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Psalm 1—Blessing on Those who Delight in God’s Law

April 17, 2020 By Peter Krol

After the governor of the commonwealth in which I reside issued a stay-at-home order for my county, I began a series of 10-minute daily devotionals in the Psalms for the people in my church. Each morning, those who are available log in to the web conference and hear me speak briefly about a psalm’s structure, train of thought, main point, connection to Christ, and application to the current situation. Then we pray together and go about our day.

I’ve greatly benefitted from this daily study of a psalm, so I’d like to share the fruit of it with you. Perhaps these videos will encourage you in whatever you’re facing through this unusual season. Maybe they’ll strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus who wrote and spoke the Psalms. Maybe they’ll give you examples of how OIA Bible study methods can be quite straightforward and personal. I’ll begin posting them here daily, and we’ll see how far the Lord allows us to go into the book.

Last week, I wrote an overview of the Book of Psalms, which provides foundational information that I’ll frequently tap into as I explain each psalm. Now here is my devotional on Psalm 1.

April 1, 2020 Devotional – Psalm 1
April 1 Devotional – Psalm 1Posted by Grace Fellowship Church of State College on Wednesday, April 1, 2020

For reference:

Psalm 1—Blessing on those who delight in God’s law

verses 1-2: Who is blessed
3-4: How he is blessed
5-6: Why he is blessed

Note: After the first few videos, my sound equipment and screen sharing software will improve.

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A Typically Overlooked Reason to Trust the Bible

April 15, 2020 By Peter Krol

Michael Kruger explains one of the most important reasons we can trust the Bible, a reason that often doesn’t come up in discussion about the Bible. That reason we can trust the Bible is simply because Jesus trusted the Bible.

Now, of course, Christians don’t overlook Jesus generally. He is central to about everything Christians think and do. But, strangely, he is not often the ultimate court of appeal when they are deciding what to think about the Bible. But, just a few moments of reflection suggest he should be.

Kruger explains briefly why it is not a fallacy to argue from the Bible that Jesus trusted the Bible, and he goes on to draw implications for the value of the Old Testament.

Check it out!

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Context Matters: Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing

April 13, 2020 By Ryan Higginbottom

Perhaps you’ve heard that no one can do anything apart from Jesus. You may have been told this saying refers to our complete reliance upon God. Or, you may have read this phrase during leadership or evangelism training, urging your frequent communication with Jesus.

Context matters. When we learn to read the Bible in context—not just as a collection of memorable phrases—we’ll find that some familiar verses take on richer and deeper meanings.

The Vine and the Branches

The phrase “apart from me you can do nothing” is just a portion of John 15:5. This is part of a long conversation Jesus has with his disciples on the evening of the Last Supper, after Judas departs (John 13:30). Jesus tells them he is the vine and his father is the vinedresser (John 15:1); God takes away branches that do not bear fruit, and he prunes every fruit-bearing branch (John 15:2).

Because of their parallel nature, we need to read John 15:4 and John 15:5 together.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4–5)

In the immediate context, “you can do nothing” is related to “bear[ing] fruit” and “apart from me” stands opposite to “abide in me and I in him.” We cannot know Jesus’s full meaning in John 15:5 without understanding “abiding” and “bearing fruit.”

Abiding

In one way, the metaphor of the vine and branches makes clear the meaning of “abide.” Branches draw nourishment and life from the vine; without that connection, they die.

Abiding in Jesus is not an extra level of discipleship—it is essential! He is life itself; anyone who does not abide in Jesus is thrown away like a branch from the vine and burned (John 15:6).

Abiding in Jesus is also connected to both Jesus’s words and his love. If anyone abides in Jesus, his words abide in them, and their prayers will be answered (John 15:7). Jesus tells the disciples not just to abide in him but to abide in his love (John 15:9). He then explains what this means—if the disciples keep Jesus’s commandments, they will abide in his love (John 15:10). Jesus teaches this not as a burdensome duty but so their joy will be full (John 15:11).

