This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, we love helping you understand God's Word and apply it to your life through clear, practical Bible teaching and real encouragement. And if you'd like help to keep growing in your walk with Jesus, sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, and exclusive resources designed to help you stay strong in your faith.
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Have you ever dreamed of visiting Israel? Leni and I want to invite you to join us for a life-changing journey through the land of the Bible in April of 2027. You can walk where Jesus walked. You can worship on the Sea of Galilee. You can celebrate baptisms at the Jordan River, and we're going to share communion at the empty tomb.
You'll also have the option to attend the Epicenter Summit in Jerusalem, where I'll be speaking alongside of Joel Rosenberg, Greg Laurie, and Graham Lotts, Jack Graham, and more.
So join us, April fifth through April sixteenth. You can learn more today at connectwithSkip dot com slash Israel.
Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. This is where, for a lot of people, Bible reading boggs down. They get all excited going through Genesis and Exodus, as long as the story is fast paced. But now we get to the nitty gritty, nuts and bolts laws of everyday life. We go through social law that is property rights.
We go through moral law: what you can and can't do, what is morally acceptable before God, and in practice, in precept, and spiritual laws. Chapter twenty-one, verse one.
Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them, and the laws that filled this book of Exodus. Are strikingly similar to many laws that came after it that were based upon the premises given in the laws of Moses, including our own nation. Verse two: If you buy a Hebrew servant, I just want to touch on this. If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, and pay nothing. I'm having you look at this because there's a pattern.
You've already noticed it. You're going to notice it again throughout the Bible, and that's a pattern of the Sabbath, or the pattern of the six and one. You'll work six days. You'll be off the seventh because God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and He rested on the seventh. There is also the same law in their farming practices.
They are to work the land for six years. The seventh year, they let it lay fallow, and just whatever grows of itself, they take and they partake of. And here, a servant would work for six years, but then go free.
Now, the reason a servant would work for a number of years is because he had to work. He needed to pay off some debts. But there's also stipulations as we, if we were to continue reading this, where the servant says, "I don't just have to work for you; I want to work for you." And there was a special little ritual where an awl was driven through the earlobe of the servant. They would take his ear, put it up to the door, and take this little nail and puncture his ear, and you go, "Ouch!" And I say, ouch! You girls have done that for generations upon generations.
Called earrings, and it would mark a servant, as he would wear that, a servant of that person by will.
So back to this six and one pattern. It didn't just work in days, like six days and the seventh day you have a Sabbath, but it worked in years for their agriculture. Six years, as I mentioned, you work the land. Seventh year, it lies fallow. Israel did not keep this for four hundred and ninety years, and one of the reasons God allowed them to go into Babylonian captivity, among many other sins, was their neglect of letting the land enjoy its Sabbath rest.
And four hundred and ninety years would be how many Sabbaths? Seventy Sabbaths. That is why God said you're going to go to Babylon and be in captivity for 70 years, because you didn't let the land lie fallow for 70 Sabbaths or 490 years.
Something else.
Some people see a reference to the millennial kingdom with this six and one pattern. And I'm just bringing this up because some people get really interested in this. I am mildly interested in it, but what they will say is, you know, we have been in bondage. This earth has been in bondage to Satan after the fall for six thousand years.
Now I'm not going to debate the age of the universe or talk about when that fall actually happened, but it is interesting that this year. In the Jewish calendar, it is the year five thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight. That's the traditional reckoning from creation.
So they will say that it's like the six and one pattern. The millennial kingdom is a thousand years Revelation chapter twenty of Jesus Christ reigning upon the earth. Could it be that? the the six thousand years before the seventh or millennial thousand years is about up, and some get all hyped up and interested about that. It's as I said, mildly interesting to me.
I say mildly because I'm always wary of people who want to set dates on anything at all, because as soon as it doesn't happen, then whoever whoever made the prediction. Gets egg on his face, and then the whole church suffers because see you crazy Christians always come up with these dates that never happen.
