The Field is the World (Matt. 13:38)

Friday SOAP: Passover begins with a diligent search for yeast to expel from the home, (Ex. 12:15, 19; 13:7) - but 50 days later, Pentecost includes a harvest offering of leavened bread. How does this picture the mysterious Church of Christ? S: You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD. You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the LORD. (Leviticus 23:16-17) O: These important offerings and feasts of Israel celebrated both the Redemption of Israel and the harvest. A: These spring feasts connect redemption (the Exodus for them) and harvest in a symbolic way. Likewise, Jesus, the Lamb of God, ate the Feast of Unleavened Bread with His disciples, (Matthew 26:17, Mark 14:12, Luke 22:7, John 13), taught them many final things intensely, (content of ...

Thursday SOAP: Some of the requirements for a priest seem a little excessive. Does this chapter imply that all of these things are "wrong" for everyone? Marrying a widow? Helping to bury a parent? Having a physical defect? No - a priest was supposed to be distinctive, because of Who he represented. (Heb. 4:14) What does that say about our role as Christians? (1 Peter 2:9) How are we unconsciously offending the Lord by not being cognizant of Who we represent? S: They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy. (Leviticus 21:6). O: The priests were to be set apart, distinctive, from Israel. In Leviticus 21-22, we have a long list of restrictions concerning the priests and the food reserved for priests. A: This reminds me of John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," which our Bible study group is now reading. See Christian'...

Wednesday SOAP: The fear of the LORD is supposed to keep men from abusing those who have no power to defend themselves. For the disabled, for the widow, the orphan, the poor, they have Him to plead their cause with oppressors. Adding to the affliction of the helpless is tempting God, for there is no difference between us; and but for His grace to us, our position of privilege could be exchanged with theirs. S: Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD. (Le 19:14). O: Anyone who would bait a deaf or blind person does so because of a cowardly assumption that they won't be caught and made to answer for it. But God points out that He sees, He hears things, even when no one else does. A: This reminds me of some Proverbs: Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. (Proverbs 22:22-23). Remove n...

Friday SOAP: Why was God so concerned about what the Hebrews ate? Why did He forbid fruit in the Garden of Eden? Did Peter's vision and God's accompanying command to eat animals which would have been ceremonially unclean to an Old Testament Jew constitute a change in God's mind about right and wrong? I think the answers to these questions go far deeper than we might expect, all the way to God's sovereignty and eternal plan, our purpose, and what missing that purpose really means. S: 'For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. (Le 11:44). O: These dietary restrictions are not said to be based upon what is healthy or unhealthy, just in God's authority. (11:44,45) Having redeemed His people, He has a right to designate what is clean and unclean, to consecrate His people in their diet. That their diet was healthier by vi...

Friday SOAP: HOLINESS TO THE LORD: it's not about the jewels, the gold or the silver. It's not about the skillful weaving and decorative design. All these things are overshadowed by the unified purpose of God. S: From the blue and purple and scarlet yarns they made finely woven garments, for ministering in the Holy Place. They made the holy garments for Aaron, as the LORD had commanded Moses. He made the ephod of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. (Exodus 39:1-2) O: I suppose today's observation will be a simple one: the garments of the High Priest included simple and commonplace as well as rare and costly items. I estimated the weight of the gold mentioned in yesterday's reading to have a value of roughly $59,000,000. But simple thread and the skilled work of weaving was just as important to the High Priest's operation. A: I led some friends through a tour of the JESUS Film today, and again (as it has so many times) the partnership s...

Thursday SOAP: Think about the questions left unanswered in the Old Testament: How would God's cursed creation be restored to His original intentions? How could guilty man be saved by a righteous God? How would Satan be defeated? In today's account of the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, the very objects themselves would seem to beg questions, if we didn't already have the answers provided for us by "reading the back of the book. S: Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. And he cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side. And he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold and put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark. And he made a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits a...

