It is the practice of striving
Not the act of doing
That prepares us for heaven
The Practice of Striving
Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 39:32-41
32 Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they.
33 And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets,
34 And the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers’ skins, and the veil of the covering,
35 The ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat,
36 The table, and all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread,
37 The pure candlestick, with the lamps thereof, even with the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for light,
38 And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door,
39 The brasen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot,
40 The hangings of the court, his pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation,
41 The cloths of service to do service in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons’ garments, to minister in the priest’s office.
Today’s verses answer directly to those in chapter 35, verses 10-19. There, Moses quickly listed out to the people all of the different elements that needed to be created for the tabernacle, and now we have listed out all of the created elements that they presented back to him. It is a perfect symmetry of concept to reality, command to creation.
This pattern calls to mind the creation of the world where God spoke with His mouth the things that He wanted to “let there be,” and then the physical creation of that thing occurred. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light,” (Genesis 1:3). This parallel between the creation of the tabernacle and the creation of the world will be made even more explicit in tomorrow’s verses. It seems clear that we are meant to link those two events in our minds. God created a paradise, and now with the liberated Israelites He is recreating it in microcosm form. The tabernacle was to be a small cell of heaven in the middle of fallen earth.
Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 32:7-8
7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
From God’s summary of the goings-on down below we can see that His view is perfectly clear, for He gives explicit detail on how the people had corrupted themselves, even reciting the specific words that Aaron said when presenting the golden calf.
I see this conversation as being representative of God’s observance of humanity throughout all time. How many times have there been similar conversations in the halls of heaven as God and His court consider the ways that mankind has gone astray down below? In the time of Noah? Before the coming of Christ? Still yet-to-come before the second coming? It is quite a privilege to us that Moses was elevated to take part in this instance so that we could receive an account of it.
The role that Moses served in this moment is symbolic of the Son of God, communing with the Father above and then being sent down to resolve the sins of the people. The nature of the Israelites, and indeed of all the world, is to go astray. We receive blessings and freedom, we appreciate it for a time, but then we give in to sin and try to find our own way to the promised land. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,” (Isaiah 53:6).
For a time, God permits us to run riot, but eventually there must come a time of divine intervention and reckoning. As in the time of Noah, God was just about ready to reset the entire enterprise, as we will see in tomorrow’s verses.
Is the Old Testament God Evil? – Response to Common Defenses #3
I have been examining God’s command to slay the entire population of a nation, and in my last post I responded to the defenses that suggested such an action was justified, and that God has the moral right to do such a thing. I concluded that such an argument makes sense to me when viewing the destruction of a wicked nation as a whole, but when zooming in to the level of individual children being destroyed, it is still uncomfortable.
Today we will look at another category of defense for these verses, which argues that the destruction of these innocents may actually have been an act of mercy. Here are two examples of that line of reasoning.
- From the eternal perspective, death is simply an awakening from a painful dream into glory.
- When a nation becomes truly depraved, their own children suffer most. Some of these children were already being killed in pagan sacrifices, and those that lived were fixed on a path of corruption. Cutting this misery short was an act of mercy.
This line of argument is taking a common principle of life and extending it to the extreme. We all know that there are things that are unpleasant, that no one wants to go through, and which under normal circumstances would be wrong to subject another person to; yet we also know that there are exceptions to this principle when it prevents the person from experiencing greater harm, or when it is a step towards greater joy.
For example, under normal circumstances it is wrong to shove another person, and wrong to advise a person to cause themselves pain. But what if you are shoving the person out of the way of a charging horse? Or what if you are encouraging someone to go through painful physical therapy so that they can walk again. Because your underlying intention is good, and because the intended outcome is good, it actually becomes an act of kindness and love to shove and to encourage painful exercise.
An important realization here is that at first thought we might think it is fundamentally wrong to cause someone pain, but clearly that isn’t the case. If all I hear is that someone caused another to feel pain, I still don’t actually know whether that person did something good or bad. Causing pain is not objectively wrong. The intent to harm is.
