Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: Welcome to Thru the Bible. I'm Steve Schwetz, and we're in Exodus 29 where Dr. J. Vernon McGee explains what it means to be consecrated. And here's a spoiler for you. It's not what you think.

Steve Schwetz: But first, Greg's here with some great letters for us to read.

Greg: Yes, and Steve, I know both of us use the TTB app, and I'm excited because today, all of these responses have come through the TTB app.

Steve Schwetz: That's great.

Greg: Yeah, yeah, and we love people. If you use the app, it's a really easy way to respond. You just go into the feedback section of the navigation menu. You can actually dictate your response into the box and hit send. You could send a picture of yourself or maybe where you listen. It's very easy to respond, and we get it. It comes right through our system, and we want to share some of those.

Steve Schwetz: Yeah. Little bit of a pro tip real quick on the way I like using the Bible app is I play it, uh, the Thru the Bible app is I play the daily program, and then if you scroll down on the player, you have the option to read the chapter. And I like to have that up because Dr. McGee continues to teach, and I'm not always in a place where I can have a physical Bible open, and this gives me, I can follow along in my Bible. And I know a lot of us, if you're like me, you're listening to Thru the Bible in the car, and so you're driving, you can't always be reading a Bible, but if you are in a place where you can read, go ahead and read the Bible.

Greg: Important disclaimer. That's right.

Steve Schwetz: But Steve told me, officer. We know you'll be safe in your car.

Greg: So, you want to do this first one from Josh?

Steve Schwetz: Sure. Thank you so much for all that you do for us in not only keeping this ministry going, but thriving as you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Ever since around 2010, I've been on the Bible bus and it has changed my life. Wow.

Steve Schwetz: Through Dr. McGee's teaching, I have grown so much in my walk with Christ. I try to continue listening throughout the week and I'll offer a quick plug for the Sunday sermons as well. Those have been an incredible blessing. My two favorites are Moses, God Pays the Highest Wages, and Amos, The Country Preacher Who Came to Town. Those two sermons mean more to me than you can know. Keep up the great work and all the glory goes to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You've kept him at the heart and focus of your ministry and he is honored your faithfulness.

Greg: Well, thank you so much, Josh. Thanks for the recommendation of those sermons. Another thing you can do in the app is that it has a powerful search function. So if you say, "Hey, I want to hear that sermon called Moses, God Pays the Highest Wages," you just type that into the search and it will help you find that Sunday sermon.

Steve Schwetz: Yeah, that's a great way to do that.

Greg: So, let's hear from Oladorin. And this person, I don't know male or female, says, "I want to thank you for your services. Consistently teaching the undiluted Word of God and to your supporters who have made this possible over the years. I have been a passenger on the Bible bus since 1991. That's a long time."

Greg: He continues, "In those early days, it did not mean much to me. Now it is my first daily act upon waking." Love that. "I teach Sunday School and Bible studies in my church using materials from TTB.org and referring to Dr. McGee as my teacher. But most importantly, I apply the teachings to my private life. I was never really delinquent, but I knew I was off the mark. I am now a better child of the Highest. Not perfect, but working at it.

Greg: "I used to listen first on Transworld Radio from South Africa from 1991 to 1998, and later in New York City on WMCA 570 AM until 2023. I now listen on the app in Anchorage, Alaska. I also enjoy the Saturday Q&A and the Sunday sermons." And then he continues and closes, "Dr. McGee is a great teacher who uses humor, eloquence, and his deep knowledge of the Word of God. He makes the Bible much easier to understand. That guttural Texan accent is now music in my ears. Please send some Bible bus passes. May God continue to bless you richly, my beloved."

Steve Schwetz: Wow. What an encouragement. And what encouragement that this brother, I'm assuming it's a brother, has been so faithful.

Greg: I think it is.

Steve Schwetz: I mean, starts in South Africa. He listens in New York and now he's in Alaska all the while listening to Thru the Bible.

Greg: Well, and I I'd like to address the people that have prayed for and supported Thru the Bible for a long time. This is what you allow to happen. We have the ability because we have such faithful supporters to to have a long-term commitment all over the world. And this kind of story just really motivates me that we got to keep flinging the seed everywhere, because people move around.

Steve Schwetz: Absolutely. Absolutely. Greg, let me pray for us as we begin. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for particular this last testimony of just your faithfulness and allowing us to continue for so many years and to minister to this brother as he's moved literally all around the world. I pray, Lord, that there would be many others that continue to hear the solid teaching of your Word, not for the sake of Dr. McGee, but for the sake of Jesus Christ and for people knowing him better as a result of that teaching. Pray that you would be glorified in our study as we continue now in Jesus' name. Amen.

