Introduction: Exodus tells the story of Israel’s miraculous exodus from Egyptian bondage, which gave birth to the Jewish nation, to whom God gave His Law.

Exodus 1:8-12 — Many times the maltreatment of the world makes for the multiplying of the bona fide people of God!

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” (Tertullian)

When the church ceases to bleed, she ceases to bless. She can thrive through persecution, but never through peace and plenty,." (L. E. Maxwell)

Exodus 1:15-22 — If the coming of Moses and the first coming of Jesus Christ were both foreshadowed by the killing of newborn children, is abortion—the killing of millions of unborn children—not a present-day foreshadowing of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ? (Matthew 2:16-18)

 

Abortion is not the killing of potential human beings, but the killing of human beings with potential.

 

Exodus 2:1-10 — It may appear that divine providence often hangs by a thin thread—a baby, in a basket, in the bulrushes—but God's plans and purposes, despite appearances, are always inevitable, immutable, and invincible.

It is the certainty of God’s sovereignty that gives us liberty from all anxiety.

 

“If there is one maverick molecule in all universe, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, He is not God.” (R. C. Sproul)

Exodus 2:11-15 — Moses looked this way and that way, but forgot to look up. Somebody is always watching and what we do is always known.  

Remember, you’re always under divine surveillance twenty-four hours a day!

Exodus 2:23-25 — There is no statute of limitations on the promises of God. Though they may come slowly, they will surely come!

God hears His people's cries to Him, because of His covenant with them. It has nothing to do with their worthiness, but everything to do with God’s faithfulness.

Exodus 3:1-3 — On the backside of the desert, the seemingly washed up and burned out Moses was intrigued enough to turn aside to see a burning bush, which, unlike himself, would neither burn up nor burn out.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what kind of bush the burning bush was, because any old bush will do if God is in the bush.

Exodus 3:4-6 — To have a personal and life-changing encounter with God you must first be seen by God turning away from the things of this world.

Tragically, many never tread on holy ground, because they refuse to turn away from unholy things.

Exodus 3:7 — God is no passive spectator to the problems of His people, but sees their suffering, hears their supplications, and knows their sorrows.

If we truly believe that God sympathizes with our sufferings, we’ll be prompted to prostrate ourselves before Him in praise.

Exodus 5:1-2 — All insubordination to God is spawned by ignorance of God.

If you truly know God, you know better than to disobey God!

Exodus 5:1-23 — Before God fulfills His promise to deliver you from brick making drudgery, He may demand the testing of your faith by doubling down on your difficulties. Making bricks without straw often precedes making one's way to the Promised Land.

As Paul teaches in the New Testament, we must travel a toilsome road of trouble and trial in the here and now, in order to make our way to God's eternal Heaven in the hereafter. (Acts 14:22) 

WHAT GOD HATH PROMISED

By: Annie Johnson Flint

 

God hath not promised skies always blue, 

Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;

God hath not promised sun with out rain,

Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

 

God hath not promised we shall not know 

Toil and temptation, trouble and woe; 

He hath not told us we shall not bear 

Many a burden, Many a care.

 

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide, 

Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;

Never a mountain rocky and steep,

Never a river turbid and deep.

 

But God hath promised strength for the day, 

Rest for the labor, light for the way;

Grace for the trials, help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

 

Exodus 6:1 — Those with clinched fists in the face of God ultimately end up under the strong hand of God and throwing up their hands in utter surrender to God. (Exodus 5:1)

 

You may not do what God wants you to do, but it won't keep God from making you wish you had or Him from fulfilling His will.

 

Exodus 6:2-8 — God, who had made Himself known to both the patriarchs and to Moses, by appearing to them, which is a prerequisite to knowing God, was about to make His name known to the world by what He was about to do to Pharaoh in Egypt for the enslaved people of Israel.

 

No one can know God to whom God has not made Himself known. To be acquainted with God, God must appear to us, and to see who God is, God must show us what He can do.

 

Exodus 6:9 — We should never permit our present situation or sorrow to drown out the promises of the Scripture. God's Word should always outweigh our worries and woes!

 

God’s promises should always take precedence over the perils of our present predicaments, since God’s promises, unlike all perilous predicaments, will never pass away!

 

Exodus 6:10-12 — Many a preacher has found himself in Moses’ shoes, wondering how his preaching can possibly prove to be influential to sinners when it appears to be ignored by the saints. 

 

A preacher is better off considering himself a stammerer than a spellbinder, so that he’ll enter the pulpit prayerfully and trusting in God’s Spirit rather than proudly and trusting in his own silver tongue.

 

Exodus 6:13 — Divine orders are often mandated before divine plans are manifested. The true test of obedience is whether or not we will step out on nothing but divine instructions to do something impractical and seemingly impossible.

 

Charles Wesley told his brother John, “If the Lord would give me wings, I’d fly.” However, John Wesley replied, “If God bids me fly, I will trust him for the wings!”

 

Exodus 7:1-2 — As God speaks His Word to His prophets, who in turn speak it to the people, Moses spoke God’s Word to Aaron, who in turn spoke it to Pharaoh.

 

It’s not what preachers say for God that changes lives or alters eternal destines; instead, it’s only what God says through preachers.

 

Exodus 7:3-4 — As God hardened the heart of Egypt’s Pharaoh to bring judgement upon Egypt, the most powerful nation in the ancient world, God can harden the hearts of American politicians to bring judgment upon America, the most powerful nation in the modern-day world. 

 

As Egypt’s hardhearted Pharaoh proved to be the instrument of divine indignation in God’s destruction of ancient Egypt, America’s hardhearted politicians are proving to be the instrument of divine indignation in God’s destruction of modern-day America!

 

"When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers." (John Calvin)

 

Exodus 7:10-12 — The miraculous and mighty power of God always swallows up the magical and manipulative powers of men.

 

The children of God and of Heaven can definitely say to the children of the devil and of this world, “My Daddy can whip your daddy.”

 

Exodus 8:8-14 — Many a putz, like Pharaoh, pleads for another night with the frogs.

 

Today, not tomorrow, is the time to request redemption from divine retribution.

 

Exodus 8:16-19 — Human magicians can’t conjure up a gnat to combat a punishing plague of God.

 

The unrepentant have as much of a chance of sparing themselves from the judgment of God as they do extinguishing the fires of Hell with a water pistol.

 

Exodus 8:20-24 — God is easily detected in the land when He makes a distinct distinction between His people and others.

 

The people of God are partitioned off from those punished by God by God’s provisions for them and protection of them. 

 

Exodus 8:25-27 — The true worship of the true God is always intolerable in Egypt—this sin-tainted world. Therefore, the contemporary church's assertion that the fervent adoration of God can be made alluring to this fallen world is an absolutely foolish absurdity.

 

There is no such thing as the worldly worship of God. If it’s worldly, it’s not worship; and if it’s worship, it’s never worldly.

 

Exodus 8:28 — There is no such thing as fanaticism—going too far—in the true worship of God.

 

How can any Christian get too carried away with Christ?

