King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Thursday February 09, 2023
Chapters: EXODUS 30-32
Study: According To God’s Purpose
Hello My Brother/Sister/Friend,
I do not know why, but I had a hard time getting into the reading of God’s Word this morning, I was not distracted, thank God, by the cares going on, and I was not distracted by someone, and I was not even distracted by the thoughts of anyone. I was distracted by an email that I had gotten about a job opening for the company that I work for. When I could not get into the site that the job was posted to, and only after I gotten in only to realize that it really was not what I thought it was, that was when I asked God to forgive me and started paying attention to God. Even before I began reading the chapters this passage came to mind.
[2 Peter 3:11-13 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.]
There will come a day when distractions will be a thing of the past and so will the ability to share the Gospel with those who are in the world, which are often what distractions are. The tabernacle that God had instructed Moses to build was actually a foreshadow of not only our own flesh becoming His temple, it was also of Christ. In the previous chapters we learned of the instructions of what God wanted inside of the tent, then the tent itself. Now, we come to what would be on outside of it, beginning with the Altar of incense, which was to be placed before the veil that would separate God from the priests.
[Exodus 30:1,6-10 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. 6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. 7 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9 Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. 10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.]
[And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark] God, wanted a certain scent to be sent up to Him daily. Not just any scent, a special blend of spices including stacte [myrrh] and frankincense, that would remain burning in the Tabernacle, along with the menorah continually. You may recall myrrh and frankincense were given to Mary by the wise men who followed the star to where He was abiding, [Matthew 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.]
[the blood of the sin offering of atonements:] Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, one sacrifice would be made, a sin offering, and it was to make an atonement for all the sin offerings made that year. By the sprinkling of the blood of that offering upon the horns of it shows that Christ’s mediation and intercession is founded upon the virtue of His blood, and of His atoning sacrifice, [1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.]
We should all have an altar that we can meet with God daily, we can pray all day long, but we still need that one on one time with Him without any distractions. As God continues, He introduces something called the census tax, a ransom to be paid to God, and directed for the service of the tabernacle, after a census had been conducted of all the people.
[Exodus 30:12,14-16 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. 14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. 16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.]
[that there be no plague among them,] Why would numbering the entire nation require a ransom to be paid? And why would it bring a plague if they did not pay the ransom? Well, each one of us will give an account to God, the plague is death to our bodies and hell to our soul. The ransom is the price that every person must pays\ to redeem their soul from hell, and this is across the board, it does not matter how much or how little you have sinned, and it does not matter how poor or rich you are, we all owe the same ransom for our soul in order to avoid hell. Since it is impossible for us to pay that ransom on our own, that is where Jesus comes in. He paid the ransom for us, and once we accept Him as our Saviour that ransom is paid once and for all. Praise God! []
The census itself was a reminder that there are many new souls among us that are not saved who owe that same ransom for their soul. Of course, salvation does not keep us from sinning again, and that is where confessing of sin comes in to play for the saved, born again, Christian. Which brings us to the bronze basin (laver), this was to be placed outside the tabernacle, where anyone entering after they had been consecrated would wash their hands and feet.
[Exodus 30:18-21 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. 19 For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: 20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD: 21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.]
[they shall wash with water, that they die not;] More death? It seems like they were constantly being threatened with death. Well, think about it, when we are out in the world we become defiled by it, even if we have not sinned we are exposed to the elements of sin. Jesus, said this when He started washing the feet of the disciples, [John 13:9-10 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.]
Our salvation does not keep us from being exposed to sin no more than it can keep us from committing sin, all it takes for us to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for us to become guilty by association, and therefore, we are to keep washing our feet every time we come out of the world. And how exactly do we wash our feet from the world? We need an anointing of the Holy Spirit. Well, God, goes on to give the instructions of the anointing oil, this would be used to for sanctification after they were consecrated.
[Exodus 30:23-26,29-30 Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, 24 And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: 25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. 26 And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, 29 And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy. 30 And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.]
[that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.] We need to wash those elements off us in order to be the proper ministers that God has called us to be. Of the millions of occupations out there, there is none more fulfilling than being a minister for God, even if it is not in serving church. God, has blessed each and every one of us with different skills to serve Him wherever He leads us. Just like no two set of fingerprints are the same, neither are our skills, while we may be able to do some things that others do, we cannot add that special touch needed for some tasks. God, literally appointed two men who would be responsible for getting all the materials together to built the tabernacle.
