Lamp and Light Bible Study

With the 'grain offering' there was no blood in this offering. No animal was slain. It was an offering of flour, roasted grain, salt and oil. With the peace offering, the offerer had to bring the animal and lay his hand on its head. Thereby, he was confessing that through the death of that animal, he had come to peace with God.

When we present our bodies to the Lord, it is very easy to say, "Lord, I give my body totally to You." But we don't know whether we have offered it all, until we "cut it up". What does it mean to cut it up and offer it piece by piece, as was done with the burnt offering? It means that we offer our own bodily parts piece by piece to God.

When we look at Jesus life, we don't think only of His death at Calvary, but also of His whole life where He presented Himself to the Father fully saying “a body thou has prepared for Me...and I have come to do Thy will O God. (in that body)"

Leviticus is a book that speaks of the holiness of God. It's a book that has holiness as its main theme throughout. Holiness is a word a lot of Christians are afraid of. But we must boldly proclaim Holiness as the standards of God's Word

The need for the High Priest in the Old Testament illustrated the need for a Mediator. This podcast explains the clothing of the High Priest and illustrates how it points us to Christ.

The most holy place contained the golden ark with the mercy seat as a lid on it. The ark of the covenant, the mercy-seat and the content of the ark were together a picture of God the Father, Christ, and Mary.

The Veil-The Way Into The Most Holy Place The tabernacle (the outer court, the holy place and the most holy place) is a picture of man-body, soul and spirit. When we hear or read God's Word, it enters our soul (mind and emotions) first. It instructs our mind and stirs our emotions. But if it stops there, and does not make us yield our will in obedience to God, the the Word cannot enter through the veil into our spirit-and we will not grow spiritually. The veil is our human will which must submit to God's will.

The altar of incense represents prayer. “Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight” (Psalm 141:2)  Prayer is an expression of our dependence on God. Prayer (like this incense) must rise from our hearts to God at all times.

With no windows or other means to allow natural light, the only illumination in the Holy Place came from the supremely beautiful Golden Lamp stand. Besides the practical nature of the lamp stand providing light, there are several spiritual lessons that can be learned from its symbolism.

It was at the bronze laver that the priests washed their hands and feet before entering into and coming out of the holy place. Inside the tent, in the holy place, there were three items of furniture. On the northern side was the table of bread.

The tent of the tabernacle had four coverings. The innermost covering was of fine linen with intricate designs woven into it. The second covering was made of goats' skins. The third covering was made of rams skins dyed red.The outermost covering was always covered with the desert sand. But what did all these coverings symbolize?

The tent of the tabernacle is described in Exodus 26:1-27. It was constructed with boards made of acaia wood overlaid with gold. The Acacia not only symbolizes Jesus being both God [gold] and Man [wood]. It also symbolizes the members of the body of Christ today who although human, have been made partakers of the Divine nature.

The wall of fine linen around the tabernacle presented a barrier to those who were not 'righteous before God' making sure that they would not have access to the courtyard. This teaches us that the thing that separates those inside the Church from those outside, is not a higher level of human righteousness, but that those inside are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. When speaking of being "clothed with the righteousness of Christ, the Church teaches that the scriptures say that we are justified by the remission of our sins,and also sanctified and renewed in the inner man.

God's ways are not man's ways. In the Church this is where we must begin: With God. Not with activity but with God in the Most Holy Place. We must begin with the things that are "most holy" not only in the Christian life, but in our Parishes.

A large part of Exodus (Chapters 25 to 31 and 35 to 40) deals with the construction of the Tabernacle of God. In our study of Genesis, we saw the origin of the two streams of false and true religion in Cain and Abel. That finally ends in Revelation as Babylon and Jerusalem. The tabernacle is the seed from which the temple of God came later. It is a picture of the untimate Jerusalem, the Church, the dwelling place of God.

God is looking for men like Moses today who can arrest the decay among his people. God can do more through one man like Moses than through a thousand who compromise like Aaron.

Immediately after giving them the ten commandments, God gave the Israelite's a beautiful parable in Chapter 21 to teach them the spirit in which they were to keep His commandments. There he speaks of a Hebrew slave who is set free by his master because he has finished his six years of compulsory slavery. God's law had stated that in the seventh year all Hebrew slaves must be released. But if in the seventh year this slave comes to his master and says, “I love my master ... I will not go out free”- no longer as a slave in bondage, but now freely out of love," (21:5) he continues to serving his master forever thereafter. It is interesting to note that this comes immediately after the giving of the ten commandments. It was to teach the Israelite's that what God really wanted from them was not slavish, external obedience to the letter of the law, but joyful, loving obedience from the heart to the spirit of the law.

Not only does God already know in advance what problems the devil is preparing for us, He has also made a solution for all of them, in advance! So you can face every problem boldly. You will never face a problem where God did not plan a solution.

After putting the blood on the door, the Israelites were all commanded to eat unleavened bread that night. that is a picture of our feeding on Christ Himself, the Bread of Life. It's not enough that we trust in His blood, we must feed on His life too. "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life." (Romans 5:10)

Do you want to be a choice servant of God? Do you want God to watch over you with such a jealous care? Then you must be willing to be rebuked by Him for small matters.

If Genesis is 'The Book of Beginnings,' we could entitle Exodus as 'The Birth of a Nation' -the nation of Israel. We saw the beginnings of this nation in Genesis. Now we see it as a full-fledged nation. In the first 15 chapters we read of their slavery in Egypt and their deliverance from Egypt. The rest of the book deals with the giving of the Law, a little bit of their time in the wilderness and the plan God gave for building His tabernacle.