 

Exodus 9:14-16 — God can use pestilence (pandemic) in modern-day America, just as He did in ancient Egypt, to prove that He alone is God by razing to the ground the greatest of all earthly powers.

 

The greatest of earthly powers are both raised and razed by God so that His name will be revered throughout the earth. As no earthly power can rise unless God says so, no earthly power can remain unless God sustains it. The removing of God’s hand will prove to be the undoing of any nation.

 

Exodus 10:1-2 — God's miracles are performed to prove He is God to His own people, to their posterity, and even to their persecutors.

 

Even the hardening of men’s hearts inevitably brings honor to God’s name. 

 

Exodus 10:7 — Many word leaders today should be asked the same question that Pharaoh was asked, because their lands are being leveled by their hardheartedness, just as the land of Egypt was leveled by Pharaoh’s hardheartedness.

 

"When God wants to judge a nation He gives them wicked rulers." (John Calvin)

 

Exodus 10:8-11 — Devotion to God is not negotiable, it’s all or nothing. The people of God must go all the way with all they’ve got. (Exodus 8:25-28; 10:24-28)

 

No tricky deal of the devil’s ever leads to true devotion to God. True worship always involves our separation from the world, the sanctification of our families, and the surrendering of our finances and possessions, nothing short of all of this is acceptable to God nor adoration of God.

 

Exodus 10:21 — Like the plague of darkness in Egypt, the spiritual darkness of our present-day is so oppressive you can feel it.

 

As cold is just the absence of heat, darkness is just the absence of light. When God exits, the devil enters, darkness ensues, and demonic oppression is experienced.

 

Though we may feel the darkness, we are not to fear the darkness, for the light within overcomes the darkness without.

 

Exodus 10:22-23 — The people of God live in the light rather than the darkness, which distinguishes them from others, who are forced to grope their way through everyday, unable to see anyone else or to get anywhere at all.

 

The blacker this world’s darkness becomes, the more brilliant the light of the church should shine.

 

Exodus 10:24-28 — Devotion to God is not negotiable, it’s all or nothing. The people of God must go all the way with all they’ve got. (Exodus 8:25-28; 10:8-11) 

 

No tricky deal of the devil’s ever leads to true devotion to God. True worship always involves our separation from the world, the sanctification of our families, and the surrendering of our finances and possessions, nothing short of all of this is acceptable to God nor adoration of God.

 

Exodus 11:1-3 — The people of God were not just freed from their slavery in Egypt, but came out of Egypt highly favored, with their leader feared and themselves well-fixed.

 

The vilified and victimized people of God will one day be a hundred percent vindicated and highly valued.

 

Exodus 11:6-7 — In the day of God’s wrath, the world will wail, but among the people of God, not even a dog will woof.

 

The judgment of God is the great differentiator between the people of God and all other people, since the people of God are delivered from it and all others devastated or destroyed by it.

 

Exodus 12:1-13 — As God's former judgment of Egypt passed over His people because of their faith in the blood of multiple Passover lambs, God's future judgment of the earth will pass over His people because of their faith in the ultimate Passover Lamb. (1 Corinthians 5:7) 

 

For the salvation provided by the paschal lamb to be personally appropriated it had to be both applied personally and partaken of personally. Likewise, for the salvation provided by Christ, our Passover Lamb, to be personally appropriated it too must be applied personally and partaken of personally. 

 

The pascal lamb was to be partaken of with bitter herbs, loins girded, shoes on one’s feet, one’s staff in his hand, and in haste, so as to symbolize the swiftness by which all partakers of the pascal lamb would be delivered by God from the bitterness of bondage. 

 

 

Exodus 12:12 — The idiocy of idolatry and the impotence of idols are proven by humanity’s vulnerability to divine judgment. In one swift and fell swoop, God can shatter the most powerful of nations and sweep away all of its false gods, showing Himself to be the one and only true God. 

 

All haughty world powers will be reduced to ruins and their idols to rubble so that the whole earth will be humbled and pay homage to God.

 

"It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence." (Franklin Pierce)

 

THE 10 PLAGUES ON EGYPT WERE JUDGMENTS ON EGYPT'S FALSE GODS

 

1. WATER TURNED TO BLOOD ⏤ Judgment on Khnum, who the Egyptians worshiped as the guardian of the Nile, on Hapi, who the Egyptians worshiped as the spirit of the Nile, and on Osiris, the goddess of the underworld whose bloodstream the Egyptians believed was the Nile.

 

2. FROGS ⏤ Judgment on Heket, worshiped by the Egyptians as a frog-headed goddess of fertility.

 

3. LICE ⏤ Judgement on Geb, worshipped by the Egyptians as the god of the earth.

 

4. FLIES ⏤ Judgment on Uatchit, worshipped by the Egyptians as the fly-headed goddess of the marshes.

 

5. DEATH OF CATTLE AND LIVESTOCK ⏤ Judgment on Hathor, a goddess often depicted as a cow or wearing a headdress of cow horns.

 

6. BOILS ⏤ Judgment on Isis, worshipped by the Egyptians as the goddess of healing.

 

7. HAIL ⏤ Judgment on Nut, worshiped by the Egyptians as the goddess of the sky.

 

8. LOCUSTS ⏤ Judgment on Serapia, worshipped by the Egyptians as the protector of Egypt from locusts.

 

9. DARKNESS ⏤ Judgment on Re, worshipped by the Egyptians as the God of the Sun.

 

10. DEATH OF THE FIRSTBORN ⏤ Judgement on Pharaoh, who was worshiped, along with his firstborn son, as the human embodiment of the Sun God Re.

 

Exodus 12:21-23 — God’s judgment will only pass over us and our families if the blood of Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been applied to our hearts and homes.

 

Only the atoning work of Christ can save us from the approaching wrath of God.

 

Exodus 12:24-27 — The Passover was to be observed in a Promised Land to be possessed, because God’s salvation is only proven to our posterity by our possession of God’s promises.

 

Our children have no desire to profess what we clearly do not possess. 

 

Exodus 12:33-36 — Far from fleeing the world and plundering it, the people of God today are falling in with the world and being plundered by it.

 

The people of God today neither scare the world nor are spoilers of it, but are scared of the world and being spoiled by it.

 

Exodus 12:36 — By the time God was through with the Egyptians, they were no longer reluctant to permit Israel to leave Egypt, but more than happy to pay them to do so. The Egyptians no longer wanted to retain Israel for all time, but to be rid of Israel once and for all. (Exodus 12:39)

 

You may refuse to obey God‘s Word, but the time will come when you will wish you had!

 

Exodus 12:38 — The people of God’s march to the promised land is always made up of a “mixed multitude,” for whosoever will may come! (Revelation 22:17)

 

The only blindness in Heaven is color-blindness.

 

Exodus 12:39 — By the time God was through with the Egyptians, they were no longer reluctant to permit Israel to leave Egypt, but more than happy to pay them to do so. The Egyptians no longer wanted to retain Israel for all time, but to be rid of Israel once and for all. (Exodus 12:36)

 

You may refuse to obey God‘s Word, but the time will come when you will wish you had!

