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February 23

Reading 1 - Exodus 36

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v.1-7 - I'm sure people haven't changed that much. If this was one of our ecclesias, this superabundance would have been provided by those who are the regular workers, those who get stuck in to ecclesial activities right from the start. There would have been some, surely, who, when hearing the request from Moses to stop providing as there was enough, would be in the embarrassing position of not even having started. There has to be a lesson here for us. Consider Heb.3:7-15, with particular attention to the word 'Today'.
Peter Cresswell
v.1-2 - We have here a double insight into what makes people give their time and work to the service of the Lord. On the one hand, v.1, it is God who put the wisdom into their hearts, and on the other v.2 it was every one whose heart stirred him up to come to the work. These two are synonymous because the man whose heart is right before the Lord will do His will as if it was his own. We do well to remember that we do nothing in our own strength and there is certainly no room for pride in ourselves if we work the works of God. All must be done in humility and reverence of His great creative power by which all things consist.
Peter Cresswell
Chapters 36 - 39 describe the manufacture of the tabernacle and it's furniture that Moses had received the pattern of when he was in the mount. Whilst we noticed that the order in which the elements of the tabernacle were described from the centre out, so to speak, the construction commences at the outside and works inwards. Why do we think the order is reversed?
Peter Forbes
:10-18 Unity is emphasised in the building of the tabernacle. It is 'one tabernacle (:13). Notice, in the regard, the repeated use of the word 'couple(d) signifying the joining together in one all part. A picture of the 'body of Christ'.
Peter Forbes

Reading 2 - Psalms 94 & 95

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94 v.12 - Here we have a sound but hard principle, which is there (and proven in example) throughout scripture. David had much chastening at the hands of the Lord. There are many Psalms that show how he lived his life in fear of what man might do to him, but each time it turned him, as it should us, back to God. Ps.119:67,71, Job 5:17, Prov.3:11, 1Cor.11:32, Heb.12:5-11, Rev.3:19. We should worry if we are not chastened.
Peter Cresswell
95 v.7-8 - This is picked up not once but twice in the letter to the Hebrews - 3:15, 4:7, that we might receive encouragement not to behave in the hardhearted way that they did, as we walk through our own wilderness leading to God's great promised land at Jesus' return. Hebrews makes it clear that we have a two-way responsibility in this - first that we exhort each other, and second that we listen to the exhortation of others, that we all might remain on that road that leads to life.
Peter Cresswell

Psalm 94 The Psalmist makes a familiar cry. He is troubled because the wicked seem to prosper. However his realisation that the creator of the ear can also hear causes him to realise that indeed God is still in control even thought it might not appear so.

Psalm 95 This Psalm is one of many Psalms which teaches a lesson by reminding the reader about events in the wilderness journey.
Verse 8 04808 Meribah Deuteronomy 32:51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh 04808, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
Verse 8 04531 Masah Exodus 17:7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
Verse 10 Forty years Numbers 14:34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
Verse 11 Sware in my wrath Numbers 14:23 Surely they shall not see the land
Hebrews 3 & 4, by extensively quoting this Psalm and Numbers 13 & 14 show that Israel's rebelliousness in the wilderness can be matched in our own lives.
Peter Forbes
94:14 The assurance that 'the Lord will not cast off His people' echoes Leviticus 26:49 where, amidst a denouncement of Israel if they were unfaithful and forms the basis for Paul's positive statement [Romans 11:2] God hath not cast off His people.

Psalm 95 - Against the background of Israel's refusal to believe that God would give them the land when they arrived at the borders of the land and the 12 spies, including Joshua and Caleb, God is presented as 'a great God, and a great king above all gods' v3. The Psalmist is emphasising that the gods of the nations are nothing and that the people should not fear them lest they suffer the same sort of fate as those who fell in the wilderness.
Peter Forbes

94:6 The mention of the widow, fatherless and stranger is interesting. Of the 17 times that the list occurs 11 of them are to be found in Deuteronomy - A nation whose 'men of war' were wasting away (Deuteronomy 2:14) would have many fatherless and widows. The strangers had come out of Egypt with the children of Israel and may well have been viewed as second class citizens in the wilderness. This lesson from the wilderness had to be remembered in the land of Israel. The principles of the truth are applicable at all times in our lives.

95 - This Psalm is a commentary on Numbers 13-15. It's use in Hebrews 3 shows us that the wilderness journey is relevant to us today. So do we believe that God will give us the kingdom? Have we been saved from Egypt? Can we answer 'yes' to both of those questions? Should we answer 'yes' to the first question?
Peter Forbes

Reading 3 - 1Corinthians 6

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v. 15-20 - We are members of Christ (v.15), which makes our bodies a temple (v.19). What an honour. Surely there is no way that these things can be taken lightly. We must consider the implications of this situation with the help of Paul - 1Cor.3:16, 2Cor.6:16, Eph.2:21-22, Rom.14:7-9
Peter Cresswell
:12 'all things are lawful unto me' is not a Biblical truth. Rather Paul is quoting what is said by the brethren at Corinth to then show that it is not true because 'all things are not expedient'.
Peter Forbes