what God commanded of the OT priests—that when you belong toGod, you don’t just go to church for a little while, read your Bible for alittle while, sing some hymns for a little while, etc. Paul is saying thatevery day, when he wakes up, he has to train his body, train his mind, trainhis spirit to persevere through trials and accusations and beatings and evenagainst the more subtle devices of the enemy.

And one of the devices of the enemy is to make people thinkthat Christianity is simply praying a prayer and showing up to church when youfeel like it. And if you don’t like it, well, don’t worry, you'll be OK. Butlisten to this warning from Christ, Matthew 12:43-45—“43 When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes throughdry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, 'I will return to myhouse from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and putin order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wickedthan himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man isworse than the first." The person who has heard the truth,understood the truth, then turned away from the truth is in danger of a farworse punishment than the one who never heard the truth. Now, keep in mind,those who never hear the name of Christ, who never call upon Him forforgiveness, who die in their sins—these will not escape eternal punishment.But they won’t be punished because they never “believed the right way” as somelike to accuse us of saying. They die because of their own sins. That said, theone who does hear the gospel, who hears that the Law of God declares themsinners who need to be saved, and they either ignore it, or they “believe” fora little while and then go back to their old ways—these will receive a muchharsher punishment than those who never hear. Listen to what the apostle Petersays about false teachers, in 1st Peter 2:18-22—18 For when theyspeak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of theflesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who livein error. 19 While they promise them liberty,they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, byhim also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped thepollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior JesusChrist, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worsefor them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not tohave known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from theholy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according tothe true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow,having washed, to her wallowing in the mire." Salvation is notsomething that happens at a point in time and has no lasting effect on aperson’s life afterward. The life Christ calls us to is for life. When theapostle Paul was nearing the end of his life; when he was, by some accounts,hours (if not minutes) away from his death at the hands of the Romans emperorNero, he didn’t say “I struggled a little bit, I ran half the way, I hadfaith for a while.” He said Second Timothy 4:7—I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, Ihave kept the faith.

Exodus 29:36-37—“36 And you shall offer a bullevery day as a sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when youmake atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctify it. 37 Seven daysyou shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. And the altar shall bemost holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy.” They had to make atonement for the altar. The altar ofburnt offering was an inanimate object. What sins had the altarcommitted? But, in order for the sacrifices to be acceptable to God, the priestoffering that sacrifice had to be set apart to God, and the altar it wasoffered on had to be consecrated to God. Because, let’s think about this. Thisaltar was made of materials that were just as much under the curse of sin as wehumans are. In much the same way that not just any man could be a priest, onecould not simply slap some wood together, break out their Bedazzler^®and stamp rhinestones into it, decorate it any way they wanted, and call it analtar to God. Everything involved in making atonement for people’s sins had tobe holy. When the sinner brought their offering, everything from animal withoutspot or blemish, to the one preparing the sacrifice, to the altar it wassacrificed upon, to the fire on the altar that was started by God (see Leviticus9:22-24), to the smoke that rose into the air as a “sweet aroma to theLORD,” everything in between the tips of the sinner’s fingers to God Himselfhad to be holy.

Likewise, in order for us to be forgiven of our sins, ourMediator must be holy, sinless, and separate from sin. Guess what? Hebrews7:26-27—26 For such a High Priest was fittingfor us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has becomehigher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, tooffer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for thisHe did once for all when He offered up Himself. 1st Peter 2:21-22—21 Christ also suffered for us, leavingus an example, that you should follow His steps: “22 Who committed no sin, norwas deceit found in His mouth.” Christ was not only the One who offeredthe sacrifice—He was the sacrifice. Just as the altar was anointed with oil tosanctify it for accepting offerings for sins, so Christ was anointed with theHoly Spirit to sanctify His offering Himself for the sins of all who willbelieve. So that leaves us with two more weeks in chapter 29, next week thedaily morning and evening sacrifices, then the following week we will get toverses 8-9 that we skipped, and talking about Christ being our High Priest eventhough He was not descended from Aaron or even Levi.

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Consecrating Aaron and His Sons (Part 2)

2011-11-26T14:15:00.001-05:00

Lastweek we started looking at the various offerings and rituals that Aaron and hissons had to go through to be consecrated—set apart—to the Old Covenantpriesthood. God was very specific about how these animals that were offered upfor the purification offerings were to be cut up and what was to be done withthe various parts. And at the time these things were being done, these fellowsmay not have had any idea why these things were done the way they were beingdone. But now that Christ has come we can see the symbolism involved in theserituals either pointed to Christ or were fulfilled in Christ. Because we alsoare priests, 1^st Peter 2:9—But youare a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.Being sinful, fallen humans, we need someone to plead with God on our behalf.Since Christ has come, He intercedes with the Father on our behalf, and has infact given us the privilege of being counted as priests to God. So now, wedon’t need to find a descendant of Aaron to mediate for us. I can come beforeGod on Richard’s behalf. Dave can go before God on Eddie’s behalf. We can allgo before God on behalf of others because we are a “royal priesthood."

But, under the old covenant, that role was fulfilled by thepriest. And if you recall, not just anybody could be priest, you had to be amale descendant of Aaron. And before Aaron and his sons could be set apart aspriest they had to offer sacrifices for their own sins. This sacrifice included one young bull and two ramswithout blemish, unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, andunleavened wafers anointed with oil (Exodus 29:1-2). Last week we sawwhat they did with the bull, today we get to what they did with the rest ofthese things. Exodus 29:15-18—“15 You shallalso take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head ofthe ram; 16 and you shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood andsprinkle it all around on the altar. 17 Then you shall cut the ram in pieces,wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and with its head.18 And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to theLORD; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.” Thebull was the sin offering; the ram was the burnt offering. They laid their sinson the head of the bull, then they were to offer this ram to sanctifythemselves to the most important office any man could ever hold. By killing,cutting up and burning this ram, they were making a covenant with God that theywould serve Him all their days and be worthy of the office of priest. And wesee this principle as we read Exodus 29:19-21—“19You shall also take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their handson the head of the ram. 20 Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of itsblood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of theright ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe oftheir right foot, and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. 21 And youshall take some of the blood that is on the altar, and some of the anointingoil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, on his sons and on thegarments of his sons with him; and he and his garments shall be hallowed, andhis sons and his sons' garments with him.” This was the ram of consecration—theoffering that set Aaron and his sons apart from the rest of the nation of Israel andsanctified them for the priesthood. This offering was different from the otherofferings for the priesthood or even the common person that we will see in laterchapters.

Andthe one act that sets this apart is found in Exodus 29:20—“Take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the rightear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of theirright hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood allaround on the altar.” Did I tell ya this was going to get kinda messy?Did I lie? Before you ask, yes, the blood of this animal was indeed to be puton the right ear, right thumb, and right big toe of Aaron and his sons. I'llthrow this question out to you—what do you think was the significance of thisact? Why the ear, thumb, and toe? Adam Clarke—

“That theyshould dedicate all their faculties and powers to the service of God; theirears to the hearing and study of his law, their hands to diligence in thesacred ministry, and their feet to walking in the way of God’s precepts.”

Here aretwo questions I will be asking today, so you should know the answers by thetime we’re done. Are we kings and priests to God? Are we a royal priesthood?These are not insignificant statements. We are priests to God, and what thismeans for us is that we are to be careful how we conduct ourselves. Take the ears for example.Consider a person who claims to be saved. Let’s say they listen to a certaintype of music. Whether it’s Led Zeppelin or Metallica or Lady Gag. Does thekind of music we listen to determine whether we are saved or not? No, and youwill never hear me say that.

Butwhat I will say is this: the person who listens to those kinds of music—whywould they want to listen to music that glorifies those things that God hates?We can't necessarily say that person is not saved, but we do have many warningsin the NT about how we are to be careful about those things that we find acceptable.Galatians 5:13—For you, brethren, have beencalled to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh.We are no longer under Law but under grace—but that does not mean we should goout and live like the lost. In 1^st Corinthians 8:1-13 and Romans14:1-23, Paul lays out his concerns about those who were eating meat thathad been offered to idols. And he warns the Corinthians and the Romans thatwhen a mature Christian—a “stronger brother”—eats meat offered to idols in thepresence of a younger Christian—a “weaker brother”—there is a danger that the“weaker brother” may start to wander into those things that can jeopardize hissoul. And in both places he tells the “stronger brother” to put aside his owndesires for the sake of the “weaker brother.”

Romans14:14-15—14 To him who considers anything to be unclean, to himit is unclean. 15 Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you areno longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whomChrist died. 1^st Corinthians 8:9-12—9 Beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become astumbling block to those who are weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who haveknowledge eating in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who isweak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? 11 And because of yourknowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? 12 But when youthus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin againstChrist. That’s quite a stinging indictment. That when we put our ownpersonal preferences over the safety of another’s soul that we sin against God.So what was Paul’s solution to such a dilemma? 1^st Corinthians8:13—Therefore, if food makes my brotherstumble, I will never again eat meat. If his eating of meat would causeothers to think it was OK to offer meat to idols, he would never eat meat againfor the rest of his life. That was the care that the OTpriests were to take in conducting their office. Theirconduct was essential to their office. They could not offer sacrifices for thesins of the people if they still had sins of their own that had not been takencare of. So this blood that was applied to their ear, thumb, and big toe wasmeant to not only purify those organs for use in the sanctuary, they were acovenant these men made to use these organs in a manner worthy of their office.

Exodus29:22-25—“22 Also you shall take the fat of the ram, the fat tail,the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, the twokidneys and the fat on them, the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration),23 one loaf of bread, one cake made with oil, and one wafer from the basket ofthe unleavened bread that is before the LORD; 24 and you shall put all these inthe hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and you shall wave them as awave offering before the LORD. 25 You shall receive them back from their handsand burn them on the altar as a burnt offering, as a sweet aroma before theLORD. It is an offering made by fire to the LORD.” We have seen the sinoffering and the burnt offering, and now we see the wave offering. The same ramwhose blood was applied to their ear, thumb and toe, they were to take all thefat from the tail, intestines and kidneys. Then take the right thigh (right hindquarter) and the bread we find in Exodus 29:2. Take it all, put it alltogether in a separate pile.

Then Aaron and his sons (Eleazar, Ithamar,Nadab, Abihu) would all be gathered in a circle. They would put out their hands,and all the things you find in Exodus 29:22-23 would be heaped intotheir hands. Did I say this was gonna get kinda messy? It was one big, doughy,gooey mess. That is why this “wave offering,” in Hebrew, literally means “the fill-offering.”Because, as you could well imagine, all their hands would be full of stuff.Then Moses would put his hands underneath the hands of Aaron and his sons, andthey would “wave them as a wave offering” (Exodus29:24). They would simply “wave” them from side to side. What doesall this signify? I'm glad you asked. Well, they’ve already taken the blood andsmeared it and sprinkled it on Aaron and his sons, as a promise that they willwalk, listen and act in a manner worthy of their office. They’ve had the bloodof this ram sprinkled on them, as a way of saying that this innocent animaldied because of their sins. That is to say, that innocent blood was on them. Matthew27:25—And all the people answered and said,"His blood be on us and on our children." Now,they take the fat, with a pile of bread, wave it from one side to the other andfinally set it on the altar and burn it all. And God declares that this wouldbe “a sweet aroma” to Him. A “sweet aroma.” Have you ever smelled burning fatand bread? Romans 12:1—I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, whichis your reasonable service. In order to be consecrated as priests, allthese guys had to do was burn some fat and bread on a man-made altar. Was itthe smoke from the burning fat and bread that pleased God? No. It was theobedience they displayed in performing these rites.

Are we kings and priests toGod and a royal priesthood? Now, we are to give not justbread and the fat of rams, but our whole body and our life to serving the truealtar in the Holiest of All in the Heavens. What Paul is telling us in Romans12:1 is to give our whole body as an offering to God, telling God that allof us is His, and that our lives are but a puff of smoke (James 4:14).And that if He wants to bring our lives to a sudden end that is certainly Hisright. I like what John Gill says about Romans 12:1—

“By their bodies aremeant…all the powers and faculties of their souls, and members of their bodies;and the presenting of them…with all readiness and willingness, to the serviceof God for his honour and glory, without putting any confidence inthemselves…Under the Gospel dispensation all believers are priests; and thesacrifices they bring are not the bodies of slain beasts, but their own bodies,their whole selves.”

Next,we see the “heave offering.” Exodus 29:26-30—“26Then you shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration and wave itas a wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be your portion. 27 And fromthe ram of the consecration you shall consecrate the breast of the waveoffering which is waved, and the thigh of the heave offering which is raised, ofthat which is for Aaron and of that which is for his sons. 28 It shall be fromthe children of Israelfor Aaron and his sons by a statute forever. For it is a heave offering; itshall be a heave offering from the children of Israel from the sacrifices of theirpeace offerings, that is, their heave offering to the LORD. 29 And the holygarments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him, to be anointed in them and tobe consecrated in them. 30 That son who becomes priest in his place shall putthem on for seven days, when he enters the tabernacle of meeting to minister inthe holy place.” The same ram whose blood was put on their ear, thumband toe; the same ram whose fat was waved as a wave offering—Moses was then totake the breast (brisket) and wave it as a wave offering—and he gets to keep itafter they're all done. But before he keeps that brisket, he takes it, alongwith the thigh (right hind quarter) and they would heave these things into the air. At least one significance tothis action—maybe two. The clearest significance is the parts that were used.The breast and the thigh. How are we to love the LORD our God? “With all your heart, with all your soul, all yourstrength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). The breast, as you can now gather,signifies loving God with all your heart and soul. With the thigh you confessthat you love God with all your strength. Another meaning may be this: that ashard as we may try to get rid of our sins—as far as we may try to toss themwith our own effort—we can never get rid of them. And the harder we try andwork and do “good deeds” to throw our sins away from us, if we are depending onour own efforts our sins are going to keep coming back to us. BUT—if we lift upChrist, our sins will be taken away. John 12:32—“IfI am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all peoples to Myself.” If welook to Christ as being our “heave offering,” He will take our sins from usforever. And they will never come back to us.