 

Exodus 13:3-5 — The Passover was a day to be remembered in a Promised Land to be possessed. It was not to be celebrated in the wilderness, where Israel wandered for forty years, but in Canaan, once Israel had possessed all that God had promised.

 

How underwhelming and unimpressive are celebrations in the wilderness, where we wander around in the middle of nowhere, wanting the faith to procure the promises of God.

 

How many sinners are impeded from inheriting God’s promises by the spiritual want and wandering of God’s saints?

 

Exodus 13:8-9 — As the heads, hands, and mouths of the Israelites were to show others, especially their children, God's salvation of them from slavery, so also out thoughts, deeds, and words, should show others, especially our children, God's salvation of us from sin. (HCSB)

 

Our failure as Christian parents to exemplify the Christian faith is chiefly responsible for the mass exodus of our children from the contemporary church.

 

Exodus 13:17-18 — How many enlist in the army of God and march out in battle formation, only to go AWOL at the first sight of a spiritual skirmish?

 

"A church should be a camp of soldiers, not a hospital of invalids." (Charles Spurgeon)

 

Exodus 13:19 — Joseph’s great faith was greatly testified to by his dying instructions for his bones to be carried from Egypt by God’s people to be buried in Canaan, God’s Promised Land. (Hebrews 11:22)

 

Like Joseph, we too should posthumously testify to others of our undying faith in God and God’s unfailing promises to us.

 

Exodus 13:21-22 — The Holy Spirit is our pillar of cloud and fire who leads us day and night through the wilderness of this world.

 

We are to be still when the Spirit is still and to move when the Spirit moves, going only where He leads us to go and doing only what He leads us to do. We must not get ahead of Him, lest we find ourselves without His presence and in the wrong places doing the wrong things.

 

Exodus 14:1-13 — To see the salvation of the Lord often necessitates the proverbial and precarious predicament of God positioning us between the devil and the deep blue sea.

 

To see the salvation of the Lord we must see a crisis in the light of God, never God in the shadow of a crisis. In other words, our problems should never get us down, but always cause us to look up. 

 

It's often when we're persuaded that we're done in that God providentially steps in and faith permanently cashes in.

 

Exodus 14:14 — Silence in the ranks is a prerequisite to God fighting for His people.

 

God will not secure our triumph until we silence our tongues; that is, stop our whining and whimpering.

 

Whining and whimpering that it's all too much is an affront to the Almighty—El Shaddai—who is more than enough!

 

Exodus 14:15-16 — Although Red Sea crossings appear to be curtains to us, they are actually God’s way of conquest for us. We must trust God for safe passage through them if we are to triumphantly emerge from them.

 

When God leads us to a Red Sea—something that looks like the end of us—overcoming faith does not come from praying on the shore, but from stepping out into the drink and summoning the courage to dare to walk through it.

 

Overcoming faith grows best on the dry ground through life's Red Seas. Our faith is strengthen with each step we take through them.

 

Exodus 14:17-18, 23-28, 31 — God is honored by the broken-down chariots and washed up corpses of the hardhearted pursuers and persecutors of His holy people.

 

A disconcerting, but nonetheless indisputable truth of Scripture is that God will be honored by the destruction of all who live in hostile defiance of Him rather than in wholehearted devotion to Him.

 

“The most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the harding of the hearts of men.” (John Owen) 

 

 

Exodus 14:19-20 — God has His people’s back, nothing can get to them without coming through Him. 

 

God’s presence, which serves as a protective partition between His people and their persecutors, is a shining light to the former and a shroud of darkness to the latter.

 

Exodus 14:21-22, 29-30 — Though it appeared to be a place of death, Israel went down into the Red Sea, only to find it a place of deliverance. They were not submerged under it and drowned, but emerged from it delivered. 

 

Not only did Israel emerge from the Red Sea with those who enslaved them destroyed behind them, but they emerged from the Red Sea with all that God had promised them lying before them.

 

The Apostle Paul teaches us in the New Testament that Israel’s following of Moses into the place of death, the Red Sea, was an Old Testament type of the New Testament’s teaching on baptism (1 Corinthians 10:1-4). First, Israel followed Moses into the Red Sea so that their old life of slavery could be buried behind them. Likewise, the Christian follows Christ in baptism to symbolize, by his immersion beneath the baptismal waters, that he has died with Christ and that his old life of slavery to sin has been buried behind him. Second, Israel followed Moses into the Red Sea so that they could emerge from it with Moses into newness of life. Likewise, the Christian follows Christ in baptism to symbolize, by being raised from the baptismal waters, that he has risen with Christ into newness of life.

 

Exodus 15:1-18 — Moses did not lead the people to sing a song about him, to one another, and for their entertainment, but to sing a song about God, to God alone, and for God’s glory.

 

Of the nearly 200 songs found in the Bible, the Song of Moses is the oldest of the Bible’s golden oldies.

 

Exodus 15:22-25 — Just as God showed Moses a tree, which made the bitter waters of Marah sweet, when Moses cried out to Him, God will show you a tree, the cross of Calvary, which will make your bitter life sweet, if you will cry out to Him!

 

I think that I shall never see anything as beautiful as a tree!

 

Exodus 15:26 —There is no better immunity from disease nor remedy for disease than JEHOVAH—RAPHA, “the Lord our Healer.”

 

“God heals, and the doctor takes the fees.” (Benjamin Franklin)

 

Exodus 15:27 — Divine Providence prepares desert rest stops on life’s wilderness highways for God's weary pilgrims.

 

No galloping gallivanters have ever needed divine rest stops more than today’s nonstop surfers of the information highway.

 

Exodus 16:1-36 — The people of God can always trust God to sufficiently meet their daily needs, not greeds, as was proven by the manna in the wilderness. There may be no surplus, but there won’t be any shortage.

 

When it rains manna from Heaven, some people reach for an umbrella and others for eating utensils.

 

Exodus 17:1-7 — The miracle of life-giving water from the rock of Meribah for thirsty souls in a sun-parched wilderness, was a signpost pointing to the coming miracle of living water for thirsty souls from the Rock of Ages in a sin-parched wold. (1 Corinthians 10:4) 

 

The center of God’s will is not detected by the want of any crisis. Instead, trials come to test whether we will remain true to God and resolved to trust Him, regardless of our troubles.

 

Exodus 17:8-16 — As Amalek continuously warred with God's people in the past to keep them from possessing God's promises in Canaan, the flesh continuously wars with God's people in the present to keep us from possessing God's promises in Christ. (Galatians 5:16-17)

 

The defeating of Amalek (the flesh) not only requires our hands being always uplifted to God, but at times, us also being upheld by the uplifted hands of others.

