Trinity Presbyterian Church

You move into a house, new, or new to you, and it begins to reflect your tastes, your personality. What does a house for God look like? Exodus 25:8-9 shows God pointing his people to the pattern he would reveal to Moses on the mountain.

God dwells with you. This theme runs through the Scriptures. In Eden God came down and had fellowship with Adam and Eve, mankind made in his image. The fall disrupted that fellowship. Cherubim with a sword blocked the way to the Tree of Life and the fellowship our first parents had had with God. But God, in his grace, was not satisfied to leave it that way. Jump to the end of Scripture, Revelation 21:15-27, and in the new heavens and earth you have God dwelling with his people. There is no temple, but, as Vos points out, this is not a city without a church, but a city that is a church. This is a theme that runs through the Bible, tying Scripture together. Abraham and the patriarchs built altars, often at locations connected with trees, worshiped God. But now, after the Egyptian slavery, the family has become a nation. God will not longer visit occasionally—he is having his people build a house for him, a place where he will dwell in the midst of his people. Here is where God’s people would gather to offer their worship. “[T]he tabernacle . . . is the place where the people offer their worship to God. It is the palace of the King in which people render Him homage.” (Geerhardus Vos, Biblical theology, p. 168). Later, when God’s people settled in the promised land, the movable Tabernacle was replaced by the larger scale Temple. But both buildings fell short of the reality they represented. Haggai comforted those rebuilding the Temple after the Babylonian exile, that the glory of that house would be greater than that of Solomon’s Temple. Jesus pointed to himself, or better, himself with his people for whom he would die and rise again, as the true Temple. God no longer has a tent, a wooden framework covered with embroidered linen, or a stone building lined with cedar and covered with gold, as the place where he meets us. Rather his Temple is made of living stones. The church corporately and believers individually are, by the Spirit, the dwelling place of God. And it finds its full development in the perfection of the new heavens and earth, the magnificent garden city, like the Most Holy Place, forming a cube. Continue reading →

Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper at his final celebration of the Passover with his disciples. The Passover is part of the background for the New Testament sacrament. But the words of institution are actually quoted from Exodus 24. They deal not only with partaking of communion, but also with how you live your daily life.

You are covered by the blood of the covenant. The blood of the covenant covered Israel. The people needed to be consecrated before they could approach the Lord. Here the problem of sin is dealt with by the offering of sacrifices. The animals died in the place of the sinful people. The blood sprinkled on the altar, symbolized God’s forgiveness, his acceptance of the sacrifice. The blood sprinkled on the people shows that even their oath to keep God’s covenant can be kept only as they are covered by the sacrificial blood. There is no place for works salvation here. “Before the blood could act for the benefit of the people it had to do its work with reference to Jehovah, and this could scarcely consist in aught else than to make the prerequisite expiation.” (Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology, p. 139). Continue reading →

The appearance of the Lord at Mount Sinai was not just a temporary visit. Instead he was preparing his people for his continuing presence among them. To that end he had Moses record a summary of his laws in what he called the Book of the Covenant, found in Exodus 20:22—23:33.

Your God has come to you. You need the Book of the Covenant. Though it is possible that some of God’s revelation to his people had been written down earlier, this is the first mention of a book, a book in which God is revealing himself to his people. The Book of the Covenant is mentioned in Exodus 24, as Moses sprinkles blood on it, as well as on the altar and on the people. Apparently this book comes before the engraving of the Ten Words on the tablets of stone. In the covenant God promises to be with his people and to be their God. They are to respond with worship, love, and obedience. This book will be the guide for his people in that relationship. Take time to read Exodus 20:22—23:33. It contains many things, not always in an order that you might expect. It includes quite a few laws, covering many areas of life. The book looks forward to the time when Israel would be in the promised land. That may explain some details that we find hard to understand—God is protecting his people from the idolatrous practices of the Canaanites. It also contains the assurance that God is placing his name on his people. He is having fellowship with them. Continue reading →

Are there things of which you ought properly to be afraid? Are there unreasonable phobias? What role does fear play in your relationship with God? Exodus 20:18-21 describes the fear of the people of Israel when God spoke to them—and the response of Moses. In what may seem (upon a superficial look) to be contradictory, he assures them that they should not be afraid, while, at the same time calling them to the fear of God. How do you, some 3,500 years later, think of God? Are you afraid—or not? Should you be afraid of God?

Do not be afraid. A holy God is someone to fear. The signs on the mountain indicated the presence of a holy God. God must punish sin. His holy nature cannot tolerate sin, Habakkuk 1:13a. With good reason Adam was frightened when God appeared in the Garden after he had sinned. John Murray writes, “When the reason for such dread exists, then to be destitute of it is the sign of hardened ungodliness.” By nature, as sinners, all of us have good reason to be terrified of God. Hebrews 10:31 reminds you that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Continue reading →

“Part of my heart is in _______.” Fill in the blank with the name of a place where you lived, a place that continues to have an impact on your life. Where your heart is includes not just places you have lived, but also shows what is central to your life, as the 10^th Commandment, Exodus 20:17, makes clear.

Don’t defraud. It is not wrong to desire things. God pronounced his creation very good as he entrusted it to Adam and Eve to use to this glory. Sin does not lie in things or wealth. The sin begins when you desire what is your neighbor’s.Today your neighbor may not have a donkey or ox to covet, but the Jaguar or Viper on his driveway may tempt you to break this commandment! The idea that desire in itself is wrong has much more to do with Buddhism (liberty is found in the death of desire), than it does with Biblical Christianity. The world is God’s creation. He has entrusted it to you as his steward. To use and subdue it is a God-glorifying activity. Enjoying the good things God has made can glorify him. Abraham was a very godly man—who was very rich. Desiring wealth can be good, as long as that desire is bound by God’s law, Proverbs 30:8,9; 1 Timothy 5:8; 6:17. Continue reading →