Hands up if...

Hands up if you love reading about all the ceremonial laws near the beginning of the Bible! You know, the stuff about entrails and fatty lobes and sprinkled blood and burning kidneys. 

I sometimes find I hard to stay focused when reading all those details about the various sacrifices. But as I recently worked my way through some of those instructions, something unexpectedly caught my eye. I almost missed it, because I think my mind had kind of wandered off somewhere as I'd been reading (...has that ever happened to you?). But it was as if my mind suddenly stopped me and asked me, "Did you see that?" Though I suspect it was the Holy Spirit speaking to me.

After reading some extremely detailed directions to do with daily offerings, and just before some very exacting instructions regarding how to make an altar of incense, I suddenly noticed a beautiful theme tucked in there. In Exodus 29:42, God inserts a wonderful promise to a very undeserving people (much like us): "I will meet you to speak with you."

This probably felt like a very unexpected blessing. But God goes on to reinforce it as he refers to "the door of the tabernacle of meeting." This tabernacle was a new thing for the people of Israel. We may be used to reading about it, but they'd never had one before, and God's initial reference to it is full of encouragement. First of all, the Hebrew word for "tabernacle" literally means dwelling place. And if it's a dwelling place for God, then the mention of a "door" (or an entryway), and of "meeting" (or dwelling together) sounds pretty exciting! It all reinforces one thought: God wants to be among his people.

So this isn't just some tedious passage about outdated ceremonial laws. It's an example of God going to great lengths to be in relationship with his people. This becomes increasingly clear in the verses that follow. In verse 43, God says, "I will meet with the children of Israel." Then in verse 45, God says, "I will dwell among the children of Israel." Then in verse 46, God explains that all these instructions are "that I may dwell among them."

So what has potential to feel tedious to us, as we're immersed in myriad ceremonial details, is for the express purpose of making a way for a holy God to dwell among a sinful people. God simply didn't want to be separated from his people!

This is reinforced further as God insists that he "will be their God" (v.45), and "I am the LORD their God" (v.46). And what makes this more exciting is that all of this was meant to point to Jesus. Every ceremonial law was fulfilled by the sacrifice of Jesus, and when we invite Jesus into our hearts, we become his tabernacle -- his tent of meeting -- as he abides in us and meets with us and speaks with us.

John wrote, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we seen his glory, glory as of the only son, from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). John literally wrote there that Jesus "tabernacled" among us. And the offerings once required for God to dwell among us have been completed by Jesus, who offered his life for us. The Bible tells us that "every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:11-12). And so "by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14).

So hands up if you're grateful for what Jesus did for us so that we can enjoy genuine fellowship with God! Amidst all the ceremonial details of Exodus, God wants us to recognize his Father's heart for fellowship. Those details are meant to point us to Jesus, through whom God wants to draw near to us -- right here and now -- to meet with us.

A Glorious Glimpse of Grace

As the Gospel Story unfolded after Jesus' resurrection, God arranged for Jesus to meet two men on a road, and we're told that "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself" (Luke 24:47). 

Who were those guys to whom Jesus explained all that? That episode happened at a time in the story of the early church when Jesus' 11 remaining disciples were main characters, and yet Jesus chose to reveal himself to two unknowns. That matters. That tells us that when God wants to make himself known, he includes those who may not feel noticed by God, or worthy of a visitation from him. It tells us that he doesn't just show up to walk alongside those we view as spiritual superstars. He loves to visit ordinary people. That's an illustration of God's grace.

And that thought of God's grace revealed takes me way back in time to a story in the Scriptures when I believe Jesus revealed himself in an extraordinary way to ordinary people. And it's a story that reveals God's grace on a scale I find difficult to comprehend. Let's travel back in time to a story that gets very little attention. You may not even remember it's in the Bible. 

Shortly after God had delivered his people from Pharaoh, God said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar" (Exodus 24:1). It sounds like God was keeping his distance here, because in a sense, he was. This was just before the time when "the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel" (24:17). But even with the glory of the Lord about to cover the mountain, God called 70 unnamed people to “Come up to the Lord."

