[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 306-Luke 21-24 summary!]

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 life. 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!

Day 306-Luke 21-24

Luke 21-24 records the last few days of Jesus’ life, His arrest, trial, conviction, death and resurrection. One of the aspects of Jesus’ resurrection included by Luke, but by none of the other gospel writers, was Jesus’ conversation with two “disciples” on the road to Emmaus. The account is so powerful, because the two, one of whom was named Cleopas, were walking home because Jesus is dead, and their hope is gone. Suddenly, a “stranger” appears with them on the road and begins to ask them why they are upset. They ask if He is the only one who has been to Jerusalem who hasn’t heard of what went on there over the past three days. Jesus then took them through the Scriptures (which would be our Old Testament), and told them that the Messiah must suffer and then rise again. At the end of the trip, when the men made it home, Jesus acted as if He would continue on, so they invited Him to have dinner with them. As Jesus was breaking bread with them, they realized it was Jesus. At that moment He disappeared from their sight. Even though it had to be getting dark, even though they had no means of lighting their way back to Jerusalem, they ran back to town, and told the other disciples they had seen Jesus. What a powerful aspect of Jesus’ resurrection interaction with His followers! Our Lord and Savior is no martyr, because He rose from the dead. That’s what sets Him apart from every other great person, or religious figure who ever lived. 

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 305-Luke 17-20 summary!]

Leviticus 11-13 could be summed up in one phrase: Distinguish cleanness from uncleanness. Remember, God’s purpose in Israel was to establish a holy nation, a kingdom “set apart” to Himself and for His purposes. That distinct nation would be different in every area of life, as we see in these chapters. In Leviticus 11, Moses tells the Israelites about clean and unclean animals or food. As always, the list is long and extensive concerning which animals one could eat and could not eat. We might not understand the reasons, and perhaps no one has ever understood the reasons. I have read many articles by scholars in different fields that demonstrate and defraud the idea that God chose the clean animals based on what would be good for the Israelites nutritionally and from a health standpoint. As with every debate regarding what we should or should not eat, dividing fact from opinion is impossible. Some discount the list because it includes meat at all. Others show the “unclean” animals have health benefits. These points are all moot on two counts: 1) God’s instruction always supersedes human opinion, and 2) Jesus pronounced all foods ceremonially clean in a debate with the Jewish religious leaders. For our purposes here, it is most helpful to remember God was establishing a holy people, and the concern of how that would get lived out included what the people were and were not to eat.

Leviticus 12 is a brief chapter concerning the purification of women after they bore children. Again, our “enlightened” sensibilities might be offended at the distinction between the times involved based on whether the child was a male or female, but God’s purpose was simple: providing for the purity of His people.

In Leviticus 13 we move on to the category of skin diseases. This will continue into tomorrow’s reading, but once again we see God was concerned with the “cleanness” of His people. Separating out people with contagious diseases, might not have been part of the original plan, but it would have been part of the impact. Given that God is all-knowing, it would be unlikely that this benefit of separating unclean people from the rest of the population during their times of healing was not part of the plan.

As we return to Mark 14, we’re reminded of the many incredibly difficult aspects of Jesus’ last moments leading up to His crucifixion. When He was anointed at Bethany, some argued at the “waste” of money, because the anointing oil was so expensive. Jesus understood both the love of Mary, and the underlying purpose, of which she was unaware, of the anointing: preparing Him for burial. During the Last Supper, when Jesus announced one of the twelve would betray Him, each of them asked, “Me?”  We would think at least one of them would have been certain… Oh, that’s right. Peter was certain he wouldn’t turn against Jesus, yet that’s exactly what Peter did. He stood up when Jesus was arrested and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, but when it came down to standing up for Jesus, he denied every knowing Him.  Sandwiched between Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s denial and the actual denial were Jesus’ agonizing prayer time in Gethsemane, His arrest and His trial before the Sanhedrin–the Jewish religious leaders. If the account of Jesus’ life ended here, what a sad tale it would be. Even if it ended in chapter 15, with the crucifixion, the account would never have transformed history. Thankfully, we know the account continues through Jesus’ resurrection! That is why we keep reading day-after-day, and why we’re sure our lives can be changed by learning this truth and living it out in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Day 305-Luke 17-20

Luke’s record of Jesus’ move toward Jerusalem takes longer than Matthew or Mark. After Peter’s confession of Jesus in the other two gospels, we see Jesus moving intentionally toward Jerusalem and confrontations with the religious leaders that led to His ultimate arrest, trial, conviction and crucifixion. Here, it takes until chapter 19, before Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  While He does have some interaction with religious leaders along the way, these chapters are more about Jesus teaching, or Jesus healing people. The action is straightforward, and intentional on Jesus’ part, but a bit slower in getting to the climactic confrontations with the religious leaders. 

