Exodus 12 – God saves Israel from Slavery

Exodus 12:13 NIV

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

I have always wondered what “Passover” meant. In the dictionary it meant the major Jewish spring festival that commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, lasting seven or eight days from the 15th day of Nisan. In other words, it’s the Independence Day for Jews for which the world has adopted. But only now I understood it well.

For many countries in the world, citizens celebrate Independence Days because it meant they can live on their own race without a superior country over them. It is to recognize that they have established themselves separate from other nations with full power over themselves. It has the same concept with the Israelites then. They celebrate it because they are no longer slaves to the Egyptians which by the way last for more than 400 years. But the way it’s different is the way of celebrations. In the Philippines, we expect fireworks, grand celebrations, concerts, events and more. But for the chosen people, it was more of a celebration. These people didn’t fight for their freedom, it was given to them. By the time blood was being shed, they were eating, preparing to leave and worshiping. God has delivered them and all they needed to do was spray the blood of their dinner that night at their door fronts. They simply had to sacrifice a lamb. And during the whole Exodus, despite all the complaints and sins the people had, God still delivered them. They lacked food – God provided. They thirsted – God provided. They had foes on their way – still, God provided. God always provides after Passover. 

And so, Israelites celebrate the Passover not over grand feasts alone but with worship but they didn’t win their freedom by themselves, it was given to them.

Should Passover be exclusive for the Jews alone? At this day it sure isn’t. The New Testament has given Exodus 12:13 an all new meaning. The Lamb was sacrificed and through His blood, once again God has passed over through us. This is the very reason why in prayers, we always claim the Blood of Jesus because it is our redemption. Passover comes to every man who applies the blood of Jesus in their lives, in their homes, in their families. And thus, redemption came to us - an Independence where we are not left alone, but an Independence where we actually get dependence and that is from God. And from that point on in our lives, we face a whole new Exodus where we will be in need. With that, God will provide.

Trust Issues

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

-      John 12:16

You are not expected to understand everything that happens in your life at an instant. Jesus’ disciples thought Jesus was so mysterious that everything He said was a mystery but had deep meanings to it. But apart from that odd thought, they chose to believe Him and follow Him.

This may sound cliché but it’s part of the truth and it’s also part of the very understanding of God’s Grace. Life isn’t fair. But God is. There are things that happen in our life that we truly do not understand. Some things happen beyond our understanding or somehow unexpected, such things which seems to never been a part of our lives. In my instance, I failed my board exam. All throughout my 5-year college life, I always thought I’d nail it. I even dream on topping it. But I ended up failing. Now, God has put me in a foreign land to me. I always hated the idea of living here. But here I am now leaving my family, church, friends behind and facing something I am never sure would be the outcome. I admit that life here isn’t easy. I am expected to exert more effort in all things I did in Baguio. I know I can live independently, but the fact that I am never sure of my own plans in my stay here makes it even more difficult.

Yesterday, God revealed to me His purpose of my stay here. I will know Him better and experience Him in a different way. God wanted me to see a different side of His grace and I can never be thankful of this opportunity. But on the other hand, not knowing concrete plans can be very vexing. But God never fails on giving comfort.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

-      John 14:1-3

Trust in God. It’s so easy to say. But what if your salary comes in short for your daily needs? What if your family back at home needs your support? What about those nights when you’re alone and just really want you friends to be there? What about your ministry in God? How are you supposed to serve Him in a foreign land where you are very much restricted?

        Practically, living independently can be very difficult. But just imagine life in the perspectives of Jesus’ disciples. They all had their own jobs, own family and own business before deciding to do God’s ministry. I’m not saying you do the same, leave school, leave work and just stay in church forever. No. God wants you to live out His glory. Show the world how His grace changed your life so that He can change others who see that as well.

        Evangelism isn’t always about doing cells or reporting every week the people you met or even setting quotas of how many people you will bring to church this week. The main goal of evangelism is showing off God’s glory. Thus, behind all these practical questions in life, you can then say that regardless of all these limitations, you have to serve God through your life.

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.

-      John 12:35

Day 16: Numbers 7-13

Views of the Vision

Mindsets are very important in making life decisions. Often, the Lord shows us or leads us to a way in our life which we often refer to as “Vision”. I believe, even non believers have visions. Visions are concrete pictures. They are inevitable and highly expected in the future. But what makes it a mere vision rather than being The Vision depends on the mindset of a person.

