- Weekend: Leviticus 16 - 20
- Monday: Leviticus 21 - 23
- Tuesday: Leviticus 24 - 27
- Wednesday: Numbers 1 - 4
- Thursday: Numbers 5 - 8
- Friday: Numbers 9 - 12
The Bible, in its entirety, is God’s word. Even the most technical (and seemingly irrelevant) portions of Scripture are valuable to Christ-followers. The Apostle Paul writes, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17, New Living Translation).
What can we glean from this section of God’s word? Much indeed!
In Leviticus 16, we see that God provided the Day of Atonement as the means by which to absolve the sins of the Israelites (v. 34). The Day of Atonement prefigured Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross. Hebrews chapter 9 provides a helpful theological explanation of the once-for-all atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and how Jesus’ death on the cross supersedes the first covenant and the sacrificial system associated with it. The writer of Hebrews says that the tabernacle that God had Moses build in the wilderness was a mere copy of heavenly reality. And the sacrifices were but a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice of God’s Son:
"For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice" (Heb. 9:24-28).
The balance of Leviticus underscores the need for God’s people to be “holy,” which means “set apart” as uniquely belonging to God. While God provides the means of forgiveness through atonement, God also calls on his people to be holy, as he is holy (19:2). This includes sexual purity (ch. 18), respect for our parents (19:3), undivided devotion to the one true God (v. 4), care for the poor (vv. 9-10), honesty (vv. 11-12), fairness (v. 13), care for the physically challenged (v. 14), justice that is impartial, (v. 15), avoidance of gossip and slander (v. 16), regard for our neighbor’s safety (v. 17), and love for others as for ourselves (v. 18).
The book of Numbers highlights the mediatory role of Moses as God’s spokesperson. A distinguishing feature of this book, which sets Numbers apart from the other books of the Pentateuch, is the statement that the Lord spoke to Moses…who in turn spoke to the people. Phrases to this effect occur more than 150 times and in more than 20 different ways. Moses’ role as mediator and spokesperson prefigures Jesus Christ (compare Deut. 18:18 and Acts 3:19-23).
This is a small sampling of what’s in store for you this week. There is much to learn from this portion of God’s word!
Enjoy this week’s readings!
How do we tell when an OT command is superseded by a NT one? When I read about the reasons to kill someone for having inappropriate sexual relations (adultery for example in 19:10), it reminds me that Jesus superseded this one in particular with the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11. But it seems like I need ready access to a bible scholar to sort out what is still applicable today and what has been superseded by the teaching of Jesus. I may not be saying this well, but I think the idea is clear.
ReplyDeleteSteve, your question raises an important consideration regarding the way Christians are to read Scripture. The Bible consists of "Old" and "New" Testaments. The word testament means "covenant." The first (or old) testament consists of 39 books that record God's dealings with Israel. The second (or new) testament consists of 27 books that reflect on God's dealings with Christians, who together comprise the Church. According to the New Testament, the new covenant has superseded the the old covenant with its rules and regulations (see Hebrews chapters 8 - 10).
ReplyDeleteChristians are therefore not "under the Law" of the old covenant. It is therefore not necessary for us to circumcise our sons eight days after they are born (it is not necessary to circumcise for that matter). It is not necessary to abstain from Pork or to observe the feast days on the Jewish calendar. Nor...and here is an important point...are we to enact punishments for certain sins as prescribed in the Old Testament. We don't stone our children to death when they rebel against their parents (though some parents may feel like doing that sometimes). Adultery these days is not a capital offense.
There are many far-reaching theological implications...and to explore those in detail here would take too much time. Suffice it to say that the morality behind Israel's civil regulations is as instructive today as it was then...even though the penal codes no longer apply.
God was in the process of sanctifying (setting apart) the nation of Israel from the other nations. Israel's dietary codes set the nation apart. Its sabbath regulations set the people apart. Its morality (along with the strict consequences for violating Israel's moral code) set the nation apart from other peoples.
