Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
Well, welcome everybody to a new episode of The Bible Guys. And we have with us, we as an organization, me as an individual, right here to my right, it is the one, the only, Wesley Woods!

Wesley:
It is awesome to be here. I’m feeling big shoes. Jeff is gone. Yes. He’ll be back soon.

Chris:
Don’t you have bigger shoes than him? I think I do. What size are your feet? 14. Oh yeah. Oh, there’s no way he comes close to a 14. Do you know what size shoes I have? 11. Oh, no way. Guess what? Guess really low.

Wesley:
Oh no. Oh yeah.

Chris:
Nine.

Wesley:
I never guessed that way.

Chris:
Here’s the weird thing, and this is a little bit of trivia for Chris Arbaugh that nobody cares about. I had eight and a half when I was in the eighth grade. Yeah. And it’s been eight and a half since the eighth grade. Oh, wow. My feet have been the same size since the eighth grade.

Wesley:
That is something.

Chris:
Yeah. I’ve only got a pedicure twice in my whole life, and my wife recently just scheduled me for a pedicure, and I went in, I sat down, you know, and pull up my pants, and the lady gets down, and she goes, oh, tiny feet. Wesley is filling in because Jeff is gone.

Wesley:
He’s out of pocket. And so we’re going to have a fantastic time.

Chris:
And so today we’re going to start off with a segment that Desiree has prepared called Law or Flaw. So these are some of the bizarre state laws that are out there, even if they’re not actually enforced. And what I’m going to do is read off five statements and Wesley’s going to decide whether it’s a law or whether it’s lying. It’s kind of like true or false.

Wesley:
This is gonna be tough, because I know there are some crazy ones out there.

Chris:
Flaw means it’s just not true. Yeah. Okay, are we ready? Here we go. Okay, here we go. Here’s the first one. In Alaska, it is illegal to wake a bear for photo opportunities.

Wesley:
That’s gotta be a flaw. That can’t be real. It’s real. It’s a law. Oh no, that’s an actual law. That’s an actual law. I’m thinking like, there’s no way that one’s real.

Chris:
Hey, hey, hey, there’s a polar bear. Go wake it up I would except it’s against the law as if somebody would do that.

Wesley:
Yeah, I can’t believe that was so wild Wow Okay, number two. Okay. I struck out on that one.

Chris:
I know In Oklahoma it is illegal to make faces at a dog I’m gonna say that’s a flaw Believe it or not. That’s true. That’s a law. Oh, no. So, you know what I think they do sometimes? I think what they do is they create absurd laws to prevent tragedies. Yeah. Because in both of these cases, you’re antagonizing a bear. Yeah. And you’re antagonizing a dog. Yeah. So, they’re like, hey, listen, let’s just make it a law. Yeah. How do you want to word it? Don’t antagonize? What’s the word antagonize? Well, let’s go ahead and say.

Wesley:
You’re making a funny face.

Chris:
Wow all right here. We go number three in Oregon is illegal to perform a wedding ceremony at a skating rink It’s at a who it’s illegal to perform a wedding ceremony at a skating rink in Oregon I’m gonna say that’s got to be false

Wesley:
It’s a law. Oh man, I am striking out bad. You’re over.

Chris:
Over three. You’re over, baby. All right, here we go. Oh man. And number four, in Kansas, okay? So we’ve had Alaska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Kansas. In Kansas, it is illegal to eat cherry pie with a scoop of ice cream.

Wesley:
So because I got the other ones wrong, I’m going to go the other way on this one. I’m going to say that’s true. It is true. Okay. I had no idea, but just since I was zero and three, I’m like, let’s switch it up and go the other direction.

Chris:
I don’t even want to live in Kansas.

Wesley:
You can’t have ice cream with pie.

Chris:
Do you know that my favorite pie is cherry pie? Okay. Yeah. And, uh, and I always like a la mode. So if that’s illegal, I don’t want to be in Kansas.

Wesley:
I think there are a lot of people breaking laws in Kansas right now.

Chris:
I think my future son-in-law lives in Kansas. My daughter is flying to Kansas to go see him Monday, and I’m going to tell her. I’m going to say, don’t you dare. Yeah, or you’re going to jail. Don’t you dare have a piece of cherry pie and put a scoop of ice cream on it. Wow. That is so crazy. Okay, number five. Here it is, the last one. This is the last one. All right, see if you can get What is it, 40, 30, 37? Yeah, I’m not doing too good right now. 30-something percent, 40%? All right. In Tennessee, it is illegal to catch a fish with a lasso.

