Moses

Prayer as a Theological Problem

/ davidsschrock

Moses Prayer: A Problem in the Making

Moses’ prayer not only provides a powerful example of intercession; it also presents a major theological problem: Does Prayer Really Change Things?

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the text makes Moses look like the good guy—the one who is emotionally stable–while God himself, looks like the bad guy.  To our twenty-first century sensitivities the impassible God looks bi-polar. Yet, such a reading misses the point and misunderstands God. Nevertheless, Exodus 32-34 is a hard one for understanding God’s relationship to the world. How should we understand Moses’ prayer and its effect?  Does he really change God’s mind? Let me make a couple observations.

  1. God is Moses’ maker.  He gives him life, breath, and everything else. As Moses learned in Exodus 4:11, God makes man mute or able to speak.  Voicing his prayer depends on God.
  2. YHWH sends Moses to be Israel’s mediator.  Thus, if Moses is advocating for Israel, it is because he is fulfilling God’s will for him. In other words, God’s pronouncement of judgment is matched by his provision of a mediator.
  3. Moses prayer is based on God’s previous promises.  Moses is only doing what God has previously revealed, commanded or promised. He is not opposing God; he is obeying God. His prayer flows from God (and his Word) back to God.

Letting the Whole Counsel of Scripture Speak

These observations are a start, but they don’t get us all away around the track.  We need a more full understanding of how God can both answer prayer and initiate prayer.  Fortunately, the doctrines of salvation and the Trinity give help.

First, Prayers do not shake the heavens, unless God has first saved us.Only those prayers offered by Christians who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ are acceptable to God.  Only those who know God and are known by him can offer effective prayer—can pray according to the will of God. Thus, prayer depends on God, and his saving initiative. This is true for the believer today, and for Moses who was a man called by God and given the Holy Spirit (cf. Num 11:16ff).

Second, prayer that is powerful and effective is Trinitarian.  The Father receives our prayers through the Son.  In Exodus, this is foreshadowed, where Moses himself is a type of Christ, interceding for his people.  In this way, Moses, who is human and not divine, is thrust into an office that is intended for the God-Man Jesus Christ. So, our prayers are powerful as they are lifted to the Father, through the Son.  But what of the Spirit?  Looking for help in all the Scripture, we find that we must pray “in the Spirit.”  We find this stated twice in the New Testament (Eph 6:18; Jude 20) and explained in Romans 8:25-26.  So lets read:

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

If we listen to what Paul is saying, the Spirit is the one who directs and empowers our prayer. Indeed, we cannot pray apart from the Spirit.  Prayer that is pleasing to God is initiated and guided by the Holy Spirit, which means that prayer mysteriously puts the believer somewhere between the Spirit and the Son on the way to the Father.  We do not become part of the Trinity, but when we pray we are participating in a spiritual dance of sorts with the Triune God. Therefore, true prayer is necessarily Trinitarian, and thus all the prayers of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons, and New Age Spiritist are worthless.  The Living God rejects them all.

Back to Exodus

So what should we say? Does Moses change God’s mind?  Yes and No.

Yes, Moses prayer changes things.  Verse 12, Moses asks God to “relent” and verse 14 confirms that God “relented.”  I fully believe that if Moses had not prayed, God would not have relented and Israel would have been wiped out.  Moses prayer was instrumental.  But did it change God?

No, Moses doesn’t change God or what God was going to do.  On the surface, it looks like God got mad, Moses stepped in the middle, and saved Israel by changing God’s mind.  But that is a very man-centered view. It makes God little better than a moody old man.

Still better: Moses prayer, while it is genuine, real, and passionate, is also Scripted.  The sovereign God who answers his prayer, also gives him his prayer.  That is to say that God sent Moses to intercede for Israel.  God circumcised Moses heart and gave him a passion for his people.  And then in this moment, Moses responded to the circumstance by pleading God’s mercy.

Maybe you are saying, “I still don’t understand.  How can Moses prayer be free and effective, and Scripted?” Let me take one more stab at it, again recruiting the analogy of other Scriptures.

  1. His prayer is not based on his own inventive reasoning.  Everything he says is based on God’s previous promises.  In this way, the Script is the Scripture.  God’s word, written on his heart.
  2. As we read the testimony of Romans 8, we learn that when we pray, God helps us, and gives us the words.  This is true in the OT and the NT.  So, he is praying by the Spirit.  Confirmation of this is seen in Numbers 11, when it says Moses is filled with the Spirit.
  3. Further testimony in the Bible says clearly that God knows the words that we will speak long before they cross our lips (Ps 139:4).  But even more amazing is that Scripture doesn’t say that God just knows our speech, he gives it to us.  Proverbs 16:1, “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.”
  4. Going one step further, since the mouth speaks what is in the heart (Matt 12:34), God must also be in charge of what is in the heart; which is confirmed in Proverbs 21:1, when Solomon records, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD, he turns it wherever he will.”

