Category Archives: Bible study

Leviticus 23; Jewish Feasts and Jesus

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Wow! I’ve enjoyed looking into the feasts that God instructed Old Testament Jews to observe. Nothing God commanded His people to do didn’t point to Jesus. He is in every moment of every one of these feasts. And it’s so beautiful! I want to give you a little taste of the feasts (pun intended). What I am going to share is just a fraction of the truths that are connected with them.

Instructions concerning the Sabbath, although it isn’t usually counted as one of the feasts, begins this chapter. It was a day of Rest, like God modeled for us after six days of creating the universe. John tells us Jesus was with God before creation and, in fact, IS the Creator Himself. Jesus used the words, “I AM” (the name of God) in reference to Himself, like in John 8 when he said, “before Abraham was even born, I AM.” Then in Matthew 11 He clearly says, “I will give you rest.” Yes, Jesus is seen in the Sabbath.

  1. The Feast of Passover (Redeemed). Remember the blood of the perfect lamb protected the Jews from certain death. That lamb’s death bought the Israelites their freedom. And it’s Jesus’ blood, our own Perfect Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, that purchased our redemption, our freedom from the chains of sin. Jesus is seen in the picture of the lamb, it’s blood painted on the doorposts. When I look at the blood dripping down that wooden cross, I see my Redeemer.
  2. Feast of Unleavened Bread (Remember). This feast started the day after the Feast of Passover. They were to eat bread with no yeast and remember how God had provided the mana to His children in the desert. Didn’t Jesus tell us He is the Bread of Life? We who are His children by accepting His work on the cross, are provided with our daily bread. When He gave the bread to His disciples there the night before He died, Jesus said, “Take. Eat in remembrance of me.” We remember.
  3. Feast of First Grain or First Fruits (Risen!) This feast was to be held at the beginning of the harvest. They were to bring the first of what they reaped and give it to the Lord. Jesus said “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24) Jesus died, and lives again! His resurrection is still producing fruit today. The Old Testament Jews were blessed by the harvest. We are blessed by the risen Lord!

Ok. That’s enough for today. I’m going to keep looking into the remaining Feasts and share later. This is good stuff, y’all (to quote my dear pastor.)

Leviticus 8-9; The Holy Spirit

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I understand that oil in the Old Testament represented the Holy Spirit. Oil played an important role in the sacrifices, and in the ordination of Aaron and his sons. I am reminded that the oil was important because the Holy Spirit was not living in men at that time.

Do I understand how blessed I am in 2017? When God says He will never leave or forsake me, He means it! And the Presence of the Holy Spirit lives in me.

Lives in me.

What more is there to say?

Exodus 24-26; Where Worship Is

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I know people say you can worship God anywhere. I actually hope you do worship Him often throughout the day, every day. I’m sitting here in my enclosed porch watching a couple birds make their home in a birdhouse that was once my dad’s. A squirrel just ran along the top of my fence. And my azalea bush is at the end of its beautiful display. I worship the Creator in the magnificent work of His hand.

But does sitting here today mean I don’t need church? God’s instructions to Moses concerning the building of the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant include minute details. These were carefully instructed, ornate, expensive, purposeful places where God’s people would gather to worship.

As I read these chapters it occurs to me that if God was so interested in the physical places of corporate worship back then, He probably is still interested in us taking our places of worship seriously. In the building of these structures God was providing a place for the Jews to gather together to worship because corporate worship was important to Him.

Still is. Don’t neglect the gathering of saints just because you think you can worship God on a golf course. Oh, go ahead and worship Him on the golf course. Just don’t do it on Sunday morning when you have the unique opportunity to gather together with other believers and worship God as one.

I think God, by the example we read in these chapters, must think it’s pretty important.

Exodus 17-18; Tap The Rock

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Someone said there is no thirst quite as painful as thirst in a desert. The pounding heat from the sun, the hot sand on your feet, the dry air burning your lungs with every breath can drive a person mad if they have no water. And it doesn’t take long before a person feels the overwhelming thirst in that situation.

Water. Water. Water is the only focus at times like these. And that is what the Jews were experiencing in the desert, when God instructed Moses to take his staff, tap the rock, and watch the refreshing salvation pour out.

Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, says that rock we see in Exodus is a picture of Jesus. If you know Him as your Savior, you most likely have experienced the refreshing that comes when the Holy Spirit is poured out in you, your sins are washed away, and you stand before a Holy God, absolutely clean.

Have you tapped into the Rock? I pray that is so.

Exodus 16; Give Us This Day

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Manna intrigues me. It was something no one had ever seen before, or has seen since. It came straight from God in a very visible way. It was good, refreshing, and nourishing. The Israelites could bake it or boil it. And God gave exactly what everyone needed every day.

One commentator I read suggested I put myself in a Jewish sandal for a moment. Their food supply was spent. They went to bed hungry every night, and parents knew their children were starving. Is it any wonder they complained to their leader?

And is it any wonder that, when that first manna came down from heaven, some hoarded a bunch? They had learned to go to bed each night with no food in the fridge, and it was pretty understandable they wanted a backup plan in case the manna didn’t come again in the morning.

But the manna came. And their hoarded food spoiled. Lesson: Trust God even when things look  hopeless. The Israelites learned they could go to bed at night without any food in the house and no means of supplying food on their own, and trust that God would provide. Every. Day.

Sometimes I can lie awake in bed at night and worry over a situation, or plot a plan of action just in case. I need to learn from the Jews and trust God to supply exactly what I need. When will I learn to pray believing in every situation?

