January 28, 2007
Scripture:
Ministry:
I want to pick up a fragment from Exodus 30; we read in v. 8 about the altar of incense, in the holy place. The high priest would offer on it morning and evening a sweet smelling savour as a perpetual sacrifice before the Lord. But before we come to that, we have the end of the 29th chapter. In v. 38, we are at the altar of burnt offerings. “Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: and with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee” (vv. 38–42). Just a thought: at the altar of burnt offering there was a continual sacrifice, meat and drink offerings, as a sweet-smelling savour before the Lord. Then on the inside of the tabernacle, there was the altar of incense perpetually burning. Can you imagine, when all the camp of Israel was behaving like they did, there was still, inside and outside the tabernacle, a sweet-smelling savour rising, reminding God of all His beloved Son would accomplish on our behalf “before the Lord.”
EG Hymn 369 – I claim for my own a King on a throne, Prayer • Last time we talked about the rainbow in the cloud, God’s promise not to flood the earth again. Clouds usually speak of judgement; but I want to look at another cloud in scripture: the cloud that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. In Exodus 12, we have the story of the Passover, and in the latter part of that chapter and chapter 13 they start to leave Egypt for Canaan, the Promised Land. So did Moses get on his computer and find directions on Google Maps? Did he go to an information center? No, God lead them. Is that really fair, for God to say, “I’m not telling you the way; just follow me”? But they had learned that they could trust Him, that God would keep His promises, during the Passover. Now read ch. 13:20; the journey began, but how many people were there? If we read ch. 12:37, we find that there were 600,000 men. That is a lot of people! Let’s say that there were an equal amount of women; then there were children on top of that. Then each family had their cows and sheep and donkeys and goats and other animals. This would be a pretty hard crowd to handle. And how do you think Moses felt? He probably wondered why he had been chosen for this job. The disciples might have felt that way in Matthew 28. Read vv. 18-20a. The disciples must have wondered how they could ever “Go … and teach all nations.” The Lord had all the power and they had all the work. But read the end of v. 20. He would be with them. And this is what Moses found, too. They had the cloud by day, the fire by night (Exodus 13:21). They had God’s presence to guide they, give them light and shade and protection. And that’s just the beginning of the story.
• Last week we looked at v. 4 of Hebrews 13, an important verse about marriage. Statistics say that 50% of children born in Canada are born out of wedlock. “Marriage is honourable,” but not anymore, it seems. This fundamental of life is so distorted today. Hebrews 13:5–9 • “Conversation” comes up a few times; this is not just our talk, but also our way of life. Now v. 5 is talking about covetousness, wanting something you don’t have. This is inherent in the natural man; even the apostle Paul had trouble with it (Romans 7:7). Covetousness draws our hearts away from the Lord. In the Old Testament, Israelites were supposed to give God 10% of all they had. Should we do that today? If you are a Christian, you and everything you own are the Lord’s; we are to be good stewards of it all and use it as He would have us. That is contentment, the opposite of covetousness. When we see what we have in the Lord, why would we want any more? “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal” (Matthew 6:19). II Peter 1:3 says that He “hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” In Exodus, God says over and over to Pharaoh, “Let my people go.” He claimed them as His own. We are His people today, and He will take care of us. He promises, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (v.5). And because of this, we can say, “The Lord is my helper.” We may look around at others and wonder why they have more or better things, or an easier life, but we have the Lord and He is our helper—how? Usually we think we are His helpers. Yet He is always there to aid and succour us. A few weeks ago, in children’s meeting, we had the prayer “Lord, __ me” on the board. We could do similarly here—“The Lord is my ___”—and go through the scriptures and find many things that He is to us. It’s comforting to see how much He does for us and to know He is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent; He has all the power. EG Hymn 251 – O Lord, how does Thy mercy throw Prayer