In fact, it then says that "Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank" (24:9-11).

Those 70 unknown men "saw the God of Israel"!  "They beheld God"! Or at least we know they saw his feet! Is this one of the stories that Jesus told those other two unknown men about when he told them "what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself"? 

Jesus said that "God is spirit" as he described his Father (John 4:24), and therefore doesn't have a body. That's why I believe that when those men saw those feet walking on sapphire, they were seeing the beautiful feet of Jesus before he "emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant" (Philippians 2:7). But this unexpected unveiling of what sounds like a glimpse of heaven wasn't only for Moses to see, the way most Bible-readers may recall, but it included 70 elders of Israel who represented all of God's people as they were invited to come and behold God. 

And though those men wouldn't have known it, the feet they saw would one day be pierced for the sins of the people they represented, as well as for their own sins. After all, God knew how quickly Aaron and these 70 elders would create a golden calf and worship it with all the people (Exodus 32:1-10). God knew that in a matter of mere days or weeks, while Moses remained on the mountain, those men who God had graciously invited to behold him, and who "ate and drank" in his holy presence would soon sit down "to eat and drink" before a golden calf (32:6). God knew it all. He knew they'd make that calf, and that they'd feast at its feet, and yet we're told that "he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel." Perhaps that's because God's reason for inviting them to behold him was so that he could reveal the precious feet of Jesus, thereby foreshadowing what Jesus would do when "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). 

God the Father revealed God the Son to those 70 unknown, unnamed men because they represented a whole nation of ordinary people who were prone to sin and in need of a Saviour. We're no different, and God still loves to visit ordinary people. It's also impossible to measure the grace that's revealed in those feet that would step from the sapphire streets of heaven to the dusty roads of Judea, and to then be nailed to a tree for our salvation.

It's all in a Name

I don't know about you, but I sometimes struggle to trust God – especially when things aren't going very well. That's why I was so encouraged when I found in Psalm 9 a beautiful summary of the secret to trusting God.

In this psalm of praise to God, King David wrote that "those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you." (Psalm 9:10)

It's all there, packed into that one little verse: A life-changing declaration followed by its own confidence-inspiring explanation; a "this can be you because this is true" sort of statement. It's the kind of pronouncement that it'd be good to meditate on every day. And the focus is entirely on a name – a very important name of the One we're meant to continually trust, even when times are tough.

To begin with, we can see that it's the people who know God's name whom David singles out. They're the ones whom David describes as decisively choosing to trust God. Why is that? Why would simply having a name to call someone, even if that someone was God, give me reason to trust them?

David explains that in the very next statement, beginning with the word "for" (which could just as easily been translated "because"), and in his explanation, he very clearly chooses the name, LORD, as the name he has in mind for God: "...for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you." David is essentially saying, Those who know God as Yahweh will most certainly trust God! In English translations of the Old Testament, when the name, LORD, is spelled in all capital letters, it's a reference to the Hebrew name, Yahweh (Jehovah in English). Other Hebrew names for God in the Old Testament are Elohim (spelled "God") and Adonai (spelled "Lord"), each carrying their own emphases and meanings, and each used in specific contexts for specific reasons. But Yahweh is by far the most commonly used name in the Old Testament, and that is the name David used here because it's the name that spoke most loudly of God's trustworthiness and faithfulness.

David knew that Yahweh was the name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush when God said, "I AM WHO I AM... Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you... The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations" (Exodus 3:14-15). It was in this context, when God first revealed His name as Yahweh, that He said, "I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites... a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:17). 

