Bible-3, Pentateuch 3, Exodus
Part 2
LESSON 3
PENTATEUCH 3
EXODUS
Part Two:
By Rev. G. Evan Newmyer
The next plague is the darkness for three days, but in this we find a mystery. The darkness could be Felt, yet the children of Israel had Light (Ex 10:21-23). This darkness was sin causing a blindness to the eyes on Egypt. The phrase, “dwellings of the children of Israel” is a metaphor for their bodies; therefore, this isn’t a great Egyptian power shortage, this is the result of the darkness in the world, the blindness keeping man from seeing the Light. The Fall produced death, the Law of Moses defines sin, the plagues introduced sickness, disease and darkness, thus the Law of Moses defined the law of sin and death, since it defined sin, it then applied death to the violation. The Law of the Spirit incorporates Life (Body of Christ or Living Soul) with Life More Abundantly (Blood, and Quickening Spirit) to avoid the second death.
One could do the entire Law of Moses, live a good life on earth, yet still face death; therefore, Jesus told the Pharisees they would die in their sins. Jesus wasn’t belittling the Pharisees; He was making a statement of fact. The Light and Life of Jesus changed many things, from the Light would come Truth, Life, Love, Faith and Mercy, from the Life would come Grace and the Spirit, plus many other things. When we accepted the Cross our old existence ended, behold all things became New. When we were Born Again we gained the ability to become a Newness in Christ. We are the children of Day, the Greater Light; darkness is eradicated by the Light. John said, Jesus is the Light, yet the Light came among His own, but they received Him not, yet as many as did receive Him, He gave them the Power to become sons of God (Jn 1:9-12). Power? What Power? We are Born Again from Power on High, the same Power which started on the Day of Pentecost.
The three days also gives us some outstanding metaphoric content, Jesus took on the sins of times past, times present and times future, it’s also a symbol of the three days Jesus was in the grave when He descended to take captivity captive, when He obtained the keys of death and hell, thus making the devil ineffective (Heb 2:14, Ps 22 & Ex 10:21-26).
Pharaoh again gives in a little by telling Moses, go and sacrifice, but he still wants Moses to leave the flocks, but if they leave the flocks, what would they sacrifice? (Ex 10:24). When Moses says, “No”, Pharaoh says, “Get you from me, take heed to yourself, see my face no more; for in the day when you see my face you shall die” (Ex 10:28). Pharaoh assumes “I made an offer, it was rejected”, but he sealed his own doom, now Moses knows the time of deliverance is at hand (Ex 10:29). The last plague is the death to the firstborn male of all the house of Pharaoh, based on this plague God will ask Israel to consecrate the firstborn male unto Him (Ex 11:6 & 13:1-2). God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but what must be, must be. The sign is the greatest display of power over the house of Pharaoh, simply because Pharaoh considered himself a god over Egypt, meaning his firstborn was to continue the reign as another god.
The First cup of the Passover will be handed to Moses, as God places a difference between the Egyptians and Israel (Ex 11:7). We also know they took Passover before they left Egypt, thus to these people it was not a “farewell dinner”, but an acknowledgment of God’s power and protection. The Last Passover was taken before Jesus was crucified, the meal ended Passover for the Christian, but opened Communion for those who receive the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. Passover was not taken in order to communicate with God, it was taken as a sign of protection from the death passing over. Our Communion is to Remember what Jesus did in defeating death, by granting us Life.
Up to this time the Hebrews didn’t have feast days, thus Moses will be given a type of a New Beginning. This Beginning will be in addition to the Covenant with Abraham, rather than New in and of itself. This type of newness is different than the Newness of the New Birth, or the New Covenant, thus the New Covenant is not an extension of the Old, it’s completely New.
The Ten Commandments were not an extension of the Abrahamic Covenant, they were the beginning of the Covenant made with Moses. Therefore, circumcision was not included in the Ten Commandments, but the sabbath day was, indicating the division between the Ten Commandments and the Abrahamic Covenant. However, the sabbath day became the token for the Law of Moses, making the connection between the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses. Therefore, Abraham was never required to keep the sabbath, since he was not subject to the Law of Moses. If someone in the Body wants to keep the day, fine, they keep it between them and the Lord, but don’t expect special treatment from God for keeping it. If one keeps the day assuming they are special above the rest of the Body, they error, just as not keeping the day doesn’t make them any holier, they too are to keep it between them and the Lord. Keeping the day in and of itself means little, why one keeps it means much. If the person keeps the day, or not they are not to make it doctrine, nor are they to expect special treatment, above all they never make others keep the day as a requirement (Rom 14:6).
There were some things incorporated into the Law, the tithe of Jacob was one, not the tithes of Abraham. The paradox regarding the Law of Moses and the Abrahamic Covenant is based on the national connection, thus in order to be “of Abraham” one had to be circumcised of the flesh, in order to be associated with the Nation Israel, one had to accept the Law of Moses; thereby connecting the two Covenants. How about the Covenant of Noah? It was world wide, rather than directed to a single nation, it was also before Abram was separated to be Abraham.
For us under the New we have different tokens, water baptism is one, the Seal of the Holy Spirit another included with the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, along with the Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus never told us to keep the Law of Moses, but He did say, “This Cup is the New Testament (Covenant) in My Blood” (Luke 22:20). The Blood of Jesus is the New Testament, the Body is the place between places. We are of the Body on earth, but the purposed Bride in heaven. We are not of the Old, but the Old does hold clues and knowledge for our understanding of the New. Knowing the Old, and doing it are far different.
God now begins a new work with the children, a New Work is not something God just thought up, it’s something in the heavenly blueprint from the beginning. This opens the concept of Progression, thus the Plan was unfolding. Although God rested from the works of Judgment, the works for Redemption were still unfolding. For these people it was a New Law with a priesthood defined in the order for them. It would also be the beginning of their calendar, their first month would be marked by the Passover. Today we use a calendar with the term “AD” a Latin reference standing for “The Year Of Our Lord”, denoting our New Season as the Godly separation from the Days before the Birth of Jesus (BC – Before Christ). Adam’s fall marked the beginning of Time for human beings, which means the time when man began to age. The First coming of Jesus marks another beginning of Time for the sons of men to walk in the Mercy of God, then the Resurrection of Jesus becomes an addition to the time marking the ability to complete the prophecy, “Let us make man in our image”.
Israel still keeps the Moses calendar, but the Gentile world keeps the AD calendar. What importance does this have? Some Gentile says they don’t believe in Jesus, yet whenever they write the year they are saying, “In the Year of our Lord”. When they tell us the year of their birth, they are recognizing the Year of our Lord. Whenever they make plans or use the number of a year, they are using the Year of our Lord. Whether they admit it or not, or whether they like it or not doesn’t matter, they are still dependent on our Lord for their timing. Of course the Jew still uses their colander, going back to Adam.
This will mark the end of the Season of Sin and Death from Adam to Moses, by opening the Season of the Law of Moses defining Sin and Death until Christ came to open the kingdom of heaven to bring us Life. The time will change in respect to the definition of sin and death, not in respect to sin causing death, rather the Law of Moses defines sin as well as the consequence of sin, it doesn’t do away with it. However, in order for the children to enter this New step, they must leave Egypt behind. If they fail to leave Egypt behind, the mindset of Egypt will not only hinder them, it will destroy them. The Law of Moses is a blessing considering the alternative, but nonetheless it came based on the unbelief of the children; whereas, the Law of the Spirit came based on the Faith of Jesus. For this reason Jesus is our Passover, making us Free from the second death.
They were still in Egypt when God gave them the beginning of months, their calendar began with the first month of the beginning of months. It is interesting the beginning of months came after the plagues, not before (Ex 12:1-2). The first feast will be the Passover, the sign of deliverance, again Jesus is our Passover, but the Power (Dunamis) of Deliverance is found in the Spirit through our personal Pentecost experience (I Cor 5:7 & Acts 1:7-8).
The time began the first day of the first month, but the Passover will be 14 days later, they will not leave until the next day, or the 15th day of the first month. However, we can’t forget these dates didn’t come until after the plagues, thus we can’t presume the plagues only lasted a few days. As noted, the Scriptures lay out the time element for the various plagues, in so doing the time element tells us God is equal.
Some of the symbols of the Passover meal were to remember their bondage: when Jesus opened Communion He said it was for Remembrance. These people had to remember their bondage, as well as what bondage felt like. For the future generations it was still to remember how the Lord delivered their forefathers by the hand of God, not the will power of man (Ex 12:3-27). In our case it’s to remember how the Lord placed us in the Body as He sees fit, what we have done, or have not done in reference to the Body, then to remember His Blood is the New Covenant, the place of Newness in Spiritual Liberty.
The meal was not a means to enter some self-pity for the bondage, but to recall what it felt like to be in bondage. It wasn’t just keeping Passover but the blood of the Passover itself keeping the Destroyer away (Ex 12:27). The Destroyer still moved among the Egyptians, but honored the blood of the slain lamb. When we get to the wilderness we will see how the Lord kept telling the children to remember how the Lord delivered them. To the carnal mind it sounds as if God is seeking some pride in the effort, but it’s not the case at all, rather it was to bring the children’s remembrance regarding the ability of God, thus building their belief in the face of the wilderness experiences. God was still delivering them in the wilderness, but instead of delivering them from Pharaoh, He was delivering them from their old mentality. The same is true with us, we must remember our wildernesses are delivering us, thus we Remember what Jesus did for us, not what we did for Jesus.
The Passover holds many types and shadows, the sign of the Trinity, and the Cross are two. God’s instructions went beyond the time, becoming signs for us. The children placed the blood on the upper door post and both sides; thereby making the ground below holy (Ex 12:7). Jesus said, He is the Door, no man enters, except he be lead by the Porter (the Holy Ghost – Jn 10:1-5). Thomas knew there were Nails, not simply a Nail in the hands of Jesus. If the Cross was one piece of wood, as some contend, then God, Who knows all things before they were things, would have made sure the blood on the door during this Passover would have been only on the top of the door. Surely He would have stopped the placement on the sides, but He didn’t. Not only did He allow it, He commanded the placement of the blood in the shape of a Cross with a crosspiece. The placement was important, if Jesus is “the Door”, as well as our “Passover”, then this door is a symbol of the Cross.
History gives us many shapes of the various crosses used by the Romans, but the same History shows the uses of the crosses. There was a reason for the “T” shaped design, as compared to the upright stake. There were also crosses upside down, and some shaped like a “X”, each type was used for different reasons. The single stake was placed outside of a village or town with the malefactor on it, with a sign stating the violation. The warning was for those who entered the village or town, but death on the single stake was very slow. Rather than a sign saying “no speeding”, they hung a speeder on a stake, it would take days for them to die, making the impression on the would be violator.
The “T” shaped design brought a quicker death, but a much more painful one as the Scriptures describe, it was used for political malefactors. Jesus was accused of being the King of the Jews, a political crime, not a crime of passion, or a crime against society. On the T shaped Cross the person’s hands were not palm out, but palm in (against the wooden cross piece). The nail was more like a railroad spike, it was driven through the back of the wrist (called the carpus, or into the carpals), the only place able to hold the weight of the body. There are eight bones in this area forming the wrist, this is interesting, considering the number eight is the number of new beginnings, thus Jesus granted us a New Beginning. When the person’s legs could no longer hold the person up, or if they were broken, the shoulders would dislocate causing the bones would slam against the wind pipe, thus choking the person to death. This death was prophetically foretold in Psalm 22, long before the Cross was in actual use. If the Cross was a single stake, there would be no reason to break the person’s legs, thus by telling us the two malefactors had their legs broken, and the Roman guard was going to break the legs of Jesus, we are being told the Cross was T shaped. Moses’ Passover had a lamb leg which was broken off, but not one bone of Jesus was broken. The Body of Jesus will be broken, but His physical Body of flesh had no broken bones, there is no division of His Body until the time appointed. What about all the divisions in the Body now? They are still in the Body, they can say, “we are not of the Body”, or even say, “They are not of the Body”, but it doesn’t make it so. If they were water baptized in the Name of Jesus, they are in the Body, whether we like it or not.
God knew the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, all these events point to the moment. Why would some tend to change the shape of the Cross to begin with? Perhaps they think by having some special revelation outside the Bible they can feel special, or hold some area where they think they are the only ones with the Truth, or simply the spirit of man forming another fable. The lust of wanting to be the special over the special is the motivation of cult systems, as well as the drive of the Whacko. They have to have the one Revelation placing them in their minds over the rest of the Body, or some Act separating them from the rest of the Body, making them greater than the total. It’s pride, ego and arrogance; the motivation is envy, coming from the spirit lusting to envy, thus it always involves fables, self-righteousness, or pride. Detection and Clarity keeps us from attempting to begin a “New Body of Christ”, rather we know the Body will be broken, our goal is be among the Wheat.
Once the death passed over, then the children could go out. Jesus said, once we Know His voice, we will not know the voice of the Stranger, neither will we follow it (Jn 10:4-5). Death Passed Over the people, but we pass from death to life. We accept the Body of Jesus to obtain Mercy and forgiveness of sins, but the Blood of Jesus covers the Door, bringing us Grace with the remission of sin, as well as the spiritual character and nature of Christ. John makes entry into heaven by the Spirit taking him through the Door, Jesus told us to look for the Time of Doors. The symbol of death passing over is just the opposite for us, we are above the second death, rather than having it pass over our heads. It’s still appointed unto all men once to die, then comes the Judgment, it’s the second death we avoid (Rev 20:6).
The actual number of people who left Egypt is up for grabs, but we do find some very interesting information. In Exodus 12:37 we read, “about six hundred thousand on foot were the men, beside the children”. Generally speaking the women and children were not counted, thus when we read the genelogy of Mary we find the records used the names of the men. Strangely enough we also find the Holy Ghost did use the names of women in both the genelogy listings in Matthew and Luke. The insertion of the women by the Holy Ghost opened the door to “there is neither male or female in Christ”.
The Book of Numbers gives us some additional information on this group leaving Egypt. When we get to Numbers we will find the number of men after one year in the Wilderness was 603,550, one could figure most were married, plus adding the children, but two million is on the high side. Nonetheless we find the number here is confirmed for us, then recorded in the Book of Numbers to remove any confusion. Really two million isn’t many in the overall picture, we found there were more Hebrews than Egyptians. There are cities in the world with many more people, in a much smaller area.
The method of the Jewish day is from sunset to sunset, not midnight to midnight, thus when Jesus kept the Passover with His disciples at night, then went to the Cross the next morning it was still one Jewish day, not two. Moses and the children will keep the Passover on one day, leave on the next. The day they leave will later become the High Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but that is later (Ex 12:31-41).
Each Season has a position and condition, where one stands, determines their right standing in the Season. The Law gives one standing by self-righteousness, the Law of the Spirit gives standing by God’s Righteousness. The Law of the Spirit makes us the Firstfruits of the Spirit, yet our Season has Times and Timings. The feast days were not for Moses, although Moses will write about them. John’s account shows the feast days are appointed to be signs regarding Jesus. To Moses the first Passover was by faith, but all Passovers after the first one related to an event in the past, but to the Father it pointed to the Son on the Cross which was future at this time. The very day Jesus goes to the Cross was a Passover day, not by chance, but determined before the foundation of the world. The Passover began in Egypt, was recorded and kept in the wilderness, then kept well beyond by many generations, yet it still points to Jesus as our Passover.
The Testimony of Jesus speaks Of Jesus, the Testimony of Jesus is found in the Law, Prophets and Psalms as the Shadow of things to come; the history of the Jews testifies for or against the children of God, regardless of the season (Jn 5:39-41 & Luke 24:44). The Law Of Moses actually shows mankind can’t make it without the Cross, but once we receive the Cross, Body and Blood of Jesus, we are able to confess Jesus as He confessed the Father. The Law of Moses is the Body Of Moses, the Prophets were seen as the Body Of Elijah, these Two Witnesses stood by the Lord of the whole earth, but the Father said, “Hear ye Him” (Matt 17:1-6 & Zech 4:14). We can’t discern the Body of Christ, while holding the Body of Moses, it’s one too many bodies.
The Passover itself is not a Sabbath day, since it takes labor to kill the lamb. The day after became the high sabbath day, beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The weekly sabbath is according to the Commandment; however, the Ten Commandments made no provision for Feast Days, yet the Law does. The Weekly sabbath always fell on a Saturday regardless of the date, the Feast Days always fell on a date, regardless of the day. This is vital when we look at the week of the Cross, as we see the various days as they are given in the Gospel.
The Passover meal today is somewhat different from the one Moses kept, or from the one Jesus and the disciples kept, but it nonetheless holds the knowledge of God. Moses had one cup, the cup of deliverance, when Jesus held Passover His table had four cups, the cup of deliverance, the cup of separation, which Luke talks about, then the Elijah Cup, which Jesus took, saying it held His Blood of the New Covenant, then the fourth cup of God’s wrath which Jesus took in the Garden, later in the Book of Revelation at the very end it’s seen being poured out. The wine in the cup was mixed with water, Paul told Timothy to take a “little wine” for his stomach sake, and his often infirmities (I Tim 5:23). The word for wine in the reference means water mixed with wine, the word for stomach means the gullet, or the area producing wind to make sounds through the voice box. Adding how the verse joins with “lay hands suddenly on no man” gives us a clue to the reference. Timothy was a troubled pastor who lay hands on some whom he felt had the ability to teach, but all they taught was doing the Law. Timothy left it easier to run, then to stay and correct the problem. Therefore, we find Paul telling him why we don’t lay hands suddenly on someone to ordain them into helps or eldership, rather it’s better to consider both Mercy and Grace as we look for the signs of the calling, as the Apostles did (Acts 6:3). Of course this was in reference to deacons, bishops and elders, not the Offices of the Lord. The Offices are appointed by the Holy Ghost on behalf of Jesus (Acts 13:1-3 & Eph 4:10-11). Leadership then confirms, they don’t appoint.
The warning to Timothy was “lay hands suddenly on no one”, it was not “watch out who lays hands on you”, thus Paul told Timothy we have not been given the spirit of fear, the phrase, “watch out who lays hands on you” is based in fear, making it the complete opposite of the teaching. If we are above all things, then we are above them, we tread on serpents and scorpions and “over the power of the enemy: and nothing shall be any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19). It’s far better to watch who we lay hands on, rather than twist the verse introducing fear.
The Passover lamb was not by mistake either, the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world. This Passover for Moses should have been a sign to the religious rulers during the earthly ministry. However, envy blinds one to the truth. The lamb bone is still used in the meal, not the same bone, but a broken bone from a lamb, showing a sacrifice given, then the bitter herbs relating to the bondage. Remembering bondage can produce one of two attitudes, one is never to keep others in bondage, knowing we were once in bondage, the other is the demonic one, keeping others in bondage because we were in bondage. The bitter herbs were to remind the children what it was like in Egypt, thus they were never to hold anyone in bondage. For us the Cross reminds us we were of the world trapped in darkness, yet God forgave us, thus we refuse to impute sins on people (II Cor 5:19-20).
The bread was called Matzo bread, a thin bread with holes poked through it, which was also striped so it would bake fast. There are two types of Matzo, one is more “holy” than the other. In either case the time element from the water touching the flour until the bread is baked could be no longer than 7 minutes. The ordinary Matzo was watched by the Rabbi during the cooking stage, the other Matzo was watched by Rabbis from the growth in the field, until it was baked. We are the Bread (I Cor 10:17), we were watched by the Holy Ghost as we were being prepared to become members of the Body of Christ. However, on the Cross we see the Body of Jesus, holes in His wrists by the nails, holes in His scalp from the thorns, His body carrying the stripes, by which we are healed, thus the Body of Jesus is the true and living Matzo. Jesus said He was not the Manna, but He said He was the bread (Jn 6:48-59).
The Cross is the ultimate self-less act of all time, the Son of man had full authority to say “no” at any point in time, yet He stood, endured, as His faith reached beyond the pain to the joy of seeing us come to the saving knowledge of the Gospel. Moses on the other hand was looking for protection from death, while seeking to be released from Egypt. Wanting to leave, and being able to, are different. The same was true for us, we might have the desire to leave the world, but how? If there is no route of escape, how can we? The Cross is the Door, behold Jesus stands at the Door and knocks, if any man answer, He will come in and Sup with them (Rev 3:20). Yet there is the Door of David no man can open (Rev 3:7). Oh, it’s the Time of Doors, not the Time of Door (Matt 24:33).
The symbols in the modern Passover meal point to the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus, thereby promoting the Faith of Jesus, although the Jew holding the meal hasn’t a clue to the significance. Since the elements changed, does it mean Tradition took over? Don’t forget there is a Godly Tradition as well, in this case it shows the progression to the Body of Jesus until the Door is closed to open the Night.
Each cup is representative of something, the First Cup is the cup represents God desiring to be with His people, it was taken in Egypt by Moses. The Cup of Separation is seen in Luke, it’s taken before the bread (Luke 22:17-19), for us the Cup is our water baptism, our token of separation. Leaving the bitter herbs, egg and such, which we do not partake of. The only two elements for us are the bread and wine as the third cup, thus Communion for us is something we do after we enter the kingdom, which leaves the Jewish Passover in the principality of the Law of Moses. We also have many baptisms in the Doctrine of Baptisms, but they are One in position and purpose. Water baptism identifies us with the death and resurrection of Jesus, it doesn’t produce it. The baptism with the Holy Ghost grants us the Gift (Spirit – Acts 2:4, 10:45, 11:15-16, 15:8 et al). We do water baptisms as part of our duties as members of the Body, Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Ghost and Fire. There is also the baptism of service, it also has a cup (Matt 20:22). According to Paul the children were “baptized unto Moses” (I Cor 10:2). So did Moses do “sand baptism”? No, it’s the same context as the “Baptism of John”, as an identification to the process. John’s baptism was in his name, by an authority granted him. John’s baptism stopped when John was imprisoned, it became ineffective at the Cross (Acts 19:1-6). The noun for Baptism refers to be immersed, but immersed in what? The water or the purpose? One can swim the channel being immersed with water for days, does it mean they are baptized? No, one has to immerse their self in the purpose of their baptism. Being immersed in water is a sign, or token, as a type of signature as we give our vow. The water didn’t save us God did, the water doesn’t clean us inwardly, since we didn’t drink it. The verb for baptism means to Identify with, the children identified with Moses through the Law of Moses, they did not identify the Body, or Christ, or the Rock, they saw the water come from the Rock, but they were not the Rock.
It is said water baptism and communion are ordinances, things we should do, but no commandment telling us to. It is partly correct, if we are the candidate it is our freewill offering, but if we are the ones doing the baptizing we are under Commandment (Matt 28:19-20). During the Communion Jesus never said, “If you desire take thereof”, He said, “take, eat”, then “drink all of it”, which would be Commandment by definition, or something wherein there is no choice, we are required to do it. Although we also find in Communion we do have the choice not to take it, thus we do find the choice is ours, but in not taking we admit we are unworthy, which means we really don’t think the Body and Blood are important. The “unworthy” state is not having a sin, rather it means we really don’t see the importance of remembering what Jesus did.
