PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2023-2024

There are a variety of things that we could cover for today. It does seem like II Peter focuses on sin and specifically the sin of lust. He speaks about how lust has been the downfall of so many and especially in a communal sense. He talks about the earth during the time of Noah and how God destroyed it. He talks about Sodom and Gomorrah and how that was destroyed. He describes lust as that which strongly gets in the way of an individual living out his life in the way of Christ. A false prophet, who is described at length in II Peter, could easily be one who may be called by God to proclaim His message but his entanglement with lust prevents him from hearing God’s words clearly or seeing the plans that God has for him and his people. If you look at II Peter 3:8-10 these are very powerful verses that we can come back to and take assurance in. They are also verses that bring this song to mind, especially the end of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-4NFvI5U9w

When we get to the Psalms they are also very varied. We see the Psalmist go over the disobedience of the Israelites and how Moses “stood it he breach” in order to save them from God’s wrath. We find this theme repeated where God saves the Israelites from their sin, but then they sin again, and again and again. With Jesus we read that God has sent his son in order to save us once and for all. That even in the midst of our sin the wrath of God is appeased. Jesus is the one who is in the breach today and forever. The cycle doesn’t repeat itself because God chose an unconditional covenant, which is completely different from the conditional covenant which needed to be constantly revised because we would inevitably break it.

We finish up Exodus with the details of the garments of the priest that he needs to wear. We also see that Moses was given charge to do some quality control and he checked it all out and it was admissible. God then comes and fills the tabernacle, and not even Moses is able to go in when God is in the house. Once the cloud lifts from the tabernacle then the people of Israel are able to move forward toward the promised land. They are not wandering at this point, they are slowly but surely making their way to the promised land. Their wandering, and the disobedience that causes their wandering, comes later.

On to I Peter where we find a letter written by ostensibly Simon Peter, who was the disciple of Jesus who is also considered the one who headed up the church in Jerusalem. But here he is said to be in Babylon, which we know means Rome. So here is the concept of Peter heading up the church in Rome and how this then carries over into the Roman Catholic Church. It is from this letter. There are some really powerful Scriptures here including the part of one that I use for the benediction on Sundays. Look at I Peter 3:9 where we read not to repay anyone evil for evil. We also see that in Romans 12:17-21.

There is a lot in this chapter, and some of it is not cut and dry, and is even somewhat controversial. There is a lot mentioned about men and women. There is something mentioned about slaves. There is a glorification of persecution, if you are the one being persecuted. But we also find a promise in this Scripture that if you are able to make it through this time of trial then you will receive the prize of eternal life. That’s a good way to end this.

We repeat once again the measurements of the tabernacle, the traveling temple, and all the work that went into constructing it. Did you notice that the call went out for workers and others to help with the building of the tabernacle and filling it with those items that the Lord commanded be included? What happened once the call went out? So many people came and offered what was needed that another call had to go out that they had what they needed. Can you imagine a call that goes out in the church that we need help in the nursery, and help for people to teach Sunday School, and help with advisors for the youth and we get such an overflowing response that we have to tell people we don’t need them because we have enough? Now that would be awesome!

I do want to touch upon the face of Moses when he sees the Lord. A couple things about that. First of all, he is in the presence of God and while he is in God’s presence his face glows as a result. God gives him another set of tablets in order that the ten commandments would once again be written so that they could be with the people. That happens and this time Moses doesn’t break them. But when he comes down off the mountain, and every time that he talks with the Lord, his face shines. In the Hebrew it can also be interpreted as “he had horns”. You will see in many depictions of Moses especially in the Baroque and the Renaissance periods you have Moses with the 10 commandments and he has horns. It is very offputting, but when you go to Rome and see St. Peter’s or other statues done by Michalangelo, or Bernini, you will see Moses at times with horns. This is why, because his face was shining when he saw God, or he had horns. Fun fact for the day.

I do hope that you made it through these passages today. The first section dealt with the creation of the tabernacle which was the moveable temple. It is in the tabernacle where the arc of the covenant was to be placed so that the presence of God would be obvious by the Israelites as they made their way to the promised land. After that we see the vestments of the priests is covered. It was important to recognize that those who were going to be going before the presence of the Lord were dressed appropriately and in a manner that was dignified before the Lord. I wear a robe in the first service but it is not meant to be interpreted as the robe that Aarong and his children wore. Rather, the robe, for me at least, is to hide the messenger so that only the message from God would be seen. It is also very nice because people are not noticing and commenting on what the pastor is wearing on that day.