 

Exodus 17:15 — When the enemy thinks we’re most vulnerable, finding us in a spiritually arid place, he rushes in like a flood, only to discover JEHOVAH-NISSI, the Lord our Banner, rising up over us in His protection of us. (Isaiah 58:19)

 

Like Moses, we should pray for JEHOVAH-NISSI, the Lord our Banner, to rise up over us, so that His enemies will not only be scattered and flee before Him, but before us as well! (Numbers 10:35)

 

It’s the Lord’s perfect love for us that unfurls Him as a protective banner over us. (Song of Solomon 2:4)

 

Exodus 18:1-12 — We should pray that God's kindness to us results in our kin coming to acknowledge and worship Him.

 

Like Moses, who bowed to his father-in-law, we too should respect our elders; after all, they are to us an invaluable and irreplaceable resource?

 

Exodus 18:13-27 — Ministry to others is best propagated when it is better delegated.

 

A pastor who keep his congregation under his thumb will never have anything but a thumbnail ministry to his congregation. 

 

Exodus 19:1-2 — God’s promised sign was given to Moses after, not before, Moses had answered God’s call and accomplished his God-given commission. (Exodus 3:12)

 

Heaven is unlike Missouri, in that you have to believe it to ever see it rather than see it to ever believe it.

 

Exodus 19:3 — It’s a steep climb up the Mount of God to the Most High and few there be who ever aspire to ascend it.

 

There is, as there has always been, but a remnant of the redeemed, who aspire to live high where the air is rare. Most contemporary Christians are spiritual lowlanders, content to live out their Christian lives in gullies and gorges. Unlike the hymn writer, they have no desire to “scale the utmost height,” in order to “catch a gleam of glory bright.”

 

Exodus 19:4 — Those the Most High brings unto Himself must be miraculously borne “on eagles’ wings” to so lofty, high and holy a place. (Isaiah 57:15)

 

To come to God men must be brought by God, for only He can lift men from the depths of the degradation of sin to the heights of reconciliation with Him.

 

Exodus 19:5-6 — Although all of the people of the earth are God’s possession, His peculiar people and treasured possession are those who listen to and live out His Word.

 

The fact that America ignores and is insubordinate to God’s Word has both defiled our country and defrocked our citizenry. We have ceased to be a Christian—holy and set apart—nation populated by God’s priests—those sanctified for His service.

 

Exodus 19:9 —Until the people know that he has heard from God, no prophet will ever be known as a true prophet of God.

 

Present-day pulpits are filled with many who passionately speak God’s Word, but with few to whom the Word of God has been personally spoken.

 

Exodus 19:10-25 — While a Moses, who seeks intimacy with God, is invited up the mountain, the multitudes, who are intimidated by God, are inhibited from even coming close to it.

 

God’s intimates, who want to gaze upon God, are beckoned to come closer to God, but those intimidated by God, who want nothing but a glimpse of God, are bound from coming any closer to God.

 

Exodus 20:1-17 — The Ten Commandments were not given to show us what God is like and how we can save ourselves, but to show us what we are like and how we need God to save us.   

 

God’s law did three things for us. First, it left us guilty before God. God said don’t and we did, and God said do and we didn’t. Second, it left us without excuse. Third, it brought to us the knowledge of sin; that is, the knowledge that something is horribly wrong with us, because no matter how hard we try to do right, we habitually do wrong. (Romans 3:19-20)

 

God’s law, which brought us condemnation, was given as a schoolmaster to prepare us for the coming of God’s Son, who alone brought us salvation. The law did so by teaching us two tremendous truths. First, it taught us—imperfect sinners—the impossibility of saving ourselves by living up to God’s standard of sinless perfection. Second, it taught us our desperate need of a Savior—God’s Son—who alone could do for us what we could never do for ourselves; namely, save us from our sins by His sinless life and substitutionary death! (Galatians 3:24-25; Romans 3:19-20; 5:8-21)

 

Exodus 20:3 — We are to live for nothing besides God nor to love anything or anyone before God, lest we have another god apart from God. 

 

“If loving God with all of our heart, soul, and might is the greatest commandment, then it follows that not loving Him that way is the greatest sin.” (R. A. Torrey)

 

Exodus 20:4-6 — Anything that comes first before God or that is feared besides God is an idol.

 

To deify anything man-made is idolatry and to depict the sacred with man-made things is to profane the sacred and to commit sacrilege.

 

An individual’s indivisible allegiance to God is important to the preservation of his or her posterity, but an idolater’s posterity is imperiled when his or her affection for God is alienated by an idol.    .

 

Christianity is only one generation away from extinction!

 

Exodus 20:7 — God’s excellent name should be handled with extreme care. (Psalm 8:9)

 

All who are irreverent toward God will be required to answer to God.

 

Exodus 20:8-11 — The Fourth Commandment is broken today by all who fail to believe in Christ, who is the substance of what the Sabbath was but a shadow. (Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 4:1-13)

 

For Christians, who are at rest in Christ, who have stopped trying to save themselves through their own labors and started trusting their Lord to save them through His finished work, everyday is a Sabbath day.

 

Exodus 20:12 — It’s as important for parents to be honorable, as it is for their children to honor them. After all, no child can honor an abusive or neglectful parent.

 

No society can long endure if its parents are dishonored by their children.

 

Exodus 20:13 — The Sixth Commandment prohibits murder, not war—the defense of one's country—police action—the protection of orderly society—capital punishment—the protection of innocent lives—or self-defense—the protection of one's person and property.

 

The Sixth Commandment is neither a prooftext for pacifism nor vegetarianism.

 

Exodus 20:14 — Although infidelity is not unforgivable, it is unalterable, for the consequence of violating one’s marriage vow is the lifelong stigma that all of one’s other vows must be taken with a grain of salt. 

 

A person who is usually faithful to their spouse is utterly unfaithful, as is a person who is usually faithful to their country or to Christ. The first is an adulterer, the second a traitor, and the third a hypocrite.

 

Exodus 20:15 — The Eighth Commandment—Thou shalt not steal—confirms the property rights of capitalism, by prohibiting thieves from stealing and the state from taking one’s personal property.

 

“Property must be secured or liberty cannot exists.” (John Adams)

 

Exodus 20:16 — False witnesses are character assassins, whose sin is both abhorrent and abominable to God. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

 

The greatest threat to law and order is lack of confidence in the law, and the greatest way to undermine public confidence in the law is for the courts to allow rather than hold accountable false witnesses and to circumvent rather than champion truth and justice.

 

Exodus 20:17 — A covetous person is an idolater, since what they covet is to them an idol, an obsession that’s possession takes precedence over obedience to God. (Ephesians 5:5)

 

Covetousness impoverishes our soul by robbing us of the great gain of godly contentment and swathing us in the human rags of insatiable desires. (1 Timothy 6:6)

 

Exodus 20:18-19 — Many of God’s people today, like in Moses’ day, want secondhand religion. They don’t want God‘s Word firsthand, but secondhand. They don’t want God speaking personally and directly to them, but only impersonally and indirectly to them through others. 

 

The popularity of secondhand religion and the paucity of those who speak with God face to face, as Moses did, explains the scarcity of shining faces in our world today. (Exodus 34:29-35; Deuteronomy 34:10)

 

Exodus 20:20-21 — While a Moses approaches God, the masses always remain at a distance. 

 

You’re as close to God as you want to be!