Wesley:
Now, I know there are fishing laws in different states on how you can catch fish. I don’t know about the lasso, but I’m just going to err on the side. It could be true.

Chris:
It’s true.

Wesley:
Yeah, because I know different states have laws.

Chris:
So Desiree picked five laws. Okay. Just to psych you out. Yeah. Right. But in Tennessee, it is illegal to catch a fish with a lasso. Okay. I mean, do you have many lassoing people in Tennessee? Probably not today. You don’t. Right. I mean, maybe a hundred years ago, everybody was a lasso person.

Wesley:
I know some states have the net where you can’t use a net to catch fish. I know some states have that to prevent overfishing and stuff like that, but… Wow.

Chris:
Yeah. I did not know that. I’m not a fisher, so a fisherman, so I would not know that. Wow. That’s pretty good. So these are crazy laws.

Wesley:
Yeah. Wow. I have to tell Desiree, she really stumped me on that one.

Chris:
Yeah. Well, I’ll tell you what, you did not come out of the gate well, Wesley.

Wesley:
I did not. Maybe if we could have had like A, B, C, D, I could have just done the abacadaba. You just pick that way. That is so funny.

Chris:
Wow. Oh my goodness gracious. Okay.

Wesley:
Our scripture for today is Exodus chapter 29 verses 37 through 42.

Chris:
Yeah, so let me remind a little bit of a review of our viewers. So basically the children of Israel, they just get delivered out of slavery after 400 years. Moses brings them across the Red Sea. They’re finally free. They go to Mount Sinai. That’s where they’re at. And God is establishing all kinds of rules and says, hey, you’ll be my people. You’ll be my special people. I’ll be your God. And these are the things that I want you to obey. And so the first thing that he says is he says, here’s a bunch of laws. He gives them the Ten Commandments, and he’s about to give them more commandments later. But as of right now, they have the Big Ten. And then he says, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to build a tabernacle. And this tabernacle would be very specific. It’s not made out of stone like Solomon’s temple or Herod’s temple. It was made out of very fine fabric, but it was woven with gold and silver and colors. And it was very, very thick and it was durable. And inside the tabernacle, he described the Holy of Holies, And again, Solomon’s temple would have it later on. But in here, he goes through and here’s the section that we’re in now. He’s going through and he says, the first thing I want you to do is build the Ark of the Covenant. Then I want you to build the table of showbread. I want you to place a lampstand. Here’s my plans for the tabernacle, for the altars, for the burn offerings. He says, OK, here’s my plans for the courtyard. And, you know, outsiders can come in only so far and then insiders can come even further. And only the priest can come all the way. And then he says, there’s light for the tabernacle. And so there’s going to be a like candlestick with a candelabra and then there’s clothing. And here’s, I want you to dress for the clothing of the priests and then the designs of them. And oh my goodness gracious. They are so specific.

Wesley:
But Chris, here’s the thing. I love the fact that God is a specific God, that He’s into the details. And the part that I love about that is, as it relates to us in our interaction with God, the fact that He is detail-oriented with us, with every aspect of our lives. So I just love that part about God, how He’s not this… this generalized being where he just looks at everything from a general perspective. No, he’s literally into how things should be woven and built and put a covering over this. And yeah, so I love that about that.

Chris:
We already have a sermon just in the review. Yeah. Right.

Wesley:
Which is excellent. Preach that Sunday.

Chris:
And so, and by the way, I’m only mentioning these things because we’ve skipped over some of them. Yeah. So he gives specific designs in the chess piece, additional clothing for priests, and then, uh, then the dedication of the priests, excuse me. And then today we’re going to pick up with, uh, the sacrifice. Yeah. Right. And so we’re reading, uh, Exodus chapter 29 versus 37 through 42. Right. Yes.

Wesley:
And Chris, can I toss one thing in? Yeah. Just with our prayer life, the thing that I get out of this, even before we begin reading, the fact that God is a detailed God, when we pray to God, we should be detailed. You know, stop going to God with these generalized prayers where you just pray, God, I want a, I want a job. That sounds great. But if you get a job that has great benefits where you’re working in a sewage plant, nothing against people that work in sewage plants, but you work in a sewage plant, you can’t complain because your prayer was for a good job and God gave you a good job with benefits. So be detailed and specific about what you want from the father.

