AP

Exodus 40:16   Moses did everything just as the LORD commanded him.

The phrase, “as the LORD commanded”, occurs 50 times in Exodus-Leviticus-Numbers, and in almost all of these it is Moses who is reported as doing everything ‘as the LORD commanded’.

Moses himself may not have realised the full implications of his meticulous obedience, but when we come to the New Testament we find the Author of Hebrews making statements like “[Jesus] was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house” (3:2), “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future” (3:5), and “[The high priests] serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain’” (8:5).

Not long ago I sat under an excellent sermon on Genesis 22, and, inter alia, the preacher pointed out the importance of Abraham’s unquestioning obedience to what the LORD commanded, even though it seemed to make no sense to him at the time.  Again, we have the benefit of the Author of Hebrews’ take on this when he wrote, “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.  He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,  even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’  Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death” (Hebrews 11:17-19).

All this challenges me about my unquestioning obedience in the face of perplexities, or rather my lack of it, and as the preacher pointed out, God brought great blessing to Abraham because of his obedience.  The blessing follows the unconditional obedience.  “But we never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay; for the favour he shows, and the joy he bestows, are for them who will trust and obey.  Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey” (John Sammis).
– Bruce Christian