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Bible Study-18 (Exodus 18-20)

ExodusIn this section of the Bible the most powerful manifestation of God to this date is recorded. Nothing in history compares to it, however, I believe that it is prophetic of an even greater manifestation in the future.

The timing of Israel’s encounter with God will define the second of the Biblical festivals, i.e., Shavuot (described in Leviticus 23). Israel arrived at Mt. Sinai on the first day of the third month (about 42 days after the Exodus from Egypt). After a few days (we will assume 7 days total) God descended onto the mountain and a covenant was made between God and the nation of Israel. The exact timing is not specified but after their arrival, there was a three day purification period. Later the festival of Shavuot is specified to occur on the 50th day following the Shabbat after Passover. I therefore arrive at the speculation that an additional 4 days were spent at Mt. Sinai after their arrival before God initiated the covenant.

The manifestation of God on the mountain must have been awesome. Israel was terrified at what they were experiencing. A great cloud hovered over the mountain. Lighting flashes broke forth from the cloud with attending thunder. The earth shook with a great earthquake. Smoke ascended from the fiery presence of the Lord on the mountain. Finally, there was the sound of a great “trumpet” which grew louder and louder. Before speaking to the assembled people, God called Moses up on the mountain and warned him concerning any of the people attempting to ascend the mountain to approach God. Later, (the book of Leviticus) a detail method for approaching God is revealed.

There are many theories concerning the sound coming from the mountain. The Bible simply stated that they heard “a voice of a very, strong shofar”. This is translated as a “trumpet” in some versions. This is the first time that this particular sound is mentioned in the Bible. I believe that it was the sound of God’s awesome presence interacting with the atmosphere of the “Space-Time Continuum”. At any rate, we could rightly call this the sounding of the “First Trumpet”. I want to introduce this thought because the Messianic Scriptures speak of the “Last Trumpet”. It is associated with the coming of the Lord and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Jesus spoke of this phenomenon:

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.” (Matthew 24:29-31 NASB with NASB emphasis added)

This is the “Last Trump” or the “Great Trumpet” which is sounded at the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him (2 Thessalonians 2:1). I maintain that the same phenomenon that was witnessed on Mt. Sinai will be witnessed at the coming of the Lord. The awesome power of God will strike fear in the hearts of all mankind just as it did to the Israelis at Mt. Sinai. Therefore the Bible prophesies that:

“So that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippines 2:10-11)

There is one additional thought that I want to set forth from this section. God spoke what we call the “ten commandments” in such a way that every Israeli heard His voice. Some believe that God spoke with a great booming voice from the summit of the mountain. I believe that the Bible gives us insight into what really happened that day. Several hundred years later, the prophet Elijah found himself at Mt. Sinai waiting to hear from the Lord. The same phenomena occurred as described in the Exodus account. However, God was not in any of these things. Finally, God spoke to Elijah in a “silent, small voice”. (I Kings 19:12) This is the voice of the Holy Spirit who guides every born-again, Son of God.

“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)

There are many more subjects that I could address from this section of the Bible but that will have to wait for another season. Shalom, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob grant you peace in the week to come.

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Bible Study-17 (Exodus 13-17)

God used the journey of Israel from Egypt as a means to illustrate the path of salvation. It was the path of “salvation” for the infant nation of Israel and also marked the path for individuals even in our day. The message of Passover was deliverance. God delivered Israel from the most powerful nation of that day. The blood of the Passover Lamb distinguished the household of faith and the family within was delivered. The absence of the blood marked the household that experienced judgment and death. The message today is clear.

The events described as Israel passed through the “Red Sea” symbolizes water baptism in the life of the believer today. Moses parted the water of the sea to permit Israel to pass through. The water closed on the pursuing Egyptian army and destroyed them. This experience forever separated captive from captor. Moses declared:

“But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever”. (Exodus 14:13)

When a person experiences deliverance from the grasp of the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and is baptized, he is delivered forever from his captor whatever that may have been. He is on the path of “salvation”. We will return to this theme as we continue along the path that Israel traveled from Egypt to the Promised Land.