We have two elements in Communion after our entry and position to partake of, we take the Bread (Luke 22:19), representing the Body. Paul said we are the Bread (I Cor 10:17), yet the Bread is not the New Covenant, Jesus said His Blood was (Matt 26:28 & Mark 14:24). When we take of the Cup it’s the Third Cup, or Elijah Cup, indicating our association with Christ as the purpose (Luke 22:20). The same cup was also termed the Messiah Cup as it held the represented Blood of Christ as the New Covenant. So, why don’t we still take the Second Cup? The disciples took it before Pentecost, but it was the Passover meal, the change took place to Communion, meaning we have One Cup for the Believer, representing the Mercy (Water) of the Father, and the Blood (Wine) of Jesus. Jesus came by both Water and Blood, Water for the Mercy, Blood for the New Covenant. The Living Waters come from the Spirit in us, showing words of mercy empowered by Grace (Jn 7:38-39). The washing of the Water by the Word, shows the Word using Mercy to wash us with, the Water is not the Word, but “by the Word” the water is applied (Eph 5:26).
How about the Fourth Cup? “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God” (Rev 14:10), but how do we know this is the Cup Jesus took in the Garden? The Name Gethsemane means Winepress, or a Place of pressure to extract the oil, it’s more of a condition than a location. In the Book of Revelation we read, “and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great Winepress of the wrath of God” (Rev 14:19 & Jere 25:15-17). The fourth cup came after we received the Third Cup of Remission, thus we are spared the wrath of God to come (I Thess 1:10). For Moses it was one cup, the cup taken in Egypt for deliverance, for us it’s based on being delivered, while being spared the fourth cup of God’s wrath. The Third Cup is for the children of the Day, the Fourth for the Night.
The “death of the firstborn” is not to be confused with the phrase “dead in Christ”, the “dead in Christ” are defined by Paul to include those who can confess “I am crucified with Christ” which denotes a death, but adding “nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who Loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20). This connects to, “confessing Jesus is come in the flesh” (I Jn 4:1-4), by Grace (Gal 2:21). Those who “sleep in Jesus” are a different group, they sleep through the Night, or better “soul sleep”, but the Dead in Christ are hardly asleep, they cry out to the Lord from under the Altar of God. Those who soul sleep are among the “rest of the dead” who live not again until after Jacob’s Trouble, but the dead in Christ are those who are Partakers of the First Resurrection (Rev 20:5-6). Those who are “Dead in Christ” will not rob those who “Sleep in Jesus” of their reward. The difference? There are those who do the Law of faith without knowing it, they walk in Mercy, but for one reason or another, not their fault they have not received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, they cannot leave the planet, but they are stood up as their works of mercy are judged (Matt 25:31-46, I Thess 4:13, 4:5-7). In Romans Paul denotes two types in the Body, those who walk after the Spirit, and those who walk after the flesh (Rom 8:1). The Corinthians and Romans being examples of those who walk after the flesh. In First Thessalonians he denotes three groups, the Dead in Christ, those who Sleep in Jesus, and the Drunken who go into the Night (Rom 8:1-5 & I Thess 4:5-7). The goal is to be a child of the Day, let us not sleep as some, but awake, but whether we sleep or awake, we should live together with Jesus (I Thess 4:8-11). It doesn’t give us the right to reject the Spirit, it simply means there are some who walk in Mercy, yet are ignorant of the Gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 19:2).
The First Resurrection is of course the Resurrection of Jesus, the Rapture is not another resurrection, it completes the First Resurrection, thus the same Spirit who raised Jesus shall raise us. Paul knew he would make one Resurrection or the other (Ph’l 3:10-11); thus in Philippians Paul used two different words for Resurrection, one relating to the Resurrection of Jesus meaning a power from within, denoting the same Spirit who raised Jesus will raise the dead in Christ. The other word means a power from without, pointing to the resurrection unto life. His hope was to be a partaker of the First Resurrection, but if he was among those who sleep in Jesus, he knew his reward was waiting with Jesus (Ph’l 3:10-11, I Thess 4:13, 4:17 & 5:5-7). The Passover points to the Cross, but the Cross points to the Grave, the Grave to the Resurrection, the Resurrection secures us in Grace.
When Jesus was on the Cross He said, “Father forgive them”, He did not say, “My Blood forgives you”, or “I forgive you”, yet John says, “the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleans us from all unrighteousness” (I Jn 1:7), then adds, “all unrighteousness is sin” (I Jn 5:17). The Cross is the place where we obtain the Father’s Mercy, the Resurrection the place of the Son’s (Word) Grace. We must have both to be Equal, anyone who denies either the Father or the Son is antichrist (I Jn 3:22-23). Jesus is The Christ, but we are Christian, in order to be a Christian one must be crucified with Christ. The division shows the Bread and Cup, two things, much like the Rock and Church. Jesus didn’t dip the Bread into the Wine, or pour the Wine over the Bread, they were two separate items, yet joined. This is not against the Intinction (dipping the wafer into the wine), only showing how Jesus did it, and why. The Body is not the New Covenant, the Blood is, yet Jesus will build His Church from the Body, showing they are united, yet separated. The Intinction began because of using one cup, while not wanting fifty people or more to partake of the one cup.
The Passover Dinner for today’s Jew begins with the Betsa, a hard boiled egg roasted in an oven to commemorate the offering made by those who entered the Temple in Jerusalem; however, the symbol shows us the Seed of God forming our souls through the Fire of God’s affliction. It’s obvious this was added, since the Passover for Moses didn’t have the Tabernacle or the Temple, neither were they in Jerusalem.
Next they had the Maror or bitter vegetable, often horseradish, reminding them of the bitter life in Egypt; however, it shows us the bitterness when one falls from Grace. We are told to Look diligently lest any man fail of (fall from) Grace; lest any Root of Bitterness springing up trouble you, thereby many be defiled (Heb 12:15). We know, Without faith it’s impossible to please God; for he who comes to God must believe God is, then hold their faith in God being a Rewarder of those who Diligently seek Him (Heb 11:6).
Next is the Charoset, which is a thick paste of grated apples, with a little wine added to moisten it. To the Jew it represents the mortar the children used to make the bricks, to us it shows we must have the Fruit of the Spirit by the Blood of Jesus.
Next is the Karpas, or a green vegetable, which is eaten to represent the Talmud (collections of Jewish traditions), but to us it shows the Growth of the Seed of God as the Word of God engrafting to our souls, making the Two One. Again this has to be something added, since the Talmud was not in existence in the days of Moses.
The Jew uses Matzo Bread, which to us represents the Bread of Life, Who was pierced for us. The Haggada is a small book containing the entire service for the Passover; however, to us it points to the Little Book of Prophecy John was given, which made his mouth sweet, but his belly bitter (Rev 10:10).
During the Passover they wait for Elijah, but Moses wasn’t waiting for Elijah, he was waiting for the call to leave Egypt. Jesus said, Elijah came before the Cross; indicating the Elijah message came through John the Baptist to prepare the way for the Lord. We can’t wait for someone, if Jesus said the element has come. We are not told to wait for Elijah, we are told to follow Jesus. Elijah was a prophet, yet Jesus said there was no man greater than John the Baptist, which means John was greater than David, Moses, or Elijah, yet the least in the kingdom is greater than John (Matt 11:11). Why then do we want to follow after Elijah? Neither Elijah or John the Baptist were Born Again, or in the Body of Christ. Yet, the message came through John, thus it had to do with Preparation for the kingdom, not the Possession of it.
Wait, is there another message of Elijah? Yes, the message by God to the people, Come out of her My children, be not a partaker of her sins, which points to the Night and the Everlasting Gospel pertaining to Judgment, not Salvation (Rev 18:4 & 14:6). The first Elijah message shows it was spoken to prepare the way for Jesus for the Day. Elijah representing the prophets was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Moses who represented the Law, but Jesus was there as well, who did the Father tell us to listen to? Jesus; the Law and Prophets speak of Jesus, they don’t take His place.
The mystery is found in the meaning of the name of Elijah, which is; “My God is Jehovah”, yet Jehovah is broken down into “Jesus Saves”, and “Judgment”, which again points to Rightly Dividing the Word (Logos). To review, the wording “rightly dividing” in the phrase “rightly dividing the word” in II Timothy 2:15 (the only place the Greek appears) means to Stand up the Word then Cut it in half, without completing dividing it asunder. We can’t divide the Word from side to side, or at an angle, it would not Separate the Day from the Night. Rightly dividing simply means keep the things of the Day in the Day, and the things of the Night in the Night. We are children of the Day, we are not children of the Night; nor purposed for the Night (I Thess 5:5).
The Jew knows, “The Lord, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and the house of slavery”. This is more important to the Jew than, “I am the Lord who created the world” or “I Am He who forgives sins”. The Taanit B’chorim refers to the Firstborn Son with the Hebrew wording Taanit B’chorim meaning, The Fast Of The Firstborn. The day before the Passover the firstborn male will fast, this has two meanings to the Jew, the Firstborn sons of the Jews being spared during that night, next it’s to remember the firstborn of Egypt died the same night. To us we see the death here did come in the Night, thus the Passover relates to the Night, Communion to the Day.
Today the Sabbath preceding the Passover is called, Shabbat Ha-gadol or The Great Sabbath, to us this is Jesus, our Great Sabbath. To the Jew it means the defiance of the Hebrews as they sacrificed a Lamb in the face of the Egyptians. This is important to us, since the Lamb was sacrificed while the children were still in Egypt, Jesus was sacrificed outside of the Gate for us while we were still in the world. The importance indicates the Door provided from the Cross is the one wherein Jesus is on one side, we on the other, Jesus knocks, we open, then Jesus comes to us, then leads us through the Door by the Holy Ghost into the Kingdom.
Today, the Jews have two calendars, one is the sacred calendar, the other is the civil. The first month of the sacred is the seventh month of the civil, but the seventh month of the civil is the first month of the sacred. Why two? The bondage, and other factors in history caused one to be used to correlate with the dates and times of the world, yet the other is to preserve their history, both are based on the Jewish year, not the method used by the rest of the world (excluding the Oriental calendar) bringing up a point. The Jews use a year conducive to the time of Adam, according to their history, time begins with Adam, they can trace the years back to the first time “age” became a factor with Adam. We as Gentiles have a split system, BC and AD, with the BC meaning Before Christ, and the AD from Latin standing for “In the year of our Lord”.
Here in Exodus the first month is called Abib which means To March, as in “marching out of Egypt”, or as in “Marching to the Promised Land”, since the move entails a marching from, as well as a marching to (Ex 13:4). Today we call the first month Nisan, it was first noted as Nisan in Nehemiah 2:1. The first month of the civil calendar (which came much later), as the seventh month of the sacred is called Tishri meaning Grain, which is another definition for Abib. The Passover is kept each year on the same date in the month of Abib, during their Generation, which will last until they look upon Him they have pierced. If one rejects the Law of the Spirit, they are under the Law of Moses, if they reject the Law of Moses, they are subject to the Season which ran from Adam to Moses. Paul told the Corinthians to pray their works get them through the fire, but he also called them carnal, get the hint? If we are carnal our works will be judged, if we are spiritual we cease from our works, as we judge ourselves at the Table of the Lord. The table of the Lord is just for those in the Body of Christ, we have much to remember, if we consider all the Lord has done, it becomes our foundation for belief, often a humbling experience. The Body is the place of separation from the world, the safe place where the anointing protects us, but the Blood is the New Testament, the place where our souls are becoming spiritual in nature.
Following are the Jewish months, as they appear in both calendars:
NAME OF MONTH: TISHRI
CORRESPONDS WITH: Sept-Oct
# OF DAYS: 30
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 1st
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 7thNAME OF MONTH: HESHVAN
CORRESPONDS WITH: Oct-Nov
# OF DAYS: 29 or 30
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 2nd
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 8thNAME OF MONTH: CHISLEV
CORRESPONDS WITH: Nov-Dec
# OF DAYS: 29 or 30
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 3rd
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 9thNAME OF MONTH: TEBETH
CORRESPONDS WITH: Dec-Jan
# OF DAYS: 29
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 4th
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 10thNAME OF MONTH: SHEBAT
CORRESPONDS WITH: Jan-Feb
# OF DAYS: 30
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 5th
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 11thNAME OF MONTH: ADAR
CORRESPONDS WITH: Feb-Mar
# OF DAYS:29 or 30
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 6th
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 12thNAME OF MONTH: NISAN
CORRESPONDS WITH: Mar-Apr
# OF DAYS: 30
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 7th
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 1stNAME OF MONTH: IYAR
CORRESPONDS WITH: Apr-May
# OF DAYS: 29
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 8th
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 2ndNAME OF MONTH: SIVAN
CORRESPONDS WITH: May-June
# OF DAYS: 30
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 9th
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 3rdNAME OF MONTH: TAMMUZ
CORRESPONDS WITH: June-July
# OF DAYS: 29
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 10th
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 4thNAME OF MONTH: AB
CORRESPONDS WITH: July-Aug
# OF DAYS: 30
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 11th
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 5th*NAME OF MONTH: ELUL
CORRESPONDS WITH: Aug-Sept
# OF DAYS: 29
MONTH OF CIVIL YEAR: 12th
MONTH OF SACRED YEAR: 6thSince their year, shorter than the AD year, has 354 days, thus about every three years (seven times in 19 years) they add an extra 29-day-month known as VEADAR, between ADAR and NISAN.
When the children left Egypt, they went by the way of the Red Sea. After they took their first step the Lord brought the pillar of fire and the cloud, not before (Ex 13:19-22). Up to this time the children didn’t have to do a thing but follow Moses. This is a symbol to us, until the Blade comes forth, we do nothing more than put our hearts on learning of Jesus. What symbol is the Red Sea to us? Our water baptism, the Token of our commitment to leave Egypt behind, as we go where the Lord would have us go, in order for us to find the Path to Follow Jesus by the Spirit. If the Faith of Jesus blazed the path, what is it going to take to “follow” it? Faith, but without the New Man we lack “guidance”, the New Man is fully able to apply our measure of faith allowing us to follow Jesus.
Then comes the time when we are taken into the Wilderness by the Spirit (Matt 4:1). Into the wilderness? Are you crazy? No, God still does some of His greatest works in the wilderness. Jesus was taken into the Wilderness by the Spirit to defeat the devil, we’re taken into the Wilderness by the Spirit to defeat the works of the devil.
We use the term “Red Sea” simply because the map makers did, as did the Bible to give us a reference. The Hebrew word for Red is Cuwph (Soof) meaning Flags, Red, or Weeds, it was used by many Jewish and Early church scribes to mean “of the sea from the straits to the Gulf of Akaba”, yet they also agree the origin of the word is a mystery. The word Sea is the Hebrew Yam also translated as South, Westward, Nile, it was assigned to a place in the Temple Court, which is also know as the Court of the Gentiles; giving us the metaphor Sea for the Gentiles.
The scholar Gesenius, with others take exception to the modern interpretation of the Hebrew wording, noting terms like “Rush Sea” or “Reed Sea” all seem to be Jewish interpretations coming from the German, or Latin Scripus Sirpus, rather than the Egyptian or early Jewish thinking. The Red Sea was known by many various names in the past, such as the “the weedy sea” (Ps 106:7, 9, & 136:13). There is also Jablonski Opuscc and the Michaelis Supplement indicating the place was known by the Egyptians as the “Sea of Weed”, later as the “Rush Growing Out Of The Nile”; therefore, there are many names attributed to the body of water, we use Red Sea for simple identification. Someone could get legalistic regarding the name, forgetting what happened. The children crossed by faith, Pharaoh and his men died attempting to cross.
There are at least two views on the Crossing, one has been confirmed, the other has not. One view presumes the children crossed at a place called The Reeds, where the water was about three inches deep. The presumption is the Sea didn’t divide, rather the children tiptoed across three inches of water; however, it also produced a premise showing a miracle. If the water was only three inches deep, how did Pharaoh and his men drown? What caused the wheels to fall of Pharaoh’s chariots? Flat sharks?
The established view pointed to a place where the water was deep, an area near one of the branches of the Red Sea. Of late a French satellite has discovered a path, yes these satellites can detect places where large groups of people marched several hundred years ago. This satellite showed a route more conducive to the Bible account, at the point of crossing they also discovered an earthen bridge about thirty to fifty feet under the water, thus the water could part, exposing the bridge, causing Pharaoh to assume it was a natural crossing. The Red Sea is still a very dangerous place to navigate, it has many reefs causing ships to run aground.
Since the crossing is a point of controversy we could run all around attempting to prove they passed at this point or another, missing the point of their crossing. We know some other information we will get to shortly helping narrow the search, but there will be someone who thinks they either flew over the water, swam under it, or tiptoed through it. Oh well, the point remains faith was able to get them to the other side.
Being spared the plagues gave the children a sign of God’s protection, but now they are asked to believe in the protection in the face of death. There comes a time to believe in what we say we believe. God proved His love for them, all wilderness are for us to prove our love for God.
The Lord had the children camp in the area of Pihahiroth, Migdol and Baalzephon (Ex 14:1-2). This was not by chance, nor was it because God was tired, or didn’t want to travel any further. The name Pihahiroth means The Mouth Of The Gorge, the name Migdol means The Tower, the name Baalzephon means Baal The Destroyer, we get the word Typhoon from part of this word. Typhoon also means the Destroyer; therefore, this place will be the difference between the pit (gorges), the Tower of God, and the destroyer, thus it will become the place of division for a decision, three points, run, stand, or hide. Pharaoh will have his decision at this place, as will Moses and the children.
We made our decision as we Passed by the Cross, the destroyer could not follow, since he was made ineffective. Yet, he still tosses darts at us, but God has given us His armor to protect us. On the other hand it becomes obvious, if the devil is ineffective, then our problems seem to be the golden calves we keep making. When the children cross the Red Sea, Pharaoh as a sign representing the devil will no longer be their problem, the works of the devil in their hearts will be their problem. The events and circumstances won’t be problems, their approach to the events through their unbelief will be the problem.
Pharaoh knew his free labor force was about to leave Egypt, meaning his people would now have to become the labor. When the children were encamped, they were preparing to leave Egypt, the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart decided “if I can’t have them, neither can God”, he set his heart on killing the children (Ex 14:5). He was still under the false impression the people were his (jealousy), when God said they were His. Jealousy is the fear of losing something or someone we think we possess, envy is the desire to have something someone else has, but we either lack the authority, or refuse to walk the same path to get it. Envy was the driving force of the religious leaders when they put Jesus on the Cross (Matt 27:18), thus they were run by the spirit lusting to envy (I Cor 2:8 & Eph 2:2). The evil envious nature is a driving force of the spirit of man (spirit of disobedience), it attempts to fill a lust, which can’t be filled. Pharaoh began by Jealousy, assuming the people were his, now it’s envy, wanting what God has proven is His.
Not only did the children of Israel provide the labor for Pharaoh, but many of them had the skills as well: when the labor and skill is removed, the nation falls. As soon as the children see the taskmasters coming after them, they turn against their Deliverer (Moses) saying, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?” (Ex 14:11). They hadn’t even crossed the Water, yet they were already speaking from the slavery mentality assuming Death was upon them. The Passover at this time was behind them, they felt they were spared one death to see another. Although their comments were off base, how many times have we panicked in the face of adversity? We yelled at the darkness hoping the devil will believe us, or perhaps we might believe us. Belief is still a Now confidence based on past information, here the Now is facing them, they needed to remember the past deliverance in order to put away their fearful thoughts.
Does their statement mean no Jew died in Egypt? Or there were no graves for the Hebrews? Not at all, it shows no Jew died in Egypt, except for natural causes, thereby confirming disease and sickness came with the plagues. This also shows how God gave Moses the purpose in the battle plan before each battle, but God didn’t give Moses all the battle plan at once, nor did Moses know the outcome of each event, or the details, thus each step was building the faith of Moses. At least Moses knew who the enemy was; some of us are fighting the wrong entity, we are sent to destroy the works of the devil, not enhance them. The children thought Moses was their enemy, yet days prior they were shouting, “Oh save us man of God”. The fallen nature of man is hypocritical, one day it’s, “Have mercy on me thou Son of David”, the next it’s “Crucify Him”.
At the mouth of the crossing the decision for the children would be at hand, they could cast off the works of the devil to grab the works of God before the cross, or face the issues after they cross, regardless, they were going to face their own unbelief and golden calves. The crossing was a faith issue, the Book of Hebrews shows this was the last “faith” experience the children would be accredited for until Jericho (Heb 11:29-30). After the decision comes, then they find the faith by looking at Moses. The children would see the Sea divide, cross on dry land, giving them an experience; however, they sill had to see something in order to gain the belief, so they could have faith, nonetheless their faith was desperation faith considering Pharaoh was close behind (Ex 14:21-23)
Pharaoh being a vessel of dishonor, just couldn’t give up what he thought belonged to him. In the midst of the Sea, the wheels fell off his chariots. Their hate, bitterness and blindness caused them to keep driving their chariots, instead of jumping off and running to safety. Some of us are driving chariots without wheels, we need to run to safety in the arms of Jesus (Ex 14:24). Pride also keeps us in bondage to chariots without wheels, or under heavy burdens (Ex 14:25). The Lord saved Israel that day, but Pharaoh was destroyed by the water, yet God didn’t push Pharaoh into the water, rather He allowed Pharaoh to destroy himself. Metaphorically we can see how Paul by the Holy Ghost made the connection to mercy. The vessel of dishonor rejected mercy (water), it was his own bitter water overcoming him which finally destroyed him.
Although the children were Saved from Egypt, the Lord would still destroy those who believed not (Ex 14:30-31 & Jude 5). Our water baptism is a sign (token) of being saved from the world, as we become part of the Body by God’s mercy (Water), but Grace (Blood) is where the saving of the soul takes place by the Spirit. Our faith in God to complete the good work is a continual position regardless of the event, circumstance or personal failures. A vessel of dishonor continually rejects the premise of giving Mercy after making entry, it does not relate to one who falls from time to time.
The children feared Pharaoh, and the works of Pharaoh, our fears of darkness give the works of the devil power. Why do we think the devil goes about As a roaring lion? To bring peace? Hardly, it’s to scare the socks off us, then he uses our own fear against us. Faith on the other hand defuses fear, leaving the devil as a toothless kitty cat. This fear of Pharaoh will remain with these children, later the works will manifest in their confessions of unbelief, then become visible by them making the famed golden calf.
