Tag: 2829

Deuteronomy 28-29 Deep Diving Bible Study by Gordon Ramsay

GOOD MORNING!

Today’s readings are Deuteronomy 28-29

I feel a tangent coming on so feel free to skip if you want to get right to the reading. 😯

Rabbit Trails

🌿Today we move on from the curses to the blessings (and back to the curses, but I digress…) If you’re anything like me, you really like the blessing part! That is human nature, to just want the good, none of the bad. The problem is that we want the good given to us with no requirements on our part.

All of my life I’ve heard that salvation is a free gift, that we are saved by grace alone and there is nothing we could possibly do to earn it – and you know what?

All of that is absolutely true.

But notice that these verses were not given to an unsaved people. They had already been chosen as God’s own. They had been shown grace time and again, and in return something is required of them.

Just as with us, when we accept the grace and salvation that is given to us through faith in Messiah, we can’t just go on living as we did beforehand.

There is more and often today, we miss it.

The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and we must live a life worthy of being that vessel for the Holy Spirit.

I’m not saying we’re to be perfect because we will naturally make mistakes – but we can’t let the whole “nobody’s perfect” excuse prevent us from pursuing Holiness – from attempting to live our lives in a manner that will please God.

In Leviticus 11:44-45, YHWH says “You must be holy because I am holy.”

In Leviticus 19:2 He says “Be holy because I, YHWH your God, am holy.”

And in Leviticus 20:7 YHWH says “be holy for I am YHWH your God.”

Then in 1 Peter 1:16, Peter reiterates this when he says:

“For it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

🌿Note: The New Testament is just folks teaching the “old” testament so you see a lot of quoting.

In fact, 69% of the writings in 1 Peter are merely quotations from the “old testament”, or as Jesus and the apostles more accurately referred to this part of the Bible, “Scripture”.

We are to pursue the standards YHWH set for us. Whether you consider those to be the Ten Commandments alone or the Bible in its entirety – we can agree that it is always best to pursue Him, His truth, His model, and His standards of behavior for us.

The great thing is that It is easy to do so because He gave us a living, breathing example in human form in his precious beloved son, our Messiah.

Those “What Would Jesus Do” bracelets used to be everywhere we turned. My husband wore one for years. But we’ve changed our thinking on that.

Now, instead of asking “What Would Jesus Do?” We read our Bibles and ask “What DID Jesus Do?”- and that is the direction we go in.

Messiah is our ultimate example, so let’s live as closely to how He lived as possible.

🍐🍎🍇🍊🍓🍍🍏🍒🍐🍎

They will know us by our fruit!

🍐🍎🍇🍊🍓🍍🍏🍒🍐🍎

🌿Deut 28:57 seems horrific, but go read 2 Kings 6:24-33.

🌿Deut 28:66-67 In a way, this describes life for a lot of people living outside of YHWH’s will today, in our own country. In fact, this describes what was once my life.

🌿Deut 29:14-15 gives me goose bumps, do you see why?

¹⁴It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, ¹⁵but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.

I believe that is partly a reference to us today.

🌿Deut 29:18-19

¹⁸Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, ¹⁹one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’…

Y’all. I’ve been that person!!

Visit the Faith Homepage • Read my statement of Faith • Print the reading plans

Begin at the beginning with our Genesis notes

Yum

Deuteronomy 28-29 Deep Diving Bible Study by Gordon Ramsay

GOOD MORNING!

Today’s readings are Deuteronomy 28-29

I feel a tangent coming on so feel free to skip if you want to get right to the reading. 😯

Rabbit Trails

All of my life I’ve heard that salvation is a free gift, that we are saved by grace alone and there is nothing we could possibly do to earn it – and you know what?

All of that is absolutely true.

But notice that these verses were not given to an unsaved people. They had already been chosen as God’s own. They had been shown grace time and again, and in return something is required of them.

Just as with us, when we accept the grace and salvation that is given to us through faith in Messiah, we can’t just go on living as we did beforehand.

There is more and often today, we miss it.

The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and we must live a life worthy of being that vessel for the Holy Spirit.

In Leviticus 11:44-45, YHWH says “You must be holy because I am holy.”

In Leviticus 19:2 He says “Be holy because I, YHWH your God, am holy.”

And in Leviticus 20:7 YHWH says “be holy for I am YHWH your God.”

Then in 1 Peter 1:16, Peter reiterates this when he says:

“For it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

🌿Note: The New Testament is just folks teaching the “old” testament so you see a lot of quoting.

In fact, 69% of the writings in 1 Peter are merely quotations from the “old testament”, or as Jesus and the apostles more accurately referred to this part of the Bible, “Scripture”.

The great thing is that It is easy to do so because He gave us a living, breathing example in human form in his precious beloved son, our Messiah.

Those “What Would Jesus Do” bracelets used to be everywhere we turned. My husband wore one for years. But we’ve changed our thinking on that.

Now, instead of asking “What Would Jesus Do?” We read our Bibles and ask “What DID Jesus Do?”- and that is the direction we go in.

Messiah is our ultimate example, so let’s live as closely to how He lived as possible.

🍐🍎🍇🍊🍓🍍🍏🍒🍐🍎

They will know us by our fruit!

