Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. To all my fellow pastors, I've got a question for you. Does your city know that your church exists? Listen, I get it. You're preaching, you're leading, you're discipling, you're doing ministry. We are in the same boat. And let's be honest, social media and marketing, not your strong suit. Not mine either. And that's probably the last thing on your mind. And that's why we chose to partner with Church Candy marketing for our church. Plant the garden. We out here, y'all. They help churches get more actual guests walking through the doors on Sunday without your eye having to stress over ads or algorithms or trying to crack the social media code. Right now, Church Candy is helping nearly 400 churches reach their communities with simple invite ads. And it works. It's super effective. I can tell you from firsthand experience. So if you're tired of being your city's best kept secret, how about you do this? Go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a free consultation book a discovery call. Their team will break it all down and show you how to start seeing new faces at your church this Sunday. I'm in the trenches with you trying to grow the church. And how about we just start a whole campaign? No more empty churches. So let's partner with Church Candy and get our churches full. The glory of Jesus. Let's go. Okay, we got Exodus chapters 26, 27, 28, and 29. And hey, I'm just telling you right now, we're out of the narrative passages of Exodus. We're out of the narrative passages of Genesis. This is probably the the toughest reading that we've had to do in the Old Testament. Probably some of the toughest reading we've had to do, period, since the beginning of this Bible reading plan is. And so don't lose heart, okay? Exodus ain't for the faint of heart. If you haven't done the reading for the day, this is a great place to pause the video, pause the audio, go do the reading for the day. Exodus chapters 26, 27, 28, 29. We got two big themes to cover. Obviously, I'm gonna give you context clues. Obviously, I'm gonna give you nerdy Nuggets. And we're gonna end with a timeless truth, just like always. Let's get into some context. I started a list yesterday which gave three connections to creation. And actually we're going to pick up on that list. The last thing on that list from yesterday was there were cherubim on top of the Ark of the Covenant. Okay, the ark of the Covenant is going to be this box that literally represents the place where the Divine Presence is going to rest, where Yahweh is going to reside in the holy of holies. So the Ark of the Covenant is the main piece of furniture in the holy of holies. And there's cherubim on top. Well, when you go from Exodus 25 to Exodus 26, you're gonna realize there's some more cherubim. And these cherubim are woven into the curtains that are used for the tabernacle. Now why do we have more cherubim? We have more cherubim be. Because again, Yahweh and the biblical authors are trying to show us that when we step into the tabernacle, we're stepping into a different dimension. When we step into the tabernacle, we're stepping into pre fall realities. When we step into the tabernacle, we are being transported back into a scenario where man has not polluted the world with sin. Okay, so we're going to get cherubim again, not just on the Ark of the Covenant, but also now on woven into the curtains. Next, you are going to observe the word cubits. You're going to observe measurements, you're going to observe dimensions over and over and over and over and over. You're going to 50 rings here, 10 rings there. Things have to be symmetrical. Why? Because there's a massive emphasis on order. Okay. This tabernacle is not going to get thrown together sloppily. Massive emphasis on order. Now why? Well, because the God of creation who spoke creation into existence wasn't just bringing things from nothing to something creatio ex nihalo. No, he was bringing order to chaos. So we are going to get cubits, numbers heavily. We are going to get measurements, numbers, dimensions, lots and lots and lots of cubits. Why? Because the tabernacle is an insanely orderly piece of. I was going to say architecture, but yeah, yeah, the tabernacle represents order in the middle of chaos. We're going to get a bronze laver or basin full of water. Why are we going to get water? Well, because Genesis chapter one, verse two says that the darkness hovered over the surface of the deep. The spirit hovered over the waters. Okay, so waters is a callback to creation. These are allusions to the creation. The author of Exodus wants the creation on our minds. He wants the Garden of Eden on our minds. And tomorrow we're gonna share more connections between the tabernacle and the Garden of Eden. Cause these are not going away. Like, this is a massive connection that the biblical authors want you and I to find. Okay, next, let's get into some nerdy nuggets. The conversation in Exodus 26, 27 is going to shift from focusing on the tabernacle. Then when we get into 28, 29 is going to shift to anointing Aaron and his sons as priests. Okay, if you got a tabernacle, who's going to run it? Priests. Those are the people who are going to run it. Now, we don't currently live in a culture with priests. Like, that's just not the norm. Whereas in this culture, there were Egyptian priests, there were Babylonian priests. Like, priests were a normal part of life for ancient people. So God is going to give instructions in Exodus chapters 28 and 29 about anointing Aaron and his son, sons Nadab and Abihu Avihu, as priests. So let's kind of do a crash course on priests. This'll be your nerdy nugget for the day. Number one, a mindset shift that we kind of have to embrace, especially as we make our way towards the book of Leviticus, is that when we see blood, like, think of like a crime scene. When you and I see blood, we think death. Okay? However, in the ancient world, when they saw blood, they thought life. So a massive theme is the lifeblood. The life is in the blood of the animal. The life is in the blood, the lifeblood of a person. The life and blood go together. Where you and I see blood, and we think death. When they saw blood, they saw life. Which when we look at the blood of the. Of the cross, when we look at the blood of Jesus, we shouldn't see death, we should see life. What