This passage from Exodus is really so exciting! What you have to keep in mind as you read it is that this shows the Israelites preparing themselves for the worship of God. They are preparing the way for the Lord to come down and inhabit the 'tent of meeting'. The Lord desires to be close to his people, for them to seek his face. Exodus has long passages that speak to how God commands his people to prepare for worship under the Old Covenant. All of these preparations are ultimately going to lead up to Christ who would allow us to come directly into the presence of God.
In Mark's gospel you may notice something different in his style. If you read through this passage, think about the way it's different from Matthew. Did you catch it? It's much more quickly paced. The book contains the great word for 'immediately', like, I'm not sure, but it's a lot of times... the point is, Jesus is on a mission from the Father and he is focused and aiming straight for his mission on earth, do die on the cross and rise from the dead to save us. as we read in Timothy tonight 'to save sinners'. John the Baptist prepares the way and we read of the Father declaring his love for the son.
And the Psalms passage. Wow. What confidence this man has in God! I pray the Lord would instill in me such confidence.
What I like about the Book of Mark is the detail given to Jesus' miracles. I think the # of miracles listed is about the same as in Matthew, but Mark describes the miracles a lot better.
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