Why? Because this unique people group, set apart from the rest of humanity...with its strict moral code, sabbath-keeping, dietary practices...and prophecies and promises of a coming Messiah...would be the set-apart people through which Jesus Christ, the Savior of all humanity, would come.
The Apostle Paul writes that all Scripture has something to teach us (see Romans 15:4). For example, while we are not "commanded" to keep the sabbath, Christians should learn from the "sabbath principle" (to quote Pastor Brad). God required his people under the old covenant to observe the sabbath by doing no work because it is good and necessary for human beings to rest one day out of seven. Christians should observe that principle (whether on Sunday, Saturday or any other day of the week) because we will end up killing ourselves with work if we do not.
Many moral principles are reiterated in the New Testament and are therefore as binding on believers as they were on the citizens of Israel. But we do so, not as people facing the condemnation of God's Law, but as people who have been freed from the Law's condemnation through Jesus Christ (see Romans 8:1-4).
ReplyDeleteWhen rules and regulations are imposed on us, it inspires us to rebel. But when we are motivated by the gift of grace and by the unconditionality of God's love for us, we are motivated to obey out of hearts that overflow with gratitude. We are free, in other words, to "walk by the Spirit."
Here's the way Paul puts it in Galatians 5:16-23:
"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
"When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!"
Thanks for your excellent comments, Chuck. I think you nailed it. Very insightful.
ReplyDeleteI have a question about God's anger. It struck me as I was reading today that the internal struggle I have with God's anger in the OT is the nature of it. I see righteous anger, the kind the Jesus displayed in the temple, as good and sometimes necessary. This kind of anger is more intentional and designed to express a strength of emotion without being out of control. But, the anger displayed by God in the OT seems to be out of control, inconsistent and capricious. I guess I don't like seeing what appears to be God, the maker of heaven and earth, out of control.
ReplyDeleteGod has done may things for Israel- he saved them from starvation when he directed them to live in Egypt under the care of a God-fearing Pharoah, he delivered them from Egypt when the later Pharoahs enslaved them, he parted the sea so they could escape the Egyptian army, he fed them manna in the wilderness and so on... God provided for them, and He made himself known to the people when He did so.
ReplyDeleteGod wasn't being nice by delivering these people to the promised land, He was living up to His agreement with Abraham that God chosen people would be Abraham's descendents.
In any household there are bound to be rules for the family to obey. Many rules are very similar from familiy to family, but some rules are unique to certain families. God's children lived in a house where the rules were as such in the Pentateuch. If you broke the most severe of the rules, your life was forfeit or you were kicked out. The lesser violations resulted in compensatory damages for the most part. There were no jails (as the people were on the move), so you served your time in the service of the ones you wronged.
I think Chuck made the point earlier that rules will create a need to rebel, and the people clearly are not all 100% on the same team with the rules.
To put it in relevant terms, God has told the nation of Israel to "Just Get in the Car" and He gets angry when they fight against His direction. If we put our "parent hat" on when considering His anger, we may understand Him more...
Sorry to ramble, I wish I could string my thoughts together better...
Mike
I think my point is that God's anger in the OT seems too human. Why would God seem to be not in control of himself? He's God, right? I don't have a problem with God being angry, I just struggle with the way it is portrayed in the OT. He seems to be so angry that he acts irrationally.
ReplyDeleteFor example in Numbers 11, the people complain about the sameness of their food (What, manna again!!). They cry out for meat, they whine and complain. God gets mad, but he decides to give them what they want. However, He seems to act childishly in how he will grant the request. He says "I'll give you meat every day for a month until you're sick of it". Sounds kind of passive/aggresive to me.
Then when it comes time to do what he said, he changes his mind about the month and gives them a "terrible plague" the very first day, so terrible that they buried the people who craved meat there. That's the kind of capriciousness that bothers me.