Month: May 2018

In Leviticus 16, we read about The Day of Atonement. This vital day continues to be celebrated among the Jews to the present. Atonement is an interesting concept, because the word literally means “at-one-ment,” or being put at one with God.  The instructions for atonement included many sacrifices, and the placing of blood from the sacrifices strategically in the Tabernacle and on the priests and people. It also involved a “scapegoat,” a goat on which the sins of the people were pronounced. It was then driven into the wilderness. As with all the commands in Leviticus, the detail is minute, but in this case, the specific Day of Atonement was set aside as an annual practice of being made one with God. When Jesus died on the cross, He atoned for our sin and set us at one with God–once and for all!

In Leviticus 17, we read of God’s prohibiting the Israelites from sacrificing animals anywhere but at the Tabernacle. This would ensure no aberrant sacrificial systems were set up, and that no one would establish himself or herself as God’s priest, outside of God’s ordered process. The punishment for failure to uphold this law was death. God also prohibits the Israelites from eating blood, any kind of animal blood. God tells the people the life is in the blood, and therefore, no one is to eat it. Failure to observe this law would result in being cut off from the people of Israel.

Leviticus 18 offers prohibition against forbidden sexual practices. Most of the practices involved what we would term incest, having sexual relations with a near relative. God also prohibited sexual intercourse with one’s neighbors, with animals, and between two men. In this list of forbidden sexual practices is a prohibition against sacrificing a child to Molech, a foreign god. Many in twenty-first century America see these prohibitions as prudish, primitive, and unnecessary. Others say these prohibitions are similar to the dietary laws and no longer apply post-Jesus. The question becomes, “Why were they instituted in the first place?” Certainly, such commands would ensure the general concern for “cleanliness,” in this case both physically and morally was enforced. In addition, the relational and procreational aspects of the commands are evident. The prohibition of the forbidden sexual practices would ensure biological families would live in more harmonious relationships, and would also provide a benefit the Israelites would not have known at the time: protection from genetically transmitted defects. The prohibition from homosexual sexual relationships, would ensure the purity of the sexual relationship for God’s intended purpose, which was between a husband and a wife in marriage (See Genesis 2).

As we return to Mark 16, we note again this account of Jesus’ resurrection is the shortest and least detailed of those found in the four gospels, particularly if you agree with the assumption of many biblical scholars that only the first 8 verses of Mark 16 are original to it. Even those verses tell us Jesus rose from the dead, and the women who went to the tomb encountered an angel.  The longer ending of Mark 16 offers us a resurrection encounter with Jesus and Mary Magdalene, as well as a meeting with the apostles and His instruction to them to go into all the world and preach the good news to all the creation. Mark 16 offers us some specific information about the signs that will accompany the apostles as they carry out their work of preaching in the nations: exorcism of demons, speaking in tongues, picking up poisonous snakes without negative effect, drinking deadly poison without harm, and laying hands on sick people and healing them. That’s quite a list, isn’t it? So, did Jesus really say that? And are we really to believe we can do those things?  The short answer is: Yes, and yes. Jesus said those things or they would not be included in the Bible. Our goal here is not to “prove” the Bible is true. (Many have undertaken that task quite effectively. One of the better books on the topic, which also includes explanations for many other beliefs we hold as Jesus’ followers is I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist.) We trust the Bible is true. As for the signs that accompany Jesus’ followers as we carry out His mission in the world, and whether they still do: I have seen or experienced all of the signs except the snake handling and poison drinking without harm. I have a friend who was given poison repeatedly while on a mission in Africa, and suffered no ill effects, so I have no doubt each of Jesus’ promises is true in this chapter. The key for us is to accept the task of preaching the good news in all nations, and to trust Jesus to provide whatever we need to carry out the process.  None of these signs was given for us to “test” whether we are Jesus’ followers, but rather to confirm the gospel message is true. In the example I mentioned about the pastor friend who was given poison repeatedly while on a mission in Africa. The purpose was to kill him and his team, but when they suffered no ill effects, the village opened to the gospel and many were saved.

