The tabernacle is the sanctuary of God’s holiness, the place of his absolute morality, perfection, glory, and goodness. As such, because of sin, no one could enter his presence without specific boundaries and rules in place. Even the outer sanctuary was designed to separate the people from God. The sanctuary of our king is full of blue (like the sea and heavens) and purple (a rare colour used by royalty), representing God’s dwelling place and kingship. Jesus was given a purple robe as he was beaten by the Romans. The word that was with God in eternity, the reason which formed the world, became flesh for us and we have seen his glory. When he died, he tore the veil for, top to bottom, making a way for us to live with God, and God to live with us. The tabernacle was the sanctuary and home of God, but now God makes our hearts his tabernacle. Pitch the tent of your life around God, with him at the centre of our life. Don’t fall for a false Jesus. We want a Jesus of acceptance, but not o...

City on a Hill: Melbourne West

Instruction for Worship

We are always ready to accept the terms and conditions for any company we use, but whenever we hear about God’s terms and conditions we become hesitant. Making the terms and conditions a religion is a problem, but wanting a relationship with God without accepting the terms and conditions is like telling your loved one you love them but don’t want to put in any effort to maintain that relationship. Yet, the law is a covenant of grace that pointed to God’s promise: that those under the blood of Christ, through grace, will one day see his face. Neither the elders nor Moses on Sinai could see God’s face, in fact, no one has seen God’s face in all his glory. Yet, as on the mountain God feasted with a few chosen people, so did Jesus feast with a few chosen people at his last supper. Through his death, he has drawn all people to himself so that through obedience by grace many from every nation will feast with the lamb in heaven.

The Covenant Confirmed

When we read the Bible, we must remember we are travelling to a foreign country and be good travellers. We must understand the context of the time (the ancient near-east 3500 years ago), and then we can see that God was indeed showing mercy to the vulnerable and oppressed. By Exodus 20, the Israelites were rescued from their slavery in Egypt and given the law to help them reflect God’s character amongst themselves and to the nations around them. The law embraces the vulnerable. People weren’t allowed to be abducted, slaves (which worked more as interns) were only obligated to work for seven years and then given a choice of freedom. Furthermore, runaway slaves had to be protected on the basis that they ran away from an abusive master. God’s laws are not oppressive. They work in the dark reality of our world, and provide mercy and grace amidst the darkness. Now we live in light of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Let us live in light of the kingdom, and live to see bondages released an...

Other Laws

Like us, Israel doubted, disobeyed, and were divided. The ten commandments ultimately reveal the heart and holiness of God, as well as the chief goal of our life.The idols we bow down to are never static, and your religion is what you do in your solitude. We are to give our all to God and see the disconnect between what we know, and what we do. Many Christians understand biblical concepts, but they struggle to obey them because of innate desires prevent them from doing so. Set your eyes on God, for he is jealous for our affection and will not share his glory with another. This is because he knows what we ultimately need, and seeks to keep us free. Therefore, rest within his presence. Take time from your work, and from your recreation to rest in God. When we live rested in God, we live free and love God and neighbour as God intended. When we cover, we are saying that God isn't enough. Let us not grumble, but have gratitude with what we have. In Jesus, we have been blessed with every...

The Ten Commandments

Salvation is more than what we’ve been saved from, but what we’ve been saved to. In Jesus, we are loved and adored by God. Yet we are also called to be holy as God is holy. Clearing our debt is not God’s highest aim, it is to make us like Jesus. Before the foundation of the world, God predestined us to be conformed into the image of his son. Lastly, God has saved us from wandering to worship. In Jesus, we are all a kingdom of priests.

Meeting God at Sinai

Exodus 18 speaks of a reunion, redemption, and a revelation. Like Jethro, we were not part of God’s people, but now we are brought to reunion with him, through redemption found in the one who prays and intercedes on our behalf to God. For Jethro that was Moses, but for us it is the greater Moses: Jesus Christ the Son of God. The revelation in the dialogue between Jethro and Moses is that pastors ought to not carry the burden of ministry and care alone, lest they burn out. In fact, 70% of pastors consider leaving the ministry due to burn out and 50% do after 5 years. Let’s pray for our pastors, look to Jesus more than any servant of his, help our pastors by caring for one another and dealing with smaller matters amongst ourselves. As Jethro suggested to Moses, and Moses was all the better because of it.