In other words, Yahweh was a name packed with promises to David's listeners – promises that they knew God had kept! And the name, Yahweh, was the name God gave in order to enter into a forever-covenant with His people – a covenant that He would never break, for it would be against His holy nature to do so. That makes Yahweh the name for a covenant-keeping God who is eternally faithful, always with us, never forsaking us. It's also encouraging that the name Yahweh is derived from the repetition of the words "I AM." The repetition of these words in His name is meant to assure us that God is, in fact, very real, and that He does not change, and that He will always be exactly who He knows we need Him to be, whatever we're facing!

The writer to the Book of Hebrews must have had this in mind when he wrote that "without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). 

David certainly understood this as he wrote Psalm 9. And if we truly know God's beautiful name – and all it represents in the context of the many bold promises and covenants He has made in that name throughout His Word – we too will be inspired to trust this God who has never yet forsaken those whose hearts are set on Him.

© 2017 by Ken Peters

Look for the Cross

Lately I've been increasingly aware of old long-standing lies that are competing for space in my heart with precious Biblical truths that I've also long believed. When the lies get loud enough, I find myself having to ask, what is it I'm going to believe? What am I going to accept as the truth in my life?

When this battle gets fierce -- and I know it is when the lies get loud enough to feel extremely convincing -- there's only one way to be sure of what the truth is: Look for the cross. That's because the cross marks the spot where God showed us the truth about Himself and about His relationship with us. You want to know God who God is? Do you want to know what He thinks of you? Look for the cross. Look at Jesus on the cross: the Lamb of who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)!

Jesus is the "exact representation" of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3), and that is why He could confidently say of Himself, "I am the truth" (John 14:6). Jesus is where we find the truth, and Jesus on the cross is the greatest expression of the truth Jesus came to reveal. The Apostle John described Jesus' coming by writing, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The glory John saw is the same glory Moses was given the privilege of seeing when He asked God, "Please, show me Your glory!" (Exodus 33:18). And when God's glory passed by Moses, the declaration Moses heard was, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6)!

There it is again: Truth, mingled with mercy and grace -- which is the very same glory that Jesus expressed on the cross. The cross is the most profound picture of God's mercy and compassion that the world will ever see. In His perfect representation of God, Jesus took what was privately revealed on a mountaintop to make it a public proclamation on a humble hill outside Jerusalem. God's Truth, the incarnate Word of God, hung on the cross to express the truth of who He really is and of what He really thinks of us. 

We hear from that cross the forgiveness that each one of us needs to hear as Jesus even forgave those who put Him there (Luke 23:34). We sense the assurance of His love as He says to the thief who acknowledges Jesus' Lordship in his final hours of life, "Today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). And we rejoice in the finality of what He accomplished for us, leaving nothing for us to do to earn the love His sacrifice expressed, as he shouted, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). That is the truth I choose to embrace. And the cross marks the spot where that truth was most emphatically declared.

© 2015 by Ken Peters

Letting God be God

There are times when I act like I know precisely what God must be thinking. Yet even if I can be absolutely certain that I've received a prophetic word directly from God Himself, who am I to think that I know how and when it's going to be fulfilled? Then when things don't unfold just as I expect them to, do I then tell God that He let me down? Am I so wise as to know exactly what the best plan is for such situations? It's almost as though when I no longer seem to know what God is really thinking, I figure I must know better than God.

But God is God and He knows best -- and will do His will His way, whatever we might be thinking. Take Genesis 50:25 for example. Joseph said to his brothers, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here." That sounds like a clear prophetic word spoken by a hero of the Old Testament that Joseph's brothers could have enthusiastically expected to be fulfilled in their lifetime. But Joseph died in Egypt not long after sharing this promise, and then Joseph's brothers all died in Egypt as well, followed by about 430 challenging years of waiting until the Israelites finally left Egypt! Whatever anyone might have thought the fulfillment of Joseph's prophetic word would look like, it didn't happen until, as Stephen of the New Testament later said, "the time of the promise" had come (Acts 7:17). God's time. The right time. Not to be rushed and not to be resented, but certainly to provoke God's people to cry out to Him, asking Him to do as He promised (Exodus 2:23-25)!