In the end, some may say, this is too deep, too mysterious.  And I agree that it is mysterious.  But I disagree that it is too deep.  God made you to go deep with him (Prov 25:2), and the reason why so many Christians are bored in church and flirt with pornography, gambling, and materialism is because they have never gone deep with God.  Here is the truth, as we go deep with God, the sovereign Lord who made us and redeemed us will fills us with joy eternal, and he will give us power to say no to ungodliness.  Moreover, he will enervate our prayer with life like we have never before experienced.  Moses prayer is a theological problem, but it is one worth thinking about deeply because it reveals so much of God.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

True Confession: When “I’m Sorry, I Messed Up” Isn’t Enough

/ davidsschrock

How often have you heard or said, “Yeah, I know I messed up. I’m sorry.  I don’t know how it happened. I’ve got issues.”

This language is typical in our day, when as a culture we have abdicated responsibility, absorbed psychology as a means of explaining sin issues, and abandoned God’s perspective on guilt and forgiveness. Sadly, this kind of thinking is just as rampant in the church as in the world.

Confession, which is an integral part of the Christian life, has become less of a transaction of offense confessed and offense forgiven.  It has instead become, or it at least it appears often, as an excuse-laiden, cross-less, appeal for acceptance.  But is this new?  Not really.  In Exodus 32, we find in Aaron the age old problem of a false confession.

Exodus 32:22-24

After the golden calf is destroyed, Moses turns his attention to Aaron and the people. Like a lawyer before the judge, Moses questions the accused. In v. 21, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” Aaron’s answer echoes that of Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Verse 22.  Aaron blames Israel for their evil. Which is true.  But it seems that he uses their wickedness as a shield from his own law-breaking.

Verse 23.  Then he recites the demands of the Israelites.  Further adding to their guilt.  Now, notice for a moment who is saying this—it isn’t a commoner in Israel; it is the priest.  The one who is supposed to remove guilt, not add to it.  Moreover, one wonders if Aaron uses the people’s words about Moses absence from camp to insinuate his own guilt in the episode.  For, if Moses had been there, none of this would happened.

Verse 24. Then finally he gets to his part. Instead of admitting the active role he had in “making” the calf, he shows surprise in how this beast was fashioned.  Paraphrased, it sounds like this “I threw the gold into the fire, and out popped this calf.”

It is easy to point at Aaron, or even to laugh at the ridiculousness of his excuse, but we should be quick to notice how similar we are to Aaron.  Paul says we are to learn from the counter-example of Israel (1 Cor 10:1-11), and thus God uses Aaron’s ridiculous confession to show us what confession is not.

Five Attributes of False Confession and True Confession

(1) Confession does not name others first; it takes the first step to admit wrong. There is no place in confession for pointing to the faults of others as contributing factors.  It is satisfied to single our self, and to deal with the Lord and others, without pulling others into the mix.  Though Scripture models corporate confessions–one thinks of Nehemiah or Daniel–personal confession has no business finding comfort in the sins of others.

(2) Confession does not blame-shift; pointing out the sins of others.  It points to self. It is not looking for a scape-goat or an external reason for the moral failure or relational offense.  There is no need to load our sins on anyone else, because for Christians, Christ has already taken that sin on the cross.  Thus confession gives us another reason to rejoice in sin pardoned.

(3) Confession does not simply claim that wrong was done; it is admitting your part. Unlike Aaron, who passively recounts the events of the golden calf, true confession steps up and says, “I am the man. Forgive me.”

(4) Confession does not aim to save face; it is looking to see the face of Christ again. With Christ and his cross in view, it always sees the penalty of sin as a bloody cross; but it also remembers that the greatest sin has been covered by the greater grace of God in Christ (Rom 5:20).  Thus, it frees us to confess even the most miserable and atrocious sins, because in Christ they have been fully forgiven.

(5) Confession is not a lame ‘yeah, I’m sorry,’ It demands a spirit of contrition & brokenness, and willingness to do anything to bring about reconciliation. It abandons personal rights, and is willing to suffer hardship to make-peace.

(6) Confession does not simply retell the shame, it agrees with God that the act, thought, speech, motive, pattern, etc was a sin, and then it boldly claims the blood of Christ as the once for all atonement for that hell-deserving sin.  

Confession that is true reiterates our belief that we are more sinful than we ever knew, and that Christ as our mediating high priest is more sufficient than we ever imagined. It is prompted by the Spirit and leads to forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1:9).  It comes from a heart that has seen sin the way God sees sin; it cannot be manufactured, it is a gift from God.

In short, it is part and parcel of the Christian life, one that is illumined by God’s word and directed by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.  For truly born again Christians, it should not be an irregular activity or something initiated by a pastoral reminder.  It should be a daily, even moment-by-moment offering to the Lord.

Still, with all that said, I wonder how many Christians do confession much like Aaron. I am concerned that many “Christians” play church–that confession, repentance, and reconciliation are not part of their daily lives.  And thus, their professed Christianity is nothing like the real thing.  Instead of a genuine relationship with Jesus, programs and platitudes have sufficed.