Moses and Jethro

When the Israelites grumbled, God heard them and answered their cries, but later on they forgot his grace and grumbled again. How often have you complained the moment things don’t go your way, even after God has revealed his faithfulness and grace? Such is our capricious and grumbling nature. When you are anxious, look at the past and remember God’s faithfulness and grace. Whenever we grumble, we question God’s character, judging him of not doing his work. God has the power to turn what is bitter into something sweet. We have had our Exodus from slavery, but we are not at the promised land yet. We have to go through the wilderness of sin. Here, he wants us to listen to his voice and to do what is right in his eyes, as an opportunity for us to grow and develop our character. Let us not be a grumbling people, but a grateful people, trusting God’s character, power, and faithfulness. Let us look to Jesus as the rock that God strikes and from whom salvation and blessing flows....

God's Provision

When the Israelites saw the Egyptians coming, they reframed the past and rebuked Moses for bringing them out to die. In rebuking Moses, God’s representative, they also rebuke God. Though free, they still lived as slaves and couldn't see what they were saved from. When we set our lives on anything but God, we remain slaves. And there is judgment for sin that must be paid. The same waters of chaos which swallowed up the armies of Egypt, were parted so that God’s people could pass through. The Exodus primarily points to the sovereign power of redemption and salvation found in Jesus. At the cross, Jesus swallowed up death and the judgement for sin, making a way for those who believe in him to no longer be slaves to sin but live free as children of God. Yet salvation is not only a work of justification, but also sanctification. In Jesus, we are justified and declared right before God. Sanctification speaks of the ongoing process for God to redeem our heart. We have been set free from Egy...

Crossing the Red Sea

God has brought judgement against the gods of Egypt, and now he is facing against the supreme Son of Ra, the upholder of order and destroyer of chaos. On the night when Death passed over the land, every household needed to offer a sacrifice: their firstborn son, or the blood of a spotless, perfect, lamb. To satisfy God's judgement against sin, and in order to escape death, there needs to be a substitute. The wages of sin and our hard-heartedness is death. There is nowhere to run but to the arms of Jesus, the true firstborn son and perfect lamb who was our substitute on the cross. Now, he puts his blood on the doorposts of our hearts, saving us from the wrath and death that is to come. Instead of death and judgement, in Christ we receive eternal life and mercy.

Final Plague / Passover / Exodus

Pharaoh wanted a world without God, so God uncreated Pharaoh’s world, by using the plagues to demonstrate his superiority over the gods of Egypt. Moreover, the Nile had been the place Egypt drowned Jewish babies, so God stopped it from being a source of life; the Egyptians used brick kilns to oppress the Israelites slaves, and from the same kilns came the dust that caused the plague of boils. A life without God’s order is chaos. It is only in God’s presence that we, like the Israelites during the plagues, find grace and shelter amidst the chaos and judgement. God pleads with us to turn away from our pride and sin, finding safety and salvation in him. Christ died to absorb the judgement we deserve for sin so that we can find new life and await the new creation in him.

The First 9 Plagues

Pharaoh had many opportunities to do the right thing, but he didn’t so his arrogance had cost him his dynasty. God did not force Pharaoh to harden his heart, but rather used Pharaoh’s pride and already hardened heart to enact his plan of redemption. When Moses and Aaron politely but firmly ask that Pharaoh lets Israel go, he sabotages his own economy by making Israel work harder with less resources just out of spite. This in turn makes Israel turn against their liberator and saviour.Leaving Egypt is hard. Leaving our sin is hard. Jesus knows how bad this slavery is not only for us but for our relationship with God. We need the son to save us and to set us free. It’s never easy and freedom is not easily won. There is opposition and difficulty. Yet, through adoption in Jesus, we are as God’s firstborn son Israel, and so receive the same promises and loyalty that that entails. Christ is faithful and he will surely free us. Don’t give up to turn back to Egypt, but cling to Jesus to the...

Things Start Badly

After years in the Midian desert, decades from failed attempts at delivering his Hebrew brethren from injustice, Moses is being called by God to become an instrument of deliverance. Moses rightly notes his own inadequacy for the mission, his concerns mounting up to doubting the very Lord commissioning him. Here we are reminded afresh of God’s exceedingly holy and uncreated nature, independent from any need for sustenance or help. Wonderfully, this lofty and un-coercible God set loving promises on his people, and continues to be faithful to keep these promises throughout the generations. This chapter leads us to consider our own identity. While the world tells us we can find our identity through our associations, achievements, or in what we assert ourselves to be, God’s word reminds us our identity is one received: we are creation, redeemed and adopted children. We are also given a destiny; like Israel, we are freed to serve and worship God. We are delivered from our former evil mas...

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City on a Hill: Melbourne West

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