This year as a church, we’re walking through the Chronological Bible Reading Plan. We’ll be posting a weekly blog on Sunday mornings so you have a guided daily look and question prompts for each day of your reading.
*You can begin this plan at any point throughout the year. Simply begin at week one and follow the plan for a year!
We’re in Exodus this week. Here’s a 6-minute overview of where we’re headed! It should be a fun week of reading.
The people of Israel arrive at Sinai (finally!). The Lord’s promise in 19:5 is significant for the rest of the biblical storyline as it clearly outlined Israel’s mission. It’s followed by the Ten Commandments, which outline the basic terms of Israel’s covenant. Each of these are rooted in God’s power and plan to make his glory known throughout the world.
These chapters present more detailed laws, but finish with the confirmation of the covenant. Pay particular attention to the brief aside in 24:9-11. What a vision! It should cast your mind forward to Revelation 4:1-6.
The tabernacle details are given to Moses on the mountain. Everything is intentional – and if you remember in the video from earlier this week, it was supposed to resemble the Garden of Eden. God’s mission throughout the Bible can be summarized in three words: “Dwelling, Dominion, and Dynasty”. He wants to dwell with his people, which the tabernacle allows. He wants to share his dominion – his rule and reign over creation. He wants to give his people a dynasty – a royal line of descendants. You can see hints of all this right here in Exodus.
More tabernacle details given to Moses on the mountain – this time focused on the priests.
Tabernacle details continued. I’ve always loved the high calling of Oholiab and Bezalel in Exodus 31. These craftsmen were given the Spirit of the Lord to do “normal” craftsmanship – not priestly work. The Lord values good work, so let’s honor believers who use their God-given gifts for the common good in the marketplace! All seems to be going well…until we reach Exodus 32. We’ll see the resolution of this problem tomorrow.
In this passage, we begin to understand the meaning of the term “steadfast love” – sometimes called “covenant love”. Michael Card defined hesed in his book by the same title, Hesed, as “When the person from whom I have a right to expect nothing gives me everything.” Boy, if that doesn’t explain what happens in these two chapters, I don’t know how else to describe it.
We’re back to the work of Bezalel and Oholiab, who make the tabernacle according to the pattern that was shown to Moses on the mountain.