The route could be somewhat confusing, but some of us get confused over the word “sabbath”. We find the first use of the word “sabbath” in Exodus 16:23, but in the verse Moses relates the keeping of the Sabbath was something God had commanded, yet no where prior to then do we find such a command. Also the only place prior to Exodus 16:23 where we find the word “rest” in reference to Moses and the children is in a fearful statement by Pharaoh (Ex 5:5). So, where did the sabbath come into being? On the night of the Passover they took rest as God moved through the land. The sabbath according to the Fifth Commandment is on the seventh day, or last day of the week, reflective of the end of the works of God, but what works did God end in Genesis? Salvation or Judgment? Yikes, the sabbath is to reflect on the Judgment of God, not His Salvation. This is evident on the first Passover, their first “sabbath” came when the angel of death moved through the land of Egypt judging Pharaoh. God rested on the Seventh day, knowing all the works of the Night were done, no man can stop them, but during our Season mankind has the opportunity to avoid the Judgment. Clearly the weekly sabbath came to remind them of the night death came, reflecting on how God spared them. Both the death of the first born, with the completed works were a reminder for keeping the sabbath, thus they kept the day, but never entered the Rest of God. The Rest of God is based in belief, but the belief is based in “God Is”. At times the Justification seems tough, rough or upside down, but the New Man is still working out the Report for our benefit, allowing us to Rest knowing God is doing a good work.
The Book of Hebrews splits the hairs between a “sabbath day”, and the “Rest of God”, just as it does between the “tithe under the Law”, and the “tithes of the cheerful giver”. These people being natural had to have the priest take tithe, but what means would the priest use? A baseball bat? Nay, no baseball back then. Six elders holding them down so they could take their wallet? No, Paul saw and divided the tithes not only in the Book of Hebrews, but in II Corinthians. God gave based on His love, did He get a return? Yes, was the return His motive? No, love was. Paul tells us a Cheerful giver is loved by God, which also means a Cheerful Giver gives based on love. Then Paul lays out two premises separating the priest taking tithes, and the priest under the New receiving tithes. Under the Old the priest under the Law used two elements, necessity, which means a promise of a return for the giving being greater than the gift given; second is grudgingly which means twisting the arm, or tugging at the compassion, or pulling at the heart of the person until they turn loose of their money. The same is true with the sabbath, it became the token of the Law because it forced the person to think on the time when death was “three spots of blood” away. The only thing between them and death was the Blood.
The confusion over the route can be solved as well, if Mount Sinai is in the same place now as it was then, than it was near the Red Sea, right in the path of the Exodus after the children crossed the Sea. Following the procedure we find the children camped before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea against Baal-zephon, which means there was no route of escape by land, thus telling us the only one place this could have been. After crossing the Red Sea they traveled for three days until they reached the wilderness of Shur, where they found no water (Ex 15:22). From there they came to Marah (Ex 15:24); then into the wilderness of Sin (Ex 16:1), which is between Elim and Sinai, which also means they traveled north then around the tip of the water, then back into the same area they left, only on the other side of the mount. Then came the Manna (Ex 16:15), then we read of the “sabbath” (Ex 16:23), then the fight with Amalek in Rephidim, which is again in the same area they came from before they crossed the Sea (Ex 17:18).
It would be three months before Moses would go up to Sinai to obtain the Ten Commandments (Ex 19:1). All this shows the plan of God, they were trapped by Pharaoh, no where to run, but God made a way, where no man could. God then took them back around again, but why? Confidence builders, often the Lord takes us back to places where we thought we were near defeat, just to show us how the Lord delivered us, proving our growth has made us overcomers. They are confidence builders, if we receive them; unfortunately these children did not.
God allowed them to take the silver and gold to make the Tabernacle, as stupid as the golden calf was, they never used the silver and gold to make the calf, rather they used their “earrings”, which were a sign of their bondage in Egypt. It doesn’t mean earrings are evil, it means these people were identified as slaves by their earrings. The golden calf was a means for them to control their leader, something they were attempting to do from the beginning. They were circumcised, thus they had the mark of the Covenant God made with Abraham, but they lacked the same belief as Abraham. Their prosperity turned into “things sacrificed unto devils”, as they mixed the things of the Lord with the cup of devils.
Paul will use the day after they made the golden calf as his lesson on the carnal thinking of the Corinthians, a little later we will see why. The same pride and rebellion was able to sneak into their history as well. While in Egypt, Pharaoh was their problem, but when they entered the wilderness, their own selfish, self-centered minds generated the problem. God did mighty signs for them, yet they held their unbelief. The “deliverance” was Good News, but they believed not. Two things are obvious, the ability to believe and the ability to apply mercy are still within the realm of a person, even a natural minded person.
God is able to work together all things for Good to them who love Him, to them who are the called according to His purpose, as evidenced by Abraham and Joseph. For us the purpose is to be formed into the image of God’s Son, not for some self-pleasure, or mountain top to mountain top mind game, but to complete the purpose of our existence (Rom 8:28-29). The confidence of faith knows God limited Romans 8:28-29 to two groups of people, first and foremost is the group of those who Love God, next it’s to those who are called according to God’s purpose. Not all are called, but Many are, out of the Many few are chosen, since few make the choice to be chosen. Regardless of the event there is a Good (Precious) for those who Love God, and those called according to His purpose, so what is His Purpose? The Greek word for Purpose in Romans is Prothesis, meaning purpose, but it also means Shewbread, it is not the Greek Protithemai meaning Purpose as in setting forth something. What possible connection does the Shewbread have with God’s Purpose? The Bread is the Body, the metaphor Body is not the manna, which was, and was not, rather it points to the Shewbread. The Shewbread was much different from the Manna, the command for the Manna came from heaven, but it grew out of the ground, it’s purpose ended when the wilderness ended. The Shewbread however had an outward display in the Holy Place on the right hand side, as a type and shadow of the Body of Christ. Even a vessel of dishonor has purpose, they show how God applies Mercy to the vessels of honor. God is not going to force anyone to accept Jesus, or the Spirit, it’s up to the person. The Corinthians prove the point, they had the Spirit, but were yet carnal. Paul could teach them about the Spirituals, but he couldn’t make them become spiritual. Our clues are here, what does the bondage and deliverance show us? While we were in Egypt, God worked out many things for our Good, although we didn’t know it. The events may have ended sour, even appear tragic, but the purpose was to drive us to the Cross, a Good result to what appeared to be a bad event. The verse has one other clue, it doesn’t say immediately, thus the good may not be found until we understand the event. There can be tons of Good in an event along with some evil, yet we can put our minds on the evil causing us to miss the Good. If we seek the Precious, we will find it, if we seek the evil, it will overcome us, whatever we seek we find.
It was once said, if seven hundred people were all told “six hundred and ninety nine of you will be healed”, all seven hundred would think they were the one who would miss it. It’s a sign of slavery mentality coupled with the fear of rejection. The first thing the children said when they ran into their first test in the wilderness was “God is”, but they added, “going to kill us” hardly belief. The same attitude can overcome us in the process of Justification (saving of the soul), we can presume God is going to run over us with a steamroller, or put us in an event to punish us, embarrass us, or belittle us, but God is a Rewarder for those who diligently seek Him. Fear of rejection, or the slavery mentality will twist the purpose of God in our minds, causing us to miss the Precious.
God’s purpose for these people in the wilderness was Good, yet they saw it as evil, death, hunger and destruction. The Good was before them throughout their wilderness experience, but they failed to see it. Their eyes were blinded by their own unbelief, but they had the Law of Moses, the Tabernacle, the Cloud, the Fire, the Manna and many other things, including health and protection as signs for them to believe. Even if a good event happened, they forgot it when the next affliction came.
We must take into consideration how these people had not tasted freedom their entire lives, to them having God tell them what to do through Moses, was the same as Pharaoh ordering them about. For years they heard how Pharaoh was not only a god, but their protector, now here comes Moses telling them God is come to free them as their protector. Slavery mentality prevents some of us from receiving discipleship, rather we presume because someone is instructing us, we are being controlled. We don’t like the instruction, so we form our excuse to run, tossing away our God granted discipleship. The Whacko does control, there is a difference between instruction and controlling. Those who control leave no choice, they make slaves out of people, whereas instruction allows the person to learn by making errors as well as avoiding errors. Jesus told Peter how Satan wanted to sift (punch a hole) him, yet Jesus allowed it, but added, “when you are converted” (Luke 22:32). Judas was allowed to make his error as well, thus Jesus never controlled anyone, but He did instruct them.
Nonetheless the children’s faith reached to the other side of the sea, thus they saw the Red Sea part, but much of their motivation was the sound of the wheels of Pharaoh’s chariots behind them. Their Hope was on the next shore, but it’s where they left their faith. They needed to project the same Hope to the other border of the wilderness, then allow their faith to pull them there. Hope is ahead, but when we use “faith of desperation” we are more concerned about the danger, than the hope. The children feared Pharaoh was going to overtake them, yet when safety was secure, their faith vanished.
The children also failed to see Pharaoh’s methods and God’s methods were not the same, neither were the purposes the same, but it didn’t matter, they wanted to be “free” according to their own thoughts. Of course their thoughts were tainted by Egypt, their minds full of strongholds, but they still wanted what they considered the “freedom” God promised. To them Freedom was void of responsibility, they rejected the authority over them, causing them to rebel. Some of us think the “perfect law of liberty” is doing what we want, when we want. Freedom means we are not under bondage to the things of darkness, or the rules and regulations applied to natural people, but it doesn’t mean we have no responsibilities, nor does it mean we are not a people under Authority.
They needed to be trained, thus God gave them a leader by placing the mental of leadership on one person. They were looking all over for someone to teach them, but in the manner they wanted to be taught, yet God had the most productive way. Imagine what would have happened if God allowed them to teach each other? Unfortunately it can happen when we allow a novice to teach, or we run about seeking a teacher with itching ears (loves to be praised). Novices are sprouts, they are not yet Blades, when we allow our old carnal mind to define what we think God should do, or what we think God will do, we get into trouble. When God doesn’t perform to our carnal expectations, we get mad, frustrated, or confused. These people heard the premise was to travel three days into the wilderness for the purpose of giving a sacrifice unto the Lord, but they never considered what the sacrifice would entail. When they were three days into the wilderness they found “bitter water”; instead of giving a sacrifice of praise to God, they entered bitterness, and murmured against Moses (Ex 15:22-23). Two types of water, the Mercy of God, and the bitter water, they saw death, rather than Opportunity. However, the opportunity was there, but their carnal thinking and faulty expectations caused them to miss it.
These were the same people who cried unto God to set them free, yet when it came time for them to consider what real freedom was, they attacked the same hand setting them free. They wanted freedom, but they didn’t know how to handle it. They lacked belief; without belief they lacked a foundation for faith. Instead of seeing themselves as disciples, they wanted to be lords.
When the Word came to better them, they failed to mix the Word spoken with Faith, and lost the Promise. The Word comes to better us, but if we think the Word will cause us harm, we will attack it, murmur about it, or complain. If it doesn’t please the flesh, or boast about us, or perform for us, we get mad. The elements are products of the old man: God is perfecting us, but we don’t like the way He is doing it. Why? The old man doesn’t mind freedom, as long as he can be master. However, true freedom will never come until we put off the old man, then put on the New. If we are serious about Salvation, we will face the wilderness with Joy and Gladness of heart.
INTO THE WILDERNESS
Here is the place of testing, the place where we find belief and faith join in the Now. We will find out if we love religion, or God. Do we love what God will do for us? Do we jump for joy because God did something we wanted, or do we jump for joy when we’re being persecuted for the Word’s sake? Anyone can “witness” about what they think are the good things God does for them, but few witness about their “wilderness”, yet God does some of His best work there.
Jesus proved His love for the Father more than once, one of those times was in the Wilderness. Jesus was taken into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted of the devil, by the experience we know Jesus defeated the devil, later by His death and Resurrection He destroyed (made ineffective) the devil (Heb 2:14). When Jesus faced the temptation of the devil He never said, “Oh yeah, well I’m the Son of God jerk, and you’re going to get it”, or “You’re coming against the Anointing of God, you’re on thin ice”. No, Jesus merely said, “It is written”, allowing the Scriptures to speak for Him. Why? Why not use New Words? After all, didn’t Jesus bring Fresh Words from the Father? Why use the Scriptures written in the Law? Why not use some New Testament words? The New Testament bars the devil from entrance, the Law judges, thus it found the devil guilty. The devil tempted Jesus, but Jesus was never tempted, rather He was able to send a test back to the devil.
This reminds us of the remarks in Jude where Michael doesn’t bring a railing accusation against the devil, but merely said, “the Lord rebuke you”. Why? Was it because prior to the devil being the devil Michael and the cherub who covers were contemporaries? Could be, or could it be because the angels know what the Lord has done, is done. For us to presume the devil is effective is the same as saying Jesus failed. “Wow, I never thought of that”. The old man will say, “Has Jesus really made the devil ineffective?”, “ah gee I don’t know, I think so, maybe not”. The dragon gave his authority, power and seat to the Beast of the Sea (world), the world has been used by them ever since, as were we when we were in the world. The only way the devil can do a thing to a child of God, is when the child gives the devil place (opportunity), yet if we can give place to the devil, we can also remove it (Eph 4:27).
The wilderness has several areas of training and testing, not all those in the Wilderness are always subject to a testing, as was the case with John the Baptist. John the Baptist started his ministry in the wilderness, but it doesn’t mean the wilderness was all sand, rather the Jordan river ran right through the wilderness. The Preparation came in the wilderness, John’s baptism unto repentance came in the wilderness, Jesus was baptized in the wilderness, the purpose of John’s baptism was the people should believe, yet it came in the wilderness, thus Egypt was not the beginning, the beginning came in the wilderness.
Where did the Spirit take Jesus to be tempted of the devil? Into the Wilderness. Therefore, we find the Wilderness is more than a place of exposure, although it is the first place we are exposed. It’s the preparation place, the place where we gain clarity, where we are able to define the enemy, the wiles of the enemy, as we gain victory. It’s the place where we as sacrifices are prepared and readied for service. If we are serious about this, we enter the wilderness of God after we receive the Spirit. All these events relate to us, Paul told the Corinthians the same events related to them, thus if Paul felt the wilderness experiences were appropriate for the Corinthians, surely they are appropriate for us.
The deliverance in Egypt took forty days, the trip across the wilderness was planned to take forty days; however, the children began to breach the contract three days into the wilderness, ending on the back side of the Mount, rather than the Jordan. The same is true with us, if we wander in our Wilderness, we will find ourselves right back where we started, until we submit by allowing the purpose to become reality.
God presented His half of the Covenant, then proved His faithfulness. Now He is asking the children to prove their love, this last aspect was their Contract to enter the Covenant. They weren’t asked to do anything above what they couldn’t do, yet they rebelled, murmured, and complained. Why? God wasn’t doing it their way. Paul said we are Sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, but he also said we can grieve the same Holy Spirit by corrupt communication, or by using the wiles of the devil. There is one devil, but many wiles in his forms of operating: those wiles need to be identified and defeated.
Since Grace was not an issue for these people, and since Jesus entered the Wilderness as the Son of man, we find the Wilderness is a Mercy issue. God’s Mercy endures forever, His Grace but for a season. The kingdom of heaven is akin to the wilderness, as a place of Mercy, the Kingdom of God is the place of Grace. We are in the kingdom of heaven, the Kingdom of God is in us. These children had the power to apply Mercy, or apply bitterness, they had the ability to believe, or fall into unbelief.
Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness, but He gained the victory. When the wilderness of Jesus ended He already preached on the New Birth, talked to the woman at the well, and did many things, but it was only after His Wilderness wherein He proclaimed, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me”. The same is true in our case. We can do many things, but until we secure our Wilderness, we will not know the Power of the Spirit of the Lord for us. The phrase, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me”, is a hope for all of us. This precedent is set for those of the Day, if we have the Spirit, we have the Anointing. The Anointing came, then the Spirit, for some reason we want to reverse it. If we reverse it, then we wonder if we do have the anointing, entering unbelief. However, if we know the process was to destroy the yoke of bondage, then anoint us, then grant us the Spirit, we can see if we have the Spirit we have the Anointing. Yet, there are various anointings, the second we entered the Body the Unction over the Body protected us, it’s why it’s called the “Body of Christ (Anointed)”. When we were Born Again the anointing unto salvation entered us: when we accepted the call of the office, the anointing for the office covered us as a mental. When the New Man manifests another anointing begins to operate, when we gather together another anointing begins to manifest. The Holy Ghost will fill us with the anointing to deal with the masses, thus for the most part it’s not finding the anointing, but accepting it by allowing it to operate.
If God told these people they were to travel across the wilderness, and do so in forty days, why did they spend forty years there? Didn’t God know they would rebel? Or maybe God changed His mind: No, God didn’t change His mind, the children changed paths. One path went right through the wilderness to the Promised Land, the other wandered around the wilderness without direction. Each path had a specific course, when they failed to enter God’s path, they received the condition and position of the wandering path their unbelief produced. Therefore, God gave them the purpose of the path they confessed, but He didn’t change His mind. If we’ve been in this for twenty years, yet we are still carnal; we need to check our path. God’s path was recognizable by belief, their path of wandering by unbelief.
Although God knew they would rebel from the foundation of the world, it didn’t stop Him from presenting the plan as if they would obey. God is still Alpha and Omega, He can’t change, thus the Covenant with Abraham had contracts. It was up to the children to enter God’s purpose (the contract), or fall into the hands of their own self-based purpose. Now wait, I recall when Moses was on the mount the Lord “turned from the evil He was about to do”. Where do we think it stands in conjunction with the Book of James where we are told God cannot do evil? Surely a conflict, right? No, not at all, the “evil” God was about to do was to harm the children based on what they had done to Him, in the Book of James it refers to God not having the intent to do evil. It’s one thing for evil to return to the person who sent it, another for God to create it. We also have to understand when God repents, it means He is either sorry for what He must do, or He causes a turn. “So, if He turns, then He changes His mind”. No, causing a turn is different from turning. As we will see God spare Moses, thus the children turned to run to Moses as they were speared with Moses. In this case we find the Plan God desired was presented, then rejected, yet we will find God producing another path which was designed from the foundation of the world as well.
We also find two sides of God, one is His Mercy, the other His Justice, by His Mercy He intervenes in the time of man according to the Plan. In our Season God is not seeking Justice, rather it’s Salvation; however, both God’s Mercy and Justice were applicable back then (Ex 32:10-12). “So, then if God can change from Justice to Mercy, then He changes His mind”. No, it means both are there, God applies the Mercy to Moses, along with those who stood with Moses, but His Justice still fell on those who attacked, rejected or failed to belief, thus both were accomplished, Mercy to them He will show Mercy to, Justice to them who did evil to Him or His.
Jude 5 points out how the children were delivered from Egypt, but God destroyed them who believed not. His Justice was there, but His Mercy was also there. Therefore, we will find when the children gather to Moses, they receive the Mercy applied to Moses, but if they remain with the attacker, they receive the Justice applied to the attacker. The same is true with us, when we gather to Jesus we are protected, thus the Body of Christ has the Unction to protect it. God didn’t change, the people either changed positions to have the mercy applied, or remained in the danger finding the Justice of God applied.
The trouble in the wilderness was not the devil, or Pharaoh, it was the unbelief of the children manifested through their old slavery mentality. The wilderness is designed for the people of God, but it doesn’t mean the Wicked are not spies in the Body, rather it means they run around the wilderness like Balaam, or fit among the rebellious like Korah. They crossed over like the rest of us, but rejected the purpose, as they retain the authority of Egypt as the he in the world; rather than have the Greater He.
We also know when Jesus entered His wilderness the devil was there waiting for Him, so will we find the devil waiting for us? No, Jesus defeated the devil in the wilderness, but we will face the old man, he is like his father the devil. The Waster can do nothing but destroy, it’s all he knows, yet in the wilderness he is ineffective. He calls us friend, says he is our comforter in the hard times, he pats us on the back, but he is only looking for as soft spot to insert his darts.
There are areas of cleaning in the saving of the soul, thus the wilderness will be the place where the washing takes place. Before Paul taught the Corinthians about the Separating Veil (Yoke), or Communion, or the Spirituals, or the Commandments of the Lord, he warned them about their carnal condition (I Cor 3:1-3). He then compared their carnal attitude to the wilderness experiences of these unbelieving children, who had the Fire by night, the Cloud by day, a leader who walked with God, who even displayed the Glory of the Lord in a visible form, a people who saw God provide day by day, a people who saw the Power of God, yet they were a people who called God a liar, rebelled, made the golden calve, rejecting the purpose of their calling. If we remain carnal, we will not understand spiritual matters, they could be falling around like stars, yet we will call them foolish.
This is the wilderness, not Study Hall. God has His study hall, a place where the Holy Ghost brings us clarity of the Scriptures, but without our wilderness, we will impose a self-induced study hall, allowing the old man to become our theologian, ending with a bunch of religious self-based mental conclusions. The wilderness is a must, yet we find some who run from it like a rabbit on fire. We should enjoy it, it is for us.
When these children first entered the Wilderness there were no Scriptures, Moses was the first scribe. It would be vital for Moses to be exceedingly truthful in everything he wrote. Being the basis is more important than anything else, think about being judged by these books if they were in error? God wouldn’t, to prove the truth of these documents God established two witnesses. Daniel was told by an angel how the “books” would be the basis upon which the Jew would be judged, the Holy Ghost confirmed it with John in the Book of Revelation (Dan 7:10 & Rev 20:12). The confirmation keeps us from forming an imagination thinking Moses “may have” been in error, then adding our conclusions as to what we think Moses should have said. If Moses said there were 600,000 men, then there were 600,000. “Well I don’t see how they could get that many in the wilderness”. You weren’t there, Moses was. When we begin natural reasoning, or start to deny what is written, we will enter the wilderness of deceit and unbelief, not a nice place to be.
Mysteries in the Bible are like an onion skin, each layer is still an onion, it doesn’t jump to an apple, or banana. There are some easy to grasp, for instance when we read in Acts how people believed, we can also figure they were baptized in water, even if the verse doesn’t say it. Why? Water baptism was something the disciples were commanded to do, even Peter thought it necessary after Cornelius was baptized with the Holy Ghost (Acts 10:47-48). However, it’s as far as we can take it. We can’t assume water baptism brings the Spirit, since Peter’s experience with Cornelius shows it’s not the case (Acts 10:44-48). We can’t make the Token the actual experience, since circumcision of the flesh didn’t bring the Covenant, it was a token regarding the covenant. The sabbath day did not produce the Law, it was a token concerning the Law. Our water baptism did not save us, God did, our water baptism is our token, not God’s. Jesus will not baptize us in water, we don’t baptize people with the Holy Ghost. Authorities are important, doing something outside the authority is rebellion and witchcraft. Jesus gave us the authority to baptize people in water after they make their confession of belief; however, He never said we could baptize anyone with the Holy Ghost, which baptism brings the Spirit (Acts 11:15-17).
Let’s continue on in the wilderness, as we think about ours. The wilderness for these children, and the wilderness of Jesus had different conclusions. Jesus entered by the Spirit, maintained in faith then exited at the appointed time. Our wildernesses prove our belief and faith are God based, as the Spirit is setting us free. We said we had faith, but do we? The wilderness will prove it. What attitude caused the children to enter unbelief, when the signs of belief were all around them? Did the unbelief produce the attitude? Or did the attitude produce the unbelief? It had to be the attitude, since belief is a based on a decision. Their Attitude interpreted the events for them, yet even if the event was Good, all they saw was evil. They could have made the choice to believe, if they did then the Precious would have been obvious.
