Exodus 33-35

The Command to Leave Sinai

Exodus 33:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go, leave this place, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, or I would consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

4 When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. I can only speak for me, but my thoughts and actions are unworthy of the One who gave me life, who sustains my life and who waits for me beyond this life. Like these ancient people, we are all unworthy of God’s love, yet Jesus has promised to never forsake us, to never leave us. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’ ” 6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

The Tent outside the Camp

7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each of them, at the entrance of their tents and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10 When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and bow down, all of them, at the entrance of their tent. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then he would return to the camp; but his young assistant, Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the tent.

Moses’ Intercession

12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people’; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Does the Lord know the names of all God’s children? In verse 17 there is no reference to the people. Moses found favor with God and God knows Moses’ name. I could not find any other place in the Bible that says God knows someone by name. I know those who belong to the Lord will be given a new name in heaven, but that is not what I am saying. I also researched to see who else was told they had found favor in God’s sight. I thought of Enoch, who walked with God, David, a man after God’s heart and of course Jesus, but this expression does not seem to be used anywhere else in the Bible. If you find it somewhere else please let me know. 13 Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, If we have found favor in God’s sight people will know! Will they know then or will history be the witness? Am I reading this correctly? If I am, what does this statement do to your theology? How do we know someone or some people have found favor with God? If you mention Divine Destiny regarding America I will know you don’t know your history or anything about Native America. Is there a nation or people that history might say had God’s favor? History does indeed point to a group of people who are set apart by their contributions to humanity in the area of science, medicine, the arts etc. Notice I did not mention religion, but yes, that too sets them apart. Do you know who? I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.” Yet it was just this, the presence of God, that made Israel distinct. As Moses prayed, “How will anyone know that You are pleased with me and with Your people unless You go with us? What else will distinguish me and Your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” God’s presence distinguished His people from all others. Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The teacher's commentary (107). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” 21 And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; 23 then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”

Moses Makes New Tablets (Deut 10.1—5)

Exodus 34:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me, on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall come up with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; and do not let flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the former ones; and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name, “The Lord.” 6 The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed,

“The Lord, the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
7 keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
yet by no means clearing the guilty,
but visiting the iniquity of the parents
upon the children
and the children’s children,
to the third and the fourth generation.”

8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. 9 He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

The Covenant Renewed (Ex 23.14—19; Deut 7.1—6; 16.1—17)

10 He said: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been performed in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the Lord; for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.

11 Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you. 13 You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles 14 (for you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God). 15 You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice. 16 And you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods.

17 You shall not make cast idols.

18 You shall keep the festival of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.

19 All that first opens the womb is mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20 The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.

No one shall appear before me empty-handed.

21 Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest. 22 You shall observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year. 23 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.

25 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the festival of the passover shall not be left until the morning.

26 The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God.
You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

27 The Lord said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. 28 He was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

The Shining Face of Moses

29 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34 but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Sabbath Regulations

Exodus 35:1 Moses assembled all the congregation of the Israelites and said to them: These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do:

2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy sabbath of solemn rest to the Lord; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall kindle no fire in all your dwellings on the sabbath day.

Preparations for Making the Tabernacle (Ex 25.1—9; 39.32—43)

4 Moses said to all the congregation of the Israelites: This is the thing that the Lord has commanded: 5 Take from among you an offering to the Lord; let whoever is of a generous heart bring the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine linen; goats’ hair, 7 tanned rams’ skins, and fine leather; acacia wood, 8 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 9 and onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece.

10 All who are skillful among you shall come and make all that the Lord has commanded: the tabernacle, 11 its tent and its covering, its clasps and its frames, its bars, its pillars, and its bases; 12 the ark with its poles, the mercy seat, and the curtain for the screen; 13 the table with its poles and all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence; 14 the lampstand also for the light, with its utensils and its lamps, and the oil for the light; 15 and the altar of incense, with its poles, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the entrance, the entrance of the tabernacle; 16 the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its utensils, the basin with its stand; 17 the hangings of the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court; 18 the pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the court, and their cords; 19 the finely worked vestments for ministering in the holy place, the holy vestments for the priest Aaron, and the vestments of his sons, for their service as priests.

