Week 7 - Reading the Bible in a Year & Gerhard's Sacred Meditations

Exodus 40: Why the Local Church?

This week, we are making a pivot into a new book as we finish Exodus and dive into Leviticus. In short, Leviticus answers the question, how can Holy God dwell among an unholy people?

But before Leviticus, we must look at what happens right at the end of the book of Exodus, because Exodus 40:34-38 sets up this question.

At the end of Exodus, Moses and the people, utilizing the skill of incredible craftsmen including two exceptionally skilled men, Bezalel and Oholiab to build the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant. Once the Tabernacle was finished and all put together, Exodus 40:34 says, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”

I mentioned in a recent sermon that fire and smoke are signifiers of God’s actual localized presence. Therefore, Jesus appeared as a fire to Moses in Exodus 3 at the burning bush. It is why fire descended to guard the Israelites while God split the Red Sea. This does not deny that God is omnipresent, but it does mean that God has manifested himself to be especially in one particular place.

The most significant place in the OT where God says he is especially located we read last week in Exodus 25:17-22. In verse 22, speaking about the area below the wings of the angels and above the mercy seat, God tells Moses, “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.” (Exodus 25:22, ESV) God promises Moses that He will dwell with him, speak with him, and give to him.

What a marvelous gift! What a glorious thing! The LORD saved His people and now promises to dwell with them and speak to them! How is this possible for God who is holy to dwell amongst a people who are unholy? Leviticus answers that question.

My question is, has God made a promise to be anywhere specifically for you? Where has God said that he will meet with you and speak with you?

God has indeed promised to be especially for you in the congregation of the saints, church. This is the primary reason most churches throughout history have had candles in them. The fire of the candles signifies God’s presence which he has promised to those who gather in His name in Matthew 18:20.

I recently heard an author asking the question, “Why the local church?” Specifically, why should Christians bother with going to a local church when they could listen to sermons online (see above), attend an entire service on YouTube, and in some circles even participate in the Lord’s Supper, all from the comfort of their own home? There are many parts to the answer, but this is the biggest one. God promises to be at church for you.

The reason God is at church for you is not because there is a gathering of people who happen to be Christians. That means your Superbowl party this Sunday does not count. God manifests His presence to the gathering of the saints when and where Jesus’s name is proclaimed. The proclamation of Jesus’s name is the Gospel. It is the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Church is not perfect. Whether you are a Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, Baptist, Roman, Eastern Orthodox, Non-denominational, home church, or anything else, your church is full of sinners. That is kind of the point. You need God to before you. Israel was not perfect either. They needed God to be for them.

The beauty of the church is that God is that it is there that God proclaims to you, reminds you, comforts you, and lets you know that he is indeed for you. He forgives you your sin and cleanses you from all unrighteousness.

A Recommendation

Pr. Bryan Wolfmueller has a terrific series introducing to books of the Bible on Issues, Etc. You can listen to the program on Leviticus here.

I hope these are useful!

Readings

Just a quick note. This week I’m giving you 8 readings so that you will now get updates in the future on Saturday night. This is mostly for my convenience as I give these readings to my confirmation students on Sunday.