Ask yourself: How often do I make confession to the Lord, and to others?  Is it a regular practice of my life, one stimulated by the Spirit?

Jesus is clear. Those who are forgiven will forgive; and those who are convicted will confess. This is not optional; this is the normal Christian life.  God’s love confronts us and calls us to regularly confess sin and seek restoration with God and others, and Aaron’s errant confession teaches us that “I’m sorry, I’ve got issues,” just doesn’t cut it.

Lord pour out a Spirit of grace and pleas for mercy on your church and on me.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

 

Arguing With God: Prayer That Is Based On God’s Promises

/ davidsschrock

Exodus 32:1-10 sets the context for Moses’ intercessory prayer in verses 11-14.  Israel’s rebellion invokes the wrath of God, and now YHWH’s appointed mediator, Moses, steps into the gap between God’s holy wrath and Israel’s rightful destruction.   He “implores” God for mercy. But what is striking is the way he does it.

He does not plead leniency based on Israel’s ignorance, or relative goodness.  He doesn’t minimize the sin.  He doesn’t offer some kind of obnoxious statement like: “Deep down they are good people.”  That kind of speech has no place in the mouth a Bible-believing Christian.  Israel is not good.  Like the rest of humanity (Rom 1:20-32), they are covenant-breaking, rebellious idolaters.  They deserve death, and so do we.

So what does Moses say?  How could he possibly gain the hearing of God, when his law has been violated and his wrath is smoldering?  The text records that Moses pleads for mercy based on God’s character and covenant faithfulness.  In his prayer, he teaches us how we should pray and intercede before God’s throne. Notice three things:

Moses argues for God to finish his work of redemption (v. 11).  Whereas God distances himself from his people in verse 9, Moses (in a manner of speaking) reminds the Lord that Israel is “his people” and that no matter what they have done the Sovereign Lord is the one who “brought [them] out of Egypt with great power and with a might hand.”  Failure to finish the task would imply that he couldn’t rule these obstinate people or worse, he wouldn’t lead this people.

Moses appeals to the reputation of God in the world (v. 12).  Then, Moses appeals to God’s desire to be known among the nations. Nearly a dozen times, Moses records in Exodus that God’s purpose in saving Israel was to make known to the nations his name and renown. In truth, the world exists as a stage for God’s glory to be displayed.  Moses, knowing this, tells God to relent, to change his mind so that his reputation would not be ruined.

Moses asks God to remember his covenant (v. 13).  As we have seen previously in Exodus, God’s love for Israel is based on his previous election of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God had made lavish promises to these patriarchs, and Moses is simply appealing to YHWH: Do what you said you would do.  You promised offspring, so give life, not death; You promised land, so bring them into the land; you promised your blessing; so don’t curse Israel.

In these verses, we find a key to effectual prayer.  It is what George Mueller, the great man of answered prayer, called “Holy Argumentation.”  Modeling his prayers after Moses and the other great men of prayer in the Bible, Mueller described the way we must approach God,

[Like Moses] We are to argue our case with God, not indeed to convince Him, but to convince ourselves. In proving to Him that, by His own word and oath and character, He has bound Himself to interpose, we demonstrate to our own faith that He has given us the right to ask and claim, and that He will answer our plea because He cannot deny Himself.

But of course such praying requires spade-work in the Scriptures.  His biographer, A.T. Pierson, tells us of how Mueller read the Bible: As he opened God’s word, he was looking for “promises, authorized declarations of God concerning Himself, names and titles He had chosen to express and reveal His true nature and will, injunctions and invitations which gave to the believer a right to pray and boldness in supplication.”  He was a man on a mission, to see God, and to pray according to his own revelation.  Mueller did not pray according to his feelings or according to what he wanted; he prayed according to God’s revealed will.  The result was legendary, because he had learned to pray from Moses himself.

May we learn to pray with such Scriptural confidence, arguing from God’s Word for God’s Word to be effective in the world.  Our hope is not in his leniency, but in his steadfast love.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss


Sermon Notes: Exodus 34:6-7 In Biblical-Theological Context

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

The Context of Exodus 32-34

Exodus 32-34 are at the center of the tabernacle section (Exodus 25-40).  They function as a break between the instructions (25-31) and the construction (35-40). But the break is not just literary, it’s relational.

After all that God has done for Israel—remembering them in Egypt, redeeming them from slavery, making his covenant with them—Israel returns the favor by committing spiritual adultery.  In Exodus 32, God’s people make a graven image, and bow before it.  This invokes God’s wrath, but it also sets the stage to display YHWH’s mercy and grace.

Exodus 34:6-7 is the capstone of this passage, and in these two electric verses, we find the center of Old Testament Theology in God’s revelation to Moses (see Jim Hamilton, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment for a full development of this idea).  These verses are programmatic for the rest of the Bible and they read,

The LORD passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

To know our God, it is vital to understand these passages in context and content. To better acquaint ourselves with this passage, notice three ways that God’s revelation on Sinai functions much like the cross in the New Testament.