“Now it came about when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war, and they return to Egypt.” Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 13:17-18)

This is an amazing statement. Israel was being led by the “Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire” by night, i.e., God was choosing the path of travel. He intentionally led them around about in such a way that the distance back to Egypt seemed too great to return even though the actual distance at any time was not over a few days journey. Have you ever considered the possibility that God may be guiding you in a similar way so your temptation to return to your former way of life seems too “far” for you to go back?

Another attribute of the Name of God was revealed in this section of the Bible. God declared to Israel:

“And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.” (Exodus 15:26)

A little word study here is in order. The word “healer” means “doctor”. God declared to Israel, “I am your doctor”. Since God was addressing the nation we would expect the “you” that He is addressing would be plural. It is not, it is singular (2nd person, singular). This means that God chose to speak in a very personal way to the individual by declaring, “I am your doctor”.

Finally, as Israel approached Mt. Sinai they were challenged by Amelek (Mt. Sinai would be the place where God would reveal Himself is such an awesome way that Israel would never be the same again). The army of Amelek struggled to keep Israel from arriving at this crucial encounter with God on their path to salvation. Moses ascended the mountain and held up the “Staff of God” while Joshua led the army of Israel against the army of Amelek in the valley. As long as Moses held up the staff, Joshua prevailed. When Moses wavered, Amelek prevailed. Aaron and Hur helped support Moses, so Joshua prevailed over Amelek. Today this pattern should be followed by the real church. Our task is spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:12) just as was the case with Moses. We should be standing on the mountain-side praying for and upholding Israel as Israel struggles against the enemies of God on the battlefield. This is our appointed job which we alone are equipped to do. For those who might waver because of the apparent unfairness of such an assignment, we are reminded of what God declares concerning those who struggle against Israel in the pursuit of the redemption process.

“and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:16)

A better translation of the Hebrew text is:

And he said, “Because a hand is on the throne of God, The Lord will make war with Amelek from generation to generation”.

Those who chose to struggle against God and His process of redemption working out through Israel will find themselves at war against God. These should be sobering words to the Palestinians, Iranians, the Moslem world, at least part of the Christian world and the United States under the leadership of the Obama administration. Each of these is attempting to put his hand on the throne of the Lord. The outcome for each will be the same as happened to Amelek.

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Bible Study-16.1 (Exodus & Ahkenaten)

Akhenaten & Confirmation of the ExodusI have a special subject related to the Exodus account this week. I trust that it will be encouraging to you.

AHKENATEN
Since we are studying about the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt, I want this week to write about what I believe is an archeological confirmation of the Exodus. I will recount the story of a unique pharaoh of Egypt named Akhenaten. His story has been preserved for about 3500 years and revealed in our generation. This puts Akhenaten’s revelation in the same category as the “Dead Sea Scrolls” which served to counter scholastic charges against the accuracy of the Bible (due to supposed copying errors). This occurred also in our generation.
During the confrontation leading up to the Exodus, God specifically judged (humiliated) the gods of Egypt. Of course, everyone knows that the final and most devastating judgment on Egypt leading to the Exodus was the death of the firstborn of every household in Egypt. This was true from the Pharaoh to the most humble servant. We propose that the Pharaoh known today as Akhenaten was the second born son of the Pharaoh of the Exodus. We believe that he personally witnessed the successive judgments brought on Egypt and finally of his older brother’s death on the night of the Passover. We believe that these events occurred relatively early in his father’s reign so it would be several years before he would become Pharaoh. When he did, he made dramatic changes in the religious life in Egypt, converting from polytheism to a monotheistic system of belief. This reflected what he had experienced during the Exodus.
The Biblical dating for the Exodus is based on one Scripture: I Kings 6:1

“Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.” (I Kings 6:1)

