SCRIPTURE: Exodus 34
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. [Matthew 28:16-17].
What an amazing moment this must have been for the disciples to see the resurrected Jesus.
We can forgive them for doubting, because it just doesn’t happen.
And we can understand that they worshiped Him – what else do you do with someone who was dead, and came back to life.
This was a huge God-moment for them. Continue reading they’ve been with Jesus

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 33
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’ Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.’ [John 14:8-9].
Moses asks, ‘show me Your glory’, and Philip asks, ‘show us the Father’.
They were asking the same thing.
The ironic thing is that both of them had already seen remarkable evidence of God’s glory.
But they wanted more. Continue reading show us Your glory!

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 32
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. [Luke 13:2-3].
There is a time for mercy, and a time for judgment [see Ecclesiastes 3:1-8].
Although Jesus represents the grace of God, He also makes it clear that eventually, if we do not repent, we too will perish. Continue reading it’s time to repent

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 31
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. [Matthew 25:29]
God has not been stingy. He has given us (collectively) all that we need to fulfill His good purpose for our lives.
Our ‘poverty’ of spirit and life is not because He has failed to give us what we need, but because we have failed to receive it. Continue reading God’s good gifts

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 30
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be a house of prayer’ ; but you have made it `a den of robbers.’ [Luke 19:46]
The tabernacle was to be a “meeting place” between God and His people, a ‘house of prayer’.
It was a symbol of the individual heart in fellowship with God and others.
Sadly, the human heart always finds ways to twist and distort those relationships. Continue reading connecting people to God through Jesus

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 29
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’ [John 14:23]
If you are like me, you found Exodus 29 hard to read.
So much blood, ceremony, fire and sacrifice.
Knowing how sensitive I am to blood and killing animals, I could never be a priest.
It seems that the whole point of the chapter moves to the end, where God says these are the steps necessary so that God can dwell among His people.
Somehow, their sin needs to be dealt with.
The curse of sin is death.
The animals are intended to show that, to show the people how serious sin is. Continue reading a better covenant

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 28
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face. [John 19:2-3]
The high priest is decked out in the finest of attire, and treated with the dignity and honour that he deserves.
And on his shoulders, and near to his heart, he bears the names of God’s people.
There is a similarity and a contrast between the priestly robes of Aaron, and what happens to Jesus before He died. Each carried the burden of the people before the Lord (symbolized by the ephod, two stones engraved with the names of the 12 tribes, on shoulders) and close to their heart (symbolized by the breastplate, with its 12 stones for each tribe).
Each was to appear before God with the sacrifice of atonement, to receive forgiveness of sins.
Each one served as a mediator between God and the people, bringing the peoples’ concerns to God, and bringing God’s will to the people (symbolized by the Urim and Thummim). Continue reading robed in love

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 27
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. [John 3:20].
Imagine someone designing an x-ray that would expose all our inner thoughts, feelings and secrets.
Would you step behind that x-ray, and allow your heart to be revealed?
Would you even want to see it for yourself? Continue reading the light is on, He’s waiting

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 26
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. [Mark 15:37-38]
Our family enjoys camping, we have owned several tent trailers.
One thing for sure, canvas is fragile and fades with age.
If God wanted to build a permanent temple, a fabric tent was not a practical choice.
But that’s just the point, God didn’t plan on a permanent temple.
This was a flexible, transportable tent.
It set up and came down relatively easily, as the fiery cloud (or angel of the Lord, or Christ) that led them required. Continue reading beware permanent buildings

Apparently God is rebuilding this world one dot at a time.
He could have snapped His fingers and immediately changed the world.
Instead He is “painting” a better world through individuals transformed by His love.
Every person transformed by His love becomes a kingdom dot… their lives a collection of dots.
And taken together, your words and acts of love and mine, become something beautiful for God.
And when it’s all done, the portrait of His new world will be of Jesus.
Whose portrait is your life painting, who is your hero that your life embodies?
Never underestimate the different that one act of mercy and grace can have.