Chris:
God, I want that job. Yeah. Right. And so, uh, because sometimes you’ll get a job that maybe can conflict with your morals or a job that’ll work you on Sundays or too many hours in general. And so, yeah, I do believe that, uh, God wants us to pray specific and he wants us to pray big and, uh, all throughout the scripture, Jesus reminds us of that.

Wesley:
It’s like praying for a spouse. If you’re looking for a spouse, God, just give me any old person. Well, don’t complain if,

Chris:
If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife. So, all right, so here we go.

Wesley:
Exodus 29, 37 through 42, it says, Purify the altar and consecrate it every day for seven days. After that, the altar will be absolutely holy and whatever touches it will become holy. Which by the way, that’s kind of interesting.

Chris:
You talk about specifics. Yeah. Seven days. I mean, that’s more than my wife sanitizes the kitchen. Yeah. Right? That’s a lot. And we’ll talk about the holiness later, but wow, that is amazing already.

Wesley:
Yeah. Every day for seven days. Then it goes on in verse 38. It says, these are the sacrifices you are to offer regularly on the altar. Each day, offer two lambs that are a year old, one in the morning and the other in the evening. With one of them, offer two quarts of choice flour mixed with one quart of pure oil or pressed olives. Also, offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering. Verse 41. Offer the other lamb in the evening along with the same offerings of flour and wine as in the morning. It will be a pleasing aroma, a special gift presented to the Lord. These burnt offerings are to be made each day from generation to generation. Offer them in the Lord’s presence at the tabernacle entrance. There, I will meet you and speak with you.” That is very specific.

Chris:
Yes. And look, there’s a promise that is attached to everything, right? And he says, there, I will meet you and speak with you. And by the way, that reminds us that keep in mind, you know, how that relates to today is that God has an address. All the way up until Jesus Christ died on the cross, God had an address. And this was where God was, which is why you couldn’t walk into the Holy of Holies. Not just anybody, a priest can only enter in once a year. He couldn’t have any sinful thoughts, which is why they tied a rope to his ankle, because if he were to fall and die, they’d have to drag him out. There was a bell attached to his garments, just so that they could know that he’s alive and he would ring it every now and then. But anyway, the point is, is that So here we have an invitation, right? He says, come, jump through these hoops. And again, I’m sort of saying that tongue in cheek. It’s really obey these commands, right? Obey these commands and their commands of sacrifice and their commands of repentance. And he says, and then I will meet you and I will talk with you. Well, isn’t it wonderful today that in Hebrews chapter 4, I think it’s verse number 12, it says, now, because Jesus died and because the veil was ripped in two that separated the Holy of Holies from everybody else, and the veil was ripped, which was impossible, it was a very thick veil. Yeah. and it fell to the ground, God rushed out from that address. And now the Bible tells us that God is in us. We are in Christ, but then Christ is in us.

Wesley:
So there’s no longer that separation between humanity and divinity.

Chris:
Right. Right. And so now we can talk with God. So this really special moment that God is, this is the first time that God is describing these types of moments. And so, and so think about the privilege that you and I have every day. So Hebrews 4.12 says now, meaning since Jesus died, now we can come boldly before the throne, right? And we can approach the throne with confidence, with grace and confidence. So think about that. Like, you know, up to this point, don’t you dare, don’t you dare. It’s forbidden. It’s forbidden. Then all of a sudden the writer of Hebrews says, no, no, no, no, no. We can approach the throne of God with confidence. You know, just knowing that because of Jesus Christ covering our sins, we no longer have to be fearful of having a sinful thought and being struck down in God’s presence. Because our sins are paid for. Our sins are forgiven. Isn’t that amazing?

Wesley:
Yeah, that’s absolutely amazing. The thing that’s interesting to me, years ago, you could have been killed going before a king unannounced. That’s something that you didn’t do. If anyone knows the story of Esther, that kind of plays into it a little bit there where she went unannounced before the king and it turned out good for her, but that’s something you did not do. You didn’t just show up, hey king, how’s it going? But the fact that in the New Testament, like you referenced, we can, and I love the verbiage there. It didn’t say we could just go into the presence of God. We could come before the throne. It said we could go boldly before the throne. And I think, Chris, that’s something to remember when we fall short and make mistakes in our life. Sometimes we make mistakes and the first thing that the enemy will try to do is guilt you into separating yourself from God.

