- araratchurch
- Apr 19
- 4 min read
40 “An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.”
Exodus 20:24 NKJV
There’s an interesting scene in the movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” where they are presented with a table full of different drinking cups. They were desperate to find the right cup (the Holy Grail), thinking that it had healing powers. The bad guy chose to drink from a very elaborate cup, “fit for a King.” He chose poorly and died a scary death because of it.
On the other hand, Indiana Jones chose a simple cup saying this was “the cup of a carpenter.” He chose wisely and was able to save his father from dying. Now this is a fantasy; but this scene offers a valuable lesson.
You see, we may have an idea of what God wants, so we offer that to Him. However, when in our exuberance, we go full throttle toward what we THINK will please Him, we are often wrong.
At the transfiguration of Jesus, Peter, being overcome with the thrill of the moment, had a “great” idea:
“and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.””
Matthew 17:2-4 NKJV
Although it isn’t spoken as such, we know that building shrines to Himself, Moses, and Elijah, was not what Jesus wanted at that point in time. But Peter THOUGHT it was a good idea.
The fact is, the Lord does not honor every gift or every deed we may think up to offer to Him. Indeed, it’s only when we offer what He wants, that He puts His name on it (receives that offering, blessing the one who gives it).
Most of us know about the fact that the Lord accepted the offering of Able but rejected the offering of Cain, a rejection resulting in the first recorded murder.
“And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.”
Genesis 4:3-5 NKJV
We receive more insight into why Cain’s offering was not accepted from the writer of Hebrews:
“By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.”
Hebrews 11:4 NKJV
Throughout the word of God we see the Lord being very displeased with His people who were keeping His ordinances in the way they saw fit, basically choosing what they would do for Him, and when they would do it.
At the same time, they were ignoring the things He had clearly spoken as being His will! Consider these examples:
“Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord? “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?”
Isaiah 58:5-6 NKJV
“I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Amos 5:21-24 NKJV
““To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.””
Isaiah 1:11-12, 16-17 NKJV
Today we find Moses being instructed by the Lord as to how to build an acceptable altar to Him on which sacrifices will be offered.
Additionally, Moses is told that in obeying the instructions of the Lord, the Lord will put His name on the altar (honor it) as well as receiving and blessing the sacrifices offered thereon.
I’ve been there. I’ve had “great ideas” of what I thought God wanted from me; but I was wrong.
Let’s listen to the Lord and give Him what He wants, where, when, and how He wants it. In so doing, our offering will be received and blessed!
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
God does not honor every altar or every offering.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Apr 18
- 5 min read
“And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.””
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-8, 12-17 NKJV
My mother’s family was always very competitive in terms of playing board or card games. I remember that when my mother and some of her family members would gather to play “Scrabble,” the game was often interrupted by accusations of cheating. In general, the accusations proved to be true.
As you may know, in the game of Scrabble, there are a couple of blank tiles that can be used for whatever letter you need to complete your word. Now, whereas it has no points associated with it, it can enable you to make words on squares of high value, using your letters of high value, thereby racking in the points.
Well, one of the competitors was notorious for turning over a regular tile and using it as a blank tile, a cheat that sometimes wasn’t discovered until after the game. Then there was the hiding of undesired letters, enabling you to pick extra letters without being detected. And, there were other ploys, and other affected games (which I don’t have space to list here).
Now, this “cheating” was good-natured and usually ended with laughing. But, the fact is, many people just don’t like rules, especially when they stand between them and what they want. Rather than the rules being seen as part of good order, they are often seen as an arbitrary restriction begging a cunning “workaround.”
Lance Armstrong is an American road racing cyclist who became an icon of the sport having won seven consecutive Tour de France races. Sadly, he was later stripped of all his titles having been found out to be central in a doping scheme. Lance wanted to win more than he wanted to follow the rules and it came back to bite him.
Sometimes rules are not followed because the assumption is that nobody else is really following the rules, so why should I be penalized for being the only standup guy? Such was probably the case with Lance, discussed above.
Additionally, some rules are considered to be arbitrary and capricious.
Some rules are seen as being unfairly applied.
Whatever the excuse we have for breaking the rules, we probably have as many excuses as rules.
