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February
15
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Reading
1 - Exodus 26
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here to Listen
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v.
14 - There is
no doubt that the covering of the tabernacle is symbolic of God's care and
of the covering for sin effected in Jesus' death and resurrection by grace.
Here we see a red (sinful - blood) covering covered over with the grace
of God. It constitutes a refuge for us to go into in Christ. Ps.27:5,
Isa.4:6, 25:4, Ezek.16:10
Peter Cresswell |
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v1
- ch.36:8
tells us that it was the 'wise hearted' that were involved in this work
- not that God needed all this ceremony to satisfy some sense of pride or
power over mankind, but because man needed it in order to learn how great
his creator was. Let us not get our worship out of perspective. Let us lay
store by the praise of our heavenly Father, and not by the ritual by which
we do it.
Peter Cresswell
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v.31-33
In speaking of the veil which divided the holy from the most holy place
we are given a great amount of detail. However the New Testament comment
is that it is 'the flesh' Hebrews
10:20. We must take care that we do not get so bound up in the fine
detail of the tabernacle that we overlook the basic message.
Peter Forbes |
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:24
In saying that the boards were to be 'coupled' together we are introduced
to an idea which is applied to Jerusalem (Psalm
122:3) where the same word is translated as 'compacted'. The tabernacle
was a shadow of something more permanent - the city which has foundations.
That is not Jerusalem which now is but the heavenly Jerusalem.
Peter Forbes |
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v.
14
- "badgers" some say seals from the Red Sea; if so, the Red Sea
would remind the Israelites of God's providential care.
In the Vulgate, the skins were dyed BLUE . . . . . . blue for (God).
Sherry
Luskin |
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Exodus
26:1-14 - The Coverings of the Tabernacle are here described for us.
The ceiling of the Tabernacle was made of a curtain of fine twined (or
'doubled') linen embroidered with cherubim in scarlet, purple and blue.
A lot of work needed to be employed to create blue and purple cloth in
the ancient world, for the basis of these colours is extremely rare, and
extremely costly. These colours were derived from a certain shellfish
of the Mediterranean, the Helix ianthina of Linnaeus. Many thousands of
these creatures needed to be crushed and processed to create even a little
of the concentrated colour required to colour a garment. Over the ceiling
of the Tabernacle there was a further tent or covering, made of (1) Badger's
Skin - the "badger" is thought by Strongs to be a clean animal, possibly
a type of antelope, (2) Ram's skin dyed red, (3) Goat's hair. All these
materials point forward to Christ. The 'Antelope' skins were dyed blue
in colour, reminding Israel of their Holy calling - Numbers
15:38; Deuteronomy 22:12. The Ram's skins pointed forward to the "Lamb
of God" sacrificed to take away the sin of the world. The covering of
Goat's hair reminded the Israelite further of the sin-offering and the
covering involved which likewise pointed forward to Christ - Hebrews
9:11-22.
Cliff
York
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Reading
2 - Psalms 79 & 80
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here to Listen
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79:13
- We are the sheep, the sheep that belong to the shepherd from the previous
Psalm - that shepherd which is David, which is Christ - which is our salvation.
So let us echo the sentiments of this verse, and be prepared to shew forth
God's praise to all generations.
Ps.145:4, Isa.43:21, John 10:11-18.
Peter Cresswell
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80:18
reminds us of the words in John
6:66-69. Those who turned aside and walked no more with Jesus were termed
'disciples'. May we remain amongst those who say 'Lord, to whom shall we
go? thou hast the words of eternal life'
Peter Cresswell
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Psalm
79 - This Psalm catalogues punishments from God for Israel's faithlessness.
As such it becomes a pattern for events future to the time of the Psalmist.
v1
is quoted in Lam 1:10
v3
in Jeremiah 14:16
v5
is quoted in Revelation 6:10
v6
in Jeremiah 10:25-26
v10
in Joel 2:17
v13
in Jeremiah 23:1
Psalm
80 - This Psalm speaks of the purchasing of Israel out of Egypt in
a similar way to which Isaiah speaks of the vineyard in chapter 5
:8
vine Isaiah 5:2
:12
broken down hedges Isaiah 5:5
:13
waste Isaiah 5:6
:15
vineyard Isaiah 5:1
:16
burned with fire Isaiah 1:7
Peter Forbes
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79:5
Against the background of the destruction the Psalmist cries 'How long
' which is the cry (Revelation
6:10) 'of the souls under the alter' who clearly are the faithful.
Do we sigh and cry for the abominations done (Ezekiel
9:4) or are we complacent about the state of God's land - our inheritance?
80:1
We have an interesting contrast with God being presented both at the 'shepherd'
and Him that 'dwellest between the cherubim' On the one hand He is the
one who takes care of His flock, on the other he is the one clothed in
majesty - also see Exodus
25:22
Peter Forbes
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SOMETIMES
BAD THINGS HAPPEN
God's people are not exempt from bad things happening to them. In Psalm
79 and 80 we read of Israel and Jerusalem brought to their knees by
foreign invaders. The children of Israel, the people of Jerusalem and Judah
were all God's special chosen people. They took a special place in the heart
of God. He gave them a land flowing with milk and honey but they sinned
against God and failed to uphold their side of the covenant. They had promised
to obey God, to have him as their only God, but instead had rejected him
and worshipped and served idols instead of the living God. So God did what
he said he would do if his people were unfaithful and he brought other armies
against them to bring them to their knees and to turn them back to the living
God. Israel and Judah suffered greatly under the attacks of these other
nations and eventually they were taken from that land altogether.