1. Like the cross of Christ, these chapters show God’s mercy and his justice. Like a perfect kaleidoscope, they radiate the colors of God’s severity and kindness (cf. Rom 11:22).  In the New Testament, wrath and mercy meet at the cross; in the Old Testament they meet here.

2. Like the cross of Christ, the role of Moses is that of God-given Mediator.  In other words, he stands between God’s holy wrath and Israel’s rebellious sin.  In this way, as he pleads for mercy, he foreshadows Christ.  But lets not make the mistake that Moses or Christ change God’s mind; in both cases, the God who metes out perfect justice, also sends his a mediator to plead for pardon.  In this, there is the beautiful mystery that God who seeks to destroy Israel, is first the God works to save them.  He listens to Moses’ prayer, because he sent Moses to pray.

3. Like the cross of Christ, this episode shapes the rest of the OT (and NT). Exodus 34:6-7 is quoted throughout the rest of the Bible, and gives shape to all that follows.

This verse is picked up in places like Num 14:18. When Israel rebels against Moses, Moses quotes Exodus 34:6-7 in full as he pleads for Israel’s pardon. In the Psalms, it is often cited to remind Israel of God’s gracious character (cf. 86:15; 103:7).  But in the prophets, Nahum stresses God’s wrath: “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet” (1:2-3). Even Jonah quotes the verse, saying it was this reason that he did not go to Nineveh, because the reluctant prophet knew God would forgive them if they repented.

Exodus 34:6-7 is so programmatic because of the way it expresses God’s relationship with the world.  YHWH is unchanging (Mal 3:6), yet people are not.  Thus, God has made a world in covenant with him.  Which means: Those who keep covenant will receive grace, mercy, and forgiveness (thru atonement).  However, for those who reject or ignore him, he loathes. His anger burns red-hot. His patience is slow, but not infinite.

Finally, Exodus 34:6-7 is fulfilled in Christ himself. In John 1:14, the beloved disciple introduces Christ saying, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  The connection with Exodus 34:6-7 is in the last phrase.  The God who is abounding in steadfast love (hesed) and faithfulness (emeth) is fully revealed in Christ who is full of grace (charis) and truth (aletheia).

This is our God.  Though, Scripture reveals him progressively over time, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  The Old Testament God and the New Testament God are not juxtaposed, rather, as I recently heard D. A. Carson say, the New Testament vision of God is simply more clear and precise–this is true with God’s love and his justice.

May we this week, worship the God of Sinai and Calvary, and learn to know him in his faithfulness to forgiveness and judge.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Christ’s Priestly Garments (Exodus 28)

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

Read by itself and without understanding how it fits in the larger narrative of Exodus and the rest of the Bible, Exodus 28 sounds like a cross between a jeweler’s catalogue and a tailor’s procedural manual.  If seen in this way alone, it can make Exodus 28 feel unfamiliar and unimportant.  However, what Exodus 28 does for the Christian is give a colorful explanation of what Christ has done for his saints.  It lists a number of priestly garments worn by Levitical priests, and it foreshadows a number of important things that Christ did when he assumed the mantle of a priest greater than Aaron.

Today, we will consider the priestly garments in the order they appear in Exodus 28.

The Ephod

In the Bible, ephods are typically involved in the process of worship—true worship and false (cf. Judges 18:14-20).  In Exodus 28, God gives Israel the true ephod for worship.  It was a royal apron, as R. K. Harrison describes it,  “a sleeveless vest, which fitted close to the body and may have extended somewhat below the hips.” It was made of the finest fabrics–“gold, blue, and purple and scarlet yarn, and fine twined linen”–materials that matched the make up of the tabernacle.  In other words, when the priests came into God’s house, they had to dress for the occasion.

Significantly, the ephod is fastened to the high priests body by two onyx shoulder pieces.  And on each of these of shoulder pieces are the names of Israel’s twelve tribes—six on one shoulder, six on the other.  What were they for?  “They were a reminder that Aaron served God as high priest, not for his own benefit, but on behalf of the Israelites” (T. D. Alexander, From Paradise to Promised Land, 198).

Breast Piece of Judgment

On top of the ephod was the “breastpiece of judgment.”  Like everything else, it was a “skilled work,” one that corresponded to the ephod—literally, “in the style of the ephod,” Moses was to make the breastpiece “of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it” (verse 15).

The shape of the breastpiece is square and sits in the middle of the chest—over the heart.  It is doubled, or folded over, so that the Urim and the Thummim may be placed in the breastpiece (v. 30).  Now on the breastpiece are 12 stones—four rows of three.  Verses 17-21 describe it like this,

A row of sardius, & topaz, carbuncle shall be the 1st row; the 2nd row an emerald, a sapphire, & a diamond; the third row a jacinth, an agate, & an amethyst; & the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree. There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes.