1.      The Positive View

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

-        Numbers 13:30

In the journey of the Israelites to the Promise land, they arrived at a strategy to foresee the land before everyone else gets there. Result was, some of Moses’ men came in with reports. Thing is, they both saw the same thing, the same place, the same situation of the land. But they had different reports.

Optimism is a factor to a better life. Bt I believe, when a vision came from God, optimism has to be evident because note that everything that comes from the Lord is perfect and is meant to either save us or keep us safe in life. This is the beauty of grace.

2.      The Negative View

…we seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.

-        Numbers 13:33

On the other hand, of course some people would oppose those people with the right visions. I remember Pastor Arnold saying. “Ang kalaban ng mga may vision ay ang mga walang vision.” Up until now that rings a bell in my ear. Truly if you had the right vision you would believe and let other people believe this vision. Otherwise, if you didn’t have one or you got it completely wrong, you’d be the one destroying the whole community

The vision is already there. We just have to grab it and understand how perfect and able our God is.

Day 14: Leviticus 21-27

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

-        Leviticus 26:13

COMMAND:

Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest.

-        Leviticus 23:10

~When you reach your dreams that I have planned for you to have, you must devote your first salary to the Kingdom of God and thus it will be your First fruit offering.

Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the Lord.”

-        Leviticus 25:2

~When you reach your dreams that I have planned for you to have, you must still be consistent in your commitment to your ministry and your responsibility as a cell leader.

Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.

-        Leviticus 25:17

~Do not take advantage of the authority that will be given to you soon. Fear God with your license and power. He is your highest authority in life.

PROMISES:

I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and trees of the field their fruit.

-        Leviticus 26:4

~I will make sure that your investments in my kingdom will yield you more success

I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid.

-        Leviticus 26:6

~I will protect you from any dangers in this world

You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you.

-        Leviticus 26:7

~ You will be able to face all your troubles with me.

I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you.

-        Leviticus 26:9

~I will promote you in everything you will do and make you fruitful in your ministry.

You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.

-        Leviticus 26:10

~I will give you more than enough of what you need

I will put my dwelling place among you and will not abhor you

-        Leviticus 26:11

~I will be with you always and never leave you behind

I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people

-        Leviticus 26:12

~ I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my Jully J

WARNING:

If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over

-        Leviticus 26:18

Day 13: Leviticus 14-20

Past vs. Future

You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.

-        Leviticus 18:3

PAST: You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live

               Before we have totally dedicated ourselves to God, sin has always been a part of our lifestyle in the past. It may be dominant or quiescent or we just never really recognized it until God corrected us in the present.

               Thing about following Christ is to really leave the past behind and to learn from it. In our journey of knowing and experiencing God’s grace in our everyday lives, we grasp that we’re also in a process of learning from our times of yore and leaving it behind. Thus, it must be clear that whatever is in the past must not be a part of our future.

               Otherwise, the past destroys our future.

FUTURE:  you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.

               God will definitely put me in such a place that I have been preparing for years. In the present, God puts us in a training ground to put in order to us for our future, which He has flawlessly planned already. Thing is, the promise land isn’t always the end of every journey. Even if God did gives us what our heart desires, it doesn’t mean that the battle stops there. Sometimes, endings are the start of new beginnings. Thus, however authentic we are to God in the present, such authenticity must level up to that future.

               In the present, God is preparing us for enormity. And when we reach that greatness, we must then be able to face it as if it’s a new battle field. Nevertheless, we must always keep in heart that the Lord has given it to us and that He’ll never leave our side.

Day 12: Leviticus 5-13

The Form of the Offering

The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

-        Leviticus 6:13

I have been trying to guess what these different offering God meant but the Lord has given me a broader view of offerings. First off, what is an offering? In the times of Moses, God specifically gave instructions about what and how these offerings are to be presented. I can just imagine myself bringing a dead cow in the church when I sin (LOL). But of course, since money has been invented in our generation, we have to see things monetarily. But more than that, the Lord have also specifically described the manner of offering.

