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Awesome Hands – part 113

“The women … did spin with their hands”

March 17, 2017

Repentance and comfort were the topics of last study, and as we learned, they are closely linked together. In our study this week, we are going to connect these two things with what we do after we have gone through the repentance process.

It is important for us to learn how to proceed, biblically speaking, because we know that there will be many times during our lives that repentance will be needed. It is during these times that we need to know what to do next in order to act on the repentance of which we have just been a part.

As we learned last week, repentance brings us comfort, but after we are comforted we need to go about the work of the Lord, or we will again fall into our old ways of the old man which lead us into needing to repent of those works once again.

Mar 2:17  When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Act 11:18  When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

Rom 2:1  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
Rom 2:2  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Rom 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

2Co 7:10  For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

After repentance to salvation and repentance unto life come to us, what is our purpose, and how to we go about achieving that purpose?

In our study today, we are going to cover these questions in the context of the next mentioning of “yad” or “hands” in scripture. Our verses for consideration today at found in Exodus 35.

At the beginning of this chapter we learn what the commandments of keeping the Sabbath holy are, and then we learn this about the building up of the tabernacle.

Exo 35:4  And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD commanded, saying,
Exo 35:5  Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass,
Exo 35:6  And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair,
Exo 35:7  And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood,
Exo 35:8  And oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the sweet incense,
Exo 35:9  And onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate.
Exo 35:10  And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that the LORD hath commanded;

We have actually covered these verses previously in the Awesome Hands series, and I encourage you to search for those studies on IWWB if you are unfamiliar with them. For now, we are going to read some of the results of the children of Israel obeying the commandments of the Lord.

The important thing to start is that this all pertains to the building up of the tabernacle. Much like the children of God could not repent while they were in Egypt, since they were slaves to the Egyptians, we cannot have godly repentance until the Lord brings it to our attention that we NEED repentance in order to proceed in our walks with Him.

In Exodus 35:25-29 we will see how we are to proceed AFTER having repented of those things needing repentance. Again, this is a continuous process for whenever repentance is needed, since repent is a VERB, and after this verb has happened we must take action to build up the tabernacle of God, “whom temple you are”.

Zec 6:15  And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Rev 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Yes, indeed, the temple of God is OPENED in HEAVEN, and within His temple, within us, is His ark of His testament. How do we go about building up this temple?

Exo 35:25  And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.
Exo 35:26  And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair.
Exo 35:27  And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate;
Exo 35:28  And spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.
Exo 35:29  The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.

“Whose heart made them willing.” It sometimes feels a bit repetitive to add the disclaimer that we fully know and understand that the Lord is working ALL THINGS after the counsel of His own will, yet because we never know who our audience is, we must always make sure to communicate this Truth when speaking about things “we need to do” or things we “ought to be doing”.

Nevertheless, the Lord stirred up the hearts of the children of Israel to DO “all manner of work” for the building of the tabernacle.

So, how do we reconcile the two ideas that the Lord works it all, but we need to take on the work of the tabernacle of the Lord in order to achieve actually doing something that will be used in His temple?

“Don’t you know that you are the temple of God and the spirit of God DWELLS in you”? Are you alone the temple of God, or is there MORE to it than ‘me, myself and I’? Of course, there is more to it, and that brings us to our next variation on the Hebrew word “yad”.

Exo 36:1  Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.

Exo 36:6  And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
Exo 36:7  For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

Exo 36:20  And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up.
Exo 36:21  The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half.
Exodus 36:22  One board had two tenons (H3027), equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle.
Exodus 36:23  And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward:

I am going to introduce a concept that may seem foreign to you at first, but once it rings true to your heart and mind, it should be one of those things not easily forgotten.

You’ll notice that the boards of the tabernacle were made out of wood. These boards are connected together by tenons, or hands, and if you are wondering what “works” the Lord puts into our hands to achieve the work of the tabernacle, then you must consider that the boards “made of wood” are connected together to form the skeleton of the tabernacle.

Exo 35:29  The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.

The Lord has commanded that Moses, who is a type of God in Jesus Christ, make these things happen “with his hands”. The “things that are made” are then made by the Lord “putting wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary” into the hearts of all the people who fashion all the items of the tabernacle to be “fitly joined together.”

I did a study a long while back named, “Fitly Joined Together”. At the time I did that study I conceptionally knew of the things I am speaking on today, but it hadn’t yet been revealed to me just how connected the “boards of the tabernacle” are by the “tenons” the Lord build into them.

Still, here is how we move PAST repentance and LIVE the thankfulness that comes with having received comfort from the process of repentance:

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Eph 4:19  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Eph 4:20  But ye have not so learned Christ;
Eph 4:21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be RENEWED in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Now comes the time of examination so that we can walk in the words that we just read. Knowing that the Lord works all things, how then do WE take part in this?

Is your mind renewed? Does it need renewing? Then look around to your left and right to the other boards that are connected to you, and SEE the TEMPLE of God as it is.

Eph 4:25  Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Eph 4:26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Eph 4:27  Neither give place to the devil.

I know this seems so simplistic and that creator of the universe and all therein could not have simplified our lives down to these simple concepts, but I will counter that argument with asking if you have ever actually TRIED to do these things.

Truly, they are IMPOSSIBLE to achieve without the Lord doing them in us and He does them in us AS we call out for Him to create in us the new man’s mind in order to achieve these things in our lives.

Eph 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
Eph 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Eph 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace by realizing that we are all in this together. It seems so cliché, but it really is something we need to know deep within our hearts and minds.

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Eph 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

We are built together for a habitation of God, and I dare say that a one-board home isn’t much of a place that can be inhabited.

I seem to have been given this “unity message” for a long time now in this series, but the more and more I study, the more I learn that the Lord would have His sheep gather together under His wing and NOT maintain a mind that we are separate.

Given everything I have said, that also means that we do not need to feel guilty when we are not able to stay in constant contact with one another or with ALL the members of the body that we know about.

In fact, back when these scriptures were written, it could have very well been many years before communication happened between various members, if at all. Sometimes, letters were sent to churches that have never seen those who wrote the letters.

However, the connecting glue that binds us all together is the Spirit that dwells in us all.

1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

If Paul can be present in Spirit to judge a Corinthian fornicator, then we, too, can be together in Spirit to partake of the judgments of God in the lives of His saints. We witness this “correcting judgment” each and every time we communicate with one another.

I hope that gives us all comfort.