Steve Schwetz: Here's our study of Exodus 29 on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, friends, we've come in chapter 29 again to the priesthood. Last time we saw the garments that Aaron was to wear. And these were garments of glory and beauty.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, I'm not going to read all of this. I guarantee you, we've got 46 verses here that are not as interesting and thrilling as they might be. But this is something that I'm confident that the Spirit of God wants to use to minister to you and me. And as we said before, this is God's ABC book for us, and great spiritual lessons are here for us.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, will you notice in the consecration of the priests. We have, "And this is the thing that thou shall do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office. Take one young bullock and two rams without blemish." And that is the first. Consecration for a believer is actually nothing that he does, by the way. It's something God does for us, and it rests upon the finished work of Christ. It has to rest there.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And then verse 2 now, "And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened, tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened, anointed with oil, of wheat and flour shalt thou make them. And thou shalt put them into one basket, bring them in the basket with the bullock and the two rams. And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, shall wash them with water."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now that washing is typical of regeneration, of course. It's not by works of righteousness which we've done. It's according to His mercy He's saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And this is the washing that has to do with regeneration.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now when we see the laver, why, we're going to see that's a different type of washing there altogether. Now, Moses is going to put the garments on Aaron. "Thou shalt take the garments and put upon Aaron the coat, the robe, the ephod and the ephod and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And verse 8, "Thou shall bring his sons and put coats upon them. Thou shall gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them. And the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute, and thou shall consecrate Aaron and his sons."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, consecration actually is what God does, not what we do. I hear so much today about consecration services where folk do something and they promise to do something. Consecration, friends, means to come to God with empty hands and let Him fill them. That's all in the world that it means.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I've promised Him big things in the past, and I never quite made good. I don't like to think of that being consecration. It's not what I promise Him. Consecration is to come to God with empty hands, confess our weakness, our inability, and let God do the rest.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Watch Moses praying, and watch Elijah praying, David praying, Samuel praying, and in the New Testament, listen to Paul praying. And friends, you're going to find out that these men never came to God on the basis of who they are, what they have promising Him they're going to do.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I've been to these services. I went to them for years, where you go in and put a little chip or a little limb on the fire, and you then give a testimony on what you're going to do. And believe me, I've heard enough promise at those services to turn the world upside down, but never worked out quite like that, because actually, we, friends, don't have really much to offer Him, do we? Or maybe you do. I don't. And the thing is that we come to Him with empty hands and let Him fill us.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We need to recognize that. And that is the whole thing that we have here. Now we're going to come to this again in the book of Leviticus, and when we get there, I expect to go into a little bit more detail. Now you'll find that we come to 10 where we have the sacrifices. "Thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the Tabernacle of the congregation and Aaron and his son shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, you'll notice that there's a great deal in the Old Testament of when a man came to the tabernacle. And here, of course, it is the high priest and his family. They put their hands on the bullock. The laying on of hands. Now, a great many people seem to think that that transmits something spiritual. It does not. That's not the purpose of it. You can't transmit anything by just laying hands on anyone.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The only thing you can transfer to the other man by laying hands on is disease germs. You can pass them along, but that's all you'll be able to pass on. The laying on of hands on an animal is identification. And when a sinner came up to that altar, he put his hand on the little animal. That means identification. And that means that little animal is taking your place.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But this idea today that you've got some sort of a hocus pocus, abracadabra proposition working, that's nonsense, friend. Let's get rid of that type of thing. God gets right down to the nitty gritty with us. This is reality. They're identified. Now, this man, Aaron, this bullock is taking his place. It's dying for him because he's a sinner.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: These are the things that you have here. Now you have the order of the sacrifice here, and you'll find that that it's the burnt offering here. It's not until we get to the book of Leviticus that we have the five offerings given. And there you will have the sin offering, trespass offering mentioned for the first time.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: For from the very beginning, even from the Garden of Eden, was a burnt offering. And that altar that we've identified as the brazen altar is sometimes called the burnt altar because the burnt altar is where the main sacrifice was offered. Now, the main sacrifice, as we shall see, the burnt offering, the first one, speaks of the person of Christ, who he is. And of course, that altar speaks of what he's done for us. But the burnt altar speaks of the burnt sacrifice, and that sets forth the person of Christ.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we have all of that in here and it's quite detailed. The thing is that I will go into detail when we do get to Leviticus, but I'll pass over this at the time. There's many details here that actually for us at this time are not too important. We'll pick them up later.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now you have in verse 26 the food for the priests. "Thou shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration, wave it for a wave offering before the Lord and it shall be thy part. Thou shall sanctify the breast of the wave offering." Now again in Leviticus, you'll find out that a part of an offering went to Aaron and to the priests as their part. You see, they had no part in the nation Israel. And this is the way that God supported them. They were to serve and they would receive a part of the offering. And this is the part now that is to be for them.