Saturday - 2/12 - Exodus 39-40

Sunday - 2/13 - Leviticus 1-4

Monday - 2/14 - Leviticus 5-7

Tuesday - 2/15 - Leviticus 8-10

Wednesday - 2/16 - Leviticus 11-13

Thursday - 2/17 - Leviticus 14-15

Friday - 2/18 - Leviticus 16-18

Saturday - 2/19 - Leviticus 19-21

MEDITATION VII

THE FRUIT OF OUR LORD’S PASSION

The Passion of Christ is my hope

WHENEVER I meditate upon the suffering of my Lord, I cannot but venture a great deal in respect to the love of God and His forbearance toward my sins. He bends His head to kiss me; He extends His arms to embrace me; He opens His hands to bestow gifts upon me; He opens His side that I may behold His heart glowing with love for me; He is lifted up from the earth that He may draw all men unto Himself (John 12:32); His wounds are livid with grief, yet gleaming with love; and in those open wounds we must seek for the secret of His heart. Truly with Him is plenteous redemption (Ps. 130:7); for not a drop only, but streams of blood flowed from five parts of His body. As a bunch of grapes, cast into a press, is crushed by the weight placed upon it, and on all sides pours forth its juice, so the flesh of Christ, crushed by the weight of divine wrath and the severity of our sins, pours out on all sides its precious life-blood. When Abraham showed his willingness to offer his son in sacrifice, the Lord said to him, “Now truly I know that thou lovest Me” (Gen. 22:12). Acknowledge, also, the wonderful love of the Eternal Father, in that He was willing to deliver up to death His only-begotten Son for us (John 3:16)! He loved us while we were yet enemies (Rom. 5:10), will He forget us now that we are reconciled by the death of His Son? Can He be unmindful of the precious blood of His own Son, when He numbers even the tears and the steps of His godly children (Ps. 56:8)? Can Christ possibly forget in His life, those for whom He was willing to suffer death? Can He, enthroned in glory, forget those for whom He bore such awful anguish upon earth?

Consider, O faithful soul, the manifold fruit of thy Lord’s passion! Christ for us endured the bloody sweat, that the icy sweat of death’s agony might not disturb us. He willingly wrestled with death, that we might not fail in the last trying hour, and endured the severest anguish and sorrow, that we might become partakers of the eternal joys of heaven. He suffered Himself to be betrayed by a kiss, the token of friendship and good-will, that He might forever destroy sin, by which Satan had betrayed our first parents under the guise of a tender friendship. He suffered Himself to be taken and bound by the Jews, in order to deliver us, who lay bound in the fetters of sin and under eternal condemnation. He was willing that His passion should begin in the Garden, in making an atonement for sin, because in the garden of Paradise sin had had its beginning. He submitted to be strengthened by an angel, that He might make us the companions of the holy angels in heaven. He is deserted by His own disciples, so that He might unite us to Himself the more closely, who for our base defection had been cast off by God. He was accused by false witnesses before the Council, that we might not be accused by Satan at the last day, through that broken law of God. He was condemned on earth, that we might be acquitted in heaven. He, who did no sin, kept silence before sinners, that we might not be struck dumb for our sins, when brought before the judgment bar of God on account of our sins. He suffered Himself to be smitten on the cheek, to free us from the stings of conscience and the buffetings of Satan; and to be mocked and insulted, that we might set at naught the jibes and jeers of Satan. His face is covered, that He might remove from our faces the veil of sin, which hides God from our eyes, and leads us into culpable ignorance. He willingly submitted to be stripped of His garments, that He might restore to us the robe of innocence, lost through our transgressions. He was pierced with thorns, that He might heal our sin-pierced hearts. He bore the burden of the cross, so that He might remove from us the awful burden of eternal punishment. He exclaimed that He was forsaken by God, that He might prepare for us an everlasting habitation with God. He thirsted upon the cross, that He might meritoriously earn for us the dews of divine grace, and prevent our dying of an eternal soul-thirst. He was willing to be scorched by the flames of divine wrath, that He might deliver us from the flames of hell. He was judged, that He might free us from God’s judgment; condemned as a criminal, that we the real criminals might be acquitted; was smitten by impious hands, that He might deliver us from the devil’s lash; cried out with bitter pain, to save us from eternal wailings; He shed tears upon the earth, that He might wipe away all tears from our eyes in heaven; He died, that we might live; He suffered the pains of hell, that we might never experience them; He was humbled before men, that He might heal our sinful pride; He wore the crown of thorns, that He might win for us a heavenly crown. He suffered for all, that He might offer salvation to all. His eyes were darkened in death, that we might live forever in the light of the heavenly glory; He heard the most bitter scoffs and taunts of wicked men, that we might hear the jubilant shouts of the angels in heaven.

Despair not, then, O faithful soul! Infinite Good hast thou offended by thy sins, but an infinite price has been paid for thy salvation. Thou must be judged for thy sins; but the Son of God hath already been judged for the sins of the whole world, which He took upon Himself. Thy sins must be punished, but God has already punished them in the person of His own Son. Great are the wounds of thy sins, but precious is the balm of Christ’s blood. Moses, in the law, pronounces a curse upon thee (Deut. 27:26) because thou hast not observed all things written in the book of the law, to do them; but Christ was made a curse for thee when He hung upon the tree (Gal. 3:13). The handwriting was written against thee in the heavenly court; but that has been erased by the blood of Christ (Col. 2:14).

Thy passion, then, O holy and gracious Christ, is my last and only refuge!

Johann Gerhard, Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations, trans. C. W. Heisler (Philadelphia, PA: Lutheran Publication Society, 1896).