[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 300-Mark 13-16 summary!]
In Exodus 34, God tells Moses to make two new stone tablets to record the Law to replace the ones Moses broke. God appears to Moses and Moses worships Him. Moses tells God unless He goes with the Israelites not to have them go into the Promised Land. God promises to lead and gives many specific instructions about not intermingling with the people they meet there. If they do, the Israelites will turn away from God and follow the pagan gods served by the inhabitants. While this seems hard to believe, given all God has done for them, life experience tells us it’s easier to follow the crowd we can see, even when we know they are doing wrong, than to follow God, unless we make that commitment before engaging with others. Moses was on the mountain for forty days with God and when he returned his face glowed from being in God’s presence. Imagine the impression that made on the people of Israel! Yet the Apostle Paul tells us our “glow” from being in God’s presence ought to be even greater, because we are children of the new covenant. Paul wasn’t speaking of a literal glow, but of our positive impact on others as a result of experiencing Jesus’ salvation in our lives.
In Exodus 35-36 Moses warned the people to observe the Sabbath. Then he called for gifts to be given to build the Tabernacle. The people gave so generously Moses had to tell them to stop! Once the materials were collected Bezalel and Oholiab headed up the construction project and the Tabernacle was built. It occurred to me that the people of Israel had the first “portable church.” The Tabernacle would be put up wherever God told the people to stop and then torn down and moved to the next place when they started to travel again. In our day, many churches–including New Life earlier in our life together–meet in temporary locations, which requires setting up and tearing down each time worship is held. While the idea of portable churches is a “modern” one, we see in Exodus that portable church is one of the oldest ideas in our faith history.
As we return to Mark 9 and read once again of the Transfiguration an amazing affirmation that Jesus is God, because Moses and Elijah appeared with Him, we’re reminded that these “mountain top experiences” (literal in this case), are often followed by challenges. When Jesus, Peter, James and John returned to the valley, they found the remaining nine disciples trying without effect to cast a demon out of a boy. Jesus got frustrated, then healed the boy. Immediately afterward, Jesus told the twelve once again He was going to be executed by the religious leaders and the Romans but would rise from death. Instead of showing concern for Jesus, the disciples debated among themselves about who was the greatest. Jesus reminded the twelve that greatness in God’s Kingdom comes from serving the most. Even 2,000 years later we find this truth hard to accept. The world has always measured greatness by the number of people who serve us, not the number of people we serve. As Jesus’ followers, though, we find Him always turning the world’s views on their head. How many will you serve today? Where will you start?
Day 300-Mark 13-16
As we return to Mark 13-16, we read of the events that led to Jesus’ death, His death, and His resurrection. These are such powerful events for the course of history and eternity! Without Jesus’ perfect life, He could not have died in our place. Without His death in our place, we would still be under the Law of Moses! Because Jesus rose from the dead, we know we have the hope of resurrection as well. Jesus Christ isthe hope of the world, and we have the opportunity to let people in our spheres of influence know it every single day.