In Leviticus 14-15 we read more about serious skin diseases, how they were to be treated and the sacrifices to be offered for those who were healed; the treatment of contaminated houses; and how bodily discharges from men and women made them unclean. As we read through the two chapters, we might wonder, “What is the point of all this?” Leviticus 15:31 gives us an answer to that question:  ³¹“This is how you will guard the people of Israel from ceremonial uncleanness. Otherwise they would die, for their impurity would defile my Tabernacle that stands among them. Leviticus 15:31 (NLT) All the rules and regulations concerning uncleanness were to protect the people. God’s concern for the people’s holiness was real and extended into every area of their lives. God is holy and He was calling forth a holy people. While we might not understand the seemingly OCD-like obsession with cleanliness, we do well to remember in the 1800’s it was the simple addition of hand washing to the protocol of practicing medicine that reduced the number of deaths in hospitals drastically.  If physical cleanliness contributes to physical health, that would be reason enough for God to establish it among His people, but in the case of the Israelites, God had the additional desire to guide His people to spiritual cleanliness and wholeness.

What application is there for us in our lives?  We live “post-Jesus,” post-resurrection,” the myriad rules and regulations of the Torah seem excessive to us, and they are. But they weren’t excessive when Moses and the Israelites were being forged as a people, and being prepared by God to enter the Promised Land, where they would become God’s holy nation. For us, the lessons are many, but let’s focus on this one: We serve a holy God, who expects His people to obey Him. All too often, we treat God far more casually than He deserves. When I hear folks referring to God as “The Big Guy,” or “The Man Upstairs,” I wonder about the reverence being offered, or whether there is any.

In our relationship with God and how we live it out with each other, we always face the twin dangers of legalism at the one extreme and a casual forgetfulness of God’s holiness at the other. I have often said, “At new life our dress and language are casual, but no one takes God and His word more seriously than we do.” I understand those who are concerned, because we don’t “dress up” for church, or who think only a certain style of music is “appropriate” for worship.  Their goal is to honor God, but that can become the same kind of legalism Jesus condemned in the Pharisees. As we read through Leviticus, what we can take away is the absolute seriousness with which the book calls us to live in relationship with God. At the same time, we can praise God that Jesus made it clear we honor God most fully  with and through our hearts, and not through external observations alone.

As we return to Mark 15, we read again of Jesus’ trial, crucifixion, and burial. Every time I come to this chapter in Mark, or the accounts of Jesus’ trial, death and burial in the other three gospels, I’m reminded it was my sin that caused Jesus to go through that horrific sequence of events. Yes, Jesus suffered and died for the sins of the world, but He also died for my specific sins and yours. That memory causes me great pain, shame, and sorrow. Even so, all too often, I return to sin. My thoughts aren’t always pure, my words aren’t always constructive, and my actions aren’t always helpful. I sin by the things I do, and by those I fail to do–probably far more often, through the good things I fail to do. One of the biggest challenges of our faith, and one of the reasons many in our culture call us hypocrites, is even with our sorrow for Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, even with the new life we receive from Him, sin still often clings so closely to us.

Why? Isn’t that the question. Why do we continue to sin, when we know what a great sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf?  How can we read Mark 15 and the other gospel accounts of Jesus trial, death, and burial and not be motivated to holiness? The short answer is: our sinful natures are strong. Thank God for sending Jesus to suffer and die in our places. Thank God for His grace and forgiveness that restore us to relationship with Him through the shed blood of Jesus. Thank God, He continues to love us when our lives don’t exhibit the holiness Jesus died to bring us. But, let’s pause for a moment and ask ourselves, “How can I best honor Jesus’ suffering, crucifixion and death in my life, today?” When I ask myself that question, so many answers come flooding to my mind, and not one of them is: by continuing to sin.  In our home, when one of our girls did something wrong and offered, “I didn’t mean to do it,” as an excuse,  I would often respond, “Did you mean not to do it?” It’s a great question. Over time, turnabout became fair play, and when I did something wrong and said, “I didn’t mean to do it,” one of them would quickly ask, “Did you mean not to do it?

So often, we live on auto-pilot. We drift into actions and habits we lived out and held before our salvation, but once we have trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord, once His precious blood has washed away our sin, and we have received the Holy Spirit, He calls us to focus on Him and His ways. He calls us to mean to live in His ways. We won’t naturally live supernaturally in obedience to Jesus through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, but that’s His plan for us! As we focus on what Jesus has done for us, as we live into the reality of our salvation, we will mean to do what’s right and avoid what’s wrong, not out of a legalistic formality, but out of a heart-lived love and loyalty for Jesus.  My prayer for all of us is we will remember what we read in Mark 15, and let it motivate us to love and good works in Jesus’ name, in the power of the Holy Spirit and to God’s glory!