We should also notice the similarity between the words “abide” and “abode,” or dwelling. Unfortunately, some translations obscure this link. Jesus is going to prepare a place for his disciples in his father’s house (dwelling); he wants them to be where he is (John 14:2–3). He speaks of his connection with the father as “the father abiding in me” (John 14:10, NASB). Throughout this discourse, Jesus’s relationship with his disciples shares many features of his relationship with his father.

Any disciple that wants to bear fruit must abide in Jesus and Jesus must abide in them (John 15:5). This mutual abiding, along with the other context summarized above, points to a unity, knowledge, obedience, and love that is life-sustaining and supernatural.

Bearing Fruit

As with abiding, bearing fruit goes hand-in-hand with following Jesus. Jesus says that bearing fruit is the way a person proves to be a disciple (John 15:8). In the metaphor of the vine and branches, bearing fruit is what normal, healthy branches do.

If anyone loves Jesus, they will keep his commandments (John 14:15), and thus we see a connection between bearing fruit and keeping Jesus’s commands. Jesus knows that we need help in this calling, which is why he promises to send “another helper”—the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). The Spirit abides with the disciples and will be in them (John 14:17, NASB).

We see this essential link between love, obedience, and the presence of God in John 14:23.

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 abode with him.” (John 14:23, NASB)

So bearing fruit is a Spirit-powered yet normal part of being a disciple of Jesus. And it happens as we abide in, love, and obey Jesus.

Abide in Him

Apart from Jesus we can do nothing. When we read this verse in context we see that Jesus is not primarily warning against self-reliance nor dismissing the contributions of non-Christians. Yes, he is drawing a sharp line between those who follow him and those who do not. But this is a call to life.

Those connected to the vine are animated by the life-giving Spirit, and they are fruit-bearing by nature. Apart from the vine, there is no nutrition, no life, no fruit.

Context matters.

For more examples of why context matters, click here.

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Psalms: The Blessing of God’s Word and King

April 10, 2020 By Peter Krol

While most book overviews are written with a view toward observation (summarizing or outlining what is said), I would like to present a series of overviews with a view toward interpretation (summarizing or outlining why it is said). I will walk through not simply the contents but the argument of each book. I will not cover every book, but only those I have spent enough time in to believe I have something to say.

This post brings us to the book of Psalms.

Literary Divisions

The Book of Psalms has a straightforward and obvious structure, which, until only the last few years, I had trained myself to completely ignore. But I have come to see how fundamental this structure is to the message of the book.

Many editions of the Bible identify the structure with the headings “Book One,” “Book Two,” and so forth, up to “Book Five.” These divisions are of ancient origin and ought to be taken seriously as we study the book.

Book 1 = Psalms 1-41
Book 2 = Psalms 42-72
Book 3 = Psalms 73-89
Book 4 = Psalms 90-106
Book 5 = Psalms 107-150

Confirmation of the Five-Book Structure Within the Text

Some Jewish rabbis believed this five-book division was meant to be parallel to the five books of Moses. In this way, they held up the Psalms as being nearly as important as the law of Moses. They saw this collection of poems painting a picture of the lives and community of the people in covenant with Yahweh.

This five-book structure is reinforced within the book itself by means of doxologies at the end of each book. These statements of praise burst out and punctuate the end of the book. Sometimes, they don’t even fit directly with the poems they follow. Just look at the last verses of the last psalms in each book.

Book 1 (Ps 41:13):

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.

Book 2 (Ps 72:18-19):

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory!
Amen and Amen!

Book 3 (Ps 89:52):

Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.

Book 4 (Ps 106:48):

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!

Book 5 draws out its ending beyond a brief doxology. Did you notice how the doxologies quoted above all focus on blessing Yahweh, the God of Israel? Psalm 145 appears to conclude the body of Book 5 by picking up on that idea of blessing the name of Yahweh as the theme of the entire poem. Notice how it begins (Ps 145:1-3) and ends (Ps 145:21) with this idea.

That poem therefore transitions into the five-poem conclusion (Psalms 146-150), where each of the psalms begin and end with a command to praise Yahweh: “Hallelujah!”—translated as “Praise the LORD!” (Ps 146:1, 10; 147:1, 20, etc.).

How the New Testament Uses the Psalms

The Book of Psalms is the Old Testament book most quoted in the New Testament. Psalms are directly quoted (with a formula such as “it is written”) 68 times.