1.      It must be clean

The Lord has enlisted a couple of animals that are allowed to be eaten and to be offered. As to our generation, how can money be clean? I interpreted it this way. The offering that we have to give must be ours. It must not be stolen, it must not be borrowed. It must come in plain for the Lord.

2.      It must be pure

The word “fat” and “blood” has been used in the passages for a couple of times. So how do we make our offerings pure? Simple, it is seen in our hearts, in our own intentions. We cannot give to the kingdom with an unwilling heart. We can’t give out of compromise, out of a condition for our own self. We must give for the fact that the Lord owns us, thus He owns everything we have.

3.      It must be slaughtered in front of the Lord

The people in the time of Moses could have just given their offerings dead already but why did God require it to be alive and be slaughtered in His presence? Because God knew what was gonna happen in our century. We must not hold a string towards our offerings. Sometimes people treat money as if it has life that it multiplies, it flies, and it disappears on its own. But we have to kill that perception for money. We must see it not as something we lost but we gained.

4.      It must be burned

Once the offerings are made in the Temple, the priests must burn them afterwards. Thus, when we give our offerings to the altar, we must then treat it as holy not as an expenditure.

Day 10: Exodus 29-35

Why is God a jealous God?

“Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.”

-        Exodus 20:23

This character of our god has always been confusing for some Christians; in fact, even those who have strong faith can’t always briefly explain this matter.

God, being a jealous God, actually compliments his character as a loving and merciful God.  It might not be as accurate as I imagine it to be but we can just put it this way. God and the enemy may have had a treaty where a person who worships anyone should be subject to whom or what it worships.

See, when Satan was named as the “king of the world”, it meant, anything that can be against the Lord is his’. For example, money, which is the common source of worship for pagans, happened to be under the enemy’s dominion. Thus, without further explanation, anyone who worship’s money is subject to the enemy and not to God.

Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.

-        Genesis 23:13

When God said that He was a jealous God, that meant He wanted you to be His’ and Him to be yours. It was actually an act of grace. Thus, with that thought, we must be very conscious of our priorities. Does God top it all? Is God always number 1 in your list or orders?

If we worship other people or things in this world other than Him, we deviate ourselves from god’s promises in life. But if we did receive God in our lives and prioritize Him over all, then, we receive His grace every day.

“Worship the Lord you god, and His blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry of be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.”

-        Exodus 23:25-26

Why God does require us of offerings when He owns everything?

“Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.”

-        Exodus 25:1

God created this world, even man, of course God owns everything. Even our lives. But because of His love and Grace, He gave us possession of His creation. The best example for this is our own lives.

In business, anyone who created or innovated something is the presumed owner of such thing, unless it is further sold to someone else. God never sold His creation to anyone. Nevertheless, He appointed man to rule over His creation. But that didn’t mean we own them. We are merely the possessors. In more concrete term, we are just care takers of His creation.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

-        Genesis 2:15

In business law, we have this Disputable presumption that anyone who bears possession of a thing is the owner of the thing. But the beauty of law is seen here. This is only a Disputable presumption. Why? As my Law Reviewer said, the Law of State respects the Law of God. Thus, this being a disputable presumption, we therefore derive the fact that the possessor won’t necessarily be the owner.

Bottom line is, anything we have right now is not of our own ownership. We are merely possessors of it.

Now, to answer the question, why do God requires us to, as I may give it as a term, return to Him what he requires us to return? Does He need it? What will he do with it? Give it to the poor?

Answer:

God owns everything, He doesn’t need it. But we do. We need to give it to Him.

Why? Because He loves us.

How’s that a basis?

1.      To refrain ourselves from the warning of the above topic/question

2.      To make ourselves selfless and be more transparent and/or submissive to God

3.      To be even more blessed

Day 9: Exodus 20-28

Why is God a jealous God?

“Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.”

-        Exodus 20:23

This character of our god has always been confusing for some Christians; in fact, even those who have strong faith can’t always briefly explain this matter.

God, being a jealous God, actually compliments his character as a loving and merciful God.  It might not be as accurate as I imagine it to be but we can just put it this way. God and the enemy may have had a treaty where a person who worships anyone should be subject to whom or what it worships.

See, when Satan was named as the “king of the world”, it meant, anything that can be against the Lord is his’. For example, money, which is the common source of worship for pagans, happened to be under the enemy’s dominion. Thus, without further explanation, anyone who worship’s money is subject to the enemy and not to God.

Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.

-        Genesis 23:13

When God said that He was a jealous God, that meant He wanted you to be His’ and Him to be yours. It was actually an act of grace. Thus, with that thought, we must be very conscious of our priorities. Does God top it all? Is God always number 1 in your list or orders?

If we worship other people or things in this world other than Him, we deviate ourselves from god’s promises in life. But if we did receive God in our lives and prioritize Him over all, then, we receive His grace every day.

“Worship the Lord you god, and His blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry of be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.”

-        Exodus 23:25-26

Why God does require us of offerings when He owns everything?

“Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.”

-        Exodus 25:1

God created this world, even man, of course God owns everything. Even our lives. But because of His love and Grace, He gave us possession of His creation. The best example for this is our own lives.

In business, anyone who created or innovated something is the presumed owner of such thing, unless it is further sold to someone else. God never sold His creation to anyone. Nevertheless, He appointed man to rule over His creation. But that didn’t mean we own them. We are merely the possessors. In more concrete term, we are just care takers of His creation.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

-        Genesis 2:15

In business law, we have this Disputable presumption that anyone who bears possession of a thing is the owner of the thing. But the beauty of law is seen here. This is only a Disputable presumption. Why? As my Law Reviewer said, the Law of State respects the Law of God. Thus, this being a disputable presumption, we therefore derive the fact that the possessor won’t necessarily be the owner.

Bottom line is, anything we have right now is not of our own ownership. We are merely possessors of it.

Now, to answer the question, why do God requires us to, as I may give it as a term, return to Him what he requires us to return? Does He need it? What will he do with it? Give it to the poor?

Answer:

God owns everything, He doesn’t need it. But we do. We need to give it to Him.

Why? Because He loves us.

How’s that a basis?

1.      To refrain ourselves from the warning of the above topic/question

2.      To make ourselves selfless and be more transparent and/or submissive to God

3.      To be even more blessed

Genesis 5-6: Perks of being a Man of God

¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

MESSAGE:

Imagine Noah’s generation compared to ours. Well of course we’re not the only ones whom God have seen favor, but think of it as a micro societal way. In some places, in some circumstances, you are a Noah. I am a Noah in my group of friends. I can be a Noah in my high school batch mates, etc. you see, there are times when you are the only one who can stand with your faith and be favored upon by the Lord. This chapter has revealed to me one of the perks of being God’s daughter.

PROMISE:

When you are favored, people connected to you will also be favored. The bible didn’t mention if Noah’s family also had great faith as he did. But they are Noah’s family. God’s grace always has extensions because He is limitless. He knew that if He’d only save Noah, it would bring much happiness to Noah that much. He needed to bring his love ones.

COMMAND:

Salvation can be brought to his family if he brings them to the ark. Salvation is free but it has to have a will. In the end, of course Noah’s family was saved, because Noah brought them to the ark. In life, we have to bring people to our ark as well. Remember, you are God’s extension of Grace.

Genesis 4: Mercy

⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Message:

Being a perfectionist can be tiring at times. You just have to do what is right all the time. In the bible, Cain really didn’t do wrong at his offering. He was working on the grounds; of course the produce would be his offering not that of Abel. But God didn’t see favor on this instead He was teaching Cain a lesson. But he hindered it, and God saw right through it. He committed a sin over his imperfection. Then envy was brought out.

Command:

In Christian living, we tend to be Cain at itmes. There are instances when we don’t please our leader. Or we disappoint ourselves for failing a promise to God. But we don’t always intend to be wrong. An unintentional mistake is not wrong. We are to learn from that mistake and keep ourselves strong to sin. Often when these things happens to us, we turn our backs to God, or blame other people. It is so luike Cain, only this generation’s version. But like what God has said, it is our choice, we must rule over sin.

Promise:

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Not so^[e]; anyone who kills Cainwill suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

God is the God of forgiveness. He could have thrown Cain out of Hs land and let him be killed by all the danger brought about the outside. But no. Cain knew what was gonna happen. He didn’t even ask for God’s mercy, but God was too forgiving that he still protected Cain upon his exile. Same thing happens to us. Upon the consequence of our sin, God is still with us. Forever, He is.

Genesis 2

Message:

²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam^[f] no suitable helper was found. 