Scripture has been likened to manna. Jesus told us He is the Bread of Life. And Jesus taught us to pray “… give us this day our daily bread…”

Jill Briscoe, in her book “Here Am I… Send Aaron,” points out an important lesson from this account in Exodus 16. If God’s Word is manna, and Jesus is the Bread of Life, how’s my diet?

Most of us have probably been “hangry” a time or two in our lives. You know that irritable feeling that comes from being hungry. Isn’t it Snickers that has the commercial that tells us, “You’re not yourself when you’re hungry”? Been there. Done that.

But how many angry Christians do you know? Christians who complain about the pastor, who divide the fellowship with malicious gossip, who find fault in every decision, and who blame God when they don’t get their way. Jill suggests those kinds of Christians aren’t collecting manna.

We are all created with a hunger to know God. And God has supplied the manna in the pages of the Bible. But if we don’t read it, think on it, pray over it every day, we are starving ourselves. Too many people expect the pastor to feed them a week’s worth of manna on Sunday. They have reason to be “hangry” if that’s the case. They are starving!

Jesus prayed, “give us this day…”  God does. We just need to collect it this day, and every day. If we feed our souls, feast on God Word, ingest our Bread of Life daily, we will be healthy, productive children of God.

If we don’t, well… it’s not God’s fault.

Exodus 14&15; A Lesson From The Bottom

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We’ve all heard about the Israelites and the parting of the Red Sea. They escaped their enemy on dry ground when God parted the waters. They had but to step down, and walk through on the sea’s floor.

John Wesley said something in his Bible Commentary that has me thinking. He suggests it was no accident God provided salvation for His people in such a way. We don’t read that God fashioned a boardwalk so the people could walk over the water. We know Jesus walked on water, so He could have given the same ability to the Jews. And we don’t read that God picked up the whole gang and placed them on the other side, like Philip’s experience after meeting with the eunuch.

Salvation occurred when God’s people stepped down into the bottom of the sea. Wesley says it’s a picture of our own requirement for salvation. A stepping down from control, a humbling, a total submission to the will of God.

We might want to be elevated, or go to God on His level. In fact, there are some churches that preach that you can. But salvation comes when we humble ourselves and allow God to rescue us from the depths of our souls, from the bottom of the sea.

Exodus 13; No Short Cuts

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Another thing jumped out at me concerning God’s hand in the events of our lives. Verse 17 says God led the people by the desert toward the Red Sea, a longer route, because He knew if they took the short cut and had to go to war, they would want to give up and go back to Egypt.

It speaks to me of choice. God didn’t make them go into the desert. He led them, yes. But they chose to follow His lead. He led them that way for their own good, because He knew they could choose to go back to Egypt, and He gave them the chance to keep moving ahead toward the Promised Land.

It seems to me God directs our steps, but whether or not we follow His lead is up to us. Following where He leads helps us avoid hardships, even though the road might be longer. It might not be the road that makes sense to us, or looks to be the easier route.

God is directing our path. And if we follow Him, it’s always going to work out for our good, and His glory.

Exodus 11&12; Only The Blood

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This is salvation. When God instructed the Israelites about the final plague, he painted a picture of what He was prepared to do Himself. The perfect lamb, slain, it’s blood painted around the door, it’s meat ingested, resulting in life and freedom from bondage, and the hope of the Promised Land.

The blood that saved them from certain death, while those without the blood suffered unspeakable loss. The blood, the only means of salvation.

Yes, that’s Jesus. God didn’t require anything of His people He wasn’t willing to fulfill Himself. He demanded obedience of His children, and He was obedient to His Father. That blood protected the families from death. Not might, or intellect, or self-effort. It was only the blood.

And it is still only the blood. What protects you from the consequences of sin? Without the blood of Jesus, there is no protection at all.

Exodus 3 Heaven Came Down

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God spoke to Moses from a bush that looked like it was on fire. Amazingly, it didn’t burn up. But what I saw in my study of this passage today has my heart soaring. It wasn’t just God’s voice in that thorny burning bush. It was God Himself!

vs 8: So I have come down to rescue… (emphasis mine)

It was the same fire that led the Israelites out of Egypt. God’s Presence was right there in a visible way.

Like Jesus.

Jesus wasn’t just born. God came down! John 1 tells us the Creator God “came to His own…” And we have seen Him, “who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (vs 14 emphasis mine)

God Himself came down from heaven and called Moses by name. He was that personal. He called Samuel by name, Zaccheus, Mary, Saul (Paul) by name. He called me by name. And He’s calling you.

I have the wonderful hymn by John W. Peterson running through my head this morning. To think that God, Creator, Almighty, the Great I AM, left His throne above to live and die for love of me. I am overcome.

Heaven came down and glory filled my soul,
When at the cross my Savior made me whole;
My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day.
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.

 

Genesis 48-50 Looking Ahead

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Genesis, the book that starts at the beginning of life, ends looking ahead to the glorious future. The Messiah is coming, Jacob tells his sons, and He will rule forever. (49:10) Jacob speaks of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, and we know Jacob spoke of Jesus, even if he didn’t know Jesus’ name.

God had promised Abraham that He would use his descendants in a way that would bless all nations. And God will be true to His Word in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus will be born a Jew from the line of Judah. And He will rule the world.

Those are the thoughts we’re left with here at the end of this precious first book of the Bible. So many lessons are learned from watching the nation of Israel as God sets them apart for the privilege of revealing God to the world, and ultimately for producing the flesh and blood Savior.

I’m looking forward to continuing this journey as we dig into Exodus.