Of those 68 citations, only 14 occurrences refer to the life experiences of God’s people, putting the words of the songs and prayers of the Psalms on the lips of the people themselves. And of those 14 citations, 6 are found in Romans 3:10-18, where Paul stitches together a selection of quotations involving sinful body parts into a composite picture of sinful humanity under the judgment of God’s law. So at most, we could say that there are only 8 times when the New Testament quotes the Psalms the way we usually quote the Psalms: as songs or prayers of the people of God.

So, besides those 8 times when people are singing or praying the psalms directly, and the 6 times when they describe the sinful estate of humanity, we’re left with 54 times when the Psalms are quoted and directly applied to the person or work of Jesus Christ, acting as a representative of his Father in heaven.

Sometimes, the words of the Psalms are put right on the lips of Jesus Christ. An obvious example is found when Jesus hung on the cross and cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps 22:1). But there are numerous less-memorable examples as well (Heb 2:11-12 quoting Ps 22:22, Rom 15:8-9 quoting Ps 18:49).

Jesus himself puts a psalm in his own mouth when he describes what he will say on the day of judgment to those who think they had done mighty works in his name: “Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt 7:23 alluding to Ps 6:8).

So as we read the Psalms, we must first of all see the Lord Jesus in every poem. Some of the poems are about him. Others pave the way for him. And many of these poems anticipate his own experiences. When we read “I” and “me” in the Psalms, we ought not to think first of ourselves as the “I.” More often than not, we ought to think of the Lord Jesus as the “I.” Yes, we can sing and pray these poems. But above all, the New Testament tells us that Jesus sings and prays these poems as he goes about the work his Father has appointed for him to do.

In writing this, I’m not setting up a dichotomy, as though we can’t or shouldn’t sing or pray the Psalms ourselves. Of course we should! I’m only saying that the reason we sing and pray the Psalms is not because they resonate with our experience. We sing and pray the Psalms because they resonate with Jesus’ experience. And we have been so closely united to Christ through faith, and by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, that we can’t help but share his experience. We suffer with him so we may be glorified with him (Rom 8:17). God has called us to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom 8:29).

So we sing and pray the Psalms because our Lord Jesus sings and prays the Psalms. We who believe are in him.

How All This Impacts Our Interpretation of the Psalms

Psalms 1 and 2 serve as an introduction to the book, pronouncing a blessing on all who delight in God’s word (Ps 1:1-2) and take refuge in God’s king (Ps 2:12). These twin themes—God’s word and God’s king—are the guiding principles of the rest of the poems in this book.

Book 1 takes place during the reign of David (almost every poem here is attributed to him). This collection shows the king facing tremendous opposition. This collection has proportionally more laments and requests for help than later books. And at the book’s center, we find twin reflections on—you guessed it—God’s word (Ps 19) and God’s king (Ps 20).

Book 2 begins to move past David, as the first set of poems are written by other poets (Psalms 42-50). These poems get us looking beyond David for a king who will unite all nations in worship of Yahweh. The collection concludes with a poem attributed to Solomon (Psalm 72), describing the earth-wide reign of a king to come who is greater than David.

Books 3 and 4 take place during the exile in Babylon. Many of these poems lament the desolation of the promised land and the sanctuary. In this collection, the people wrestle with the fact that their king is absent and appears to have been defeated. Book 3 ends with a direct appeal to God: Have you forgotten your promises to David (Psalm 89)?

Book 4 shows a renewed servant-king who leads the people to remember God’s perfect law, even while they’re still scattered abroad. This collection ends with lessons from Israel’s history (Psalm 106) and a desire to see God one day restore his people in their land (Ps 106:4-5).

Book 5 ends on a triumphant note. The once-rejected king has now risen up in victory to celebrate Yahweh’s enduring covenant love back in the land of promise (Ps 118, 136). This book was likely compiled after the people had returned from Babylon and had rejuvenated their festivals and sacrifices. As I mentioned earlier, this collection concludes the entire Book with commands to praise the Lord (“Hallelujah!”). The book’s last word is: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (Ps 150:6).