When the children left Egypt, they took their lusts along with their other belongings (I Cor 10:6). From their lusts came idol worship, the golden calf was merely an outward expression of the idol of the self within (I Cor 10:7). They ate God’s provision, they drank from the Rock, they had the cloud, fire and an angel, yet they entered idol worship and committed fornication (I Cor 10:7-8). They tempted Christ (the anointing) with serpent’s tongues, they were then destroyed by serpents (I Cor 10:9). Hold it, they tempted Christ? Christ to them was the Anointing on their leadership, which was proven to them in the fire and cloud, which is the point Paul makes to the Corinthians. They were a group set apart, as the Body is set apart, thus there was an anointing of Mercy for them, if they received it. However, they challenged the man of God, they complained about the provision, they wanted more than God gave them, they were displeased with God, causing God to be displeased with them, yet they were Saved from Egypt (Jude 5 & I Cor 10:9-10). They assumed since God loved them, God would be their servant. They sought Things, but rejected the call to Believe. They wanted the Prosperity, but didn’t want the testing of their faith. We know God called them “holy”, was God blind? No, anyone is holy when God deals with them as children, the children in the wilderness prove the premise.
Idolatry takes on many forms, the Prophets tell us we can have idols in the mind. Really, all physical idols begin in the mind of man, thus idols are either formed from a creation, or are the creation. Say what? Yes, look at Egypt the cat was an idol, Paul says some worship the creation more than the Creator. One can make a human being an idol, termed Mentor, or Hero Worship. They place the person on a high pastel, whatever the person says is more Scripture than the Scripture. The Whacko draws on the lust in people, allowing or tricking people into placing them on a pastel, “you know he doesn’t drive here, he is transported by the Spirit”, foolishness. Idol worship begins when man desires to dominate or control his god, the lust in the person allows other people to worship them, as did Pharaoh. The foolishness of idol worship is the creation forming something from a creation, then calling it the Creator.
Physical idols provide man a means to touch, see or control his gods, there are other idols, man can make his theology, traditions, even the “things of God” can be made idols. The Law of Moses was a guide, it was not “God”, but there are some, even the Pharisees who made it a god. The anointing is real, it’s mandatory, but we can make it an idol by elevating it higher than God has. All things, even the things of God are under the feet of Jesus, there is nothing higher. We can even make gods out of saints, thereby placing them in a high position, proclaiming we can never reach their position. Ahh, the golden calf. Before we reach the plans for the tabernacle we have to jump ahead to the golden calf for discernment. The people were told they shall have “no other gods”, then they were told “no idols”, thus the two relate, yet are different. The Judges were also called “gods”, Moses was a “god to Pharaoh”, but they are not God, neither did man make them gods. All of us have our favorite man or woman of God, but we are not to elevate, or exalt them above measure. Moses was on the mount forty days and nights, when the children saw Moses delayed, they wanted “gods” to lead them (Ex 32:1). The golden calf wasn’t to replace God, it was to replace Moses (Ex 32:1-2). The people of God are to be honored, not worshiped; they were like us until God used them, Moses is an example, as was Paul. What made them Godly was not their education, position, training, or discipleship, it was God anointing them. At times it gets away from us, when it does we tend to make idols out of flesh and blood. When our idol falls, so do we.
Perhaps our favorite person of God doesn’t even know we made them an idol, but we will travel around the world just to say we heard them, when our hope could be preaching in our own neighborhood. We seek the celebrity complex, we want to associate with the celebrity status, we want to toss their name around so we feel important, which was the error of the Corinthians, “I am baptized by Paul”, “well I was baptized by Apollos” (I Cor 1:10-17). The fear of rejection wants to attach to someone we think is successful to gain our validity, but our validity is in Christ.
None of the errors of the past gives the Body an excuse for a lack of Power, nor does it provide us with an excuse to remain in a powerless position, rather we find these people refused the God granted means, thus God was not pleased with many of them. Knowledge is a to obtain what God has already given us, but we know we can reject the given knowledge (Hosea 4:6). It may sound silly, but the Cross was nearly 2,000 years ago, yet it became effective for us when we received it. We gained a knowledge of the Cross, then received it, yet it has been established for years. The Holy Ghost doesn’t have birthdays, He doesn’t get older, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8), the Spirit is no different; age is only a factor when death is the issue.
We have the means to win this, all the rewards and warnings are written for us, thus we work out our own salvation by fear and trembling (Ph’l 2:12). No one, not Paul, John or our brothers and sisters in Christ are going to work out our salvation for us, we must enter by allowing the Spirit to expose and clean us. What then is our work? To believe (Jn 6:29). Is it all there is? No, from belief we can deny the self, then pick up our cross daily, put our faith in God allowing the Spirit to take us on the path of the Faith of Jesus to the result.
There is the Cross, Grave and Resurrection, we can’t stop at any, we must receive the path to enjoy the trip. Will we make mistakes? Yes, part of our learning is making mistakes, so we won’t make them again. We war against “spiritual wickedness” this is not a wicked spirit, rather the word “wickedness” is the Greek Poneria, meaning Wicked or Iniquity, thus Spiritual Wickedness is the failure to be Spiritual when one has the ability. Would the Corinthians fit this? Yes, they had the Spirit, were fully capable of being spiritual, but they were yet carnal, based on their own doing (I Cor 3:1). Therefore, we find Paul equating them to the children in the wilderness, as he also equated them to the Law (I Cor 14:34). Paul did not “praise” them, he knew they had divisions and strife among them (I Cor 11:18). Spiritual things to the carnal mind are still foolishness, they will fail to respect the spiritual, in most cases they will mock it. Once we have the Spirit, it still isn’t the finish, it’s only the beginning to becoming spiritual.
We find the types and shadows in the wilderness, as Moses lifted up the serpent on the staff, so must the Son of man be lifted (Jn 3:14). They had the Rock bringing forth the water (I Cor 10:4), they were healthy, had the manna (Ps 105:37), yet they complained and murmured in their tents (Ps 106:25). Jesus said He would build His Church on the Rock, the Rock is Christ (the Body); however not all churches are in the Church, only those who are Spiritual are of the Church (Luke 8:13 & Matt 16:18).
Moses was a man who loved God and obeyed, yet he made mistakes, but when the thoughts of giving up entered, he went to the Lord. None of us are free of questioning, “is this God, or what?”, nor are we free of, “I give up”, something Timothy did, but all of us have the opportunity to go to God in order to find an answer, all of us have the position to say, No to discouragement, by saying Yes to faith.
There are valleys and places of learning wherein we are exposed, but when we are down, we know Jesus is waiting to hear from us. Paul received the lesson, when the carnal Corinthians came as messengers of Satan, he went to Lord (II Cor 12:9). Grace is sufficient, it always is. Three times the thorn came to Paul, three times he had to talk to the Corinthians; Paul knew the devices of Satan, the Corinthians did not, they demanded a sign of Christ speaking through Paul (II Cor 12:7, 13:1 & II Cor 11:3). The Corinthians allowed the self-transformed to enter, they listened to the false doctrines, some of them became ministers of Satan with their false accusations. Although the Corinthians knew Paul, they saw what the man stood for, they listened to false brethren, then attacked Paul. Paul told them, “Examine yourselves, whether you be in the Faith”, and “Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the Power which the Lord has given me to edification, and not to destruction” (II Cor 2:11, 11:13-15, 12:24, 12:7-9, 12:14, 13:1-2, 13:5 & 13:10). Our “thorns in the flesh” are carnal people who think they are spiritual, they attack based on envy, or consider our spiritual stand foolishness. However, did Paul see a purpose for the thorn? Yes, he wouldn’t be exalted above measure, by who? Jesus? Not hardly. Himself? No, what does it leave? Oh yeah, people elevating or exalting him above the measure God had applied. This wasn’t merely exalting him, but exalting him above measure, much different. The children in the wilderness were a thorn in the side of Moses, like Paul, Moses had to endure. In the case of Moses it was enduring by the Mercy of God, in Paul’s case he found Grace sufficient.
As soon as they entered the wilderness, Moses sang the song of Moses, declaring The Lord is his strength: the Song of Moses is based on deliverance (Ex 15:9). As soon as the seed of deliverance was planted, joy came, Miriam the sister of Moses, also known as a prophetess, took a timbrel in hand, as she led the women in song and dance (Ex 15:20-21). This song of Moses was prior to the Law, John shows the Remnant sing the song of Moses (Rev 5:9, 14:3 & 15:3). Is this a lesson? Yes, here they are singing and dancing, Miriam is running all over the platform, yet in three days it will all be gone. The lesson? Emotionalism for the moment, does not build faith for the endurance. This same emotional state takes us from one meeting to another just to get the feeling for the moment. As soon as we get back to the parking lot, the feeling is gone, and we’re off to another meeting. There is a Joy based on the moment, it is not a Joy based on enthusiasm (zeal with lasting effects), it’s short lived at best, it’s the emotions being stimulated, not the soul being encouraged.
Three days into the wilderness their emotions went the other way, they found bitterness (Ex 15:22-23). This is a type of water, but what did it point to? Them, they were pleased with God’s Mercy when it made them feel good, now comes the test after the victory. The dancing stopped, the singing stopped, the timbrel was put away, then out came the murmuring and complaining: proven when they murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” (Ex 15:24). The unsaved soul will murmur against the people of God, yet deny their murmuring is also against God; whereas, this experience shows when we murmur against the appointed leaders, we are murmuring against God. The children maintained the same slavery mentality, looking for some man to save them, rather than seeking God. They saw the Sea parted, why not say, “stand back and watch the Lord’s deliverance”? Moved by what the saw, the same emotionalism for the moment, the event dictated their reaction, rather than belief and faith governing a response.
The evidence behind them proved God was able, but when it came down to the “now”, they failed. Abraham believed God, thus his covenant was based on his continual belief. In order for this group to enter into the promise of the covenant, they had to display the same type of belief. If they failed at belief, they would be presented with their own unbelief; however, Moses will remind God, how God knew what type of people these were before He delivered them, thus even Moses knew God had a plan in all this.
Faith being a Now confidence projected to a future hope, belief being a Now confidence based on past information, shows us how important the Now is. Faith must connect to Belief in “God Is” to be effective, thus if we hold unbelief, there is no connection, our faith will be short lived, or ineffective (Heb 11:6). The unbelief of the children attacked their faith, thus before faith could generate, it was deflated. Some of us work day and night on our faith, but forget about our belief.
One month later they entered the Wilderness Of Sin, when we fail to believe, we will enter the wilderness of sin as well (Ex 16:1). When they looked about, they didn’t repent, but murmured against Moses and Aaron (Ex 16:1-2). They had a choice to believe God was with them, or believe in their unbelief, they picked the latter. They blamed Moses, rather than thanking God, like Adam who said, it was “the woman You gave me”; their unbelief said, “It was the prophet You gave us”. They assumed God brought them into the wilderness to die, thus their own minds twisted the truth into a lie (Ex 16:3). This step of unbelief brought the Manna and the Sabbath rules (Ex 16:4-6). The Manna was a miracle, but one can’t equate the Manna to the Bread of Life. Why? Jesus said, “your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead”, with “I am the bread of life” (Jn 6:48-49). If Jesus would have said, “I am the manna”, then we would have a basis, but He used two different words, giving us a separation. The Manna was not to show them Life, it was to show them how God can provide, thus it was just another teaching of God to give them a basis to establish belief.
The Sabbath was not a result of their good works, but a result of their murmuring, again God was teaching them (Ex 16:5-8). When it came time for the Sabbath day Moses said, “Tomorrow is the Rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord” (Ex 16:23). Why didn’t he said, “Tomorrow is the Sabbath”? Two different words, the Hebrew word for Rest is Shabbathon a noun meaning a Sacred time, it was used for the Day of atonement (Lev 16:31), the Feast of Trumpets (Lev 23:24), the first and eighth day of Tabernacles (Lev 23:39). This word pointed to a Feast, a time of Joy, showing all this was in the hand of God if they received it. The word for Sabbath is the Hebrew Shabbath meaning Intermission, thus the Sabbath Day was an Intermission, a time to mediate on what God has done, the promise and how they were acting. The trouble with the sabbath day was once it’s done, it’s done, it all begins again, showing they failed to believe. The children were told to take a day to consider how close were they to the word “Finished”. Our sabbath is Jesus, we reflect on His Ways, as we allow the New Man to bring us into the Image of God’s Son so we can be sons of God.
Each time they murmured, complained, denied or rebelled, the Lord placed more of the Law on them. Next would come the quail, this is not the great quail hunt, but it still came as a result of their unbelief (Ex 16:12-13). Wait, if God can’t be tempted, why did He give them the quail based on their tempting Him? A mystery? Perhaps, but in the next lesson we will find God was merely proving them so they could see their own folly. The provision became the exposure, but for here we want to see how the provision, or prosperity isn’t a sign of holiness. God sent then prosperity, but they weren’t satisfied, thus God exposed their greed, while giving them their need. If we think the Law of Moses was some great reward based on the holiness of these people we miss the point. Their holiness was based on God dealing with them, not their works, surely not on their faith. Therefore, the New Man being created (or formed same Greek word) after God’s True Holiness made us Holy the second we were Born Again. If we have God’s “True Holiness” within, surely we have the greatest of all holiness.
God sent quail one morning, then the manna: the word Manna means “what’s it” or “what is it?”. Instead of saying, “Thank You Oh Lord for meeting our need”, they retort with “What is this stuff?”. They set their own expectations in the place of God’s will, when God failed to meet their expectation they rebelled. They wanted the deliverance, but they wanted to control the method. They never considered they were the ones who failed to meet God’s expectation. They refused to break away from the slavery mentality, their unbelief was magnifying their pride, yet they had freedom in hand. Their experience is our lesson, not our excuse (Jude 5).
They refused to move without some man telling them exactly what to do: they had ears, but refused to hear (Ex 16:20). The people journeyed further into the wilderness to a place called Rephidim, which means “JAH (Jehovah) has cured”, which is a past tense phrase, an indicator to the children God had cured them, if they receive it; however, they started chiding against Moses (Ex 17:2). Moses was told to travel to Horeb, where he would find the Rock. There Moses would smite the Rock with the Rod, causing water to come forth (Ex 17:5-6). Moses called the place Massah and Meribah; Massah means Testing, Meribah means Strife, but Horeb means Desolate. Wait, isn’t this Horeb also called Sinai? Yes, same mountain two purposes. The word Chide is the Hebrew Riyb meaning to Strive with words, or to bring a law suit by accusation.
Attitude in the testing is important, the context of “faith with works” in James is coupled to asking and receiving the Wisdom of God so we can deal with events and people in a Godly manner. James tells us to pray for God’s Wisdom by “faith”, then he pointed to the “prayer of faith”, so, if we pray for God’s Wisdom by Faith as well pray the Prayer of Faith, as we allow Patience to have her perfect work, do you think it connects to “the works of faith”? Yes, we find we “have not because we ask not”, or we ask to consume the answer on a “lust”, thus lacking faith in the asking is based on asking to enhance the spirit lusting to envy. If we ask for the Wisdom of God, what is our motive? Just so we won’t have to contend with people? Or do we desire to apply God’s Wisdom as an addition to the Witness? It better be the latter, in order for it to be by faith.
When the children received their fill of water, they found Amalek coming to fight them (Ex 17:9). Moses stood for the children again, raising his hands unto the Lord (Ex 17:11); however, every time his hands slipped, the children started to lose the battle (Ex 17:12). As long as our hands are raised to the Lord, we win, but there are times when we need help in order to stand. Raising our hands is a sign of being humble, humbleness destroys pride. In the world the sign of raising ones hands means, “I give up”, but to the Lord it means “I praise Thee”. Paul tells us to lift holy hands onto the Lord, thus holy hands are connected to a servant who desires to serve. Aaron and Hur stood on either side of Moses holding up his hands, needless to say, the Hebrews won the battle (Ex 17:12-16).
Amalek is still a symbol to the Jew; however, they missed the point. To the Jew the phrase Forgive your enemies is a false statement used by hypocritical Christians. The Jew hears the words of the Christian, but compares those words to actions, some Jews may be blinded to the Gospel, but they are not blind to the hypocrisy in others. To the Jew, Amalek’s action produced the Commandment, “Blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven; you shall not forget it” (Deut 25:19). To the Jew this means, Never forget your enemies; however, the context shows we are to blot out the name of the person, but not forget the event, thus we forgive the person but remember the “it”.
Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro came to the wilderness to see Moses, when Jethro heard of God’s deliverance he said, “Blessed be the Lord Who has delivered you” (Ex 18:10). This connects to “Remember Amalek”, thus it’s the Deliverance we remember. We tend to count the stripes from the last battle, but ignore the victory.
Jethro didn’t say, blessed be the Lord who is delivering you, rather he saw the event as past tense, although they were far from entering the Promised Land; therefore, Jethro proclaims two things. First the deliverance from Egypt and Amalek, next he is speaking in faith, calling things as a not to Moses, as a were from God’s standpoint. Jethro didn’t make up the basis for his faith, he knew the evidence, then joined to it. He could have said, “cursed are these idiots God stuck you with”; however, Jethro’s words were centered on blessing not cursing.
Jethro was a sign to the children of what God desired, but they failed to hear the warning as they continued to charge God foolishly. Jethro came in faith, but the children stood in unbelief; therefore, finding the other element of Jethro’s venture was to encourage Moses. Jethro will suggest the concept of the “judges”, who were suppose to hold the same attitude as Moses and Jethro. This is very important, there were 600,000 plus people there, God sent one from the outside to encourage Moses. We know Joshua was a minister to Moses, but Joshua was still a subordinate, whereas Moses would consider Jethro an equal (being a priest, and his father-in-law). God won’t forget us when we are stuck in the midst of the murmuring and complaining people, He will send someone to encourage us.
Jethro also acted as a healer by bringing Zipporah, the wife of Moses, with the children of Moses. There are times where the wilderness becomes the place where families are healed (Ex 18:2). This is another example of the purpose of the wilderness, the Restoration process. On the other hand, Jesus tells us to love less our family, but this has to do with priority, if we love our family members more than God, we will compromise, or even hide our faith. Family is important, Jesus more so.
Jethro suggested for Moses to set up judges (gods) over the thousands, over the hundreds and over the fifties (Ex 18:21). This system allowed the smaller matters to be handled on a local level, the larger on a higher level, then on up the appeal process until they reached Moses. Jethro didn’t tell Moses, “Now look man, this is from God so do it”, rather he told Moses to confirm it with God. Moses will find it’s wise to hear suggestions, wiser to take them before the Lord for confirmation.
If these Judges were to Judge, how are they to Judge? When Moses goes to the Mount the “judgments” will be given to him. They begin in Exodus 21:1 unto Exodus 23:19, thus God called them “the judgments” (Ex 21:1). The judges were then representatives of Moses, Moses a representative of God. The judgments gave the judges written guidelines, yet it still took compassion to enforce the judgments righteously.
In the third month the children came to the wilderness of Sinai, where they camped about the Mount (Ex 19:1-2). Moses went up the Mount to find God, then God came to him in a thick cloud (Ex 19:9). This would be a preview of the Mount of Transfiguration where the Body of Moses and Elijah (Body of Prophets) would stand with Jehovah of the whole earth. The three disciples, Peter, John and James would be overshadowed by a cloud, as they hear the Father say, “This is My Son, Hear ye Him” (Luke 9:29-35). Jesus appointed the Seventy after the Mount of Transfiguration, as a sign (Luke 10:1). Moses went to the Mount to find God in order to determine if the words of Jethro were of God, Jesus as Jehovah came down the Mount to appoint the Seventy. Moses went up the Mount to hear from God, Jesus as Jehovah would say, “But I say unto you”; Moses would say “this is what God says”, Jesus said “this is what I say”.
We find Paul’s comments regarding Hagar as a type and shadow of Sinai, what does Hagar have to do with a Mountain God was on? Paul jumped from Abraham to Mount Sinai, yet held to Hagar as the mother of manipulation (Gal 4:24-26). He also added Jerusalem of the earth into the equation, yet we know Jerusalem didn’t come into the picture until after the children left the wilderness. Three areas, jumping one to the other, with the concept of Hagar in all. Hagar was not the product of manipulation, Ishmael was, but Hagar was the Egyptian bondwoman, the mother of manipulation. Ishmael was not like his father Abraham, he was like his mother the Egyptian, it’s the point. The Children were given the Law, since their attitude was not like their father Abraham, but like Egypt. Jerusalem of the earth is still in bondage, yet it has the glory of the Sun (Jacob, the nation as Israel). New Jerusalem is Above, the Mother of us all, New Jerusalem is Free.
The meaning of the name “Jerusalem” is “JAH’s Peace”, we have the Gospel of Peace, Jesus is the Prince of Peace, thus true Peace is found in heavenly things, not earthly. Jerusalem of the earth is adopted, Jerusalem in heaven is not. Jerusalem of the earth is in bondage, Jerusalem of heaven is free. Jerusalem of the earth is related to Judgment, New Jerusalem of heaven to Salvation. Jerusalem of the earth is important, Jerusalem of heaven more so.
We are to be as our Father, Merciful and Holy, we do by being Christ like, but how? By efforts of religion? Not hardly, by allowing the New Man to form us into a son of God? Correct, it’s not easy, yet not hard, we allowed the old man to form us for all those years. “Not so, I’ve been a Christian all my life”. What? “Oh sure, I’m not Jewish, so I must be a Christian”. No, if you’re not Jewish, you’re a Gentile, it still doesn’t mean you are a Christian. If one did the Law of Moses it didn’t mean they were Hebrew either. We know the Covenant cut with Abraham is partly included into the one God cut with Moses, thus Paul shows two covenants. One was cut as a result of the unbelief of the people (Hagar), the other cut based on the faith of Jesus, which one do we want (Gal 4:24-25)? Is it of bondage, or of freedom? We are learning why it’s better to connect to the New, rather than seek self-righteousness under the Old.
The Ten Commandments were not, “Thou shall try”, nor were they, “try, try again”, there was no “oops”. When one does the Law of Moses, or they think they hold the Ten Commandments they failed in the very first act. “How?”. Wanting the same righteousness as God, yet attempting it by self-righteousness through the flesh, it still causes the Commandment “thou shall not covet” to fall against them. The Law of Moses was based on the failure of the children to believe, it was not based on their faith or belief. There are some who say they do the Law of Moses to please God, but faith pleases God, the Law of Moses is not of faith. Moses was a friend of God, but the Law didn’t make Moses a friend.
