The Ten Commandments and the Tabernacle (Exodus 19-32)

I missed you gals yesterday!  And I certainly missed being in worship--just not the same to be at home.  Joshua is all better today.  He's been sick with a fever off and on since last Tuesday night, and we thought he was over it by Friday.  But then it came back Sunday morning.

I hope your reading through the Bible is going well and you are enjoying every minute as I am.  This last week was a little harder with the sicknesses in our home (I had a virus, too, and Caleb had bad allergies hit a couple of weeks ago--but thanks to our awesome kinesiologist he is cleared up!)  But it was my time with the Lord in His Word that got me through it.  Thank you, God!

To catch us up from my last blog, I want to begin with God giving Moses the Ten Commandments.  Before He does this, the LORD speaks some beautiful words about His people:

You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for  all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.   (Ex. 19:4-6b; emphasis mine)

I love these descriptions!

Read Peter's version of this in his first letter to the followers of Jesus Christ:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  (1 Peter 2:9)


Yes, indeed, my sister--that description does not just describe the Jewish nation but everyone who belongs to God by faith in His Messiah.  YOU are His treasured possession, royal and holy to your God!


What did you think about the smoking, trembling mountain?  Did you notice God's instructions for the people?

1. What were they to do in Ex. 19:10?
2. What were they not to do in vv.12-13?

It seems to me God was ensuring the fear of the LORD and preparing them to receive His commandments, realizing that this was serious business.  They began to get a glimpse of the reality of God's holiness.  Their unholiness could not be in the presence of His holiness.  He would soon give them a solution for this through sacrifices and burnt offerings, which would all point ahead to the final sacrifice of Jesus.

I hope you took time to carefully read through the Ten Commandments in Ex. 20.  The future of God's people, and all people to come, is changed by this event.  They now have laws to obey, and God expects obedience.  Some people think that because these laws were given in the Old Testament under the Old Covenant they don't apply to New Testament believers who live under the New Covenant.  That is not the case!

Let's take a look at Jesus' words regarding this misunderstanding:  "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Matt. 5:17)

You see, the Ten Commandments are laws for our protection.  They are rules for moral living, written on the conscience of every human being.  Jesus did not do away with the Law; He fulfilled it.  No human being has ever or will ever keep the Law perfectly.  Jesus was the only human who ever did this.  That is why He was the only one who could take our place to forgive our sins.  He fulfilled the Law when He lived a perfect, sinless life on earth.

So take your time to carefully read through those Ten Commandments.  Then continually rely on God's Spirit within you to help you keep these laws that you can never keep on your own.  Your flesh desires to disobey, but the Spirit of God will help you overcome.

In Exodus 21-23 God gives His people laws to govern their lives.  These are all good laws given as "boundaries" to protect their lives and keep them holy.  God especially focuses on the Sabbath and three feasts He tells them to keep.  Later He will add more feasts, and all of these have HUGE significance for us as New Testament believers.  If you would like to know more of their meaning to us as Christians, I recommend the book The Feasts of the LORD:  God's Prophetic Calendar from Calvary to the Kingdom by Kevin Howard and Marvin Renthal.  VERY interesting!

Another good book that we would all do well to read (including me, because I started it but never finished) is Keeping the Sabbath Wholly by Marva J. Dawn.  As God's people, we have gotten way too far away from keeping Sunday as a day set apart and holy to the Lord.  God gave it to us as a day of rest because He knows we need it, and He wants us to put regular time into our worship and relationship with Him and each other.  We lose out on so much that God wants for us because we think we know better than Him.  We have lots to do, afterall, so how can we set aside a whole day for God?  I think the stress, depression, and lack of health in many people today, not to mention marriages falling apart and parents and children struggling in their relationships, are a sad result of our "knowing better than God."

Well, I need to wrap this up and put my precious children to bed.  But there's one more thing I want to share.  This will touch on the beautiful images of the Tabernacle that God gives Moses instructions to build.  There is SO MUCH rich imagery with the Tabernacle that points ahead to Jesus and to us as His people--it's incredible.  And I don't want you to miss any of it!

I think that on Sunday during Bible class we are going to get to watch an awesome video about the Tabernacle that I used with my gals in Colorado when I wrote a study on the Tabernacle.  I found this video at Focus on the Family, and we all really enjoyed it.  So be sure to be there in case we get to watch it!

But for now, I want to share this shorter video with you so that you can get a glimpse of all the amazing correlations between the Tabernacle and Jesus.  

But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation.  He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!  (Hebrews 9:11-14)