This both humbles me as well as instructs me in how I ought to view and respond to the promises and prophetic words God has spoken to my wife Fiona and I. And if I can embrace this valuable truth, I will have peace in the waiting as I let God be God and stop trying to tell Him the way things ought to be.

© 2011 by Ken Peters

Praying to Jealous

God's name is Jealous.  There aren't many adjectives that are capitalized and made into a proper noun so that they can be made into a name for God.  But in Exodus 34:14, God declares His name to be "Jealous" -- "for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." That sounds negative to our modern ears, but it's actually a strong indication of God's love. God's jealousy is directed toward us when we're unfaithful because He loves us and longs for us to return and find our complete satisfaction in Him.

And of course, the unfaithfulness spoken of in the context of Exodus 34:14 is that of idolatry, the most frequently mentioned sin in the Bible. And so as I read that verse, I feel compelled to pause and to wonder what the idolatry is in my life. I don't even wonder if there's idolatry, but simply what it might be -- how it's manifesting in my life. I guess I take for granted that something we're so frequently warned about in the Bible must be something that's likely to show up in my life more than infrequently. And when God declares His name to be Jealous, it gets my attention, letting me know that dealing with idols ought to be a priority any time I approach Him. This is not something to deal with occasionally, but something to prayerfully consider everyday.

For example, because the God I approach in prayer is actually named Jealous, (though we're graciously invited to call Him Daddy and Father as we approach Him (Romans 8:15; Matthew 6:9)), I feel as though I ought to be serious about making sure there are no hidden idols in my heart as I pray. And as I consider that, I wonder what sort of idols may crop up in my life now and then. Perhaps ministry has been one -- or rather, success in ministry. Or perhaps affirmation from other people around me -- even on Facebook -- is another! I'm also aware that my wife Fiona's healing has even been an idol to me at times. An idol is anything that so competes with God for my affections that my mood is soured if I don't get it, and so competes with God for my attention so that I'm prepared to give up time with God to seek it.

Such a definition can illuminate a fair bit of idolatry in most people's lives, and if one of God's names really is Jealous, I'd rather not carelessly enter His presence with such everyday idols stashed away somewhere in my heart. The good news though, is that God's name is also Daddy, and He's very happy to help us topple any idols so that He can be our all-sufficient, ever-increasing joy!

© 2010 by Ken Peters

Lists to Live by

When we make a list, we're making note of things that matter to us -- we're listing things we'd rather not forget. And with about three-quarters of a million words in the Bible, wouldn't it be handy if God just cut to the quick sometimes and used some clear concise lists to tell us precisely what matters to Him? Well, if you haven't noticed, God does do that. From the ten commandments in Exodus 20 to the eight fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, He uses many lists throughout the Bible to highlight what He truly values!

God uses lists to tell us what we should pursue and what we should avoid. He uses lists to tell us what He requires of us as well as what we need in order to be fruitful. If God offered you a list of character traits and told you, "If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they'll keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful", would you pay attention? And what if He told you of that list that, "If you practice these qualities, you'll never fall"? That'd be an important list to have! Well, there is such a list, and others like it. And personally, I think we ought to remember what God puts on such lists, because they provide an easy way to recall what matters to Him. Let's look at a few, beginning with the shortest list, but also the most important!

Jesus lists in Matthew 22:35-40 what the two greatest commands are in all the Bible... a) Love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and b) Love your neighbour as yourself.

In 1 Timothy 6:11, we find a helpful list of what every man or woman of God should pursue...

• righteousness
• godliness
• faith
• love
• perseverance
• gentleness

Micah 6:8 provides a brief but invaluable list of what God calls "good" and what "the Lord requires of us"...

• doing justice
• loving kindness
• walking humbly with God

And Peter is the one who gives us the list of qualities that will keep us from falling! (2 Peter 1:5-9)...