God is trying to communicate to these people out in the desert is this. When they watch the priest, they are learning from the priest, from the Levites, especially from the high priest, what they are supposed to be for the world. So what the Levites are for Israel. Israel is supposed to then be for the world. And so they're supposed to watch the priests. The anointing of Aaron and his sons is a big deal, because how would we know how to be priests to the surrounding world if we don't learn how to be priests from the priests, because, remember, there's a nation of priests, a kingdom of priests, but then there are literally some specific priests. So there's four things that a priest is supposed to do, okay? Just four things. You could probably memorize these, to be completely honest. You probably know this innately. But I want to give you vocabulary for what you may already know. A priest is called by God, ordained by God to do four things. Four very, very specific things. Number one, a priest puts God on display. So we're going to get descriptions for Aaron's clothing. And this brother's clothing looked crazy, okay? This man looked like Cam Newton out here in the wilderness. Like this. This high priest looked absolutely ridiculous. Massive hat, Urim and Thummim. Like, I mean, 12 stones on the ephod. Like, it would have been a sight, okay? And the reason that the priest is a visual, is like a visual oddity is because the priest is supposed to display God. Put God on display and say, ah, God isn't like any other God. Well, Yahweh. And like any other God you've ever seen, he's not like Ra. He's not like any of these Egyptian gods that you guys know. He's completely different. So if the priest's job is to put God on display, the priest is doing that simply in the wardrobe, in what he wears. So God stands out differently. Noticeably differently. And in the same way, the people of Israel are supposed to stand out and they're supposed to be noticeably different. And that starts with the wardrobe of the priest. He's dressing in a certain way to be noticeably different. Number two, priests help people navigate their atonement. So if you had a sacrifice or something, you'd bring it to the temple, to the tabernacle, and the priest is there to tell you whether or not it's the right animal or whether or not the person that you. Let's say you're offering sacrifice. There are certain sacrifices that require that you sit down and eat some of the food that you've sacrificed. So this idea of not eating meat sacrificed to idols, that's a foreign concept to us, but not a foreign concept in the ancient Near Eastern culture, okay? So priests help people navigate their. Their atonement. This idea of food sacrificed to idols, we are. We don't eat food sacrificed to idols. But even in the Old Testament, there's food that's sacrificed to God, not to an idol, but to God, okay? And the priest is there to tell you, all right, you're going to Eat a portion of this. And by eating this meal together with the party that you've offended, there's going to be reconciliation. Sometimes you didn't just offer the sacrifice whole, sometimes you had to eat a meal. And the priest is there to facilitate that. They facilitate atonement number three. Priests intercede on behalf of people. They stand in a gap. They intercede so A, they display God to people, but they also intercede to God on behalf of people. This is gonna happen in just a couple of chapters where God is going to say to Moses, hey, they're down there making a golden calf. I'm going to kill all of them, and I'll just start over with you. And Moses becomes a righteous intercessor. No God. Far be it from you. We saw Abraham be an intercessor back in the Book of Genesis. Hey, I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham starts bartering with God. Wait, would you save it for 10? Would you save it for 20? Would you save it for 30? He's just bartering with God. He's a righteous intercessor. He's interceding, standing in the gap, representing not just God to people, but representing people to God, praying for people, calling out to God on behalf of people. It's what a priest is supposed to do. And last, a priest distributes resources to those in need. If somebody has an abundance in wealth or crops need to be reallocated, a priest is there to do that. So a priest puts God on display by standing out and by being noticeably different. Two priests help navigate people's atonement. Three priests intercede on the behalf of people, and four priests distribute resources to those in need. The people of Israel are supposed to see Aaron, and they're supposed to see his sons doing these four things. And then they're supposed to do these exact things for everyone that they come into contact with. They're supposed to do these things. They're supposed to mimic and model what they see the high priest do. They are supposed to put God on display. Okay? The entire nation is supposed to put God on display. The entire nation is supposed to help other nations navigate atonement. The entire nation of Israel is supposed to be interceding on behalf of the nations, and the entire nation is supposed to be distributing resources to those who may be in need and showing the other nations of the world how to do that. And that is exactly what we are supposed to do as Christians. We're priests. Okay? TIA wouldn't let me, but if I could, I would Name one of our kids priests. I love the word priest. I think it's a great name. I think that sometimes when we think about priests, we think about Catholic priests. But this is a word that I think is a powerful word in the Bible, and it carries these four weighty meanings. And if you ask me, well, what are Christians supposed to be? I'll say Christians. We're moving into our timeless truth. If you can't tell, Christians are supposed to be people who put God on display because we're noticeably different, we stand out. Number two, we're supposed to help people navigate atonement. One of the biggest things that I love that Catholic priests do is they hear people's confession. I think sharing space where people are confessing their sins. Oh, that is the modern day teaching people what sacrifice to put on the altar. Okay. Helping people navigate atonement. Also, let's kind of break that word atonement down. Atonement means at one meant, which means sin divides, sin causes