# 29 2025 Dev. Ex. 35 “An Offering to God!” Read all of chapter thirty-five first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Ex. 35:1-3 “For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbathrest to the Lord.”

Exodus.35 An offering of time and goods. Moses said to the whole Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood; olive oilfor the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; ⁹ and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.”

Vs.1-9 An offering! What is God expecting from us today? I mean everybody “to whom much is given, much is expected.”

Vs.10-19 “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded”, all that is needed to worship the Lord during that time. What do you think is needed for worship today besides what is needed to maintain the Pastor and the building?

Vs.20-29 “All the Israelite men and women who were willingbrought to the Lord freewill offeringsfor all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do.” Today, what are we doing today? Think about out-reach at home and abroad. Abraham and his offspring were chosen to be a blessing to all the families on the earth! Are Christians the children of Abraham? Yes!

Vs.30-35 God empowers two men in the community, not only does God give them the ability to do all manner of crafts but also the ability to teach others. But women were also involved; “Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun—blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen. ²⁶ And all the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goat hair. I believe that every one born in a Christian family, even if only one parent believes, have the Spirit of God at conception, “the children of believers are holy.” You ask, it does not always look that way? True, but people are able to resist the Holy Spirit. The world is too much with us! We praise God for His Grace in Christ!

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# 28 2025 Dev. Isa.21:10. God Speaks! Read all of chapter twenty-one first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Isa.21:10I “I tell you what I have heard from the Lord Almighty, from the God of Israel.” Does God still speak today?

Isaiah 21 is a prophecy against Babylon, Edom and Arabia.  He uses metaphors and similes, “the desert by the sea.”  Babylon, a place of rivers and lakes. What is left of the night? The heat of battle.

Vs1-10 A dire vision has been shown to me, Elam, (Persia) attack! Media, lay siege! The prophet experiences the destruction vicariously; I am “racked with pain… I am staggered by what I hear… I am bewildered… My heart falters…fear makes me tremble…” Next, Isaiah seems to describe the feasting of Belshazzar.  “This is what the Lord says to me: ‘Go, post a lookout… when he sees chariots… and riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert… Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower…” Finally, he gets an answer, ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!’” Going back to v.2 “I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused” referring to v.10 “My people who are crushed on the threshing floor…”

Does this prophecy have something to say about Israel and Iran today?

Vs.11-12. A prophecy against Dumah, a wordplay on Edom, meaning silence. “Someone calls to me from Seir, ‘Watchman, what is left of the night?’” He is urgent, asking it twice. The answer, “Morning Is coming but also the night” referring to silence. The watchmen, the prophets of those days, the pastors are watchmen of today, if not, they should be.

Vs.13-15. “A prophecy against Arabia. Dedanites, descendants from Dedan, Abraham’s son by Keturah. Bring water… bring food for the fugitives. They flee from the sword…from the drawn bow… from the heat of battle.” In one year “all the splendor of Kedar, (descendants   from Ishmael) will come to an end.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken. Today, God still speaks, through nature, through His Word, the Bible and through His church the body of Christ. Are we listening? May Jesus, by His Spirit, open our ears, our minds and our hearts!

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# 26 2025 Dev. Isa.20:6. “Trusting” Read all of chapter twenty first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Isa.20: God said to Isaiah, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.”

Isaiah 20 continues the prophecy against Egypt and Cush. Here God directs Isaiah to model what will happen to Egypt and Cush. This is an example to Judah, Hezekiah and the people were depending on Egypt to protect them from the Assyrians, not the Lord their God. But we take this prophecy from ch.19 as God’s final plan; “In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth.” 

Vs.1-6 God tells Isaiah to exemplify what will happen to the Egyptians and the Cushites.  “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.’ And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.” Walking around in his underwear, such as it was in those days. Why was he wearing sackcloth? Was it because the ten tribes, Samaria, was conquered and many of the Israelites were taken to Assyria? Or was sackcloth his attire as a prophet? Whatever the reason, apparently, it was not humble enough. Imagine it, living in your underwear for three years, Isaiah was to be humbled, rejected, made fun of and completely lose his reputation. But it was to shame his people, and I assume that was made clear, a reminder of their folly of thinking that the Egyptians would save them. Verse 6 tells all, “In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’”

That is the question, we, who are true Christians, must ask ourselves. What are we relying on? Doing good, loving your neighbor, church attendance, living a clean-cut life, studying the Bible, all that is good but all that does not save us. We are saved by trusting only in Jesus, what He has done for us. We do the good things we mentioned above not because we are trying to be saved, no, we do all that because we are already saved! Thanks be to God!