[Exodus 31:2-3,6-7,11 See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: 3 And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 6 And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee; 7 The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle, 11 And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.]
[And I have filled him with the spirit of God,] There is nothing more exciting, challenging, and a little fearing than for God tell you that He has a job for you. I do not care what it is, sew a piece of fabric together, give someone a hug, better yet, the Gospel along with the hug, we all serve a purpose. The difference between now and then, the Holy Spirit remains inside us until we leave this earth, [Ephesians 1:9-11 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:]
Since we were bought with a price, it is important that we keep ourselves living in a way that glorifies God because we belong to Him and represent Jesus wherever we go and whatever we do. In addition to anointing ourselves, in order to wash our feet we need to go to church. God, goes on to instruct them on the Sabbath.
[Exodus 31:13-16 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.]
[he shall surely be put to death.] More death? Why do you think that death was the result of so many sins? All sin brings death. When you stop to think about it, God, is much more merciful than we give Him credit for. There have been times when God did strike someone dead the instant they did something on a Sabbath day. And do you know why? It brings the fear of God in others to obey Him. God, is not at all out to kill us for every thing that we do, what He wants and expects is some respect if we say that we want Him in our lives. Those people who died in their sin tempted Him, and that is something that will always lead to death. If you could ask Ananias and his wife, they will tell you this.
[Acts 5:1-5 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. 5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.]
Remember, Moses had been up on the mountain for forty days, well, the people down below were tired of waiting for him and decided to go to Aaron about their concern, only one thing, they did not want God, they wanted him to make another god, one that they can see.
[Exodus 32:1-5 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.]
[Up, make us gods,] Seriously! Did they not hear what the very first and second commandment given to them was? What made them think that this was even an option? Aaron, sure submitted to them quickly and only made matters worse, [and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.] Really? Just add insult to injury. And we wonder why God gets so angry? And He was indeed angry and about to destroy them all. It was not the fact that they built this monstrosity, it was the fact of what they were doing.
[Exodus 32:6-10 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. 7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.]
[sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.] They were drunk, naked, and quite provocative in the worshiping of this idol. And let me tell you the reason why we are even still alive today is not because of anything that we have done, it is by our faith in what Christ has done for us, [Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;]
Now, Moses, pleads with God not to kill them all, reminding Him of His promise and what it would look like being that He set them free and now they never got to reach the promised land, [Exodus 32:12-14 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. 14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.]
[And the LORD repented of the evil] We wonder why God allows the devil to afflict us, then we see things like this and can understand why. Moses, is reminding God, not that he needed to, of His promise, and they, are well, sinners. God repents too, meaning He had sorrow over what He had said, and changed His mind about killing them all. However, we come to learn of Moses and his temper when he came down from the mountain.
[Exodus 32:19-24 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. 21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. 23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.]
[and made the children of Israel drink of it.] There is nothing like drinking the sludge that sin consumes you with in order to realize that there is only one God. [then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.] Oh, he just cast the gold into the fire and it molded itself into a calf as it hardened back up. Really? And this is another thing that angers God, not admitting our sin. It is one thing to sin, it is another to lie about it and make excuses for the sin rather than just repent. Three thousand people lost their lives over this, the truth to their faith in God was shown, all who do not stand with God will die in their sin.
[Exodus 32:26-28,31-33,35 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. 28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. 33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.]
[because they made the calf, which Aaron made.] Do you see how being guilty by association can be the death of someone? This proves several things, one; ignorance saves no one, two; false religion saves no one, and three; we are all responsible for our own soul, [Acts 17:30-31 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.]
Today’s Prayer: God, I will never understand why You chose me to be one of Your ministers, but help me to remember that my labor is not in vain, and that my faithfulness to You is critical to the mission You have called me to do. As I remain faithful to You, let me always keep the Sabbath, and wait patiently for You in doing so, I know that You are perfecting me and getting me ready to receive what I have been waiting so long for. Thank You, Lord for Your patience and long suffering, and for doing a great work in me, even when I am stiff necked. Nothing good that I do or happens to me is possible without you. I love You and pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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