Offerings for the Tabernacle

20 Then all the congregation of the Israelites withdrew from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the Lord’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the sacred vestments. 22 So they came, both men and women; all who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and pendants, all sorts of gold objects, everyone bringing an offering of gold to the Lord. 23 And everyone who possessed blue or purple or crimson yarn or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or fine leather, brought them. 24 Everyone who could make an offering of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s offering; and everyone who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work, brought it. 25 All the skillful women spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun in blue and purple and crimson yarns and fine linen; 26 all the women whose hearts moved them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. 27 And the leaders brought onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece, 28 and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. 29 All the Israelite men and women whose hearts made them willing 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.

Bezalel and Oholiab (Ex 31.1—11)

30 Then Moses said to the Israelites: See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 he has filled him with divine spirit, with skill, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft, 32 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 33 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, in every kind of craft. 34 And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has filled them with skill to do every kind of work done by an artisan or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of artisan or skilled designer.

Devotionals, Videos and more ...

American Minute
by Bill Federer

“Remember the Alamo” was the cry of the Texas army. The battle began today, February 24th, 1836, when three thousand Mexicans attacked 182 Texans. Within thirteen days, all defenders were killed, including Davy Crockett and James Bowie. The Texas Declaration of Independence stated: “General Antonio Lopez Santa Ana, who having overturned the constitution of his country, now offers, as the cruel alternative, either abandon our homes… or submit to the most intolerable of all tyranny…. [He] denies us the right of worshiping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience.”

Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.

Proverbs
by D.H. Stern

Proverbs 19:10-12

It isn’t fitting for a fool to live in luxury,
and even less for a slave to govern princes.

People with good sense are slow to anger,
and it is their glory to overlook an offense.

A king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion,
but his favor is like dew on the grass.

Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.

My Utmost For The Highest
by Oswald Chambers

The delight of sacrifice

I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. --- 2 Cor. 12:15. .

When the Spirit of God has shed abroad the love of God in our hearts, we begin deliberately to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests in other people, and Jesus Christ is interested in every kind of man there is. We have no right in Christian work to be guided by our affinities; this is one of the biggest tests of our relationship to Jesus Christ. The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, not fling it away, but deliberately lay my life out for Him and His interests in other people, not for a cause. Paul spent himself for one purpose only—that he might win men to Jesus Christ. Paul attracted to Jesus all the time, never to himself. “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” When a man says he must develop a holy life alone with God, he is of no more use to his fellow men: he puts himself on a pedestal, away from the common run of men. Paul became a sacramental personality; wherever he went, Jesus Christ helped Himself to his life. Many of us are after our own ends, and Jesus Christ cannot help Himself to our lives. If we are abandoned to Jesus, we have no ends of our own to serve. Paul said he knew how to be a ‘door-mat’ without resenting it, because the mainspring of his life was devotion to Jesus. We are apt to be devoted not to Jesus Christ but to the things which emancipate us spiritually. That was not Paul’s motive: “I could wish myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren”—wild, extravagant—is it? When a man is in love it is not an exaggeration to talk in that way, and Paul is in love with Jesus Christ.

Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

Thirteen Blackbirds Look at a Man
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas

Thirteen Blackbirds Look at a Man

1.
It is calm.
It is as though
we lived in a garden
that had not yet arrived
at the knowledge of
good and evil.
But there is a man in it.
2
There will be
rain falling vertically
from an indifferent
sky. There will stare out
from behind its
bars the face of the man
who is not enjoying it.
3.
Nothing higher
than a blackberry
bush. As the sun comes up
fresh, what is the darkness
stretching from horizon
to horizon? It is the shadow
of the forked man.
4.
We have eaten
the blackberries and spat out
the seeds, but they lie
glittering like the eyes of a man.
5.
After we have stopped
singing, the garden is disturbed
by echoes, it is
the man whistling, expecting
everything to come to him.
6.
We wipe our beaks
on the branches
wasting the dawn's
jewellery to get rid
of the taste of a man.
7.
Nevertheless,
which is not the case
with a man, our
bills give us no trouble.
8.
Who said the
number was unlucky?
It was a man, who,
trying to pass us,
had his licence endorsed
thirteen times.
9.
In the cool
of the day the garden
seems given over
to blackbirds. Yet
we know also that somewhere
there is a man in hiding.
10.
To us there are
eggs and there are
Backbirds. But there is the man,
too, trying without feathers
to incubate a solution.
11.
We spread our
wings, reticulating
our air space. A man stands
nder us and worries
at his ability to do the same.
12.
When night comes
like a visitor
from outer space
we stop our ears
lest we should hear tell
of the man in the moon.
13.
Summer is
at an end. The migrants
depart. When they return
in spring to the garden,
will there be a man among them?

