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Firstborn Sons and Blood on Doorposts When the Law was given on Mount Sinai, the Israelites learned to make various sacrifices for atonement and worship. The blood of animals symbolized a ceremonial or outward cleanness that became spiritually real thanks to Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on the cross for sin (see Heb. 9:11–22). But even before...

The Ten Commandments “A time will come in human history,” wrote Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy, “when human beings will follow the Ten Commandments . . . as regularly as they fall to the ground when they step off a roof. They will then be more astonished that someone would lie or steal or covet than they now are when someone will...

Sleep and Celebration Recent studies have revealed that the consequences of sleep deprivation are severe, including increased risk of infections, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, and certain kinds of cancer, as well as irritability, mental distress, and depression. Children and youth are especially...

Worshiping God Why do we worship? In You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit, James K. A. Smith explained: “In worship we don’t just come to show God our devotion and give him our praise; we are called to worship because in this encounter God (re)makes and molds us top-down. Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts,...

A Sacred Space Many commentators see a connection between God’s instructions for the tabernacle and the Genesis creation narrative. Bryan D. Estelle explained in Echoes of Exodus: “Why is this important? Because it indicates that the creation at the beginning of time is a sacred space, just as the tabernacle and the temple were later recognized...

The Altar of Incense For many of us today, the word “worship” brings to mind praise music. Biblically, however, the concept is much larger. As Old Testament scholar Daniel I. Block expounded recently in Christianity Today: “Scripture clearly demonstrates that the measure of true and acceptable corporate worship is not established by outside...

Gifted for Work When I was a child, my church would hold a festive “Harvest Party” in October for the children. We were told to dress as Bible characters and share our stories to see who could guess our names. I dressed as Bezalel—in a bathrobe, of course, like most of the other children. When I told how I’d been gifted by God to build the...