As You Pass By

Exodus 33 is one of my favorite chapters in the entire bible. A little background: In Exodus 32 Moses went up on the Mount Sinai and spent forty days with God. On the mount he received the 10 commandments and then God told Him to go down because the people had built an idol and were in sin. So Moses went down off the mountain, smashed the 10 commandments, burned the calf in the fire, and grinded it to dust.

We pick up the story in Exodus 33v. 2

Exo 33:2-3 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."

Keep in mind that until this point God has been leading the people with a pillar of cloud by day and fire at night.

Exo 33:12-16 Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

Moses recognized that it was God that set them apart from all the other nations. Without God they were no different from anyone else. God was apparently pleased with this realization.

Exo 33:17-23 And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD (Jehovah), in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

Exo 34:5-8 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, Jehovah. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "Jehovah, Jehovah, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.

Takeaways:
First, there’s the notion that without God, we are no different from anyone else on the earth. With God however we are very different. We don’t need to apologize or make excuses for the distinction. God makes us different and people will notice, and they won’t like it but that’s their issue with God, not us. God will fight those battles and win them in His time and in His way.

Second, even though God was about to destroy the Israelites for the sin of idolatry, when Moses asked, God relented and not only didn’t destroy them, but then revealed Himself to Moses in an even more amazing way that He had done to date.

Third, when Moses asked to see God’s glory, God said I will show you my goodness. So God’s glory and His goodness are tied together. The word for goodness can also be translated, beauty or gladness. So God was saying, I’m going to show you everything about me that is good and beautiful, but I can only let you see it from the backside or you would die. Keep in mind here that Moses had just spent 40 days with God on the mountain and yet he wanted more. This is a very bold thing to ask of God, and yet God granted the request. It’s an amazing thing to think about the fact that we are physically incapable of experiencing God in His fullness in our human bodies. That experience would overwhelm our mortal flesh to the point of death. Think about that the next time you enter into worship.

Finally, if you ever wonder what God is really like, these are your verses, because in these verses God describes Himself. As God is passing in front of Moses he essentially worships Himself. In His description of Himself He basically says that He is loving and just. Any description of God that portraits Him as the loving cuddly buddy that does not also include His a description of His justice and punishment of sin is a false representation. Of course the reverse is also true; you cannot have one without the other.

As You Pass By
jagged mountain
surrounded in clouds
shrouding the glory of Your presence
circling round
cover me with Your hand
so I can see the train of Your robe

as You pass by
the rocks come tumbling down
as You pass by
the earth shakes, the skies break
as You pass by
Lord let me see Your beauty
then You come to me in a whisper
(the earth and sky and sea just fade away)
Lord just let me be there to catch a glimpse of You
as You pass by

(by Ed 8/03)

There’s a lot to ponder. I hope you will take some time to think about this amazing God we serve today.

Missions Monday - Nigeria

More than 100 Christians have been killed in Jos, Nigeria, since Jan. 17, when violent riots broke out between Christian and Muslims.

The violence was triggered by a Muslim attack on St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Nasarawa Gwong. According to Voice of the Martyrs “It appears to the Christians here that elements inside the Nigerian Muslim community actually prepare for events like this and then look for an incident which they can then escalate into a crisis. The intent is to drive Christians out of this area down to the south,”

Church leaders said Muslim youths also attacked buildings belonging to the Christ Apostolic Church, Assemblies of God Church, three branches of the Church of Christ in Nigeria and the Evangelical Church of West Africa. On Jan. 18, authorities imposed a curfew, and the city is under the close control of Nigerian troops.

Hundreds of believers have reportedly been wounded. “We have been witnessing sporadic shootings in the last two days,” Rev. Chuwang Avou, secretary of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria told Compass Direct News a few days after the attacks began. “We see some residents shooting sporadically into the air. We have also seen individuals with machine guns on parade in the state.”


Source: Voice of the Martyrs
http://www.persecution.com/public/homepage.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51

The Urim and the Thummim - Exodus 28:30

Something just doesn’t sit right with me about the Urim and the Thummim (pronounced Tumim) first mentioned in Exodus 28. Most of the stories in the Old Testament involve God intervening directly and interacting with men. I like that. It shows that God is a personal God who is involved in the details of our lives. We see God as the powerful conqueror for His people. We see Him as the counselor, as the law giver, as the judge, and many other roles. In all of these roles however, God is directly interacting with His people.

So now we come to Exodus 28. Moses has come down off the mountain. He has presented the people with the 10 commandments. The people saw him go up on the mountain which was covered in clouds with lightning flashing all around. Moses was given instructions for the building of the ark of the testimony, and the tabernacle where God would dwell with His people, and now in Exodus 28 God gives Moses instructions for the clothing for His high priest.