In jail Joseph meets Pharaoh's cup-bearer and thus gets an introduction to Pharaoh. You see how God's plan begins to work out slowly. It's not just that God protected Joseph from the evil that Potiphar and his wife did to him. He made the evil that they did to him to work out God's perfect plan. How would Joseph have ever met pharaoh's butler and got an introduction to Pharaoh if he hadn't gone to that jail!?!

Chapter 37:3: “Now Israel loved Joseph above all his sons, because he had him in his old age: and he made him a coat of divers colours.” The best way to destroy your children is by being partial to one of them. Jacob had already seen what partiality had done in his own father's home. Yet he repeats it in his own home. The result was that the ten older sons became jealous of Joseph and almost killed him. Partiality can have very serious consequences.

In Chapter 28 we read of how Jacob goes away from his home. He is sent off by Rebekah to her brother Laban's place to escape Esau's wrath. Jacob was still unmarried and probably about 70 years old at this time. It says in 28:11, "after the sun had set." Though that is referring only to a geographical fact, yet the sun had indeed set on Jacob's life, spiritually speaking too. He had been living for the world, and had grabbed and cheated. And yet God met with Jacob in mercy and told him that He had a great purpose for his life.

Toward the end of his life, Isaac's eyesight began to fail. There is nothing serious about that. As we grow older our eyes will naturally become weaker. But the sad thing was that Isaac's spiritual vision also was dim and clouded. As we grow older, our outer man may decay. But our inner man should become stronger and our spiritual vision must be sharp.

Two main lessons can be learned from these chapters. One, Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for Isaac is a picture of God the Father sending His Holy Spirit to earth to pick a bride for His Son Jesus Christ. Two, Yield Your Rights to God-Remember that God owns all things. Through the grace and strength God provides for you, embrace the responsibilities that God has entrusted to you, but surrender to God the rights and expectations that accompany your responsibilities. This deliberate surrender of your rights and expectations frees those around you from the prison of your expectations and removes the grounds of many conflicts.

Before Abraham finished his life, we read in Chapter 24 of his concern for his son. He sent his servant to go and find a bride for his son. There are many marriages mentioned in Scripture,but only two marriages that we see clearly as being God-ordained. One was Adam's. Eve was definitely God's choice. The other was Isaac's marriage. Rebekah was God's choice also. If someone asked me if arranged marriages were scriptural, I would have to say “Yes! I believe in marriages arranged by God!” God may arrange it through one's parents (as in Issac's case) or apart from parents (as in Adam's case.) The thing that matters is that it must be arrange by God.

We read of Lot getting into trouble. The Lord told Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for its sins. Abraham was concerned about Lot. Lot still hadn't learned a lesson. After being captured as an enemy, he went back to Sodom to make more money. But Abraham didn't judge Lot. As a godly man, he prayed for Lot to try and save his life. This is the first recorded intercession in the Bible and it is for the salvation of souls. Lot was saved as a result of Abraham's prayers. But his wife was left behind as a pillar of salt.

Abram and his nephew Lot returned with their families from Egypt to the land of Canaan. When strife developed between Abram’s and Lot’s herdmen, Abram acted as a peacemaker between them. Abram and Lot parted ways, and Lot’s family was captured by an invading army while living in Sodom. Abram rescued Lot and his family from captivity and, upon returning home, received a blessing from the great high priest Melchizedek.

How do you handle those who are in authority who are telling you to do opposite of what you know God desires of you?

In Genesis chapter 12:1, we see the beginning of the building of the true Jerusalem. This began with Abraham through whom came the nation of Israel the capital of which was Jerusalem. There would have been not Jerusalem if there had been no Abraham.

Babylon is a religious system (Revelation 17) as well as a financial system (Revelation 18). Money and the work of God are joined together, and that's how Babylon is formed. And that's how people are deceived. They think they are doing the Lord's work, but they are drawn towards the work because there is money to be earned in it too! There is fame to be earned there too.

The Bible says, “the world passeth away” (I John 2:17). If we believe that, we too will realize, as Enoch and Noah did, that the things of eternity are more important than the things of time.

In Chapter 4 of Genesis, we read of Cain who listened to the devil. Eve gave birth to Cain and said, “I have gotten a man through God.” a human birth was considered a wonderful thing at that time, for Cain was the first person to be born into the world as a living soul.

When God sent Adam into Eden, He did not send an angel with him to check up on him. Why? Because it is only when we are not being watched, that God can test our heart's attitude. He tests us when no-else is around. Adam and Eve were by themselves and could sin without being observed by any created being.

How can a wife meet the needs of her husband? As a wife, you are uniquely qualified to fully meet your husband’s needs and cause him to “rejoice with the wife of his youth” (Proverbs 5:18). In this episode you will find a description of seven basic needs of a husband, accompanied by ideas to help you to become a Godly wife.

As a husband, it is your responsibility to nurture and cherish your wife, to instruct your wife in the scriptures, (that is what is meant in Ephesians when it says, “cleansing her by the laver of water in the word:”), and to meet her needs. You are to love your wife as you love yourself. (Ephesians 5:22-29, 33.) As you gain insight about your wife’s needs, it is imperative that you take steps to fully meet those needs. As you love your wife as Christ loves the Church, she will be motivated to reverence you. (Ephesians 5:33.) Following is a description of seven basic needs of a wife, accompanied by projects that can serve as tools to equip you to be a Godly husband, one who loves his wife as Christ loves the Church. “So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself.” (Ephesians 5:28).

God declares that, “a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife......and they shall be two in one flesh.” This is a great mystery. One might assume that a man and woman would enter the covenant of marriage with a thorough understanding of one another’s needs and how to meet those needs. Usually, however, this is not the case.

The book of Genesis begin with the words, "In the beginning God." That's how it must be in our life. Every day in everything, In every area of our lives, God must be in the beginning of our lives, not man.There will be no limit to what God will do in and through such a person.