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# 25 2025 Dev. Ex 33:19 “Mercy and Compassion!” Read all of chapter thirty-three first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Exodus 33:3 “Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”

Ex.33 After the fiasco of the golden calf and God’s refusal to go with them, the people mourned. Moses, for his part, went to meet God at the tent of meeting, this was before the tabernacle was established. God shows His glory to Moses.

Vs.1-6 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’” God’s sends Moses and the nation to leave and to go to Canaan. “But I will not go with you…

When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.”

Vs.7-11 The tent of meeting. “Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrance to their tents.” When the pillar of cloud stood at the “entrance to the tent, the people worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent.”

Vs.12-14 “Moses said to the Lord, you have been telling me, ‘lead these people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.” God answered “my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” When God sends us, he will not only go with us in the power of the Holy Spirit but He will equip us as well!  

Vs.15-17 Then Moses said to him, “if your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here… And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” In many ways Moses is a type of Christ, interceding for the people and bargaining with God for His presence. In Christ and by His Spirit, God knows us by name and we have direct access to God. Praise the Lord!                                                              

Vs.18-23 “Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory. And the Lord said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”  This chapter and this proclamation shows us the heart of God in Christ. It is not what we do or don’t do, trusting in Jesus only saves us! We are in God’s Hands, Amen! The rest of the chapter tells us how God will show Moses His glory and keep Moses alive in the process.

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# 24 2025 Dev. Isa.19:1. “God’s Plan!” Read all of chapter nineteen first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Isa.19:16 “In that day the Egyptians will become weaklings. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the Lord Almighty raises against them.” 

Isaiah 19 Is about God’s plan turning the Egyptians against each other. But God will also turn Assyria and the Egyptians, toward Israel. “In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth.” 

Vs1-17 “A prophecy against Egypt:” Family, friends, areas of the country will be at odds with each other.  “The waters of the river will dry up,” Will the rivers be dry or is the conflict so severe that there is no desire to farm, no more trade, no workers or fishers to keep things going as it was? The counselors and the Pharaoh “give senseless advice…The officials of Zoan have become fools, the leaders of Memphisare deceived; the cornerstones of her people have led Egypt astray…because of what the Lord Almighty is planning against them.”

Vs.18-25 “In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.” It almost reads as the Day of the Lord, The New Heaven and the New Earth. “The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.” The people of the known world, at that time, are included and this includes all of His followers today, thanks be to God.

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# 23 2025 Dev. Ex 32: “Intercession!” Read all of chapter thirty-two first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Exodus 32:9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, ‘and they are a stiff-neckedpeople.’”

Ex.32 The people became impatient and said to Aaron, “Come, make us gods who will go beforeus. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” They said make us a god to go before us. Aaron listened to them and made a golden calf and built an alter and said, “tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”

Vs.1-6 The people gave Aaron gold and Aaron made a calf, the people were familiar with that idol as a god worshiped in Egypt and also in Canaan I Kn. 12. People sacrificed on the alter Aaron had built, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. “Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”

Vs.7-10 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt… Now leave me aloneso that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

Vs.11-14 “But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God…. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the starsin the sky and I will give your descendants all this landI promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever. Then the Lord relentedand did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”

Vs.15-20 “Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant lawin his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.” When Moses saw the calf, he smashed the two stone tablets on the ground, he burned the calf, ground it up and spread the grindings on the water and made the people drink it.

Vs.21-29 “Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstockto their enemies… and said, whoever is for the Lord, come to me. And all the Levites rallied to him.” He ordered them to strap on their swords, go and kill your brother and friend and neighbor. On “that day about three thousand of the people died.” This was punishment all around, to the executioners, killing brothers and friends and to the executed, this was a corporate punishment. Yet in acting for God, though painful, they are blessed by God. Aaron as the leader had brought this on the people by not opposing this apostacy, as many church leaders today do not oppose the apostasy of our time.

