For the last two weeks, we have been preaching through the latter chapters of Exodus introducing the Tabernacle and it’s furniture. (See illustrations from the ESV Study Bible.) Here are some questions for you and/or your SoulCare Community to consider in applying the text.
1. How do you feel and what do you do when you come to passages like this in the Bible? (meaning hard-to-understand, unfamiliar, foreign, how-does-this-apply-today, passages) What might help you to best tackle difficult portions of the Bible? (resources, practices, approaches, people, etc)
2. Why is there no Tabernacle and its furniture (bronze altar, bronze basin, lampstand, table, altar of incense, veil, Ark of the Covenant) for us today?
3. Why is keeping central the person and saving work of Jesus important when reading passages like Exodus 25-30 about the Tabernacle?
4. How do you tend to approach God – casually and carelessly OR cowardly and condemned?
5. When you approach God casually, carelessly, or cavalierly, how does the Tabernacle furniture call you to pause and be humbled? When you approach God condemned or cowardly, how does the Tabernacle furniture call you to be lifted up and encouraged? How does Hebrews 10:19-22 call us to approach God?
by Ajay Thomas
Ajay lives in Philadelphia with his wife Shainu and their kids Hannah and Micah. He is responsible for preaching and vision as a pastor at Seven Mile Road.