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Feb. 24, 2023
Where God Meets with His People
Once the children of Israel agreed to be God’s covenant people, God instructed them to build Him a house to dwell in. Why would the God of the Universe choose to limit Himself to a particular place to meet with a particular people? It was all for the benefit of the world. And when God designed the place where He would meet with His people, it was a place of love and mercy.
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Where God Meets with His People (Out of Zion Episode #164)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Transcript
1
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Once the children of Israel agreed to be God's covenant people, they were instructed to build a house for him to dwell in, the tabernacle.
2
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:23,000
Now why would the God of the universe, the creator of heaven and earth, choose to limit himself to a particular place to meet with a particular people?
3
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:38,000
Well, it was all for his plan to benefit the world. First, though, God had to meet with his people in the tabernacle, and it would be from a place of love and mercy.
4
00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:49,000
So welcome to this week's Shabbat Shalom devotional when I seek to share just a little inspiration and bring a little peace to the close of your very busy week.
5
00:00:49,000 --> 00:01:02,000
This week's Torah portion is from Exodus 25 through 27, verse 19. It's called Terumah, which means gifts or offering.
6
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:08,000
Last week, God gave all the rules and the people agreed to obey them.
7
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:23,000
So this week, the first thing God tells Moses to do is to take up an offering, gather their gifts they needed to build the tabernacle, and the people were to give freely of whatever they had.
8
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:29,000
Well, you know, much of what they had had been given to them by the Egyptians.
9
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:38,000
So there was an important lesson here for them to realize that what they had really wasn't theirs to start with. It belonged to God.
10
00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:46,000
He had blessed them with it, and now he was asking them to give out of their blessing, and of course, he would bless them for it.
11
00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:53,000
So they gave freely to Moses so much so that it says he had more than he needed.
12
00:01:53,000 --> 00:02:05,000
You know, this verse always gets my attention because I'm always praying for the offerings of the people to provide for the work of the ministry that we've been called to do.
13
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:15,000
And what an encouragement here to know that when the people obeyed God that there was more than Moses needed to finish the task.
14
00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:24,000
So now God had given Moses very, very specific instructions how to build the tabernacle and every single item inside of it.
15
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:28,000
I'm just going to talk today about the Ark of the Covenant.
16
00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:40,000
He was to make an ark, kind of a cabinet, a box, and it was to be overlaid with gold, and he was to attach poles to both sides of it so that it could be carried.
17
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:49,000
And the poles were to be permanent so that at any moment that that ark could be picked up and carried with the people as they followed God.
18
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:55,000
And on top of the ark was to be placed what was called a mercy seat.
19
00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:06,000
It was to have a cherub at each end of it, and the cherubs were to have their wings in front of them, and they were to be facing each other.
20
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:22,000
So in between the two cherubs was this seat of mercy, and inside the ark, underneath the seat of mercy, was to be stored the tablets of stone with the commandments on them.
21
00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:27,000
It was the tablets of the covenant of God with his people.
22
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:32,000
You know, the covenant has been likened to a marriage between God and his people.
23
00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:46,000
And so he wants that covenant to be in safety there in the box, but he was going to meet with his people in remembrance of that covenant, but from a place of mercy.
24
00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:55,000
He was not going to meet with them from a seat of judgment and condemnation, because he knew they were going to break the terms of the covenant.
25
00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:01,000
No, he was going to meet with them from the seat of mercy.
26
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:18,000
In between two loving cherubs, it was a place of love and mercy, showing how that God's grace and his mercy and his love covered the covenant stored below.
27
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,000
Now isn't that beautiful?
28
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:33,000
I hope that this weekend as you take a Shabbat break, you'll think about that, that God wants to meet with you from a place of love and mercy. Shabbat shalom.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,000
Once the children of Israel agreed to be God's covenant people, they were instructed to build a house for him to dwell in, the tabernacle.
2
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:23,000
Now why would the God of the universe, the creator of heaven and earth, choose to limit himself to a particular place to meet with a particular people?
3
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:38,000
Well, it was all for his plan to benefit the world. First, though, God had to meet with his people in the tabernacle, and it would be from a place of love and mercy.
4
00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:49,000
So welcome to this week's Shabbat Shalom devotional when I seek to share just a little inspiration and bring a little peace to the close of your very busy week.
5
00:00:49,000 --> 00:01:02,000
This week's Torah portion is from Exodus 25 through 27, verse 19. It's called Terumah, which means gifts or offering.
6
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:08,000
Last week, God gave all the rules and the people agreed to obey them.
7
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:23,000
So this week, the first thing God tells Moses to do is to take up an offering, gather their gifts they needed to build the tabernacle, and the people were to give freely of whatever they had.
8
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:29,000
Well, you know, much of what they had had been given to them by the Egyptians.
9
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:38,000
So there was an important lesson here for them to realize that what they had really wasn't theirs to start with. It belonged to God.
10
00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:46,000
He had blessed them with it, and now he was asking them to give out of their blessing, and of course, he would bless them for it.
11
00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:53,000
So they gave freely to Moses so much so that it says he had more than he needed.
12
00:01:53,000 --> 00:02:05,000
You know, this verse always gets my attention because I'm always praying for the offerings of the people to provide for the work of the ministry that we've been called to do.
13
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:15,000
And what an encouragement here to know that when the people obeyed God that there was more than Moses needed to finish the task.
14
00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:24,000
So now God had given Moses very, very specific instructions how to build the tabernacle and every single item inside of it.
15
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:28,000
I'm just going to talk today about the Ark of the Covenant.
16
00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:40,000
He was to make an ark, kind of a cabinet, a box, and it was to be overlaid with gold, and he was to attach poles to both sides of it so that it could be carried.
17
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:49,000
And the poles were to be permanent so that at any moment that that ark could be picked up and carried with the people as they followed God.
18
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:55,000
And on top of the ark was to be placed what was called a mercy seat.
19
00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:06,000
It was to have a cherub at each end of it, and the cherubs were to have their wings in front of them, and they were to be facing each other.
20
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:22,000
So in between the two cherubs was this seat of mercy, and inside the ark, underneath the seat of mercy, was to be stored the tablets of stone with the commandments on them.
21
00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:27,000
It was the tablets of the covenant of God with his people.
22
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:32,000
You know, the covenant has been likened to a marriage between God and his people.
23
00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:46,000
And so he wants that covenant to be in safety there in the box, but he was going to meet with his people in remembrance of that covenant, but from a place of mercy.
24
00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:55,000
He was not going to meet with them from a seat of judgment and condemnation, because he knew they were going to break the terms of the covenant.
25
00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:01,000
No, he was going to meet with them from the seat of mercy.
26
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:18,000
In between two loving cherubs, it was a place of love and mercy, showing how that God's grace and his mercy and his love covered the covenant stored below.
27
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,000
Now isn't that beautiful?
28
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:33,000
I hope that this weekend as you take a Shabbat break, you'll think about that, that God wants to meet with you from a place of love and mercy. Shabbat shalom.
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