things that should be in shalom or things that should be at one to become fractured, to become broken. Atonement is about wholeness and sin is about brokenness. So the process of atonement is taking broken things and making them whole, taking broken things and making them one. And so often we focus on the atonement between us and God. Okay, sin shattered the relationship between me and God. Our relationship got severed. But also Adam was severed to himself. He as a person who is supposed to be spirit, soul, body, now is at war within his own self. His relationship with Eve is fraction. His relationship with the creation and his purpose is fractured. And so true atonement doesn't just atone the fractured relationship between me and God, but it also atones the relationship that I have with myself and the relationship that I have with others and the relationship from the ground from which I was taken. Atonement priests help people to bring their lives into atonement. At one meant with self, at one meant with others. And at one meant with the created order Bible department family, it's Dr. Manny Arango. And first thing I want to say is that I'm proud of you for completing the New Testament. You did it. And now that we're in the Old Testament, I hope that looking at Genesis and Exodus from an ancient perspective and worldview has kind of like opened your eyes. Well, I got news for you. If you've enjoyed some of the interpretations that I've brought to the table from Genesis, then that's just the tip of the iceberg. This entire book crushing Chaos was written from an ancient hermeneutic. I'm looking at stories like the Flood, Adam and Eve from the perspective of an ancient person. And we've got an event coming up on April 26th where I'll take a lot of the content from this book and I'll turn that content into live lectures. You don't want to miss it. You can actually register for that event right now. The link is in the description and more than content. I think what you'll find as we gather together in Nashville are like minded believers and friends in a community of people that you don't just watch content with online that you can get to know in person. I'd love to see you in Nashville. I'd love to hug you, high five you. And I'd love to nerd out together for one day as we come together in Nashville to learn about how to crush chaos. I'll see you in Nashville. Peace. Lastly, what are Christians supposed to be? We're supposed to intercede on behalf of people. We're supposed to bombard heaven for souls. We're supposed to pray people into the kingdom. We're supposed to ask that God would be merciful and gracious. The Bible says that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Maybe part of that work is the work of intercession. And then last, we're supposed to distribute resources to those in need. We're not waiting for the government to do that. Christians are called by God to do that, to care for the widow, for the orphan, for the marginalized, for the alien living amongst us, caring for people who God cares about. Jesus said, whatever you did for the least of these, you did it for me. So this congruence between redistributing resources from the Old Testament to the New Testament, that's not a communist idea. That's a biblical idea. And actually, I would say when the government does it, actually, that's when it's wrong, that's when it's a problem. This is a uniquely Christian idea. And when you force people to do this, that's when things get terrible. Because I do believe in a meritocracy. I do believe that the that secular society should work based on what you earn, what you merit. But we as Christians are supposed to live different. We're supposed to say, yep, it's good that America runs as a meritocracy. That's good for the state, that's good for the government. But in the kingdom, man, we give people stuff they didn't earn. We give people Things they didn't deserve. Why? Because God's given me forgiveness I didn't earn. God's given me second and third, fourth chances that I didn't deserve. And therefore, we're gonna pay that forward by caring for the least of ease for the prisoner, for the widow, for the one without clothes, the one without food. So context clues, nerdy nuggets, and you got a timeless truth that we are supposed to be a kingdom of priests. One last thing. I just want to get this ringing in your mind that the opposite of holy is not sinful. The opposite of holy is common. This comes up a lot as I engage with young adults who are like, well, I don't want to give up alcohol just because I'm serving in church. And I say, hey, I'm not telling you alcohol is sinful, but I am telling you that alcohol is common. And if you're going to serve in leadership, then there's always going to be common things that you're going to have to put on the altar, not because it's sinful. And actually, I think that as the church we've gotten, we've. We've sown some bad seed by telling people that everything is sinful. And we think that the only way to get people to give things up or to not do things is by telling them it's sinful. And if all you have is a screwdriver, then everything becomes a screw. But the moment you have a hammer, then you realize, ah, some stuff are nails. Okay? And we need nuance because is not biblical to say that drinking alcohol is a sin. I don't have biblical grounds to say that obviously drunkenness is a sin, but I do have biblical grounds to say, hey, that's common. And we ask that leaders, we ask that priests don't live common, but that priests live holy. So if you're gonna be in ministry, if you're gonna be a laborer in God's vineyard, if you believe that the fields are plentiful but the laborers are few, then there's probably going to be a leader in your life somewhere that's going to ask you to live at a level that's more than common, that's holy, that's set apart, and that's our timeless truth for the day. All right, tomorrow we got day 105. We're going to keep it going with Exodus chapters 30, 31 and 32. I'll be right here as your guide on this journey. Like I say, every single day, if you're on a streak, make sure that you keep the streak going. If you're not on a streak, it's never too late to start. I'll be right here tomorrow as we go through day 105. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram at the Bible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.