Exodus 03

   Exodus
Exodus (Revelation from God)
 From chapter 19 of Exodus to the end of Exodus God gives his people the rules and regulations by which their lives and society, their relationship with Him, and their relationships with each other would be governed.
■ God knew, even as he was giving them the law that he was giving them no way to earn salvation, but the Law is, as Galatians tells us, a tutor to bring the Jews to Christ and the knowledge and understanding that they can only rely on God for their salvation.
■ “Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.” Galatians 3:23-26
 The Israelites wanted to know the Law and said that they would do whatever God said and be faithful to His commandments.
■ “All the people answered together and said, 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do!' And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.” Exodus 19:8
■ The people were confident that they could do anything that God asked and promised to do whatever he told them to. Lets see how long that lasts!
 The Ten Commandments
■ The Ten Commandments are important and were the seminal commandments of the LORD. It often called the Decalogue meaning “The Ten Words” as they are ten commands that were first given to the nation of Israel.
● We, in the Church Age, live by faith. Therefore, there is no room for law in our lives. Often times as believers we will see the 10 commandments raised up as more important, or important for us to follow. 
● While the commandments do show us some incredibly important things about the LORD and about the way we should order our lives as believers, this is not to say that we should write these things down expecting to keep them and be blessed or break them and be cursed. We are not under law at all as believers and should not try to place ourselves under law. If we attempt to obey the 10 commandments and then think that we will be righteous before God what are we to do with all of the other commandments that we don't keep?
 We don't keep the Sabbath.
 We don't keep the sacrificial system.
 We don't keep the dietary restrictions.
 We don't keep that agricultural restrictions.
● The reality is that we are dead to Law. When Christ was crucified on the Cross every believer was crucified with Him. Law no longer has any place in our lives. Paul went so far as to tell us in Galatians that anyone who continues to try to live under any law is under a curse and if we try to do so we deny that Christ's coming had any meaning!
■ The Ten Commandments
● Trust God only (20:3,4) – “You Shall have no other gods before Me.” 
● Worship God only (20:5,6) - “You shall not make for yourselves and idol.”
● Use God's name in ways that honor Him (20:7) - “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain”
● Rest on the Sabbath day and think about God (20:8-11) - “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
● Respect and obey your parents (20:12) - “Honor your father and your mother.”
● Protect and respect human life (20:13) - “You shall not murder.”
● Be true to your husband or wife (20:14) - “You shall not commit adultery.”
● Do not take what belongs to others (20:15) - “You shall not steal.”
● Do not lie about others (20:16) - “You shall not bear false witness.”
● Be satisfied with what you have (20:17) – “You shall not covet”
■ All of the Ten Commandments are reiterated in the New Testament except for the commandment to keep the Sabbath. That is the only one that does not have a character that passes through to the Church age. All of the others have clear and powerful meaning into the life of the believer, though not as law, they show us the type of character the life Christ will manifest in us as we abide in Him.
 Governing Laws (Exodus 21-23)
■ The next chapters give basic laws by which society is to be governed.
● Laws regarding slaves
● Laws regarding personal injury
● Laws regarding theft
● Laws concerning property damage
● Laws concerning dishonesty
● Laws regarding immorality
● Laws regarding civil and religious obligations
● Laws regarding the Sabbaths and feasts
● Laws regarding conquest
 The Covenant Ratified (Exodus 24)
■ Moses comes down and shares the law with the people:
● “Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, 'All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!'” Exodus 24:3
■ Then Moses God an alter together and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord.
● “Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.'” Exodus 24:7
■ 70 of the elders of Israel were allowed to feast, along with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, in the presence of the Glory of the Lord. We are not told in what way the Lord's glory was manifested here, but we know that they were not consumed but were able to feast and rejoice in the glory of His beauty.
 The Tabernacle (Exodus 25-27)
■ The Tabernacle is referred to as the “Tent of Meeting” very often in the Old Testament and shows how important it was in the Worship of God for the Old Testament saints.
■ The Tabernacle is the place where God met the people. There were various different points of the worship involved in the tabernacle and every piece has meaning and significance to the New Testament believer. 
● The Tabernacle was made up of a outer court in the shape of a large rectangle. Immediately as one walked in would would see the alter of Burnt Offering where sacrifices were to be made. 
● The next thing one would see is a large bronze laver (like a big bowl) where the priests would have to wash themselves before entering the tent. 
● The tent where you walked into was called “The Holy Place” and would have the Table of Show Bread on the right and a Golden Lampstand on the left. These could very well be symbols of Christ and the Holy Spirit for Old Testament Saints looking forward to the coming of Christ who would take away the Sin of the world.