Conclusion

So the Book of Psalms is really the memoirs (written in advance) of God’s Messiah, the Chosen King of the Jews. His memoirs tell the story of the entire people of Israel. He lives out their story in his own life. And from where we stand, looking back, we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. We live our lives united to his. This is why the apostles looked so often to the Psalms when they wanted to explain the work of Jesus Christ. And this is why the Psalms are rightfully beloved by each generation of believers in Christ down to the present time.

For expansion on the ideas in this post, I recommend Psalms 1-41: Rejoice the Lord is King by James Johnston, the overview article on Psalms by James Hely Hutchinson in the NIV Proclamation Bible, and the Bible Project video on the Psalms. I am indebted to all three works in the shaping of my thinking for this post.

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Maintaining Both Human and Divine Aspects of Scripture

April 8, 2020 By Peter Krol

Daniel Rowlands has a helpful piece about how to maintain both the human and divine aspects of Scripture. When we aim to read Scripture “in context,” we must keep in mind both the immediate literary/historical context of the human author and the canonical context of the divine author.

In each place there is the immediate context, but there is a broader context—the context of the entire revelation of God contained in the Bible. There are different human authors (i.e. Moses, Hosea, and Matthew), yet there is one divine author—God himself. There is an immediate context, and there is an overall biblical context—the overarching story of God’s mighty acts of redemption in Christ Jesus.

We do not have to choose between these matters in our study of Scripture. We ought to maintain both.

Check it out!

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Celebrating a Season of Intense Bible Reading

April 3, 2020 By Peter Krol

We just completed our 2020 Bible reading challenge. Congratulations to all who participated, even if you didn’t make it all the way through, I trust this season of voluminous Bible reading was beneficial to you.

Congratulations to our grand prize winner, Barbara J., and our second prize winner, Kevin C. And congratulations to all 38 who completed the challenge and submitted entries to the drawing. Here are some of the things people had to say about the experience:

It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be.
When doing a year-long read-through, I was only reading a few chapters a day and tended to forget what I read the previous day. Reading big chunks like this made it much easier to see themes, repeated terms, and to connect books to books. I found more of an emotional connection as well, which surprised me. Lamentations moved me more because I had so recently read of Jeremiah’s ministry. Reading Isaiah and the other Old Testament prophets this way was a powerful experience.
This is my third year in this reading challenge. I can’t wait until next year’s challenge. [Perhaps the fourth year will be the year of the prize for you! – PJK] I have commented in the past years that I find reading the narratives rather easy but got lost in Isaiah’s poetry. This year was different. Isaiah actually started flowing much easier for me. I also noticed that reading the Gospels (all four in nine days!) I started noticing the differences more readily. I already knew that each Gospel author shapes similar scenes for their own purpose but this year I noticed that Matthew in recording the scene with the Sadducees about the resurrection didn’t record Jesus reminding them of Moses standing at the burning bush like Mark and Luke. I think that reading the whole Bible in 90 days allows me to see the depth of its riches in ways that small bites do not.
I cried big ugly tears the day I finished, God has changed me into a Bible reader and I never thought I could be.
I didn’t think I would be able to do it … I have to admit that because this is BY FAR the quickest I have read through the Bible, I did not retain as much, but I plan on doing a 90-day plan at least once a year moving forward. It also gives me confidence that I can read the Bible aloud to my family and it not take a lifetime!
Loved it, as always. It’s a great habit on multiple levels (set the tone for the year, jump start general reading for the year, reminds of the framework of the Bible for sermon prep and general study, etc.) I will probably do this at the beginning of each year forever.
This has consistently been one of the most useful things for my faith at the beginning of each year.
It was great to see the witness of Scripture to God’s long suffering character and desire for obedience. I have been wrestling with my understanding of Spiritual gifts, and to read all the epistles quickly gave me a great sense of the emphasis of God’s will on obedience and love.

Now, of course, not everyone is bursting at the seams with enthusiasm. This is not for everyone. I appreciate the honesty I received from those who gave it a try but decided it wasn’t for them:

It was a bit too much reading at one time and I would have to constantly refocus because my mind would start to wander. But not being in any one book for very long kept things interesting.
I didn’t like it mainly because I like to stop and meditate on what I just read/listened to from scripture.