We are considering specific dates of events that occurred 3000 years ago. As a result, there is considerable disagreement concerning the dates of Solomon’s reign. I have chosen the 40 year period from 971 – 931 BC/BCE. The fourth year of Solomon’s reign then would be 967 which would place the Exodus at 1447 BC/BCE. This date is based solely on the Biblical reference cited above and is much earlier than that set forth by most liberal scholars.
For the purposes of this article, I am using an article published many years ago in the Biblical Archaeological Review (May-June 1987). The list of Pharaoh’s of the 18th Dynasty are as follows:
Thutmose III 1504-1451
Hatshepsut 1502-1483 (co-regent with Thutmose III)
Amenophis II 1453-1426
Thutmose IV 1426-1416
Amenophis III 1416-1377
Amenophis IV 1377-1360 (Amenophis IV changed his name to Akhenaten)
The gap between the beginning of Akhenaten’s father reign (1416) and the Biblical date of the Exodus (1447) is only 31 years. The dates of Solomon’s reign and the chronology of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt are not precisely determined, therefore, it does not seem to me to be unreasonable to believe that the reign of Akhenaten’s father and the Exodus coincide.

When Akhenaten began to reign he made incredible changes in the religious system of Egypt. He declared that all of the gods of Egypt had ceased to be operative, therefore, he closed the temples to these god. He declared that there was only one god whom he called Aten. According to Akhenaten, Aten lived in heaven and was self-existent. Aten was the creator and the source of light and life. Aten had humiliated all of the gods of Egypt. Akhenaten spent his reign in glorifying Aten. He built a new city dedicated to Aten. He had elaborate and extensive stone reliefs made depicting the works of Aten.
After the death of Akhenaten and his immediate successors, the subsequent pharaoh, Horemheb, destroyed all of the works of Akhenaten. The massive stone works depicting Aten and Akhenaten were broken up and used for fill material in new construction. Egypt returned to the polytheism that had characterized the period before Akhenaten. Akhenaten and his god were forgotten and any memorial to Aten was destroyed.
This brings us to the modern era. In the 1800’s archaeologists who were excavating the structures built by Horemheb, began to find pieces of the destroyed stonework from the time of Akhenaten. Thousands of pieces were found but there seemed to be no way to reassembled them to tell their story. Then in 1965 a retired Foreign Service worker, Ray Winfield Smith, used photography and computer matching to begin to reassemble the broken pieces of stonework. As he did so, the story of Akhenaten emerged.
So in the era when the nation of Israel appeared again after 2000 years and the validity of the Bible was confirmed by the “Dead Sea Scrolls”, a powerful witness to the Exodus has been presented to our generation. In most cases I would say that “God is subtle”. He acts leaving little physical evidence so only eyes of faith behold His works. Sometimes, He openly declares His works for all to see. We are blessed to be a generation to whom He is openly declaring His works.

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Bible Study-15 (Exodus 6-9)

Torah Portion: Va'eraIn the Exodus account, God revealed important aspects of His name. In the previous section, we discussed the importance of the name “I will be that which I will be”. God declared that He was not only self-existent but also that He could not be defined. Obviously, the human mind desperately wants to define who and what God is. God simply declared that we cannot. He has chosen to reveal a great deal about Himself through the Bible. This is sufficient for us to serve Him and His purpose. The process of “knowing” His name will, I believe, be an infinite task lasting throughout eternity.

There are two aspects of the concept of “name” that we must consider from a Biblical perspective. Name can mean “an identifier”. God declared this name also in the previous section. He is the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. This is the name by which God chooses to be known as throughout all generations. This is the God revealed in the Bible. We should always be careful to insure that we clearly utilize this name when we are speaking of God. It is our responsibility to insure that there is no misunderstanding here. There are many “gods” in this world. There is only one who is revealed in the Bible.

Another aspect of the concept of “name” used in the Bible is a description of a characteristic or function. The name “I will be that which I will be” fits into this category. The name “El Shaddai” also describes a characteristic of God.

