Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
You probably have important papers, maybe even legal documents and other valuables that you keep in a safe place, right? So may I ask, what if you received something tangible and very special from God, where would you keep it safe from anything that could harm it?
Yesterday you and I were up on Mount Sinai with Moses, in a thick fog bank, meeting with God! This was not Moses’ first time on Sinai with God, in fact it was his sixth! But this would be his longest stay thus far, lasting 40 days and 40 nights. Why so long? Well, God had a great deal to explain to Moses about one great topic: WORSHIP! Almighty, Holy God, the Creator of the Universe and all humanity, was for the first time in history, explaining to one man how God wanted a worship centered relationship with His people. Moses wrote down what God told him and we have that record in Exodus 25-31.
God began by instructing Moses to receive an offering of gold, silver and other precious things from anyone whose heart was willing, among the 1 million Hebrew slaves God had rescued from Egypt. We noticed yesterday that God told Moses this offering was to be VOLUNTARY. Worship is a choice. Relationship is a choice. A worship centered relationship with God is the most important choice a human being can make! This is the choice you and I can make… that every aspect of our lives, every moment of our lives, we intend to be lived as a worship expression to Almighty God. Now let that sink into your heart for a moment and consider how different your life and mine would be if EVERYTHING that is not worship is removed from our lives! No, I don’t mean we’d live the rest of our lives in a church or cathedral on our knees praying 24/7. What I mean is that everything we say, everything we do, every attitude would be done with the intention of HONORING God in all His holiness. Now pause and ponder that for a moment. . .
While being a member of God’s people the Israelites was automatic for those born into the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, the SIGN of the Covenant relationship with God, circumcision, was a CHOICE the parents would make on the eighth day after the birth of their son. Just like the choice these Hebrews had faced when Moses instructed them to put blood on the outside of the doorframes of their houses in Egypt on Passover night, to indicate their trust in God and their belief that God would protect them from the angel of death. My friends, pause here again to ponder your relationship with God. What in that relationship is tradition or specific practices or rituals or holidays, and what part of your relationship with God is your CHOICE?
God instructed Moses that he was to lead the people in constructing a place for worship encounters with God. God called it a ‘Tabernacle’ (Ex. 25:8) and God promised Moses that God would meet with His people there. God did not want to be a far away, irrelevant God. God was very much concerned for these people which is why He had rescued them from slavery and promised to lead them to a land He prepared for them where they could live as a free people, a people of God. But the transition from living in generations of Egyptian slavery to living as God’s people would require some instruction and considerable change in mindset, heart condition, attitudes and lifestyle. It would also require daily CHOICES! So here at Mount Sinai, God was instructing His people in the details of living like God’s treasured possession, a holy nation. God was teaching Moses what it would mean to live in a worship centered relationship with God!
God had said to Moses “Make this tabernacle and all its furnishing exactly like the pattern I will show you.” (Ex. 25:9) I’m sure that awakened in Moses an excitement. What would be God’s design for a ‘Tabernacle’ where God would meet with people, and what type of “furnishings” would God design to be inside this Tabernacle? God didn’t waste any time, He got right to it, so let’s listen with Moses. The first thing God described to Moses as a ‘furnishing’ for inside this Tabernacle was a wooden chest or box made of acacia wood and covered with gold. (Ex. 25:10-16) God called it the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ because the tablets of stone, inscribed by the finger of God, would eventually be brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses and placed inside in this Ark for safekeeping! Why? Why would they be so valuable and what would be their purpose for helping these people live in a worship centered relationship with God? For the next several hundred years this Ark of the Covenant was the prized possession which helped distinguish the Hebrew people from all other people on earth!
These “10 Commandments” which God inscribed on those stone tablets, formed the foundation of the ‘worship centered relationship’ God wanted with His people, the Hebrews. The people would memorize these 10 statements and learn to live by them. They would not only teach their children to memorize them, but teach them to live daily life rooted in these Commandments from God. Every aspect of life… every daily choice, every relationship with another person, every business dealing, their core values as a people, and their life priorities would ALL be rooted in living their lives immersed in these Covenant Commandments. As they learned to live like this, God’s people were learning to live in a ‘worship centered relationship’ with God! No other people on planet earth lived like that, none! Now ponder that a moment my friends and consider your daily life and how aligned or disconnected your life is from those Covenant Commandments!
As we see in Exodus 25:10-22 God further described to Moses the specific details of this Ark of the Covenant. Large gold rings were to be fabricated and attached to the four corners of the base of this Ark so long poles, covered with gold, could be placed through these rings. Why? This Ark was to be revered as sacred and it would be moved from place to place by specially selected men who carried this Ark on their shoulders with the poles. No one was to touch the Ark.
The cover of this Ark was very special. God called it ‘the atonement cover’. The writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews was led by the Holy Spirit to call that cover “the mercy seat”, (Heb. 9:5) because this was the place of encounter between God and the representative of His people. Here God would pour out His mercy on His repentant people as prayers of repentance were offered up to God. Here God would give instruction and guidance in a ‘worship centered relationship’ with Moses and later Aaron. Here’s how God described two other very important aspects to this Ark: “Make two cherubim [angelic figures] out of gold at the ends of the atonement cover. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover. The cherubim are to face each other looking toward the cover. Put in the ark the Testimony [tablets of the Covenant] which I will give you. There above the cover, between the cherubim, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.” (Exodus 25:17-22)
Now it’s very important we understand something my friends. God did not design this golden Ark of the Covenant to be an idol, something man made which the people would worship. Oh no! It was made of gold to emphasize the extreme value and the sacredness of what was INSIDE the Ark… the Covenant written by the finger of God on tablets of stone, which God Himself had cut out of the mountain! The Covenant which God had first proclaimed by His audible voice, to the people in their worship encounter with Him as recorded in Exodus 20. The Covenant sealed by the blood sprinkled on the people by Moses when he had read the Covenant to the people and they had responded in full commitment of a worship centered relationship of obedience to God. This Covenant was the very heartbeat of living in a ‘worship centered relationship’ with Almighty, Holy God.
Now let’s pause right here my friends to consider three questions:
1. Can you describe your relationship with God as a ‘worship centered relationship’? If not, what words would you use? _____________________________
2. What core truths about God frame or shape the beliefs you have about God? How do those truths affect the relationship, if any, that you have with God? _____________________________
3. What difference does God, and the relationship you have with God, make in your daily life? If God is a myth, if there was no God, how would your life be different than it is?
__________________________
Here’s a song, my friends, to help us ponder these deep but vital truths:
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 25:10-22.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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