 

Exodus 20:22-23 —Silver and gold are rivals to God that often replace Him in men’s lives.

 

Money is the only thing Jesus ever spoke about as being a direct rival to God. (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13)

 

Exodus 20:24-26 — Altars were to be plain, not ornate or exalted, lest they fail to be aids to worship and become objects of worship.

 

Many contemporary Christians are more caught up in their church than they are in Christ. They talk more about their church than they do about Christ and spend more time attending church services than attending to the service of Christ.

 

Exodus 21:5-6 — A pierced ear was the sign of perpetual slavery for a servant whose love for his master led him to voluntarily surrender to lifetime servitude.

 

All loving servants of Christ voluntarily lend Him their ear and surrender themselves to lifetime servitude.

 

The ears of Christians must ring with the voice of Christ if Christians are to live out their lives as Christ’s requires.

 

Exodus 21:12-14 — Premeditated murder is a capital offense. The perpetrator must be put to death, not only to prevent a repeat performance, but also to protect any potential future fatalities. 

 

The Bible clearly teaches capital punishment, in order to protect innocent lives by preventing murderers from becoming repeat offenders. 

 

We ignore this divine command at our own peril, as is made painfully plain in America today, where the vast majority of violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, who make up a very small percentage of our overall population.

 

Exodus 21:22-23 — Although causing a baby to be born prematurely is criminalized in Scripture, even if the baby survives, causing the death of an unborn child is condemned by Scripture as a capital offense.

 

“The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being and it is a monstrous crime to rob it of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.” (John Calvin)

 

“If the unborn is not a human person, no justification for abortion is necessary. However, if the unborn is a human person, no justification for abortion is adequate.” — Greg Koukl

 

Exodus 21:24-25 — The Scriptural law of an eye for an eye, known as “lex talionis,” which is Latin for “law of retaliation,” simply teaches us that the punishment must fit the crime.

 

Unless criminal perpetrators face punishments that fit their crimes there is no way crime can be prevented nor civilization protected.

 

Exodus 22:18 (HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible) — Sorcerers deny Divine Sovereignty by claiming to steer people's destiny by the performance of divination and the power of incantation.

 

Sorcery is no small sin, but a serious one, since divining sorcerers are specious superseders of Divine Sovereignty.

 

Exodus 22:21 — The strangers Scripture admonishes us to treat as fellow citizens are those willing to be assimilated into our culture, not those antagonistic to it and adamant to supplant it with their own. (Exodus 23:9, 31-33; Leviticus 17:8-9; 24:16; Deuteronomy 5:14; Ezekiel 44:9)

 

The Bible warns us that our nation will be devoured by fire if “the gates of [our] land shall be set wide open unto [our] enemies.” (Nahum 3:13)

 

Exodus 22:22-24 — God can make the wives and children of men who mistreat widows and orphans widows and fatherless themselves.

 

To mistreat the less fortunate is to infuriate the Most High and to assure your punishment in response to their prayers.

 

Exodus 22:25 — The prosperous should lend to the poor among God's people charitably, not for usury.

 

Lenders among God’s people should lend to their debtors generously and graciously, not greedily. Debtors among God’s people should repay their lenders gladly and gratefully, not grudgingly.

 

Exodus 23:1 (AMP Amplified Bible) — The people of God are prohibited from partnering with unscrupulous people, such as perfidious politicians, in the propagation of false narratives for ignoble ends. 

 

The prejudices and divisiveness of present-day demagoguery is not a Scripturally sanctioned means to sought-after political ends, but a Scripturally condemned sin that should be eschewed by all Bible-believing Christians.

 

“A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to believe that their government and media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the police state dictatorship it is going to get.” (Ian Williams Goddard)

 

Exodus 23:2 (AMP Amplified Bible) — The people of God are prohibited from following the crowd in the perpetration of wrongdoing or in the perverting of justice. 

 

Neither right and wrong nor truth and error are determined by public opinion. Whereas public opinion is ever-changing, truth is immutable and never susceptible to either mob rule or groupthink.

 

What is right and true is defined in the Bible, not decided in the ballot box. Right is not made wrong nor wrong made right by majority vote.

 

Exodus 23:3, 6 (AMP Amplified Bible) — Justice should neither be perverted to the advantage of the poor nor prejudiced against the poor.

 

For justice to triumph in our courts, class warfare must be thrown out of our courts. Right must prevail over wrong, regardless of whether it’s clothed in silk or in sackcloth. 

 

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (Martin Luther King)

 

Exodus 23:7 — False charges and convictions are condemned by God, to whom those guilty of them are guaranteed to answer for them.

 

You should keep yourself far away from a false accusation, lest you find yourself forced to give an account to a furious God.

 

A clear conscience is the finest armor against a false accusation.

 

Exodus 23:8 — Bribes blind judges and betray justice.

 

“Though the bribe be small, yet the fault is great.” (Edward Coke)

 

Exodus 23:9 — The strangers Scripture admonishes us to treat as fellow citizens are those willing to be assimilated into our culture, not those antagonistic to it and adamant to supplant it with their own. (Exodus 22:21; 23:31-33; Leviticus 17:8-9; 24:16; Deuteronomy 5:14; Ezekiel 44:9)

 

The Bible warns us that our nation will be devoured by fire if “the gates of [our] land shall be set wide open unto [our] enemies.” (Nahum 3:13)

 

Exodus 23:13 — God's Word must be carefully heeded in our lives and the names of false gods never heard from our lips.

 

Divided loyalty to the Lord is disloyalty and partial obedience is disobedience. 

 

Exodus 23:14-17 — Three times a year, at the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, every male in Israel was ordered to appear before the Lord, as well as outlawed from doing so empty-handedly.

 

How can we come empty-handed to the nail-scarred handed Christ, who is the substance of what the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles merely symbolized?

 

Exodus 23:20-23 — The angel sent before Israel was a Theophany or Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in Scripture, which is proven by His ability to either forgive or not to forgive sin. (Mark 2:7-12)

 

Our faithfulness to Christ makes Christ a foe of our foes!

 

Exodus 23:24-30 — The people of God should breakdown rather than bow down to what the world bows before.

 

We prohibit God from blessing us when we prostrate ourselves to the fetishes of this fallen world—position, power, possessions, and pleasure.

 

Exodus 24:1-18 — This chapter has been called the climax of the Mosaic Covenant, because it may be seen as the signing of the covenant, but not in ink, but in blood.

 

To enter into covenant with God, you must commit to, not just consider, obeying all, not just some, of God’s commandments.

 

Exodus 25:1-8 — God’s holy habitation among His people is constructed with and comprised of their wholehearted contributions to Him. 

 

We have as much of God as we want to have. The only thing keeping us from having more of Him is our failure to give Him more of us.

 

Regardless of our profession, Jesus, who knows the depth and degree of our devotion, is as committed to us as we are to Him. (John 2:23-25)

 

Exodus 25:9 — The intricate design and construction of the Tabernacle was necessitated by the fact that everything in it symbolized Christ, the substance and fulfillment of everything it symbolically and figuratively depicted and portrayed.

 

The Tabernacle was a type of Christ. It pointed to the promised coming of Emmanuel⏤"God with us." As God was once with His people in His sanctuary, where He resided among them, He is now with His people in His Son, through whose Spirit He dwells within them! (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23)

 

"The Scriptures devote more room to the description of the Tabernacle and its appurtenances than to any other single subject." (J. Sidlow Baxter)

 

Exodus 25:10-16 — The Ark of the Covenant symbolized the sinless Christ. God’s law, which was broken by man, had to be kept safely in the Ark and sinlessly by Christ; otherwise, neither the tablets of the law nor the transgressors of the law could possibly be saved.

 

If Christ had not lived a sinless life, He would have died for His own sin rather than for our sins. It was imperative, therefore, that He sinlessly preserved God’s law in Hs life, so that He could die on the cross as the propitiation for our sin.

 

READ THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

 

Exodus 25:17-22 — The Old Testament’s “Mercy Seat” is the New Testament’s “Throne of Grace,” both symbolize our salvation in Christ, since Christ mercifully saves us from what we do deserve—Hell—and graciously saves us for what we don’t deserve—Heaven. (Hebrews 4:16)

 

The Mercy Seat, where Israel’s high priest sprinkled the blood of bulls and goats on the annual Day of Atonement, was the only “seat” in the Tabernacle, since Israel’s high priest could never set down, because his atoning work for Israel’s sins was temporary and never finished (Leviticus 16:1-34; 23:26-32; Numbers 29:7-11). On the other hand, Jesus, our High Priest, has not only sprinkled His blood on the heavenly Mercy Seat in the heavenly Holy of Holies, of which the Tabernacle’s Holy of Holies was a mere earthly shadow and pattern (Hebrews 8:1-6), but has also set down afterward, since His atoning work for our sins is eternally finished (Hebrews 9:1-28; 12:2). 

 

The Ark’s cover was called a “seat,” because God was believed to be enthroned between the cherubim (1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 6:2; Psalm 80:1; 99:1). This belief stemmed from the fact that God’s Shekinah glory came down to rest above the Mercy Seat whenever God met with Moses and spoke to him from between the cherubim (Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89). The Ark’s cover was called a “Mercy Seat,” because God, who was believed to be enthroned there, delights to show mercy to all who come to Him in contrition (Micah 7:18).

 

Our salvation in Christ is so stupendous that even the angels “long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:12). This explains why the cherubim on the Mercy Seat atop the Ark of the Covenant were peering down into it, because it symbolized the salvation God wrought for fallen man that He did not work for fallen angels.

 

READ THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

Exodus 25:23-30 — The Tabernacle’s Table of Shewbread symbolized Christ as the Bread of Life, who came down from Heaven to forever satisfy the hungry souls of men. (Leviticus 24:5-9; John 6:32-35, 48-58) 

 

The bread that was always on the table of the Tabernacle, which stood before the Ark, which represented the presence of God, was called the Bread of the Presence. Here we see illustrated the illuminating truth that our spiritual sustenance is secured by staying perpetually in God’s presence and forever in fellowship with Him. 

 

It should be observed that on the table in the Tabernacle were not only plates for the shewbread, which symbolized Christ as the Bread of Life, who men may eat of and hunger no more, but also cups and pitchers for drink offerings, which symbolized Christ as the Living Water, who men may drink of and thirst no more. (John 4:10, 13-14; 6:35; 7:37-38)

 

Exodus 25:31 — God's chosen vessels, such as the Tabernacle's Golden Candlestick, have always been made of beaten gold, not moulded gold. They are fit for God's holy use by a skilled artist in a prolonged painstaking process, not easily made from a mold without thought, toil, or time.

 

The next time God goes to hammering on you, just remember it's so that He can make better use of you.

 

Exodus 25:31-40 — The Tabernacle’s Golden Lampstand, which served as its only light, symbolized Christ as the Light of the world, who serves as this dark world's only true light. (Numbers 8:1-4; John 1:9; 8:12; 9:5; 12:46)

 

In the Scripture, the Lampstand also symbolizes Christ’s churches, who as His reflection and representative, also serve as the light of the world. (Matthew 5:13-16; Revelation 1:12-13, 20)

In the Scripture, the Lampstand also symbolizes the Holy Spirit, the oil that keeps the lamp of the church burning perpetually, just as the lamp of the Tabernacle was to burn perpetually (Exodus 27:20-21; Zechariah 4:1-6; Revelation 4:5). As the light of the lamp of the Tabernacle was to never be quenched by a lack of holy oil, so also the light or lamp of the church is to never be quenched by a lack of the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19; 2 Timothy 1:6-7).

 

 

 

 

Exodus 27:9-19 — God knows that only a few will ever dare to draw near, a fact proven by the small size of the court of the Tabernacle. While there were hundreds of thousands of potential worshippers, the place of worship was only the size of half a football field.

 

If worship is the chief activity of all of Heaven, as the Bible clearly teaches, then, why is there not only so little worship, but also so few worshippers, here on earth?

 

Exodus 27:20-21 — It is only by being filled with the pure power of the Holy Spirit, which is symbolized in Scripture by the holy anointing oil, that Christians, who are the light of the world, can be kept perpetually burning.

 

When asked why people came to hear him preach, John Wesley replied that people didn’t come to hear him preach, but to watch him burn!

 

Exodus 28:1-5 — Israel's priests were chosen by birth and made conspicuous by their clothing. Likewise, God's priest today are chosen by being born again and made conspicuous by being clad in a robe of righteousness. (1 Peter 2:5, 9; Isaiah 61:10)

 

God’s priest are always made conspicuous by God, by being chosen and clothed by Him, never by their own choosing and adorning.

 

Exodus 28:6-14 — The High Priest of Israel, who interceded with God for his people, was to always bear the burden of his people on his shoulders in God’s service.

 

Intercessory prayer is not just prayed with a burden for another, but is the actual partaking of another’s burden for whom we pray.

 

READ INTERCESSORY PRAYER

 

Exodus 28:15-30 — The High Priest of Israel, who interceded for his people with God, was to always have his people on his heart in his service of God, for there is no such thing as unheartfelt intercession.

 

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” (John Bunyan)

 

“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; words without thought never to heaven go.” (William Shakespeare)

 

READ INTERCESSORY PRAYER

 

Exodus 28:30 — The Urim and Thummim were two mysterious objects kept in the High Priest’s breastplate of judgment or decision. They were used to determine the will of God, which is always a prerequisite to rendering right judgments and right decisions.

 

The Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit are the Urim and Thummim of today’s priesthood of believers. It is by them that God’s will is made manifest to us, and it is in accordance with them that our judgments and decisions should be made, as well as all of our prayers prayed.

 

Exodus 28:31-35 — Like Israel’s High Priest, Aaron, our High Priest, Jesus, also wore a seamless robe. (John 19:23)

 

The seamless robe of Christ symbolizes His sinless righteousness, which we must be clothed in to commune with God.

