50 day journey to Christ - Day 14

Daily Reading:
Exodus 24

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

24 Then He said to Moses, “Go up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of Israel’s elders, and bow in worship at a distance. ² Moses alone is to approach the Lord, but the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him.”  

³ Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.” ⁴ And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. ⁵ Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. ⁷ He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey everything that theLord has commanded.”

⁸ Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.”

⁹ Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of Israel’s elders, ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphirestone, as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ God did not harm the Israelite nobles; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

¹³ So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua and went up the mountain of God. ¹⁴ He told the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has a dispute should go to them.” ¹⁵ When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud covered it.¹⁶ The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day He called to Moses from the cloud. ¹⁷ The appearance of the Lord’s glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop. ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.

Key - Purple text - Words of God, Bold text Verse of the Day

Reflection:  This story picks up at the start of an extra ordinary retreat to the mountains.  Moses is called to the mountain, and is called to bring the elders halfway up.  Think about the levels of this climb, beginning with the ceremony at the base of the mountain with the entire assembly.  Sprinkling each of the Israelites with blood to seal a covenant made in regards to the Law given previously on the mountain, Moses then began his spiritual journey up the mountain.  

Discussion Question:  Think about your own walk, beginning with the day you realized you were covered with the blood of the lamb and work your way up the mountain to where you currently are, where would you consider yourself currently and why?

Join the discussion on G+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/112363964604122954663/posts/XSTCRkgFj6L

Acknowledgements - Image artist unknown, website http://www.bibleprobe.com/sinai1.htm

50 day journey to Christ - Day 13

Daily Reading:

Exodus 20

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

The Ten Commandments

1 Then God spoke all these words:

² 

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

³ 

Do not have other gods besides Me.

⁴ 

Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. ⁵ You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands.

⁷ 

Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name.

⁸ 

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: ⁹ You are to labor six days and do all your work,¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

¹² 

Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ 

Do not murder.

¹⁴ 

Do not commit adultery.

¹⁵ 

Do not steal.

¹⁶ 

Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ 

Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The People’s Reaction

¹⁸ All the people witnessed^[a] the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it^[b] they trembled and stood at a distance. ¹⁹ “You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses, “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

²⁰ Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear Him and will not^[c] sin.” ²¹ And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

Moses Receives Additional Laws

²² Then the Lord told Moses, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. ²³ You must not make gods of silver to rival Me; you must not make gods of gold for yourselves.^[d]

²⁴ “You must make an earthen altar for Me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats, as well as your cattle. I will come to you and bless you in every place where I cause My name to be remembered. ²⁵ If you make a stone altar for Me, you must not build it out of cut stones. If you use your chisel on it, you will defile it. ²⁶ You must not go up to My altar on steps, so that your nakedness is not exposed on it.

God used the perfect medium to write his Ten Commandments by writing them on stone tablets.  This can be seen as being an outward example what God has done in our cold hard heart.  

Discussion Topic: As you can see, instead of falling on their face and submitting themselves completely to the Lord God Almighty, the people avoided that personal contact with their Creator by begging Moses to speak to God for them.  What do you think was going through their mind and how have things changed since then?  Why do we feel so free and open to seek the Lord instead of hiding from His voice? (Join the discussion on G+)

Prayer:  Oh Father, I am so thankful that you have made a way for me to speak directly to you.  Thank you for loving me so much that you would make a way for me to enter directly into Your throne room.  I cannot comprehend Your desire to have a relationship with me while I am in this sinful state.  I know that you see me clothed in the righteousness of Christ; not because of anything that I have done, but because of what Jesus did for me.  Thank you for revealing to me my sinful nature and for sacrificing Your only Son in order to offer me salvation through Him.  Your commandments have revealed my sin, and by your grace and through the blood of Christ, you have rescued me from the punishment I deserve.  All glory be to you Father!  In Jesus' name, Amen!

(Acknowledgments: Scripture Text - BibleGateway.com, Moses artwork from: http://kids.christiansunite.com/Bible_Stories/Bible_Story_027.shtml, Mt. Sinai artwork from: http://www.prayermountainco.com/glory-storm-worship/)