• faith
• virtue
• knowledge
• self-control
• perseverance
• godliness
• kindness
• love

Those are things God values. And those are things He lists for us so that we'll be sure to notice them. Perhaps they should be on our fridge by our grocery list or in the workshop by our to-do list. And if you want to look up some other valuable lists, see Romans 14:17; 1 Corinthians 13:13; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 5:9; Ephesians 6:13-18; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 3:12-14; 1 Timothy 4:12 and 2 Timothy 2:22.

God makes it very easy for us to see what matters to Him. Just check the lists. And be encouraged that the rich wealth of words before and after each list tell us how God provides us with all we need to live these lists every day!

© 2009 by Ken Peters

Influenced by His Glory! (church bulletin cover)

It’s been said that Gateway’s South congregation is now moving from being “tent-dwellers” to having a building. But as I consider their move into a building in Fort Rouge, I recall what happened at the completion of the tabernacle in Exodus 40. I’ve always been amazed at the description of God’s glory filling the Tent of Meeting as the tabernacle was completed. What a sight that must have been —this cloud coming and covering the tent and filling the entire tabernacle, and then becoming a fire at night! And it says that Moses, the man with whom God spoke from the cloud at the entrance of his tent — the man whose face would shine from being so near to the LORD — couldn’t even enter the tent of meeting because it was so full of God’s glory! Exodus 40:38 says that “throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.”

That verse shifts my amazement to confusion. With this awesome display of glory ever before the Israelites, how could they have ever shrunk back from the things God told them to do, such as when He urged them to go in and take the land? And as that question occurs to me, I realize that I’m caught. Caught in the same confusing acts of unbelief before God’s awesome glory as the Israelites were so prone to. After all, I’ve seen God’s glory revealed in the love and mercy of His Son on the cross. I’ve experienced the goodness of the Gospel at work in my life as Christ has come and made His tabernacle in my heart! And corporately speaking, we’ve seen God extravagantly provide for us to purchase the building on Rathgar, thereby providing a new home for Gateway South. And yet as human beings, we are so prone to unbelief, often doubting that God will be enough for us as He calls us to obedience, such as the taking of new land in which His glory is to be made known.

What are we to do? As I read Exodus 40 again, I want us as a community of faith to be so influenced by God’s display of His glory through His work in our lives and in our midst, that we would be filled with an unshakeable awe and confidence in the God who chose us to be His children! And with that, let us go into the land that God has placed before us so that His glory will be seen by all around us!

© 2008 by Ken Peters

Mercy for the Short in Spirit (church bulletin cover)

It seems that no matter what we’re going through, God expects His people to trust Him. But it also seems that even those who find it difficult to do so will still experience God’s mercy. In Exodus 6:5-6, it’s clear that God intended to deliver His people from bondage. He cared about their situation. But their battle for hope had just gotten worse after Moses’ first attempt to speak to Pharaoh. Even Moses’ confusion is evident: “Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all!” (5:23). And as a result, the people’s initial belief in Moses’ promises (4:31) turned to unbelief. “They did not listen to Moses on account of their discouragement and cruel bondage” (6:9). The Hebrew word for “discouragement” there means “shortness of spirit” or impatience. Impatience? Shortness? These people had been groaning in bondage for over 400 years! And then when hope had seemed near, things had suddenly gotten worse! Yet God still called their response impatience. It’s as though He was saying, “If I am big enough in your view of the battle you’re in, then I will dwarf any length of time you compare me to or any increase in warfare you go through!” If God is big enough in my understanding, no amount of trouble should cause my spirit to be short of hope in God. And thankfully I can rely on His infinite mercy, for even as He describes the Israelites as impatient and unwilling to listen to Moses’ words of hope (6:6-8), He immediately follows through on fulfilling the promises they wouldn’t listen to (6:10ff)! Oh how I need that mercy in the battles for hope that I face, for my shortness of spirit occurs much sooner than after 400 years! The story of how God delivered His people from Egypt reminds us that we can trust God through even the most epic of battles! With His help, our spirits won’t be short in the battles we face!

© 2008 by Ken Peters