Women of Firm Faith

Verses 1-7, “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'If a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by lying to his neighbor about what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or about a pledge, or about a robbery, or if he has extorted from his neighbor, or if he has found what was lost and lies concerning it, and swears falsely—in any one of these things that a man may do in which he sins: then it shall be, because he has sinned and is guilty, that he shall restore what he has stolen, or the thing which he has extorted, or what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or the lost thing which he found, or all that about which he has sworn falsely. He shall restore its full value, add one-fifth more to it, and give it to whomever it belongs, on the day of his trespass offering. And he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord, a ram without blemish from the flock, with your valuation, as a trespass offering, to the priest. So the priest shall make atonement for him be...

Verse 1, “If a person sins in hearing the utterance of an oath, and is a witness, whether he has seen or known of the matter—if he does not tell it, he bears guilt.”  Being a false witness was a big thing to God. If you even knew or was made aware that someone was lying, it was your responsibility to bring forth the truth, or else you would bear the guilt of the lie.  Proverbs 19:5, “A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who speaks lies will not escape.”   Lying has become such a common practice in our society today, but the Jesus we serve is the way, the TRUTH, and the life . We cannot represent Him, when we ourselves engage in lies or cover the lies of others. God hates lying...it is an abomination to Him. Just because you have deceived yourself into thinking that you can escape punishment, does not make it true. It is just the enemy's scheme to get you to fall; after all, he is the father of all lies. Verses 2-3, “Or if a...

Verses 1-3, “Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: “If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering.” ' ”  Verses 13-14, “ Now if the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which should not be done, and are guilty; when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for the sin, and bring it before the tabernacle of meeting.”   Verses 22-23, “When a ruler has sinned, and done something unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord h...

Verses 1-5, “When his offering is a sacrifice of a peace offering, if he offers it of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of meeting; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. Then he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire to the Lord. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove; and Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is on the wood that is on the fire, as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.”  A peace offering could be male or female, but either way, it had to be without blemish. It was a voluntary offering given in th...

Verses 1-3, 11, “When anyone offers a grain offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it. He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of whom shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense. And the priest shall burn it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. The rest of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. It is most holy of the offerings to the Lord made by fire [. . .] No grain offering which you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the Lord made by fire.”  Leaven represents sin, and notice how there is no acceptable level allowed an in offering to God. Therefore, when you offer your body as a living sacrifice, do not expect God to overlook the sins in your life; but rather, repent and get right with Him before your of...

Verses 1-2, “Now the Lord called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock—of the herd and of the flock.” ' ”   The offering was to come from their own herd, from among their posessions, not a wild animal or one that belonged to another. Sacrifices should be offered freely and need to cost us something. David understood this concept when he refused to take the threshing floor for free.  I Chronicles 21:22-24, “Then David said to Ornan, 'Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the Lord. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.' But Ornan said to David, 'Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt o...

Verses 12-15, “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of meeting and wash them with water. You shall put the holy garments on Aaron, and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest. And you shall bring his sons and clothe them with tunics. You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to Me as priests; for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.”   Only those in the direct line of Aaron would be able to serve as priests in the House of God, as He established the priesthood and the office of high priest. When men would assume the role of priest without the calling of God, they would soon discover the error of their ways. Korah, Saul, and Uzziah were all judged by God for this. We cannot approach God on our own, but rather through the High Priest...Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 2:18, “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit t...

Verses 32-43, “Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished. And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses; so they did. And they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its furnishings: its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; the covering of ram skins dyed red, the covering of badger skins, and the veil of the covering; the ark of the Testimony with its poles, and the mercy seat; the table, all its utensils, and the showbread; the pure gold lampstand with its lamps (the lamps set in order), all its utensils, and the oil for light; the gold altar, the anointing oil, and the sweet incense; the screen for the tabernacle door; the bronze altar, its grate of bronze, its poles, and all its utensils; the laver with its base; the hangings of the court, its pillars and its sockets, the screen for the court gate, its cords, and its pegs; all the utensils for the service of the tabernacle, for t...

Outside of the tabernacle in the court was an alter where the people would bring their sacrifices, which the priests offered up to God. Verses 1-7, “He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood; five cubits was its length and five cubits its width— it  was square—and its height was three cubits. He made its horns on its four corners; the horns were of one piece with it. And he overlaid it with bronze. He made all the utensils for the altar: the pans, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the firepans; all its utensils he made of bronze. And he made a grate of bronze network for the altar, under its rim, midway from the bottom. He cast four rings for the four corners of the bronze grating, as holders for the poles. And he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze. Then he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to bear it. He made the altar hollow with boards.”  Sacrifices were important to God,...

Verses 1-6, “Then Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits was its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold all around it. And he cast for it four rings of gold to be set in its four corners: two rings on one side, and two rings on the other side of it. He made poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. And he put the poles into the rings at the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. He also made the mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits was its length and a cubit and a half its width.”   The ark was a box made of acacia wood that was overlaid with gold. Its dimensions were 3 feet 9 inches long; 2 feet 3 inches wide; and 2 feet 3 inches high. No one was to touch the ark or they would die, which is why the poles were along the side for transporting. Following this command ensured appropriate respect and fear of God as they ...

Verses 2-7, “Then Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work. And they received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of making the sanctuary. So they continued bringing to him freewill offerings every morning. Then all the craftsmen who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work he was doing, and they spoke to Moses, saying, 'The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded us to do.' So Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, 'Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.' And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done—indeed too much.” The people, whose hearts were stirred by God, r...

Verses 1-3, “Then Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said to them, 'These are the words which the Lord has commanded you to do: Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.' ”   As the Israelites were about to begin their service to God by building the temple, they were strongly reminded to observe the Sabbath. It is possible to get so caught up in serving, that you stop entering God's rest. Remember the story of Mary and Martha?  Luke 10:38-42, “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him...

Verses 4-9, “So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.' So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, 'If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.' ”  ...

Verses 1-3, “Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “To your descendants I will give it.” And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.' ”  After the golden calf incident, God still prepared to make good on His promise to give the Israelites the Promised Land, but He will no longer dwelt in their midst. The people were consistently stubborn, refusing to yield to God's ways, which is a terrible place to be because our sin separates us from God.  Isaiah 59:1-2, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear ...