The Attributes of God:

Approaching God on His Terms Numbers 1-5 “But they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”                   From the beginning of creation and the placement of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, humanity has sought to define our relationship with God.  There is deep within us a desire and need to have a relationship with God, but we want to determine the relationship and want it to be on our terms.  The sin of Adam and Eve was not just a simple mistake or a simple act of disobedience.  It was an insidious attempt to overthrow God’s authority so that we could control Him.  In his classic work,  The Existence and Attributes of God , Stephen Charnock points out, “This self-love and desire of independence of God has been the root of all sin in the world.  The great controversy between God and man has been whe...

God’s Disciple and His Blessings Leviticus 26-27 “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands….I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.  I am the Lord your God.”                   Adversity is never pleasant.  When life becomes challenging, we often question God’s love and His care for us.  However, in Scripture, we find two reasons God brings adversity into our lives.  First, He brings trials into our lives to strengthen our faith. In James 1:2-4 we read, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  Second, In Hebrews 12:6, God disciplines those He loves.  He brings adversity to correct and ...

The Severity and Grace of Holiness Leviticus 16-20 “Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy.” (20:26_                   How can a sinful person stand in the presence of a holy God?  He cannot!  There is deep within every person an awareness that because of our sin, we cannot stand before a holy God. To enter into the presence of God with the guilt and stain of our sin is to face the severity of His judgment.  This was a harsh lesson that the two sons of Aaron realized.  They approached the presence of God in the Tabernacle without dealing with the guilt of their sin, and the result was the punishment of death. This brought shockwaves of fear throughout the camp.  Throughout the Scriptures, when a person came face to face with the holiness of God, their response was universally the same. It is fear and terror.  We see an examp...

Prioritizing God Leviticus 21-25 “I Am the Lord”                   It is easy to gloss over the ceremonial laws of Leviticus, regarding them as outdated and disconnected from us.  However, to do so is to fail to recognize the critical lessons they teach us about life and faith.  Throughout Leviticus 21-15, repeated phrases point to profound spiritual principles that shape our lives in the present.  As we read through the regulations of the Priests, we see repeatedly that the rituals were to remind the people of the holiness of God and their obligation to be holy people set apart for Him. “They shall be holy to their God.”  However, this holiness does not come from themselves; instead, it is a work of God.  In 21:15 and 23, we find the statement, “For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”  This points us to the most critical question of all s...

The Holiness of God and the Uncleanness of Humanity.  Leviticus 11-15 “For I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”                   How do you teach people when there are no books or written material for instruction?  You teach by using analogies and lessons that are connected to their world.  You teach by symbols and equivalences so that they can understand and communicate the lessons to others through these illustrations. The theme of Leviticus is the holiness of God.  God is intrinsically holy and pure and cannot be associated with sin and corruption.  Yet, when we look at our world, we see that everything and everyone is tainted by sin.  Sin and its stain is so extensive that there is not a single aspect of our lives, our character, or our actions that is untouched by its corruptive effect....

The Sacrifice of Christ. Leviticus 6-10 “The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it.  It shall not go out, but the priests shall burn wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it, and offer up in smoke eth fat portions of the peace offerings on it.”                   To understand how Leviticus points us to Christ, we need to understand the significance of the sacrifices but also the role of the priests.  Both pointed us to the person and ministry of Christ.  The sacrificial system points us to the significance of His death, but in the priesthood, we discover the importance of His ministry on our behalf.                     In Leviticus, we discover five different types of sacrifices that the people were to offer up to God: The burnt off...

The Requirements of a Holy God Leviticus 1-5 “The Lord said to Moses: “When a person commits a violation and sins unintentionally in regard to any of the lord’s holy things, he is to bring to the Lord as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel.”                   How can sinful people approach a holy God who is untainted by sin?  The Book of Leviticus is more than an outdated list of offerings and sacrifices that seem unconnected to the modern world.  The book of Leviticus is a signpost, a book of rituals and sacrifices designed to reveal the severity of sin and its judgment and how grace and salvation may be realized.  Perhaps more than any other book in the Old Testament, Leviticus serves as a primer of the person and work of Christ.  The gospels answer the question, “Who is the...