Having the Law of Moses didn’t make them Moses, being circumcised of the flesh didn’t make them Abraham, but having the New Man makes us Like Christ (Christian). We saw how Paul said these people were “baptized unto” Moses (I Cor 10:2); the word Unto is the Greek Els meaning a motion or direction, baptism as an identification, they identified with Moses by the Law. Paul will use the same premise when talking about the Body, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body” (12:13). This shows the Spirit of God, as the complete Report identified us with the Body before we accepted the position (I Cor 2:11-12). If Jesus never gave us His Body, there would be none, if Jesus didn’t give us authority to water baptize, there would be none. The purpose for being in the Body is to be Born Again so we can identify with the Spirit of God, rather than remain carnal.
We are not copies of the physical Jesus, if it were the case then all of us would be sinless from birth, or all look alike. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, then the Word made it possible for us to be Born Again by having the Word in us (Jn 1:1-8). However, let us view our beginning, “in the beginning was the old man, the old man was, he wasn’t like God at all” (Rom 7). Paul said, Jesus was made (not created) the Son of Man by the seed of David, but declared the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection (Rom 1:3-4). We are declared sons of men by Mercy (forgiveness of sins), declared sons of God by the Spirit (Rom 8:14). We enter the process begins for us as sons of men, the goal is to become a son of God by the Spirit. Without the Spirit in us there is no Manifestation of the Spirit, without the Holy Ghost we can’t call Jesus Lord (I Cor 12:3 & 12:11).
How does the Resurrection fit here? God wanted to be with His children, He told Moses to prepare for the Third Day (Ex 19:9-11). We can see this points to the Resurrection, but these children had no idea what the third day means. The only way “God can be with us” is to be “in us”, which takes the Power of the Resurrection. No one is going to be Resurrected until they first die, we have the advantage of imputing death by the Cross of Jesus, yet live by the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, we can “believe” God raised Jesus from the dead, but it’s much more than an intellectual view. In order to Believe God raised Jesus from the Dead, we need the same Spirit of Holiness as our heart (Rom 10:9-10).
Anyone can mouth the words “I believe in Jesus”, until they are faced with the test. The same is true with the statement, “No one can call Jesus Lord, except by the Holy Ghost”. It doesn’t mean they can’t say, “Jesus is Lord”, even the devils admit there is One God. It means, one must have the Spirit birthed in them by the Holy Ghost in order for Jesus to be their Lord. How about calling Jesus their Savior? Yes and No, they don’t need the Spirit in them to be saved from the world, but they do need the Spirit to enter the saving of their soul. These people didn’t have the Spirit (Jn 7:39), yet God delivered (saved) them. “Wait, I think I see something here, when God delivers (saves) us from the world, it’s so we can enter the salvation of our souls without the interference of the world, or the devil”. Correct, we still war against the flesh, but it doesn’t mean we have to follow the flesh. Even thoughts we know are not right can no longer condemn us, because we walk by the Spirit, not the flesh. The condemnation comes when someone minds the flesh, and not the Spirit (Rom 8:1).
The children were told God wanted to be among them, then Moses told the people to Be Ready for the third day (Ex 19:15). The people should have repented, but they didn’t think repentance was necessary. On the morning of the third day there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud, the people in the camp trembled in fear (Ex 19:16). Why? Was God going to kill them? God wanted to be among them, so why fear? Preparation, they failed to prepare for the Third Day. We prepare by denying the self, and picking up our cross, two factors relating to death, then we gain the Spirit unto Life.
The Lord came down to the top of Mount Sinai, there talked to Moses, saying, “Go down, charge the people” (Ex 19:20-21). What does it mean? Was God going to collect a love offering (charge)? How much was it going to cost them to have God visit? Wonder if the ATM is open? The word “charge” is the Hebrew Awd meaning among other things To restore, or give warning, it could mean “to do again”. What did they need to “do again”? The answer is in the Book of Hebrews in chapter 11; Abel is the first human recorded to have faith, not Adam (Heb 11:4). Then Enoch, then Noah, then Abraham, then Sara, all of whom died in faith, not having seen the promises (Heb 11:4-13). From Adam to Abraham there were only 3 people recorded to have displayed faith. Then we see Isaac, Jacob, then Joseph, all of which were before the children were taken captive (Heb 11:20-22). Then comes Moses, then we see, “by Faith they passed through the Red Sea”, yet not another word of faith until the walls of Jericho fall (Heb 11:29-30). They had the evidence, they had faith; it wasn’t a matter of not having faith, they had it when they crossed the Red Sea. “Hold it, I got something here, you mean if we accepted Jesus it was by faith, thus we have the faith it takes now”. Right, oh so right.
God still desires to be among His people, none of us can say we have kept the Ten Commandments. For the most part, none of us can say we kept just one. However, it appears it was either do the Ten Commandments or enter faith. Ahh, faith pleases God, they needed to affirm their belief to enter faith. They had to have faith, or keep the Ten Commandments, the choice was in their hands, yet they decided neither would be their method, they were going to have a man stand between them and God, thereby producing the Law of Moses. God was ready to come among the people, it was the people who failed to Prepare for their God. Here is a very interesting aspect of God, He didn’t demand for the children to come to Him, He was willing to come among them. Were they Born Again? No, did they have the Spirit? No, they were flesh and blood, yet God would leave the decision to them, if they wanted God with them, fine He would be there, if not, He wouldn’t. This is God we’re speaking of, the Creator of all things, He was willing to submit to the desires of the people when it came to His presence among them. Of course we know He would not submit to something not in line with His nature, but being among His people was His desire. Later He would come among His people in the form of Jesus, yet, they would reject Him again.
However, before God could go among the people, the priests had to come before God to receive the Commandments (Ex 19:23-24). What priests? Was Moses appointing priests before the Tabernacle was built? They had priests back in Egypt, how else were they going to sacrifice? The priests were not new, the duties under the Law of Moses would be. Nonetheless, the priests had to Prepare as well. The priests had to “sanctify themselves” which calls for acts by the person, which is a form of self-righteousness (Ex 19:22). How about us? We are Sanctified by the Holy Ghost (Rom 15:16), through Jesus the Father has Sanctified us (Jn 10:36); we are Sanctified in Christ Jesus (I Cor 1:2), to be Sanctified means Separated to be Made Holy. In our case we have the added advantage of the washing of the water by the Word, with the cleaning of the Blood of Jesus from all unrighteousness. The process for us is found in the New Man, again we see it’s a Process. God was ready, but were the people? God was ready, but were the priests?
THE COMMANDMENTS
It’s generally accepted the Ten Commandments begin the “covenant with Israel”, but what about the Covenant with Abraham? Ahh, a mystery, not really, where did Israel come from? Jacob, who came after the Abrahamic Covenant. Abraham’s Covenant was not for the Jew, it was for the Hebrews, but when the token became incorporated into the Law it then applied to the Jew. Noah’s Token was a sign from God, Abraham’s was a sign from Abraham, the Token for the Law of Moses will be a sign from the people. The evidence of Noah’s Covenant is the rainbow, which is still around, but it was God who placed the rainbow in the sky, not Noah. The token for Abraham’s Covenant was circumcision of the flesh of a male who is eight days old, the Law of Moses called for keeping the sabbath day continually, both are tokens in the hands of man. Our Covenant calls for our token of water baptism; the circumcision of our hearts, with the seal of the Holy Spirit on God’s part based on the baptism with the Holy Ghost. Jesus builds the Church, we cast the Net and build the Body. Do we always catch the good fish? No, Jude told us we catch both the good and bad, on the good we make a difference, with the bad, beware (Jude 22-23). Do we toss the bad back? No, they have a right to the opportunity (Jude 22-24).
What about the Token under Abraham’s Covenant, was it by permission? At eight days old? Not hardly? Whether the child wanted to receive the mark or not didn’t matter, at eight days old it came by the hand of the priest (Luke 2:21-22). Was it by permission of the child’s parents? Yes, but what else were they going to do? What about us? By permission based on God’s invitation, but our consent is required, we ask, then receive.
To these people they had little choice; they could say, “I’m no longer a Jew”, but the mark was with them. How about us? We connect to the Spirit, not the other way around. In Jude we find the phrase, “having not the Spirit” (Jude 19), which is an idiom meaning, “not able to hold to the Spirit”. This applies to the Wicked, it doesn’t mean Jesus left them, it means they left (divorced) Him (Jude 18-19). The same could be said for Judas, Jesus never left Judas, it was Judas who left Jesus. Jesus lost none, except the son of perdition (Jn 17:12). This He said in reference to Judas, but Paul said the son of perdition was yet to be revealed (II Thess 2:3). It’s a position filled by the Wicked, the drunk who go into the Night (I Thess 5:3-7).
What has it to do with these people? Where were they going? Were they going to break off from being a Hebrew to start a new nation in the wilderness? No, they were surrounded by nations who didn’t what them, yet Egypt was behind them, but God was with them. They were stuck in the Wilderness, it was either get with the program or die. In our case the wilderness is God separating us from the old man and his deeds, unto the Spirit and Character of Christ.
Don’t you love controversy? Several things are obvious regarding the Ten Commandments, in Exodus 20:2-17 we have the Commandments listed, if we take the time to number them, we will find something very interesting. The Ten Commandments begin with 1) Thou shall have no other gods before Me. Simple enough, we know this doesn’t refer to idols of stone, rather it means people God has ordained, thus Mentor worship is a direct violation of this Commandment. The next Commandment is 2) Thou shall not make unto thee any graven images, covering the making of idols by the hand of man. Many place the next Commandment with this one, for a reason we will see in a minute, but since it begins with “Thou shall not” it behooves us to keep it separate, thus it becomes the next in line; 3) Thou shall not bow down thyself to them. Recalling Abram’s father we can see one can make an idol, yet not bow to it, here we find two points, don’t make them and don’t bow (submit) to them. Next comes 4) Thou shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain, this is not using the Name, but taking it. If we receive the Name, we receive what it stands for as well. Next is 5) Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy, this would seem like a “do” Commandment, but we also find “thou shall not do any work” (v. 20:10). This is the last of the Commandments in reference to man’s relationship with God, the sabbath became the link or token connecting the Law of Moses to the Ten Commandments. This is clear since the token of the sabbath is included in the Ten Commandments, but there is no mention of circumcision, two different Covenants, showing why Abraham never had to keep the sabbath day, it didn’t pertain to his Covenant with God.
Next comes 6) “honor thy father and mother”, Paul tells us this was the first Commandment with promise (Eph 6:2). Interesting, since all the others pertained to man’s relationship with God. Could this be a Commandment linking both tablets together? Could it be, their Father was God, their Mother Zion (Joseph’s dream), the purpose of leaving Egypt was to obtain the Promised Land. In our case, our Mother is New Jerusalem, but our Father is still God. We bring this up since the next commandments read, 7) Thou shall not kill (murder), 8) Thou shall not commit adultery, 9) Thou shall not steal, 10) Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor, 11) Thou shall not covet. There we have it, if we list them all, we end with Eleven, not Ten. We find many linking “Thou shall make unto thee any graven image”, with “thou shall not bow down thyself to them” as one commandment, but there are two “thou shall not” phrases, dividing them. Honor thy mother and father is a do, indicating why Paul saw it as unto life, since the rest were “thou shall not” indicating unto death.
Now we have another area, the Sabbath; after 300 AD the Fifth Commandment regarding the Sabbath was removed, oh my, what to do? Since the Ten Commandments are linked to the Law of Moses one has to ask, What were Christians doing with them to begin with? The so-called Gentile Ten Commandments are different, thereby bringing about the “controversy”. If one holds to the Sabbath, they think the removal of the Sabbath is the key issue for the latter days, or producing the coming of the antichrist, rather than seeing in First John there were antichrists in John’s day. If we hold ourselves above the rest of the Body based on our theology, we are slandering the brothers, not wise. Paul cleared this issue, showing the removal of the sabbath day had nothing to do with being antichrist (Rom 14:5-6). In Romans 14:6 Paul said, “he who regards the day, regards it unto the Lord, he who regards not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it”. Simply, if one wants to keep the sabbath, or if they don’t it’s between them and the Lord, it not between them and their neighbor, nor are they to make it doctrine. When it’s between us and the Lord, it stays there, we don’t make it mandatory on others, we don’t make it doctrine, we don’t think keeping or not keeping makes us any the more or less holy, since it’s between the person and the Lord. Like most things the second we consider ourselves righteous, or holy for doing something we consider above the rest of the Body, we have engaged in legalism.
In some areas the posting of the Ten Commandments has become an issue of late, but which Ten Commandments? Those listed here in Exodus? Or the so-called Protestant Ten Commandments? How about the Nine Jesus gave us regarding Mercy? How about adding, “Ye must be Born Again”, since it was a “must” it was also a Commandment. Why do we demand the Ten, yet avoid the ones Jesus gave? The Ten are a no win situation, they are good, but they never allowed for error, miss one, missed them all for all time. What are we told? “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances against us, which was contrary to us, and took IT out of the way, nailing IT to the His Cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of Them openly, triumphing over them in IT. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in respect of a holy day, of the new moon, or of the sabbath days” (Col 2:14-16). Why? They are a shadow of things to come (Col 2:17). Colossians 2:14 calls the Ordinances an IT, the IT is the Law of Moses, which included the Ten Commandments. What do they do? They point out and define sin, they convict the person of sin, bringing the result which is death. Our freedom came when we agreed with the Law, then imputed ourselves dead on the Cross of Jesus, so we can be free of the Ordinances against us. Thereby making way for us to have the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the Dead, in order for us to have the Spirit.
Since we’re using the Bible regarding the Ten Commandments we are nonetheless faced with eleven, not ten, yet in the “Thou” area there are only Ten. One Commandment is not “Thou shall not”, is “honor thy father and mother”, this Commandment becomes the link, or hinge connecting the two stones, one side regarded man’s relationship with God, the other man’s relationship with man. The honor part is really left up to interpretation, it doesn’t say “thou shall”, thus it’s an ordinance. In truth Paul quoted Deuteronomy 5:16; however he made changes when he used this Commandment. What change the Commandment? How dare he? If Jesus said, “you have heard of them of old time, but I say unto you”, what is Paul doing taking us to the Commandments? If Paul said doing the Law of Moses was witchcraft for a Christian, what is he doing advocating the basis for the Law? If the Ten Commandments are against us and nailed to the Cross, what is Paul doing? (Col 2:14-18). He’s not, as we will see shortly. In Exodus 34:28 the Hebrew word for Commandment is different from the Hebrew word used in other places. The Hebrew word Peh is often used, meaning Breath, or The mouth, pointing to the source. In Exodus the Hebrew word is Dadar meaning A word, or the matter spoken, thus God isn’t “speaking directly” to these people, He is sending a message written on stone. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by Every Word proceeding from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4). Here Moses received a Proceeding Word from God, the children could have said, “wait, our father Abraham didn’t keep the sabbath, you speak falsely bearded one”. Even these children who failed to believe understood the Proceeding Word concept.
If there are Ten, yet we see Eleven, do we think God knew it? Yes, God didn’t run down the mountain after Moses with an eraser. If anyone removes the Sabbath Day commandment, they also remove the Document from being connected to the Law of Moses, in its place one could put “honor thy father and mother”, then have Ten. If they connect the 2nd and 3rd Commandments, leaving the Sabbath in, they would still have Ten, but in either case they have to manipulate the “thou shall not” area to make it fit, but if we see these Ten Commandments are the basis for the Law of Moses, and “honor thy father and mother” is the hinge between the two tablets, then we can rest in the Scriptures, knowing they are correct, we can also see why Paul used the “hinge” connecting the Mercy of the Father, with the Grace found in New Jerusalem, as he said this is a mystery regarding Christ and the Church (Eph 5:32). The biggest hypocrite of all time is the person in the congregation who says, “I love you brother”, but belittles his kids, or ridicules his wife. Or the sister who says, “I love the Body of Christ”, yet hates her husband, or belittles her children. The same authority we have to love one another, is the authority the husband has to love his wife. The same authority we have to submit to one another is the same one for the wives to submit to their husbands. However, misuse of the authority causes rebellion and a short life; also misunderstanding what Submit means causes strife.
There is something missing from the Ten Commandments, where is Circumcision? The Token or sign was given to Abraham as a sign to be kept by his generations after him. If it was a Commandment to Abraham, surely it had to be listed. After all circumcision was the token to enter the Covenant, so where is it? These people were circumcised before they entered the wilderness, but it didn’t help their belief any. Keeping the sabbath day didn’t prevent them from making the golden calf. The Law Of Moses was not a factor until they were well into the Wilderness, the Abrahamic Covenant was long before they entered Egypt. One would think circumcision would be number one, but these Commandments do not relate to the Abrahamic Covenant, they are the foundation for the Law of Moses. The Abrahamic Covenant came from God, just as the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses, but to whom were they given? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness, the children in the wilderness failed to believe God, He gave them the Law of Moses.
The Sabbath Day is among the Commandments, but was Abraham required to keep it? Was he required to keep the Passover? Or any holiday, even Pentecost? What is going on here? Does all this reflect to the failure to enter the “Rest of God” (Heb 4:1-10)? Could be, since these children kept the day, but failed to enter the Rest of God. Why did God rest on the Seventh Day? Was He exhausted from working six days straight? Was He so tried He simply couldn’t get up? Was there a ball game on heavenly cable, He didn’t want to miss? Or perhaps, just perhaps He knew all things were in place for the judgment meaning the plan was complete in His eye. Entering the Rest of God is not the same as keeping the sabbath day, as the Book of Hebrews points out.
We find this same God telling Jeremiah, “For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices” (Jere 7:22). What? He most certainly did, but wait “the day”? The Law didn’t come before they left Egypt, or even on the third day at the bitter water hole, it came much later. In Jeremiah we also read, “but this thing I commanded them, saying Obey My voice, and I will be your God” (Jere 7:23). There it is, God’s desire for them was to obey, yet they didn’t, causing the Law to be added. Paul put it this way, “knowing this, the Law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless, etc.” (I Tim 1:9-11). If we are the Righteousness of God, the Law of Moses is not made for us.
One would think the Abrahamic Covenant would be incorporated into the Ten Commandments, but it wasn’t, yet the Token was incorporated into the Law. These people were given Two Covenants, each had a position, thus the people were required to keep both. The shadow really helps us in the Gospel, there is the kingdom of heaven based on God’s Mercy for the “sons of men”, then the Kingdom of God based on God’s Grace for the “sons of God”, they become incorporated as One.
The Abrahamic and Moses Covenants became incorporated as well, thus if one seeks the Abrahamic Covenant, yet they are not circumcised on the eight day, or if they don’t keep the sabbath day, they are a thief and a witch (Gal 3:1-3).
Since the Cross and Resurrection no one is lawfully a son of God unless they have the Spirit. When the earthly ministry of Jesus began it was based on Mercy in His position as the Son of man. About half way through Jesus began to speak on spiritual matters yet to come, since it was prior to Pentecost the disciples were yet carnal, thus they were told not to speak about Jesus being the Christ (of Grace). They had no understanding of the Spirit, the Cross, or the Resurrection (Mark 9:32). Spiritual matters are foolishness to the natural mind, thus God reveals things to us by the Spirit (I Cor 2:9-10 & 2:13-14). Until the disciples were endowed with Power from on High they were not allowed to speak of those things pertaining to the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus, but they were allowed to speak regarding the things of Mercy; freely they received, freely they gave.
However, the Spirit was not given until Jesus was glorified by the Resurrection (Jn 7:38-39). Jesus wasn’t keeping His position as the Christ of Grace secret, rather the disciples lacked position, authority and knowledge regarding those matters, until the Day of Pentecost, when they were endued with Power from on High. Therefore, we find the Rock was in place, the Church was not until the Spirit was given. Jesus never said the Body was the New Covenant, rather He said the New Covenant was based in His Blood (Matt 26:28, Mark 14:24 & Luke 22:20). The Body is the place between, the Rock will be broken, but the Church will never be.
Therefore, under the Shadow the males had to be marked with the Token of the Abrahamic Covenant one time, but in order to keep the Covenant of Moses they had to keep the Sabbath Day weekly as their token. The first time they failed to keep the sabbath day, they were no longer protected by the Law of Moses. They could pay tithe every day, make offerings every ten minutes, but they had to keep the sabbath day for any of it to count, or they were “stealing” the blessing. Therefore, we receive tithes, we never take them, we have no Commandment giving us the authority to take tithes from anyone.
God delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, they were not bad, evil, or out of place, yet they have a Power, becoming a Principality (a place within the nation, as a beginning), but they are also nailed to the Cross, so does it mean the Father gave, then the Son destroyed? (Col 2:13-15). Not at all, it shows progression. A principality is a place, not a personage, the Law of Moses and the Ten Commandments have a realm where their authority is effective, but they are only effective in their realm. Take them to a realm where they lack Authority, and we turn them into evil acts of witchcraft (Gal 3:1-3 & Jude 4). Any time we remove something from the realm God has placed it, we have committed a very dangerous act. Grace will not work in the world, any attempt to make the world act as if it has Grace turns Grace into lasciviousness (Jude 4).
The Sabbath Day is the obvious connection between the Law of Moses and the Ten Commandments. What else does it mean? If you accept the Ten Commandments, you also accept the Law of Moses. If you accept the Commandments Jesus gave on the Mount, you are accepting the Mercy of the Father, if you accept the Spirit you are subject to the Law of the Spirit. Different realms with Laws for the realms, yet One God. Clearly it’s not from whom the Law came, but to what realm and people it was directed to.
God’s side of the contract was to deliver the children out of Egypt into the Promised Land, but the people had to make their commitment as well. Entering the wilderness is a type and shadow of entering the kingdom of heaven; entering the Promised Land a type of entering the Kingdom of God. We enter the kingdom of heaven as members of the Body, but God is the one who accepts us into the Kingdom of God. Simon of Samaria is the prime example, he believed in the signs and was water baptized, but his heart was not right before God, causing him to be rejected when it came to the Holy Ghost giving him the seed (Acts 8:9-24). Yet, all he had to do was pray, but instead he attempted to get others to pray for him.
The “rest” these people were looking for was the Promised Land, the day was a token, or a reminder of the issue, but they never entered God’s rest, they never believed in the purpose of God, thus there remains a Rest for (our souls) the people of God, it’s found in the Kingdom of God (Matt 11:28-29, Heb 4:3 & 4:9). Those who enter the Rest of God, cease from their own works (self-righteousness), but it doesn’t mean they don’t work, rather they stop engaging in the dead acts of self-righteous deeds (Heb 4:10). The key element to entering the Rest of God is still Belief.
There was a time of “preparation” for the children, a time to Tarry in order to take care of matters before Moses came down from the mount. However, they failed to prepare or repent, when Moses reached the foot of the mount, he spoke to the people. The first thing he spoke were the Commandments, the people had a fit, “what are we going to do?”. Moses brought clarity then advised the people, “Fear Not: for God is come to prove you, and His fear may be before your faces, that you sin not” (Ex 20:20). Prove what? Honest reflection on who they were, their failure to do any of the Commandments, or allow God to train them in how to walk upright by obedience. Ahh, admit the wrong, be honest and obedient. However, rather they wanted someone to stand between them and God, the someone ended being the Law of Moses.