Thomas, R. S. The Poems of R.S. Thomas

Swimming in the sea of the Talmud:
The Conceptual Approach of the Rabbis

     When we first open the pages of the Talmud, we might expect to read deep, philosophical debates on the most critical issues of human existence. We look forward to learning sublime words of wisdom that answer life’s most difficult questions. We wait in anticipation for sparks of genius that will help to illuminate the dark world that we live in.

     But we are in for a shock. Our first impressions of the subject matter of the Talmud might leave us confused, perplexed, even disappointed. Much of the Gemara is concerned with details of the most mundane and pedestrian topics: What objects can be carried in and out of a house on the Sabbath; who is responsible for damage done by an ox that gores another animal; how long must a woman wait after her monthly period before resuming marital relations? These and a thousand other such questions occupy the pages of the Talmud. Many people peruse these discussions and ask: “Is that all there is?”

     We who have been brought up on western literature expect deep philosophical issues to be dealt with through serious essays and monographs. The Rabbis of the Talmud use a very different method to deal with the very same issues: Instead of addressing the macrocosm, they concentrate on the microcosm, focusing on the minute details of everyday life. We do them—and ourselves—a terrible disservice if we think that they were interested only in minute and trivial matters. The Rabbis found God in the details of the mundane and the everyday. We must learn to read their discussions conceptually. We must search beneath the surface, reading between the lines in order to truly understand what the Talmud is teaching us. For example, the question about carrying on the Sabbath is in reality about the significance of time and how one makes ordinary occasions into special ones. The discussion of the goring ox is actually about the extent of an individual’s responsibility towards others in a community. And the debates about the menstrual cycle are in essence about the nature of sexuality and the role it plays in a marriage. It’s easy to see what the Rabbis are saying. The challenge, however, is to understand their deeper meanings and ultimate concerns.

Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving . Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.

Take Heart
by Diana Wallis

Pray continually. --- 1 Thessalonians 5:17

     It is not necessary to pronounce many words. To pray is to say, “Let your will be done.” It is to form a good purpose, to raise your heart to God, to lament your weakness, to sigh at the recollection of your frequent disobedience. This prayer demands neither method nor science nor reasoning; it is not essential to quit your work; it is a simple movement of the heart toward its Creator and a desire that whatever you are doing you may do to his glory. The best of all prayers is to act with a pure intention and with a continual reference to the will of God. It depends much on ourselves whether our prayers are effective. It is not by a miracle but by a movement of the heart that we are benefited, by a submissive spirit.

     Do not devote all your time to action, but reserve a certain portion of it for meditation on eternity. Jesus invited his disciples to go apart in a desert place and rest awhile. How much more necessary is it for us to approach the source of all virtue, that we may revive our declining faith and charity, when we return from busy lives, where people speak and act as if they had never known that there is a God! We should look on prayer as the remedy for our weakness, the rectifier of our faults. He who was without sin prayed constantly; how much more ought we, who are sinners, to be faithful in prayer!

     That we feel God should bless our labors is another powerful motive to prayer. It often happens that all human help is vain. It is God alone who can aid us, and it does not require much faith to believe that it is less our exertions than the blessing of the Almighty that can give success to our wishes.

     We must pray with attention. God listens to the voice of the heart, not to that of the lips. The whole heart must be engaged in prayer. Every human object must disappear from our minds. To whom should we speak with attention if not to God? This attention to prayer may be practiced with less difficulty than we imagine. True, the most faithful souls suffer from occasional involuntary distractions. But these unbidden wanderings of the mind ought not to trouble us; they may promote our perfection even more than the most sublime and affecting prayers, if we strive to overcome them and submit with humility to this experience of our infirmity.      --- François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers (27). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.

Teacher's Commentary by L.O. Richards
The tabernacle furnishings

     It is in the furnishings of the tabernacle that we gain insight into what God’s presence in our lives provides. Each of the furnishings speaks clearly of a ministry of God through which the believer is protected from himself and enabled to become all God intends.