Chris:
Because people don’t want to go to church.

Wesley:
They don’t want to pray. They don’t want to seek the face of God. They don’t want to ask for forgiveness. They don’t want to go to church. They don’t want to do any of those things. And God is saying in His Word, do the reverse of that. Yeah, I want you to run boldly to me when you miss the mark and when you mess up, because I love you, I’ll give you grace, I’ll forgive you. So I think that’s powerful.

Chris:
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And so let’s go back to the very beginning here. Verse 37 talks about the a fact that God is holy, and there’s a note for the Life Application Study Bible, which we always promote, and here’s how it reads. It says, Notice the overwhelming emphasis on the holiness of God. The priests, the clothes, the tabernacle, and the sacrifices had to be clean and consecrated, prepared to meet God. In contrast, today we tend to take God for granted, rushing into worship and treating Him with almost casual disregard. but we worship the almighty creator and sustainer of the universe. Remember that profound truth when you pray or worship and come before him with reverence and repentance. And you know what, sometimes in the modern church, we do lack that, don’t we? So, you know, it’s interesting because we go to a church where you wear jeans and, you know, and we do that because we want to reach those who are far from God. We want to reach those who are the average everyday blue-collar worker in our area. And that’s why we choose to do what we do. And so we have facilities that aren’t necessarily stained glass and, you know, filled with crucifixes and things like that. But there’s nothing wrong with that. And I mentioned to Jeff, like I think a couple of podcasts ago, that I think that sometimes we can stand to have a little bit more of that. You know what I mean? Which is why I like Good Friday. Yeah. I think that Good Friday is one of my favorite services of the entire year. you know, a lot for that reason, right? We don’t, we don’t take the time necessarily to really focus on Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection, or his death, his crucifixion, the price that he paid, right? And there’s a lot of reverence to, you know, saying, God, you’re holy. I’m not. You are worthy. I’m not. You paid the price for me. I’m a wretched sinner. Yeah. And there’s, there’s value in that reverence. I think so. That’s awesome. Yeah. So, um, Here’s what’s really interesting. I pulled this up from, we actually touched on this at the church that we both go to, Heritage Church, on Palm Sunday. But in Exodus 29, this is the first time that he says, these are the sacrifices that you are to offer regularly on the altar. Every day offer two lambs that are a year old. Now, when the Passover feast is established, There’s a tradition there where Jesus had come in. So let me fast forward to the New Testament. You know, we all know that Jesus entered in on Palm Sunday, right? And a lot of times I think some of us get confused because we confuse the Passover meal with the Passover week, right? Jesus came in on Palm Sunday because it was the first day that celebrated the festival of the Passover. And the Passover took place on Thursday. right? So the Passover meal was something that every Jewish boy in the New Testament, and by the way, still do, good Jewish boys today, once a year, observe the Passover meal. It’s very specific, right? And we’ve already covered that in our podcast, but Jesus came in on Sunday on purpose because every day he fulfilled scriptures. He went down the line and just every day he was doing something, fulfilling scriptures, even riding on a donkey, fulfilled scriptures. And then when he comes up to Thursday, You know, people are there. There’s over a million people in Jerusalem. They’ve come from all over. They’re celebrating the Passover meal. Well, the temple was a very busy place, and people would go on Sunday and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, and they would offer daily sacrifices, right? And they would choose, you know, lambs on behalf of their family.

Wesley:
And let me just toss this in, Chris, what was the significance of the sacrifice daily? What was that supposed to do?

Chris:
Well, daily meaning there’s a lot of different families that have to get through, but, but these, uh, these families would offer a sacrifice, um, in many cases, once a year, uh, and they would bring it to the temple and they would offer it, um, to represent the payment for the sins. Yeah. because, you know, Hebrews even tells us without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness of sins, there’s no remission of sins, right? And so, before the cross, they would have to have a sacrifice, as demonstrated, you know, in the garden, when God had to kill an animal to cover up Adam and Eve, that was the first, you know, foreshadowing of Jesus dying on the cross. There had to be the shedding of blood For the forgiveness of sins, there has to be death. Why? Because the scripture says for the payment of sin is death. Right. But then we live under Jesus. So it says, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who’s the lamb of God. Yeah. Well, anyway, let’s go back to Exodus 29. So here it tells us, you know, Hey, there has to be a lamb has to be without blemish, without spot. We know that Jesus was without blemish, without sin.