 

The bells on the hem of the High Priest’s robe served a dual purpose. First, they rang everyday to prove to the people on the outside that their High Priest was ministering on their behalf on the inside. Remember, the people were not only forbidden from entering the tabernacle, but also from even looking into it. Second, on the Day of Atonement, they rang to prove to the priests in the Holy Place that the High Priest was still alive in the Most Holy Place. Remember, on this single and sacred day of the year, the High Priest was allowed beyond the veil into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sins of the people by sprinkling blood on the Mercy Seat. However, he entered the Most Holy Place with one end of a rope tied around his waste. The other end was held by priests in the Holy Place. If the bells on the hem of the High Priest’s robe stopped ringing, the other priests would know that he had been struck dead by God for some mistake he had made. Therefore, they could safely retrieve his body by pulling it out from behind the veil rather than risking their lives by forbiddingly going through it.

 

Exodus 28:36-38 — The turban of the High Priest testifies to the tremendous truth that to serve God one must be set apart by God and for God, for the Hebrew word "holiness" literally means "to be both separated from the world" and "set apart for God." 

 

God’s eternal servants will be forever set apart by God and for God by the name of Christ on their foreheads, since Christ Himself is their holiness. (Revelation 22:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV)

 

READ THE PURSUIT OF HOLINESS

 

Exodus 28:41 — To serve the Lord one must be properly adorned, powerfully anointed, providentially ordained, and perfectly consecrated.

 

Many a contemporary clergyman, who sees ministry as a career rather than a calling, is running on adrenaline rather than anointing, which explains, in no small part, the contemporary church’s impotence to impact today’s profane world.

 

Exodus 29:20 — The blood of anointing was to be put on the tips of the priests' right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet.

 

Since our ears, hands, and feet are blood bought, the blood should never be bypassed by any word we hear, by any work we do, or by anywhere we go.

 

Exodus 29:31-34 — Here is an Old Testament illustration of the New Testament truth that only the priesthood of believers can partake of the sacred elements of the Lord’s Supper, which symbolize the atonement Christ made to consecrate and sanctify His present-day priests. 

 

To participate in the Lord’s Supper without having partaken of the Lord’s sacrifice is to perform sacrilege against the Lord. (1 Corinthians 11:26-29)

 

Exodus 30:1-10 — The Tabernacle’s Altar of Incense represented Christ as our High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the Father where He ever lives to make intercession for the saints. (Romans 8:27, 34; Hebrews 7:25) 

 

The Tabernacle’s Altar of Incense also represented the prayers of God’s people (Luke 1:10; Revelation 5:8; 8:3), which are not only to be perpetually offered to God (Luke 18:1; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:17), but also before God (Luke 1:8-9; Acts 10:4; 1 Thessalonians 3:9; Hebrews 4:16; Revelation 8:4) as a sweet smelling aroma to God (Psalm 141:2).

 

Exodus 30:33 — The holy anointing oil could neither be a mixture of one's own concoction nor misapplied according to one's own choosing.

 

You can neither work up the Spirit’s anointing nor bring it down whenever, wherever and on whatever or whoever you will.

 

 

 

Exodus 31:1-11 — Special talents, like spiritual gifts, are God-given by God’s grace for God’s glory. They are to be used for the purpose God gave them, so that God, not us, His giftees, will be glorified by them.

 

We should pass off all praise of us to God, our benevolent benefactor, who alone is praiseworthy.

 

Exodus 31:12-17 — The Sabbath was an Old Testament type of a New Testament truth. It was a shadow to be observed by Israel, the church in the wilderness, until the substance was obtained by the new Israel of God, the church of Jesus Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17; Acts 7:38; Galatians 6:16)

 

For Christians, who are at rest in Christ, who have stopped trying to save themselves through their own works and started trusting Christ to save them through His finished work, everyday is a Sabbath day.

 

Exodus 31:18 — God, who once wrote His law for His people on stone tablets with His finger, now writes His law on the hearts of His people with His Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:3)

 

God’s law written by His Spirit on the Christian's heart is to be worked out in God's Spirit with the Christian's hands and walked out in God's Spirit with the Christian's feet.

 

Exodus 32:1 — Israel wanted an undemanding god of their own making rather than the commandment-giving God Moses had climbed Sinai to enter into covenant with.

 

Many make for themselves a god that they can conform to their own liking, a god that does not command them, but that they can command.

 

Exodus 32:2-6 — Men often make their gold into their god, devoting themselves to it and living their lives for it, believing that their reverence of it will result in a lifetime of reveling in it.

 

Ironically, America, which trust money as its god, has “In God We Trust” printed on its money!

 

Exodus 32:7-8 — Before Moses brought God's commandments to Israel from the top of Sinai, Israel had already managed to break God's commandments at the bottom of Sinai.

 

God’s law was not so much a deterrent to sin, as it was a definer of sin. More than preventing us from sinning, God’s law proved to us that we are sinners. (Romans 3:19-20)

 

Without the net up, the lines down, and the rules enforced, anyone can claim to be a perfect tennis player, but the minute the net goes up, the lines go down, and the rules are applied, we will immediately know that we’re anything but perfect. Likewise, without God’s law we can claim to be a good or even perfect person, but God’s law proves to us that we’re anything but good or perfect.

 

Exodus 32:9-14 — Here we're presented with an excellent example of intercessory prayer. Moses appeals to God to turn from His furious wrath, in order to fulfill His Word, lest His enemies fault God for failing to do so. Effectual intercession always has God's glory for its end.

 

God brought Israel out—out of slavery in Egypt—to bring Israel in—into all of His promises in Canaan. Likewise, God has brought us out—out of slavery to sin—to bring us in—into all of His promises in Christ. Until the world sees God’s people possessing God’s promises it will be unimpressed with the people of God and unpersuaded to praise God.

 

Exodus 32:15-16 — The Word of God is both written by God and the work of God. It is therefore to be firmly held in our hands, as it was in Moses' hands, as well as fixed in our hearts and faithfully kept in our lives.

 

There will be no end to the headaches in your life if you fail to take God’s two tablets!

 

Exodus 32:17-19a — Unfortunately, the sound coming out of the church, the camp of God today, is the same as the sound that came out of the camp of Israel yesterday. It is not the sound of fighting, but of fun and frivolity.

 

The church should be a military camp, not a club for merrymakers.

 

Exodus 32:19b-20 — Moses threw down the tablets and broke them, to symbolize the people's breaking of God's law, he then burned the golden calf and ground it to powder, strew its gold dust in the stream coming down Mount Sinai, and made the people drink from it.

 

Moses, the ancient alchemist, at the laboratory of Sinai, turned the stream coming down Mount Sinai blood-red by strewing it with gold dust from the burnt and ground golden calf. Here, is one of the Old Testament’s best physical illustrations of the New Testament's spiritual truth that there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. (Hebrews 10:22) 

 

As Israel had to drink of the blood-red stream running down Sinai to be forgiven of their breaking of God’s law, we must drink of another blood-red stream coming down another mountain, one called Calvary, to be forgiven of our breaking of God’s law. (John 6:53-55)

 

Exodus 32:21-24 — In response to Moses' question—“What have you done?”—Aaron answered—“I've done nothing at all." According to Aaron, he just threw gold earrings into the fire, and the golden calf just jumped out.

