Chapters 24-25

Exodus 24:16 - Moses waited for the Lord to speak for six days. Finally, on the seventh day, the Lord spoke. We are far too hasty when we expect the Lord to speak into our lives. Sometimes we have to be patient and wait. It is a test. How badly do we want to hear from the Lord? Or are we content to do our own thing once we have satisfied our sense of duty in seeking the Lord? The Lord will not honor that. We must seek Him diligently and not do anything until we know that we know we have heard from Him. I am guilty of moving too quickly.

Exodus 24:17 - "The glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top" (NASB). The glory of the Lord was evidenced to the people of Israel by the appearance of a flame of fire on the "head of the mountain" (Lit. Hebrew). Flip over to Acts 2:3, "And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them" (NASB). Here at Pentecost, the glory of the Lord was visiting in the third person of the Trinity: The Holy Spirit. It was another manifestation of the Lord's presence. He met with Moses, and it appeared like fire on the head of the mountain. He met with the disciples, and it appeared like fire on their own heads! The Lord was giving a symbolic confirmation that this was His doing. Certainly the people of Israel would remember the last time a consuming fire appeared on the head of something. I do not think we should draw a contrast between God sending fire on the mountain back then and fire on the individual now. Some might say that the Lord is showing how His glory is moving from the Law given on Sinai to the Spirit in the individual. The place is not what is important. The symbolism is a sign that God's hand is with them.

Exodus 25:2 - A principle the Lord has set in place is this: "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7, NASB). In this passage of Exodus, we see this universal principle at work. The Lord did not require gifts from everyone. Only those whose "heart moves him" (NASB) are asked to give. It is not a tax to be imposed on the people. It is to be an offering. The Lord would not build a place for Himself with gifts given under compulsion. Those kinds of gifts are unholy. (cf. Proverbs 23:6-8, "Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies; For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten, And waste your compliments," NASB) That is no way to build a holy sanctuary, and it is no way to build a ministry.
Faith-based ministry should operate the same way. People should not feel under compulsion to give. That would violate the 2 Corinthians 9:7 passage. The Lord controls the heart, so we should not press, manipulate, or engineer circumstances whereby people might give with anything but a cheerful heart having been inclined from inside the heart to do so.

Exodus 25:8 - After everything the Lord has dealt with from the people and knowing everything they will do, it is shocking that He would associate Himself with them. What condescension for Him, in His holiness, purity, and majesty, to say, "I [will] dwell in your midst." In the natural realm, most people of high standing would never dwell with the impoverished, nor even associate with them. How the Lord has made Himself less to make us more ("You stoop down to make us great" Ps 18:35, NIV). What a compromise He must have made to include humans among those who would enjoy His presence. Before this time, it was only angels and the heavenly host. He chose to live among us in all the filth, unbelief, sin, and sheer uncleanness of human life. No wonder the Lord said, "You must be holy as I am holy" (cf. Leviticus 19:2). He is trying to make the place where His name would dwell holy, so He would not be provoked to wrath. How much His patience must have been tried by dwelling among them. They just didn't understand God's holiness. No wonder it would seem like He was quick to wrath and retribution: "Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they" (Deuteronomy 9:14, NASB).
In His holiness, He dwelt among them, but He cannot long endure unholiness. One of two things will happen: (1) He will withdraw His presence, (2) He will execute justice immediately. To withdraw His presence is actually a demonstration of mercy. It gives humans a chance to repent before He executes justice. Sadly, the vast majority of our churches today are without the presence of the Lord for just this reason.

Exodus 25:17ff - "And you shall make a mercy seat..." (NASB). The word for "mercy seat" in the original language is actually the word for propitiation or to cover over. There is little justification, from a lexical stand point, for the translation of this word as mercy seat. Apart from tradition (Each translation I examined followed the KJV translation "mercy seat."), there is no good reason for this word choice. The main problem I have with "mercy seat" is that it tends to connote passivity. For example, if a child does something wrong that deserves punishment, and the father is said to have had mercy, it means that the father did not do anything to the child. There was no quantifiable transaction that occurred between father and son. That is most emphatically not the lexical meaning of the Hebrew word used here. To propitiate something is to conduct a transaction by which sins are forgiven and a relationship is restored. Jesus was said to have made "propitiation" for our sins (Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:2 & 4:10). The word does not have a passive connotation but rather active. Consider what takes place on the so-called mercy seat: "Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times" (Leviticus 16:14, NASB). Here the high priest is instructed to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat as an act of gaining forgiveness of sins for the people. By sprinkling the blood on that particular place, atonement is made. Thus, it is the place where a transaction occurs; sins are forgiven. In my opinion it would be more consistent with the intended meaning, as well as more consistent with themes throughout the cannon of Scripture, to use the phrase "place of propitiation" instead of mercy seat. Grace may be free, but it is not cheap.

Exodus 25:18 - What are the Cherubim doing there? They are witnesses. In the biblical world, everything needed two or more witnesses to confirm the truthfulness of the thing. "On the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed" (Deuteronomy 19:15b, NASB). And again, "if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 18:19, NASB). In this last verse, the two people agreeing in prayer are acting as witnesses of the thing prayed for.

Exodus 25:20 - Why are the Cherubim's wings spread up and over the place of propitiation? I do not know. It could be to guard the place where the sacred transaction occurs and to create a holy hollow, so to speak.

Exodus 25:32ff - While the Scripture speaks throughout the remaining verses of six branches to the lamp stand, there was still the center lamp, which makes a total of seven lamps (vs. 37).
The symbolism of a lamp stand is significant throughout the Scriptures. The Greek translation of the Hebrew OT (called the Septuagint or LXX for short) uses the Greek word "Luxnios" for the Hebrew "Menorah" (Engl. "Lamp stand"). That same Greek word can be found throughout the Greek NT and especially in Revelations. Revelations (and Zechariah) ascribe a symbolic meaning to the lamp stand, but they vary slightly. In Revelations 1:20 the seven lamp stands are said to represent the churches. In Revelations 11:3ff (note especially vs. 4) the two witnesses are said to be two olive trees and two lamp stands. This is mirrored in Zechariah 4:14 where the olive trees are next to a lamp stand, and the olive trees are said to be the two witnesses standing next to the Lord of all the earth. What is the underlying symbolism for the lamp stand that can incorporate so many derivative meanings in particular? I do not know.