The people didn’t see the premise, God wasn’t condemning them for violating the Commandments, rather He was looking for honesty. In Luke we read about, “good ground” in Luke 8:8, the word Good means Good, but in Luke 8:15 where we find the phrase “good ground”, the word Good means Honest. Good ground is honest, it knows it’s weaknesses, failures and shortcomings, it admits them so it can receive the Seed.
What did these Commandments say? Did they violate the Commandments? Yes, the evidence before them was exposure, but it was suppose to be. Rather than submit, or make a decision to believe, then obey, they demanded for Moses to stand between them and God, thus making a god out of Moses. Did they make images? The golden calf. Did they show Mercy? No, they complained and murmured on a daily basis. Did they take the name of God in vain? More than once, the saying, “God has brought us here to kill us” is taking the name (authority) in vain. Did they remember the Sabbath Day, and keep it holy? No, if they did the rules regarding the Manna would not be in place. If they kept the day holy, the Manna could grow on the sabbath, yet they wouldn’t touch it, thus if they were not filled with covetousness the Manna won’t become wormy. Did they commit adultery? Yes, they held to the mindset of Pharaoh, yet claimed to be of God. Their failure to repent when exposure came, caused the Law of Moses to become the barrier between them and God. The Law of Moses then became a connection to the Commandments, the key element linking the Commandments and Law to the people was keeping the sabbath day.
Moses came down the hill to the people, but when Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, He took the people with Him. Moses brought the Commandments from God to the people, but Jesus took the people to the Commandments. The Sermon on the Mount did not do away with the Law of Moses, rather it opened the Door toward one receiving direct Mercy from the Father. It’s so interesting when Jesus says, “you have heard of them of old time”, but wasn’t it God who gave Moses the Commandments? Yes, but it was Moses who gave the Law to the people. The Law of Moses was such a barrier, the name of God wasn’t attached to it, rather God gave it to Moses, then Moses gave it to the people, thus it was named after the man the people placed between them and God.
When the people left Egypt the only requirements were the Passover meal, with the Consecration of the Firstborn, their own unbelief added the other laws, all of which pointed out their sin, which made the Law and Commandments the handwriting against them. We now know these people were to maintain the same faith they held when they crossed the Red Sea, but why? Faith would have freed them from the Law, since the belief of Abraham paid their way out of Egypt, it was going to take their belief to get them past the Law into the Rest of God. Since they failed at belief, faith was out of the picture, proving the Law of Moses is not of faith. Meaning the Law itself never requires faith, it based on obedience, thus it was week to week, or moment to moment.
To better understand the events we begin with the Crossing, as the waters parted the children crossed on dry ground, the word Dry is the Hebrew Charabah, meaning dry land, but it doesn’t mean the land was totally absent of water, nonetheless if anyone has been around a large body of water they know the ground is muddy, the reference here shows a “strong wind” drove off the hindrances before them, meaning the dry wind removed the water and dried the mud. The same is true in our case, the Mighty Wind of the Holy Ghost removes the hindrances before us (Ex 14:21).
Pharaoh took great pride in his mode of transportation, the chariot to him was more than a horse drawn vehicle, it was his mark of power. When Pharaoh attempted to cross the day land the Lord took the wheels off his chariots, yet Pharaoh still was trying to drive the chariot (Ex 14:20-25). The waters returned while Pharaoh and his men were still attempting to cross, he and his men drown, but the Lord saved Israel that day (Ex 14:29). Wow, were they excited? Yes, Moses will sing his first song, but the context shows the joy came from the destruction of Pharaoh (Ex 15:2-5). Jesus warned us about taking joy in our ability to cast out devils, rather we should rejoice because our names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). It doesn’t mean He was displeased because they cast out devils, rather He was warning the 70 about taking joy because things under their authority did as they were suppose to. The real joy comes when the authority over us accepts us, thus great faith knows we are a people under authority.
Miriam grabbed her timbrel, the women all followed her as they danced up a storm. Was it wrong? No, Moses’ song wasn’t wrong either, they simply were enjoying the moment, but it was all it was, “a moment”. Emotions and Faith are different, there is a joy in victory, but we can’t leave our faith behind either (Ex 15:19-21). It’s exactly what they will do, they will think this battle was the end of the war, causing them to move from faith and belief into unbelief.
Three days into the wilderness, which was still in the wilderness of Shur, which was more than likely near the place where they crossed. They could find no water, water being a metaphor for Mercy will be displayed in their attitude. When they did find water it was Bitter (Ex 15:22-23). They danced? No? They sang the song of Moses? No? They murmured against Moses, yes (Ex 15:24). Then the Lord told them to Obey and give ear to His Commandments and Statues, which at the time didn’t include the Law of Moses (Jere 7:21-23 & Ex 15:26). God wanted them to obey, yet obedience has variables. One can obey joyfully, or reluctantly, “Okay, okay, I will do it, I hate it, you know I hate it, but I will do, because I’m obedient” Please, don’t trouble yourself. God was looking for a people who would appreciate the gifts in hand, a people with expected anticipation for what God had in the future for them.
The water was bitter, Moses took a tree, tossing it into the water, causing the water to become sweet. What kind of tree was it? Who cares, the symbol shows how the Cross takes away our bitterness by bringing the Sweet Mercy of God to us.
Later God will again make a presentation regarding this matter, but we find some changes. In Exodus 19:5, which is before the Ten Commandments were given, God asked them to Obey His voice again, if they did He would make them a peculiar treasure as a “kingdom of priests” (Ex 19:5-6). Now wait, only the Levities were priests, yet it appears God wanted to make the entire nation priests. Could this be prophecy to the Kingdom yet to come? Yes, this goes beyond the comments God gave Moses, here God is looking past the Shadow to the Image, showing He had plans for the entire Kingdom of God to be both priests and kings (Rev 1:6).
We talked about the metaphors and allegories, the three days relate to the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. We know we’re suppose to continue to believe after we are baptized (Mark 16:16), we can see by the attitude of these children why continual belief is so vital. This is the second sign of God’s delivering power, the bitter water was changed by the Tree. Yet we find here in Exodus the miracle didn’t change their nature, but the evidence should have been enough for them to change their attitude. So the water changed, and they all praised the Lord, no? So the water changed and they all thanked God, no? They did nothing but consume it on their own lust (Ex 15:27 & James 4:1-4).
They took their journey from Elim, to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. They sang, no? They praised the Lord, no? They murmured against Moses and Aaron (adding Aaron to their list), yes (Ex 16:2). They entered a “God Is” thinking, but the wrong one, they were saying “God is going to kill us”, yet all the evidence was God was saving them. Did they see it? No, which became the “frustration of Moses” (paraphrased). They had all sorts of animals, but they were not red meat eaters, they picked up the ways of the Egyptians. The term “flesh pots” doesn’t mean red meat was boiling, to them “flesh” was fowl, or fish. The word flesh has several meanings, including the flesh of man, so we don’t want to make more of this than it is. We know the Egyptians felt shepherds were an abomination; anyone who raised red meat to eat was an abomination. They substance in Egypt was mainly vegetarian with fowl and fish, the children wanted to see the “good old days” when Pharaoh was meeting their need, but they forgot Pharaoh also kept them in bondage.
God would bring them Manna, but it came based on their murmurings (Ex 16:8). All this is leading to the sabbath day; the first time we find the word Sabbath is here in Exodus chapter 16; however, did the children praise the Lord for His provision? No, the Egyptian attitude coupled with the slavery mentality brought forth more murmuring. The connection between the Manna and the Sabbath day was another indication of God seeking obedience.
Now we find the definition of “flesh” as these people knew it, God said, “At even you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread” (Ex 16:12). What Flesh did He send them? Fast food hamburgers? No, it was quail (Ex 16:13). This is not the Great Quail Hunt, this is the first one, the Great one comes later. Nonetheless we find what the word “flesh” means in reference to these people.
Then the introduction of the Sabbath, with the phrase, “tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake what you will bake today, and seethe what you will seethe; and what remains over lay up to be kept until the morning”, then on the next day Moses said, “Eat today; for today is the sabbath unto the Lord: today you shall not find it in the field” (Ex 16:23-25). This is the introduction to the sabbath day, yet it’s before the Law and the Ten Commandments, but explained in Exodus 16. However, why did it come? Because they obeyed the Lord their God? No, because they needed one day to consider their ways? Partly, but God was still looking for the first steps of obedience.
The keeping of the Manna should have been a clue to their attitude, the people saw this strange thing, then said “Manna” or “what is it?”. Often we do the same, “What is this?”: yet it came from the Lord. They could only gather so much, if they gathered more it would turn wormy, if they attempted to horde some overnight it would turn wormy. Yet, it would keep from Friday through the sabbath. How did the Manna know what to do? The Manna is a wilderness miracle (Ex 16:34-36), it was a reflection of God’s provision, yet it also exposed the disobedience of the children, the Manna will cease when they leave the wilderness.
The Manna had no idea when the sabbath was, thus the conditions were built in by God. The command came from heaven, the Manna from the earth, the Manna obeyed, the children didn’t, it’s the point of the Manna and Sabbath day being related.
Were they successful in tempting God? Sounds like it, they murmured and complained, then God gave them what they wanted. Yet, God cannot be tempted to do evil. Ahh, their evil temptation came, but God was not fooled, He sent back three things, a basis from which they can believe unto obedience, an exposure of their attitude, and a test. The belief part was in knowing God can provide many ways, the one time quail, or the everyday Manna. The exposure was God’s Mercy granted in the face of their lack of it. The “blessing in hand” can mean many things, we must be able to discern, in order to learn. The test was in how they limited themselves to the moment, they forgot what God did yesterday, feared tomorrow, but complained about today. The exposure was obvious, instead of catching some of the quail then raising them for many days of food, they ate the whole bunch in one sitting.
From all this we can see the children were regressing, yet God wanted them to progress. God wasn’t going to force them to obey, it was up to them. There are many things in the Covenant God will not do for us, we are seek the Kingdom, God won’t, He is the Kingdom. We are to put off the old man, we are to study to make ourselves approved, we are to believe, we are to walk in faith, we are to walk in the Spirit, we are to love as Jesus loves us, we are to forgive as God for Christ’s sake forgave us, and many other things based on receiving the ability from God.
God has given us the Authority and Power to accomplish the tasks, but we must apply what God gave us. Here is our example, they had the measure of faith, they used it to cross the Sea. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have what it took, they just failed to apply it.
We can see how all this is leading up to the Ten Commandments and the Law, they came not because of the praises of the people, or the lack thereof, not because of their faith, not because of their joyous attitude, but because of their murmuring and complaining, which was the result of their unbelief, which resulted in their refusal to obey the Lord, their God. It’s vital for us to see Belief is a choice issue, the evidence is before us; we can read a verse and either accept it, or deny it, if we accept it we believe, if we deny it, we fall into unbelief.
Next would be the Water from the Rock, Paul tells us the Rock is Christ. What? How can it be? Jesus in the wilderness? Hold it, the Rock is metaphoric to begin with, as it relates to the Body of Christ, which we are. The Body of Jesus was beaten for us, the Body of Christ is never to be struck (Ex 17:1-7). The people “tempted” the Lord, yet He gave them water (Ex 17:2). We have to gain the clarity here, the people didn’t trick God with their tempting, God didn’t turn a deaf ear to them either; He tested them with their own words. Although they received water from the rock, they didn’t think it was a big deal, they didn’t jump up and down, sign or dance as they did when Pharaoh died. They were more moved by the death of Pharaoh, then the obvious blessings of God.
The place was called “Massah and Meribah” because “they tempted the Lord, saying Is the Lord among us, or not” (Ex 17:7). Ouch! How many of us have said that? God tests us, we never test God, testing God is not wise. God is responding to the children, but He is not fooled by their tempting ways. He is sending Good to them, but they don’t see as good, they made the choice to interpret what God was doing as evil, the foundation for unbelief.
All this is still before the Law and Ten Commandments, it is leading to God grant them the result of their folly. Even today the Jew thinks the Law and Commandments are a “true and rich blessing from God”, but they fail to see to whom they were delivered, or why.
The division of proving comes next, they had the Manna in hand, they had the Water from the Rock, they were in the lap of blessing, until Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. All this is still within months of crossing the Sea, yet God delivered them from Amalek when Moses stood with his arms held up, yet when Moses could no longer hold up his arms the battle went against the children (Ex 17:8-12). Moses sat on a stone, then Aaron and Hur held up the arms of Moses, as we saw. So what was God showing them? Unity, helping Moses was victory, murmuring and complaining was not.
The children won the battle, and Moses built an altar calling it Jehovah-nissi (The Lord my banner) but why? The Lord doing victory over the enemy, the same excitement the children had at the death of Pharaoh. Where was the altar for God providing the Manna? Or the Water from the Rock? There was none, the Commandments and Law are right around the corner; however, Jethro the priest, the father-in-law of Moses appears on the scene. We’ve talked about this area, but we can see there is a definite regression taking place. Did God know it? Yes, did the children tempt God, Yes. Was it successful? No, the Commandments and Law will prove it.
We reviewed the chain of events to get the right prospective on what is taking place, as well as what the Commandments prove. The children were told to prepare, they washed their clothes, but not their minds. The key was still “Obey My Voice” (Ex 19:5) as the Proceeding Word, but now it’s “keep My Covenant”, they were about to get a Covenant. The sabbath coming before the Law, became the token for the Law, since they were already keeping it. However in the case of Abraham it was not the case, first God gave Abraham the Covenant, then came the Token. The difference shows Abraham received Covenant when he was not circumcised, these people received after they held the token. Therefore, for Abraham it was obedience and belief, for these people it’s to get them to obey. They still had a slavery mentally, yet the ability to be free was in hand.
Now the Commandments, the first was,, “Thou shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex 20:3). What gods? This goes right back to the Fall, these are Commandments given to those under the Fall Nature. However, do we find the natural side? Yes, mentor worship, wanting to be an “angel”, or a self-appointed “god”, some call it the “Jezebel spirit”, really it’s the Jezebel mindset, of a self-appointed leader, one who is their own prophet, or forms their own meaning to doctrines, or have the “special” thing making them better than the rest of the Body, they want to be a god among people.
God said they were not to have any “god” (judge) before them and God, what will they say? “Speak you with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Ex 20:19). They proved the point, they broke the first Commandment within seconds of hearing it.
This defines the term “Body of Moses” showing us the figure next to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration was not Moses the man, but the Body of Moses, or better a representation of the Law. Making Elijah a representation of the Prophets, there stood the Law and Prophets on either side of Jesus, but the Father said, “Hear ye Him”. So what did Peter want? “Let us make three tabernacles” (Matt 17:1-6). After all Peter simply wanted to do something, a little honor couldn’t hurt. What was he doing? Equating the Law and Prophets as equal to Jesus, not real smart. We can turn most anything into an god, theology can be a god, tradition, our own personal agenda can be, and often is.
The next Commandment had to do with idols of stone, or idols in the mind (Ex 20:4). So, did they obey? No, the golden calf proves it. They placed their bellies as an idol as well, “what shall we eat?”. What are we told, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought of itself”; “therefore take no thought saying, What shall we eat?”; “For after these things do the Gentiles (outsiders) seek; for your heavenly Father knows you have need of all these things” (Matt 6:31-34). “Well it’s fine for back then, but this is now”, true, but Jesus is the same, it’s still a Kingdom Principle.
We can see how these are lining up with the fall nature, the third Commandment tells them not to bow down to the images, we can see how this connects to the last one, but it’s also different. “I didn’t make it, I just bowed”, or “I didn’t bow, I just made it”. Like telling a cow to keep the sabbath, “I’m keeping the sabbath, my cow is doing the plowing”. The fall nature looks for the loophole every time.
Taking the Name of the Lord in vain, would be the same as taking the Name of Jesus, yet rejecting the Mercy of the Father. It’s the very error the “Lord, Lord” people make, they did the Acts, but worked at avoiding doing the Ways (Matt 7:21-23).
The sabbath day is the token to the Law, here we find it’s incorporated into the Ten Commandments. Showing the connection between the Commandments and Law, yet we find them as the Principality and Power nailed to the Cross (Col 2:13-18).
The hinge is honor thy mother and father, so how does it relate to the Fall? “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Gen 2:24). Leave? What has it to do with honor? Much, God will say in Joshua 24:3, “I took your father Abraham”, we find the same reference types in many areas (Luke 1:73, 16:24-30, Jn 8:53-56, Acts 7:2 & Rom 4:12). God pointed to our physical parents, but more important to these people He was telling them to Honor Moses and those in leadership, thus the Hinge is the Shoulder, the government order between God and the congregation. The Hinge was important, showing we can honor our leaders, but we don’t make gods out of them. The Commandment, “thou shall not kill”, applies, since they were killing Moses daily with their murmuring and complaining.
The word “kill” means murder, or the taking of a life for some self-based purpose. Adultery is another area, according to the Jews in the time of Jesus no man could commit adultery, only a woman. Also they felt if one had the thought, yet rejected it, they were more holy than the person who never had the thought. Jesus cleared the issue, by giving a Division in the Proceeding Word. If man or woman plans out the evil, thinks up the plan, or attempts to put the plan into action in their minds, they have committed adultery (Matt 5:27).
Then stealing, but steal what? Anything, the power, the calling, money, position, or a prophecy given to another, anything, it was not specific, but what else? The Mercy of God, thus taking the Mercy of God, yet refusing to give it is stealing. Stealing is the unlawful taking, or using of something without granted permission, or taking something and using it in opposition of the authority. One can be using an item saying, “well I didn’t steal it, I’m just using it, so I’m innocent”, yeah right; not so, you are just as guilty as the one who stole it. Paul says we should stop stealing, rather we should work with our hands so we might have to give, so what does it mean (Eph 4:28)? God gives the Seed to the sower, but what if the sower never Sows, rather they eat all the Seed, just as these children ate all the quail, they stole the Seed, since God gave it to be Sown.
Bearing false witness is another area, helping to validate the last verses in Mark, for without them we would never know why Peter had to have three witnesses, yet he still failed to believe Jesus was raised. Mary was one, the two men on the road the other two, in the mouth of two or three witnesses a fact is affirmed. When Peter said, “no” he was calling them false witnesses, but when Peter said, “not so Lord, I will never deny you”, he became a false witness. Have we ever promised God something, yet failed? We violated this Commandment. Thank God for Grace, Amen?
Proverbs 14:25 says, A true witness delivers souls, but a deceitful witness speaks lies. There are six things the Lord hates, the seventh is an abomination, a proud look, but is a proud look attached to? A proud person. A lying tongue, but what is a tongue attached to? A rose bush? No, to a person who lies. Among those things God hates we find, “A false witness speaking lies” (Prov 6:16-19). The next one is the one falling on anyone who engages in self-righteousness, “Thou shall not covet” (Ex 20:17 & Rom 7:7). This is the motive behind the “spirit lusting to envy”, wanting what others have, yet not willing to pay the price to get it. No human under the fall nature has Right standing before God. None can come boldly to the throne, unless they are Born Again. The act of self-righteousness is attempting to gain standing before the Living God by using the corrupt flesh, which means the person covets the standing, but lacks the ability to gain it.
When the people heard all these things, they feared, since they left their faith at the sea shore (Ex 20:18-21). God wanted to be among them so the very presence of God could heal them, along with their change in attitude, but they lacked belief and faith. They were still thinking, “God is going to kill us”.
We can see how all this points to the fall nature meaning the Commandments and the Law designed for natural fallen man within the realm of the world, which ends at the Cross. The Commandments do not say fallen man will do all these things, it says fallen man has the Potential to do them. Jesus gave us a Way to be removed from the area of the Potential, we gain a New nature and character enabling us to do the Commandments of Mercy and Grace.
Truly all have sinned, coming short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23); there is none righteous, no not one, but running from God doesn’t bring salvation, neither does putting barriers between us and God (Rom 3:10). However, they also had the opportunity to repent, but instead of repenting, they wanted Moses to stand between them and God. This one area shows why the Commandments were written on stone, the words were from God, the stones showed the type of hearts they were sent to. Was faith available? Yes, God spoke, all they had to do was Obey the words. “Well, maybe stone is all they had to write on”. Yes, all five books were written on stone. No, the first five books were written on animal skins, not stones. The stones had a purpose, God could have written them on anything He wanted, including tree bark. The stone displayed the type of heart in the person the Commandments were directed to. You can’t circumcise a heart made of stone, the heart subject to the circumcision not made with hands has to be soft (teachable).
When the people feared, their fear didn’t stop God from talking to Moses, or continuing with the plan, but the plan now called for another Covenant, one for a people who lacked faith, they refused to believe in God. It was in the Plan, but not the Desire. God’s Desire for these people was to spend “40 days” learning, but their murmuring and complaining not only hastened the Desire of God, it produced the Reality of God, ending with the Law of Moses.
From the Commandments to the Judgments, we know God gave Moses the Judgments, something we talked about prior, as they relate to what the Judges will Judge. God then gives them the Seventh Year Sabbath then added the Three Festivals (Ex 23:10-19). Then we read something strange, God will “send an angel” before the people, isn’t God going? (Ex 23:20). Who is “this Angel”? Could it be Michael, the prince of the Jews (Dan 10:21)? Yes, but there is another aspect here as well. The word Angel means A messenger, if one speaks on behalf of God, they are an Angel of God. On the other hand if one speaks from the old nature they are a messenger of Satan. Paul told the Galatians “though we, or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than what we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8), then he told them “but [you] received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus” (Gal 4:14), yet he didn’t rebuke them for it. This Angel carried and protected a Message, later we will find how Michael contended over the “Body of Moses”, the Body of Moses is the Law of Moses, which was birthed in the wilderness.
These people hid under the Green Tree of God’s Mercy, but used the same old excuse, “God loves us” or “God accepts us like we are”, or “God knows my heart”, God knew their heart, yet He still provided their provision. If God doesn’t want to make a change in us, Jesus died in vain. Through God’s love He has provided a means for us to change, in order to be a change. Taking or claiming His Love, yet not fulfilling the purpose of Love is stealing. God so loved the world He gave the Law of Moses, no? God so loved the world He gave the sabbath, no? God so loved the world He gave us Jesus (Jn 3:16). However, with the giving, came the receiving. James tells us even the devils believe in One God; Jesus said Judas was a devil, so the concept of devils goes much further then fallen winged beings, just as the concept of being an angel goes further than Michael.
Prior Moses brought the Ten Commandments to the people, but they said, “Speak you with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Ex 20:19); however, they neither agreed to, or rejected the Commandments. Moses then drew near unto the “thick darkness” where God was (Ex 20:21). What was God doing in the “thick darkness”? Didn’t all this begin by God dividing the Light from the Darkness? First John says there is no Darkness in God, so what is God doing in the darkness? Could it be, the Darkness is representative of what these people were producing? Yes, on God’s side it was Light, on the side facing the people it was darkness, as a reflective indicator of them, yet Moses remained a friend to God.
