In this study, we come to the last few verses of the book of Exodus. We can compare this to an epic: one of those long, fantasy stories that stretch for multiple books, like The Lord of the Rings series. Like an epic, the story of Exodus has a scale of the story that eclipses our individual lives, revealing more and more what God is doing in this world.
That’s an important point for us to remember, when we consider the final verses of Exodus. So often, we tend to think that our own lives are the measure by which we see the world. God sees so much more than we do, and in Exodus, He wants to remind us that our lives are not just our own, but we are part of a larger narrative.
As we near the end of our study in Exodus, we come also to the point where the construction of the Tabernacle nears its end.
Through the book of Exodus so far, we’ve seen God rescue the Israelites from slavery in Egypt (Exo 1-12) and lead them through the wilderness and the Red Sea to the foot of Mt Sinai (Exo 13-19). They were no longer slaves; they were free. Their identity had changed – from slaves to a people belonging to the LORD. But what did that mean? Who were they now, and what would they do with this freedom?
Speaking to Moses on Mt Sinai, God gave the Israelites a pattern for constructing the tabernacle and the priestly garments (Exo 25:9). Eventually, they would bring these with them and settle in the Promised Land. In Exo 39:33-43, they had just finished building the tabernacle and have yet to continue their journey.
It is not usual to do a bible study on records, so today’s passage may be strange to us. However, our conviction is that all of God’s word is useful for teaching, even this record of the tabernacle. Let us thus consider a few things: What can we learn from this? How do we worship?
The way and manner and attitude in which we worship a holy God has everything to do with how we obey. Let us consider how are we obeying as we worship, and what does our worship say about our obedience. If we hear God’s word and we walk away unchanged in actions, then we have wasted our time. We need to know how to apply and obey!
What we hope to see from this section of Scripture is that we can read God’s word and be encouraged by it. We tell our friends that God is faithful, because that is our assurance. When they hear this, they want to know how God is faithful, but sometimes we don’t know how to answer. What we want to do tonight is look at God’s faithfulness in this passage.
These 6 verses in Exo 34:29-35 have value not only in the narrative in Exodus, but in order to fully understand it, we will need to also read a New Testament passage in 2 Cor 3. We need the NT to understand the OT fully, and vice versa. The Bible is to be read as one coherent whole.
When was the last time you were really hurt? How long did you take to forgive this person? In this study, we’re going to see how God responds to being wronged and spurned by a people that He set His affections towards.
If you think back to how you know someone today, you probably remember how you met them in real life or saw them on social media. Back then, how did the Israelites know God?
The text today from Exodus 33 lays out the forces and key dynamics that serve as the DNA of the Bible. We can think about it in terms of our human bodies: if we were to take a sample of tissue, of flesh, of blood, we will see the same DNA within these cells. Similarly, if we dive deep into all parts of the Bible, if we "take the DNA" from all parts of the Scripture, we will see the Gospel. The DNA of the Bible is the Gospel: the Good News.
This passage shows us a rare occasion where the Israelites’ actions are worth our emulation. Remember the context: In Exo 32, Israel was caught doing something they shouldn’t. The golden calf was a problem and in this text, we are going to see why it was a problem, what the consequences of it were, and how His people responded to these consequences.
In the previous passage, God knew about the calf that the Israelites had made and was burning with anger. It’s not an easy passage to read. Yet in Exodus 32:1-15 we also have a beautiful passage of Moses interceding for the people.
We’re back in our series through the book of Exodus, but chapter 32 is a really random place to begin if you’ve never read the previous chapters. The summaries for the rest of the chapters are available on this site, but let us focus on the immediate context.
