Highlights In Today's Reading:
Notice how precisely each detail is given of the Tabernacle and the clothes of the High Priest to fulfill the will of God. He is also concerned with each detail of our lives.
Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you (31:13). The Command to keep the Sabbath was already included in the Ten Commandments as a reminder to His people that the Lord owns every day; therefore, some very special reason and meaning is given to the repetition of this command.
Since it appears at the conclusion of the instructions regarding the Tabernacle, it appears that the intention was to teach the connection which existed between the Sabbath and the Tabernacle and our daily lives.
The true Church is not a building, but is made up of born-again believers in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives. Christ is the Head of the Church: and He is the Saviour of the Body (Eph 5:23). The believers who make up the Body of Christ are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones (5:30). We come near to God by reading His Word that we may worship the Lord according to His will.
The "church" is the place where we meet with other believers to worship Christ, who is Head of the Church. It also becomes a place to study His Word, a place where our spiritual nature is developed: Laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby (I Pet. 2:1-2).
When the Lord's Day is neglected for physical pleasures or material gain, it is a rejection of the authority of God upon our lives. The sacredness of the Lord's Day is indicated by the fact that the Israelites, having a great sacred work to do in building the Tabernacle where God would dwell, were not to build it even on the Sabbath.
Surely a child of God, saved and cleansed from his sins under the precious blood of Jesus, should love and respect the Lord's Day. The Hebrew dared not desecrate the Sabbath. A person who has Christ indwelling him, will desire to worship with others as did the first Christians in Jerusalem.
And daily in the Temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ (Acts 5:42).
Thought for Today:
The angels teach us that worship is not just an activity for us as individuals, but is also intended to be done as a group (Luke 2:13; also Heb. 10:25).
Christ Revealed:
Through the Laver, Christ is revealed as both the container and the dispenser of Living Water (Ex. 30:18; John 4:10). Jesus . . . cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. . . . ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you (7:37, 15:3; compare I Cor. 10:4).
Word Studies:
29:2 unleavened bread =bread without yeast, a symbol of Christ as the sinless offering; 29:17 unto =on top of; 29:18 sweet savour =pleasant fragrance, acceptance; 29:27 heaved =set aside; 29:28 statute =perpetual obligation; 29:41 meat =grain, meal; 30:3 crown =molding; 30:18 laver =wash basin; 30:21 seed =descendants; 30:25 apothecary =perfume maker; 30:28 his foot =its base; 30:33 cut off =excluded; 31:6 wise hearted =understanding heart.
Prayer Needs:
Pray for International Shortwave Radio Broadcasts in memory of Letha Hash • Staff: Bernice Rathbone • Government Officials: Rep. John Mica (FL), Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (CO), Chief Justice John Roberts, and Rep. Zach Space (OH) • Country: Zaire, Democratic Republic of the Congo (63 million) in south-central Africa • Major languages: French and Lingala • Limited religious freedom • 42% Roman Catholic; 28% Protestant; 12% magical practices, ancestor worship, and witchcraft; 1% Muslim • Prayer Suggestion: Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and mercy (Lam. 3:22-23).
Optional Reading: Matthew 27
Memory Verse for the Week: Matthew 5:3-4
