How Do You Build A Tabernacle? - Ex 35&36

Ex 35&36

Maybe the prior question to ask as we look at the question of how, is why are they building a tabernacle.  We find the answer in Ex 25:8 “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”  What a wonderful statement from our Father about His desire to be with us.  This is a fundamental difference in our God from all the surrounding gods, this God who dwells in our midst.  Deut 4:6-7  describes how the other nations observe this difference.  Their gods are far off and therefore they make images/idols  to worship.  God has strictly forbidden any form of “graven” image because He is in our midst and He wants nothing to distract us from Him.  We are notoriously prone to become infatuated with our created images (Idols) over His presence.  

Note that He first calls it a sanctuary.  The first sanctuary God created was a garden which we polluted and from which we were removed.  This story will show that in time we will be removed, forcefully I might add, by Jesus in His time, from the temple, but returns at Pentecost to dwell in a new temple, His people.  It is interesting that He calls this “temple/sanctuary” a city which we see descend on the earth in Revelation 21.  All of these pictures and actual physical places house the presence of our God.  Sorry, this could turn into a whole blog on its own so lets move on.

It as clear as we read this passage that God is the One who determines the purpose (Ex 25:8) of the tabernacle, He is the architect (Ex 34:4) in every detail of its construction, and He provides the inspiration (Ex 35:34) for those who participate in the building of this sanctuary.  He provides the vision and the means for this important undertaking.

You have all heard me say that we are made, God’s design, to be drawn and not pushed.  This undertaking is a beautiful picture of how God relates to us.  Typically God provides a context, paints a picture and then invites us to participate.

What do I mean by providing a context?  We see it clearly here.  He has chosen a people for Himself, He has brought them out of slavery, He is giving them a huge opportunity to respond to His request, He has given them all the resources they have, He gives the, the skills they need, and the inspiration and creativity to contribute.  All of these are His gifts to them, freely given and received, but not of their own making.  Ex 35:4- 36:7.

Then God invites.  He provides, gives every aspect of the context, but He does not command, force, or manipulate a particular response.  He opens the door for desire to walk through.  Note the many phrases we see like; “Whoever is of a generous heart” Ex 35:4, “And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him” Ex 5:21, “All who were of a willing heart” Ex 35:22, “… [those] whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord” Ex 35:29, “[those]whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord” Ex: 36:2, “They still kept bringing him freewill offerings” Ex 36:3”.  And I love how in this case it ends, “So the people were restrained from bringing more.”  Their desire was so great that they had to be restrained from giving more.  Invitation invites response, invitation into something larger than ourselves is something that at out core we all desire.  This construction of a tabernacle is God’s invitation to His people to be in relationship with Him and the clarity and compelling nature of the offer caused a response so great they had to be restrained.  Wow!

God’s desire is to dwell in our midst. How cool is that?  This is how God relates to us, invitation and response.  Our hearts are designed such that they are moved by desire responding to invitation.  The condition of our hearts, where our deepest desires lie dictate what our response will be.  We push against command or manipulation, but our desire is kindled by invitation into something other than ourselves.  The work is commanded not the response. The gifts for doing the work are given, inspiration (vision) is given, participation (calling) is an invitation opening the door to desire which creates relationship.

Is my heart, Father, so moved by desire that I must be restrained?  LHM/CHM

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.  

Digging Deep - Psalm 64:6

Psalm 64:6

“For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.”

The evil that we seek, the distance we try to place between us and You, O Lord, lie deeper within us than we can fathom on our own. We require Your word, Your Spirit to pierce to our very joint and marrow to root out our rebellion and desire to be our own god.

Only when my heart is quickened with desire for You over myself can Your Spirit begin to dig out this that is rooted deep within me.

I confess that often I do not want You as ought, but I know that even my wanting to want You pleases You.  Draw me to Yourself in spite of me, my Lord, I pray.  LHM/CHM

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.  

Clay Pots - Acts 3:12-13

Acts 3:12-13

And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.

How quick we are to attribute the good and wonderful things people do to their own power and piety.  We might be quick to acknowledge that the power is not theirs, but assume they are used because of their piety. (Note this is Peter speaking and he will point out in the following verses their denial of Christ, something with which he is intimately acquainted. Peter is known for his denial, not his piety.)

Father, more to the point, I live as though it is through my power and piety that things will be accomplished for You.  I feel the pressure to have and be those things, when in truth they can be mine only if You gift me with them. In that case they are Yours and not mine, I am merely the beneficiary.