Even though Israel and Judah were God's special people, they still suffered
and bad things happened to them. Even though we are Christians bad things
may happen to us too. When they do, let us humble ourselves and accept God's
way knowing that in the end we will be with those who will praise him for
ever.
Robert
Prins |
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Psalm
79 - ends with the words that appear at the top of Psalm 80 - "To
the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth."
Psalm
80 begins properly with "A Psalm of David" and ends
with "To the chief Musician upon Gittith."
Psalm
80:8 - "a vine out of Egypt" - A vine can be transplanted,
as this Israelitish vine was, taken out of Egypt and planted in the land
of Israel. Once a vine is well established, it can then spread out further
and further and further, just as Israel will spread from the Mediterranean
to the Euphrates. But a vine is good for only one thing - and that is
to bear fruit. Israel must yet bear fruit to the Glory of the Father and
to the honour of His Family - but they will - and the time for them to
do that is so soon. Are we bringing forth Fruit in our lives, or will
we suffer the fate of a "fruitless vine?"
Cliff
York
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Reading
3 - Mark 11
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here to Listen
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v.24
- This cannot surely refer to 'human' desires, as they are part of the thinking
of the flesh, so the interpretation of this verse has got to be subject
to scrutiny by the rest of scripture. Surely before we ask, our desires
must be from the right motives. And one of our motives is that whatever
we do should not stand in the way of the progress of God's purpose - 'nevertheless
thy will be done'. And yet, having said this, here (and elsewhere) we have
a verse that tells us that if we believe in what we request and do not doubt
(is this possible?) we can have our request. Here there is further evidence
to that statement that Bro. Peter Forbes made last month - it MUST be possible
to influence God's actions in prayer.
Matt.7:7-11, 18:19, 21:22, John 15:7, Jas.1:5,6, 5:15-18, 1John 3:22, 5:14,15.
Peter Cresswell
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v.9
Whilst the people cry 'blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord'
the leaders oppose them asking Jesus to restrain them. However one of
the last things that Jesus says to the leaders is that the time will come
when they will use the same words. Matthew
21:9 23:39 Mark 11:9 Luke 13:35
v. 27 - 33
In turning the question of authority round Jesus is not avoiding the issue
at all. he is focusing the minds of those who were questioning him on
the testimony of the one who had spoken of him. Unless the priests and
scribes were willing to acknowledge the authority of John then there was
not point in continuing the discussion.
Looking
again at the last week of Jesus' life I thought that this table of days
in Mark might be of interest
Using
the gospel of Mark as a basis it is possible, with relative certainty,
to slot the other gospel records into this framework and thereby establish
clearly what happened on each of the days of the week that culminated
in the crucifixion of Jesus.
Peter Forbes
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| :21
When Peter draws Jesus' attention to the withered fig tree which had been
cursed the previous morning Peter says 'behold the fig tree'. This conversation
must have taken place somewhere between Bethany and Jerusalem - probably
on the mount of Olives which is close by Bethany on the route that they
would take to go into the city.
In the
Olivet prophecy, which was spoken on the mount of Olives [Mark
13:3]. During that discourse Jesus also says 'behold the fig tree'
[Luke
21:29]. Is Jesus actually pointing to the very fig tree he cursed
a couple of days ago when he says this?
Peter Forbes
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:1-11
Jesus left Bethany to go to Jerusalem - a short journey of a few miles.
The entry into Jerusalem would not have taken very long. However apart from
looking round the temple the record tells us nothing else about what the
lord did that day. So it is clear that the record does not record all that
took place that day. Thus we should conclude that the details of what are
recorded are of great significance.
Peter Forbes
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Mark
11 - The events of this chapter took place on the 10th and the 11th
of Abib - just days before our Lord was crucified.
Mark
11:4 - "Where two ways met" - This is the story of
our lives. We constantly find ourselves at the point where two ways meet
and a decision must be made as to which way we will go.
Mark
11:7 - "brought the colt to Jesus.... and He sat upon him"
- Is this telling us that Jesus was a small man? It would hardly
be appropriate for a 6'6'' well built man to try to ride such a young
animal.
Mark
11:23 - "That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou
removed" - Is Jesus referring here to the Mt of Olives which
will shortly be re-arranged by the great Earthquake described in Zechariah
14:4? Is our faith developed to the extent that we know
that we will be with Jesus on that day?
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A
Golden Thread - God in His infinite wisdom, having removed Israel
as a living vine out of Egypt Psalm
80, gave Israel a focal point for their religious devotions in
the Tabernacle described in detail in Exodus
26. Both the vine and the Tabernacle pointed forward eloquently to
the one in Mark
11 who, though received as a King for a short time by the fickle crowd,
was first to undergo the ultimate sacrifice, that perfect Fruit might
be brought forth from Jew and Gentile through His death, and that the
Israel of God might spread forth to all nations in the future.
Cliff
York
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