Exodus 31-Daily Devotional · Monday, December 22, 2025(Transcript)

Exodus 31

Daily Devotional · Monday, December 22, 2025

Speaker: Pastor John Chen
Transcribed & Edited by: Joseph Wang(Yufan)

Peace to you, dear brothers and sisters.

By the grace of God, we come to a new day to study our daily devotional reading.
Today’s passage is Exodus chapter 31.

Let us pray.

Merciful God, You show us such great compassion. Each morning You awaken our ears to hear Your word—this is Your marvelous grace. We ask that throughout this day You would continue to fill us, guide us, and cleanse us by Your Word, so that we may live lives set apart for You and glorify Your holy name.
We pray in the name of Christ. Amen.

God’s Calling of Bezalel

Let us now look at today’s passage, Exodus chapter 31.
This chapter is relatively straightforward and consists of two main parts.
The first part concerns God’s calling of a man from the tribe of Judah to oversee the making of the tabernacle and its furnishings.
The second part concerns the Sabbath. Let us consider them one by one.

After God finished instructing Moses in great detail concerning the tabernacle, the Most Holy Place, the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the holy anointing oil—from chapter 25 all the way to this point—everything required for the sanctuary had been fully explained.

We may imagine that either Moses carefully recorded everything as God spoke, or that God granted Moses extraordinary ability to remember every detail. In any case, the record is exact and without error.

From a human perspective, we might expect God to say, “Now that I have told you everything so clearly, go and build it.”
But instead, in chapter 31, the LORD speaks again.

God tells Moses that He has specifically called Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah. God says, “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship.” He is enabled to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut stones, carve wood, and perform every kind of skilled work.

This shows us that after giving the full design and instructions, God also appoints a master craftsman—essentially a chief engineer—to oversee the entire work. Bezalel would not personally do every task, but he would supervise, organize, and solve the most difficult technical problems.

Here we see something very important about how God works.

First, God ensures that His work is accomplished according to His will. Even the craftsmanship itself does not come from human ingenuity alone. God explicitly says that the wisdom, skill, and knowledge required for the work come from His Spirit.

Although there were technical skills involved—how to assemble the table, how to fashion the altar, how to hammer the lampstand—these skills did not originate from human wisdom. They came from God. God says, in effect: Even the way you work, the skill you use, the wisdom you apply—these all come from Me.

This teaches us something profound about salvation and service. God’s work is entirely His work from beginning to end. Calling, justification, sanctification—even the details of how His work is carried out—are guided by God Himself through the Holy Spirit.

This does not mean we do not labor or strive. We do labor diligently. But even our diligence, our methods, and our abilities are gifts from God. There is no room for human boasting.

God not only provided the blueprint, but also the person capable of executing it according to the heavenly pattern. Without God’s appointed craftsman, even with the drawings in hand, the tabernacle could never reflect the heavenly reality.

Bezalel ultimately points forward to Christ. Scripture elsewhere describes Christ as the master builder—God establishes the plan, and the Son carries it out perfectly. Christ walked on earth according to the Father’s will for thirty-three years and fulfilled all righteousness. Only Christ perfectly accomplished God’s work.

At the same time, this passage teaches us something about ourselves. Any ability, gift, intelligence, or wisdom we possess in serving God comes entirely from Him. If we see any fruit or effectiveness in our service, all glory must be given to God alone.

God also showed His care by appointing Oholiab, from the tribe of Dan, to assist Bezalel. God did not leave one man to work alone. He called both a chief craftsman and an assistant, ensuring accountability, cooperation, and precision. This reflects God’s wisdom and mercy.

Through this, God shows how seriously He takes the building of His sanctuary. Every detail matters. Ultimately, only Jesus Christ—the true Son of Judah—could fully accomplish God’s redemptive work. Only in Him can we truly meet God.

The Sabbath as God’s Covenant Sign

The second part of the chapter concerns the Sabbath.

The LORD commands Moses to tell the people of Israel that they must keep the Sabbath, for it is a sign between God and His people throughout their generations, so that they may know that the LORD is the One who sanctifies them.

In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was observed on the seventh day. In the New Testament, it is observed on the Lord’s Day. The theological explanation is clear and established, so we will focus on why the Sabbath matters.

Many believers today find keeping the Sabbath burdensome. Some feel that attending worship in the morning is sufficient, but they resist devoting the entire day to the Lord.

This mindset does not please God. The Sabbath is not a ceremonial law fulfilled and set aside like sacrifices. It is part of the moral law, written in the Ten Commandments. Therefore, it remains binding.

The Sabbath is given as a sign—a visible marker—showing that we are God’s people. By resting from our work and devoting the day to worship, we testify that we belong to Him.

This is not a burden but a privilege. The world cannot stop working. People are driven by endless labor, profit, and activity. But God’s people can stop. That ability itself testifies that we belong to Him.

The Sabbath is also a testimony to creation. By keeping it, the church publicly affirms that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. This is a witness to the world.

When an entire community stops working to worship God, it proclaims that God is real, that creation is real, and that there is a coming eternal rest.

From a spiritual perspective, the Sabbath shapes us. It reminds us weekly that our ultimate hope is not in earthly labor but in the heavenly rest to come. It forms us into a people who long for the new heavens and the new earth.

If we claim to love God but refuse to set aside time to worship Him, we deceive ourselves. True faith expresses itself in obedience, worship, and reverent rest.

The Sabbath strengthens the church as a community. Without regular gathering, worship, and shared time in God’s Word, there can be no true fellowship.

Therefore, we must repent where we have neglected the Sabbath. We must keep it together, as a body, even when it is difficult. Through this shared obedience, God forms us into a true spiritual family.

May God help us to honor His Sabbath, to bear witness to His glory, and to live as a people set apart for Him.

That is all for today. Thank you.