Exodus 40:34-38 Video Devotional

Posted on May 11, 2020 by admin in Video Devotional | Tags: , , , , , ,

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.” (Exodus 40:34-38)

“The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.”” (Leviticus 1:1-2)

Moses was definitely an important guy, but he was still a guy – sinful, fearful and prone to anger. He needed to be saved (just like us), but wasn’t able to look back at Jesus and the cross and know salvation like we do. He had to look forward towards a veiled promise that God would take care of everything. But Moses is saved through Christ, just like us; so God gives us that visual and shows us through Moses’ journey how that worked.

Tomorrow we will get into more of this, but with today’s passage above we see that there was a time, even after Moses had been used in incredible ways by God, where Moses was not allowed in the direct presence of God. We know he got there (after all, God talked with Moses face to face), but the power of this story is when and how.

At the end of Exodus and beginning of Leviticus, God speaks to Moses (after His glory filled the tabernacle) from outside the tent of meeting. God is inside, but Moses can’t come in. So Moses stood outside to hear the Lord. Then God starts talking about offerings and such. Interesting. This is a clear setup to what the book of Leviticus is about. We will discuss that more tomorrow, but today let us together celebrate the fact that Moses, a flawed character, yet faithful and loyal in his relationship with God was no better than you or me. He needed saved by grace through faith just like we do now, and we know that Moses does reach the direct, intimate relationship status with God – which with the ripping of the curtain of the Holy of Holies during the crucifixion, we can also have direct access to God and cry out to him intimately “daddy!”

Let us enjoy God’s gift to us of hindsight and the ability to see how intricately and powerfully He laid out the plan of salvation and the promise of Jesus. Blessings to you!


Genesis 12:1-3 Video Devotional

Posted on Apr 24, 2020 by admin in Video Devotional | Tags: , , , ,

“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

I wonder what hearing this must have felt like to Abram. A child-less husband, getting on in years is told he will become a great nation and all the families of the earth will be blessed through him. What a promise! What an improbable promise. There are a lot of things riding on this, the first of which is actually having a child; that being a problem for Abram and his bride, Sarai.

What exactly is this blessing? The United States has historically used this verse as their reasoning for holding political ties with Israel. Is that really what God meant? I don’t think so. Looking back through Israel’s history, what blessing could be so powerful that it literally blesses every family on earth? Jesus. Jesus is the blessing – the gospel, the salvation of all humans who believe, which we see in Revelation that is from every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Every family will be blessed with the gift of Jesus.

So why preface it with the “bless those who bless you” and vice versa part? Looking at it in its context makes this answer simple: because God was protecting the line of Christ – the line of the promise. This is proven historically as well. No matter how evil Israel got as a nation, God continued to bless them. Why? Because they deserved it or were entitled to it? No, of course not. They were blessed because of this promise – Jesus was on His way, but the lineage had to be protected and blessed.

God gives promises for a reason – and keeps them no matter what. With God, there is no variation or shifting shadow; no change (James 1). He is faithful, yesterday, today and forever. So for us, that means we are blessed through Abram – Jesus is our gift, our blessing, our salvation!


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