These precious stones indicate the value of God’s people in eyes of God, but God’s love is not mere sentimentality; it is effective.  The names of the tribes of Israel indicate the way the priest represents the people before God.  As verse 29 states, “So Aaron shall bear the names of sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the LORD.”  The breastpiece then is not simply for glory and beauty; it serves the purpose of mediating God’s blessing towards Israel, and protecting God’s covenant people from imminent danger.

Urim and Thummim 

The function of this breastpiece is also seen in verse 30, “And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes before the Lord.  Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly.”   No one definitively knows what these are.  When they are mentioned in Scripture they are involved in decision-making and discerning the will of God. For instance in 1 Samuel, when God does not respond to Saul because of Saul’s foolish leadership, to determine where the fault lies, he employs the Urim and Thummim.

Therefore Saul said, “O LORD God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, O LORD, God of Israel, give Urim. But if this guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim.” And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped (14:41).

Robe  

Under the ephod, Aaron was to wear a robe.  More than ephods, robes appear throughout the Bible: They were usually adorned by people of rank; they symbolized authority and/or status; kings often adorned robes as did their court and their brides. In short, robes function as a status symbol.  Think of Joseph’s multi-colored robe.  Such is the case with priests.  These men are the chosen instruments of blessing and mediation in Israel.  Their apparel and adornment–especially the high priest as he served–reminded Israel of their important role.

In the NT, this imagery continues.  For instance, Jesus in Revelation is clothed in a royal robe (1:13; 19:16).  And so are his people (6:11).  All those who trust in Christ, will be clothed in royal, maybe even priestly garments (3:18).  In fact, in Revelation, the book is filled with royal priests—Christ is the priest who now reigns as king; and all of his people are blood-bought royal priests.  

So in Exodus, the robe demonstrates the especially favored position of the priest, who has intimate (though dangerous) access to God’s royal throne.  The robe itself has bells on it.  Some have said this was to announce his coming into God’s presence, but this seems a little odd.  He doesn’t need to be warned of what he already knows.  Rather, it points to another reality, namely that the tinkling of bells announces the sacrifice is being effected.  Verse 35: “It shall be on Aaron when he ministers, its sound shall be heard when he goes into the Holy Place before the Lord, & when he comes out, so that he does not die

Turban

There rests on Aaron’s head a turban.  Like everything else, it is made for beauty and glory, but the beauty and glory are not limited to the visual.  There is a gold plate on the forehead that says much about what the high priest achieves as he makes atonement.  Douglas Stuart explains, “The gold forehead plate was not primarily decorative but apparently symbolized Aaron’s role as representative of the people in the process of atonement (v. 38).”  To say it another way, the work that Aaron did on behalf of Israel achieved or maintained their holy standing.

In Exodus 19:6, Israel is called to be a holy nation.  They are not naturally holy.  They, like us, are a sinful people.  The question is: How can they be holy?  The answer: God’s holiness is imparted to them by the priest.  As the Exodus 29 shows, Aaron is consecrated and made holy, but even more his service purifies the people of Israel from their sins, which defile them and make them unholy.

This is a beautiful picture of the way God cleanses sinners from the acts and attitudes that defile them.  This is true in part in the Levitical system; this is increased infinitely in Christ.

The Coat and Under Garments

Finally, not only are the external garments holy unto the Lord, but his undergarments are as well.  Verse 39 describes a fine linen coat that would have been up against the body, that the priest would have worn.  And verses 40-43 describe a holy undergarments for the purpose completely covering the nakedness of the priest.

While it may seem strange to us that Exodus includes this mention of nakedness.  It reminds us that from Genesis forward, man is not innocent.  While in the Garden Adam was naked and unashamed, now mankind’s nakedness is a mark of shame and impurity before the Lord.  Because of our sin, all humanity is in need of holy apparel–clothes that man cannot manufacture, but rather that must come from the Lord (cf. Isa 61:10; Rev 3:18).

Overall, Exodus 28 is a wonderful picture of the way God clothed the priest in Israel, such that this sinful man could come into the presence of the Lord and atone for the rest of Israel.  But still this doesn’t touch the rest of humanity or people today.  So, in the days ahead, we will see how these garments point to Christ and apply to believers who have been clothed with Christ and his righteousness.  In this way, Exodus 28 helpfully shows us our shameful nakedness before God and the way that God has intended to clothe us once and for all.  Stay tuned!

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Sermon Notes: The Tabernacle as God’s Meeting Place

/ davidsschrock / 2 Comments

A Tent of Meeting

The holiness of God in his sanctuary is matched by the plan for God to meet with his people at the tabernacle.  Now to avoid confusion, it should be said that later, in Exodus 33:7-11 to be exact, there will be a tent constructed that is called the “tent of meeting.”  This is not the same thing as the tabernacle.  This is a temporary meeting place where Moses met with God, but this was only to last until the tabernacle was constructed.  Still, the purpose was the same—to meet with God.

In Exodus 25, there are two verses that make this meeting place explicit.