But does this reasoning extend all the way to death? It is more challenging for us to see the ultimately good consequence that might follow death, because for us death is the end. We do not see anyone receive any positive consequence that comes after having passed through it. Of course, we’ve all been told that there is the potential for experiencing a terrific good after death, but that is something we can only imagine for now. The degree to which death disquiets us is a metric for just how real heaven is in our minds.
Summary)
If these things are true, then it is understandable why from God’s perspective His consignment to death might be an act of great mercy, but why it seems cruel from ours. Our view of the exchange is being halted in the middle, just long enough to see the hard part of the bargain, and none of the good return.
A stronger testimony of the afterlife might improve my outlook on these passages, but I still have a lingering concern. Even if God has great enough rewards to make up for any type of death, why not subject the innocent to the most peaceful demise imaginable? Why not make all the infants die peacefully in their sleep, as opposed to by the sword? I’ll keep these questions in mind as I continue with this analysis.
Party of One
If I seek a place where I feel content with everyone else, I will end up in a room alone
There are all manner of groups and organizations that start with the most positive of feelings, but which degrade and fall apart because its members find that given enough time and experience, they really don’t like each other at all! Varying perspectives become dividing mantras. Minor inconveniences become insurmountable obstacles. Gentle teasing becomes inexcusable offense.
And then a line is drawn in the sand, the party splits apart, and often each side tries to build a new version of the group, the way it was always “supposed” to be, but usually that new “utopia” collapses just as surely as the first.
Sooner or later, we must face the fact that we can never make the group that only has people we get along with. We can only make ourselves get along with the people that are in the group.
Let’s look at this another way. Consider if the following statement is true: Even if at times you’ve rubbed some people the wrong way, or said things at another’s expense, or championed principles that you later learned were false, you can still be forgiven of all these things and by God’s grace be redeemed to live in paradise. Is that statement true?
Well, if it is true for you, then it logically follows that it is also true for any person who has rubbed YOU the wrong way, or has said things at YOUR expense, or has disagreed with YOU for their false principles. This person can also be forgiven and receive God’s grace and be redeemed to live in paradise. Like the prodigal son’s brother, we are all going to see our Father welcome people that hurt or annoyed us into His kingdom, so if we want to live there, too, sooner or later we’re going to have to let those things go.
You can learn to get along or learn to be alone. What you can’t do is cut off anyone who upsets you and still be part of a community. Unity with others must come from within, and it must be unity with all.
That They Might Have Joy- Moses 1:39, John 17:3, 2 Nephi 2:25
For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
COMMENTARY
This is my glory—to bring to pass the eternal life of man
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God
We understand God to be a being that has no restraints upon Him. He is not held back by a lack of power, or time, or by any external compulsion. He is, therefore, the freest being imaginable, and His pleasure is to perform whatever work He chooses.
And with that total freedom what has He chosen to do? To make us, His children, and raise us to life eternal. That “life eternal” is defined by Jesus as knowing God. This means to learn of God while here on Earth, but also to know Him perfectly when we dwell forever in His presence.
But for what purpose? Why does God consider it a personal glory to have us live in His presence and receive of His kingdom? And why should we want that ourselves?
Men are, that they might have joy
The answers to those questions are obvious. God wants us to dwell with Him because He loves us. And we want to dwell with Him because doing so will make us happy.
Even a small child understands that heaven means happiness, which is quite significant because there really is so very little that we know about heaven. And yet amidst all the many, many things that we do not know of it, we do know that it is a place of peace and joy. We know it fervently, so much so that we often use heaven as a synonym for happiness.
Not only that, but this idea of heaven=happiness holds firm across a plethora of different cultures and beliefs. It seems that if people believe in a creator, of any sort, then they also believe that dwelling with that entity is the most joyful existence possible. A joy that puts all worldly pleasures to shame.
God with all His power and all His freedom wanted to make us, His children. And then He wanted to make His children happy. It is as simple as that.
Joy, therefore, is the very reason for our existence.
Spiritual Wanderings 