God gave Moses very specific instructions for the pieces of the outfit for the High priest. Part of the outfit was the Urim and the Thummim (UT)

Exodus 28:30 Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron's heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the LORD.

There is no description of the UT in the bible. There is no description of how it was used. There is no description of how it worked. But we do know that God intended these two stones to be used like lots to discern His will in a given circumstance and there are however a number of accounts of its use and the types of decisions that it was used to make. The following are all of the accounts of the use of the UT in the bible.

Judges 1:1-2 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, "Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?" The LORD answered, "Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands."

Judges 20:18 The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, "Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?" The LORD replied, "Judah shall go first."

1Sa 10:22 So they inquired further of the LORD, "Has the man come here yet?" And the LORD said, "Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage."

1Sa 23:2 he inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" The LORD answered him, "Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah."

1Sa 23:4 Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, "Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand."

1Sa 23:10-11 David said, "O LORD, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, God of Israel, tell your servant." And the LORD said, "He will."

1Sa 23:12 Again David asked, "Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?" And the LORD said, "They will."

2Sa 2:1 In the course of time, David inquired of the LORD. "Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?" he asked. The LORD said, "Go up." David asked, "Where shall I go?" "To Hebron," the LORD answered.

2Sa 5:19 so David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?" The LORD answered him, "Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you."

2Sa 5:23 so David inquired of the LORD, and he answered, "Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.

It’s interesting to note here that there is no mention of the use of the UT after the time of David.

So anyway this all bugged me. I really wanted God to be there at the beck and call of his people the way the bible seems to describe. Or does it…I’ve been trying to read the bible like it’s the first time I’ve read it and I’ve also been trying to read it without all of the notions that have been provided to me by previous teachers. Not that it’s bad to learn from others but I’m trying to read the bible like it is the only source of truth. (I got this idea from Frances Chan in his book Forgotten God. He questions if we would arrive at the same conclusions about God if the bible were our only source of truth.)

So with that said, as I think about the bible up to this point in Exodus we are given a condensed view of more than 2000 year of history. We are given many accounts of God interacting with only a very few people. Because of these accounts, we are impressed with God’s interaction with men and long for that kind of relationship with Him. But the fact is, most people on the earth never had any interaction with God. They were not given the benefit of His council, or His immediate presence. Even the children of Israel had a distant relationship with God. They knew he was fighting for them, he was present in clouds and fire but not in a personal way, in fact it was quite the opposite. Their relationship with God was one of blessing for obedience and punishment for disobedience but both were in an indirect and impersonal way.

So why would the God of the universe chose to interact with people in such an impersonal way as the UT. I don’t pretend to know God’s reasons for doing things the way He chose to do them but I think the answer may lie in the progression of revelation throughout history.

In the Garden, God walked and talked with men. After the fall, He no longer interacted with men in that way again. He chose certain men and women for interaction to accomplish His purposes. Then we have the Urim and Thummim, where God interacts by the use of lots. After David, God worked through the prophets and there was no more mention of the UT. Then there was a period of complete silence where God was largely absent in the lives of men. Then Jesus came and God walked with men again for a short time. After the death resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Spirit of God was given to men. For me the answer came in the realization of the fact that I tend to forget the Spirit’s presence in my life. I go through periods of time where I try to keep Him constantly in the forefront of my attention but inevitably I forget. But I neglect to recognize the blessing that is mine in the fact that He is always there to guide me in my decisions. My wife and I often talk about what it would be like to go through life without the Spirit’s guidance, without His leading, without His help in decision making. But the early Israelites didn’t have the Spirit; they did not have His leading. They had direct revelation to certain men, they had God’s physical intervention in their lives at times, but they did not have the Spirit to guide them individually. In the absence of the Spirit’s presence they would have no way to discern the proper means to proceed in any given situation.

So what do I take away from the use of the UT in Exodus. Well, I guess I thank God that I have the presence of the Spirit in my life to guide me in making decisions. I also take away the realization that God truly does intend for His children to seek Him for guidance when making life’s decisions. This realization makes me want to more fervently seek Him for answers to life’s questions. He wants to answer them.

Missions Monday – The Karen People of Burma

For decades the government of Burma has carried out a genocide against its own people. More than 500,000 people have been killed in Burma (also known as Myanmar) in the last 30 years. More than 3,300 villages have been burned to the ground by the Burmese military. The government of Burma is controlled by the military (Tatmadaw) in the form of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). A parliamentary government was elected in 1990, but the military prevented it from convening.

In an effort to terrorize the ethnic groups into submission, the Burma Army uses religion as a weapon of war. When it is convenient to do so, the army cloaks itself in Buddhism and stirs up anti-Christian sentiment. Churches are often the first targets in attacks on ethnic villages, while more often than not Buddhist temples are left untouched. In Chin state, which is 90 percent Christian, soldiers tear down crosses and force villagers to build Buddhist pagodas. Burma does not affirm Buddhism as the official state religion, though Buddhists total nearly 83 percent of the population. (Christianity Today, Rogers, 3/04)

One heavily targeted people group within the Burmese population is the Karen people. The Karen people are more than 40% Christian. A Burmese official boldly stated recently, “Soon there will be no Christians in this nation. You will only be able to see a Karen person in a picture in a museum.”