Finally there is the story of Moses receiving the ten commandments which were given back in chapter 20. He receives them in stone and they were written by the finger of God. That’s a pretty neat image and one that we see clearly in Michaelangelo’s Sistine chapel depiction as God creates Adam by stretching out his finger. The story of the golden calf is legendary. Remember that God has made up his mind to kill the Israelites and to further the people of Israel only through the children of Moses and Joshua. Remember Moses took Joshua with him up the mountain. But Moses beseeches God to save the people, and God does. The people had made a golden calf that they worshipped under the leadership of Aaron. Moses throws down the tablets, but God replaces them later. What a great reminder that when there is an absence of leadership, or when there is bad leadership, even, or maybe especially, the people of God go wild.

So we find ourselves knee deep in the laws and regulations of the people of Israel. This includes the well known eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We see this actually in yesterday’s reading, so go back over that if you would. For today…, we see laws of restitution, social and religious laws, laws of justice for everyone including the slave and the immigrant and the widow and the virgin. We read about the sabbatical year and the sabbath, the festivals that the Lord wanted the people of Israel to celebrate are mentioned as well. This is why it is called the law, because there are so many laws which the Israelites were commanded to follow

The ark of the covenant is very interesting. In it were to be placed the 10 commandment tablets that the Lord gave to Moses and the manna from heaven that was to be kept as a remembrance for all that the Lord had done. Fascinating in this same reading we see that not only Moses but the 70 elders all see the presence of God. I had forgotten that even the 70 elders had seen him. We know that doesn’t happen again until Jesus comes on the face of the earth and those around him witnessed and experienced the living God in the flesh, in Jesus himself.

The Psalms each speak about a recovery from serious illness. The first, Psalm 6, cries out to God in the midst of the suffering, but then ends, as most Psalms do, with a recognition that God does heal and that God is the one who brings about restoration. That is a great way to end.

Whenever we have optional readings we will not cover them on the days that they have asterixes but on the days that they are listed as mandatory reading. Today, the Matthew Scripture I will not comment on, but feel free to read it! Who doesn’t love a good sermon on the mount coverage? Now to the Scripture. God reveals himself powefully, really powerfully to the people of Israel and reveals himself directly to Moses on the mountain.

We had the opportunity to climb up Mount Sinai and it really was a surreal experience. Being able to be in the place where you knew that God was present and where God presented Moses with the 10 commandments was something else. About those commandments. If you hadn’t noticed the first 4 cover our relationship with God and the last six cover our relationship with each other. This cover’s Jesus’ statement when asked what is the greatest of all commandments and he says: love God and love your neighbor.

It is very disturbing that there are laws not only justifying, but actually describing how to own slaves. It is another proof that all Scripture needs to be read throug the eyes of Jesus.

Can you see why these two Scriptures are joined together for our reading?  Whenever you read the Psalms it is always good to see what is in the beginning portion of the Psalm, before you get to verse 1.  Often there are hints as to who wrote the Psalm, the purpose for why the Psalm was written, and even at times what specific life event prompted the writing of the Psalm.  Keep in mind that the word Psalm simply means in English song.  So, the beginning of Psalm  90 states that this is a Psalm of Moses, which gives us the impression that Moses was attributed as the one who composed this Psalm.  Now, keep in mind that he wouldn’t have been writing with pen and paper, he probably didn’t write it at all.  Everything up to this stage is in oral history so as the people of Israel were sitting around their nomadic campfires and the stories of Moses and the Israelites leaving Egypt were being told, this Psalm, and his song in Exodus that we read, would have been attributed to him.

In the Exodus Scripture we find ourselves now at the time where the people of God have left Egypt and the Pharaoh decides to pursue them.  As you know from history this was not a good idea and he pays for it with his life, so that the glory of God could be revealed.  Do not forget that last part.  The glory of God being revealed is key to this entire story.  Pharaoh’s heart is hardened so God can be revealed, Pharaoh is defeated so that God’s glory can be revealed.  Remember what the disciples of Jesus ask him in John about the man born blind?  Why was he born blind?  Jesus answers, so that God’s glory can be revealed through him.

