Family Chapel

In seeking assurance for God's ongoing presence with Israel, Moses makes his most audacious request yet: he asks to behold God's glory. While an unfiltered view of God's glory would prove to be too overwhelming, God makes arrangements for Moses to get a real but partial view of His glory. When the day comes for God's glory to be revealed, Moses gets a surprising revelation. Instead of displaying power or wealth, God reveals His glory through displaying His goodness. And ultimately, we see the clearest revelation of God's glorious goodness in Jesus Christ. Keeping our eyes set on God's glorious goodness is so important because it grounds us and guides us as we make our way through the wilderness of life on our way home to our true Promised Land.

After the Israelites set up the golden cow and break covenant with God, they are in need of reconciliation with God. God threatens to not move ahead with them to the Promised Land, which would be disastrous for the people. Moses steps in as a mediator and offers himself as a substitutionary sacrifice on behalf of the people. While God does not accept Moses' offer, God relents from bringing disaster upon the people for their idolatry. By sheer grace, God renews covenant with his people. In all this, we see a foreshadowing of Jesus, our Greater Mediator, who offered himself up as a substitutionary sacrifice to secure reconciliation between us and God.

While Moses is meeting with God on Mt. Sinai, the people get antsy waiting for Moses and decide to build an idol for themselves. They break their covenantal vows and set up a golden cow. Through this incident, we learn some important truths about idolatry. We see that the allure of idolatry is the offer of mastery over life. The anatomy of idolatry is a stubborn refusal to submit to God. And the aftermath of idolatry is broken relationship with God and with others. As such, we must see our idols, confess our idols, and replace our idols.

After laying out all the details and instructions for the tabernacle and priesthood, God empowers and stirs his people to provide funds, materials, and skills to construct the tabernacle. We see all the different members of the community coming together to serve each in their own unique way and to give generously. As a people of God today, we are also called as the body of Christ to have each part contributing in anointed serving as well as meeting the needs of one another through joyful generosity.

God provides further instructions regarding the priesthood. Through these instructions we learn that Israel's high priest was to make atonement for sins, make known God's will, and make intercession through prayer. Under the new covenant, Jesus ultimately fulfills those priestly roles as our Great High Priest. As such, we can draw near to God with confidence and serve as a royal priesthood.

After confirming covenant with the people, God has Moses come back up Mt. Sinai. For the next 40 days, God provides detailed instructions regarding two very important things for Israel to establish moving forward: the Tabernacle and the priesthood. The Tabernacle was a tent that housed God's presence to dwell among the people. Through the instructions that are given regarding the Tabernacle, we learn some important theological truths: God desires to dwell with His people, God's presence requires holiness, and God's plan is to restore creation. Ultimately, Jesus is the True Tabernacle through whom God dwells with His people, provides holiness for access, and secures redemption for all creation.

God confirms covenant with His people as the book of the covenant is read, the blood of the covenant is sprinkled, and the bread of the covenant is eaten. Through this covenant confirmation ceremony, we see parallels for how we ourselves confirm our covenant with God in Christ. We confirm our covenant as we submit to God's instructions, rest in God's atonement, and enjoy fellowship in God's presence. As such, when we gather together for our Sunday worship services, we are in a very real sense renewing our covenant with God. Week after week, we confirm that He is our God and that we are His people.

After God provides the various case laws and applications, God promises his people the blessings that will come with faithfulness. God promises his people his own presence and guidance, a future home, victory over enemies, and prosperity to thrive. And the wonderful truth is that God provides and promises these things for us under the New Covenant as well but to a greater and more glorious degree. But to truly enjoy and thrive in these promises of God, we must cast off every compromise and idol and remain faithful to God alone.

God provides Israel a series of illustrative case laws to help them pursue justice in the contexts of everyday life. While these regulations are given to Israel under a particular covenant in a particular place during a particular time, we can still draw out some important principles that shed light on how we are to pursue justice in our own contexts. We learn from the "Book of the Covenant" that our pursuit of justice must build on the foundation of God's justice, recognize the dignity of each person, uphold the importance of fair restitution, and show special care and concern for the vulnerable.