25:8. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

25:22. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

While the meeting place plays a significant role in the life of Israel, it also helps Christians today to understand the kind of relationship that we have with God in and through Jesus Christ.  Let us notice three ways that the tabernacle in Exodus foreshadows Christ–the true tent of meeting.

Jesus is the True Tabernacle

That God instructs Moses to build this tabernacle foreshadows God’s loving desire to meet with rebellious humanity.  In this way, the tabernacle is an incredible source of encouragement.  God who dwells in heaven, has moved heaven and earth to reach down to us.  When we could not get up to him; he climbed down the ladder to get to us.

John sees this tabernacling impulse of God in Jesus Christ.  John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us… full of grace and truth.”  The word for “dwelt” is literally “tabernacled.”  In Jesus, we have a greater tabernacle, one made without human hands, in which the fullness of God dwells bodily (Col 2:9). Likewise, John says that Jesus is full of grace and truth, which also references Exodus, for in chapter 34, God “appears” to Moses and describes himself as a God as “abounding in steadfast love (grace) and faithfulness (truth).” 

When we read about the tabernacle, we cannot comprehend fully its significance without seeing that it is the shadow of the substance of Jesus Christ.  Yet, in the tabernacle, we don’t just have a general connection between the tabernacle and Christ, it also gets more specific.

The Incarnation

In Exodus 25, there are three kinds of furniture.  In verses 25:10-22, Moses receives directions for constructing the ark of the covenant.  In verses 23-30, a blueprint for the table for the bread of the presence is given; and in verses 31-40, the golden lampstand, otherwise known as a Menora is given.  Each are covered with gold and placed inside the residence of God.  Now while the gold speaks of the value and worth of the deity who inhabits this home, the three pieces of furniture—a seat, a table, and a light—were the common furnishing of the ancient Israelite.

When God comes to dwell with Israel, he assumes the same humble residence as those in the wilderness.  Though not incarnation in the New Testament sense of the term, this is a kind of incarnation that prepares the way for the true Immanuel.  His gracious condescension meets us where we are, and he becomes just like us.  He is not just a God transcendent.  He is a God close, personal, and as near as the hearing of his word.

We see the incarnation in another way as well.  On the inside of the tabernacle are beautiful colors—scarlet, blue, and purple.  Everything is covered in gold.  It shines forth the glory of God.  Yet, from the outside, the temple is drab.  The beautiful garments on the inside are covered by the black curtains of goats hair.  While the light burns eternal inside the tabernacle, all outside is dark.

Again this teaches us much about the life and ministry of Christ.  When he came to the earth, he did not come in power, glory, or beauty.  Rather, he became a common carpenter.  If you saw him in a crowd, he would not have had a radiant glow or a halo over his head.  He was plain and common.  He was human.  So common was his appearance that Isaiah can say, “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should rejoice him” (53:2).

This is the antithesis of our culture and the world at large.  In our world, image really is everything.  Have you ever see an ugly person on the news?  What about on the cover of a magazine?  On TV?  We are a culture who has confused glamour for beauty.  I would go so far as to say that we know little of  what true beauty is.  The tabernacle is a corrective for this.  God’s dwelling with humanity is beautiful.  Yet, from an earthly point of view it is unimpressive.  Such is the wisdom of God.

Atonement  

Not only does the tabernacle point us to Christ’s incarnation, it also foreshadows and explains his atonement.  We see this in the altar and the mercyseat.

The Bronze Altar.  Standing in the center of the courtyard, the priests could not enter the tabernacle without passing this giant altar.  As T.D. Alexander describes it, “this altar dominated the area in front of the tabernacle; it was half the width of the tabernacle (2.5 metres) and over 4 feet high” (T.D. Alexander, From Paradise to Promised Land, 200). It was constantly burning with sacrifices, and as Hebrews picks it up, it teaches us how much more valuable Christ’s New Covenant sacrifice was than all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood (Heb 13:10-12).

The Mercy Seat.  In addition to the altar that stands outside the tabernacle, there is the mercy seat that rests inside God’s inner chamber.  It was here that God dwelled, and significantly it was a place where mercy might be found.  Though a series of purification rituals were needed for the priest to come into the most holy place once a year on the day of atonement, it was nonetheless a place of mercy and grace in time of need (cf. Heb 4:14-16).

Significantly, the name “mercy seat” is translated in Greek by the word, hilasterion, which is the word translated in English as “expiation,” “propitiation,” or “atoning sacrifice” (see Graham Cole for an up to date, careful, and evangelical reading of hilasterion in the New Testament in his God the Peacemaker).  That the the mercy seat is the place where God’s wrath is removed and replaced with his favor is significant; more significant however, is the way in which that propitiation is procured.  It is by the blood of the lamb that is sprinkled on the throne of God.  In the Old Covenant, this atoning sacrifice permitted God’s people to dwell in his presence.  It protected Israel in the flesh from God’s anger breaking out on those in the camp.  However, in the New Covenant, Christ’s sacrifice does not merely atone for the flesh; it purifies the conscience as well.  Moreover, it is not applied to a shadowy tabernacle on earth; iti is applied to the heavenly altar in the throne room of God.  Thus, his sacrifice is far superior and finally efficacious.