Today we find Moses receiving what we have come to reference as the Ten Commandments. It’s interesting to note that these commandments were given early in the forty year trek.
Some people think that the Ten Commandments are passé and not relevant in the Christian age.
Let’s take a brief look at what Jesus had to say about the Ten Commandments.
In one case, Jesus was approached by a young ruler wanting to know what he could do to attain eternal life. Jesus offered the following answer:
“Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ””
Matthew 19:16-19 NKJV
Here we see Jesus reiterating six of the Commandments. But it doesn’t stop there.
“Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.””
Matthew 22:35-40 NKJV
Here, Jesus was introducing a system of organizing the commandments, boiling them down to two great commandments: loving God completely and loving others as yourself. Then He makes the observation that everything we need to do is a product of observing these two commandments.
But what about observation of the Sabbath? A full discussion of that question would take a lot more time than we have here, but I will offer you this:
When Jesus was approached (more than once) about why His disciples broke the Sabbath, this was His response:
“And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.””
Mark 2:27-28 NKJV
What Jesus is saying here is that He—being the Creator of all things—determines the rules over how the Sabbath is observed. In fact, He has become our Sabbath rest. Now, this does not take away the need for God to be honored in a consistent manner by gathering with the saints. Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week and we worship on that day. However, there are still denominations that gather on Saturday and I have no argument with them. The point is, a time must be set aside for the honoring of God in the company of other believers.
With that being said, let us understand that God has clearly given what He expects from us.
We know that we cannot earn entrance into God’s Kingdom by obeying any commandments.
Rather, the transformation leading to eternal life, comes to those who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. But make no mistake, our Christian walk must be characterized by behavior consistent with God’s righteousness.
Indeed, Jesus put it clearly and succinctly:
““If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”
John 14:15-18, 21-24 NKJV
Three times in just this short discourse, Jesus makes clear to His disciples that central to His relationship with them, is their obedience to His commandments. They needed, we need, to follow His rules.
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
God has rules.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Apr 17
- 3 min read
40 “And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.”
Exodus 19:19-20 NKJV
Have you ever heard of a salmon run? It’s a very interesting phenomenon. You see, salmon are anadromous. What this means is that when they are mature, they go up from the ocean, into the rivers from which they came, to spawn. The word “anadromous,” comes from the Greek “anadromos,” meaning “running upward.” (Merriam-Webster-Webster Dictionary)
The salmon run is truly amazing. Imagine, after developing from eggs, the salmon go into the ocean—where they do most of their bulking up—and then find their way back to the EXACT area from which they originated.
Wow! Our God is a wonderful Creator! He put a “voice” within the creatures, and all of creation, that “speaks” the order He ordained.
I used to sing the song, “A Perfect Heart.” (Reba Rambo and Dony McGuire, 1980) Here are the words to the verse:
Morning sun, light of creation;
Grassy fields, a velvet floor;
Silver clouds, a shimmering curtain, He’s designed a perfect world. I’m amazed at His talents, stand in awe of One so great; Now my soul begins to sing out to the source from which it came.
I love that line: “Now my soul begins to sing out to the source from which it came.”
Our God and King has done great things for us to be able to approach Him. Having made the way, He now calls out to us to come up to Him!
Looking back at a scripture from yesterday we see that we have been called out of darkness into the light:
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
I Peter 2:9 NKJV
In referencing this call, the Apostle Paul said this:
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV
Additionally, he urged his fellow Christians to walk in a way that is worthy (respectful) of the calling:
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Ephesians 4:1-3 NKJV
Today we find Moses being called up onto Mount Sinai by the Lord. From here the Lord would speak to the people. We see described the awesome display of the Lord‘s power and might. Then, within the context of that, God calls out to Moses; and Moses goes up.
Sadly, not all the people wanted to go up. Now, it is true that they were restricted from touching the holy Mountain, but they became so afraid, that they didn’t even want to hear the voice of the Lord.
“Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.”
Exodus 20:18-21 NKJV
Even today we see that many people—though afforded the opportunity to approach the holiness of God—still do not want to hear His voice, much less be obedient to His call.
“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.”
Hebrews 3:1 & 2 NKJV
Oh, that we all would be partakers of the heavenly call! What could possibly be more important?
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
Our Lord has given us an upward call.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!