Well that happens in this story with the conquest of the Egyptians.  It also happens with the manna and the quail  It also happens with the defeat of the Amalekites and so on.  God’s glory is revealed in a way that the hope would be that all of the generations to come would remember.  Yeah, well, that doesn’t really happen.  But more on that later.

This is probably the longest of all of our readings.  But it is important to keep this reading intact and to read all of it.  Here we find all 10 of the plagues that God brought upon Egypt.  I have read this Scripture many times before, but this time what stuck out to me was the specificity of the days and the timing.  There are a number of times that we read that Pharaoh asks Moses when are you going to bring this to an end, and Moses responds by saying today, or at this time.  Now, of course, we know that Pharaoh never keeps his end of the bargain and goes back on his word, but this specificity was meant to tie in God’s actions that brought about disaster and Moses’ prayers to God which brought about an end to that disaster, so that Pharaoh could know that it was God and not by chance.

The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart time after time is a bit hard to swallow, but we do see in 10:1-2 that this was for the sole purpose of setting a historical precedent that people would come to understand that God is in control and that God is in charge.  God and God alone is able to make these disasters come and go, in case someone else wanted to take credit for it.  This providence and power of God was meant to be passed down from generation to generation.  To this day in the Passover meal we remember what God did in Egypt.

What did God do in Egypt?  Well, the most powerful act, and the act that is given the most writing, is the killing of the oldest child and animal.  The killing of the innocents took place long before Herod killed the innocents in Matthew.  Again, this is a shock to our system and to our understanding of how God works.  But we have to see the hand of God always through the lens of Christ who is God and who is gracious.  If we just focus on the Old Testament acts of God we would see a God who seems very different from the God that we see in our Savior Jesus Christ.  We leave this reading thinking that finally the Israelites are able to leave Egypt and make their way back to the promised land that had been promised to Abraham with Moses leading the way.  Well, that quickly changes.

We find ourselves in the Scripture of Moses who was born and according to the law of the land he was to be killed. I love to see how the midwives broke the law and refused to kill the boys that were born to Hebrew women. Moses is taken in by the daughter of Pharaoh and eventually nursed by his mom. He then grows up in the house of Pharaoah, but always knew of his heritage and knew from which family he came.

There is still a sense of being Jewish and so he kills the Egyptian who is abusing the Hebrew worker. But people see it and he flees. He falls in love with the daughter of a priest and hopes to live happily ever after until we find ourselves in chapter 3. God meets Moses and commands him to go back to Egypt and liberate his people. His first pass at liberating the people of Israel did not go well. In fact, it backfired and the taskmasters forced the Jews to work in much harsher conditions and pressed their heel against their necks.

We then make our way to where Pharaoh does let the people go, but not before they are persecuted to the point of almost breaking.

Can you imagine if in my enews my tone were that of Paul in Galatians? I can’t imagine saying in an enews what he says about members of the church in Galatia in 5:12. Ouch, that would be difficult for me to be so angry with you that I would feel compelled to wish something like that upon you. But all of Paul’s churches were his love and joy and they are churches that he founded and that he felt so strongly about. Keep in mind that Galatians, like most of the other letters in the New Testament, was written by Paul and was simply a letter, like an enews, that he wrote to the congregation to encourage them, address certain timely issues that the churches were facing, and give them direction in life issues that were crucial to living out their faith, such as the interplay between faith and law. Let’s look at this letter.

Paul makes it clear that the Gospel is not one of many truths but the singular truth that we have to follow and which we cannot change. He also makes it clear that the Gospel is not something that a disciple made up but came directly from God. Paul also does something that we see him do in other letters which is prove the status of his discipleship in order to be placed among the apostles and as one with authority.

Chapter 2 gives us the Reformation clarion call as we read in 2:16 that we have been justified by faith and not by works. He says it so strongly that the phrase: if we are justified by the law then the death of Christ is useless. The fact that the grace of God provides salvation is enough for us to understand that our work in salvation does not contribute to our salvation. It is all God. That should be a relief to all of us. Paul expands on that in chapter 3 by using Abraham’s faith as an example.

In chapter 4 he begins to castigate the Galatians for forcing gentile believers to be circumcised and to follow the law in ways that was not require as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We follow Jesus and the rules that we have to follow are one: Love God and love your neighbor. We see that in 5:14. He is furious that the church in Galatia is requiring their members to do much more than love Christ, but also to become Jewish which includes circumcision and the following of the law. Loving Jesus is always enough.