2026 Bible Study Thread

[Tippy]

Exodus 34


Moses has to carve out the stone tablets. This in contrast with God carving out the first set. The Bible makes a distinction between that which is made with hands (man-made) and that which isn't (God-made). God still writes the words, but this "inferiority" of the Law is noted. Man has always assumed that eternal words should be written on stone, but God knows that eternal words are written on the heart.


By God's own words, He is forgiving and vengeful. Merciful but also righteous to punish sin. Kind and severe. Not one or the other, but both/and. Law and Grace, though they seem to be at odds, are united in God's character.


Food and water are used as literary symbols for Christ, but you see here there is no figurative speech. The God of Life is the sustenance for Moses. Later, Jesus also fasts for 40 days and 40 nights, God preserving His life.


The glory reflecting off Moses' face effects fear in the Hebrews. It is the power of the Law. It is the Law that has caused man to fear since the beginning. So Moses would put a veil over His face. This same theme is present in the Temple. The sanctuary of the Temple was a fearsome and terrible place to enter. The priests took the greatest precautions and followed God's letter to the T. What separated the sanctuary was the veil. If you are still under the Law, and it's not just Jews who are under the Law but all unbelievers and make-believers, the veil remains. If you are under Grace, the veil has been torn in two and see God's glory as if in a mirror, conforming your image to His image. If you want to understand, read 2 Corinthians 3.

Exodus 34:

Exodus 34 – the new stone tablets


14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.'

Kind of a weird look for God here - being jealous. How come God is 'allowed' to be jealous but for us mortals jealousy is actually one of the 10 commandments? I suppose it's because this Godly jealousy of a righteous divine ind is different to pitiful human jealousy stemming from weakness.

3 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.'

Ok so even though he's not supposed to be talking with God directly and seeing him he takes the veil off to talk with him? I read this is because the Lord's radiance is too powerful for the people to expeirence from Moses without his waring a veil. Call it second hand radance but this shows how strong it is.

 

[Northumber]

On the verses saying Moses was face to face, then he wasn't and no one sees Gods face: I think things get weird when you start encountering God like Moses did. Remember the transfiguration with the disciples? I bet they had a hard time looking at Christ when that happened. And Moses showed up there too!

But we are talking about the Triune God here... People saw Jesus face and He's fully God. But at the same time they didn't see God's face. It kind of presses the limits of what can fully be grasped.

 

[Tippy]

Exodus 35


The Hebrews begin building the holy hardware. The materials used to make the Tabernacle and it's artifacts were given, not under obligation, but as a free gift. This is what Paul talks about when he says that the Lord loves a cheerful giver. God accepts worship only from those who do so without a sense of begrudging obligation. He wants service, but service with a smile. It shouldn't be hard for you to put on a happy face. There shall be no stinginess in the worship of God.

Exodus 35

'For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death. 3;Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”'

Quick question - should we consider death a fair penalty for not respecting the Sabbath today too? Or do modern Christians just discount this?

 

[Tippy]

Exodus 36 - 39


These are very technical chapters detailing the Hebrews crafting the holy artifacts. The motif of the artifacts is that they reflect paradise. Just as the cherubim guarded the Garden and reflect God's glory, they are present here. The "pomegranates" are modeled after the fruit of the garden. The pillars in the Temple, which will come later, are meant to invoke the trees of the Garden. When Moses goes up the mountain, he goes up to "heaven" and "sees" the heavenly temple. Now even this is symbolism on top of symbolism, looking forward to Christ truly ascending into the heavenly temple. Moses ascending up the mountain and receiving the instructions for the Tabernacle is a type of Jesus ascending up into glory and presenting His intercessory work before the Father in the heavenly temple.


If you do not know what mirrors looked like in the ancient world, I recommend you look them up. It's very interesting.

Exodus 36-39

This is about as much fun as reading an IKEA instruction manual if I'm honest. Part of me wonders - does this have to be included? Perhaps not a very reverent thought to this Holy text but I'm not - to use some Old Testament verbiage from Ruth- gleaning too much from this.

 

[Tippy]

Exodus 40


Here is the great reunification at the end of the book. Much like Genesis ended with Jacob's family all reuniting, this book ends with God coming back to dwell with His people; and that's really how the story of the Bible goes, God reuniting with His people at the end of it all.

That's it for Exodus brothers. Let's give it a few days rest and give people a chance to catch up. What book do you want to do next? We had two early votes, one for Numbers and one for Acts. I want to do both but I'm leaning toward Acts to bring the New Testament in for this year.