Now,what do these two offerings, when seen together, point to? Watch this. The waveoffering was waved back and forth and to and fro. The heave offering was tossedup into the air. The wave offering (back and forth) and the heave offering (upand down). Hmmmm, I wonder if there’s some symbolism there. Charles FrancoisHoubigant was a Frenchman who lived in the 1600’s. He was a scholar in thefield of Old Testament study as well as biblical Hebrew. Listen to what he saysabout these two offerings:

“The heave-offering and wave-offering, as twoceremonies in the same offering, are distinguished here. The wave-offeringimplies that the victim was moved hither and thither, to the right hand and tothe left; the heave-offering was lifted up and down, and this was done severaltimes. In this way the Jews explain these things, and teach the Christians,that by these acts the cross was foreshadowed, upon which that Peace-offeringof the human race was lifted up which was prefigured by all the ancientsacrifices.”

So much of Scripture becomes so much clearer in light of theLaw. To separate the New Testament from the Old Testament is like separatingyour heart from your lungs. They need each other to function properly. Thelungs need the heart to pump blood; the heart needs the lungs to provide oxygenso it can continue pumping. You can't have one without the other.

Exodus29:31-34—“31 And you shall take the ram of the consecration andboil its flesh in the holy place. 32 Then Aaron and his sons shall eat theflesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of thetabernacle of meeting. 33 They shall eat those things with which the atonementwas made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; but an outsider shall not eatthem, because they are holy. 34 And if any of the flesh of the consecration offerings,or of the bread, remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainderwith fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.” This same ramwhose blood is on their ear, thumb and toe; the same ram that they have takenthe fat off the tail, intestines and kidneys and waved these as a waveoffering; the same ram that they have taken the breast and thigh and heaved asa heave offering. Now, they take this ram, boil its flesh in the sanctuary, andthen eat that meat—along with the bread that was offered with the fat—at thedoor of the tabernacle. And if there was anything left over it was to beburned. How much of it was to be given to anyone who was not at this table?None. Exodus 29:34—“And if any of the fleshof the consecration offerings, or of the bread, remains until the morning, thenyou shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it isholy.” Matthew 7:6—“Do not give what isholy to the dogs.”

Thiswas a special table, an exclusive supper that only Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’ssons were to take part in. No one else had any right to partake of this. Now,last week we read a verse from Hebrews that I think is probably rooted, atleast in part, in this occasion. Hebrews 13:10—Wehave an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.Are we kings and priests to God? Are we a chosen generation, a royalpriesthood? BUT—we have been ordained, not by human hands, not by the laying onof hands by any human authority. We have been chosen, set apart by God Himself.Not because we somehow “deserved” it. But Titus 3:4-5 takes away anyhope of earning God’s forgiveness. And being set apart by God as a royalpriesthood, we have an altar that no one who is trying to establish their ownrighteousness can eat from. While they are trying to make themselvesrighteous—which they can never do—we have been made righteous by God, by Himtaking our sins and laying them on the head of the Lamb that He provided, andgiving us the righteousness of God in Christ. No one can ever earn that. Youcan “heave” all your sins up in the air all you want—but if you do not knowChrist they will always come back to you. But we have a great High Priest whohas taken away our sins forever, and they will never return to us.

JesusChrist is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old testament Law--Consecrating Aaron and his sons (part 1)

2011-11-18T15:38:00.001-05:00

We’ve seen what the tabernacleand all its furnishings probably looked like. We have seen what the garments ofthe high priest probably looked like. And today we are going to see Aaron andhis sons set apart—consecrated—for the priestly service. And before we read ourtext, I think it would behoove us to understand the reason for the priesthood.And that reason is quite simple. We are vile, wicked, sinful, prideful peoplewho have sinned against a perfectly righteous God. We have broken His law,despised His commandments, and rebelled against His authority. And because wehave done these things, we are spiritually separated from God, and cannotapproach Him directly. We need someone to plead with Him on our behalf, to askHim to have mercy on us because of our sins. And that is where the office ofpriest comes in. Now most people, when they think of the word ‘priest’ theythink of a guy in a black robe with a funny-looking collar. And the RomanCatholic church has indeed misappropriated the term ‘priest’ and has convincedthose who have been deceived into following her that only the ‘priest’ canforgive you of your sins. The Roman Catholic priest can do nothing for you.

Nowhere’s the good news—we have a High Priest who has already entered God’scourtroom and who continually intervenes on our behalf. Hebrews 7:24-25—24 He, because Hecontinues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also ableto save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He alwayslives to make intercession for them. And He has made us priests as well.Revelation 1:5-6—5 To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in Hisown blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him beglory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And because we are kings andpriests we can call upon this holy and righteous God at any time. Hebrews 4:16—Letus therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy andfind grace to help in time of need. However, until that Great HighPriest came, the only way for a person to come to God was—well, first you hadto become Jewish, and then you had to go to the Jewish priest, and you had tohave an acceptable offering to give. The priest would then kill it, cut it upand burn it, thus making intercession for you. Now, as we've seen in the videoswe've watched over the last couple weeks, God was very particular about howthings were to be done. Very detailed in His descriptions of the building ofthe tabernacle and its furnishings and the garments of the high priest. Veryintricate details.

Andnot only was God very specific about the tent and the furnishings and thegarments, He was also very specific about who could serve as priest. And it wasGod’s will that only the “sons of Aaron” could become priests. If we go wayback to Genesis, we know that God made a covenant with Abraham that all nationswould be blessed through faithful Abraham. Genesis22:18—"In your seed all the nations of theearth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." ThenAbraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. But the promise was only to comethrough Isaac. Genesis 21:12—“In Isaac shall your seed be called.” Then, Isaachad two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob was eventually given the name “Israel.” AndJacob—Israel—had 12 sons,who became the heads of what we call the “Twelve tribes of Israel.” These12 sons were Simeon, Reuben, Gad, Naphtali, Dan, Issachar, Benjamin, Zebulon, Joseph, Judah,Asher and Levi. Levi had sons who had sons who had sons and eventually the lineof Levi produced two sons named Moses and Aaron. The duty of serving in thetabernacle was given, in general, to the male descendants of Levi. And only thedescendants of Levi. If you belonged to the tribe of Benjamin—forget it. If youbelong to the tribe of Simeon—sorry. If you belong to the tribe of Reuben—not achance. Gad, Dan, Naphtali? Step aside. To serve in the tabernacle you had tobe a descendant of Levi. Not only that, but in order to enter the priesthood,not only did you have to be a descendant of Levi, more specifically you had tobe a descendant of Aaron.

And it isin chapter 29 of Exodus that we see these sons of Aaron set apart for thepriesthood. Exodus 29:1-4—“1 And this is what you shall do to them to hallow themfor ministering to Me as priests: Take one young bull and two rams withoutblemish, 2 and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, andunleavened wafers anointed with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour). 3 Youshall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull andthe two rams. 4 And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of thetabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water.” Now, I wantto stop right here for a moment. What we have here is this: These commands wereto be carried out once the tabernacle and the furnishings were finished. So,chronologically, this would have taken place some time after about Exodus 39 or40 (And in fact we read about this ceremony taking place in Leviticus chapters8 and 9). At any rate, Moses is to bring the sons of Aaron—Nadab, Abihu,Eleazar and Ithamar—to the door of the tent, and to bring a bull and two ramsand all these unleavened breads and wafers. And the first thing that Moses wasto do was to wash them with water. Head to toe, not just a little dab under thepits and behind the ears. This was to be a full-body bath. And here we have oneof those places where the Law pointed to Christ. Once Aaron and his sons werewashed at the door of the tabernacle—and of course they had to go through allthe other rituals we’ll be looking at—they were then admitted into thepriesthood. After that, the only time they needed to undergo a washing was whenthey would offer a sacrifice on the altar of burnt offering. One of theirpriestly duties was, of course, to kill, cut up and burn the sacrifice on thealtar of burnt offering. After they burned the offering, before they could gointo the tent they had to go to the bronze laver and wash their hands and feet.But they did not have to wash the whole body. That had already been done. How does this act as a prefiguring of Christ? I'm glad you asked. Holdyour place here, and turn with me to the gospel according to John.

John chapter13. This is the night before the crucifixion, Christ and His apostles are inthe upper room celebrating Passover Seder. And Jesus does somethinginteresting. John 13:5-10—5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began towash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He wasgirded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, "Lord, areYou washing my feet?" 7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you willknow after this." 8 Peter said to Him,"You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."9 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feetonly, but also my hands and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but iscompletely clean." Once a person has been cleansed by Christ, they need only go back to “have their feetwashed” so to speak, because their whole body is clean.

Listen to Jesus’ wordsagain, John 13:10—"He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but iscompletely clean." Notice He uses several different words here—bathedand washed ans clean.And these are two different words in the Greek.The first is λούω (louo), which means to bathe—that is, to bathe the whole body. Thesecond word, νίπτω (nipto), means to wash various parts ofthe body. Then "clean" is translated from καθαρός (katharos). And this is the point that we see Jesus making here. The priestwashed his hands and feet, but only because he was handling offerings for sin.Christ is our offering for sin, so we no longer need to handle dead animals.But what Christ is saying is that as we walk through this world, we build updirt and grime on our feet—spiritually speaking. Butwe have already been bathed—spiritually speaking. Titus 3:4-5—4 But when the kindness andthe love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousnesswhich we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing—literally, the λούω (louo), the bathing—of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Wehave been washed, regenerated, renewed, consecrated, set apart to God by beingbathed by the Holy Spirit. First John 1:9—If we confess our sins, He is faithfuland just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse (καθαρίζω (katharizō)) us from all unrighteousness.The word ‘cleanse’ is from the same Greek word (καθαρός (katharos)) that Jesus uses in John 13:10 that is translated ‘clean.’ “He who is bathed…is completely clean (καθαρός (katharos)).” If we have been bathed λούω (louo) in the Holy Spirit, we wash νίπτω (nipto) our feet by asking for forgiveness, and God will cleanse (καθαρίζω (katharizō)) us from the dirt and grime that wehave built up on our feet from our daily walk in this world. Because we arenever going to be perfect. In these bodies, we will get messy from time totime. But if we have been bathed by the Holy Spirit, we only need to go back tohave our feet washed.

Exodus 29:5-7—“5Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of theephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the intricately wovenband of the ephod. 6 You shall put the turban on his head, and put the holy crownon the turban. 7 And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, andanoint him.” And again we stop here. OnceAaron put on the garments that signified his office, they took the anointingoil that we will look at in Exodus 30, and they poured it over him—they were topour the oil over his head, and it was to run down to his beard. Thus he wasset apart as belonging to God and ministering for the people. This of coursewas a picture of Christ, specifically our fellowship in Christ, the Holy Spirithaving been poured out upon all Christians. Psalm 133:1-3—1 Behold, how goodand how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It is likethe precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron,running down on the edge of his garments. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon,descending upon the mountains of Zion;for there the LORD commanded the blessing—Life forevermore. This was not a neat and tidy ritual. It’s a good thing thiswas done in the desert, in the sand, than on a marble floor because that couldhave gotten very messy and slippery.

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesusreads from Isaiah 61:1-2—“1 The Spirit ofthe Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach goodtidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaimliberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” And it is this section of the scroll of Isaiahthat Jesus read from in one of the earliest parts of His ministry (see Luke 4:16-21). The pouringof oil—many times you will run across the phrase “poured out”—it is a pictureof the Holy Spirit being “poured out” upon either Jesus as the Christ or on theindividual believer. The Greek word “Christ” is a synonym for the Hebrew word“Messiah” and both of these words mean “anointed.” Andin the OT, we see the act of anointing being performed in order to set apartcertain men to certain important positions. We of course have Aaron anointed toset him apart as high priest:

We see Elisha anointed as prophet in 1^st Kings 19:16—And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shallanoint as prophet in your place.
We see Davidanointed as the future king of Israel in 1^stSamuel 16:13—Then Samuel took the horn ofoil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORDcame upon David from that day forward.

Aaron was anointed as highpriest; David was anointed as king; Elisha was anointed as prophet. What’s theconnection I'm making here? This anointing of priest, prophet and king with oilwas symbolic of God anointing Christ—King, Prophet and Priest—with the HolySpirit. But I also think there was another event in Christ’s life thatthis pointed to. And it’s not one that we like to think about.

Many times whenwe read about what Pilate and Herod and the Roman soldiers did to Christ duringHis crucifixion, we often point out how the crown of thorns and the purple robewere meant to mock the claim that Christ made to being king of the Jews. Andduring His ordeal we read about the servants of the high priest spitting in theface of our Lord in Matthew 26:67—Then they spat inHis face and beat Him. The Roman soldiers also did the same, in Matthew 27:30—Then they spat on Him, andtook the reed and struck Him on the head. And remember this: these menthat we’re talking about here, both the servants of the wicked priests as wellas the Roman soldiers. They were driven in their disgraceful actions by Satan.These were men that would eventually drive metal spikes through the flesh ofHis wrists. Do you think they were going to stop with a few drops of spittle?They, for all intents and purposes, “anointed” Him with their spit. Theservants of the high priest “anointed” Him as prophet and priest, the Romanssoldiers “anointed” Him as king. We see this foreshadowed in another place, Isaiah 50:6—Igave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out thebeard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. Job 30:10 (NET)—They detest me and maintain their distance; they do not hesitate tospit in my face. I wonder what they will say when they stand before the GreatWhite Throne of Christ? The very same Christ that these wicked men treated withsuch contempt—will be the one who passes ultimate judgment on them. But here isthe grace of God—if one of those servants or one of those soldiers had followedChrist up Golgotha, and watched as He waslifted up, and if that man had fallen down and begged forgiveness—he would beforgiven.