So I stay away from that. I just thought of interest. You'd want to know that. You keep going down a few verses down to verse twelve, and capital punishment is introduced. It's already been introduced in Genesis, but it's articulated here.
Verse twelve: He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.
Now this has bothered some people. Capital punishment continues to be a lightning rod issue in our culture, and among Christians, it is debated. Back in Genesis nine, there was the principle where God said. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed. Here, this is basically repeated again.
He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. If you follow the Old Testament, there were at least ten reasons why people could receive the ultimate punishment, taking away their life—capital punishment. They are murder stated here, number two, child sacrifice, number three, kidnapping, number three or four, sexual immorality of certain kinds, number five, cursing your parents. There'd be a lot of. There'd be a lot less population these days.
Witchcraft, magic. Astrology, idolatry, and being a false prophet—all of those were capital crimes. What bothers people about the idea of capital punishment is they say, "Well, it's murder." God says, "If you murder somebody, you should murder that person." It was never regarded by the Jewish nation as murder. Capital punishment and murder were two different, two completely different entities. To the Jewish nation, capital punishment was simply righteously.
Administered judicial execution. That's how they saw it. Righteously administered judicial execution, not regarded as murder. But then it's fleshed out. If you go down a little further, verse twenty-four: Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hand for a hand, foot for a foot.
Sounds pretty gross, right? Burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. And if a man strikes the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid servant, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for the sake of his eye. And if he knocks out one of his servant's tooth or maid servant's tooth, he shall let him go for the sake of his tooth. This section is known as the Lex Talionis, and it is the law of exact retribution.
That is, the punishment for the crime must match the crime that has been committed. This goes way back to early law.
Some of the earliest laws, the Code of Hammurabi, the Babylonian Annals of the laws that were given. The same kind of thing is included in that.
Now, why does God include this? It's not so that people can exact vengeance. It's It's meant to limit vengeance. God knows human nature. God knows human nature is.
Hey, you took out one of my teeth. You're going to wear dentures. I'm taking all your uppers out. You took out one of my eyes. Thou shalt be blind in both thine eyes.
That's human nature.
So to limit a retribution to match the crime, the lex talionis was given. By the way, if you remember Genesis, you remember this was a guy's problem by the name of Lamech, and Lamech said this in Genesis four: "I have killed a man for wounding me." See, that's human nature. You wounded me. I'm going to kill you. I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech shall be avenged seventy-sevenfold.
So, in ancient tribal societies, they had a special person who was designated by the title the Avenger of Blood.
So that if somebody of their tribe was hurt or maimed or killed, that person's duty was to administer the lex talionis, and especially when it came to property or certain injuries. And the next chapter, chapter twenty-two, deals with property rights.
Now, Exodus chapter twenty-three, we discover. As we read Exodus twenty three, that God is really big on fellowship. That God wants His people, who are scattered through the land of Canaan, eventually He wants them to come together a few times a year to have, let's just call it, holy parties. He wants them to have a good time, a time of celebration, and to commemorate their history, especially as God was in control.
So there are three feasts that are given. Verse fourteen of Exodus twenty-three: Three times a year you will keep a feast to me. In the year you shall keep the feast of unleavened bread, you shall eat. Unleavened bread seven days as I've commanded you at the time appointed in the month of Abib. That's the first month in their calendar month.
Later on, it will be changed to Nissan. I'm just throwing that out because if you read Nissan later, know that Nissan was not the car manufacturer, but the month that used to be Abib. For in it you came out of Egypt; none of you shall appear before me empty. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. The Bible is a big book—66 books filled with history, poetry, prophecy, letters, laws, and more.
It's easy to lose sight of how it all fits together. That's why Pastor Skip Heitzig wrote his new one-year devotional, Soaring Above It All. It gives you a panoramic view of Scripture, helping you understand the key people, events, and themes from Genesis to Revelation, while deepening your walk with God. Request soaring above it all as our thanks when you give fifty dollars or more today to help connect with Skip. Share clear verse by verse Bible teaching with people everywhere.