Thus we conclude today with the statement in Hebrews 9:12-14, that depends heavily on sacrificial system established in Exodus.

[Christ] entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Reading Genesis 1-11

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

Today I preached Genesis 1-11: “In the Beginning: Creation, Corruption, and Christ.”  I love this section of Scripture because it is pregnant with so many themes that are developed in the rest of the Bible.  For instance, you can see the whole pattern of Creation-Fall-Redemption-New Creation if you pay careful attention to the literary structures of the passage. The Gospel of Genesis by Warren Gage is an excellent resource to help outline these themes.  So is Bruce Waltke’s illuminating outline below (An Old Testament Theology [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007], 307-08).

What Gage and Waltke show is how Genesis 1-11 teaches us to read the rest of the Bible.  The explicit metanarrative in Scripture moves from Creation to New Creation, falling with sin, rising with Christ.  Notice how in the outline below that Noah and Abraham come as Christ-figures who anticipate the greater rest (Matt 11:28) and the fulfillment of all the promises (2 Cor 1:20).

Creation: Genesis 1:1 – 6:8

A Creation out of chaotic water with divine blessing (1:1-2:3)

B Sin involving nakedness, seeing/covering nakedness; curse (2:4-3:24)

C Division of humanity into the people of God and the enemies of God (3:15-4:16)

D No descendents of sinful of murdered younger, righteous Abel (4:8)

E Descendents of sinful Cain: builds a city (4:17-24)

F Descendents of chosen son Seth: ten generations to Noah (5:1-32)

G Downfall: unlawful unions – men & women / marriage (6:1-4)

H Brief introduction to a faithful savior: Noah (6:5-8)

Re-Creation: Genesis 6:9-11:32

A’ Creation out of chaotic water with divine blessing (6:9-9:19)

B’ Sin involving nakedness, seeing/covering nakedness; curse (9:20-23)

C’ Division of humanity into the people of God and the enemies of God (9:24-27)

D’ Descendents of younger, righteous Japheth (10:1-5)

E’ Descendents of sinful son Ham: builds multiple cities (10:6-20)

F’ Descendents of chosen son Shem: ten generations to Terah (10:21-32)

G’ Downfall: unlawful union – men / government (11:1-9)

H’ Brief introduction to a faithful savior, Abram (11:27-32)

Our God is worthy of infinite praise for he is patient with sinners and perfect in his wisdom to bring salvation in his Son from eternity past to eternity future.  With Paul we sing:  “Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”  Genesis 1-11 is an astounding passage that flickers with the light of God, light that will only grow brighter as the Scriptures continue until the light of the world comes to dwell with man (John 1:1-14).

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Don’t Despise the ‘Plain Things’ of Life: What the Lord Uses to Prepare His Ministers

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

Thinking about ministry and concerned about your ‘theological’ preparation?

Consider that some of the greatest “pastor-theologians” (biblical authors) were entrenched in mundane occupations and the plain things of life for decades before God opened the door to ministry.  For instance, consider Jeffery Niehaus’s words that remind us of Moses’ calling and equipping:

When Moses flees to Midian, he learns to be a husband (Ex 2:2), a father (v. 22), and a shepherd (3:1).  These [plain things] are theologically important facts for him, because he now encounters the God who chooses to become a husband (Jer. 31:32; Eze 16:1ff–both reflecting the Exodus events), a father (Dt 1:31), and a shepherd (Ge 49:24) to his people (God at Sinai: Covenant & Theophany in the Bible and the Ancient Near East, 185).

For 40 years, Moses learned the plain things of life–caring for a wife, leading a family, and tending a flock.  Each of these prepared him for his ministry to Israel, and his ability to record God’s Word.  Likewise, for us, marriage and work, the common but significant lot which all humans enjoy (or despise), prepare us greater Christian service.  In fact, 1 Timothy 3 disqualifies ministers who fail at home.  Thus marriage (which pictures Christ’s love for the church), fatherhood (which reflects God’s love for his adopted children), and vocation (which requires thoughtful creativity, organization, and physical strength, resemble God’s work in the world), all demonstrate aspects about God and his gospel. And thus, all of these “plain things” prepare you and I  for more fruitful service.

Moses example teaches us to stop fearing insufficient training and to recall the fact that for those who God has called, he will use all of life to prepare us for our “received” ministry (cf. John 3:27; Col. 4:17). So, while we ought to look for ways to further our knowledge of god (cf. Ps 111:2; 2 Pet 3:18), we should at the same time realize that all of  life points to God, and prepares us for useful service–with or without “theological training.”