So,coming back to Exodus, Aaron was to be bathed head to toe. He was to be clothedin the high priestly garments and anointed. Verses 8-9 we will take next week.For now we’ll look at Exodus 29:10-14—“10 You shall also have the bull brought before thetabernacle of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the headof the bull. 11 Then you shall kill the bull before the LORD, by the door ofthe tabernacle of meeting. 12 You shall take some of the blood of the bull andput it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the bloodbeside the base of the altar. 13 And you shall take all the fat that covers theentrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys and the fatthat is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull, withits skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sinoffering.” Going all the way back to the book of Genesis, even to thatpoint immediately after Adam sinned, we see that the cost of sin is what?Death. Whenever and wherever there is sin, there must necessarily be death. Andblood. By placing their hands on the heads of this bull, they wereacknowledging their sins, and are confessing that this animal was being killedto cover over their sins. And until these men confessed their sins andmade restitution for their sins, they could not be set apart as priests to God.

Oh, and you see those beautiful, hand-made garments up at the top of the page? The ones that God gave the instructions concerning their intricate detail and to make these garments that would glorify God? Well, after killing and cutting up these animals, guess what happened to these lovely works of man's hands? They were covered with blood. Almost symbolizing the fact that no matter how much work you did, unless your works were covered by blood, they were useless. Just like our "good works" today. Many people do "good things." But unless those things are done in the name of the Lord Jesus, and for the glory of God, and unless one is covered by the blood of Christ--all those "good works" will not do the person a bit of good. And unless the garments of these priests were covered in blood, they were useless as well.

Now, getting back to the sacrifice. Whatfunctions do the kidneys, intestines and liver perform? They get rid of stuff.What these men were doing was acknowledging the despicableness of sin. Thesewere—and are—some of the most disgusting parts of an animal. I don’t care ifyou like chitterlings, they're disgusting. They were to burn them on the altar, right then and there. Now,let me finish up with what they were to do with some other parts of that bull. Exodus 29:14—“Butthe flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fireoutside the camp. It is a sin offering.” I like how the NET renders it,it says “It is a purification offering.” Now,the word “offal” literally means, how can I say this nicely, ‘dung’. The flesh,the skin, the dung—these were the only things that were to be taken outside thecamp. Once they had gotten the tabernacle finished, and had gotten all thetents of the various tribes in their proper places, they perform these rituals,everything that was to be killed, cut up and burned to consecrate Aaron and hissons and the tabernacles and all its furniture was to be burned on the altar ofburnt offering—except the flesh, skin and dung of this purification offering.This purification offering was meant to bear the sins of the men who were setapart as priests.

Andwouldn’t you know it; we have a picture of Christ. Where was Christ crucified? Golgotha. Was Golgotha inside the city walls of Jerusalem? No, it wasoutside the city. Christ is not only our High Priest; He is also our offeringfor sin, true? He is the Offering that purifies us—our Purification Offering,since we too are priests to God. Listen to Hebrews13:10-13—10 We have an altar from which thosewho serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of thoseanimals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin,are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctifythe people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 Therefore let usgo forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. Only the sinoffering—that we will see in Leviticus 4—and this purification offering forAaron and his sons were to be burned outside the camp. Christ, our sinoffering, bore our reproach when He was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem, and what Ithink the writer is saying here is, “Let us no longer serve the weak andbeggarly elements of the Law that could not make us righteous. Let us insteadlook to Christ as being the author and finisher of faith and righteousness,since we have been crucified with Him.” By fulfilling these things that weresymbolized in these rituals, He has fulfilled all righteousness.

JesusChrist is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old testament Law--Replicas of the Tabernacle and the Priestly Garments

2011-11-08T11:39:00.005-05:00

Found some more videos that may be helpful in putting together a picture of what the tabernacle may have looked like, and what was involved in the services entailed there. The last videos are from a gentleman who teaches the Old Testament and how the many symbols/shadows/types pointed to Christ.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

From Terry Harman:

A Survey of the Old testament Law--The Tabernacle, the Priestly Garments

2011-11-03T16:37:00.009-04:00

The next couple weeks will be a little different. Because of the many details concerning the construction of the tabernacle and the making of the priestly garments, I think they would be better dealt with in video form so you can see what these things (probably) looked like. Granted, there is no way of knowing just exactly what they looked like, I think the videos I have found will give us a pretty good idea of what was involved. So here is a three-part video series providing a helpful computer animation for study purposes.

Part 1: Exodus 25:1-40; Exodus 26:15-30; Exodus 27:1-8

Part 2: Exodus 27:9-Exodus 28:41

Part 3: Exodus 30:1-10; Exodus 30:17-33

Here is how the various parts of the tabernacle were a shadow of Christ:

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--The First Covenant (Part 3)

2011-10-28T11:15:00.001-04:00

Two weeks ago we saw God make a covenant with thepeople that He brought out of Egypt.The physical descendants of Abraham, through his son Isaac, through the twelvesons of Isaac’s son Jacob. God has brought these descendants of Abraham intothe land He promised them and has made a covenant with these people that Hewould be their God. He also promised that He would appoint priests to mediateon their behalf so their sins could be covered over. And that covenant was madeonly with Israel—ifyou were not a Jew, you had to become a Jew in order to enter into the“covenant of works,” as it was called, if you wanted to enjoy the privilege ofworshipping the one true and living God. God also promised His people Israel that oneday He would send the last Mediator of the new and better covenant. But we sawlast week that the people, even after seeing the mighty works of God and enteringinto those promises, they did not slack in breaking them. In fact they broketheir covenant with God so frequently that God told them through the prophetHosea that because of their spiritual adultery He would “You are not My people and I will not be your God” and that allthe privileges that He had given Israel would be offered to allnations, both Jew and Gentile.

Fast forward to the NT, the apostlePaul refers to himself as “a Hebrews of Hebrews”(Philippians 3:5), “of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin”(Romans 11:1)—but also as “the apostle to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:3; Ephesians 3:8). And being a Jew who was called as theapostle to the Gentiles, what he did most often was to take the OT Scriptures—thewriting of those Scriptures being entrusted to the Jews—and he shows the Gentilesthat the promises once made only to ethnic Israel were now available to bothJew and Gentile. For example, Romans1:16—I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jewfirst and also for the Greek. And in his letter to the Ephesians, heexpands on that promise. Ephesians 2:11-18—11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in theflesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made inthe flesh by hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliensfrom the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you whoonce were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For HeHimself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middlewall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, thelaw of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one newman from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them bothto God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Underthe Old Covenant, Gentiles were “far off”; we—us—would have been strangers,foreigners, and aliens. In fact, the only part of the temple we would have beenallowed into was called “The Court of the Gentiles”—an area in the outermostpart of the temple, and in fact the place where the moneychangers and those whobought and sold did their business when Jesus came and cleansed the temple. Oneof the most horrendous displays of blasphemy that is recorded even in secularhistories was the Greek general Antiochus Epiphanes entering into the Most Holy Place ofthe temple in 186 BC and commanding swine to be offered on the altar. In thetime leading up to the Advent of Christ, there was a rabbinic tradition thatsaid if a Jew went into the house of a Gentile the Jew was ceremoniallyunclean. In Acts 21:27-30, theapostle Paul was accused of bringing a Gentile into the inner part of thetemple.

BUT—but now, in Christ, both Jewand Gentile are allowed access to the Father. We are not separated by genetics.We don’t have to go through various rituals to be allowed entrance into thesaving grace of God—He pours out His grace on whomever He will. Under thecovenant made on Mt. Sinai, God promised the people of

Israel

that if they sinned, theycould bring an offering, and that offering would cover over their sin. And wehave to be real careful here not to say that the offering would payfor their sin, or take away their sin. Becausethe OT offerings and sacrifices were never intended to pay for or takeaway sins. They simply covered them over until the time when Godwould take them away, as God promised in Jeremiah31:34—“I will forgive their iniquity, and theirsin I will remember no more.” Now, this promise, to “forgive theiriniquity” and to “remember their sin no more”was not fulfilled by the OT offerings and sacrifices. Hebrews 10:4—Itis not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.So, for God to completely and utterly forgive sins, take them away, andremember them no more, He would have to make a new covenant, because the oldcovenant—the Covenant of Law, Covenant of Works—could not do that. Hebrews 8:7—Forif that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been soughtfor a second.

And the reason that the Covenant of Law could not takeaway sins was because it was built upon the strength of the human flesh. Itwould be like taking a door made of 2 ½” thick steel, bulletproof, able towithstand a rocket-propelled grenade—and mounting that door on a frame made ofpapier-mâché. Romans8:3—For what the law could not do in thatit was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likenessof sinful flesh, on account of sin. The Law is the 2” thick steel door,the flesh is the papier-mâché frame. The first covenant was not faultless—notbecause God could not fulfill it, but because we sinful humans could not fulfillit. And because we humans, through the weakness of our flesh, are not able tofulfill all the conditions and commands contained in the Law, there had to comea new covenant.

And Jesus came and preached thatnew covenant—not only to Jews but also to Gentiles. Ephesians 2:17-18—17 And He came andpreached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 Forthrough Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Jews inJesus’ day thought that this promised “new covenant” was to come to them andthem alone. They read what Jeremiah said in that passage, where God said Hewould “make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of

Judah

” (Jeremiah 31:31). They thought that God was finally getting ready todo away with Gentiles once and for all and establish His throne upon the earth.And there were many who thought that Jesus was the one who would usher in thatearthly kingdom. Even some of Jesus’ apostles thought that. And not only whenHe walked the earth, but even after His resurrection, some of His apostles werethinking that the Kingdom was about to come. Listen to Acts 1:4-6—4 And being assembled together with them,He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise ofthe Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; 5 forJohn truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spiritnot many days from now." 6 Therefore, when they had come together, theyasked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to

Israel

?" But Jesuslet it be known, many times, that He did not come to establish an earthlykingdom. John 18:33-36—33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus,and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"…36 Jesus answered,"My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdomwere of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be deliveredto the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."

The Jews—even some of Christ’sapostles—were guilty of confusing ethnic Israel with spiritual

Israel

. And there is a difference, andwe find that difference pointed out and explained in at least two places in theNT. Romans 9:6-8—6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect.For they are not all Israelwho are of

Israel

,7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "InIsaac your seed shall be called." 8 That is, those who are the children ofthe flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promiseare counted as the seed. Romans2:25-29—25 For circumcision is indeed profitableif you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision hasbecome uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps therighteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted ascircumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills thelaw, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are atransgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor iscircumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is oneinwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in theletter; whose praise is not from men but from God. And even though manyJews were believing in Christ, there were some believing Jews who were teachingthat outward, physical circumcision was necessary in order to be saved.

Evenafter Paul had preached salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christalone to the churches in

Galatia

,he was forced to ask them, Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, beforewhose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? (Galatians 3:1). It’s almost like there was this spirit of jealousyamong the ethnic Jewish Christians—and we could almost say Jewish“Christians”—it’s like they were saying “Heynow wait a minute! Our fathers had to go through all this trouble of buildingthe tabernacle, carrying it around through the desert, making all the priestlygarments, spending years learning how to cut up the animals for the sacrifice,standing knee-deep in the blood of bulls and goats day after day, year afteryear. And all Gentiles have to do is believe in Christ and turn away from theirsins? We need to at least make them get circumcised!”

What they didn’tunderstand was that the gospel for the Gentile was the same gospel for the Jew.That is the point of the Parable of the Workers in Matthew 20:1-16. Salvation for Gentiles comes by grace alone throughfaith alone in Christ alone—salvation for the Jew comes by grace alone through faithalone in Christ alone. Listen to Romans3:21-23, 28-31—21 But now the righteousness of God apartfrom the law is revealed…22 the righteousness of God, through faith in JesusChrist, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for allhave sinned and fall short of the glory of God…28 Therefore we conclude that aman is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the Godof the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentilesalso, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith andthe uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith?Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

The goal of the Law, theconsequence God intended to produce, was not having people bring bulls andgoats to the priest to have them killed, cut up and burned. That was not whatGod wanted. The goal of the Law was to produce in His people a conviction oftheir own sinfulness. Psalm 51:16-17—16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would giveit; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a brokenspirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise.Isaiah 1:1-23 catalogs the crimes of

Israel

against God. And all they ever offered to God was the blood of bulls and goatswith a pinch of incense. Isaiah 1:11-14—“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fatof fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats…13Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me…14 Your NewMoons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I amweary of bearing them.” Proverbs21:27—The sacrifice of the wicked is anabomination; how much more when he brings it with wicked intent! God didnot want their dead animals. He had become sickened by the constant smell ofthe incense that the wicked were burning, hoping to purchase His pardon. Theydid not want to stop sinning; they wanted to have their cake and eat ittoo—they wanted to keep sinning but still have God overlook their sins. Godsaid, basically, “I don’t want yoursacrifice—I want your heart.” Joel2:18—So rend your heart, and not your garments.That wasthe goal of the Law; that is the goal of the gospel—tobring about the death of sin and to bring about life in Christ.

So the Jews whoeither rejected Christ or preached Christ plus circumcision were missing thepoint. No one was ever saved because they had a priest kill an innocent animal.Men are saved because they trust in God, they desire His righteousness, andthey understand that their righteousness doesn’t count for anything. They aresaved because they believe that God allowed His Son to die and that that blood—andnow we can use these phrases—the blood Christ shed is what paid for and tookaway their sins. John 1:29—“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of theworld!” And it is by the blood of Christthat we who were once Gentiles in the fleshhave now been brought near—along with all the OT saints who had to become Jews andgo through all the rituals contained in the Law—and we are now one body, bothJew and Gentile, in Christ. Ephesians2:19-20—19 Now, therefore, you are no longerstrangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members ofthe household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostlesand prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. One ofthe things we hear a lot when we share the gospel is people will use other people as the standardby which we judge whether we’re saved or not. “Well, I'm not as bad as that guy over there.” Well, that may betrue, but what’s the problem with that statement? We could probably find 100people who are “better” than them. That was the problem for the Pharisees. Theythought they were better than the common man because they had devoted theirlives to memorizing Scripture. They thought that their outward appearance madethem “holier than thou.”