Tuesday SOAP: The generous hearts of the Israelites is revealed to be a move of God's Spirit. How else could this nation of people who were ready to stone Moses a few chapters ago, who longed for their former slavery (even while God was guiding them daily with fire and cloud, feeding them, providing water for them, and directing them in every way) be moved to give when not required to? We need a fresh move of this kind today. May God liberate His people from the slavery and distraction we've settled for! S: The freewill offering: Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD's contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; (Exodus 35:5) "Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded: (Exodus 35:10) O: The freewill offering was an opportunity for everyone who felt generous, whom the Spirit moved, (Exodus 35:21), but the work of craftsmanship was for "every skillful craftsm...

Monday SOAP: Putting Jesus in the middle of something that could be a troubling Old Testament doctrine. What about the Sabbath? Is it absent from the New Testament's directions? How do Christians observe it, if it's acceptable to "regard every day alike?" (Romans 14:5) Do we live in a kind of "sabbath" today? --------------------------------------------------- S: Scriptures about the Sabbath: "You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the peo...

Friday SOAP: Where are the songs about the blood today? They're almost absent from our worship. Hymns like "There is Power in the Blood," "When I See the Blood," "Are You Washed in the Blood," "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus" - we need to be sure we reconcile each next generation of believers with the understanding that sanctification is through Christ's blood. The High Priest's garments support such a picture of cleansing through the application of blood. --------------------------------------------------- S: Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons' garments with him. (Exodus 29:21) O: So here I can make a confession. Whenever I have read this passage, I have missed an important point. Apparently all the artists who have attempted...

Thursday SOAP: The High Priest and the items symbolizing his office. While a prophet's calling is to represent God to the people, the priest's is to represent the people before God. The breastplate of the High Priest was designed in such a way that the stones upon it represented the tribes of Israel, and the Urim and Thummim represented judgment. How does this point to Christ's role as our Great High Priest? (Heb. 4:14-15) ----------------------------------------------------------- S: So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the LORD. And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the LORD. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the LORD regularly. (Exodus 28:29-30) O: Israel's High Priest literally bears t...

Wednesday SOAP: The remainder of the Tabernacle's appointments. The veil itself becomes one of the most meaningful elements; not because of its beauty, (Isaiah 53:2), but because of the separation it implies between man and God. This is the same God who warned man and beast not to try to climb Sinai. The same God who broke forth on Uzzah - but a way to access His mercy was provided. It was mysterious, and limited, but always visible to the priests. What might it represent? --------------------------------------------------- S: And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and...

Tuesday SOAP: Seeing Christ in the Tabernacle's details - and reflecting on how wonderful it is to be seen in Him, rather than in the old Adam, in whom all die. Without Him, we labor for that which does not satisfy, we stumble in the darkness, yet we have no cloak for our sin. In Him, I am satisfied; I have light for my path; I have died, and my life is hidden with Christ in God. ----------------------------------------------------------- S: "And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly." (Exodus 25:30) "You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. "(Exodus 25:31) "And you shall make for the tent a covering of tanned rams' skins and a covering of goatskins on top." (Exodus 26:14) O: I can't begin to appreciate the theological significance of all the details of the Tabernacle. But ...

Monday SOAP: One Bible teacher has a saying he attributes to Jewish rabbis: they say that they will not understand the Scriptures until the Messiah comes. But when He comes, He will not only interpret each of the passages for us, He will interpret the very words; He will even interpret the very letters themselves; in fact, He will even interpret the spaces between the letters! Bible believing Christians understand that Jesus IS the interpretation of many details in the Old Testament narratives. In the case of the inauguration of the Mosaic covenant, the sprinkling of blood served to show the New Covenant's superiority - because of Christ's superior sacrifice, to which that inferior sacrifice pointed. ----------------------------------------------------------- S: And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the peo...

Thursday SOAP: Because their reactions are so transparently petulant and rebellious, it's easy for me to feel I would never act the same way as the Israelites who tested God over and over after He had delivered them from Egypt. But aren't they there to show me a picture (1 Corinthians 10:11, Romans 15:4) of some of the thoughts and intents (Heb. 4:12) of my own heart since I was delivered from this world? (Gal. 1:4) ----------------------------------------------------------- S: And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not? (Ex 17:7). O: This is just after the Exodus; just before the giving of the Law, and it is so named because it is a pivotal point for Israel. "Masah" means "temptation" and "Meribah" means "strife" or "contention." They challenged the Lord directly here; and this becomes a warnin...