Exodus 19:16-21:21, Matthew 23:13-39, Psalms 28:1-9, Proverbs 7:1-5
Today is February 4th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today as we sail forward into our work week and continue the rhythm of the Scripture in our lives each and every day. And, of course, we pick up where we left off every day and in the Old Testament we’re with the children of Israel out in the wilderness and, you know, it’s kind of a tumultuous journey for them but now God has summoned them to Mount Sinai and He plans to have a conversation and we’ll pick up with that story. We’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week. Exodus chapter 19 verse 16 through 21 verse 21.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in an Exodus today God instructed the children of Israel to consecrate themselves because He was gonna come and meet with them. And, so, they camped around Mount Sinai and God came and thunder and lightning and clouds and shook the mountain and people were terrified and it’s here that they ask kind of pivotal and turning point question. They ask Moses to speak on behalf of God, because they’re too terrified to hear from God for themselves. And, so, Moses reassures them that God coming in the way that He’s coming with such authority and such power and such an awe-inspiring visual was to give them a sense of awe and wonder and fear, the fear of the Lord. Quoting Moses, “God has come in this way to test you so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning.” And this this is a pivotal moment, God was about to begin giving customs and rituals and rules and regulations showing them what a people set apart were supposed to look like. And we have to remember, this is a people that had only known one thing, right, slavery. This is all they had known. They don’t have any natural understanding of like how to govern themselves or what a society should be shaped like, other than how they had lived in Egypt. And, you know, with the plaques we see that, you know, God wasn’t affirming the culture that the children of Israel were enslaved in. And, so, this is this is new territory for them, how they’re to behave toward one another and we see some of that being laid out today. And it’s so interesting because, you know, like one of the things God talked about in our reading today was how to treat servants or slaves and that we start back reading and open up a can of worms and try back read what happen 3500 years ago into today’s more modern culture where we would denounce slavery of any kind or the treatment of a wife. That was touched on today. And we can look at this and go, “this is so archaic, like this so…we don’t live…we wouldn’t live like this now. So, why is this like being memorialized as these are the new rules and customs for this people of God. Like, why?” But what we have to begin to understand is that this the point where things begin to turn in human history that lead us until today. This culture that God is beginning to implement and tell these people how to behave, for the first time gave someone who was a servant rights, someone who was a wife, rights. This, even though we are many, many, many, many steps forward these thousands of years into the future, these are dramatic steps forward in the culture of the time. Like, for the first time to codify rights in a fairly barbaric time in the world where, you know, different clans would invade other clans to steal people…I mean all of this kind of stuff. Like, for example what we watched in the life of Joseph. So, we are taking dramatic steps forward at this point and it’ll take some time for all these instructions to unfold in the Scriptures but as we read, what we’re witnessing is a complete reshaping of worldview and identity for the Hebrew people and we began that with the 10 Commandments.
Then in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is in Jerusalem and this isn’t just another Festival visit, this is the visit, THE visit. Jesus won’t be leaving Jerusalem before He dies. And what’s happening in Matthew is like about 1500 years after Moses. And, so, Jesus gave a glimpse of what had become of this law that we’re just at the very beginning of reading in the Old Testament and how God through Jesus thought about it. Quoting Jesus, “what sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves and you don’t let others enter either.” That is a pretty serious indictment of the religious system by Jesus, who is One with the Father. So, what Jesus is saying is a pretty big deal, which gives us a moment to pause and just to consider the territory that we are about to head into because as we move into the giving of the law we’re gonna have to understand the difference between like, the exact words and sentences that make up the law, like the order of the words and the spirit of the law, right, the reason, the circumstances that created the need for the law in the first place and all the underlying concepts that informed the way that the laws are written. In Jesus time the Mosaic law had lost its spirit and had become a device for control and devotion by force, by rote. And as devout as the religious leaders may have been, they kind of…they lost the plot…the underlying reasons for why things would shape us the way that they do and how they would inform how a holy people, a set apart people would behave. Here’s the irony. We’re about to move into our first account of Jesus death and it would be the Mosaic law that would judge and condemn Jesus to death, a law that He had given to Moses so long ago at Mount Sinai where we are in the Old Testament. So, as we go forward between the Testaments we’re going to have this unique view of both the law and what became of it. Oddly we’re gonna often find ourselves looking a lot more like the religious leaders of Jesus time. We’re so busy trying to understand the letter of the law, like, “how do…even in the Christian faith, okay, what are the rules, how do I do this exactly right” that we forget the spirit, the plot of the story. So, let’s remember, the rules were not given as a cage. In Exodus God had just delivered His people from slavery. So, as He’s handing out His intentions and what the cultures supposed to look like, His intention wasn’t to move them from slavery in Egypt to just another form of slavery. And that is not God’s intention with us. God’s objective then and now is to set people apart as holy and to set those holy people free. And this is what God continues to do in our lives.
Prayer:
Father, come Holy Spirit. We’re moving into some territory where the stories are beginning to shift. We’ve settled in and followed the journey until we got here but now…now we’re kinda moving to some pivotal stuff and we need Your Holy Spirit to come, guide, lead us. Help us to not only understand the Scriptures but understand what You are saying to us through the Scriptures because for each of us there will be commonalities and there will be uniqueness because we are all unique and have our own stories. So, come Holy Spirit as we move into this new month and into this new season in the Scriptures. We ask in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hey, it’s Kayla in Nashville. I wanted to call in and…it’s the 29th of January. Just got done listening…like three in the morning…but I just got done listening and to the prayers and Stanley from Maryland, I think, or Massachusetts, one of those East Coast states…but it was Maryland…I think. I want to say thank you Stanley…first to just having the courage to follow that pull, that leading of you know, calling in, of God wanting, the Holy Spirit wanting you to call in and, yeah, I appreciate it, I appreciate it very much. Just hit the nail on the head for me. I mean, again, I have trouble finding words quite often. So, I appreciate that very much. Don’t hold back. That’s all I can say to you. Don’t hold back. In the future, just, you know, anyways, thank you, God bless. Love all you all. Bye-bye.