May this season of front-loaded saturation in God’s Word set a good tone for the rest of your year. Lord willing, we’ll be back to do it again in 2021.

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Last Chance to Enter 2020 Drawing

April 1, 2020 By Peter Krol

If you have read the entire Bible within a 90-day period since November 2019, today is your last chance to enter the drawing for a new reader’s Bible. Winners will be selected tomorrow.

Thanks to the 24 who have entered so far!

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The Final Days of Jesus

March 30, 2020 By Ryan Higginbottom

Despite the disruption and upheaval in the world, Easter is coming. Whether or not we can gather in person to worship, we will soon celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

With that celebration in mind, I recently turned my attention to a book which has been on my shelf for a while: The Final Days of Jesus, by Andreas Köstenberger and Justin Taylor. The subtitle of the book says it all: “The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived.” (Be sure to read to the end of this article to see how to get a copy of this book for free, no strings attached.)

What’s Inside

In this book, the authors follow the chronology of Jesus’s final week on earth through the Biblical accounts. The book also includes several helpful aids, including maps, charts, and tables.

Each chapter of the book is devoted to a day of Jesus’s final week, and for each discrete scene or event, the authors first include the relevant Gospel texts. Consequently, a large portion of this book is simply Scripture. After the words of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and/or John we find related commentary. Sometimes this includes historical or cultural information to aid our understanding, and other times this includes an attempt to write a single narrative which is faithful to all of the available Gospel accounts. This is what is known as a harmonization. More on this in just a bit.

The book is simple in the best way. I did not get bogged down in technical textual study or overwhelmed by sophistated terms and phrases. Köstenberger and Taylor have executed well a straightforward mission: bring the reader along with Jesus in the final seven days of his life. The commentary is insightful and helpful, written for a lay audience.

Some of the more speculative or advanced scholarship is relegated to footnotes, and there is a generous reading list for those with deeper interests provided near the end of the book. The glossary and reference guide which close the book will also be helpful to a number of readers.

What About Harmonization?

My co-blogger Peter has written before about the dangers of harmonization. So, it’s worth asking: Do I recommend this book? Does it undermine the sort of Bible study we recommend and urge here at Knowable Word?

The authors of The Final Days of Jesus clearly value a unified account of Jesus’s journey to death and resurrection. But they also acknowledge the importance of each Gospel on its own. When addressing the question of why we have four accounts of Jesus’s life instead of just one, they write that the early church regarded these four accounts as four witnesses to one Gospel.

Like witnesses in the courtroom each recounting what they saw, using their own words and recalling events and statements from their unique perspective, the Gospel writers each tell us how they witnessed the unfolding story of Jesus (or in Mark’s and Luke’s case, how their firsthand sources did). This should in fact enhance our appreciation for the four biblical Gospels, not diminish it! Demonstrably, the four evangelists did not sanitize their accounts or somehow streamline them so as to make them artificially cohere; they were unafraid to tell the story of Jesus each in his own way, without fear of contradiction—because they were all witnessing to the one story of Jesus, the one gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. (The Final Days of Jesus, page 17)

Köstenberger and Taylor also urge us to read the Gospels “vertically” as well as “horizontally.” A vertical reading treats each account as a self-contained story.

The other way to read the Gospels is horizontally, that is, how each relates to the others, as complementary accounts and witnesses to the same historical reality and set of statements and events. Refusing to supplement our vertical reading of the individual Gospels with a horizontal reading is tantamount to the ostrich policy of refusing to acknowledge that while the Gospels tell the same story, they don’t do so in exactly the same way. (The Final Days of Jesus, page 19)

Köstenberger and Taylor land with more emphasis on a horizontal reading than I would, but that does not diminish the value of their work. Their book shows that there are solid, reasonable answers to every question of contradiction that arises from comparing one Gospel to another.

This book will only undermine personal Bible study if you use it in a way it is not intended. The authors are not out to create a master text which will be studied instead of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. This book contains a lot of Scripture, but we should always take our study and our questions back to the Bible itself. Each Gospel author had a specific perspective, message, and audience in mind, and they included and excluded certain details and events accordingly. It is best to study the final week of Jesus’s life in the context of one of the four Gospels.