Exodus 40

Yeah it does come together nicely for God to have his presence felt among his people and not only Moses with this part:

36;In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37;but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38;So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.

Thinking of where it all began and how Moses was forced to leave his family to getting direct contact with God and fulfilling the prophecy to lead the Israelites despite fear of his capacity to do. It's inspiring stuff. We see micro versions of it in other stories (Jonah) but unlike the stories of Genesis this is a sustained narrative of one man fulfilling his calling. But of course it's only just beginning.

 

[Tippy]

I think it makes sense to do Acts next and then Numbers after that. Alternating between Old and New Testament feels like the way to go.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Found the two passages below a bit confusing as they seem to contradict each other. It both says they will talk 'face to face' but also without seeing the 'face' at all? How are we to reconcile this?

Moses could come near and talk to the pillar of cloud, "face to face." Moses could not talk to God without the cloud and see Him directly.

Quick question - should we consider death a fair penalty for not respecting the Sabbath today too? Or do modern Christians just discount this?

Hebrews 4 makes the point that faith in Christ is the true Sabbath rest. Under the Old Covenant, it was a literal day, but under the New Covenant the symbology has been fulfilled. If you do not enter into that rest (faith in Christ + resting from your works), then you will face the penalty of hell and will have no rest day or night. True believing Christians are the only ones who keep the Sabbath.

 

[Tippy]

Moses could come near and talk to the pillar of cloud, "face to face." Moses could not talk to God without the cloud and see Him directly.


Hebrews 4 makes the point that faith in Christ is the true Sabbath rest. Under the Old Covenant, it was a literal day, but under the New Covenant the symbology has been fulfilled. If you do not enter into that rest (faith in Christ + resting from your works), then you will face the penalty of hell and will have no rest day or night. True believing Christians are the only ones who keep the Sabbath.

So can 'resting from you works' be just finding time throughout the week or does it have to be a whole day, preferably Sunday?

Do you think workaholic Christians are going to hell?

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

So can 'resting from you works' be just finding time throughout the week or does it have to be a whole day, preferably Sunday?

Do you think workaholic Christians are going to hell?

"Resting from your works" has more to do against trusting in your works to justify you before God, that is works-based salvation. You are not trusting in your works to get you in good with God. You are trusting in Christ who did the work for you to get you in good with God, resting from your works and putting your faith in Him. This Sabbath rest is 24/7. All day every week we are trusting in Christ. Even when you punch in at work, you are still resting from your works in that you are trusting in Christ.

The workaholic mindset can be idolatry, many people find all their meaning and spiritual life in their work. That is certainly a form of works-based salvation.

 

[Tippy]

"Resting from your works" has more to do against trusting in your works to justify you before God, that is works-based salvation. You are not trusting in your works to get you in good with God. You are trusting in Christ who did the work for you to get you in good with God, resting from your works and putting your faith in Him. This Sabbath rest is 24/7. All day every week we are trusting in Christ. Even when you punch in at work, you are still resting from your works in that you are trusting in Christ.

The workaholic mindset can be an idol, many people find all their meaning and spiritual life in their work. That is certainly a form of works-based salvation.

Wait so some instances of work as an 'idol' is actually ok if it fulfills all spiritual life and need fir meaning?

How can I 'rest from my works' if I need to consciously do works to be behaving more in the image of Christ?

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Wait so some instances of work as an 'idol' is actually ok if it fulfills all spiritual life and need fir meaning?

I didn't say it was ok. It's the opposite, it's not ok. You are meant to find all your spiritual life and meaning in God, not your work. Work is just one of the many things God gives, it's not a substitute for Him.

How can I 'rest from my works' if I need to consciously do works to be behaving more in the image of Christ?

By not trusting in your works to save you, but by trusting in Christ to save you. You don't need to do works to get saved. You need to trust that Christ has already saved you by His works.

 

[Tippy]

I didn't say it was ok. It's the opposite, it's not ok. You are meant to find all your spiritual life and meaning in God, not your work. Work is just one of the many things God gives, it's not a substitute for Him.


By not trusting in your works to save you, but by trusting in Christ to save you. You don't need to do works to get saved. You need to trust that Christ has already saved you by His works.

Hmm complex stuff cos what if you think Christ has saved you so what's the point of even doing anything since youre saved already ?

Also doesn't God want us to use his gifts?

Couldn't finding all meaning in God be a cope for lack of achievement?