Okay, so how do you get into the presence of God? We’ve already seen that the Tabernacle symbolizes two things: God living in our midst, and our inability to draw close to Him. So, how do we get past the curtains of the Tabernacle, the cordon of cherubim which block…

So, why would God tell Moses to go to all the trouble of making beautiful, gold-plated objects like the ark, the table and the lampstand, only to hide them behind a veil and a screen? Well, when Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord, they had to leave the Garden…

The Menorah continues to be perhaps the best known symbol of Judaism around the world. Originally intended as a source of light first for the Tabernacle and then for the Temple, the seven-branched lampstand has not seen such use since the Second Temple was destroyed in the days of the…

Okay, so God wanted a table in His tabernacle, and He wanted 12 loaves of bread to be placed on it every week, along with some sweet-smelling incense. So much is clear, but what does it all mean? Well, ancient people often placed food before the statues of their false…

So, if the Second Commandment so clearly tells us not to make carved images, why did God turn right around and tell Moses to make an ark and to put two solid gold cherubim on it? Are we supposed to use visual images in worship or not? Well, what are…

When asking for gifts to support the church, it is easy to appeal to guilt or fear or shame. But instead, God simply calls those whose hearts move them to give to the work of the Lord (v. 2). And we find the same motivation in the New Testament as…

No matter what the Law of Moses says, God’s people don’t need to offer bloody sacrifices of animals any longer. In fact, as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). No, all those Old…

So, why don’t New Testament believers continue to celebrate these Old Testament festivals? After all, the Feast of Unleavened Bread commemorated the way God delivered His people of Egypt – surely that’s still worth remembering. And why shouldn’t we celebrate both the beginning and the end of the harvest that…

We business-minded Americans usually consider efficiency to be a virtue. All sorts of self-help books give us tips on how to wring the most productivity out of every dollar and every minute. In contrast, the Law of Moses calls us to love God and to love others – and sometimes…

In rural southwest Mississippi, everyone knows how important it is to notify a rancher when his cattle have gotten out of their pasture, and to help him round them up if we can. What better way could we express our concern for our neighbors, and for the animals under their…