But Jesus told a parable that quenched that fire, Luke 18:9-14—9Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they wererighteous, and despised others: “10 Two men wentup to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 ThePharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am notlike other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' 13 And the taxcollector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven,but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' 14 I tell you,this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyonewho exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will beexalted.” And I think in this passage, when Jesus uses the phrase “He who exalts himself” I think He may be calling tothe minds of the Pharisees the words of Lucifer, in Isaiah 14:12-15—“12 How you are fallenfrom heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground,you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I willascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God’…15 Yet youshall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” Underthe “old covenant”—what is called by some the “Covenant of Works”—it was notthe works themselves that were the goal the people were to aim for. The goalwas to aim for the righteousness of God—all the while knowing one could neverattain it. Now that may seem like a contradiction and that God is setting us upto fail, but that’s not what is really going on.

When we understand that wecannot keep His Law perfectly; when we understand that, as Paul says, nothing good dwells within me (Romans 7:18); when we realize that our sins are exceedingly sinful;when we see that we deserve nothing less than the perfect justice of AlmightyGod—then the Law has done itswork, and we ask God to be merciful to us and to give us His righteousness and leadus in His ways, and as Paul says in Romans7:21-24—21 I find then a law, that evil ispresent with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law ofGod according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members,warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the lawof sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver mefrom this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!What he’s saying in this passage is that until God flips on the light and wesee the perfection of God’s Law, we do not understand that we are sinfulcreatures. But when that switch is flipped, we see that we are now in astruggle between what the Spirit calls us to do and what our flesh desires. Galatians 5:17—Forthe flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and theseare contrary to one another.

And that war goes on inside everybeliever. And it is not a war that can be won by using physical means. However,the physical actions of a believer are dictated by how one responds to theprompting of the Spirit. The Law is good, in that it shows us what is requiredby God. But it cannot make usdo what He commands—that has to be purposed in each person’s heart. Toillustrate, suppose you're heading home, and you see a stop sign. Can thatstops sign make you stop? No,its purpose is to tell you that you must come to a complete stop before youproceed through this intersection. But it cannot make you stop. You must, before you arrive at thatintersection, purpose in your heart that when you see an octagon-shaped pieceof red sheet metal with the letters “S-T-O-P” that you will stop. In much thesame way, the commands in the Law cannot makea person stop sinning. The person who reads “Thoushalt not steal” must purpose in his heart that when he sees somethingthat does not belong to him he will leave it alone—but that command cannot make the person keep their pawsoff of what is not theirs.

So to use other human beings as therod by which we measure our own righteousness is really foolishness. 2^nd Corinthians 10:12—But they, measuring themselves by themselves, andcomparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. That’s why Paulrefers to Christ as the chief cornerstone. Because the cornerstone of abuilding is much more than a commemorative piece of architecture. It is themost important part of the building. It is by the cornerstone that every otherangle in the building is measured. And if every angle of that cornerstone isnot a perfect 90º, then nearly every angle in the building will be off, and thebuilding will not stand. And if we are measuring our own righteousness againstthat of people who are just as far off of 90º as we are, then we will notrealize that our house is, “up to code” so to speak. BUT—if we measureourselves against Christ—who is the perfect cornerstone—then we will see wherewe come short of perfection, we trust in Him to be our righteousness, and as hesays in Ephesians 2:20-22—20 Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 inwhom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in theLord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of Godin the Spirit. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Law and He is thecornerstone of the gospel. He is the one the Law pointed to as our perfectsacrifice, the mediator of the new covenant that included not only Jew but alsoGentile. And He is the one we will be measured against when God brings aboutthe judgment of the world.

Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.

A Survey of the Old testament Law--The First Covenant (Part 2)

2011-10-25T14:24:00.000-04:00

We are still comparing and contrasting the oldcovenant with the new covenant. Now, when I say “old covenant” I mean what somecall the “Sinai covenant” (since it was made on Mt. Sinai)or the “Mosaic covenant” (since it was made through Moses). Because God madeseveral other covenants with certain men. He made a covenant with Noah; He promisedHe would never again cause the rains to utterly destroy life on earth. He madetwo covenants with Abraham that in him all nations would be blessed and that hewould be the father of many nations. God made a covenant with David, thatthrough him the Messiah would come. He made a covenant with Aaron, that hisdescendants would be priests and intercede for the people. And of course Hemade the New Covenant whereby He would forgive sins and remember them no more,that being the covenant we Christians live under today.

And even before the people made itto Mt. Sinai, God promised Moses that thesepeople would be His people. Exodus 4:22-23—22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD:"Israelis My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serveMe."'" Then, once He led the people out of Egypt, He promisesthe whole group, Exodus 19:3-6—3 And the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying,"Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children ofIsrael: 4 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you oneagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeedobey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Meabove all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdomof priests and a holy nation.'" These promises were made strictlyto the Israelites. To Jews according to the flesh.

And that is why we see that Paul says, Ephesians 2:11-12—11 Therefore rememberthat you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what iscalled the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—12 that at that time youwere without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangersfrom the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.Before Christ came, God divided the world up into two groups of people—Jew andGentile. If you were born into a Jewish family, you were a Jew. If you wereborn into a family from any other ethnic group, you were not a Jew—you were aGentile. And God only made covenants with the Jewish people. He never made acovenant with any Gentile nation. Not only that, but if you wanted to worshipGod, you had to come to God through the Jewish nation, the priests and so forth.Let’s say our friend Richard was a Moabite and our other friend David was a Jebusite. They have bothseen the mighty hand of God in destroying the Canaanites and the Amorites and the Amalekites and the Hivites andthe Parasites and the Termites.

David, the Jebusite, sees all thesemighty works, and he says “Yeah, but I justdon’t know about all that circumcision stuff. I believe this God exists; I'llworship this God in my own way. But I won’t have anything to do with thosedirty Jews.” Uh, sorry, it don’t work like that. Any Gentiles who did notsubmit themselves to the Law of God and accept all the terms of the Law and theCovenant were, as Paul says, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenantsof promise, having no hope and without God in the world. And the samewas true for any Babylonian, Assyrian, Greek, Persian or Roman, African, etc.Unless one became a Jew, one could not worship what they may call “the God ofthe Jews.” Gentiles were not simply outside of the commonwealthof Israel—they were outside of the commonwealth of God. They may have known the true Godwas the true God, but unless they abided by His Law and entered into thecommonwealth—or nation—of Israel,they had no access to any of the promises of blessings that God promised Hispeople.

Richard, the Moabite, on the otherhand, says “I have seen and heard of Hismighty works and I want to serve Him. I want your God to be my God.” Muchlike the “mixed multitude” that came out of Egypt with the Israelites duringthe exodus. So he submits himself to circumcision, vows to abide by all thecommands contained in the Book of the Law and the Book of the Covenant, hetakes an oath that "All that the LORD has saidI will do, and be obedient." He can now take part in the feasts ofPassover and Firstfruits and Ingathering. And even more importantly, if he sinshe can now bring an offering to the priest who will kill it, cut it up and burnit to cover over that sin. He can now be counted among the people of God. Acouple examples of Gentiles turning to worship the one true and living God.Ruth, like Richard, was a Moabite. Listen to Ruth 1:15-16 (NASB)—15 Then Naomi said,“Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; returnafter your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you orturn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge,I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”Uriah—the husband of Bathsheba—was a Hittite.

But, by the same token, being a Jewdid not necessarily guarantee that person a trip to Heaven either. Under the OTLaw, there were some sins that were punishable by death. But there were also manyother sins and violations of that Law that required the person to be “cut off”from the people. We’ll see those down the road, but there is a huge difference.Romans chapter 2 is another passage that I would recommend reading because itshows that sin is a universal problem, and it also shows that the whole worldis under the same Law, both Jew and Gentile. And in Romans 2, Paul puts theJewish teachers on the spot, saying, basically, “You who are teaching theGentiles not to steal or commit adultery or practice idolatry—why are you doingthe very same things?” And then he says in Romans2:25—For circumcision is indeed profitable ifyou keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision hasbecome uncircumcision. And here, as in other places, he makes the casethat it is not physical circumcision that justifies one before God, because thecircumcision of the man who lives a sinful lifestyle was of no effect. He mightas well have never been circumcised. And it is not by being a physical Jew—whetherby birth or by circumcision—that one is saved. But listen to what Paul says in Romans 3:1-2—1What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? 2 Muchin every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.God entrusted the writing of His Law and the proclamation of that Law and ofHis various judgments to the Jewish people. In fact, Luke is the only Gentileto write any of the 66 books of the Bible. Every other book was written by aJew.

The Jews were God’s chosen people.God chose to act and speak through these people. And in Exodus 24, He made acovenant with them and them alone. Of all the nations that He could havechosen, it was the good pleasure of His will to choose the Israelites. Heappointed for them priests, who would mediate between the person and God thatif the person had sinned. And God said that if the person sinned—and if thatperson had accepted the Law and the Covenant—their sin would be forgiven. Andthe people kept His covenant…for a little while. Then they broke that covenant.Then they returned to God…and broke the covenant again. They returned onceagain…and guess what happened? But by the time God called Hosea to prophecy,things had gotten about as bad as they could get. And in Hosea, God tells thepeople of Israel that becausethey had broken their covenant with Him, God would one day be done with Israel as anation—but not as a people. And we’ll clear up that distinction shortly. It’snot that He would cast away all who were ethnic Jews, but that He would callall nations to Himself, that He would call both Jew and Gentile “My people.”And one day, Gentiles would not have to “become Jews” in order to come to Him,and Gentiles would not have to enter into the Jewish nation to come to God.

Wewill be looking at Hosea and Romans today and next time. Hosea 1:2—The LORD said to Hosea:"Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for theland has committed great harlotry by departing from the LORD." Godhad had enough—God had betrothed Israel to Himself, and now thepeople were committing spiritual harlotry—or, adultery—by worshipping othergods. And because of Israel’sunfaithfulness, God commands Hosea to take a wife who would become unfaithful,and commanded him to give his children prophetic names. Hosea 1:4—“Call his name Jezreel, for ina little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, andbring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.” The second childwas named Lo-Ruhamah, Hosea 1:6—“Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercyon the house of Israel,but I will utterly take them away.” The third child was named Lo-Ammi, Hosea 1:9—“Callhis name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God.”Now this seems pretty harsh, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it sound like God is going backon His word by saying “You are not My people and Iwill not be your God”? Had He not made a covenant with these people thatHe would be their God and they would be His people—forever? How can He say thisand still be just? Well, listen to Hosea 2:7-11—“7She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; yes, she will seek them, butnot find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband,for then it was better for me than now.' 8 For she did not know that I gave hergrain, new wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold—which theyprepared for Baal…11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days,her New Moons, her Sabbaths—all her appointed feasts.”

The people hadtaken all the things that God had blessed them with—those things that weresupposed to be set aside, set apart, consecrated, sanctified to God, and theyhad used them to worship Baal. They had broken the covenant God had made withthem back on Sinai. Remember what they said in Exodus 24:7—"All that the LORD hassaid we will do, and be obedient." Well, what were the first twothings that “the LORD has said”? Exodus20:3-5—“3 You shall have no other gods beforeMe. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image.” The people said "All that the LORD has said we will do, and beobedient." and yet the commands that “Youshall have no other gods before Me” and “Youshall not make for yourself a carved image” got thrown out the windowbefore Moses even made it down the mountain. And these were the two commands thatwere broken more frequently than nearly any other, and through Hosea God sayssomething that should have caused every person who heard it to shudder and fearmore than anything else. “I will not be your God.”

Now, there are some who take thisidea and teach further than it really goes. While some teach that Jews aresaved because they're Jews, there are still others who say God wants nothing todo with ethnic Jews, or the nation of Israel. They say that God isfinished with them and they are done. One passage of Scripture they use is whenJesus is standing before Pilate, and Pilate declares, “Myhands are innocent of this man’s blood.” And they answer “His blood be on us and on our children.” And thesefolks say “See! It was the Jews thatkilled Christ, so God has done away with them.” Wrong. Turn to Romans 9:1-5. In chapters 9 and 10 ofRomans, Paul lays out his argument against the Jew who is putting his hope forsalvation not in God, but in his own works and in being a son of Abraham. Paul,being a Jew who once put his hopes for salvation not in God but in his own worksand in the fact that he was a son of Abraham, opens up his heart to show howdeeply he longs for his fellow countrymen to see that they are saved by God,and not by their own works or by being a son of Abraham. And he is pleadingwith them, almost as if he is saying “Brethren,you know the Scriptures, you see in the Law and the prophets that the Messiahwould come through us. That Messiah has come—trust in Him!” Romans 9:1-5—1I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing mewitness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief inmy heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for mybrethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whompertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, theservice of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom,according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessedGod. Amen.

He almost echoes the words of Moses, when the people made thegolden calf and Moses pleads with God and asks that he be blotted out of God’sbook rather than have the whole people perish. And here, Paul says He wouldjust as soon be separated from God so that his fellow Jews may be spared. Heknows that because they have been given more truth and more light than anyother people, God will judge them more harshly and they will receive greatercondemnation. In fact, Jesus says nearly the same thing, Matthew 11:23-24—“23 And you, Capernaum,who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mightyworks which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remaineduntil this day. 24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than foryou.” John Gill—

“Though thepunishment of the men of Sodomwill be very great, their iniquities being horribly dreadful and enormous, yet [theirsins were] more easy to be borne than the vengeance, which…will fall upon [those]who have had the means of grace, and have despised them.”