Moses brings the information back to the people, now they say, “All the words which the Lord has said will we do” (Ex 24:3). This was their agreement to the Covenant. Moses and the young men of the children of Israel then gave sacrifices, but wait, the Tabernacle wasn’t built yet, what did they use? The earthen altar noted back in Exodus 20:22-24. The children again said, “All the Lord has said will we do, and be obedient” (Ex 24:7). The added concept of Obedience confirmed their vow. Something is missing isn’t it? They never said, “we love the Lord, we believe and trust in Him”. Obedience without believe or love often ends in reluctant obedience.
Peter calls us the Elect according to the Foreknowledge (predestination) of God the Father, through Sanctification of the Spirit Unto Obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus (I Pet 1:2). Moses sprinkled the book and people, the Spirit sprinkles us with the Blood of Jesus, yet in both cases we find the word Obedience. Is this the Obedience of God, or our Obedience? Ours of course, thus Faith must entail Obedience, when Faith comes, we must hear and obey in order to enter the Words of Faith.
Peter also told us to take heed to the Milk (more sure Word of prophecy – spoken or written word regarding Jesus) as unto a light shinning in a dark place, until the Day Dawn, and the Day Star arise in our hearts (I Pet 2:2 & II Pet 1:19). Knowing the division of the Day and Night, as well as what the metaphor Star means, opens this passage in II Peter. The promise of being a Star, among the Stars without number must be connected to the Day Dawn, thus the Day Dawn is akin to the New Birth, the “dark place” is within us, thus we all began in Darkness, moving to the Light, to have the Light, in order for the Greater Light to shine through us. Sounds simple enough, but it must be done in our obedience, yet obedience can either be reluctant, or willing.
God doesn’t promise to remove everything all at once; there are times when He removes the tares little by little, until we are increased in the inheritance (Ex 23:30). This shows a progression of the cleaning, rather than a one time, one prayer event. It’s what He wanted to do with these children, but change won’t come unless we desire it.
The children were quick to make verbal promises, but slow to put them into action (Ex 24:1-3). These people Heard, then said they would Obey, but did they? Was their obedience connected to their vows?
All this is still before the famed golden calf experience; Moses received the tables of stone for the people, the word Tables is the Hebrew Iuwach meaning To glisten, or Shine, as a polished rock, but why stone? (Ex 24:12). We just saw why, yet in our case the Ground is soft by belief, meaning God can write on our hearts, rather than pointing to a stone saying it’s our heart.
Later both God and Moses will agree, “these are a stiffnecked people”, thus a stiffnecked person is the result of a hard heart. When Moses gets these Tables it will be on the “seventh day”, in the “sight of the glory of the Lord” was like a “devouring fire” (Ex 24:17). If it’s the seventh day, what is Moses doing carrying them? He made himself subject to the sabbath day, but he was not required to follow the Law, it became his Law given to the people. This one event shows Moses was not subject to the Law, it came from him. The word Devouring is the Hebrew Akal meaning To consume, or To eat up. Moses would be in this mount forty days and nights, he would also receive the plans of the Tabernacle (Ex 24:18). There is forty again, a time Moses would spend on the Mount was the same time Jesus would spend in the wilderness.
If God told them to make the earthen altar, why change now? The earthen altar was to enter into the Covenant, now the preparation and plans for something else was being presented, another Proceeding Word. Here is another paradox, in this Covenant God made plans for the violation, in the Covenant we have, He has made plans for the completion (Ex 20:24 & 25:8). The Tabernacle was another blessing, but it went much further than these people. It was a Shadow of something yet to come, becoming one of the foundations of belief. The Tabernacle was strange at best, one day there it was, then gone, as in a twinkling of an eye. It was portable, it had places of separation, yet it also had places where one would find God.
The first thing Moses hears about is the “gifts for the tent” (Ex 25:1-7). Then the making of the Sanctuary, which would be according to the “pattern of the tabernacle” (Ex 25:9). This Tabernacle being a shadow, doesn’t mean God lives in a tent in heaven, rather it’s a type of something, although it’s not the Something. This Tabernacle will be a place of Separation and Unity pointing to Jesus as the Son of man. In the Book of Revelation Jesus as the Son of man is seen among the Menorah (golden candlestick), He is not the Candlestick, we find the seven churches are. In the Holy of Holies was the Mercy Seat; however we come boldly to the Thorne of Grace to obtain Mercy, and Find Grace. There was no Grace in the Tabernacle, it a symbol of God’s Mercy, yet it also has a shadow reference pointing to the Son of man. It was never destroyed as the Temple was, the plans came during the Day, not the Night, it was portable, it could move anywhere Mercy was needed.
The Tabernacle will be last seen in Shiloh with Eli the priest, since it was, and was not, it becomes a type of the Rapture, but the Temple will be different, representing something different. The Tabernacle could move, the Temple could not, the Tabernacle was a product of the Day, the Temple was permitted by God in the Night. The Temple is a type of Judgment, the Tabernacle a type of Salvation. These people in the wilderness were not privy to Salvation as we know it, but they were saved from Egypt.
What is the Tabernacle of David? David never had the Tabernacle, really he didn’t have the Temple either. What did he have? The ark of the covenant, as the Mercy Seat of God (II Sam 6:14). The place where God dwells is not made of fabric, or wood; we are the Tabernacle, if we are Born Again (Gal 4:6).
The Tabernacle in the wilderness was nonetheless a shadow, it had a Tent structure within the fenced courtyard, thus we find two elements, the courtyard and the tent, within the Tent there were two more elements, the holy place and the holy of holies. The holy place was twice as long as wide, the holy of holies was foursquare, it was as wide as high, and long as wide. The Courtyard was divided from the Tent, but the structure of the Tent was in the courtyard, thus the activities in the Tent were to be separated from those in the courtyard, yet the Tent itself was surrounded by the courtyard. This type and shadow is how we are surrounded by the Unction of the anointing on the Body, yet separated into the Holy Place to conduct our priestly duties.
The tent was always the same, it moved from place to place, but it was the same tent. The courtyard would change depending on where the tent enclosure was set-up, yet, we find a mystery. The tent had the “holy place” and “holy of holies”, giving us at least two holies, but the courtyard was joined by association, yet separated from the outside by the curtain all around it, making it holy. All this shows there is more than one type of Holiness, if there is a Holy of Holies then there are other Holies, here we find three.
Entrance into the courtyard was granted by the sacrifice of the person, regardless of the person. There were guards who inspected the sacrifice, thus the sacrifice was the means of entry, the same with us. However, to make entry into the Holy Place one had to be a priest, then only the High Priest could make entry into the Holiest of All, then only once a year on the Day of Atonement. The Holy Place contained the Shewbread, with table upon which the Shewbread rested, the Menorah (golden candlestick), and the Golden Altar of Incense. The Golden Altar of Incense represented all the prayers of the people, it stood just before the entrance to the Holy of Holies. The Menorah had seven cups, three on either side of the one in the center.
Of course we see some obvious differences, the high priest could only enter the holiest of all once a year, but we have boldness and confidence based in Jesus to come boldly to the Throne of Grace (position) to obtain Mercy (condition) and find Grace (ability to maintain) in the time of need (Heb 4:16, Eph 2:8, 2:18 & 3:12). There is no veil facing us, rather Jesus having abolished even the Law and Commandments for to make in Himself the two (holy place and holy of holies) for the New Man, giving us access by the Spirit through the Faith of Jesus (Eph 1:15, 1:18 & 2:12). The holy place was where the priests operated, thus it’s akin to the kingdom of heaven, the holiest of all didn’t have a candlestick, God provided the light therein, thus it’s akin to the Kingdom of God.
The Hebrew word for candlestick is Menorah, we don’t want to confuse the Menorah in the Tabernacle with the one seen every December as the “Hanukkah Menorah”. The Hanukkah has nine bowls, four on each side of the middle stem. It came into existence about 170 years before Christ appeared as the Word made flesh. It was associated with the Feast of Dedication, which is held on December 25th (Jn 10:22). The Feast of Dedication is associated to the Maccabees revolt against the Syrians, when the Maccabees cleaned the temple. The time it takes to make olive oil for the burning is eight days, but they only had enough oil for one day, thus God did a miracle; the one day oil lasted until the New Oil could be applied some nine days later, thus one bowl for each day. In either case the word Menorah means candlestick, whether it belongs to the Hanukkah feast, or Temple. It’s also clear they didn’t use “candles” they used olive oil prepared to burn. The temple Menorah has seven bowls, to the Jew it’s representative of the sabbath, to us it’s our Rest in Jesus.
Not only was the face of Moses a representation of the people placing a veil on their minds when the Law is read, we find the covenant as a veil as well, God placed an 18 inch thick Curtain (Veil) between the holy place and the holy of holies to keep the people from His Mercy Seat. Yet it was God’s Mercy producing the Law, but here we find many barriers, each as a result of the unbelief held by the children.
There is another major difference between the Tabernacle and Temple, when one so much as tossed strange fire into the Tabernacle, they died, but one could defile the Temple, yet not die. What? Didn’t the Pharisees defile the Temple? Didn’t Jesus have to clean it? Did the money changers die? Although Jesus was angry, His anger didn’t control, or instruct Him, as He was angry, but sinned not. The anger of Jesus was against those who used the position God granted them for the purpose of making gain by robbing the people, thus Jesus said sin was being “angry without cause”, He had “cause” (Matt 5:22). Although the Law told the priests to “take” tithes, it didn’t allow them to steal, or make money changing a deceptive method of taking tithes.
God begins with the Ark of the Covenant, which would be placed in the Holy of Holies. There is a difference between “pure gold” and “gold”, pure gold is so pure one can see through it, but gold has other properties giving it the color we know it by. We know the “streets of heaven” are paved with gold, does it mean real gold as we know it, or are we seeing a metaphoric use? The metaphor Gold means Pureness, it doesn’t mean God has gold from the earth in heaven, it means there is no defilement in heaven. The Mercy Seat was “flesh free”, it was to be placed on top of the Ark, with the Two Angels. Each Angel represented something, one the Message of the Day, as the Gospel of Peace, the other the Message of the Night, as the Everlasting Gospel. Although it was a seat, or the place where God placed His Mercy for the people, we find the purpose of the Law was to grant mercy to the people who didn’t deserve it. The Ark of the Covenant was the only piece of furniture in the Holy of Holies, yet it contained three items of great importance. Why would God place the most holy item out of reach of the children? They picked the manna, so why couldn’t they see the Ark which held some of the manna? They knew Aaron’s rod budded, so why couldn’t they see it? They just heard the Ten Commandments, so why not see the stones? Could all this be a sign of their separation from God? Or could God be giving them something “not seen” so they can begin to re-build their belief needed to establish faith. Or, could it be natural man has a propensity to make the things of God, his god?
In the Holy Place the Menorah produced the Light, but it had to be maintained by the priests. In the Holy of Holies God provided the Light. However, the Ark is the Mercy seat, indicating how God’s provision was based in His Mercy, not the mercy of the children. The courtyard was the place of Judgment, the Holy Place the area of priestly service, the Holy of Holies the place where God’s Mercy rested. This is the “Mercy Seat”, not the “Throne of Grace”, these people were not privy to Grace.
The Ark wasn’t very big either, the measurements were two and one half cubits in length, a cubit and a half in breadth, and a cubit and a half in height (Ex 25:10). A cubit is roughly 18 inches showing the Ark was about 45 inches in length, 27 inches in height, and 27 inches in breath. However, physical size didn’t mean much, the same Ark parted the Jordan.
The Tabernacle was an anointed place, it had the three different forms of anointing. The Courtyard had the anointing of Justice, the Holy Place the Unction of protection, the Holiest of All the Anointing of Mercy. Moses had an anointing as well, as did Aaron. Aaron’s was positional, much like the five fold ministry, but the anointing of Moses went further, so much so his face did shine as a result of being in the Presence of God. The same “glow” could have been on the children, if only they would have “received”, rather than “reject”. Moses was in the presence of God on this earth, but think of the Anointing we have by Christ in us? Moses had a glory, but nothing like the glory we have (Rom 8:18)
Even the Pillars used to support the Tent were different from those used to support the curtain around the outside of the Courtyard. This is another example of how God separated the Day from the Night, and His children from the world by using different forms of separation. As soon as one entered the Holy Place they were faced with the Candlestick on the Left, the Shewbread on the Right, the Golden Altar of Incense straight ahead. The sign of the Cross was evident, but the Jew saw it as a symbol of the blood in the three places on the door at the Passover.
The Mercy of God was present in the Courtyard, but all the efforts in the Courtyard were by the hands of man at the direction of God. The efforts in the Holy Place were still at the hands of man, but the symbols were different. Could this be a Type of the New? Yes, we will see this pattern given later in the Book of Revelation as Jesus in the midst of the golden candlestick. Jesus is seen in the midst of the seven bowled candlestick, as He speaks to the seven churches. It has to have a connection, the symbol was here in Exodus as the shadow.
The Shewbread table was overlaid with gold, but the base for all these items was Shittim Wood, the word Shittim means To pierce, thus the Shittim Wood is a type of Jesus on the Cross.
The Law of Moses came from God, but was maintained by man, therein was the fault. The Law of the Spirit is from God, maintained by God through the Spirit, therein is the Glory. The Report is the Father, Word and Holy Ghost, the Witness in us is the Water, Blood and Spirit, thus the Witness is not flesh, natural, or soul.
The manna and the shewbread were different, the manna was found on the ground, but the flour for the shewbread was purchased from the various nations around the wilderness. The flour used was expensive, but the concept shows “many nations”, Jesus never said He was the manna, why not? The manna was a miracle, it surely came from God, but it was also short lived, if misused it became wormy. The manna was only for the wilderness, but the shewbread continues on. Jesus is with us in our wilderness and beyond, He won’t leave us.
The third piece of furniture would be the Golden Candlestick, or Menorah. There have been several discussions regarding the Menorah, was it tall? Short? Table top size? There is no mention of the Menorah being on a table, but some feel it was shorter than a man. There are also those who think the Menorah had floating bowls in each candle position allowing some of the oil to enter in and burn, others say the oil had a wick. According to history the Menorah in the Temple was a floor standing type, but the Temple and the Tabernacle had some major differences, thus one can’t assume since the Temple had something, the Tabernacle must have the same thing. After all the Temple had a large stone in place of the Ark of the Covenant.
The “Incense Altar” was actually the gateway to the Holy of Holies, as incense is a type showing the “prayers of the saints” (Rev 8:4). We understand the Golden Altar of Incense was in the Holy Place, but in the text God jumped from the Menorah to the Tent. Did He forget about the Altar of Incense? Or is He giving us a “plan of Salvation”? Or is it a pattern of Salvation and Judgment? Something to consider, later in the construction of the Tabernacle we will find the order moves from the candlestick to the incense altar. However, does all this mean we actually began in the Holy Place before we came to Jesus? No, it means God’s Mercy reached toward us as it connected to the measure of faith, then the Holy Ghost brought us to the Cross. We then gained entrance based on the Sacrifice of Jesus. Once in the courtyard we grew until we reached the place where we could enter the Holy Place. We grew the more by the Spirit until we became spiritual in nature granting enter with boldness which is really confidence in humbleness.
There were also the various instruments used by the priest, one has to notice the little things are important. The smaller cups and instruments were as carefully designed and made as were the big instruments. God pays attention to details, even if we don’t.
Now to the enclosure, the first thing we see is “ten curtains”, the number Ten points to Testing. Then Five curtains, the number Five points to Grace, thus there is a Testing of Grace connected to the Holy Place. In order to make entry into the Holy Place one had to be a priest assigned to the duties of service. Jesus has made us both kings and priests.
The Curtain to the entrance of the courtyard had palm branches embroidered on it, we know Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the people tossed palm braches before Him. The Palm Branch is a metaphor for Victory, thus entrance into the courtyard is the first step toward Victory. The Curtain before the Holy Place had a big Eye on it, representing the Examining Eye of God. The Curtain between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies had three cherubs embroidered on it, pointing to the Trinity in our case, to the Jew it again reflected to the three areas of blood on the door. The Ark had two angels over the seat, one representing the Day, the other the Night. All these figures were interesting to the children, but they didn’t know the mystery; therefore, these things are written for us.
The Tent itself was called the “tabernacle of the congregation” (Ex 27:21, 28:43, et al), which seems strange, since the congregation couldn’t enter therein. The Tabernacle was a series of Separations, holding a series of steps regarding the presentation of the sacrifice, but it was designed for the People of Congregation, a place where they could see something of God, in order to assist them in their belief. The blood of the sacrifice was never “poured” in the tent enclosure, it was sprinkled. The tent enclosure had pillars connected one to the other, but the roof was a series of skins and curtains.
The Ark would contain a sample of the Manna representing God’s provision, but the Manna came as a result of murmuring didn’t it? This sign showed the people how God provided, even when they didn’t deserve it. The Tables of Stone were also in the Ark, as was Aaron’s Rod. Aaron’s Rod held two signs, first we know about the correction, but it also appeared dead, yet buds of almonds appeared, thus it became a sign of the New Birth, which is also a sign of the Resurrection, the time when death appears to be the case, but Life springs forth.
The separation element set between the Holy Place and Holy of Holies was a Veil (Ex 26:31), the word Veil used here means Separation, thus the Law of Moses, the Commandments and Judgments were all Separating elements between man and God, rather than joining man to God. This is clear when we read, “and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy” (Ex 26:33). Again, if there is a Most Holy, there is a Less Holy and a Lesser Holy, if the Most Holy is Most, it must be Greater, if the Lesser Holy is Less, it must be Lesser. The New Man is created (or formed, same Greek word) after God’s True Holiness and Righteousness (Eph 4:24). Why “True Holiness”, what other kind does God have? It’s a Holiness above the Holiest of All, the very Image the shadow points to.
The covering between the Holy Place and the Courtyard was not called a Veil, it was termed a Hanging (Ex 26:36). On the garment was the all seeing eye of God, it examined the person, not the sacrifice. Once someone gained entry into the courtyard by their sacrifice they were expected to follow the procedures as individuals. The two sons of Aaron will prove this, their folly didn’t do away with the priesthood, it did do away with them.
God then moves to the Courtyard and the Brazen Altar, this Altar was to be made of Brass, not Gold (Ex 27:6). Why Brass? Brass is a sign of Judgment, Gold stood for Purity and Salvation, Silver for Redemption, there was no Gold in the courtyard, even the instruments of the courtyard were made of brass. Although we find both Salvation and Judgment in the Tabernacle we also find a division between them. The same with the Cross of Jesus, it brings us Salvation, yet it also held the same Son of Man who will judge mankind in the end. John makes note of this, although he sees Jesus in the midst of the menorah, he also sees the feet of Jesus like unto “fine brass”, showing the courtyard as the place of Judgment (Rev 1:15).
The larger enclosure was fifty cubits, by one hundred cubits, or two times longer than the width, but the Holy of Holies was four-square, the Holy Place was two times longer than the width. The Holy of Holies was fifteen cubits by fifteen, the Holy Place was fifteen cubits by thirty. Recalling how a cubit is the measurement of a man’s arm from the bend of the elbow to the tip of the finger, generally called, “18 inches”; however, wouldn’t the cubit of a jockey be less than a cubit of a center on a professional basketball team? Yes, thus God used types of measurements to keep us from making the exactness, yet allowing us to know the overall layout. If a cubit was three inches, the measurement for the Holy of Holies would still be foursquare.
The entrance to the courtyard was not the Veil, but a hanging called “the Gate of the Court” (Ex 27:16). The Gate was the place where the Sacrifice was examined, but the place where the sacrifice was killed then offered was in the courtyard. The courtyard area of Tabernacle was enclosed with a fence, making it akin to the sheepfold with only one way in or out. The sacrifices and washings were conducted in the Courtyard as types of our testings of faith and our baptisms. The courtyard is akin to thirty fold, the holy place akin to sixty fold, the holy of holies to one hundred fold, thus we find a type of growth. Each area only had one way in or out, thus there were no “back doors”, nor windows.
It’s one thing to have a Menorah, another to care for it, thus God gave the order of bringing the Light (Ex 27:20). The Oil had to be “beaten” in order to make it pure enough to bring the Light, this is a type of the beatings Jesus took for us. Our sufferings for Jesus is suffering what the flesh demands, while not allowing it to manifest in our lives. The Menorah would be a Testimony, it burned from “evening to morning” (Ex 27:21). Wait, didn’t it burn all the time? No, or how could they move it? In the Temple it burned continually, but not in the wilderness. Nonetheless, the testimony was from evening to morning, Paul said, “the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night”, with “but you, brethren, are not in darkness, so the day should overtake you as a thief” (I Thess 5:2 & 5:4). However, Jesus said to those from Sardis who Failed to repent, “If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief” (Rev 3:3). Clearly this is for those who fail to Watch, rather than those who do Watch and Pray. For those who do Watch, Jesus says “I will confess their name before My Father” (Rev 3:5).
The Brass Basin was also called the Brazen Laver, it was placed between the Brazen Altar and the opening to the Holy Place; the priests would wash their hands and feet in it (Ex 30:19). The purpose was so they “die not”, but does this washing relate to our Water Baptism? One could presume so, but if it’s the case, why only the feet and hands? Didn’t Jesus wash the feet of the disciples? Yes, we know about the Washing of the Water By the Word, thus this Brazen Laver is not akin to our Water Baptism as an act, but it does relate to the Identification. When we gave our token of water baptism it included our vow to walk in Mercy, the purpose of the priesthood was not to represent the people, but to serve God before the people (Ex 28:1). The Basin Laver was an external washing, the feet because they would be on holy ground, the hands because they would handle the things of the Tabernacle. Our water baptism is our token identifying us with the death and resurrection of Jesus, thus the death includes our vow to deny the self, then pick up our cross, the resurrection is our vow to seek the Baptism with the Holy Ghost to have the Spirit, so we can be spiritual in nature. Therefore, both our water baptism and the Brazen Laver held water, but for different purposes.
