One of my friends posted this cartoon about John 10:27 on their facebook page yesterday. The message in it seems quite applicable in our “always on” society. If we don’t take time to listen to God, it can be awfully hard to hear him over all the “noise” of day to day distractions.
| 4:1 | Fear God Lest we come short and miss the rest of salvation |
| 4:11 | Be Diligent to Enter God’s Rest Lest anyone fall according to disobedience. |
| 4:14 | Hold Fast to Our Confession because our High priest can sympathize with us in our weakness |
| 4:16 | Approach the throne of grace with confidence So we can receive mercy and grace and help when we need it |
| 6:1 | Press on to Maturity Leaving the elementary teachings of Christ |
| 10:22 | Draw Near to God w/ a sincere, cleansed heart in faith |
| 10:23 | Hold fast to our Hope because he who promised is faithful |
| 10:24 | Consider one Another in order to stir up love and good works |
| 10:25 | Keep Meeting & Encouraging Each Other |
| 12:1 | Lay Aside Sin and Run With Endurance since we have such a great cloud of witnesses |
| 12:2 | Fix our Eyes on Jesus |
| 12:28 | Be Thankful and Worship God Since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom |
| 13:13 | Go to Him outside the camp bearing his reproach |
| 13:15 | Offer up a sacrifice of praise with our lips by giving thanks to His name |
I came across this interesting comparison of parallels between Joseph and Jesus. Some great food for thought.
Joseph and Jesus Compared
- Joseph was a shepherd
- Jesus was our Shepherd
- Joseph was a beloved son
- Jesus was a beloved Son
- Joseph was stripped of his tunic
- Jesus was stripped of His tunic
- Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver by Judah
- Jesus was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver by Judas
- Joseph was abandoned by his brothers
- Jesus was abandoned by His disciples
- Joseph was falsely accused of crime
- Jesus was falsely accused of crime
- Joseph was imprisoned with two criminals, one of whom would be released
- Jesus was crucified with two criminals, one of whom would be saved
- Joseph was became ruler of all the land
- Jesus was became King of heaven
- Joseph provided food to hungry people
- Jesus provided food to hungry people
- Joseph was reunited with his brothers, who bowed down to him
- Jesus was reunited with His disciples, who worshiped Him
- Joseph was reunited with his father
- Jesus was reunited with the Father in Him
Rev 1:6 He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
“He has made us to be a kingdom” The greek word for kingdom, basileia, is in reference to the right or authority to rule over a kingdom, ie. that we are conferred royal power and dignity. There is a subtle difference between being granted the authority to rule and actually being the king. Basileia can also mean “a kingdom, a territory subject to the rule of a king”, ie: even though we are conferred royal power and dignity, we are still subject to the rule of the ultimate King, Jesus! A kingdom has a lot of people in it, it has power, force, sovereignty. He did not make us into a “support group”, he has given us real power. He has given us a piece of his royal lineage.
“priests to His God and Father” In the old testament, priests were the only ones who had access to God; in Hebrews, this priesthood is expanded to all believers under the new covenant. The significance, thus, of Him making us priests forever is that we will have eternal access to God.
“…to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever” This is emphasizing eternity. This is not a side hobby or something you will retire from. You will not be voted “off the island” based on performance or popularity. Your identity is secure.
“Pharaoh and his soldiers were cruel men, bent on destroying God’s people. Was it not right for God to punish evil men for killing innocent children? It was especially appropriate for them to die by drowning because they had once tried to drown the children of Israel in the Nile. What happened to them at the Red Sea was divine retribution. These men deserved to be punished for their sins. And God is glorified when he judges people for their sins because this displays his divine attribute of justice” -Rykin
“A person could not simply come from any direction into the tabernacle as he pleased — he had to enter through the one gate, which was always located to the east (so that people were facing west when they entered the tabernacle — a direct opposition to the pagan sun worshippers of the day who always faced east).” – the-tabernacle-place.com See Ez. 8:16-18
“The Bible has two chapters on creation and 50 chapters on the tabernacle. Why don’t we teach it more?” – the-tabernacle-place.com
“The detailed commands that God gave the Israelites for the setting up of the tabernacle demonstrate to us God’s holiness — in order for sinful man to approach a holy God, he must come to God in God’s own prescribed way, and no other way.” – the-tabernacle-place.com
Another amazing symbol surrounding Christ’s death is the tearing of the temple curtain from top to bottom. That event is meaningless unless we understand why the curtain was there in the first place and what exactly it was separating — a holy God from sinful man. To see that, we need to be able to visualize the physical layout of the temple. And the origin of the temple itself is difficult to explain apart from its prototype — the mobile tabernacle given to the Israelites in the wilderness.” – the-tabernacle-place.com
“why is Jesus so often referred to as our “high priest” in the New Testament? Invariably, you are forced to go back to the tabernacle to explain the nature and purpose of the priesthood.” – the-tabernacle-place.com
“Its physical structure, ‘a copy and shadow of heavenly things’ (Hebrews 8:5), teaches us spiritual lessons about eternal truths.” – the-tabernacle-place.com
“For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.” (Hebrews 9:24)
Sig. of only one gate & tall outer walls… to approach God you have to do it God’s prescribed way, and no other way.
TEN’ON , n. [L. teneo, to hold.] In building and cabinet work, the end of a piece of timber, which is fitted to a mortise for insertion, or inserted, for fastening two pieces of timber together. (Websters)
By using this type of connector, common in traditional Chinese architecture, the boards could interlock with perfect fit, without requiring glues or fasteners, and allows the wood to expand or contract according to humidity.
Tenon (in Hebrew יד or yad) means hands. It also has many figurative uses, such as describing someone who would be a right-hand man (assistant) or in the hand of (in the custody of). The only place in the bible that yad is translated as tenon is in the tabernacle description in Exodus (26:17,19 and 36:22,24).
“Exo 26:19 You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards: two sockets under each of the boards for its two tenons [hands].”
Yad occurs 1536 times in the old testament, and only four of those times is it translated tenon, all four of those times being in the context of describing the tabernacle construction in Exodus 26 and 36. Most of the time, yad means hands, or the work of the hands.
Yad also appears to have a less frequent secondary meaning as an edge, border, or boundary. The “coasts” of Cypress (Num 24:24) and the “side” of the great River Tigris (Dan 10:4) are also uses of yad.
Rev 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
Great thoughts on being free to worship God despite our sin by Jon Courson:
When a Jewish person went to the temple to worship, he would bring a lamb to offer on the altar. After careful examination by the priest, if the lamb was found to be without spot or blemish, the worshiper could worship confidently. You see, the priest never inspected the person—only the lamb. Satan will try to whisper in your ear, “You’re blemished. You’ve dropped the ball. You haven’t been a woman of prayer. You haven’t been a man of integrity. You can’t worship. You can’t talk to the Father. You can’t be blessed.”
But he’s wrong. At the temple, the priests didn’t inspect the worshiper. They inspected the lamb. The same is true of you and me. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” declared John the Baptist—which is why three days before His crucifixion, Jesus Himself was scrutinized as the scribes and Pharisees, Sadducees, and Greeks questioned His theology, His morality, and His integrity (Matthew 22). Pilate’s declaration that he found no fault in Jesus meant He passed even their inspection perfectly.” -Jon Courson
“The laws outlined in Leviticus 19 and their equivalents in Deuteronomy have a whole range of community laws that are about protecting the weakest in society and restraining the most powerful.” -Ash Barker (Making Poverty Personal)