Those who havebeen given much wisdom into the things of God will be judged more harshly thanthose who are ignorant of the things of Christ. The Jews who rejected Christthought they were doing a great service to God. The Pharisees thought they werekeeping themselves pure through the Law and denouncing this one whom theythought was doing away with the Law. Problem was, they were denouncing the onewho was explaining the Law and declaring to them that He was the fulfillment ofthat Law. Which is why we read what Paul saysover in Romans 10:1-4—1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is thatthey may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, butnot according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness,and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to therighteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness toeveryone who believes. And even though they rejected that righteousness;even though they crucified the Lord of Glory; even though many of hiscountrymen according to the flesh were seeking to establish their ownrighteousness by trying to keep the Law, God is not utterly and completelythrough with the nation Israel.In fact, when John writes about the 144,000 in Revelation, they are all Jewish.There will be 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel.

Now, the Jews who rejectedChrist were not doing so to try and establish the worship of some other, falsegod. They were doing so out of a zeal for the true God. Paul even almostdefends them in such a way in Romans10:2—They have a zeal for God. Theythought they were doing good. But they did not realize that Christ did not cometo destroy the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them. And so they killedtheir Messiah. BUT—God does still have people among the ethnic Jews. And one of the strongestdeclarations that God is not done with ethnic Israel is Romans 11, and it isanother chapter I would recommend reading, because it shows that even after allof the spiritual adultery, even after their fathers delivered their Messiah tothe Gentiles to be scourged and murdered, God is not done with them. Romans 11:1-5—1I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am anIsraelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not castaway His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says ofElijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 "LORD, theyhave killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, andthey seek my life"? 4 But what does the divine response say to him?"I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the kneeto Baal." 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnantaccording to the election of grace.

Even after 3000 years of spiritualadultery, even after they went after Baal and Ashtaroth and the pagan gods oftheir neighbors, and even after they sent the very Son of God to be deliveredto wicked men to be scourged and beaten and crucified, God has reserved forHimself a remnant among the Jewish people. They are not saved because they areJewish; they are saved the same way we are—they are saved because they havebeen chosen by God, according to the election ofgrace, to believe in Christ.

Tofinish up on the passage we started with, we were aliensfrom the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,having no hope and without God in the world. But as we will see nextweek, we Gentiles who once were far off have beenbrought near by the blood of Christ. We were aliens and strangers to thepeople of Israel.But now, we are brothers and sisters with all those of Israel who believe in Christ and weare now invited into a new and better and everlasting covenant with them,Christ being the Mediator of that covenant.

Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--The First Covenant

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

What we have seen over the last few months is God has been speaking with Moses, giving him not only the Ten Commandments, but also many commands and ordinances that would act as a kind of interpretation of those Ten Commandments. And today we are going to look at the birth of the nation of Israel. And starting today we are going to begin a study of the Old Covenant that God made with the people of Israel.

Alexander MacLaren, a Scottish preacher from around the turn of the 20th Century, said this—

“An effort is needed to feel what a tremendous and unique fact is narrated in these words. Next to the incarnation, it is the most wonderful and far-reaching moment in history. It is the birthday of a nation.”

Today, if you found enough people who have been alive long enough, and you asked them “When was the nation of Israel created?” If they knew their recent world history they would tell you the nation of Israel—as we know it—was founded on May 14, 1948. And depending on their political outlook, they may say that the United Nations stole the land from the Palestinians and gave it to the Zionist Jews. And that perspective is very faulty and has no basis in historical fact. Because, if we look at the end of Exodus 23:30-31—“30 I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. 31 And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River.” So the land that God promised the people would extend from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Arabian Desert to the Euphrates River. So if the United Nations had really given Israel all the land they deserved, they should have given them part of Iraq as well.

There will also be those who will say that the only reason Israel gained the land that we read about them gaining in Scripture was because they took it by force from the peaceful inhabitants living there. Well, they did take it by force, but that force was the hand of Almighty God. Listen again to Exodus 23:30—“I will drive them out from before you.” It was God who drove the people from the land. And if we stop and think about it, all the earth belongs to God anyway, and if He wants to give a portion of land to a certain people—well, it all belongs to Him and He certainly has that right. Psalm 24:1—The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. Deuteronomy 10:14—Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. 1st Chronicles 29:11—“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all.” So God has taken a small portion of this great big planet we live on, that belongs to Him anyway, and He has given that little portion to the people of Israel.

Now this was not some new idea that God came up with. Back in chapter 19, God makes His covenant with the people that He will give them that little portion of land that belongs to Him anyway. Exodus 19:5—“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.” Well, in Exodus 24, the covenant between God and the people of Israel is ratified. Let’s start with Exodus 24:1-6—1 Now He said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the LORD, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him." 3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words which the LORD has said we will do." 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

What’s happening here is this: God has finished giving all the commandments found in chapters 21-23. And He sends Moses down the mountain to speak those words to the people. Whereas Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, Moses delivered what might be called the “Sermon Beneath the Mount.” And when Moses finishes delivering these words to the people, they all cry out, “You betcha! We’ll do everything God says to do!” And once the people agree, verbally, to bind themselves to these commands from God, Moses puts the whole thing in writing. And then he does what was customarily done by his ancestors, which is to build an altar to God, and to offer sacrifices. The first example of this is found immediately after the flood, in Genesis 8:19-20—19 Every animal…went out of the ark. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

After Noah, the next person we read about building an altar to the LORD was Abraham. When God called Abram out of the land known as Ur of the Chaldeans, God promised to make a great nation of him. And it was at this time that God promised to give his descendants the land we read about in Exodus 23-24, and doing so hundreds of years before. Genesis 12:1-8—1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

So God called Abram out of the land of Ur—what we now know as SE Iraq—and God has promised Abram that he will make a great nation of him. And as a symbol of his belief that God will do what He says He will do, Abram builds an altar of stones to the LORD. The Geneva Bible Translation Notes—

“It was not enough for him to worship God in his heart, but it was needful to declare by outward profession his faith before men, of which this altar was a sign.”

And here, Abram makes a public display of faith in God by means of this altar. And after Abram displays his faith in God, God ratifies—seals—the covenant He has made with Abram, and we see that in Genesis 15:1-20. Now, I realize we’re looking at some big pieces of Scripture, but in order to get the full picture of what’s going on in Exodus 24, we do need to look at these sections whole. Genesis 15:1-20—1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." 2 But Abram said, "Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" 4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." 5 Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." 6 And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. 7 Then He said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it." 8 And he said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?" 9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

In many cultures at the time, this was how a covenant was ratified. An animal was killed and cut in half. Put one half over here, the other half over there. Then the two parties walked through the middle of the split flesh. There were other ways this was done, but there was always the shedding of blood to seal a covenant. So the covenant between God and Abram was sealed with a sacrifice, and we will now see that the covenant between God and Moses was sealed with a sacrifice. Let’s flip back to Exodus 24:5-8—5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. 6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has said, we will do, and be obedient." 8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, "This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words." And believe it or not, this is another one of those places where we see Christ in the OT. God who made this first covenant with Israel, and it was ratified by the shedding of blood. Now, this sealed this FIRST covenant--the covenant by which God swore He would accept their sacrifices as a way to cover over sins. However, this covenant said nothing of taking away and forgiving their sins.

However, as we will see in a more in-depth way next time, when Christ shed His blood on the cross, the NEW covenant was ratified and all those who lived by the terms of that old covenant were forgiven of their sins. Hebrews 9:15-20 (NASB)—15 He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. 17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. 18 Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you." Listen to verse 17 again—For a covenant is valid only when men are dead. God made this covenant with Moses. We know that Moses died. But is the writer of Hebrews talking about Moses? No. Did God the Father die? No. Then who is the one who died—the one who made this covenant with Moses? The blood that Moses sprinkled on the people was a picture, a symbol, a shadow of the blood Christ would shed for them—and us. When God made His covenant with Abraham, they sacrificed the three heifers and so forth to ratify that covenant. But God ratified the new covenant that we are under by the sacrifice of His Son.

In Exodus, God was making a covenant with the people, that not only would they would inherit this land that was promised to Abraham’s descendants, but also that He would provide a means by which they could offer a substitute for themselves when they sinned. That is, even though the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and by the righteousness of God that person deserved to die, God provided a way by which their sin could be transferred to a being which had not sinned, and that sin could be dealt with in that manner. Hmmm...I wonder what (or, rather, Whom) THAT would be pointing to? But, those sins would not be blotted out until the NEW covenant was in force. So until Christ died, the sins of the people who believed the promises of God were not blotted out and taken away—they were simply covered over by the blood of bulls and goats. Again from the Geneva Bible Translation Notes—

“A reason why the covenant must be established by the death of the Mediator, because this covenant has the condition of a testament or gift, which is made effective by death, and therefore that it might be effective, it must be that he that made the Testament, should die.”

When Grampa Joe makes out his will, and promises to leave his double wide to Cousin Billy Joe, when does Billy Joe get that double-wide? While Grampa Joe is still alive? Or does he have to wait until Grampa Joe passes away? In much the same way, God promises, throughout the giving of His Law, that He will forgive the people’s sins. But that forgiveness was not given until Christ died.

Exodus 24:9-18—9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. 11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank. 12 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them." 13 So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them." 15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. 16 Now the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 The sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

In verse 12, God tells Moses that He will give him tablets of stone. It was on these two tablets of stone that God would write His Law. And it is that Law by which all the world is judged. Jew or Gentile, it doesn’t matter—the Law of God is the Law for all mankind. Romans 3:19-20—19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. However, at the time God gave Moses that Law, were the Israelites to judge the other nations by that Law? Were they to go out to the Hivites and stone all the Hivites they found working on the seventh day? No. It was given TO Israel, FOR Israel's sake. By the same token, does ignorance of God's Law excuse those who live contrary to the commands in that Law? Whether the Hivites or Perizzites 3500 years ago--or the savage in New Guinea today? No. As Paul said, Romans 2:12--For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law.

It’s not by trying to keep the Law that one is saved, because no one can keep the whole Law. In fact we probably break God’s Law more times than we know even in the course of a normal day, and without really even trying. So God promised to, as we would say, “Put it in writing”—God would put His Law in writing, written in stone, so that when someone transgressed that Law, and they were brought before the judges, the judge could say, “You saw your neighbor’s donkey going astray and you did nothing. You even took possession of it. And in the Law it says ‘You shall return your neighbor’s donkey’ and if you take possession of that donkey you will restore it and give him 3 or 4 more.” And it was under that Law that the people of Israel lived for the 1500 or so years before Christ.

But they were not saved by trying to keep every jot and tittle of that Law. In fact, the ones who were saved were saved because they knew they couldn’t keep every jot and tittle of that Law, and who knew they were sinful creatures who fell far short of the glory of God. And even now, unless one accepts the terms that God provides for forgiveness of sin, that person who tries their best to be "good" and yet dies apart from forgiveness from God will die in their sins, be judged by the Law, and be found unrighteous and condemned. Those who trust in their own righteousness, and think that they are good enough and that they are keeping every letter in the Law are in fact trusting in their own righteousness and as we talked about last week, in about as gentle of terms as possible, they are trusting in dirty rags. “Monthly” rags, if you will.

That’s why Jesus said that it’s not simply the physical act of killing someone that is murder, but even using hateful words is tantamount to murder. That lusting after someone in your heart is just as much adultery as sleeping with them. And since it says in Psalm 119:96—Your commandment is exceedingly broad, we could almost say that coveting is theft in the heart, and in fact Paul calls it idolatry (Colossians 3:5). The Law was not meant to save anyone (Galatians 3:21); it was given to show that every human being is lost apart from Christ. It was not meant to make our “good deeds” exceedingly good, but as the apostle Paul says in Romans 7:13—So that sin…might become exceedingly sinful.
That’s why God declared, through the prophet in Jeremiah 31:31-34—“31 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
John Gill wrote—

“[It is new] because of its new mode of exhibition; not by types, shadows, and sacrifices; but by the ministry of the word, and the administration of Gospel ordinances…and because it is a…better covenant, best of all; better than the covenant of works, even better than the covenant of grace; in the clear manifestation and extensive application of it; and in the ratification of it by the blood of Christ; besides, it provides and promises new things, as a new heart, and a new spirit.”

We will talk more about the differences between the "old covenant" and the "new covenant" next time.

Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.

A Survey of the Old testament Law--bear your neighbor's burdens; let your land lay fallow; I send My Angel before you

2011-10-11T13:06:00.005-04:00

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Before we begin looking at Exodus 24 and the Old Covenant God established with Israel through Moses, there are still a few straggling verses I think we should finish up before we start such an important subject, so we’ll get to that next week. Today we’re gonna finish up Exodus 23, starting with Exodus 23:4-5—“4 If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.” Now, at first glance, these commands may seem to be out of place. All of the commands and statutes we've covered over the last few months point to one of two aspects of the Law. They either point to the moral code—the Ten Commandments. Or they point to the ceremonial aspect—the offerings and sacrifices and appointed feasts. But this one doesn’t appear to point to either aspect. It certainly does not involve idolatry or murder or adultery. And it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with feasts or offerings or sacrifices. So what in the world are these commands doing in the middle of the surrounding commands which serve as explanations of God’s moral and ceremonial codes? I'm glad you asked!

The reason is quite simple. What are the two great commandments in the Law? Matthew 22:36-40—“36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." These commands to help the donkey that belongs to the one who hates you is, in all actuality, just as great as any of the other commands, because it explains one of the two great commandments. Much like when Paul writes 1^st Corinthians 9:9—It is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? Under the old covenant, this command concerned oxen. But now, under the new covenant, it refers to taking care of our pastors financially. So the command to help your neighbor’s donkey is not simply to help get stuff from point A to point B. The reason for this command is to show what it means to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Suppose a scenario presented itself where your enemy’s horse was lying under its burden—would you be able to say “Well, those commands don’t say anything about horses.” Does that sound like something you could get away with? No.