     (1) The bronze altar. There was only one door to this “tent of meeting.” Any person who wanted to come into God’s presence had to come through the one door which the plan of God provided. At the door, placed so that no one who entered could avoid it, stood the bronze altar. This was the altar of sacrifice; the place on which daily the prescribed offerings for Israel would be laid. As Leviticus would later make clear, “The life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Lev. 17:11). No one could approach God or receive the benefits of His presence without entering by the door of sacrifice and atonement.

     Later Jesus would use this same picture in speaking of Himself. “I am the gate,” He announced. “Whoever enters through Me will be saved. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:9, 11). The message is clear. Access to the benefits God has provided for us is ours only as we come to God in the single way He has planned.

     (2) The bronze laver. The laver, a large container for water, was made of the same bronze metal as the altar. It stood at the entrance of the tabernacle itself, and was for the cleansing of those who entered the Presence. Jesus used a similar symbolism at the time of the Last Supper when He washed the disciples’ feet. They have been cleansed, He told them, so they did not need another “bath.” But as they had walked the dusty roads after the bathing, their feet needed to be washed again and again (John 13:2–12).

     Believers have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. Yet daily we need to turn to God for cleansing. The provision of cleansing is clearly ours: “If we confess our sins [those daily failures that mar the lives even of those who have experienced salvation], He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

     The continual cleansing each of us needs is provided in Christ, and pictured in the laver before the tabernacle entrance. Purified, we can freely enter the presence of our God.

     (3) The table of the bread of the Presence. Immediately inside the first veil a table was set. On this table, placed to the right in the chamber, was kept a constant supply of fresh food and drink. All that the believer needs to strengthen and sustain him is found in God’s presence.

     (4) The golden lampstand. To the left as one entered the first chamber stood a seven-branched candlestick, so designed that there was a constant flow of oil to feed it. This was the sole source of light in the tabernacle. Natural light was blocked off by a series of curtains and coverings.

     In the presence of God, He alone provides the light we need to see our way. And that light is enough.

     (5) Golden altar of incense. Centered before the veil that separated the holy place and the most holy place stood an altar of incense. This altar spoke of worship and of other dimensions of prayer (cf. Rev. 8:3–4). Here praise and prayer blended as the priests approached the presence of God, awed and yet exalted by His closeness.

     (6) The ark of the covenant. There was a single article of furniture within the most holy place. The thick veil that separated this chamber was moved only one time a year, when the high priest entered there alone on the high and holy Day of Atonement, carrying the blood of sacrifice to sprinkle on the mercy seat. It was here, in the inner chamber, that the presence of God was focused.

     The veil itself communicates a message. The New Testament says that “the Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing” (Heb. 9:8). The Bible tells us that at the moment of Christ’s death, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matt. 27:51).

     There is for us the fullness of God’s presence, a fullness that goes beyond even the rich provision God made for His Old Testament people.

     What then was the ark, and what did it speak of? The ark itself was a gold-covered chest, containing special reminders of God’s work for His people. There was a container of manna, speaking of complete and miraculous provision. There were the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, speaking of the righteousness God alone can produce. Later there was added Aaron’s rod, which miraculously budded and bore fruit, speaking of God’s power to bring life from the dead.

     The ark itself was named “of the covenant,” a reminder of God’s commitment to fulfill all His promises.

     On the ark rested a special cover, overlaid with gold, and called the “mercy seat.” Here, between two carved angels whose wings met over the center of the mercy seat, God invested the fullness of His own presence—and it was here alone that God fully touched men.

     This is why the act of God in tearing the temple veil from top to bottom is so significant. In that act, which accompanied our Lord’s crucifixion, we are told that there is no longer a curtain between the believer and the full experience of God’s presence! No wonder Hebrews invites, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb. 4:16). For the believer today, who has come through the one door to God, Jesus, and has entered, cleansed, into a relationship with God in which the Lord strengthens us, guides us, and invites us to worship, there is even more. There is full and complete welcome into the holiest place of all—the very presence of God where miracles are the norm, and where righteousness is worked in the personality of men and women who have passed from death to life.

Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The Teacher's Commentary (323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

Where To Now
Site Map