“God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My Name, Lord, I did not make Myself known to them.” (Exodus 6:2-3)

The Hebrew expression “El Shaddai” is translated here as “God Almighty”. I like to consider the construction of the word “Shaddai” as “that is enough”. The God revealed in the Bible is the “God that is enough for_______”, for whatever troubles you, you can fill in the blank.

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Bible Study-14 (Exodus 1-5)

Bible Study - Shemot (Exodus 1:1-6:1)It is always interesting to consider what the Bible tells us and what it does not. The end of Genesis focused on the life of Joseph after the death of Jacob. The beginning of Exodus focuses on the people of Israel almost 400 years later. No account is given of events between these points. Even though extremely interesting, these events are evidently not necessary for us to understand God’s redemption process, therefore, the Bible is silent on this era.

When the time was right, God chose Moses to be His instrument of deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. He was supernaturally protected from death at birth. He was rescued by the daughter of Pharaoh and raised and educated in Pharaoh’s house. He must have been aware of his heritage. This is evident from the fact that he intervened to save another Hebrew from the hand of an Egyptian. This, of course, led to his exile into the Sinai peninsular. These events occurred in the first 1/3rd of Moses’ life. Afterward, he would spend the second 1/3rd of his life as a shepherd in the desert as the son-in-law of Jethro. The final 1/3rd of his life was spent leading Israel from Egypt to Mt. Nebo.

God’s call of Moses happened when he was 80 years old. Moses was on the mountain herding the flock when he noticed the phenomenon that we know as the “Burning Bush”. The Bible declares,

“And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.” (Exodus 3:2)

This was not an ordinary fire but was the “Glory of God” being manifested to Moses. This same “Glory” was seen throughout the Biblical account. It passed between the halves of the sacrifices made by Abraham (Genesis 15:17). This “Glory” stood between Israel and the Egyptian army as Israel escaped through the “Sea of Reeds” (Exodus 14:19-20). When the tabernacle was completed, the “Glory” descended upon and dwelled within the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34). The same was true when Solomon dedicated the First Temple in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 7:1-3).

The Bible is very clear that this phenomenon will occur in the future. Jesus declared:

“For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels….” (Matthew 16:27a).

And,

“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY WITH POWER AND GREAT GLORY”. (Matthew 24:30).

This theme reveals a concept almost lost to Christianity. The Holy One of Israel intends to come to planet earth and dwell in the midst of the human community. Everyone talks about going to heaven but the truth is that God is in the process of “coming to earth”. Many Christians are dreaming of escaping earth to fly off to some heavenly abode. What a surprise it will be when they return to “old planet earth”!

Finally, in this section God revealed some very important aspects of His name. He declared to Moses,

“And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:14)

This is almost universally translated incorrectly as “I am who I am”. The verbs are future tense. It should be translated as “I will be that which I will be”. The important difference here is that the present tense translation implies self-existence. The future tense expression implies not only self-existence but also that God cannot be defined. This will become a crucial issue in the 4th and 5th centuries (AD/CE) because the Church Fathers will violate this name by attempting to define God as the “mystical Holy Trinity”.

Furthermore, God declared the name by which all Bible believing people should refer to Him. He is,

“And God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.” (Exodus 3:15)

So God should never be confused with the gods of the peoples. He has a very specific name which we are to use. This name is obviously identified with Israel. As we utilize this name we identify not only with the God of the Bible but also with His people.  As we advance toward the time of His coming, real Christian believers will be challenged to assume a common identity with Israel. People worry about “taking” the “mark of the beast” (Revelation 13:16-17) on their forehead and their right hand. Sons of Israel already have marks on their forehead and on their hand. They are called “tefillin”. If we put on “tefillin” either symbolically or in reality, we will not take the “mark of the beast”. Actually, the “beast” will reject you as he will all of Israel.

Who We Are

Fellowship Church is a non-denominational congregation of believers in Messiah Jesus who love, worship and serve the Holy One of Israel with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. We are located in Winter Springs, Florida.

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Fellowship Church
5340 Red Bug Lake Road
Winter Springs, Florida 32708
407.699.1011