In the midst of the genocide in Burma, God is at work. One believer is reported to have said, “Without this genocide, maybe this worship would not be happening, and people would not be coming to Christ.”

Please pray for the people of Burma.

The following video is not suitable for Children.

Clash of Two Titans

I figured since I could care less about football I write about the clash of two titans that actually have significance beyond the lining of the wallets of the NFL and CBS.

Exodus 14:11-15 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

I love those verses! God has brought the Israelites out of Egypt and they have watched Him perform miraculous wonders to secure their release. Now the armies of Pharaoh are closing from the rear and they are faced with the red sea in the front. In the midst of this terrible predicament Moses gives them a pretty good pep talk. He tells them to stand firm and watch the Lord deliver them. But I love what God says to Moses. Why are you crying out to me? Tell them to move on.

So in the midst of their predicament the Israelites are crying out to God. Crying out seems like the right thing to do; it’s what I would do. God has a different perspective however. He says, “What are you standing around crying out about, I got this! Move on!” God’s expectation is that the Israelites would simply turn their back on their problem and move on. When I get into trouble, I like to fixate on it. I read books about it, I talk to EVERYONE about it, sometimes I even pray about it.

Please understand that I’m not saying that the answer to all your problems is to ignore them and expect God to clean up the mess. What I am saying is that when God leads you in a task or when you find yourself in trouble for following His will you do not need to consult others, or worry about the outcome. God will carry out His purposes, they cannot be stopped.

Hymn -- by Ed

There’s a hunger in the soul,
that cannot be filled by men
it finds its source in spirit,
and looks for home again,
soaring upward through the heavens,
leaving earth’s firm grasp behind,
and finding its release
in the loving arms of Christ

This hunger is not passing,
its pangs will never wane.
Until the spirit enters,
and makes you whole again.
filling even darkest corner,
with the everlasting light,
and quelling satan’s fire
with the conquering love of Christ

One day I’ll stand before him
In that wondrous shining home
And I’ll sink into the river
that’s flowing from His throne
and reaching up I will eat
from that glorious tree of life
and finally find fulfillment
in the precious love of Christ

Stranger in a Strange Land

Exodus 2:22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, "I have become an alien in a foreign land."

I’ve been thinking about this verse for a couple days now. I think because it’s kind of the way I’ve been feeling lately. Moses names his son Gershom. Ger is an Egyptian word meaning sojourner. Shom is a Coptic word meaning foreign or strange land. The definition of sojourner is a person who resides temporarily in a place.

Moses was simply saying that he was temporarily living in a foreign land. But it seems to me there’s a deeper truth here. Moses was born in Egypt, he should have been dead by all intents and purposes since the Egyptians were busy murdering all the Hebrew children. God spared Moses from death and then caused him to be raised among the rulers of Egypt in Pharaoh’s own household. But Moses wasn’t content to be raised with the silver spoon. He saw the plight of his people and wanted to help them but didn’t know how. His passion got him into trouble when he killed an Egyptian man who was beating a Hebrew. So Moses was called out of the Hebrew people, he was called out of Egypt where he lived as a sojourner and then God used him to call the Hebrew people out of Egypt. The Hebrews lives as sojourners in the wilderness before the reached the promised land.

This theme of calling out is repeated throughout the bible. Abraham is called to move from his home and move to the place where God told him, he was also called a sojourner.

David was called out from his brothers and ultimately ended up living in caves to escape Saul’s wrath before he became king.

Noah was called to build the ark and became a laughing stock among the peoples of the time.

Nehemiah was exiled to Persia and ended up being sent to Israel to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall.

Esther’s father had been carried into exile and she was ultimately used to save her people.

Jonah was called out to go to a strange sinful land and after his disobedience and punishment ultimately led the Ninevites to repentance.

All of the prophets were called out and most were rejected because of the message God gave them to deliver.

Jesus himself lived as a sojourner as he traveled.

So I guess the point is it should really be no surprise that first, God calls his children out of the world. Second, God’s calling fundamentally changes the trajectory of a person’s life and makes them sojourners in an increasingly strange land. It should be no surprise to us that the world doesn’t understand why or how we go about His work. It should be no surprise that they mock. It should be no surprise if at some point they may stop tolerating us.

Oh, but there’s one more calling out. If he’s called you out here on Earth and you have lived as a stranger in the land, someday He’s going to call you again. In a flash of light he’s going to call us out for good and meet us in the air. Then the sojourners will finally be at home. I can’t wait!