I've had the pleasure of listening to Phil Johnson's series on the Ten Commandments. One of the key verses he used when studying the Ten Commandments is Psalm 119:96—I have seen the limit of all perfection, but Your commandment is exceedingly broad. The Ten Commandments—as well as all those statutes and ordinances that are rooted in the Ten Commandments—were not meant to be strictly and severely limited. The commandment against murder does not simply prohibit the actual, physical act of murder. Matthew 5:21-22—“21 You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire.” Adultery is not limited to the actual, physical act of sleeping with someone who is not your spouse. Matthew 5:27-28—“27 You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, He was not adding to or taking away from the Law of God. He was not even, as some people teach, “raising the standard” that we should strive for. Jesus did not come to add more burdens onto this Law that we were already incapable of keeping. The Sermon on the Mount was not Jesus adding to the Law, or taking away from the Law—it was Jesus explaining the Law, and the meaning of the Law.

And that is exactly what He does in Matthew 5:41-45—“41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. 43 You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” Time after time Jesus had to correct the thinking of the Pharisees who had restricted the commands of God to simply the “letter of the Law.” But that was not what God intended. God did not build loopholes into His Law. There are no technicalities in the courtroom of God. And this command, to help the donkey of him who hates you, was not about helping donkeys. But that is what the Pharisees were teaching, and if Greg Isaacs or Herb Moncier were trying this case that is what they would plead. And God would have laughed them to scorn. Because these commands are not about donkeys—they are about loving your neighbor as yourself. Jesus even used this principle in His parable about the Good Samaritan. The man who fell among thieves was a Jew, but here comes this Samaritan—Jews and Samaritans being heated enemies—and this Samaritan does what the priest and Levite both failed to do—which is to lift up the burden of their neighbor, even a neighbor who had something against him.

There is another application of these commands. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 15:1 (NASB)—Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Galatians 6:1-2—1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. The bearing of another’s burden—whether that burden is some trial they're going through, a heartache, a temptation, or simply a young Christian who is still growing in the faith—the helping of our neighbor with that burden is connected with fulfilling the Law of Christ. And what is that Law of Christ? James 2:8—If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well. That, of course, stems from John 13:34—“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” These commands in the Law are not about helping donkeys. It’s about seeing your neighbor—whether you get along with them or not—seeing that neighbor in need and saying “Here, let me help you with that.” 1st John 3:17—But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

And we don’t help our enemy so that we can get something in return, not even an “attaboy.” But we do it out of a sincere desire to do the will of Him who gave His life for us. Luke 6:34-36—“34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”

Now, one last thing before we move on. We know that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law. That He obeyed every jot and tittle of the Law. And He even fulfilled this command, when He said in Matthew 11:28-30—“28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” The people had been so burdened—and yes, even the Pharisees were struggling under the heaviest burden and they didn’t even know it—and that burden was trying to keep every single little dot in the Law. But Jesus came to save us from the Law of sin and death. And He sends forth this call for the people to come out from under their self-imposed burdens and come to Him so that He could give them rest. And it is this rest that the writer of Hebrews refers to in Hebrews 4:9-11—9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. Both of these passages are saying “Look, stop trying to work for your salvation and struggle all your life to try and earn God’s favor—you can't do it. Take on Christ’s yoke, for He has fulfilled the Law for you, and rest from all your efforts that will not take away one sin.” We were like donkeys who were laden down with a burden we could not carry. But Jesus has taken that burden Himself, and by faith we enter His rest and we are freed from the works of the Law.

Next, Exodus 23:10-12—“10 Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove. 12 Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.” This is of course referring, again, to rest. Every living thing on earth needs rest. Even Christ, having taken on the likeness of sinful flesh, rested and slept from time to time. The fourth of the Ten Commandments ordains that one day out of seven be devoted to the worship of God. But if we keep in mind what Jesus said in the gospels, in Mark 2:27—“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” And the Sabbath was given, by God, for the sake of man, so that man could rest from his labors and have a day devoted to enjoying the worship of His Creator.

But man was not the only living thing that God provided rest for. He intended for even the beasts to have a day of rest and for the ground of the earth to have a whole year of rest. Because if we go back to the Fall of Adam, God told him, Genesis 3:17-19—“17 Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.” Even the ground was cursed because of Adam’s sin, and even the ground is waiting for its redemption. Romans 8:20-22—20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. We’ll look more at Sabbaths down the road some time.

To finish up this chapter, let’s read Exodus 23:20-33—“20 Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. 22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. 24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars…32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

I think we've covered the subject of God commanding His people Israel to not join the worship of the true God with the worship of pagan “gods”, so I don’t think we need to go over that again. But not only were they not to worship the “gods” of the pagans, they were not to bow down to them nor serve them nor even let the worshippers of pagan “gods” dwell in their land. And of course the application for us today is to not bring the worldly and satanic elements into our worship services, like so many churches these days that are basing entire sermon series on popular, ungodly music. Like one church that did a series called “The Gospel According to The Beatles.” Really? A bunch of atheists and eastern mystics—they were really preaching the gospel, huh?

But let’s finish by focusing on the angel that God promises to send before them. 1st Corinthians 10:1-4—1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. Again, we see the NT writers explaining all the shadows and symbols and prophecies of Christ that were given even to the people of the Exodus. And God gives the promise of the angel—again, a shadow of Christ—and gives them a promise. “If you obey My angel, it will all be good for you. Your land will be plentiful, your cattle will multiply, your wives will have many sons, it’ll all be good if you obey. BUT—” Sometimes the word “but” isn't such a good thing. If they obey His angel, it’ll all be good, BUT if they provoke Him, God gives them a promise that things wouldn’t be so good.

And Paul reminds them of what happened when the people of the Exodus ignored the warnings of God, 1st Corinthians 10:6-11—6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. And it is recorded all through the OT, that when the people obeyed God He fought for them, when they provoked Him to anger He fought against them and even caused them to be taken into captivity. So that finishes up chapter 23, next week, we’ll start on chapter 24, and comparing the Old Covenant with the New Covenant.

Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--"You shall keep the Passover" (Part 3)

2011-10-06T17:17:00.000-04:00

On the day whenChrist entered into Jerusalem,He knew that in just a few days He would be crucified. He knew He was to be thePassover lamb, the “Lamb of God who takes away thesins of the world” (John 1:29).That He would be led as a lamb to the slaughter(Isaiah 53:7). That all those peoplewho were cheering Him on, throwing their palm branches and their blanketsbefore Him—many of the same people would be calling for His death by Thursday.But He also knew that He must allow His blood to be poured out so that God’swrath could pass over the people. Today we’re going to finish up looking at thePassover by looking at the final official, God-sanctioned Passover.

But fornow, let’s read Exodus 12:13-20—“13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houseswhere you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plagueshall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.14 So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast tothe LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by aneverlasting ordinance. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On thefirst day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavenedbread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut offfrom Israel.16 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh daythere shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done onthem; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. 17 Soyou shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I willhave brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore youshall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shalleat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats whatis leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whetherhe is a stranger or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; inall your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.”

The Passover was oneof three “Great Feasts” that were to be kept by all Jewish males. And at aroundthis time of year, about 2000 years ago, all of Israelwas gathered in Jerusalem—someestimates put the population at the time of Passover at around 2,000,000people. All these people had gathered to take part, since God commanded “You shall keep it as a feast by an everlastingordinance.” Now, before we get started let me point something out. Howlong would you say an “everlasting ordinance” would be in effect? There are indeed some who think we shouldstill be keeping all the feasts and all the holy days, since God Himself doesindeed refer to them as “memorials” or “ordinances” that are for “allgenerations, even forever.” You can find some of these people on TV on Sundaymornings. One such program is called “Tomorrow’s World”, then there’s GeraldFleury and his show “The Key of David”, the late Garner Ted Armstrong and hislate father Herbert W. Armstrong—and there are many more. They teach that evennow we should be keeping the Passover—and all the other feasts—in the same wayas it was kept in Christ’s day.

At the other end of the spectrum are people whotake a machete, if you will, and they make a perfect cut between Malachi 4:6 and Matthew 1:1. And they try and make two different Gods, one mean,angry, nasty God of the OT, and another kind, gentle, tolerant God of the NT.And both of these extremes are wrong. When God says something is an“everlasting ordinance,” He means it’s an “everlasting ordinance.” But, by thesame token, He has done away with the formal, ritual, ceremonies that wereconnected to these various feasts.

Now, does it sound like I'm talkingout of both sides of my mouth yet? Well, it’s not that God changes His requirements. “I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). What He does is He gives us types and pictures andprophecies—all of which are but shadows of the reality. And when He gave thePassover as an “everlasting ordinance,” He didn’t mean that every generation ofpeople would smear the blood of sheep or goats on their door frame until theend of time. This was a type, a shadow, a prophecy—that was fulfilled byChrist. And in the NT we see that the feasts—including the Passover—wereinextricably linked with Christ. First Corinthians 5:7—Christ, our Passover, was sacrificedfor us. Christ fulfilled the shadow that was the Passover. Colossians 2:16-17—16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, orregarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of thingsto come, but the substance is of Christ. And gave even gave knowledge ofChrist to men like Moses and Abraham and Jacob.

It was in Christ that God madea covenant with Abraham, Galatians 3:17—The law…cannot annul the covenant that was confirmedbefore by God in Christ. Abraham saw that promise fulfilled, as Jesus toldthe Pharisees in John 8:56—“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw itand was glad.” Jacob saw Christ even though he didn't realize what he was seeing. Genesis28:12—Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder wasset up…and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. The apostle that Jesus loved wrote in John 1:51—"Mostassuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels ofGod ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." And even Mosessaw Christ. Hebrews 11:24-26—24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to becalled the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer afflictionwith the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteemingthe reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt... Notice what he says in Hebrews11:26—Esteeming the reproach of Christ greaterriches than the treasures in Egypt.Moses looked forward to Christ. We don’t have it written down in the OT thatMoses saw Christ—but then again, we don’t know everything that God toldMoses—we simply know what God told Moses to write down. So Christ,rather than being this figure that suddenly appeared on the scene out ofnowhere, has existed for all eternity, being known to the Patriarchs andprophets—although not known to the people.

There are times in the NT where youwill find the word translated “mystery.” We think of “mystery” as somethingshadowy and something that only the greatest detectives and the deepestthinkers can figure out. Or, like last week, when I mentioned the Gnostics. TheGnostics were known for seeking out “mysteries,” and to them it was secretknowledge that only the most spiritual person could understand. But in theBible, when we see the word “mystery,” we shouldn’t think of it as somethingthat we humans have no hope of ever understanding. While it does indeed mean“hidden knowledge” it is not hidden to the point that no human of averageintellect could ever grasp it. But only those who have received the Holy Spiritwill understand them. The biblical meaning of the word “mystery” is

“Not the mysterious (as with the Englishword), but that which, being outside the range of unassisted naturalunderstanding, can be made known only by Divine revelation, and is made knownin a manner and at a time appointed by God, and only to those who are awakenedby His Spirit. In the ordinary sense a ‘mystery’ implies knowledge withheld;its Scriptural significance is truth revealed.”

First Corinthians 2:7-8—7 Butwe speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordainedbefore the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; forhad they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Tothose that do not know Christ, the words of Scripture are still a mystery. Theyare hidden from their understanding because they have not been given the spiritof understanding.

The true meaning of the Passoverwas another “mystery.” It was a picture, a shadow, a prophecy of Christ hiddenin the commands and ordinances surrounding it—the lamb signified ChristHimself, the blood of an innocent animal was a figure of the blood of theinnocent Jesus, the vertical doorpost and horizontal beam of the doorwaysignified the upright post and horizontal beam of the cross. Knowing all that,we can see now that when God gives an “everlasting ordinance” or a “statuteforever” He does not mean “for a couple thousand years, then we’ll change it upa little.” But He may not necessarily mean “It will be done exactly like thisforever and ever.” Many of the “everlasting statutes” were shadows, pictures, andprophecies of Christ, and now that we have the substance—whereas before we onlyhad the shadow—we do not fulfil the Law outwardly with ritual and ceremony. Wekeep the Law inwardly, by faith in Christ who kept the Law for us. Romans 8:3-4—3For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did bysending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh…4 that the righteousrequirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.

So with all that beingsaid, let’s see how the Passover was fulfilled in Christ. Luke 22:7—Then came the Day ofUnleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. This was the nightbefore the crucifixion, when Christ and His apostles met in the upper room. Itwas the 14^th of Abib (Nisan). This was the day when the people tookthat “lamb without spot or blemish” that they had been setting aside for thelast four days and they brought it out and killed it and roasted it with fireand ate it. And Christ, not having yet fulfilled all things concerning Himself,was still under obligation to keep the Passover. Galatians 4:4—God sent forth His Son,born of a woman, born under the law. What was the number one requirementfor the Passover lamb to be acceptable? “Without spot or blemish.” First Peter 1:18-19—18 You were not redeemed with corruptible things, likesilver or gold…19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb withoutblemish and without spot. He was born under the Law so that He wouldhave to keep the Law. And that He did. FirstPeter 2:21-22—21 Christ also suffered for us,leaving us an example…22 "Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found inHis mouth." Again, what did that Passover lamb do to deserve beingkilled and burned? Nothing. What did Jesus do to deserve being put to death?Nothing. So in that innocent lamb we have a picture of the innocent Christ.

Now, the focus of the Passoverfeast was the lamb. What other two elements were included? Unleavened bread andbitter herbs. Let’s talk about the unleavened bread. Exodus 12:15—“On the first day you shallremove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the firstday until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.”Exodus 13:7 (NASB)—“Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the sevendays; and nothing leavened shall be seen among you, nor shall any leaven beseen among you in all your borders.” In other words, get it out of theentire camp. Leaven—yeast—what does it do to bread? Makes it look bigger than itreally is. Well, the reason yeast (leaven) was to be excluded for the sevendays that made up the Feast of Unleavened Bread was as a reminder of the hastewith which God brought their 430 some-odd years of bondage to an end in onenight.

