Israel’s priests are the mediators between the holy God and a sinful people, representing God to the people and the people to God. They were to stand before the Lord for the people: offering gifts and sacrifices for sins, helping those who are ignorant or astray, teaching the people, and interceding in prayer. In their consecration, the priest put the blood of a ram on their earlobes, thumbs, and big toes. This represent the priests becoming hearers of the word and mediators of God, giving an example to the people of how to walk. Yet, all these men died but we know a high priest who lives forever. He did what those high priests could not do, and was what they could not have become: God’s true and perfect son. Jesus perfectly represents God to us, because he is God, and he perfectly atones for our sin by offering himself to God in our place, dying our death for sin, and living forever to make intercession on our behalf.

City on a Hill: Melbourne

Consecration of Priests

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...

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

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

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

God empowers the weak, hardens the proud, and defeats the strong. Moses had anger issues, pride, and didn’t take God seriously for most of his life. After murdering an Egyptian who was hurting an Israelite, Moses spent 40 years running away from his problems. Still, God made Moses like God to Pharaoh — empowering Moses as his divine representative and authority, putting Pharaoh, known as 'the son of Ra' (the Sun God), in his place. In judgement, God gives people over to their own depraved desires. When he hardens Pharaoh’s heart, he is actively handing Pharaoh, through his already-hardened heart, to the judgement his sin deserves, his pride being his downfall.All will know that God is sovereign and reigns supreme. When Moses’ serpent swallows up the Egyptian magician’s serpents, God showcases his dominion and hints at the cosmic warfare about to occur through the plagues. The swallowing up of the serpent also prefigures Christ, who swallowed up the grave on the cross, defeating sin,...

Moses Faces Pharaoh

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 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 and turn back to Egypt.

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...

Moses Encounters God

Down by the river, a baby boy is placed in a basket to escape genocide mandated by the Egyptian Pharaoh of the time. Yet Pharaoh's daughter snatches this baby from the jaw of death and adopts him into the royal family, naming him Moses. An adult Moses stands up for Hebrew slaves by killing the Egyptian, consequently having to flee from Pharaoh to Midian where he saves the priest's daughters from shepherds. Moses' acts are at times villainous and others heroic and benevolent; we are reminded that God uses complex, sinful people for his good purposes.Chapter 2 of Exodus ends with a revelation of God's response to his people's groaning under slavery. He hears, sees, remembers, and knows. God is invested in his people, and even if he allows them to suffer for a while he will rescue and redeem them according to his faithfulness. We see, too, that we now have a greater exodus and greater Moses through Jesus the Christ. When the clouds overhead are thick and dark, remember the baby boy who...

Introduce Moses

The journey to the promised land wasn’t easy. Joseph died and the new Pharaoh that ruled over Egypt didn’t know Joseph and felt threatened by the Israelites, ruthlessly enslaving them to seal his power. Even today, slavery and oppression are still rampant. There are 21 million victims of human trafficking, mostly young girls who are also sexually exploited. We don’t have to look beyond our city to see slavery and oppression at work today. There’s sin, poverty, addiction, and domestic violence. We are called to help mitigate this. Like the midwives who defied Pharaoh’s command to kill every Jewish boy, we too must stand up against injustice. In Christ, we ought to be a people of mission and mercy who display God’s love in Christ. He is the father to the fatherless and the saviour of the oppressed.

Israel Suffers / God Hears

What do you see when you imagine a City on a Hill? The lost found? The sinner forgiven? Men and women rising up in faith? Jesus is transforming lives in every moment, meeting us in his goodness and grace. There is so much more to come and more to see of his great work in his church.Reimagine is a unique opportunity for City on a Hill Melbourne to seek after God’s heart and vision for the city of Melbourne. It's a season of prayer and humble dependence upon God by seeking his heart for our church and our city.

Reimagine

Death is humanity’s greatest enemy, but there is one more powerful than death, who has conquered the grave: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the midst of sorrow, Easter proclaims joy. In the midst of despair, Easter proclaims hope. In Jesus we find our answer, and we find our hope. Mary Magdalene, who was oppressed by seven demons before knowing Jesus, was the first witness of the resurrection. She was also the first to bravely share the gospel with her friends and family, in joy because she knew the truth of what she saw: her lord risen from the dead. We exist to know Jesus, and make Jesus known. His story is our story.

Easter Sunday

Death by crucifixion was excruciating. After six minutes, the victim can barely breath and for the next few hours their limbs dislocate and their lungs suffer through plural effusion. Not only that, but crucifixion was so despised that when a hgh ranking Roman actor mimed the action of the cross in a play, he received threats of death by crucifixion for even portraying such an embarrassment and despicable thing. Yet, Jesus, knowing the law and prophets, saw that his crucifixion was necessary to save the world. Today, you can choose how you view the crucifixion of Christ: you can be repulsed by it like the Pharisees and Romans, indifferent to it like Pilate who also used the crucifixion as a means to execute a power play, you can cast lots and sell Jesus for profit, or you can choose to surrender your sins at the cross and rejoice in that true love was displayed by Jesus on the cross as the propitiation for our sins.

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City on a Hill: Melbourne

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