Exodus 25:1-7 Whose heart ❤️ compels him!

1Then the LORD said to Moses, 2“Tell the Israelites to bring Me an offering. You are to receive My offering from every man whose heart compels him. 3This is the offering you are to accept from them: gold, silver, and bronze; 4blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; 5ram skins dyed red and fine leather;a acacia wood; 6olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; 7and onyx stones and gemstones to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

“All the materials for the building of the Tabernacle were to be supplied by the people themselves. This was not because God could not have provided everything in some other way.” (Morgan)

“This acacia is known to have been plentiful in Egypt, and it abounds in Arabia Desert, the very place in which Moses was when he built the tabernacle; and hence it is reasonable to suppose that he built it of that wood, which was every way proper for his purpose.” (Clarke)

Offering, this word means many different things to people. Our church passes a plate during service and asks for special offerings for events and projects. But in a sense to me, the elders aren’t trusting in the Lord.

What do I mean by that statement?

Our previous church decided not to pass the plate, they converted to agape boxes. The pastors sermon taught the church wasn’t trusting in the Lord for tithes and offerings (giving) and after the agape box conversion tithes increased! They never looked back and continue to trust in the Lord for tithes and offerings. “from every man whose heart compels him”.

In a sense, passing a plate allows people to “see” what you are giving. A agape box seems more private, between you and the Lord.

How does your heart compel you?

Blessings, David 

Exodus 24:15-18 Forty Days and Forty Nights!

15When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.

18Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

“The Hebrew verb is ‘dwelt’. It is used in a technical sense later of God’s ‘shekinah’, the outward manifestation of His presence to men.” (Cole)

“forty days and forty nights.”

Have you ever searched the Bible for these forty days and forty nights?

It’s interesting how many references there are along with the seventh day.

But these verses in the New Testament come to mind.

Matthew 4: 1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.

Mark 1: 12At once the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness, 13and He was there for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered to Him.

Moses and Jesus did something in common, Moses remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights and Jesus remained in the desert forty days and forty nights.

Both were sustained by the word of God.

Are you being sustained by the word of God or the world?

Blessings, David 

Exodus 24:12-14 Wretched Man!

12Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

13So Moses set out with Joshua his attendant and went up on the mountain of God. 14And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has a dispute can go to them.”

“Joshua accompanied Moses for a distance and there waited six days (a solemn reminder of God’s unapproachableness), when Moses was called higher to a personal and private interview with God, which lasted nearly six weeks (Deuteronomy 9:9).” (Thomas)

There are times I feel unworthy to do the devotional and times I’m just too busy with the new puppy “Joy”.

But the devotional helps me keep my focus on Jesus even though I’m a sinner and don’t always act like the Christian I proclaim to be because I am a wretched man!

But we will see in the chapters to come, the Israelites had the same issue, they are also wretched men!

I am reminded of what Paul has written in Romans!

Romans 7: 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good. 17In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. 20And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. 23But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Please pray for this wretched man!

Blessings, David 

Exodus 24:9-11 In Awe!

9Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10and they saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was a work like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11But God did not lay His hand on the nobles of Israel; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.

“In this verse it is equally stressed that the elders did not dare to raise their eyes above His footstool.” (Cole)

“It is impossible to say what is meant by ‘they saw God.’ It was some appearance of the divine presence (Numbers 12:8; Isaiah 6:1; Ezekiel 1:26).” (Thomas)

Numbers 12: 8I speak with him face to face,

clearly and not in riddles;

he sees the form of the LORD

Isaiah 6: 1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple. 

Ezekiel 1: 26Above the expanse over their heads was the likeness of a throne with the appearance of sapphire, and on the throne high above was a figure like that of a man.

It is clear they didn’t look above His footstool because that is the only description we received in these verses!

“and they ate and drank.” I suspect the elders weren’t at ease. I believe they were in awe!

Awe: an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like: in awe of God;

When we see the Lord for the first time, will we gaze into His eyes or will we be in awe, looking at the ground and His feet?

Blessings, David 

Exodus 24:4-8 A New Covenant!

4And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD.

Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5Then he sent out some young men of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.

6Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 7Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

8So Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

What stands out to me in these verses is all the blood and how it was sprinkled on the people. I believe it was a picture of Jesus Christ, what He went through with the cross giving us a New Covenant.

Matthew 26:28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.

The blood was a form of a signature, the signing of the covenant, a promise between God and the people and the people and God.

“Half of the blood being sprinkled on the ALTAR, and half of it sprinkled on the PEOPLE, showed that both GOD and THEY were mutually bound by this covenant.” (Clarke)

Are you bound by the blood of the New Covenant?

Blessings, David 

Exodus 24:1-3 We will do!

1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders—and you are to worship at a distance. 2Moses alone shall approach the LORD, but the others must not come near. And the people may not go up with him.”

3When Moses came and told the people all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all responded with one voice: “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.”

Moses alone, was the person, the prophet that the Lord spoke to and through. 

But notice what the people said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.”

We know from reading our bible the people are unable to keep their word or the Law. 

Why do all people fail to obey the Lord?

Ask yourself this question and you will have the answer; why do I (we) sin?

Blessings, David 

Only Christ could build a bridge to God with only two pieces of wood.
Asahel Nettleton

Exodus 23:31-33 Spiritual Blessings

31And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. 32You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. 33They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

“‘The river’ in the Bible is always ‘the great river’, i.e. the Euphrates, just as ‘the sea’ is normally the Mediterranean.” (Cole)

The Lord gives us spiritual blessings but it’s up to us to posses them. The Israelites didn’t fully take possession of all the land and they failed to follow the law of serving “their gods”.

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

Are you possessing and using all your spiritual blessings?

Blessings, David