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Now here's more from Pastor Skip. Verse 16: And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field, and the feast of ingathering, which is at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field, three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord God. Why did God do this? Because He knows that when we fellowship, it's a uniting exercise. It's why the New Testament in Hebrews chapter ten, verse twenty-five says, "Not forsaking the assembly of yourselves together, but you do it more frequently as you see the day approaching." So, three feasts: Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles.
Passover celebrates redemption. Pentecost celebrates provision. Tabernacles celebrates protection. The Feast of Passover celebrated their deliverance from Egypt, the bondage of Egypt, that took place by the blood of a lamb. A lamb was selected on the tenth day of the first month of what's the first month name?
Nissan or Abib? Look at you scholars.
So that little lamb was selected on the tenth day of Abib or Nissan. It was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the month. That was the feast of Passover, which would mean you'd select some little cute little lamb. You take it home. The kids would love it.
They'd probably name it. You'd think it's the cutest little pet. Four days later, you have to kill it. You say that's cruel. It reminded everyone: this is the cost for atoning for sin.
An innocent victim has to die. Blood must be shed. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. That's Passover. Pentecost took place 50 days after the first fruit.
The first fruits of the harvest were brought in. 50 days later was the celebration called Pentecost. They celebrated provision, grateful to God for the harvest. It was the only time. Interestingly, leavened bread could be used.
It's the only feast in which leavened bread could be used. Why is that significant? Later on, the church is born on the day of Pentecost, and the church will include, as it continues through history, not just Jews, but Unleavened people, Gentiles, combined in a simple faith in Jesus Christ, He will bring them together. Then there's the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles that celebrated God's provision in the wilderness wandering that we're going to get to in next week and the week after. And what's cool about this feast is the whole family camped out for a week.
They put up a tent. They looked at the stars. They were just the kids loved the Feast of Tabernacles. They still do. You ever go to Israel during this feast?
The kids love it because they get to camp outside every night for a week. Um. Chapters twenty five, twenty six, and twenty seven gives to us the pattern of a very interesting structure that is prominent during this wilderness march called the tabernacle. The tabernacle was simply a tent. It was made out of cloth material for the most part, though there was some wood and there was some gold and and metals.
But mostly, as you looked at it, it was a tent structure.
So think of it this way: God was camping out with them 3,500 years ago.
Now, get this: one fourth of this book, the Book of Exodus, is all about the tabernacle. One fourth, eleven chapters. Outline the commandments or the making of the tabernacle. That's significant. I'm going to get to that in a minute.
But go down to chapter 24, verse 18.
So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. Verse one of chapter twenty-five. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel that they bring me an offering, from every one who gives it willingly with his heart. You shall take my offering." Verse eight, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
If you've ever traveled to Europe. One of the most amazing architectural features is the abbey or the cathedral. These incredible edifices that have been built throughout history for the worship of God. If you go to Egypt, one of the landmarks as you're flying into the city of Cairo, I remember my flight into Cairo off the left side of the airplane were the pyramids. Incredible, just to see them.
It's like, wow! I've seen pictures of them. There they are. When you get to God's house, the real God's house, it's like a hovel. It's a hut.
It's a tent. Again, it's not fancy at all. You would look at it. I've seen models of the tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai, and you look at it in real time. You go, not all that impressive.
But that's the place God chose to dwell, at least during this time. And here's what's important: what made the tabernacle so stand out was the occupant. That's where God hangs out. Enough said. Doesn't have to be about all.
The other accoutrements for worship. It's about its chief occupant, which is God. It's God's throne, and it was the place to behold God's glory.
So let's take a quick tour without reading all the chapters of the tabernacle. As you would approach the tabernacle, you would see a fence that is seven feet tall, approximately made out of cloth. It had one gate, one narrow opening, only one way to get in. And you had to get in by bringing basically an animal to be sacrificed, and the priest got in for you. He would take it in and sacrifice it there.
So the only way you could approach God was at the tabernacle with an animal for a blood sacrifice. As you, if you were a priest, as you would walk through the courtyard, you would see that you are surrounded by a perimeter fence, seventy-five feet wide, one hundred and fifty feet deep. That is the courtyard of the tabernacle. You would immediately be struck by a visual of a large brass altar in front of you, where sacrifices were made, and you would see a big laver or a pool, a brass container where water was. Used to wash the animals for the sacrifices.
Then you would see in front of you a tent.
So far, you've seen just a dirt courtyard and a cloth fence, 150 feet by 75 feet. But you would notice that toward the back, right in the center, was a tent structure. And that tent structure was 15 feet wide by 45 feet deep. It was divided into two sections. The first room is called the Holy Place.
The Holy Place was 15 feet wide, 15 feet tall, 30 feet deep. If you were a priest and you were walking in on your left side, you would see a menorah, a seven-branched candlestick, and the priests would have to keep those lamps burning and trimmed every day. On the right-hand side, so for you would be this side. There's the picture. Left-hand side, the menorah.
Right-hand side, the table that had twelve loaves of bread, each representing one of the tribes of Israel. And right in front of you, in front of a veil, was a little tall altar where incense was burned, called the altar of incense. Then, beyond that veil. Was a cubicle that was fifteen feet square, fifteen feet wide, fifteen feet deep, fifteen feet tall. That's called the Holy of Holies.
Nobody ever went into that room except one dude one day a year. That was the high priest on the Day of Atonement. He would walk in. If you were a priest, you would replenish the bread. You would put oil in the lamps.
You would burn incense on the altar of incense. In the holy of holies, where the high priest would go once a year, it doesn't say so in the biblical text. But there are lots of rabbinic writings that say that it was such a fearful thing. You would approach the presence of God with such trepidation, even as a high priest, not only with elaborate sacrifices and cleansings for yourself, but even then, according to the rabbinical tradition, they would put pomegranate bells on the hem of the high priest garments, and so the other priest could be outside on the other side of the veil, kind of going like this, listening. And they hear a little tinkles, kind of little motion going on.
All is good, but if they hear a boom, and then no tinkling bells after that, they know the high priest just killed over dead.
So they, according to the rabbinical writings, not only had bells, but a rope attached to one of the feet of the high priest. They sort of drag him out. They're not going to go in and get him.
So they drag him out.
Now, inside that room, the Holy of Holies was the most important article of the tabernacle, called the Ark of the Covenant. I don't have to describe it to you. You've all seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, so you got a good visual. They did a pretty good job. It's only about 45 inches long by about 27 inches tall, 27 inches wide.
It was made out of wood, covered with gold, except the top of it. The slab was called the Mercy Seat, solid slab of gold. Inside that Ark of the Covenant, there were three things: two tablets of the law. I should say the second copy of the two tablets of the law, because the first ones Moses breaks. He has to make a new section, a new copy of them.
Those are placed in the Ark. A golden jar of manna from the wilderness, commemorating. The manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, that distinguished him as being the guy above all the rest.
So those three things were kept in the Ark of the Covenant. The law that was in there was the law the children of Israel said, "We'll do it, man. Whatever God says, we'll do it." But it was the very law they kept breaking over and over and over again.
So what was in the tabernacle was symbolic of their failure. In the wilderness, but God says, "I'm going to meet with you between the cherubim on the top of that slab, because that's where the blood was sprinkled. And when the blood was sprinkled on the top of that of that ark, it became the mercy seat. It's a place where God could apply mercy and withhold His judgment based upon the blood that was between the broken law." And the perfect God—all a picture of atonement. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Before we go, remember that your generosity helps share clear verse-by-verse Bible teaching with people everywhere, helping them know God more deeply and live out His truth. And this month, when you give fifty dollars or more, we'll send you Pastor Skip's brand new devotional, Soaring Above It All, as our thanks. This one-year journey through the Bible will help you see how Scripture fits together, understand its key people, events, and themes, and grow deeper in God's Word each day. Give today at connectwithSkip dot com slash offer, or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.
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