Preparing for the Presence of God Exodus 36-40 “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”                   Let’s be honest: God's detailed description of the intricate building of the Tabernacle will never be quoted as a person’s favorite life verse.  We quickly scan over the details, looking for something that excites us, but get lost in the in-depth description.  However, important lessons must be learned, and sometimes we miss the forest for the trees.  We get so lost in the details that we fail to grasp the vital truth it teaches.  In the description of the building requirements of the Tabernacle, we discover three invaluable life principles that we need to implement in our lives.                   First, God equip...

The Grace and Justice of God Exodus 31-35 “The Lord, The Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”                   Actions and attitudes matter.  How we respond to God and how faithful we are to live in obedience and enormous implications for ourselves and our relationship with God and future generations.                    Before the dust had settled from God chiseling the law in stone tablets, the people were already breaking the covenant.  When God declared that He was making a cove...

The Holiness of God. Exodus 26-30 “I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to me.  I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God.”                   When reading through the Bible, many passages capture our attention and challenge our faith.  However, if we are honest, some passages seem confusing, disconnected from our lives today, and (if we are honest) challenging to relate to our lives.  The description of the requirements for the building of the Tabernacle is one such passage.  As we read through the requirements, it challenges the attention of even the most ardent reader.  However, examining the passage closer reveals that it teaches us some important truths about God.  The description of the Tabernacle was more than just the building plans, i...

Salvation and Transformation Exodus 21-25 “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”                   For the modern reader, the legal regulations set forth in Exodus 22-25 seem strange and archaic, having little application to the present world. To understand the regulations and their relevance, we need to place them in the context of the Ten Commandments given in Exodus 21.  In the Ten Commandments, we find a summation of the general code of conduct that characterizes God’s people.  Even today, the brevity and scope of these simple commands are recognized for their value and applicability.  Chapters 22-25 serve as case laws that provide examples of how the Ten Commandments affect the activities and events of daily life.  For example, the command “thou shalt not murder” applies not only to the criminal act of taking another person’s...

God’s Provision, Presence, and Proclamation Exodus 16-20. “And you shall know that I am the Lord your god.”                   God desires to reveal Himself to us so that we might know Him.  Throughout the history of Israel and the church, God does not remain behind the shroud of heaven.  Instead, He continually acts to reveal Himself to us so that we might know Him.  But the knowledge that the Bible refers to is not the academic knowledge a scientist gains by delving deep into the realm of the impersonal laws that govern the universe.  That knowledge is sterile and detached.  The knowledge of God is personal and transformative.  He has revealed Himself to us so that we might know Him, that is, that we might have a personal relationship with Him so that it might transform our lives.  He desires that we know Him like we would know ...

God’s Judgment and Deliverance Exodus 11-15 “Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea.”                   Exodus 11-15 is one of the pivotal passages of the Old Testament, for it perfectly balances God's justice and judgment and His grace and salvation. We often separate the two as if they are mutually exclusive, but they are not. A God who is just and holy is a God who both forgives and judges. In the Song of Praise, in chapter 15, we see a hymn of praise that exalts God for His justice and grace.  The section begins with a pronouncement of judgment upon the Egyptians.  Their judgment was not just that they had mistreated the Jews; their judgment was a result of their refusal to accept God and His sovereign reign.   We see this specifically stated in 12:12, “And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment...

The Jealousy of God Exodus 6-10 “Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your god and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the burdens of the Egyptians.”                   In Exodus 34:14, God clearly states that He will not tolerate any rivals: “For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”  Many today want to believe that all religious lead to God and that God accepts all people regardless of who or what they worship.  However, throughout the scriptures, we find that God does not accept or tolerate any other form of worship, any other claim to be worship god that is a distortion or refusal to accept Him in the manner in which He has revealed Himself in His word.  This He made clear to the Egyptians.              ...

When Life and Faith Do Not Align Exodus 1-5 “Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did you ever send me?”                     Many times in life, our expectations of God’s activities and promises do not seem to align with our circumstances.  Sometimes, the promises of God’s blessing seem to be more of a mockery than a comfort.  Moses and the people of Israel were experiencing just such a time.  The first four chapters are filled with God’s assurance that He would bring salvation and deliverance to the people of Israel.  In 2:24-25, the people cried to God because of their bondage, and the fourfold response of God seems to give the assurance that God would act:  He heard, He remembered, He saw and took notice.”  Each of these verbs seems to radiate with the assurance that God w...