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, this chapter closes with the emphasis here upon this burnt offering. And that's what you have here. It's not till you get to Leviticus that you have a sin offering and trespass offering. And I know the question will arise in the minds of many, well, why is that true? Why is it that you have this sort of thing here, and you don't have a sin offering yet?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, you see, the sin offering and the trespass offering were given at the time the law was given. And it goes with the law. In other words, sin was sin before the law, but it was not a trespass. And it was not a sin in the sense that it was an overt act against a commandment of God. And today, sin is sin. That means if a man that commits a sin, why, it's sin.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It may not be a trespass, he may not know the law. But actually, today even in our legal courts, I think there's a rule of thumb. I remember when I studied commercial law years ago that this was one of the axioms that was put down. Ignorance of the law excuses no one. Many things can be done in ignorance and can be wrong, but it does not become a trespass or an overt sin until it's against a commandment, you see. That's the reason actually the law was given to show man that he was a sinner. He already was one. The law didn't make man a sinner, it just revealed that he was.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we come to this continual burnt offering. And this burnt offering is to be continually offered. That's the important thing to note. Verse 38, and I should read some of this. "Now this is that which thou shall offer upon the altar. Two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shall offer in the morning, the other lamb thou shall offer at even. And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour," and so on. These details we pick up later on in Leviticus when we have the sacrifices and the order of them given.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now the important thing for us here, the only important thing, this was the daily sacrifice. Every morning, every evening, there was a burnt offering, a lamb in the morning, a lamb in the evening. And that speaks, of course, of the fact that these people needed this continual reminder that they needed someone to take their place, that their sin merited death and that there must be the shedding of blood.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, very candidly, this is brought out in Hebrews. We're told, "Once, in the end of the age, has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Now you see the blood of bulls and goats and lambs just couldn't take away sin. But now he has. The Lord Jesus has dealt adequately with sin. And that's very important to see here. That his sacrifice was adequate. And he only died once, once in the end of the age as he appeared.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We've come now to the great worship chapter in chapter 30, and we have instructions now for the altar of incense. That's prayer. And then we will see who can worship, that they must be redeemed. And not only the redeemed, why, we're going to see the instructions for the laver. You have to be cleansed. These are requirements for us if we are going to be serviceable to God.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now let's come and take the altar of incense. That altar is in the holy place. I hope you have our chart. You'll find it very helpful if you do. And you find here that inside the holy place, the main part of the Tabernacle. See in the outer court, there are two articles of furniture: the brazen altar, the brazen laver. We've had the brazen altar, not the brazen laver. The brazen altar speaks of the cross of Christ, his death for our sins.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, when you step in the main compartment, you have three articles of furniture, all speak of worship. The lampstand, the table of showbread, and we've had both of those now. We must worship God in spirit and in truth, and it's where God's people meet together and have fellowship. And fellowship doesn't mean a banquet in a church. It's not where you meet together and gossip. It's where you meet and feed on the person of Christ. That's the banquet. That's worship. But there's also another altar there, and that's the altar of incense.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now let's come to this because this is very important, and I'll read. "Thou shall make an altar to burn incense upon, of shittim wood, thou shall make it." Now, this is very important for us to see. "A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof." Now you notice how that is given to us the size. Very small, by the way.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: "And four square shall it be, and two cubits shall be the height thereof. The horns thereof shall be of the same. And thou shall overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof and the sides thereof round about and the horns thereof. And thou shall make upon it a crown of gold round about. And the golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof. Upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it. And they shall be for the places for the staves to bear it."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now see all the articles of furniture had rings put there, so the staves could be put there so they could be carried on the shoulders of the priests. Now when we get to the book of Numbers, we're going to see when they began the wilderness march that the priests, that is, the Levites carried the articles of furniture through the wilderness.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we are told in verse 6, "Thou shall put it before the veil, that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat, that is over the testimony, where I'll meet with thee." Now you see the place where this altar went was right by the veil, and right on the other side of it, there was the ark and the mercy seat. And it was in the holy place. It was the part of worship.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we read here, and I'd like to read verse 7, "And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning. When he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And this is very important to see. This altar, by the way, was not an altar for a sacrifice. No sacrifice was to be there. And they were to use a certain kind of incense. Verse 9, "Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meal offering, neither shall ye pour drink offerings upon it."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: In other words, the only thing that it was for, just one thing, and that was incense. And the priests would go in and burn incense every time that he'd light the lights there. Now, this altar is very important to see. It's part of worship. It's in this worship chapter. And may I say right at the very beginning, it speaks of prayer. And the reason we know that it speaks of prayer, why, we are told here, incense is a symbol of prayer and praise many places. David said in Psalm 141:2, "Let my prayer be set before thee as incense."