But Christ applied another meaning to it. Matthew 16:6-12—6 Then Jesus said tothem, "Take heed and beware of the leavenof the Pharisees and the Sadducees." 7And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have takenno bread." 8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason amongyourselves because you have brought no bread?...11 How is it you do notunderstand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But to beware of theleaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 12Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven ofbread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The doctrineof the Pharisees and Sadducees was full of spiritual leaven—they had puffedthemselves up with human teachings in order to make themselves look greater inthe eyes of men than they really were. Anybody ever make bread from scratch?You know what it means to “proof” the dough? That’s when you add the yeast, andwhat do you do with the dough when you add the yeast? You put it in a dark,lukewarm oven, excluding any light. That is when yeast grows most quickly—indarkness and lukewarmness. And by extension, Christ tells us to beware of thedoctrine of false teachers, because when does bad doctrine grow best? In spiritualdarkness and spiritual lukewarmness.

And 1500 years before He sent HisSon, God warns the people to avoid leaven, and to even get any leaven out oftheir house during the feast. Paul gives us this same warning, as he does manytimes in his letters to the Corinthians, he tells us in First Corinthians 5:6-8—6 Yourglorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the wholelump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, sinceyou truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed forus. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leavenof malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.We keep the Passover—indeed, the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread—by purgingout those things that puff up and corrupt, and by living a life of truth, inChrist. Albert Barnes—

“The sense is this- ‘As the Jews when they celebrated the Passover, on the slaying and sacrificeof the lamb, put away all leaven - as a symbol of sin - so let us, in theslaying of our sacrifice, and in all the duties, institutions and events thatfollow, put away all wickedness from our hearts, and from our societies andchurches.’”

Also, in the original commands,there were commands to not boil the Passover lamb. Exodus 23:19—“You shall not boil a young goat in his mother's milk.” Ralph Cudworth, a Hebrew scholar inthe 1600’s, said

“It was a custom withthe ancient heathens…to take a young goat, and boil it in the mother's milk; andthen…to go about and sprinkle all their trees, and fields, and gardens, andorchards with it, thinking by these means, that they should make them bringforth more abundantly in the following year. This is why God’s people, theJews, were forbidden to use any such superstitious or idolatrous ritual.”

And many times in the Scriptures, over and over and over again, God gave themstrict commands about how He was to be worshipped, and He was not to have Hispeople mix the worship of the One True God with the customs of the pagans. Ezekiel 22:26—“Herpriests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have notdistinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known thedifference between the unclean and the clean.” And again, we have similarwarnings in the NT. SecondCorinthians 6:14-17—14 Do not be unequally yokedtogether with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness withlawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord hasChrist with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And whatagreement has the temple of God with idols? Foryou are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in themand walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” 17Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord.

Now, about the command to breaknone of its legs. Exodus 12:46—In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any ofthe flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. Therewas a reason they were not to break its legs. This was the only animalsacrifice that was not cut up. To the people of Israel, this was meant tosignify the unity of the people as a nation. It was not cut up; it was roastedwhole on a spit. Now, think about a sheep. Its legs are not very agile. So toput that lamb on a spit, what do you need to do with its legs? You gotta pullthem out of joint. It is believed that Jesus quoted all of Psalm 22 on thecross, and in Psalm 22:14—I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out ofjoint. His bones were out of joint, but they were not broken. And evenin death, Jesus fulfilled the Law. This came to pass, of course, as weread in John 19:32-36—32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the firstand of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when they came to Jesus andsaw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs…36 For these thingswere done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, "Not one of His bonesshall be broken."

Christ was the fulfillment of whatthe OT Law only gave a picture of. He was the Lamb without spot or blemish.There was no leaven—no sin nor deceit—in Him. He never mixed the holy with theprofane. And not one of His bones was broken. And just as the blood of thePassover protected the house from the Destroyer the night of the Exodus, theblood that Jesus shed protects us from the wrath of God. Next week we’re goingto begin a study of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, and how they wereboth ratified—made official—by blood.

Jesus is Lord. Amen.

A survey of the Old Testament Law--"You Shall Keep the Passover" (Part 2)

2011-09-26T15:29:00.001-04:00

Last week we used Exodus 23:15 as a jumping-offpoint for part 1 of what will be a 3-part study of the Passover. So if you haveyour Bible let’s go ahead and turn to Exodus12:43-49—43 And the LORD said to Moses andAaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it.44 But every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcisedhim, then he may eat it. 45 A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it.46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outsidethe house, nor shall you break one of its bones. 47 All the congregation of Israel shallkeep it. 48 And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passoverto the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near andkeep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised personshall eat it. 49 One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger whodwells among you." Before we start, I want to mention something.Right in the middle of this paragraph, we see God command the people, at theend of Exodus 12:46—“…nor shall you break one of its bones.” We’regonna skip that for now, come back to it later

Under the Old Covenant, God splitthe world up into two groups of people: Jew and Gentile. It was easy. If youwere born to a Jewish family, you were a Jew. If you belonged to any otherethnic group, you were a Gentile. The lines were drawn and they were verydistinct. And one sign that one was a Jew was circumcision. Today parents havetheir children circumcised for any number of reasons. But under the oldcovenant, circumcision was a sacred rite, one by which one was permitted intothe nation of Israel.Another sign that separated Jew from Gentile was the feasts. If you were a Jew,you took part in the feasts. If you were not a Jew, you could take part in thefeasts—if and only if you had been circumcised. These commands were givenbecause of what we see in Exodus12:37-38—37 Then the children of Israeljourneyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot,besides children. 38 A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks andherds—a great deal of livestock. The “mixed multitude” was made up ofEgyptians who feared the LORD and who saw His mighty hand and wanted to worshipthis One who could do such mighty works and topple the gods of Egypt. Now, if we fast-forward to the NT,we find the question of circumcision being one of the most hotly-debated issuesin the early church. We, who are living today, tend to think that many of theerrors we see today are ones that have taken 2000 years to develop. That is notquite true. There were, I dare say, just as many heresies trying to creep intothe church in its infancy as there are now. And in fact, many of the NTepistles were written to correct those heresies. Colossians and 1^stJohn were written to denounce the heresy called “Gnosticism”, which was aheresy that taught that to attain salvation one had to gain this mystical,secret knowledge. They also taught that material things are evil; thereforeChrist could not have had an actual body of flesh and bone. Which is why 1^st John 4:3 says Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ hascome in the flesh is not of God.

Probably the most common heresy inthe early church was the issue of circumcision, and whether a Gentile had to becircumcised in order to be saved. The reason this was an issue was many Jewsbrought up the fact that for one to take part in the Passover, one had to becircumcised. They then applied that to Christ—He being our Passover. So theysaid, “If you have to be circumcised toeat the Passover, then it’s obvious you must be circumcised to partake ofChrist’s life.” And time after time the apostle Paul—a Jew amongJews—soundly rejected that thinking. We could spend weeks going through all theverses that pertain to circumcision, but we’ll just hit on a few. Galatians 6:6—Forin Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, butfaith working through love. Romans2:28-29—28 For he is not a Jew who is oneoutwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he isa Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in theSpirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. Ephesians 2:11-13—11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in theflesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made inthe flesh by hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliensfrom the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you whoonce were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Underthe old covenant one could not be joined to the nation of God except throughcircumcision of the flesh—that is, by becoming a Jew. But now, under the newcovenant, one is joined to the family of God through circumcision of theheart—being adopted as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself.

Now, many years after the Passoverwas instituted, another question arose about if certain people were to keep thePassover. We find these questions in Numbers 9:6-13—6 Now there were certain men who were defiled by a humancorpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they camebefore Moses and Aaron that day. 7 And those men said to him, "We becamedefiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of theLORD at its appointed time among the children of Israel?" 8 And Moses said tothem, "Stand still, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerningyou." 9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “10 Speak to the children ofIsrael, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of acorpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the LORD's Passover. 11On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. Theyshall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They shall leave noneof it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all theordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. 13 But the man who is clean andis not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall becut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the LORDat its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.’” Question: The command in verse 10, about men who have beendefiled because they touched a corpse right before Passover—we read about twomen in the gospels that command applies to. Who would those two men be? Whattwo men handled a corpse at the time of Passover in the gospels? Joseph ofArimathea and Nicodemus. John 19:38-40—38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea…came and took the bodyof Jesus. 39 And Nicodemus…also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes,about a hundred pounds. 40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it instrips of linen with the spices. These menwould not be allowed to keep the Passover the next day, because they would be consideredunclean. And I think it might have shocked even Pontius Pilate that these twodevout Jewish men—Joseph of Arimathea being a member of the Sanhedrin—wouldhandle a dead body the day before the Passover. But, because they did, theywould have had to wait until the 14^th of the next month, which wouldbe the month Ijar to observe it. But I think Joseph and Nicodemus knewsomething that even the Pharisees, the guardians of the Law of Moses, didn’tknow. That the Passover has come, has been slain, and never needs to be slainagain. They knew that when they lay Christ, our Passover, in the tomb, Hewouldn’t be there very long.

In this section ofNumbers, we also see the provision for those who are away from home to keep thePassover. Numbers 9:10—“Ifanyone of you or your posterity is far away on a journey, he may still keep theLORD's Passover.” These were the only two reasons a person may beexcused from keeping the Passover on the 14^th of the month Abib(Nisan). However, if they just didn’t feel like going through all the hassle offinding a perfect lamb or goat, and wanted to put it off until next month, andobserve the “little Passover” as it was called. Well, we find God saying this inNumbers 9:13—“13But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and declines to keep thePassover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people, because hedid not bring the offering of the LORD at its appointed time; that man shallbear his sin.” Sorry! Unless you are unclean or on a journey,you MUST keep the Passover on the 14^th of Abib (Nisan). If you delaywithout reason, you are cut off from the nation of Israel. Period, paragraph, end of story. God had set up some verydistinct regulations concerning how He was to be worshipped. If someone wantedto say, “Well, I know what it says, but Iworship God in my own way.” Well, you go ahead and do that—and then, whenyou stand before Him, you can explain to Him why you thought you knew betterthan He did. And He can then explain to you why He did not accept that kind ofworship. And you can have a chat with Nadab and Abihu, whom we will talk aboutfurther down the road.

Now, thereis one last aspect of this feast that we’re going to look at today. In themiddle of all the regulations concerning the Passover, God says in Numbers 9:14—“Andif a stranger dwells among you, and would keep the LORD's Passover, he must doso according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; youshall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.’”Real simple—there was but one Law for both Jew andfor Gentile. There was not one Law for the Jew and another, separate Law forGentile. One Law covered them both. Four times, God repeats this command. Oncein Leviticus, three times in Numbers. God makes it very clear that He does notset one standard for one group of people, and another standard for others. Romans 3:19—Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to thosewho are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world maybecome guilty before God. The ONE Law of God shuts EVERY mouth, anddeclares ALL THE WORLD—Jew and Gentile—to be guilty before God. Romans 3:28-30—28Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds ofthe law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of theGentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justifythe circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. See, one thing we need to understand about the OT Law is that itwas not simply God’s standard for a specific group of people for a specific periodof time. While the Law was indeed given only to Israel, and it was only the Israelites who suffered the temporal punishments for violating its various commandments (for example, the Hivites were not stoned with stones for working on the seventh day of the week), it’s not as though God ignored murder before that moment when thepeople of Israel got to Mt. Sinai.Listen to what He said to Cain after he killed his brother Abel, Genesis 4:10-11—“10 What have you done? The voice of your brother's bloodcries out to Me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the earth, whichhas opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.”And of course we know why God sent the flood to wipe out all but the family ofNoah. Genesis 6:5-7—5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was greatin the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evilcontinually…7 So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have createdfrom the face of the earth." And after the flood was over, Genesis 9:6—“Whoeversheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God Hemade man.”

WhenGod gave the Ten Commandments in the hearing of all the people, and when Hespoke the entire Law to Moses up on Sinai, God was not really introducing anynew commandments; He was not all of a sudden prohibiting things that He hadpreviously condoned. When God gave the Law, He was simply telling Moses to putin writing those things that had been understood by all mankind even from thetime of the Fall, when sin and death entered the world. Listen to Romans 5:12-14—12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death throughsin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—13 (For until the lawsin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had notsinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam). Over the1500 or so years before the giving of the Law, men died. The reason we die isbecause of sin. Sin entered the world, and deaththrough sin. So when Paul says in Romans 5:13 that sin is not imputed when there is no law, he’ssaying that there must have been some kind of Law in existence before Sinai,because men died. And men died because of sin. So that one Law covered everysingle man—except Enoch, who was taken out of the world before he died.

Now, just as there was one Law for both Jewand Gentile, there is also one gospel for both Jew and Gentile. There is notone gospel for Jew and another, separate gospel for Gentile. There’s a realpopular preacher on TV who says that Jews don’t need to accept Christ as theirSavior, since they are Jews and the Jews are God’s chosen people—therefore Jewsare saved because they're Jews. And I'll tell you his name, it’s John Hagee.That teaching is heresy—that was the very same error that the Pharisees wereguilty of. Matthew 3:7-10—7 But when [John the Baptist] saw many of the Pharisees andSadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warnedyou to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy ofrepentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as ourfather.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham fromthese stones.10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Thereforeevery tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into thefire.” John the Baptist was saying, “Yep,you guys are sons of Abraham. Whoopty-doo! That and a dollar will get you a cupof coffee, but it ain't gonna get you into the kingdom of God!”That’s just a loose translation from the Greek. There is ONE GOSPEL for the Jewand for the Gentile. Listen to what Peter says in Acts 15—and keep in mind, ifthere were ever a devout Jew, it was Simon Peter. Acts 15:7-11 (NASB)—7 After there hadbeen much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you knowthat in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth theGentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knowsthe heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also didto us; 9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their heartsby faith. 10 Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon theneck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able tobear? 11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus,in the same way as they also are." Jew and Gentile are both savedin the same way—by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according tothe Scriptures alone for the glory of God alone.

