bible.org

Exodus 21

So we’ve received the Ten Commandments, the grand gift the Lord gave to Moses and the people of Israel. The goal of these statements was to give people an outline and boundaries for living righteously before the Lord and to show them the shortcomings of their humanity. Apart from God, man was weak and unable to hold any of these things perfectly, so our entire being was dependent on God.

Now, we start to unpack some of these things for the people. What does it look like? How do they play out in real life? The Lord gives the people real-life scenarios that define and interpret the commandments, so they will know for certain whether a choice is good or bad. Was every single part of life defined in these? No, that would be impossible, which we understand from Jesus and the interpretation He gives to the religious elders of His time to be a thing of the heart, and not just the hands. Jesus expands and interprets the law as any righteous judge would, revealing its full intent to bless one another and to bring honor and glory to God. The Law doesn’t change or go away, but His teaching and life-giving sacrifice illuminate our understanding.

We now know without a doubt that our lives are imperfect and weak. We know the difference between right and wrong, but our flesh is incapable of staying away; in fact, it’s more likely to gravitate towards unholy things. Pray to the Lord that your heart and your actions would align closely with what God is revealing to you in His word. Allow it to light your path and show you the heart that God has for His creation. After all, we are one of them, and who are we to negatively influence His most special part of creation, the part made after His likeness?

Matthew 27

During the trial of Jesus, Pilate spends most of his time trying to weasel out of the responsibility of putting Jesus to death. Though he symbolically washes his hands of the matter, the Lord doesn’t care and sees through the pageantry.

There is a phrase repeated in this chapter. “IT is your responsibility”. The religious leaders said this to both Judas and Pilate. No one wants to stake a claim for the crucifying of Jesus, but in the end, they are all held responsible. God sees the motives and heart of the whole thing and knows it must happen this way. It’s sad but true!

Our sins can haunt us for a lifetime, or they can be forgiven. I am reluctant to remember what Jesus endures on my behalf each time I know I missed again. But Jesus didn’t do this to make us feel bad, but to draw our hearts and lives to Him to be put on the cross with Him, claiming death to our fleshly desires and life in His righteousness. Praise the Lord for what He did. It wasn’t just the physical pain of a public, gruesome death but also the separation He endures from the Father. We will never know the latter because we have life in Christ!

Exodus 19

The Lord continues His plans with the people and once again refreshes the promise He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He calls them His people and says that He is their God. He brought them out of the land of Egypt only so He could have this special relationship with them.

They will be like priests on earth who mediate God’s promise and blessing to the rest of humanity. This relationship is still intact today and blessed by the Lord, regardless of how foul people may run aground. He blesses not because of their or our great faithfulness, but because of His initial promise and His faithfulness. He keeps His promises without contingency.

Moses and the people are set apart from God because just like any other person, they are unholy and He is holy. God tells them to prepare for their meeting with Him on Mount Sinai, and they do all they are instructed. They even keep from their wives to remain as holy as possible. But because holiness is not a gray area, it’s black and white, they cannot approach the mountain on their own behalf. Holiness is not measured on a gauge; it is measured by pass/fail standards, and we always fail without Jesus. God sets apart space for Moses and Aaron to approach, and the people are to remain far from the mountain so they don’t get zapped.

Let’s continue thinking about this idea of holiness today. You were made dead to sin and alive to Christ because of God’s holiness and His standards. While we may be terrible at keeping promises, He is faithful and will see your holiness bestowed on you. Keep pressing on and pressing in for the Lord loves us more than all of creation.

Exodus 17

Is the Lord your banner? Is He the one who gives you strength in your times of trouble? Enemies attack, and troubles arise because that is the way of the world. Look at what is happening in the Middle East right now. There are great attacks that are leading people to investigate this “whole Bible thing,” which is awesome.

But really, the battles and wars that we wage, the ultimate one that leads to our protection and rescue from trouble, are all waged by the Lord. We lift our banner high, and the Lord fights on our behalf. The Israelites are constantly bickering against Moses and the Lord. So God decides to show special provision for His people once again. He knows ahead of time that one more sign won’t be enough, but pushes this along, keeping them without excuse to not know the Lord.

Similarly, the Lord has worked in our lives and those of our friends and family so that we can fully know His heart and actions. He shows up in some of the most troubling situations so that we will know Him. There are instances of this in the Bible, and we can see it again in real life in living color. We can trust Him because of what He has already done in lives in the present.