“Suitable”  

-Right or appropriate for a particular person, purpose, or situation

-fit - appropriate - proper - fitting – convenient

                I am 20 years old. I did experience a couple of relationships and relationship messes. I may be too young to discuss on this aspect but Wisdom comes n maturity and it is a process. God has given us the Word to learn from it and then earn maturity through Wisdom.

                Moving on…

                It has been specified in the bible how it was purposely intended that men and women are to be partners in life. Clearly the Lord has given the man a choice of who to be with in the rest of his existence but the Lord knew the man’s heart. He understood the situation precisely and has given the man the “suitable” partner-woman. Given the precise definition of the word “suitable”, it is indeed crucial and at the same time mysterious to be one’s partner. One has to be “appropriate” or “fit” to be one’s partner, meaning, it is not randomly chosen depending merely on emotions, likes, and all else. On the other hand, if we are to consider solely on finding a “suitable” partner, it can be very frustrating and can turn one into a perfectionist. I say, we should relate more in the bible and prayer.

If in Genesis, God has given Adam Eve, then He can definitely bring us our suitable partner as well.

Command:

Wait for the Lord.

Promise:

He knows exactly who you need.

Genesis 1

MESSAGE:

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Level 1:  Birth

When we, life, started to exist, everything seems to be broad. In one’s life, this can last during their childhood or some never really advanced to this level. This is the part of one’s life when a goal or a future is never really clear. As for a child, for example, they just keep on living in their present lives. Like, today they’ll play and tomorrow they will go to school and the next day they will be having a test, with all this in mind, they wouldn’t think of getting married, or having a profession. Point is, though they are living their life, to them, in a very meaningful extent, life is still pointless. Thing is, most people now are in this stage. Maturity does not mean getting insurance, or passing the board exam, or even getting into marriage. Life’s meaning, as described by our Christian faith is way more than that.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Level 2:  Acceptance

Going further in the book of Genesis, we learned that Adam and Eve gained enough knowledge to realize they were naked after they have been tempted. That is also an illustration of what chapter one makes. Everyone goes through this stage. When we were children, we are curious about almost everything. About where we came from, about how we were made, stuff like that. same thing goes through our spiritual lives. There will come a time when we start asking ourselves about life after death, if heaven and hell was really, about who Jesus Christ really was. This can be a very tricky level because the human brain can be very complex that we can be deceived by our own perceptions. It may come to a point where an unbeliever might ask, if God wanted people to believe in Him, why wouldn’t He just magically change people’s minds? Answer: He is way too generous to do that. he freely gave us free will that we can believe what we want to believe. God created light. Many times in our life, God always shows us that light, that opportunity to actually know Him, the Truth. But many people refuse the light. But hey! The whole earth embraced the light, why wouldn’t you?

⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.”

Level 3:  Salvation

After passing through level 2, salvation should be the product. Accepting the light would mean knowing the fact that you are separated from God because of sin which is illustrated by the sky. Looking up, we can imagine how far till we reach the sky as we are on the ground. But we should take in heart that prayer takes us closer to Him. Those who still think that God hide beyond the sky or space lack faith. But for us Christian, we know by heart that though waters above and under has been separated, our hearts are closer to Him when we pray.

²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 

Level 4: Multiplication

There is a fact that many Christians nowadays are stuck at level 3. They enjoy the blessings of being a believer. They live their lives in the promise the Lord has bestowed upon us BUT many lack conviction. They have accomplished LOVING GOD but many forget the other command, that is, LOVING PEOPLE. Why do missionaries exist? Why are there a lot of churches abroad spending lots of expenses just to go around the globe to preach the gospel? It is because of the hope of multiplication. Our Christian living must not end in blessing ourselves, our families our friends but also blessing other people as well. Salvation was not brought for His people for only those who know it. It is for everyone. And as Christians we must be disciples as well. We don’t keep the Truth for ourselves but for the World to know.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Level 5:  Discipleship

Every believer is a leader. It is clear that this is our destiny. We lead people to God. We lead people to faith. And we lead people to lead other people as well.

In the end, God has created us in His own image. That doesn’t only mean physically but also reflects godliness that every believers, leaders, disciples must have.

COMMAND:  ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule overthe fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

PROMISE:  ²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.