Get Yourself a Copy

At the time of this writing, Crossway has made the ebook of The Final Days of Jesus free to download. If you prefer a paperback version, you can visit Amazon or Westminster Bookstore. Crossway also has a free study guide and a free devotional guide available to accompany this book.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to take a sustained look at Jesus’s final week. This work will show you that the four Gospels complement rather than contradict each other. The Bible gives a trustworthy, historical account of the central events of the Christian faith.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that the blog may receive a small amount of money/credit if you make a purchase after following that link.

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Exodus: Why Should I Obey Yahweh?

March 27, 2020 By Peter Krol

I come now to the book of Exodus.

Introduction

I spent over a year on this blog studying my way through the complete book of Exodus. You can find the contents of that series on this page. In that series, you’ll find the material in this post expanded on and demonstrated from each portion of text.

Literary Markers

The chief markers of literary division in Exodus are the shifts in genre and style. These markers are rather obvious, to the point that people sometimes examine only one of the book’s divisions. The trick is to figure out how things flow from one division to the next.

Chapters 1-18 consist of epic narratives, interrupted only by a brief genealogy in chapter 6 and a lengthy poem in chapter 15. Yet the setting and focus of the narratives after the poem are starkly different from the narratives before the poem. We ought to see the poem of chapter 15 as the resolution to the conflict of the book’s first division. This leaves the narratives of chapters 16-18 as either a new division, or a transition to the following division.

Though chapter 19 is also narrative, the setting—with the people finally at Mt. Sinai—clearly fits together with the law codes and covenant ceremony of chapters 20-24. Chapters 25-40 consist of tabernacle details (first instruction, then construction), divided by the narratives of covenant rending and repair in chapters 32-34.

Therefore, the book has three main divisions: Narratives of rescue (Ex 1-15), narratives of preparation (Ex 16-18), and discourses on law, covenant, and tabernacle (Ex 19-40).

Part 1 Walkthrough

The book’s introduction (Ex 1) sets the stage for the blessed children of Israel enjoying the blessings of covenant with their God expressed through their fruitful multiplying. Enter a new king who forgets Joseph and feels threatened by Israel’s multiplication. He attempts to quash the power of God in three phases: burdening Israel’s labor (Ex 1:11-14), murdering their sons (Ex 1:15-21), and drowning their sons (Ex 1:22).

Yahweh, of course, remembers his covenant (even if the king forgets Joseph), and he must do something about the situation. His solution has two aspects: raising up a mediator (Ex 2:1-7:7), and executing judgment (Ex 7:8-15:21).

Exodus 2:1-7:7 show us the appointment and training of the mediator. This mediator launches a campaign of deliverance, but the people reject him; so he turns from them (Ex 2). Yahweh calls him back (Ex 3:1-4:17) and makes him like his brothers in every way (Ex 4:18-31). Things must then get even worse (Ex 5:1-21) so the people can see that what they need is not only a political mediator but a faithful and merciful high priest (Ex 5:22-7:7).

With all these things in place, rescue can proceed and be shown to be all of God. His glory must fill the earth. And Yahweh’s rescue results when he returns the king of Egypt’s tactics from chapter 1 back on his own head. Yahweh burden’s Egypt’s labor (Ex 7:8-10:29). He kills their sons (Ex 11:1-13:16). He drowns their sons (Ex 13:17-14:31).

The demolishing of the house of slavery warrants reflection in song (Ex 15:1-21). There is no other god who can so cast down his enemies and lift up his covenant people. This God is a God who judges and rescues.

Part 2 Walkthrough

Everything shifts beginning with Ex 15:22, as Egypt is no longer in the picture. It is not enough for Yahweh to demolish the house of slavery. He must also prepare to rebuild his people.

Therefore, the Lord uses a sequence of events to expose how much his people need his instruction. They cannot simply be freedmen; they must submit to a benevolent Master.

The Lord gives instructions, in the face of the people’s physical needs, to expose how distrustful and disobedient they are—and therefore undeserving of his fatherly care (Ex 15:22-17:7). He wants their highest and most public loyalty to be to him alone (Ex 17:8-16). And he sends messengers to help them constantly remember their deliverance and to look to his instruction alone for new life (Ex 18:1-27). This God is a God worth trusting and obeying.