🍐🍎🍇🍊🍓🍍🍏🍒🍐🍎

🌿Deut 28:57 seems horrific, but go read 2 Kings 6:24-33.

🌿Deut 28:66-67 In a way, this describes life for a lot of people living outside of YHWH’s will today, in our own country. In fact, this describes what was once my life.

🌿Deut 29:14-15 gives me goose bumps, do you see why?

¹⁴It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, ¹⁵but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.

🌿Deut 29:18-19

¹⁸Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, ¹⁹one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’…

Y’all. I’ve been that person!!

Visit the Faith Homepage • Read my statement of Faith • Print the reading plans

Begin at the beginning with our Genesis notes

Yum

Exodus 28-29 Deep Diving Bible Study by Gordon Ramsay

Exodus 28-29

Now keep in mind, as we are reading today, that the construction of the tabernacle has not taken place yet. The Father is still giving His detailed instructions to Moses.

🌿Exodus 28:3 begins with a miracle that most overlook.

You shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill….

Did you catch that? Where these skills came from? The Hebrew translates to spirit of wisdom, specifically Ruach chokmah. Where did these men get their skill from? The text says that it was a gift given supernaturally from the Father.

🌿The Father is further dividing and separating His people today. We see the priesthood being set up and instructions given. Seriously, it is impossible for anyone to read the words of YHWH and, being honest with themselves, not see that details are important to the Father.

We go on to see a very specific design for the priestly garments, highly symbolic and with great attention to detail. Our Father is a God of details and every detail is important.

Below is a diagram of what the priestly garments would have looked like according to Scripture.

Special thanks to https://www.timewarpwife.com for allowing me to use this illustration.

🌿Exodus 28:30 The Urim and the Thummim will be mentioned several times in the text. This is one of the great mysteries we do not know nearly as much about as we’d like but we are able to speculate, based on what knowledge is given to us. I always remind myself that that Father has placed ample wisdom before me to study in order that I can follow Him and live according to His Word. But, in His wisdom, according to His good purpose, there are many things which He has chosen not to reveal. These are things I may enjoy thinking about, following rabbit trails, and speculating on as they are not salvation issues, but at the end of the day we just can’t know the answers to everything right now and so I keep the bulk of my energy on learning the things before me that I have a responsibility to know. Goodness knows, that will take the remainder of this life and then some!

Deuteronomy 29:29 states “The secret things belong to YHWH our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

🌿Exodus 28:36 “You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to YHWH.’

We see in our reading that the Father has a specific definition of what He considers Holy – and when He is making something Holy until Him it must be holy according to His specifications. We live in a time where man declares things holy coming and going, both from a religious standpoint and from a personal standpoint. To some, football is holy. To others, a statue is holy. We have set up our own holy places, practices, days, and even people. However, there is a tremendous difference in what we consider holy and what He considers Holy. Sadly, many of our “holy” things stand in contrast to His.

YHWH has already told us what is Holy to Him, what His standard of Holiness is, and so attempts to supersede that with our own ideas and declarations are destined to be fruitless.

🌿Exodus 29:9 has an interesting verse. Now, keep in mind that this is YHWH Himself speaking here when He says “And the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever.”

The Father uses the word “Forever” and the phrase “throughout your generations” a lot in this portion of the Bible. But most of my life I was taught that these things were no more. That they had been done away with. Worse still, some teach that Messiah contradicted His Father’s teachings (We will see the opposite is true when we read Messiah’s words). As a child, in order to believe this I had to conclude that either the Father doesn’t mean what He says when He says “forever” or that He didn’t really know what that word meant. I’m not a child anymore and His word is the source of truth.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 1 Corinthians 13:11

It is our responsibility to know this Word for ourselves. Not only that, but we have to know it to the point of confidence so that we do not feel too timid to question anything that seeks to undermine the authority of YHWH.

🌿We continue in chapter 29 of Exodus with descriptions of burnt offerings. It is worth nothing that when someone brought an animal to be sacrificed, they would place their hand on that animal to signify the transference of their transgressions. It was an acknowledgment that this animal was dying because of their sin. They were paying the price for them. This is an act of Grace because something else was paying the price for our sins. This is also the model set into place for future atonement through Messiah.

🌿What is this with fragrant aromas that pleased the Father? Exodus 28:18 Exodus 29:25 Exodus 28:41

Have you ever spent a great deal of time teaching your child right from wrong and then happened upon them in a group of kids where the group was going sideways but your child was remaining steadfast, doing the right thing? That feeling in your heart, knowing they have chosen to walk in your instructions, to be the person you intended them to be.

With all of these details regarding the sacrifices, I can only imagine the Father’s heart at seeing His children listen to Him, heed His instructions. Do you know what I think that aroma smelled like to Him?

Obedience.

We will go on to see that obedience is the Father’s love language.

As Messiah said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15

Nowadays people say that it is too hard to keep His commandments, but this, too, contradicts both the words of the Father and of the Messiah. The Father says:

🌿Deuteronomy 30:11-15 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

And Messiah further states this with “My yoke is easy and my burden light.” Matthew 11:30

So it really just depends on whose word we are trusting in.

May we learn to place our trust in Him.

Test everything, hold tight to what is good.

May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!

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