God Proclaims His Name

God

 

 

Wednesday 01/31/18 

Message – God Proclaims His Name

Series: Thru the Bible – Exodus 34

***Video is HERE***

 

New Tablets… a New Way

Exodus 34:1-2

  • Moses has to cut the tablets this time  – though God still wrote upon them.
    • Exod. 20:25, “And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.”
    • No reason is given for why hewn stone was acceptable for the commandments and not for the altar – yet many are suggested by commentators. The only reason offered here is for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.Here are a few commentator’s suggestions:
      • Hewn stone was an artisan work and therefore might draw attention away from the sacrifice and place it on the glory of the altar itself.
        • This is NOT unreasonable since mankind is often worshiping the wrong thing.
      • Hewn stone was used to beautify pagan altars and God did not want any comparison between what was holy and what was pagan.
      • I still believe it is most likely that the altar represented man’s redemption which man’s work cannot have any part of.
        • Eph 2:8-10,  “(8) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  (9)  not of works, lest anyone should boast.  (10)  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
        • Whereas, the commandment WAS to bring life, but through man’s disobedience and Moses’ anger – it was demonstrated that man could not keep it. So, by having Moses’ hands involved by hewning the stone on which God’s words were written by HIS Own hand showed man’s involvment – which is essentially righteousness by works. Gal. 3:10-14, “(10) For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT CONTINUE IN ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM.”  (11)  But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”  (12)  Yet the law is not of faith, but “THE MAN WHO DOES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.”  (13)  Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”),  (14)  that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
    • Notice the unchangeableness of God’s word. “…and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.”
  • Notice that Moses was to BRING the tablets but present HIMSELF to God (vs. 2)
  • Moses got up early.

Vs. 5-9

    • Notice that to set the pace for the meeting God “Proclaimed His Own Name” before Moses, saying, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”  – Exod. 34:6,7

 

  • I don’t think we have anything approaching a full notion of what transpired here or how significant and awesome it was!

 

  • Not make you free from the guilt nor will I free them from all punishment (Exod. 20:5) Guzik says, “His loving, gracious, and giving character do not “cancel out” His righteousness. Because of the work of Jesus, the righteousness of God is satisfied and the grace and mercy of God are righteously given.”
  • This may be a mercy in keeping any one generation from reaping the full impact of the punishment for their sin, but spreading it more thinly as it were over several generations so that no one generation is reaping everything but a small part of both current and past generations punishment or consequence for sin.

Vs. 10-28

    • It is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
    • Observe (keep and preserve it) what I command you THIS day!
    • I will drive out of the Promised Land – all former inhabitants.
    • DO NOT make a treaty with them (Why did God specifically warn them about this? Read Joshua 9:6-16)
      • We will deal with this when we get to Joshua, but two take-aways are:
        • PRESERVE what God tells you – do not let it get watered down over time – do not question in the dark what God told you in the light – PRESERVE IT!!!!
        • The devil will ALWAYS tempt you away from this preservation and conceal the true costs which will always include the VERY Thing God was seeking for you to avoid.
    • One of God’s NAMES – is Jealous! (a word to the wise)
    • Keep the 3 sacred feasts – Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits & Feast of Weeks.
      • In all three ALL men (including male children) must appear (have experience) before God.
      • The reason was at very least in part, in order to take “learning” (Gnosis) and turn it into experience (Epignosis). So that they would NOT just see His works – as God said they would in verse 10, but might come to understand His ways.
        • Psa. 103:7-19,  “(7) He revealed His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel.  (8)  The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and full of faithful love.  (9)  He will not always accuse us or be angry forever.  (10)  He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our offenses.  (11)  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love toward those who fear Him.  (12)  As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.  (13)  As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.  (14)  For He knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust.  (15)  As for man, his days are like grass–he blooms like a flower of the field;  (16)  when the wind passes over it, it vanishes, and its place is no longer known.  (17)  But from eternity to eternity the LORD’s faithful love is toward those who fear Him, and His righteousness toward the grandchildren  (18)  of those who keep His covenant, who remember to observe His instructions.  (19)  The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.”

 

  • Exod. 34:27-28, “The LORD also said to Moses, “Write down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words.”  (28)  Moses was there with the LORD 40 days and 40 nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. He wrote down on the tablets the words of the covenant–the Ten Commandments.”

 

    • This is the second time Moses was with God on the Mountain for 40 days and 40 nights – but this was the first time it mentioned without food or water. This gives REAL material demonstration to God’s words in Deut. 8 that “Man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds from God’s mouth”

Vs. 29-35

  • Moses’ face shined.
  • Moses read the law to Israel – then covered his face – never to uncover it unless he was in God’s presence and talking face-to-face with Him.
    • Exod. 34:33-35, “(33) When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.  (34)  But whenever Moses went before the LORD to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded,  (35)  and the Israelites would see that Moses’ face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the LORD.”
    • There seems to be no mention of how long this lasted, but IF after these times of obtaining the meaning of the words of the law ended and Moses no  longer spoke with God face-to-face, then there is a passage we are going to read in 2Cor. 3 which indicates that the shining of Moses’ face did in fact eventually fade away.
  • 2Cor. 3:11-18, “(11) For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.  (12)  Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— (13)  unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away.  (14)  But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.  (15)  But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.  (16)  Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  (17)  Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  (18)  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Preview for the remainder of Exodus

Now, as for the next few weeks, we are going to use the “Chapter Summaries” page that Teri handed out as a basic template of where we are going. We will start with chapters 25-27 and their correlating chapters 35-38…

For example:

We will use chapters 25:1-7/35:4-9, 20-29 to compare the supplies for the tabernacle…etc.

Read ahead to be ready regardless of order.

Probably go from:

  • Supplies
  • God gifting with wisdom
  • Outer perimeter
  • Court yard
  • Tabernacle external
  • Tabernacle of meeting
  • Holy of holies
  • Priestly robes and inauguration

Somewhere in here we will probably have a skit as well.

There is more information in the audio/video of the actual message. I hope you listen, learn and enjoy!

Blessings! 

 

I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

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Blessings!

 

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!