Part 3 Walkthrough

The final, and longest, part of the book alternates two themes in four sections: covenant, tabernacle, covenant, tabernacle. Through such alternation, we see Yahweh finally building his true house—the community of his covenant people.

First, the covenant is made (Ex 19-24). God wants to make something special out of an undeserving people (Ex 19). So he establishes a treaty, inspiring them to fear, so they might draw near to him (Ex 20). He then architects a social paradise that will stand out among the world’s nations (Ex 21-23), and he draws these people close through the blood of a substitute (Ex 24).

Second, the tabernacle instruction (Ex 25-31). Yahweh re-creates heaven on earth, packing up the holy mountain for transport through pictures embedded in furniture (Ex 25:1-27:19), priesthood (Ex 27:20-30:38), and sabbath rest (Ex 31). Seven speeches, climaxing in spirit-filled humans and sabbath rest. New Creation.

Third, the covenant is rent and repaired (Ex 32-34). The main thing at stake here is whether it will ever work out for heaven to come to earth, for God to dwell with men and remain with them (Ex 32). Sinners will always need not only forgiveness of their sins but also reconciliation to their God (Ex 33). And the glory of Yahweh’s covenant cohabitation is even more glorious after the fall than it was before (Ex 34:1-28). But how long will it really last (Ex 34:29-35)?

Fourth, back to tabernacle construction (Ex 35-40). The new covenant people, redeemed and reconciled after terrible ruin, are staggeringly empowered for outrageous obedience to their God (Ex 35-39). And when Yahweh finally moves in with them, we know it’s the real deal (Ex 40). But it’s not yet the end. Something is still lacking…

This God is a God who builds his own house in and with his people.

Conclusion

Pharaoh’s question to Moses is a perfect statement of the purpose of Exodus: “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey his voice?” (Ex 5:2). The very design of the book is to answer that question by showing us exactly who Yahweh is and why we ought to obey him. He is the one who demolishes the house of slavery, who prepares his people to rebuild, and who builds his own house in the midst of his people. The glory of redemption is greater than that of pre-Fall creation. This is why the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead (Luke 24:26-27).

Instead of having three or four disparate divisions—independent of one another and to be studied apart from one another—the book of Exodus has a coherent message from beginning to end.

Interpretive Outline

Nobody can prevent Yahweh from keeping his promises, but we’re not sure how he’ll do it (Ex 1).
Yahweh demolishes the house of slavery (Ex 1:1-15:21).
1. Part 1: Yahweh appoints a mediator and ensures he is fully qualified and trained for the task of deliverance (Ex 2:1-7:7).
2. Part 2: Yahweh delivers a deserved destruction to his enemies and a frightful joy to his people (Ex 7:8-15:21).
Yahweh prepares to rebuild by exposing how deeply his people need his law to know him (Ex 15:22-18:27).
Yahweh builds his house in the midst of his people (Ex 19-40).
- Part 1: Yahweh architects a perfect paradise for the community of his people, so he can bring them near through the blood of a substitute (Ex 19-24).
  - Part 2: Yahweh explains how his people can re-create this paradise on earth (Ex 25-31).
- Part 3: Yahweh hands them something more glorious than paradise; he hands them more of himself (Ex 32-34).
  - Part 4: The obedient new creators build the house, and Yahweh moves in. But not even Moses can enter the glory. This tent cannot be it; there must be something more to come (Ex 35-40).

For more interpretive walkthroughs of books of the Bible, click here.

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One Easy Way to Grow Your Church

March 25, 2020 By Peter Krol

Colleen McFadden has a terrific piece on one of the easiest and most effective ways to grow your church: one-to-one Bible reading.

If you would like to grow as a Christian, be more disciplined in reading the Bible, reaching out to unbelievers, and discipling other believers unto maturity—and if you would like to see others grow in these ways as well—all you have to is read through a book of the Bible with one other person and talk about it.

Perhaps it sounds too simple. But McFadden has some great stories to tell about how it works.

Check it out!

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