This is the last study in our Lent series, and we will be taking a look at the appearances of Jesus to His disciples following His resurrection.
This is the second study in out Lent series. As we read the passage today, let us keep in mind that this text is written so that we may believe in Christ. It has been written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that we may have life in his name!
In this season of Lent, we will be working through the final chapters of John’s gospel, looking at the events before, during and after Jesus’ death. The first verse of John 19 takes us straight into the events that take place just before Jesus is crucified, as Pilate took Jesus and flogged him (John 19:1).
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.
Paul ends his second letter to the Thessalonians with a very short benediction. He opens it by calling God “the Lord of peace”. Today, we get peace from many things, such as going overseas and being away from work and responsibilities. Yes, there is peace in that, but this passage speaks of peace in a different way and brings into question: What is true peace?
Beginning with Matt 2:1-12, we see that the arrival of Christ demands a response. We will read of different responses in this passage. There are those who actively searched for Christ (i.e. wise men) and a passive one (i.e. Herod). When we talk about the arrival of Jesus, both then and now, it demands a response. This is the mindset that we should have as we read 2 Thess 3.
1 and 2 Thessalonians is a book for our times, for it shakes us up from the drudgery of work and from the stupor of social media, and wakes us to our cosmic reality. After the previous chapters that contained thanksgiving, exhortations, and warning that we enter today’s text. Paul is finally ready to get incredibly practical. After labouring to help the Thessalonian church understand the urgency of living in the end times, Paul dives straight into the most practical course of action in the face of our eschatological reality.
In this Christmas season, we wait on God’s good promises that Jesus is coming again, just as the people in the OT longed for a Messiah, we are to stand firm on God’s word today as we wait for Jesus’ second coming.
In light of the lawlessness and false teaching that is already at work (2 Th 2:7), how can we live our Christian lives faithfully? What hope is there for us not to be deceived or deluded by the false signs and wonders of Satan? How can we stand firm in our faith as we wait for Jesus’ second coming.
These 12 verses are heavily disputed but tonight, we are going to observe the passage in the most commonly agreed sense. We are going to let the text point us to mainstream interpretation. Our goal tonight is to see the pastoral and applicatory value of the text.
In Christian circles, we are often more interested in the juicy, contentious bits, and overlook the common aspects of truth that most Christians agree on. Why is this important for us to know? We are incredibly susceptible to false teachings if we don’t know the basic fundamentals.