Next comes the clothes, or garments for the Priests, each item related to something correlating to our Season. The outer garment in the case of the priests protected them in the duties of the office; however, if any priest, including the high priest violated the duties of office they would die, garment or not. Aaron would die in the wilderness the day his garments were removed, but his wrong had nothing to do with his office duties, rather he challenged Moses. In our case we have the New Man inside, but we are also told to put on the New Man, as the Armor of God. The New Man is also known as Another Comforter, the word Comforter means Armor Bearer, or one who walks along beside, thus he is not only holding the Armor, he is the Armor. Although we will not go into great detail here, we can see the shadow has some valid information for us. The Breastplate for Aaron was called “the breastplate of Judgment”, not the Breastplate of Righteousness (Ex 28:15). However, we will find our “Armor of God” is more akin to the Priest’s Garments, than to some Roman soldier. The Roman soldier did have protective garments, but the priest was able to come before God, the Roman soldier was not. Comparing the Armor to the things of the world may give us the impression the Armor is designed for aggression, rather than protection. Two items on the Armor of God would seem to be aggressive in nature, the Sword of the Spirit, but the Sword is the Rhema of God, as we speak Grace to the hearer, thus the Sword is not to kill with, it’s to bring life. The Shield of faith is based in the Faith of Jesus, it has proven itself worthy, it will protect us. The priests also had two types of garments, Aaron’s sons did not wear the same garments as Aaron. Aaron’s son worn white linen clothing under an ankle-length, seamless tunic of white linen, bound at the waist by a long girdle. On their heads they wore white linen hats. The high priest was much different, it’s the high priest garments we view as the type and shadow toward the Armor of God. One part of the garment for the high priest was a piece of pure gold with the wording “HOLINESS TO THE LORD”, this doesn’t say, “You are holy unto the Lord, rather it points to all holiness belonging to the Lord (Ex 28:36). The high priest’s garment, which Aaron wore, and the Priest’s garments which his sons wore, were for “glory and beauty”. The connection goes to the famed Urim and Thummim (Ex 28:30); Urim means Perfection, Thummim means Light, no where can we find them as physical items, rather we find God placed them in the Breastplate of Judgment, not in the person. The garment began with “blue and purple” (Ex 39:1), both are metaphors; blue represents heaven, in this case it shows how the people were separated from heaven. Purple points to royalty, showing how God was looking for “kings”, but found a bunch of self-centered princes. These clothes were all purposed for “service” in the “holy place”, thus the holy place was only for the priests, yet they had to be washed before entry. The Holy of Holies was the most special place, only the high priest could enter therein, then only once a year on the Day of Atonement. Only after he gave his own sacrifice for his sins with much fear and trembling. We recall the Sabbath, as the Rest of the Lord pertained to the Feasts, the Day of Atonement was one of those feasts.
There are words we won’t find in the Bible, but the concepts are clear. For instance, the word Accountable in any form is not in the King James Bible, but here in Exodus the concept is very clear. Another word we won’t find in the King James Bible is “Interesting”, isn’t it Interesting? There are some things we find, which seem like they would be Interesting, for instance, the Anointing Oil found in Exodus 29:7 and following. Won’t it be great to make this Oil, we could have the same Anointing Oil as God desired. After all God did give us the formula (Ex 30:23-26). Of course we find the Purpose was to anoint the Tabernacle, furniture and priests. Maybe we could make it and sell it? However, we then find “whosoever compounds any like it, or whosoever puts any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people” (Ex 30:33). Huh? Not so desirable now, but wait now, David was anointed with Oil. Yes, Olive Oil; this anointing oil was to be made Once and only Once, a type of the Anointed One as Jesus, thus we obtain our Anointing from the Anointed One, we don’t run off ignoring the warning. We use Olive Oil based on the Sermon from the Mount of Olives, representative of God’s Mercy.
Next would come the Golden Altar of Incense, but why wait so long? Isn’t this piece just as important as the Shewbread Table, or the Menorah? (Ex 30:1). It is, the placement in the plan is very important on our path through the Tabernacle. We saw the Courtyard was all brass, relating to Judgment, then we make entry into the Holy Place where the Shewbread, Oil and Light wait for us, but this Golden Altar of Incense was just before one makes entry into the Holy Of Holies. A like figure, or better, the Image from which this figure came is seen again in the Book of Revelation as the place where the Dead in Christ wait for the time when we will meet them in the Air (Rev 6:9). This Altar is a symbol of how the Dead in Christ are in the Third Heaven (Paradise), as the Clouds (Witnesses) waiting for the day when we join them, then all of us will then meet Jesus in the air, where we will forever remain with Him. The churches in the Body were seen as the Menorah, we are the Bread, but the Altar is the point just before entrance into the Holiest of All.
Jesus was received by A Cloud, not Clouds, but He returns with the Clouds, not Cloud, what is the difference? Prior when Jesus ascended, the Holy Ghost had not yet given the Spirit, thus those Jesus took captive from the captivity became The Cloud of Witnesses, but since then many, really so many they can’t be counted, have joined them under the Altar. The Book of Hebrews defines the metaphor “cloud” as Witnesses (Heb 12:1).
All of sudden here in Exodus we see the length of time for Moses to get the plans was forty days and nights, the number forty refers to a wilderness. Nonetheless what we have been reading is not the construction of the Tabernacle, but the plan given to Moses from which it was to be built, but what about those at the bottom of the Mount? Of course, they have been praying for the man of God on the mount, right? Oh, Aaron was holding services, preaching the mercy of God, right? let’s see what was going on.
The people said they would obey the Lord, the Lord was giving Moses the plans, but didn’t God know the people would build the famed Golden Calf? Yes He did, but once they voiced their agreement, He continued with the plan, thus our unbelief stops us, it doesn’t stop God, He moves on. This alone shows God expects us to be where we should be. It’s we who play “catch up” not God, yet God knew we would have to run along behind yelling, “Wait Lord, it wasn’t my fault, it was the Bible teacher you gave me”.
Exodus now gives us the intent behind the Golden Calf, as the people began to wonder, “where is this Moses?”. Their intent is found in the phrase “this Moses, the man brought us up out of the land of Egypt” (Ex 32:1). Wasn’t it God who brought them out? Perhaps they didn’t know, not so, they were told more than once it was the Lord who brought them out (Ex 13:16, 16:6, 18:1 & 20:2). Surely, they were told plain enough, but their unbelief was ruling their minds, they were breaking the Commandments one by one, thus proving the point, the Commandments are against fallen man, not for him.
They knew who brought them out, but they made the choice to reject it, so they could blame Moses. Does this sound like a violation of “you shall have no other gods”? Yes, they run to Aaron to have him make them a “god” to replace Moses. Their reasoning was “this isn’t to replace God, so really it’s not a violation”; however, it was, so much so it sparked God’s wrath. Who did Moses represent? God, so any idol to replace Moses, was the same as making one to represent God, it was still evil. What were they attempting to do? Find the loophole, any method to avoid the Commandment, while saying they were not; it’s not to replace God, it’s not really a human, so what’s the big deal? We will find out.
They didn’t use any of the gold or silver they took from the people of Egypt, they used their golden earrings (Ex 32:3). The Earring each person had was a symbol of their bondage, thus they used the sign of their bondage to make them a new leader. While they were giving worship to this golden calf whom they said brought them out of Egypt, Aaron would said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord” (Ex 32:4-5). They stopped in the middle of worshipping the golden calf so they could prepare for the “feast of the Lord”.
In Paul’s rebuking letter to the Corinthians he uses these people in the wilderness as a lesson (I Cor 10:1-11). One of the examples goes right to the day after they made the calf and engaged in the “feast day of the Lord”, as he writes, “Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (I Cor 11:7). This is the example of mixing the Cup of the Lord, with the cup of devils, a compromise, giving honor to the Lord, and honor to a god. Did the Corinthians have idols of gold? No, they made idols of people, “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos”.
While the people are playing, the Lord is speaking to Moses, then the Lord says, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people” (Ex 32:9). Stiff-necked goes with a hard heart, here we find why God wrote on stone. If we were English teachers, we would cut this statement to pieces; “this people” does not fit with “it is a stiffnecked people”; unless the Lord is giving us a clue to the unsaved soul of man, the fallen nature of man with the degrees in which it operates. Joshua and Moses were under the same fall nature, but they didn’t allow it to run wild, they used their free moral choice by pointing their minds toward God. Because of Joshua we find the people had the same opportunity to believe God.
We have the plural (this people), but then the singular (it is), what is the “it”? The old natural nature of man, the same spirit of man. They were allowing the old man to exercise himself to the maximum. The word “stiff-necked” means one who is proud by nature, but there are degrees as we know: however, the New Covenant does change it, God gives Grace to the Humble, yet He still resists the proud (I Pet 5:5). Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, He will exalt you in due time (James 4:10 & I Pet 5:6). The Lord will not humble us, give us reason to, yes, but it’s still something we do as part of our side of the Covenant.
These people forgot all the Lord had done, rejecting what the Lord said He would do. They presumed they could “do their own thing”, yet not be held accountable. This is the Concept of Accountability, without seeing the word Accountable in the text. It’s fine to put verses to memory, but if we don’t understand the concept, or how the concept relates to us, we will miss the importance.
These children by making the golden calf, attempted to replace Moses, yet God instilled Moses in the position. They were acting as if they were God, not only did they make gods, they took the Name of God in vain, thus violating all of the Commandments in one day. Since the children said Moses delivered them, we find God telling Moses, “Go, get you down; for your people, which you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves” (Ex 32:7). On the same note, we find Moses telling God, “Lord, why does Your wrath wax hot against Your people, which you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a Mighty hand?” (Ex 32:11). The Lord saw how the children rejected Him, thus He said they were the people of Moses, Moses says they are the people of God. The people are saying the Golden Calf delivered them, thus God spoke from a position of being rejected by the children, yet Moses was standing for the children. Jesus is our intercessor, we have to wonder how many times Jesus had to tell the Father, “Father, they are our people”?
God tells Moses to get out of the way, so the Lord “may consume them” (Ex 32:10). This word Consume is the Hebrew Kalah, but didn’t we see the same word back in Genesis somewhere? It’s the same Hebrew word translated as Finished, in the phrase “Thus the heavens and the earth were Finished, and all the host of them. And on the Seventh Day God ended His work which he had made: and He Rested” (Gen 2:1-2). The purpose for keeping the Sabbath Day is found here, as well as why the Sabbath Day will be the token for the Covenant of the Law of Moses, thus the Law of Moses is one step from being Finished (Consumed). It’s how close they came to being remembered as “those people who were all of sudden consumed in the wilderness”.
During this exchange between God and Moses, God has seen the actions of the children, but Moses is still in the Cloud. He reminds God of the Promise, we can see how Moses knows something about God, but is completely ignorant of what the people are doing. Moses tells God, “Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants” (Ex 32:13). It’s not for the sake of these children, but for the sake of the True Servants of God who didn’t need the Ten Commandments or the Law of Moses. God repents, but don’t think God is done yet, this simply means there is postponement for the moment (Ex 32:14). In this case we find Repent in the case of God is to hold back for the moment. God knew the intercession would take place, this is a type of God staying His Wrath while extending His Mercy to the one who sought Mercy. It also shows the power of proper intercession as it displays how true warfare works. In Ephesians Paul lays out the elements to the Armor of God, then the application, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”, then he adds purpose, “as for me, that utterance may be given unto me, so I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the Gospel” (Eph 6:18-19). Moses was truly interceding by reaching for God’s Mercy for the people.
Moses will come down the mountain, but he has not seen what the children did, nor has he heard it, rather all he knows is they “have corrupted themselves” (Ex 32:7). To Moses this is “what else is new God?”, but he has yet to see what they did this time. Joshua was the minister to Moses, he waited for the man of God to return, then Joshua heard “the noise of the people”, saying, “There is a noise of war in the camp” (Ex 32:17). Joshua discerned a War, but not the parties, this War was between the people and God. Moses said, “it is not the voice of them who shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them who sing do I hear” (Ex 32:18). This doesn’t mean singing is wrong, it means the type of singing, as well as what it was directed to. As soon as Moses reaches the camp, his anger flared (Ex 32:19). Now Moses knows why God was so upset, he cast the tables of stone, the same ones God Himself wrote on, but why? They had violated them all, they Broke the Covenant Promises in one day. Moses is ready to finish for God, what Moses had God stop, but Aaron moves in and tells Moses, “you know the people are set on mischief” (Ex 32:22). Moses told God, You know these people, why get mad? Now Aaron tells Moses, You know these people why get mad? The mirror just turned, Moses must now deal with them in correctly.
Of course Aaron has to add to the premise by interjecting his self-justification, but in so doing he is also showing he knew it was wrong. Prior the people came to Aaron saying, “make us gods” (Ex 32:1), but now Aaron says, Moses, guess what? I cast those earrings into the fire, and what do you think? this calf came out, not my fault, it was those earrings they gave me (Ex 32:24). The earrings were not evil, the fire wasn’t, it was what they did with them. Aaron did do something right in this, he did make them naked for their shame, but he still bowed to their commands by making the stupid calf.
Moses would stand at “the gate of the camp”, because the Tabernacle was not built yet, the plans were given, but the actual construction had yet to begin. Like Elijah, Moses will say, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Ex 32:26). Sounds like a war, it was, there would be the wounded and dead in this battle. The sons of Levi gathered to Moses, but they were not the only ones. If only the sons of Levi came, where did the other tribes come from who entered the Promised Land? This shows all the sons of Levi gathered, it also shows what God said He would do, He did. God wanted to start over again with Moses, thus all those who joined Moses, became Moses, indicating they identified (baptized) with Moses. Those who didn’t would suffer for not doing so.
God waited, but He still did what He told Moses He would do; therefore, the repenting of God is not being sorry, or not doing something, it’s being sorry for having to do, what must be done. The sons of Levi took swords and killed all those who refused to join with the Lord, a total of three thousand died (Ex 32:28). What God said, came to pass, it would start with Moses by using the Law of Moses as the intercessor.
Moses found in the case of the error simple intercession isn’t going to reverse the outcome, there had to be repentance with remorse by those whom he interceded for, which had to be apparent. He now has to return and seek Pardon; yet he knows he has nothing to show to gain actually Pardon. Moses is willing to have his name Blotted out of the Book, allowing God to Pardon the people; however, it’s not how God doesn’t operates, as He said, “Whosoever has sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book” (Ex 32:33).
This connects to Revelation 3:5, where Jesus said to Sardis, “He who overcomes, the same shall be clothed in White Raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life”. White Raiment, hum, oh wait the Mount of Transfiguration, of course, “His raiment was White as the Light” (Matt 17:2). Rightly Dividing the Word keeps us Watching and Praying not to enter the Hour of Temptation, which Hour shall come upon all the world to try them who dwell on the earth (Matt 26:40-41 & Rev 3:10).
The act of True Pardon couldn’t be granted to these children by Moses, or the Law, or to anyone until Jesus came. The Pardon of one’s sins is the removal of the power and result of the sin, it does not remove the source, only remission can accomplish the removal of the source, thus when Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven (Pardoned)”, the Pharisees had a theological fit, by saying, “Only God can forgive (pardon) sins”. A true statement, only God can Pardon sin(s). Moses will be told about Pardon, but in it’s the context of Atonement under the Law. These people will have Atonement, but it will be restricted to the elements of violating the Commandments, thus the Law of Moses became more than a Veil, it was a Wall, a Hedge, something between man and God, so God could view the deed, without having to view the person. What about David? God would search and find those who sought Him, but the premise was never whether they did the Law or not.
God hasn’t stopped on the road to the Promised Land yet, talk about Longsuffering. God gives them another Covenant, based on the Ten Commandments, showing how the Tabernacle and Moses will be a Separation. Exodus 32:33-35 talks about the “Plague” God placed on the people, it’s a plague when God separates Himself from us. Amen?
Moses spoke to the Lord “face to face”, which means as a friend, but the people remained in their tents never seeing God. Oh they saw the Cloud, the Glory and other things of God, but they never saw God. Moses really begins to intercede, he knows God isn’t going with them, as far as Moses is concerned, If God isn’t going, he’s not going. Then Moses desires to know The Way of the Lord, the Lord then says His Goodness will pass before Moses, then we read, “I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you” (Ex 33:19). This is interesting, the Lord won’t pass, His Goodness will, then the Lord will Proclaim the Name of the Lord. Why not say, “Proclaim My Name”? There is another mystery for us. The next day the Lord passed by and Proclaimed, “The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and it will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation” (Ex 34:1-7). God said He would Proclaim the Name, and He did, all we have to do is Divide it Rightly, or it makes no sense whatsoever. How can a Forgiving God, say He won’t Forgive in the same sentence? Verses 6 and 7 are one sentence, the Lord Begins by saying “I will forgive (pardon)”, then says, “Will by no means clear”, two completely opposite premises, unless we divide them between Day and Night. This is the “Name of Jesus”, as well as what it stands for, thus using the Name, and being in it are different. For the children of the Day we find the Name is Merciful, Gracious, Longsuffering, Abundant in Goodness, Truth, Keeping Mercy, Forgiving Iniquity, Forgiving Transgression (Sin); however, for the Night it’s By no means clear the iniquity. Is it fair? The children’s children? Wait, it’s the iniquity, taking us to Matthew 7:21-23, and the workers of iniquity. This area has nothing to do with those who do the law of faith by their acts of mercy by the measure of faith, this has to do with the unpardonable sin, those who receive the Mercy of God, but reject giving it.
There is also a difference between the words Forgiving and Clear. The word Forgiving is the same Hebrew word Moses used when he said, “if You will forgive their sin” (Ex 32:32), which is Pardon, or the removal of the sin in the face of God as God takes the power and accusation out of the sin. This was not done until Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven you”. The word Clear is the Hebrew Naqah meaning To make free from punishment, which is different, Clear means the sin is forgotten, it’s the punishment one is attempting to void. If we understand the differences between the Day and Night the “Name of the Lord” makes sense, pointing to two Seasons, Salvation and Judgment. The same difference as Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and Jesus in the midst of the golden candlestick. This is the Day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
God tells Moses “behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation…” (Ex 34:10). The first clue is “all your people”, they are associated (baptized) with Moses. The Covenant points to the possession of the land, and what to do after they get there, thus God hasn’t given up on them, He is still going to see the next generation get to the Promised Land. God will make a provision later to join Himself to the people, but the Law of Moses will remain, until all is fulfilled at the Judgment.
God again goes over many of the things found in the Commandments and Judgments, including the Sabbath Day, which becomes the token for this Covenant. The sabbath will be used immediately, part of the requirement is “you shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day” (Ex 35:3). This means for cooking or heat, if one wants to keep the Sabbath Day holy, they remain in their dwelling, they can’t turn on a light, they can’t microwave, cook, or use fire to heat with in any sense of the word, it’s to inflict pain, knowing they are one step from destruction. I like the New better, don’t you?
Moses comes down from the Mount, simply being exposed to the Name of the Lord being proclaimed caused a glow of glory to fall on his face, he was given Rest (Ex 33:14 & 34:30). However, the people were afraid of the Glory, they wanted it Veiled, it was, by the Law of Moses. The Veil here is a different word, with a different meaning than the Veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Paul used this Veil when speaking to the Corinthians by saying, “and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face; the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of what is abolished: but their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same veil not taken away in the reading of the Old Testament: which veil is done away in Christ, but even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart” (II Cor 3:13-15). However, if they turn unto the Lord, then the Veil will be removed (II Cor 3:16-17). Excluding the Remnant there are other groups who are either blinded to the Gospel, or the Gospel is hid from them (II Cor 4:3-4). There are various conclusions to the “god of this world”, in the context of Corinthians it could relate to the Law of Moses itself, since Moses was a “god” to Pharaoh, and the Law itself is considered a god, since it rules by Judgments over the people. The phrase could relate to unbelief, or to the fall nature, but it would make them gods, rather than rulers of darkness. However, it is difficult to conceive of it being the devil, since it would mean the devil has the power to keep people from the Gospel, which would negate the “whosoever”; also if the devil is a god, then he was not out of line offering Adam a god status; however, the devil is a prince limited to a principality. The context of the Scriptures indicates it’s the Law of Moses, making the Law of Moses connected to the world, not the Kingdom.
In II Corinthians 4:3-4 we find two different groups denoting those who are Blinded, but there are those to whom the Gospel is “hid”, we should not confuse one into the other. As for the “blinded” we know if they turn to the Lord, the veil will be removed, but to those to whom the Gospel is hid, it’s because they are “lost”. The word for Lost in II Corinthians is the Greek Apollumi meaning to perish, it’s the root word to the Greek Olethros meaning ruin or death. The point being we can’t assume whom the Gospel is hid from, or who is blinded by their own unbelief, or who is blinded for a purpose by God. There are some who hear the Gospel fifty times, but then they hear it one more time and the light goes on, they understand. The Veil was lifted, they were not “lost”. Not to take away from our subject matter, but we find the glory on Moses came from being in the presence of God, yet the children were afraid of it. They wanted a separation between them and God, but the separation had to represent God, as a “god”, much like Moses was a god to Pharaoh. The Veil was in place, the glory was hid from the children, when the Law is read the blindness remains, thus the Law of Moses is the god of this world, so much so it will be the basis they will be judged by.
The old thought of slavery produces only labor and no skill, or skill cannot be obtained from God, is dashed asunder in the building of the Tabernacle. It was time to construct the Tabernacle, it had to be portable, sound and light, yet heavy enough to stand against the desert winds. God filled many of those selected to do the construction with the “spirit of wisdom”, but this is not the “Spirit of the Lord”, nor is it God’s Wisdom, it’s the ability to deal with the construction of the Tabernacle, thus God instilled a vision, gave them ability as skills to make the various items as God wanted them. Didn’t Moses watch over them to make sure they did it right? Moses waited until it was done, then they brought the Tabernacle unto Moses, then he anointed it (Ex 40:9).
The construction was not under the eye of Aaron, or the hand of Moses, but under the hand of Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, directly under him was Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan, thus those who did the construction were of Judah and Dan, this is a type and shadow of Helps, the Bishop as the overseer, the Deacon is the doer, without Helps there would be no tabernacle.
The collection began, it went until they had so much, Moses had to tell the people to stop giving (Ex 36:7). They were givers, but they were also complainers and murmurers. When they began construction, they didn’t begin in the same order as God gave the instructions, yet God gave them a vision to show them what to do. Were they still “doing it their way”? No, this shows the mistake of attempting to make a formula out of the things of God. The construction began with the Tent or Tabernacle, since it had to be built in order to have a place to put the Ark, as well as the other items when they were completed.
Bezaleel then made the Ark, then the Shewbread Table, then the Menorah, then the Golden Altar of Incense, again showing God had a plan in the plan, one in which a formula would not fit. Exodus 38:21-31 shows the “sum” of the Tabernacle, or how much gold, silver, brass and other material they used. Afterward came the making of the Priest’s Garments, then we read all this, then guess what, no Urim and Thummim, thus they were not physical items but the Light and Perfection God placed in the breastplate. We also find the priest himself wasn’t holy, the garment was holy, thus if the priest “defiled the garment” they would pay the price, or they could keep the garment holy and live. How? Respecting the office of the priesthood.
The Tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month a year later (Ex 40:17 & Numb 1:1). The crossing was suppose to take forty days, but one year later they are still in the wilderness, yet it was all in the plan.
God gave them a glory for the Tabernacle, the presence of the Law, later when Joshua crosses the Jordan he will find the Angel of the Lord who went before them, thus God never did leave them, they turned their backs on Him, yet He nevertheless left His glory with them, He also gave them an angel to guide them.
How can we neglect so great a warning? God loved these people, surely God loves us, but it’s our love for God being tested, not His love for us. While it is yet Today we can ask God to tear down strongholds, destroy the high things in our minds as they exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, for Him to reveal Himself to us by the Spirit. The children were ready to march, God gave them a specific order, now it’s time for us to march to the next lesson, while keeping things in order.
By Rev. G. E. Newmyer – Les3rev9/© 2003
