Archives for February 2014

“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, Leviticus 26:3 (ESV)

God’s blessings are conditional

then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins. Leviticus 26:28 (ESV)

Although the blessings are conditional, the relationship of God to his chosen people is not, this is why the curses are spoken of as discipline for sin, they are not simply cut of, the same applies to us.

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, John 10:25 (ESV)

Jesus has already made clear that he is the Messiah

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28 (ESV)

We have eternal security in Jesus

The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” John 10:33 (ESV)

Jesus said he and the Father are one, this makes Jesus equal to God

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s Passover. Leviticus 23:5 (ESV)

Jesus was the fulfilment of the Passover being the true Passover Lamb

And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. Leviticus 23:28 (ESV)

We are atoned for, not by any work we can do but by what Jesus did on the cross on the ultimate day of atonement

And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death. Leviticus 24:15–16 (ESV)

The consequences of sin are very real and God is a righteous judge which is why we are called to walk in holiness. This is why we so desperately need God’s mercy, grace and Holy Spirit

You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 25:17 (ESV)

We should be honest in business

“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. Leviticus 25:23 (ESV)

The land of Israel belongs to God in a special way

or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he grows rich he may redeem himself. Leviticus 25:49 (ESV)

Jesus became a man in order to redeem us

To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3 (ESV)

God knows who his sheep are and has called each do us personally through the Gospel.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10 (ESV)

Jesus mentions the thieves as those who came before him (verse 8), these are likely false Messiahs and we still see them today in false religions and humanist politicians who are in a sense false Messiahs. They all are representatives of the true thief Satan. Jesus is the only one who truly cares for the sheep and seeks their greatest joy, we should trust him as our good shepherd that he has the best for us.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10:14–15 (ESV)

Jesus has an intimate relationship specifically with his sheep who are the elect. His love for the sheep is demonstrated in him laying his life down for them. The relationship is a to way one where we know him intimately
Book cover

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10:14–15 (ESV)

Jesus knows who his sheep are intimately, they are his elect and he demonstrates his love for them in particular by laying down his life for them. This is a two way relationship as we know him intimately because he loved and choose us.

“Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. Leviticus 20:2 (ESV)

This still happens today and even in the sanitised west we sacrifice our children by exposing them to evil in the media and sacrificing them on the altar of our careers or convenience

“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Leviticus 20:10 (ESV)

This shows that in the case when the woman was caught in the act of adultery the man was allowed to escape because the leaders was just trying to catch Jesus out and had themselves fallen away from keeping the law in truth

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. Leviticus 20:13 (ESV)

God always speaks of Homosexuality in the strongest terms

“The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. Leviticus 21:10 (ESV)

The high priest broke this law in the mock trial of Jesus

And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. Leviticus 22:21 (ESV)

This (and all references like it) points forward to Jesus as our perfect sacrifice without blemish and to the Holiness of God

He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. John 9:38 (ESV)

Jesus as God incarnate receives this worship

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” John 9:39 (ESV)

Jesus is the light of the world, by virtue of the light coming in darkness, those in spiritual blindness will see. Light brings judgment, I can not discern where I am or what I should do without light. Jesus by virtue of bringing the light of the Gospel brings clear judgment to those who choose to reject the light a cleave to the dark. Also the light coming on shows up those who claim to have sight but really don’t.

So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations. Leviticus 17:7 (ESV)

The cults of the near east at this time were noting short of witchcraft and satanism involving the direct worship of demons and satan himself (under various pseudo names). So the admonition against idolatry was a serious one, because when Gods people went astray it was not a momentary flirting with sin, it was full on adultery with Gods enemy.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Leviticus 17:11 (ESV)

When Jesus shed his blood, he gave his very life for us, it is by his blood that atonement is made for our sins

“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 18:2 (ESV)

God prepares to speak concerning sexual relationships by declaring that he is The Lord your God. It is in the light of our relationship with and worship of God that we should have and pursue godly and pure relationships in marriage, family and community.

You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. Leviticus 18:16 (ESV)

John the Baptist had to deal with this with Herod

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. Leviticus 18:22 (ESV)

Homosexuality is an abomination before God.

Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:3 (ESV)

Family is at the heart of society, this is why it is one of the first things God addresses and the first the devil attacks. Even today’s political agendas with same sex marriage etc are an attack on the heart of society… The family.

And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:10 (ESV)

We should remember the poor in all our relative wealth here in the west. Gods model for society and social care is best

“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. Leviticus 19:17 (ESV)

We are called to be open and honest

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:18 (ESV)

This is the great command revived and emphasised by Jesus as being a summary of the law alongside the command to treasure God above all.

“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:32 (ESV)

It is the opposite in today’s society, we can’t wait to get the old out of the way. We need God to chafe our hearts and minds

He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” John 9:25 (ESV)

No one can take away your testimony of what you know Jesus has done for you

“Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.” This is the law for him who has a discharge and for him who has an emission of semen, becoming unclean thereby; also for her who is unwell with her menstrual impurity, that is, for anyone, male or female, who has a discharge, and for the man who lies with a woman who is unclean. Leviticus 15:31–33 (ESV)

This no longer directly applies but we can learn from it that God takes our sexual purity seriously and addresses it often in the new testament. see 2 Cor 12:21, Gal 5:19, Eph 5:3, Col 3:5

and the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. Leviticus 16:2 (ESV)

It is such a privilege that we can now come boldly before God throne of grace. Without Jesus, approaching God’s throne was a fearful and dangerous thing because God is holy and we are not.

but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. Leviticus 16:10 (ESV)

Azazel means scapegoat but also speaks of the place in the wilderness that the goat would go to never to be seen again, a symbolic sign of sin being taken away. Jesus was our scapegoat, taking sin away.

and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. Leviticus 16:13 (ESV)

The cloud of incense served a very practical (as well as ceremonial) purpose, it covered Aaron’s eyes so he would not see God and die.

For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins. Leviticus 16:30 (ESV)

Jesus fulfilled the day of Atonement on the cross

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:3 (ESV)

God (not the devil) is sovereign over disability. God created the disabled for his purposes and to display his work in them sometimes resulting in their healing.