第二週•週四

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晨興餧養

約四24『神是靈；敬拜祂的，必須在靈和真實裏敬拜。』

出三三11『耶和華與摩西面對面說話，好像人與同伴說話一般…。』

還有另一個原則：拜偶像就是裝假。凡是拜偶像的人都是假裝敬拜真神。…許多基督徒敬拜牛犢，卻自以爲是敬拜主耶穌或真神。事實上他們所敬拜的，乃是他們的享受。今天許多基督徒的敬拜是坐下喫喝，起來玩樂、歌唱，並且繞着一種享受，就是繞着金牛犢跳舞。有些弟兄會的教師點出這一點…。他們說，在西乃山下拜金牛犢乃是一種攙雜，因他們以正確的祭物並以正確的方式敬拜牛犢，彷彿牛犢是神一樣。祭物沒有錯，方式也沒有錯，但敬拜的對象錯了。這就是我們所說攙雜的意思。（出埃及記生命讀經，二一一二至二一一三頁。）

信息選讀

出埃及三十三章七節說，『摩西將帳棚支搭在營外，離營一段距離，他稱這帳棚爲會幕。凡求問耶和華的，就出到營外的會幕那裏去。』…主的榮耀就在會幕的門口。〔9 ～ 10。〕十一節告訴我們：『耶和華與摩西面對面說話，好像人與同伴說話一般。』凡想要求問主的以色列人，就出到營外的會幕那裏去。

摩西非常老練，懂得神照着祂聖別的性情，不會再留在百姓中間，因爲營已經成爲拜偶像的了。因此，摩西將先前在營裏的帳棚支搭在營外，這個行動乃是照着神的心。

這帳棚成了神的帳棚。帳幕還沒有建造起來，所以摩西的帳棚就成了神與百姓之間相會的會幕。『摩西進會幕的時候，雲柱就降下來，停在會幕的門口，耶和華便與摩西說話。』（9。）百姓若要求問神，就必須到摩西的帳棚那裏去。…就在這個時候，聖經承認摩西是神的同伴。〔11。〕…『同伴』這辭包含了友誼的成分，但它更進一步包含了親密夥伴的思想。…你若和某人是夥伴，你們就有共同的權益、共同的企業、共同的事業。…神與摩西在偉大事業中是同夥到極點。…摩西與主不僅是親密的朋友，他們也是夥伴、同夥、同伴。

因着摩西知道神心中所存的是甚麼，他處理拜金牛犢的事，件件都討神喜悅。譬如，將神用手刻了十誡的石版扔掉，是件非常嚴重的事，但甚至這個舉動也沒有得罪神，因爲這是照着神的心作的。摩西領悟將那兩塊石版摔碎，乃是照着神的心。摩西是神的同伴，與神有親密的關係，且知道神心上的事。因此，凡摩西所行的，都是照着神的心。

由三十二章三十節至三十三章二十三節，我們學到一個嚴肅的功課，就是我們必須懂得神的心，也必須是一個照着神心的人。然後我們就會和摩西一樣有神的同在。…對以色列人來說，神的同在…非常有限，因爲他們遠離神的心。然而，摩西是個非常接近神的心，並照着神心的人。這就是他有神同在到了完滿地步的原因。我們都必須學習，惟有像摩西這樣的人，纔能作神的同伴。惟有這樣的人，纔能與神有共同的權益，並且被神使用，執行祂在地上的事業。（出埃及記生命讀經，二一五六、二一四五至二一四六、二一四八、二一六二頁。）

參讀：帳幕的屬靈應用，第二章。

WEEK 2 — DAY 4

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Morning Nourishment

John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.

Exo. 33:11 And Jehovah would speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his companion…

Yet another principle is that idolatry is pretension. Every idolater pretends to be worshipping the true God. Many Christians worship a calf, but they think that they are worshipping the Lord Jesus or the true God. Actually what they are worshipping is their enjoyment. Much of today’s Christian worship is a matter of sitting down to eat and drink and rising up to sport, sing, and dance around a certain kind of enjoyment, around a golden calf. Some of the Brethren teachers pointed this out…They said that the worship of the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai was a mixture, for a calf was worshipped as if it were God with the proper offerings and in the proper way. The offerings were right and the way was right, but the object of worship was wrong. This
is what we mean by mixture. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1840-1841)

Today’s Reading

Exodus 33:7 says, “Now Moses would take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, some distance from the camp; and he called it the tent of meeting…” The glory of the Lord was at the door of the tent [vv. 9-10]. In verse 11 we are told that “Jehovah would speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his companion.” All the children of Israel who wanted to seek the Lord went out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

Moses, an experienced person, knew that God according to His holiness would no longer stay among the people, for the camp had become idolatrous. Therefore, Moses took his tent, which formerly had been in the camp, and pitched it outside the camp. This action was according to God’s heart.

This tent then became the tent of God. The tabernacle had not yet been constructed. Hence, Moses’ tent became the tent of meeting for the meeting between God and His people. “And whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stay at the entrance of the tent, and Jehovah would speak with Moses” (v. 9). If the people wanted to seek God, they had to go to the tent of Moses. The Bible recognizes that Moses was a companion of God [33:11]…The word companion includes the elements of friendship, but it goes much further to include the thought of intimate
association…If you and someone else are associates, you have a common interest, a common enterprise, in a common career…To the uttermost God and Moses were partners in a great enterprise…Moses and the Lord were not only intimate friends; they were associates, partners, companions.

Because Moses knew what was on God’s heart, everything he did concerning the worship of the golden calf was pleasing to God. For example, it was a very serious matter to cast away the tablets on which were engraved the commandments carved by God’s hand. But not even that act offended God, for it was done according to God’s heart. Moses realized that it was according to God’s heart to break those tablets. As a companion of God, Moses had an intimate relationship with Him and knew what was on His heart. Therefore, everything Moses did was according to the heart of God.

From 32:30—33:23 we learn the serious lesson that we need to knowGod’s heart and also be a person according to God’s heart. Then we shall have God’s presence as Moses did…The children of Israel had God’s presence in a very limited way, for they were far from God’s heart. Moses, however, was a person very near to God’s heart, a person according to His heart. This was the reason he could have God’s presence to the full extent. We all need to learn that only a person like Moses can be a companion of God. Only this kind of person can share a common interest with God and be used by God to carry out His enterprise on earth. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1878-1879, 1869-1871, 1883)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “Spiritual Applications of the Tabernacle,” ch. 2