 

Many a sinner, like Aaron, claims their sin is unintentional and they are unaccountable, because sin is the mere product of sheer happenstance. In other words, they can’t be held accountable for what just automatically or accidentally happens.

 

Exodus 32:25-29 —The Levites were blessed, because they were so consecrated to the Lord that they would contend for the faith, even against their own children. 

 

Unlike the Levites, the contemporary church is neither blessed nor consecrated, because it compromises the faith, in order to coddle its children, rather than contends for the faith, as it has been commissioned to do. (Jude 1:3)

 

“There is a fine line between healthy parental love and child worship. We know the latter has happened when we begin compromising God’s will for the sake of our children’s activities…Compromise always points to idolatry. It displeases God. He does not like competitors, especially when they are our children." (William Farley)

 

Exodus 32:30-33 — Successful intercessors must be wiling to not only substitute themselves for, but to also share the fate of, all for whom they intercede.

 

Moses and Esther are great examples of great intercessors, because they were willing to perish with those for whom they interceded (Esther 4:16). The Apostle Paul, however, took intercession to a whole new level, by being willing to perish in the place of those for whom he interceded, so that they could be saved (Romans 9:1-5). Still, the perfect example for us to follow, when it comes to intercession, as well as when it comes to everything else (1 Peter 2:21), is Jesus Christ, who did perish in our place so that we can be saved (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).

 

READ INTERCESSORY PRAYER

 

Exodus 32:34-35 — Sin has inevitable consequences, which may not be suffered straightaway, but will be surely suffered nonetheless.

 

The people of God are often plagued by golden calves.

 

Exodus 33:7-11 (HCSB - Holman Christian Standard Bible) — The Tent of Meeting, unlike the Tabernacle, was outside the camp, not in the midst of it. It was pitched by Moses for those, like himself, who wanted to separate themselves from the iniquity of God’s wayward people and to seek intimacy with their wonderful God.

 

Notice, the Tent of Meeting was not erected because “everyone sought the Lord,” but only for “everyone [who] sought the Lord,” for it was, as it always has been, only a few who did so. 

 

Notice, the Tent of Meeting was set up “far away from the camp,” for to meet up with God one must first move far away from the gang. No one can commune with Christ who is going along with the crowd.   

 

When Moses, the man of God, went out to meet with God, the glory of God descended on the Tent of Meeting, the people of God rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, and God spoke to Moses face to face, as one speaks to an intimate friend. No wonder the Scripture says, “There never was a prophet like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” (Deuteronomy 34:10)

 

As we learn from Joshua, Moses’s successor, remaining in God’s presence is a prerequisite to leading Gods people.

 

Exodus 33:14 — Peace is not found in the absence of problems from our lives, but in the accompanying presence of God in our lives.

 

To know God is with us, is all it takes to keep all worry from us!

 

Exodus 33:15-16 — When the presence of God is undetectable among His people, the people of God are indistinguishable in this world.

 

We should go nowhere without God, lest no one will know that we are the people of God.

 

Exodus 33:17 — Those who find grace with God and are intimate with God will have their prayers answered by God. 

 

It takes intimacy with God to intercede with God!

 

Exodus 33:18-23 — There is a place by God where we can stand on a rock, be shielded by His hand, and see for ourselves His goodness, graciousness, and glory! Unfortunately, because of the fear of it, few ever find it.

 

To catch a glimpse of God’s passing glory often necessitates the proverbial and precarious predicament of God positioning us between a rock and a hard place.

 

Exodus 34:1-4 — Unlike the first time God gave His law to Moses, the second time, Moses had to provide the tablets. Likewise, we must provide the tablet upon which God writes His law today, for today, God's law is written on hearts that are given to them. (2 Corinthians 3:3)

 

After our stony heart, like the original stone tablets, is broken over sin, God writes His law on our contrite heart, which, like Moses’ chiseled tablets, must be given to God.

 

Exodus 34:5-8 — Even though God is fabulously forgiving, He should be feared, for He will not exonerate the unrepentant, nor spare their posterity from the ramifications and repercussions of parental impenitence.

 

Unrepentant parents imperil not only their own souls, but the souls of their posterity as well.

 

Exodus 34:10  — The next time you feel God's promises are going unfulfilled and His presence in your life is unreal, remember He has made a pact with His people in which He promises to leave the whole world in wonderment of us over the wondrous works He will eventually do for us.

 

The miracles God promises to work for His people will be so marvelous as to leave no other explanation than that they are the work of God. (Psalm 118:23)

 

Exodus 34:29-35 — In the Old Covenant, which came with diminishing glory, Moses initially veiled his shining face to hide it from his frightened countrymen, but eventually veiled it to hide its fading glory. (2 Corinthians 3:7-18)

 

In the New Covenant, which has come with increasing glory, Christians are to have unveiled shining faces, which are not only to be beheld by all men, but also to be growing brighter throughout their lives!

 

Exodus 35:4-29 — The House of God is to be constructed with contributions from the people of God.

 

If a church building has a mortgage, is it God’s house or the bank’s, and is its collection taken up for its Lord or for its lenders?

 

Exodus 35:30-36:2 — God’s work at God’s house should be done by those God has appointed, anointed, and enabled. 

 

While there’s no greater delight than to serve God as He has employed, empowered, and equipped you to, there is no greater drudgery than to attempt to serve God in a way that He has not employed, empowered, and equipped you to. 

 

Exodus 36:1-40:33 — Whereas Exodus 25-30 sets forth the divine design of the Tabernacle, Exodus 36-40 details the setting up of the Tabernacle. As always, what God divinely commissions is to be detailedly carried out.

 

“God is in the details.” (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe)

 

Exodus 36:3-7 — Yesterday, the contributions of God’s people were plentiful, today they’re often paltry.

 

In Moses’ day, the people of God were suddenly stopped from giving, because the house of God had a stupendous surplus. In our day, the people of God are incessantly solicited to give, because the house of God has an invariable shortage.

 

Exodus 37:5 — The people of God were to bear the Ark of the Covenant, which represented the presence of God, wherever they went. Likewise, we too should bear God's presence wherever we go. Indeed, as Christians, we should go nowhere Christ will not accompany us.

 

A Christian should never be found anyplace where Christ would never be found.

 

READ THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

 

Exodus 40:34-35 — Israel’s previously unapproachable God on Sinai was now suddenly in their midst, proving by His presence that He was pleased with the place prepared and pitched for Him by His people.

 

Whenever God is glad in His house, His glory fills His house. 

 

Exodus 40:36-38 — Wherever the glory of God leads us is God's will for us. If where we're going won't glorify God, we shouldn't go. If what we're doing doesn't glorify God, we shouldn't do it.

 

We should follow no path upon which God will not accompany us nor be found in anyplace where God does not abide.

 

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