Vs.30-35 “The next day Moses said to the people, (and to Aaron) ‘you have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.’” Moses acknowledges to God what a great sin was committed. “But please forgive their sin­­—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” Here Moses becomes a type of Christ, willing to sacrifice himself for the people, If only we had leaders of that caliber today! God answers, “whoever has sinned against me I will blot out.” It is up to Christ to atone alone, yet, those like Moses, Aaron and a host of others, all those who believed in the promises of God, pointing to Jesus, are all written in the Book of Life. Praise be to God!

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# 21 2025 Dev. Ex.31:12. Sunday! Read all of chapter thirty one first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Ex.31:12 “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘say to the Israelites, You must observe my Sabbaths.’”

Ex.31 Moses is now ready to come down from the mountain of God. When He gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God, the Ten Commandments.

In this chapter God endows Bezalel from the tribe of Judah, with the Spirit of God. God also appointed  Oholiab from the tribe of Dan as a helper. “ Also I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you.”

Vs.1-11 “The Lord said to Moses, see I have Chosen Bezalel… ‘I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge  and with all kinds of skills — to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.” What follows is a long list of all the furniture and the garments that God had commanded Moses to make for the Tabernacle that was to be constructed. (see in the previous Chs.)

People are gifted naturally, but it comes from the Holly spirit, and there are a great verity of gifts, every healthy person has a gift, some have more than one but gifts come from God. Our responsibility is to develop our gifts, for the advancement of Spiritual wellbeing, for others and for ourselves. 

Vs. 12-18  The Sabbath. “Then the Lord said to Moses, Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.’” Observing Sabbath was a command under the pain of death. The Israelites were to be set aside and not be like other Nations. The sabbath was holy because God had made them holy, it was to reflect God’s rest after creation and God’s eternal rest promised to His people, all Christians, after this life. The New Testament Church moved the Sabbath to the first day of the week, the day Jesus rose from the dead. Sunday has since been considered to be the day of rest. That practice has been a great help to Mankind, by having one day a week to rest. Today, not religiously adhered to but most people want and get two days off a week. 

Paul tells us in Rom.14:4-6 “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.” This applies to all areas of life, but for our spiritual health Sunday is a blessing when taking the time to worship. The “weekend” has become an idol for many but taking time for God on Sunday or any other day of the week is the recipe for a healthy happy life. God knows what is good for us!

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# 20 2025 Dev. Isa.17:7. “Turn to God!” Read all of chapter seventeen first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Isa.17:7 “In that day people will look to their Makerand turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah 17 “A Prophecy Against Damascus”; that is the title of this chapter but Isaiah also speaks-out against Israel, the 10 tribes that separated from the original Israel. They were aligned with Assyria against Judah. 

Vs.1-5 “See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins…  The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim…”The devastation is likened to a harvest, leaving nothing standing.

Vs.6-9 “Yet some gleanings will remain… four our five  on the fruitful boughs”  Again Isaiah uses a harvest metaphor. “In that day” sometime in the future,  a statement used to announce the destruction and to announce returning to God; “In that day people will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.” They leave behind their idols and altars. These are Israelites, they may even influence the non Israeli population. But it is done under duress. We should be leaving behind our idols and our fetishes, like horoscopes, satan worship, and other aberrations. We as a people and a country need to turn back to God, if we don’t, we will do it under duress!

Vs.10-14 Here we have the reason for Israel’s demise, “You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.” Isaiah continues with the harvest metaphor, You have planted “imported vines” you have tended them “yet the harvest will be as nothing… Woe to the many nations that rage they rage like the raging sea!” Here Isaiah moves to an ocean metaphor. The Assyrian empire was made up of many nations, God allowed them to take Israel, the 10 tribes, that was their punishment for rejecting the true God for the idol, Sherah, involving immoral practices. Those tribes were scattered and are lost to history, “this is the portion of those who loot us… ” the Assyrians. “in the evening, sudden terror!  Before the morning, they are gone!” That is what happened to them after the King consulted Isaiah who prophesied against the Assyrians, 2 Kings 19:35-36 “That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!  So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.” God is in control in our country as well. Praise Him!

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