Hi, my name is Nelly and I’m calling from California. I just recently joined the Audio Bible community. I actually found the app on a podcast that had different apps. And, so, I really started to listen to it and I just really started to be really encouraged by a lot of prayer requests and encouragement which were being sent from different people. It’s just amazing to see the love of God from everyone calling in around the world. And, so, I’m calling because I just wanted to ask for prayer. I’m a single mom and I have three kids. I work a 40-hour a week job and on top of that I am involved in a lot of different ministries. So, I just called to ask prayers for strength and wisdom and guidance on this season of my life with my children. I feel like I’m on a roll and I get excited about the word of God and I’m just excited about what God’s doing and then I start to see that I get weak and I get, you know, tired and then that joy to starts to dim. And, so, I’m like, “God I really want to stay on fire for You”. And I’m just calling to see if you guys could just pray for strength, for God to give me strength and wisdom and guidance this year as I continue my journey and my walk with Him, to become closer to Him. So, I just want to say thanks everyone and it’s just great to be part of a community where people love God and, you know, they really care about each other. God bless everyone.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family, this is Treasured Possession coming to you from cold Minnetonka Minnesota where we could possibly get up to 29 below in the next couple days. And I’m thinking about what it takes to be a woman of excellence and what it takes to maintain my attitude and confidence in God. And I’m thinking when Job said, “yet so you slay me I will wait for and trust Him” and when Jesus said “you’ve gotta pick up your cross and follow after me”. The one thing that I have to really work on is picking up my own cross and quit trying to pick up everbody else’s cross. And I think that comes from living in a family of alcoholism and being married to alcoholics. So, I’m just asking for prayer, I’m asking for strength in my inner man, that God would continue to do His work in me and continue it until the day of Jesus Christ. And all these things Lord, I just…I praise and thank You because You promised them to me and I know You’re gonna do it. And that’s what gives me confidence Lord, is because I’m in You and You don’t let me down, You don’t discourage me, You don’t drop the ball. You’re speaking of words of encouragement into my soul no matter what’s going on around me. So, I pray these things father God for all the people that need encouragement today and I just praise You Lord for Your son Jesus Christ. And thank you Brian Hardin for your dedication to bringing the word to me and basically saving my life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hi DAB family, it’s Jane in New York. I’m just really overwhelmed inside today and I’m just calling in for prayer because life is just hard, too hard. I don’t have family. I don’t have someone to help me with all the hard feelings of my son. And now yesterday we got a letter from our friends in Switzerland and all about the accomplishments of their kids and stuff and Joshua just let loose about, you know, why did I leave there and why did I come here to New York and, you know, he had family there. And I can only explain that it was in obedience because I felt I needed to be back here. So, right now I don’t have any work. I’m back to calling in every day. And life is just hard. I don’t have any interest in anything and then I hear people tell me about their Holy Spirit, you know, when they felt filled with the Holy Spirit and I’ve never had one of those and I think, when does that happen? Is that what’s gonna give me my super strength that I can make it through all this? I just, anyway, I thought I would call for prayer because I’m sitting here in my kitchen and just, you know, sobbing and, yeah, I just need prayer because I don’t know how to take care of all this hard stuff and I don’t have any family to just, you know, count on except for my Christian brothers and sisters. So, I’m reaching out. Thanks guys. My time is up. Bless.
Hi DAB family my name is Sachon and I’m from Ohio. I have played soccer professional in Europe for three years now and I can feel the Lord’s calling on my life to continue to play and to share the gospel with the players there, most of whom are atheists or agnostics who all worship themselves by hundreds of thousands of people each week. As such they often will only listen to other players who are at the same level and there are easily less than 300 strong gospel focused top-level players on the entire continent of Europe not one of whom is American. There are many more Christian players but they’re either not at the top level of the or are not outspoken about their faith. I feel the Lord has called me to be both. The only problem is that for the past eight months my agent and I have not received one actual offer for many clubs in Europe despite entering negotiations on more than one occasion and time is running out in more ways than one. I’ve also suffered multiple untimely injuries of the course of my personal training these last few months which have really slowed by preparations to the point that even though I want nothing more than to get that call, if I got it today I don’t know that I’d be ready even though I’ve been training for eight months, which is obviously very frustrating. There are so many factors outside of my control that has to line up, the only thing I can do besides continue to train is to pray and to ask for prayer. Please know that this is not a fleeting passion. And at 24 years old I have dedicated my entire from the age of 4 to the pursuit of tis dream. And the way the politics work in European soccer, if I don’t get over there soon given my age and my nationality I may never get back over. So, please pray that the right team in the right place with the right coach makes the right offer at the right time and that I am fully healthy and prepared spiritually, mentally, physically, technically and tactically to make Jesus famous wherever I am planted. And, if in a few months you see or hear about soccer player putting the cross up with his arms after he scores then I guess your prayers were answered. Thank you again thank you in advance God bless.
Hi this is Monique from Virginia. I haven’t called for so long but I’m still listening to every day podcast that Brian is reading. To me, with a heavy heart I’m requesting prayer for my son who got three years from jail last year in February. This year, February the 12th it will be a year that he has been home with me, but he hasn’t been attending church regularly and not focusing in God’s __ . Please pray for him that he could follow God in his life. I also want to request you to pray for my daughter who is getting ready to marry a nonbeliever guy. It is very sad that I have raised my kids taking him to church from their childhood but now they are making wrong choices in their lives. I would appreciate your prayers. Thank you.