Paul tells us the following,in Ephesians 2:14-18—14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, andhas broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His fleshthe enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as tocreate in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that Hemight reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross…18 For throughHim we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Colossians 3:11—There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised,barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free—and to expand that thought, there isneither white nor black, American nor Canadian, Latino nor Japanese, Africannor Asian, French or English, Russian or Mexican—butChrist is all and in all. Galatians3:28—There is neither Jew nor Greek, there isneither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all onein Christ Jesus. Albert Barnes—“Everyman, on whom is the image and the blood of Christ, is a brother to every otherone who bears that image, and should be treated accordingly. What an influencewould be excited in the breaking up of the distinctions of rank and class amongpeople; what an effect in abolishing the prejudice on account of color andcountry, if this were universally believed and felt!” There was one Law forboth Jew and Gentile—there is one gospel for both Jew and Gentile.

Jesus Christis Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--"You shall keep the feast of Passover"

2011-09-15T16:02:00.000-04:00

There werethree great feasts that the people of Israel were commanded to keep everyyear: Passover; the Feast of Firstfruits; and the Feast of Ingathering. Thesewere three feasts that were to remind the people, year after year, of the factthat God is their Provider, their Deliverer, and the one to whom they shouldlook for all their needs. These were symbolic—they were meant to point to theOne who would provide their salvation form sin; the One who would deliver themfrom evil, and who would give life and give it more abundantly. The Feast ofFirstfruits and the Feats of Ingathering—we’ll look at those when we get tothose parts of Leviticus. Today we are going to look at Passover and how thatwas a shadow of the Christ to come. The Passover was to remind them of how Godsaved them from their bondage to Pharaoh. However, the One who was pictured inthat event was going to, one day, save many from their bondage to sin, Satan, theflesh and the Law.

Exodus 23:13-19—“13 And in all that I havesaid to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, norlet it be heard from your mouth. 14 Three times you shall keep a feast to Me inthe year: 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eatunleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in themonth of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Meempty); 16 and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which youhave sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year,when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 Threetimes in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD. 18 You shallnot offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat ofMy sacrifice remain until morning. 19 The first of the firstfruits of your landyou shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a younggoat in its mother's milk.” Each of these feasts was a guide, a shadow, whichwas meant to guard hearts of the people until the Son of God appeared tofulfill these things (Galatians 3:25).

By the time Christ arrived, the keeping of these feasts had become the groundto which many people were clinging for their salvation. But in many places inthe OT, God rebukes the people of Israel for keeping feasts and foroffering sacrifices that He would not accept. Isaiah 1:11-14—11 “To what purpose isthe multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” says the LORD. “I have had enough ofburnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in theblood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. 12 “When you come to appear before Me,who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? 13 Bring no morefutile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, theSabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the sacredmeeting. 14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are atrouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.” And the reason He would notaccept them is because the people were saying—in their heart—“I'm not going to stop sinning, so I'll justbring a lamb or a goat and make my offering and God will be happy with that.”And in the NT, Paul rebukes the people for trying to be righteous by keepingthem. Galatians 4:9-11—9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known byGod, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to whichyou desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons andyears. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

The feasts and the offerings andthe rituals and the blood of bulls and goats—these were all simply guideposts,if you will, that were meant to lead the people to the One who would deliverthem from their real enemy. Now, for those couple thousand years between thegiving of the Law and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the people alwaysthought their real enemies were foreign nations—the Babylonians, the Assyrians,the Persians, the Egyptians. But their real enemy was no human kingdom. Theirreal enemy was not of this world. Their real enemy is the same enemy we allneed to be delivered from, and that is whom? Ephesians 6:12—We do not wrestle againstflesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulersof the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in theheavenly places. The feasts and offerings were not meant to make onerighteous, but to point to the One who would make us righteous—the Lord Christ. Galatians 3:23-24—23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by thelaw, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the lawwas our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.The writer of Hebrews tells us that these things were merely a “shadow” ofChrist. Hebrews 9:9—[The tabernacle] was symbolic for the present time inwhich both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performedthe service perfect in regard to the conscience. He goes on to say in Hebrews 10:1—1The law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image ofthe things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continuallyyear by year, make those who approach perfect. These things contained inthe Law could not cleanse the conscience; they could not take away sin; theycould not do anything. They were only an outward manifestation of an inwardchange.

Because you could perform all these outward rituals every single day forthe rest of your life but if there was no change on the inside; if there was nomourning over sin; if there was no heart that longed after God—those ritualsand offerings and sacrifices were useless. You could kill 100 goats a day, butif there was no hatred of sin, no shame, then all the blood of all the bullsand goats in all of Israelcould not make one person righteous before God. Like baptism. You could getdunked in water every day, but if your heart has not been changed and if thereis no repentance, if there is no hunger and thirst after righteousness, all thewater in the world cannot wash away one single sin.

For now, let’s look at the first ofthese feasts, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, in Exodus 23:15—“You shall keep the Feastof Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commandedyou, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out ofEgypt.)” This command is repeated in Exodus 34:18. This Feast of Unleavened Bread is, of course, alsoknown as what? Yes, Passover. Turn with me please to Exodus 11:1. I don’t think I need to set the scene up for you. Butjust in case—the people of Israelhave been living in Egyptfor over 400 years. They have been in bondage to Pharaoh, forced to build manyof the monuments and temples that archeologists are now discovering. And it ismost likely that the Pharaoh at the time was Rameses II. He ruled Egypt from 1279BC until 1213 BC, and was one of the longest-reigning of the Egyptian pharaohs.Moses commands Pharaoh, in the name of YHVH, to let the people of Israel go.Pharaoh refuses time after time, and eventually God sends the first nineplagues to punish Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.

When Pharaoh still won’tbudge, we find Moses telling Pharaoh the following in Exodus 11:4-7—4 Then Moses said,“Thus says the LORD: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst ofEgypt; 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, fromthe firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of thefemale servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn ofthe animals. 6 Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like itbefore, nor shall be like it again. 7 But against none of thechildren of Israel shall adog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the LORD doesmake a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’” So, who was goingto be the object of the wrath of God in this plague? Just like we talked aboutlast week, the reason the people of Israel were to dedicate their firstborn toGod was as a reminder of this night, because God destroyed the all thefirstborn in the land of Egypt, but spared the firstborn of the Israelites.

Now, Exodus 12:1-2—1 Now the LORD spoketo Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months;it shall be the first month of the year to you.” This was themonth of Abib. It is now called “Nisan”. Like the car but with only one ‘s’.The name ‘Abib’ comes from the Hebrew word which means “the month of greenears.” It is the month when the grain would be seen for the first time thatyear. Now, the name was changed from ‘Abib’ to ‘Nisan’ after the Babyloniancaptivity, and that is what it has been called ever since. Abib—Nisan—occursduring the springtime of year, and it falls in what we call March or April. And thereis a reason for the ambiguity, if you will. The Hebrew calendar reckons monthsquite differently than the Gregorian calendar that we use. Our calendarsmeasure the time it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun. The Hebrewcalendar is based on the phases of the moon. There are 12 months in the Hebrewcalendar; 7 of the 12 Hebrew months have 30 days, the rest have 29. So, thereis a difference of 11 days between the lunar Hebrew calendar and the solarGregorian calendar. Also, every couple of years they need to add an entiremonth to make sure the Passover stays in the right part of the year. ISBE—

“The year was composed of 12 or 13 monthsaccording to whether it was an ordinary or a leap year…[a leap month] was usedto make the lunar year correspond approximately to the solar year, a monthbeing added whenever the discrepancy of the seasons rendered it necessary. Thiswas regulated by the priests, who had to see that the feasts were duly observedat the proper season.”

And this is why Passover—and consequentlyResurrection Sunday—may occur in what we call the first of March one year, andwhat we call the middle of April the next year.

So, with all that being said, letus move on to Exodus 12:3-6—“3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘Onthe tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according tothe house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is toosmall for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take itaccording to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shallmake your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male ofthe first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 Now youshall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.” On the 10^thof Abib (Nisan) you examine your sheep (or goats) and you find one that wasphysically perfect. No open sores, no sickness, no physical deformities. Had tobe perfect, and could not be more than a year old. And when you find thatperfect specimen, you set it aside—or, ‘sanctified’ it—for the next four days,until the 14^th of Abib (Nisan). If your family was not big enough toeat and entire sheep or goat by yourselves, then you had your neighbor comeover with his family to help you, because as it says in verse 10, “You shall let none of it remain until morning.”

Now, let’s fast-forward to theNT—or, more correctly, to the end of the OT. There’s a fellow preaching in thewilderness outside of Jerusalem.And he’s making the leaders of the religious establishment a little sketchy.Because people are going out and flocking to him instead of paying the scribesand Pharisees the honor and adoration they deserve (said with tongue firmly incheek). And many are going out to hear this man because even the Pharisees knowthat the people reckon this man to be a prophet of God. And indeed he was. Hewould be the last prophet of the Old Covenant. He preached of the comingMessiah—his cousin, actually—and one day that Messiah comes along and thisprophet cries out John 1:29—“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of theworld!” For the last 1500 years God had been giving them one clue afteranother about what to look for in the coming Messiah, and the clearest pictureHe gave them was the lambs that were used not only in the daily sacrifices, butin the Passover lamb. The people had been under mandate to provide their ownlambs as a sacrifice—but now God has provided His own Lamb to deal with theproblem of sin, Satan and the flesh. Just as Abraham promised Isaac when hetook him up Mt. Moriah, in Genesis 22:8—“My son, God will providefor Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” And indeed, God provided aLamb as an offering for sin for the people. So here we have the Passover—orPaschal—lamb as a picture of the Christ. A lamb without spot or blemish.

Now, in Exodus 12:6-7—“6Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 And they shall takesome of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of thehouses where they eat it.” And on that day, the whole assembly would gathertogether and kill that lamb—slit its neck from one side to the other, and allthe people watched as the blood poured from that lamb. And let’s remember—whatdid that lamb do to deserve being killed? That innocent lamb was killed so thatthe people could be delivered from slavery and bondage. Hmmm. I wonder if wecan see some similarities here. A lamb without spot or blemish. A lamb thatnever sinned. All the people of Israelgathered to watch this lamb pour out all its blood so the people could be freedfrom slavery and oppression. Can you think of anybody that scenario may remindyou of? Also—They were to put blood on the vertical posts and the horizontalbeam across the top of the entrance. Hmmm. The vertical post and the horizontalbeam. I wonder what THAT might symbolize.

BUT—I want to point thisout. In our main text, Exodus 23:15,the people were commanded to keep the Passover every single year. Year afteryear, they are to come to Jerusalem,bring their lambs and goats, kill them, cut them up, and burn them. Year afteryear after year after year. The lamb you killed last year does you no good thisyear. Hypothetically speaking, if you had killed your lamb in 2009, you wouldstill have to bring one in 2010. In 2011, the one you killed in 2010 would doyou no good; you would have to bring one in 2011. In 2012, all the lambs youbrought in 2009, 2010, and 2011 would do you no good—you would still have tobring one in 2012. In 2050, all the lambs you would have killed from 2009,2010, 2011, all the way up to 2049 would not do you one bit of good—you wouldstill have to bring a new one in 2050.

All the lambs that werekilled, cut up and burned every year under the Old Covenant were a symbol. Theywere a picture. They were a reminder of how God delivered them from oneruthless oppressor—but they were also a way of looking forward to Goddelivering them from an oppressor who was much more ruthless than Pharaoh. Itwas meant to keep in the front of their minds the fact that one day God Himselfwould redeem them from bondage to sin, Satan and the flesh. It was meant to bea tutor to bring them to Christ (Galatians3:24). We don’t have to bring a lamb or a goat to Jerusalem and slay it every year. Reasonnumber one, 1^stCorinthians 5:7—Christ, our Passover, wascrucified for us. And even if we wanted to bring a lamb or goat andsacrifice it at the temple, we couldn’t—there’s nomore temple. That’s why God had the temple destroyed. We talked last week abouthow even the Jewish historian Josephus knew that it was God who allowed theRomans to destroy the temple. He thought it was because of all the killing thathad been taking place—but the truth is, God had the temple destroyed because Hedid not have anymore use for it. The true temple is in Heaven. “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days”…He was speaking of the temple of His body (John 2:19-21).And, finally, writing of the New Jerusalem, John says in Revelation 21:22—I saw no templein it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

Jesus Christ is theLamb of God who was slain, whose blood was poured out—not to deliver us fromearthly tyrants, but to deliver us from the wrath of God that we deserved. Andwhen we—spiritually—apply that blood to ourselves, God passes over our sins. Romans 3:23-25—23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justifiedfreely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom Godset forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate Hisrighteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins thatwere previously committed. So, when that firstPassover lamb was killed, it was to be burned and eaten in a very particularway. Exodus 12:8—“Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted infire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” Thephrase “bitter herbs” does not refer to chewing on a sprig of oregano or basil.It’s actually a poor choice by the translators; it literally refers to somemember of the lettuce family. If you go to Kroger’s and see the bags of precutsalad, and some of them look like they're filled with grass and purpleweeds—that’s probably what is referred to here. John Gill—

“Whatever they were, for it is uncertain what they were, they wereexpressive of the bitter afflictions of the children of Israel in Egypt, withwhich their lives were made bitter; and of those bitter afflictions andpersecutions in the world, which they that will live godly in Christ Jesus mustexpect to endure; as well as they may signify that as a crucified Christ mustbe looked upon, and lived upon by faith, so with mourning and humiliation forsin, and with true repentance for it is an evil and bitter thing.”

Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.