Wesley:
And that’s where the phrase Lamb of God comes from. From this Old Testament reference where God says each day offer two lambs, and God was very specific on that. It had to be without spot or blemish. So Jesus had to exemplify all of those things for it to be an acceptable sacrifice before God.

Chris:
So think about this. So the parallel of what we’re reading today in Exodus 29 is that one day, right, you know, thousands of years later, God would send his only son and he would be the fulfillment of every single detail. We talked about how God is full of details. Well, Jesus fulfilled prophecy after prophecy and every single thing that he did, you know, just detail after detail. And so, here’s what’s interesting. It says, offer one in the morning and offer one in the evening. Let me cross-reference a little bit and read from Isaiah 53 verses 3-7. even 700 and something years before Jesus came on the scene, the prophet Isaiah basically predicted that he would be the ultimate lamb sacrifice. So he says this, he was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, a man familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we now held Him in low esteem. Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, and yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each one of us have turned our own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. And then here it makes the direct correlation. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. So here’s the remarkable thing about the specifics, is that one of the most remarkable things about the time that Jesus was crucified on Friday, is that after the Passover meal was observed in the community, the next day on Friday, it was a yearly tradition, it was actually established right here in Exodus 29, and also in Numbers 28, On the Friday of Passover, there was a sacrifice that took place in the temple known as the Perpetual Sacrifice, or known as the Tammid. Okay. And it was commanded that a lamb without blemish or spot would be sacrificed twice a day, which according to Jewish sources outside of the Bible, took place once in the morning and once in the evening. And there are secular recordings that record that the first sacrifice took place at 9 a.m. the other one at 3 p.m. Now, the reason why those are morning and evening is because the Jewish calendar starts at 6 a.m. So we think of our days as midnight, right? But the Jewish calendar starts at 6 a.m. So at 9 a.m., that’s really three hours into the morning. Okay. And so it says once at 9 a.m. in the morning, and then once in the evening at 3 p.m., which is right three hours just before sundown, which is considered evening. Okay. So, um, and they did that because it was still light out, right? They couldn’t wait. They couldn’t wait until Sunday. Okay. Now here’s why it’s so significant is because, um, goodness gracious, this goofy thing, my phone is so goofy, uh, is because Dag gum it. Can’t believe it. The auto-rotate. Yes. It says Mark includes the details of what time of day Jesus was crucified. So did you know that it actually says in Mark 15, 25, it was nine in the morning when they crucified Jesus. So it was at that time that the first sacrificial lamb of the perpetual sacrifice was being slaughtered in the temple. And so, do you realize that the other sacrifices before the Passover feast, those were for individual families. But this one, the perpetual sacrifice, or the Tammid, was actually given by the priests on Friday after the Passover feast was done, after all the families were represented. This was the lamb that represented the whole community. So this one lamb represented the sins of the whole nation, which were everybody under God’s care. Well, we know now, because of Jesus, that His sacrifice wasn’t just for Jews, but for Gentiles.

Wesley:
Yeah. Right? So it’s like, here, what we’re reading was a short-term fix? Yes. For humanity? Yes. Jesus dying on the cross was the permanent, God’s permanent fix for humanity’s sin. Yes.

Chris:
Which is amazing. Now, not only is it amazing that it happens at three in the morning or nine in the morning, but at three in the afternoon, it actually says in Mark, at three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And so it was at that time that it says that Jesus gave his final breath and died. So they started crucifying him at the time that was happening right over right over yonder. Right. So he’s on the cross outside the city walls. Inside the city walls is the temple. And they’re sacrificing the sins that represent the nation. At the same time, they’re sacrificing the sins of the nation. Jesus was killed exactly at three in the morning. And he gives up the ghost exactly at 3 p.m. 9 in the morning, 3 p.m. Yeah. So if you don’t think that God cares about you and he doesn’t know the details of your life.

Wesley:
Yeah. He knows the hairs on your head.

Chris:
He is down to the very minute. And it looks like I rambled on too long.

Wesley:
No, this is good stuff. We could talk about this all day.

Chris:
We really could. So that is definitely our time. And so we’ll pick up tomorrow on The Bible Guys.