● The next thing one sees is the Alter of incense toward the back of the room, quite close to “the Most Holy” or the “Holy of Holies.” 
 Revelation alludes to this Alter of Incense when John writes, “Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” Revelation 8:3-5
● Finally a large curtain separated the back portion of the tent from The Holy Place. This last section was called The Most Holy place. The Ark of the covenant rested there and the chief priest was only allowed to enter once a year to sprinkle blood on the alter to atone for the sins of himself and all of the people.
● The Tabernacle is very important to us as New Testament believers. Is a place of meeting, and it is amazing that John 1:14 says, in the Greek, that “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we saw His glory, glory as the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
■ The Ark
● The Ark of the Covenant contained a golden pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded (when God chose Arron among the elders to be his high priest, he made had all of the elders leave their staffs out over night, and Aaron's budded showing that He, and his tribe after him, were chosen to be the priest's of God.) as well as the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments on them. This is a constant reminder of God's provision for Israel.
● On the lid of the Ark (which was a large box) were two winged angels kneeling so that their wings touched over the middle. This was called the “mercy seat” or “the place of atonement” which was where the blood was to be put once a year for the atonement of sin. This was yet another foreshadowing of Christ's perfect sacrifice.
■ The High Priest
● The High Priest was given special garments to wear when he was serving the purpose the Lord had for him. There were several interesting facts about this priest:
 He had to be from the tribe of Levi
 Over the regular priestly cloths he wore an ephod, or a two piece apron.
 He also wore a breastplate of judgment with twelve precious stones (one for each of the tribes of Israel.
 The High Priest was the one who was in charge of seeing that all of the worship went to plan
 The High Priest was the one who would sacrifice to the Lord on the Day of Atonement and go sprinkle The Mercy Seat with Blood.
■ Christ shows himself to John in Revelation wearing this garment of Judgment. The Hebrew readers knew what that garment meant. It shows us that Christ first coming was one of sacrifice and sanctification, however his next coming will be a judgment on the world and the Jews who rejected Him as God's Messiah.
■ Hebrews tells us that Christ is not a priest in the order of Levi, which is a temporary priesthood gained by birth and lost at death, but rather a priest in the order of Melchizedek, being an eternal priesthood.
 How Long Did that Promise Last? (Exodus 32-33)
■ While Moses was up on the mountain that was surrounded by the Glory of God the Israelites lost faith that he would even come back down and sinned greatly.
■ They coaxed Aaron into taking their gold and melting it down into an idol of a golden calf which they would then take back to Egypt and ask to be taken back as slaves. 
■ When the calf was made they sacrificed to the calf and had a drunken orgy around it. This was the pit of disgusting man-made religion. 
■ Moses came down and broke the calf. Gathered the faithful to himself, told them to strap on swords and went through the camp killing many of the people who had defiled themselves with idol worship. 
● This may seem harsh and shocking to us, but it is important to realize that the stakes are incredibly high here. This is not sweet little walk in the park, but rather an serious and grievous offense to God. Those who were rebelling against Him had to be removed or they would have kept the whole group from having fellowship with the Lord. 
● Though we will never be called to take this type of serious action in the Church it does show us what our attitude should be in regards to the things that keep us out of fellowship with the Lord. We are not to just tolerate the sin and evil in our lives, catering to the every whim of the sin nature. But we are to count ourselves dead to it and run from anything that would separate us from our relationship with the Lord.
● “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead though the glory of the Father so we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:1-4
 Renewed Covenant and God Moves In (Exodus 33:40)
■ The people repented, and Moses pleaded for them, God then spared the people.
■ In another great example of prayer Moses interceded for the people. He prayed that God would spare them on the basis of His Glory. 
■ God knew that he would not destroy the people but wanted Moses to intercede for them, thus the people were saved and saw even more of the patience and kindness of God who would allow this ragtag bunch to lose faith at every turn and yet still, He is faithful to them. HE is still faithful to his promise.
Take Home
This book is filled with Christ and His love and mercy. We are so deeply blessed that we get to know the redeemer who shed his own blood to bring us to Him. Not only so, but we are able to meet with him continually through prayer and the reading of His word. We have an ongoing availability of fellowship with Him. Ephesians 2:18 says that Christ gives us an official introduction (translated “access” in many translations) to come before the Father and meet with him. Furthermore, “if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13) and even our sins that we commit until we are conformed to His image are forgiven, and our fellowship with him can always be restored. 
For if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9