You will accomplish Your work in me.  The clay pot? Me. The power. You.

LHM/CHM

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.  

The Days of Evil are Numbered - Psalm 63:11

Psalms 63:11

“But the king shall rejoice in God;

all who swear by him shall exult,

for the mouths of liars will be stopped.”

Interesting thought today while reading a middle East blog about the wretchedness if evil in Syria.  The finiteness of evil, it will be judged, removed and destroyed, vs. the endurance of good/holiness, etc. which will endure in eternity.  This is true of my good deeds, my redemptive deeds in creation and with others, relationships, etc. now in this life.  Part of the futility of evil is that it has a short half life, while the glory and hope of good is that it endures in eternity.  What I do for and in Christ has staying power beyond the present moment, how awesome is that and how motivating to do good and not evil.

It seems that most of the time we are more concerned about where evil comes from than how it will be dealt with and removed.  I am called to be a restorer of good and in that is great hope. Thanks be to God.

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.  

Moses is the Man - Exodus 32:11

Exodus 32:11
This boggles my mind, the humility of Moses and His boldness, not mention his wonderful grasp and confidence in who You are.

Humility - I confess that in my self righteousness (I could feel it in me as I read the passage, "How could Aaron do this after what he has just seen, ditto with the people?") I would be with You…yeah wipe out the ungrateful bastards.  In my self righteousness I would be offended for You and frustrated at what happened when "I" left them with Aaron.  Moses was not focused on the people or himself, but concerned only for Your Name and how You would be viewed by a watching world.

His boldness - he did not hesitate to confront You, God.  Do I trust You enough to do that?

v. 14 "the Lord relented…?"  What? You do that?  You allow this kind of exchange, this kind of dialogue?  This kind of result?

This kind of relating blows me away.  This kind of relating and relenting is movement toward oneness, intimacy.  This scares the fooey out of me, this draws me forcefully "toward".  This is what I crave in my soul.  LHM/CHM!!

See blog for 32:1  This kind of relating leads to "Moses turned and went down…"  Relationship with You leads to leaning, entering into relationship with "them", especially when it is unpleasant, hard, and messy.

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.

The Golden Calf - Exodus 32

The Golden Calf

In this chapter we get a picture of the temporal and the eternal.  Eternity is not the continuation of time, or what time looks like after the end…it is not the end of the progression or the continuation of it, it is the present now, it preceded now and exists beyond now.  It is the eternal present, and according to John 15 the eternal presence of Christ. 

Time and eternity I think, are better understood as seeing from two different vantage points, different dimensions.  (See the book of Job where we are given a look behind the curtain “up here”  in God's world and perspective on what is going on down there with Job and his perspective.  Note that it is not just a different perspective, because what happens here has significant ramifications on what happens "down" there and vice versa.  The two dimensions are also interactive.)

This is what we see here in Exodus.  Think about how the story would be written from Aaron's or another of "the people's" point of view, where in the world is God?  Does He see or care what is going on with us?  How long do we have to wait?  Then read how it is written from God's point of view, I’m right here.  Do you trust Me?  Can you wait for me and do what I ask?

Note that the connection point between the two dimensions in each account is through a person. "Moses turns and goes down…",  Job suffers and wrestles with his friends.  Each man encounters God first, then his community around him.

Both men wrestling with time and eternity…and it results in relationship, intimacy.  Is this encounter, engagement what Jesus means in John 17, "Knowing Him" is eternal life?  Is this ultimately what connects time and eternity?

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.  

All Means Everyone - Acts 1&2

Acts 1:14 

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together 

The author of Acts seems to want to make clear a significant shift in the story, but one that is consistent with the original intent of a diverse people of God filling the earth.  It is not a story about just the jewish nation or even more narrowly about the men in the jewish nation, but there is a special emphasis in these first two chapters on all being included.  

Notice:

Acts 1:14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. (Seems to be referring to the same folks as 1:14)

Acts 2:4 …they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:12 And all were amazed and perplexed. (See vs 8-11 to see that it is referring to folks from every nation.)

Acts 2:17 I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

and your old men shall dream dreams;

even on my male servants and female servants.

All seems to mean everyone. It includes Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave/servant and free, old and young, rich and poor from every nation.  We will see that the mission of the Church is to the “all” directly referenced in these first couple of chapters.  This mission cuts across every cultural barrier and norm as it opens the kingdom to the people of God.

**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog.  This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life.  I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends.  We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes.  Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.