In the plain things are hidden the main things, if we look at them with eyes of faith and minds renewed by God’s Word.  In this way, God reminds us that he is the one who uniquely prepares us for his service, and that our plans are accomplished according to his steps (Prov 16:9).  May we seek God and see him in all of life, so that we may better communicate the divine truths of God’s word as we encounter the daily regimen of life.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

From Sinai to Chile to Zion: Why Visual Aids Do and Do Not Help Us See Christ in the Bible

/ davidsschrock

I am not a big fan of visual aids.  So, when I preach or teach, I do not use powerpoint and rarely use other forms of multimedia to explicate the biblical text.  There is much to debate here, but as a personal conviction, I aim at–i.e. pray for and work at– letting the Word of God speak in and through the words that I speak.  Why?  Because the word of God is effective and the Spirit is able.  Likewise, visual imagery has a way of overshadowing the text and effectively dulling us from the power and precision of God’s Word (Heb. 4:12-13). 

Yet, with that said, there are still times when visual imagery helps us discern Scriptural truth, where without the “visual aid” we would not understand the biblical text as well.  For instance, in 2005, as I stood on the Mount of Olives overlooking the temple mount, the Kidron Valley, and the Valley of Hinnom, the drama of Jesus’ last supper, arrest, and trials before Pilate and Herod took shape in my mind as I imagined him walking with his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane and then back through the City of David to encounter the unrighteous judgments of his accusers.  All told, passages of Scripture like Matthew 26-28 and John 13-19 were illumined by the geographical imagery of Jerusalem

Still, coming back from Israel, I realized that a “holy land experience” is not necessary for understanding the Bible, even if it provides visual images for biblical texts.  Thus, I learned in a fresh way, that the word of God is sufficient for everything I need to know and love God.  As 2 Peter 1:4 says, through our knowledge of Christ (as found in Scripture), God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Deut. 29:29). So while my travels in Israel were profitable for visualizing the Bible, such a pilgrimmage is not necessary for salvation and sanctification. 

With that grid in place–namely that visual aids can be selectively helpful for understanding the Bible– I introduce a ‘visual aid’ that I ran across today, and which prompted thoughts of Exodus 19-24 and Hebrews 12.

01_chaitenv

Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana, some 30 kms (19 miles) north of the volcano, as it began its first eruption in thousands of years, in southern Chile May 2, 2008. Picture taken May 2, 2008. (Carlos Gutierrez)

As you ponder the picture, consider Moses words in front of Mount Sinai:

On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up (Ex. 19:16-20).

This electrifying image of a thunderstorm on top of a volcano in Chile provokes images of  what it must have been like to encounter the living God at Sinai.  Yet, that historical event, which may have looked something like this, is not spectacular because of its atmospheric power,  as much as its redemptive-historical significance.  Consequently, as terrifying as such an image is, Scripture tells us that the people did not fear the cosmological occurence, nearly as much as the One who stood behind the smoking curtain and SPOKE (cf. Deut. 4:33).  What terrified the people was not just the smoke on the mountain, but the Word of God itself.  Listen to their plea:

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was (Ex. 20:18-21).

What this picture and these texts remind us is that God’s world is frightening, and he is present in the world; but his word is even more fear-producing and his presence to save and to judge is mediated through his Word.  Accordingly, the people of God begged Moses for a mediator, and God was pleased to speak to them through Moses (Deut. 5:28-33).  The people’s fears were both incited by God’s Holy Word, and allayed by God’s merciful mediator.

The same is and should be true for us.  In the fullness of time, God sent another mediator, a greater Word, His own Son, Jesus Christ to confirm the words spoken at Sinai and to speak to God’s people as a sympathetic mediator.  Hebrews 12, in fact, says this very thing recalling the temptuous events at Sinai to beckon us to believe in Jesus Christ with greater fear and faith.  Consider these fearful words

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven (Heb. 12:18-25).

While we can picture Sinai, we have no way to preview Zion, but here is where the sufficiency and severity of God’s word is most powerful: The truth of the matter is that Zion is more awesome–terrible and glorious–than anything visible today.  Visual aids cannot helps us discern Zion, only God’s word can do that.   We can only apprehend Zion’s reality by faith in God’s word.  Thus we prepare ourselves for the kingdom’s arrival by meditating on God’s Word and prayerfully anticipating the coming of Jesus Christ, the final Word and the perfect mediator.

Thus as we look on the image of this Chilean mountain we are helped to imagine what it must have been like for the people of Israel to stand before God, but our hearts must not be contented to only look backwards.  By the revelation of God’s word, we are beckoned to look forward to the coming, unshakeable kingdom of God, remembering this fact: Our God is a Consuming Fire!  What happened at Sinai is only a foreshadowing of things to come.  In this respect, the visual aid above both furthers our understanding of Exodus 19-24, but fails to do the same for us and our impending encounter with God.  It is only God’s Word, written and incarnate (cf. John 1:14), that enables us to envision Zion and the reality of entering God’s presence.  Thus with fear and faith, may we respond in faith to the Holy Word of God (cf. Heb. 4:2).

Sola Deo Gloria, dss