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 304-Luke 13-16 summary!]

The sequence of events in Leviticus 8-10 shows us an all too common sequence of events in the history of God’s people: 1) In Leviticus 8, we read of the ordination of the priests. As usual, the details concerning how the ordinations were to be carried out and how they were carried out are extensive. in the last verse of Leviticus 8 we read: ³⁶So Aaron and his sons did everything the LORD had commanded through Moses.  Leviticus 8:36 (NLT) The ordination process was perfect, every detail just as the LORD had commanded Moses. 2) In Leviticus 9, we read of Aaron and his sons starting their work. They followed their instructions in minute detail. All went well. God offered a plan, and God’s plan was carried out to the letter. 3) In Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu offer unauthorized fire and the LORD kills them. This is the all too common third step, which sometimes turns out being the first step in the Israelites’ interactions with God. God’s instructions are always clear. God’s expectations are always laid out step-by-step. When the Israelites follow the instructions and expectations the result is blessing. But then someone decides to “improve” on God’s instructions and expectations, or simply to ignore them altogether and disaster strikes.

What an important lesson we can take from this example. While we might be taken back by God’s extreme response to Nadab and Abihu’s disobedience, Moses’ response to Aaron and their remaining brothers is basically, “What did you expect? God is holy, and we must honor His holiness.” All too often, we who live on the resurrection side of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection add to the mix that we are not under law, but under grace. We assume God will be okay with whatever we do, because of that grace. While God’s response to disobedience was more immediate and obvious during the time when He was forming His people, the Israelites, in the wilderness, God’s response to disobedience is always the same: judgment. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, we don’t bear the ultimate consequences of that judgment, but every time we disobey God, we bear the consequence of our disobedience: Our relationship with God is fractured, and we must confess our sin, repent of it, and return to God. While we can’t lose our salvation by what we do or don’t do–because it is God’s gift to us–when we live in disobedience, we lose fellowship with Him.

Many of us struggle with the idea of God’s wrath and judgment, because we live under a mistaken understanding of grace. We see grace as license to do what we want. It is not. Grace is God’s incredible sacrifice on our behalf. He pays the penalty for our sin, through the precious blood of Jesus. He gives us the gifts of restoration and redemption. He gives them so we will draw closer to Him, not so we will reject His leadership in our lives and do what we want. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for Aaron to accept God’s judgment on his sons’ disobedience. I can see how the example would have been forever burned into my memory. That incident would have reminded me how vital it is to obey God. Dr. Dale Milligan, a mentor of mine, used to say, “To love God is to trust God enough to obey Him.” That saying has always stuck with me, because it takes our love for God out of the realm of mere feelings and reminds us both that love for God requires action–obedience, and trust–recognizing God’s instructions and explanations are always best for us, even when we don’t understand them or disagree with them. When we fail to learn those lessons, the results can be devastating, but when we do learn them, our relationship with God grows.

As we return to Mark 13 today, we read once again of Jesus’ comments concerning the “end of the age,” the time of His return. We read of the expected trauma taking place in the age when Jesus returns: wars, famines, etc…. Because wars, famines, etc… have occurred in every age, people in every age have assumed Jesus would return in their age. The assumption is reasonable. After all, Jesus told us He would return soon, and the signs He said would accompany His return have been present in every historic period. Every time I read this passage, I’m reminded of Jesus’ final word: Watch! Watch. In other words, be ready, be expectant, don’t get caught by surprise. We can see how people would get caught by surprise. Jesus has not come back, and we’ve been waiting nearly 2,000 years. Why would we assume He’ll come back now if He hasn’t come back yet? The answer is simple: The time of His return is closer than when we first believed. Every promise of Jesus is true, so His promise to return is true as well. As we go about our daily lives, we must watch. The best way to do that, as Leviticus 8-10 reminds us, is to do what He calls us to do faithfully. The good news is we all have the Holy Spirit to empower our obedience, if Jesus is Savior and Lord in our lives. While I understand people want to know exactly when Jesus will return, my greater priority is being ready when He comes. I pray that is each of our priority. Only then will we be found watching when He returns.

Day 304 – Luke 13-16

Luke 13-16 includes a good deal of material found only in Luke’s gospel, and nearly all of it is Jesus teaching. The content exclusive to Luke is all of Luke 15, and the first part of Luke 16. Luke 15 is another of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible, because we read of a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. Each is eventually “found,” and each shows us how much God loves the lost. My sense of urgency to see lost people come to know Jesus has always been fueled by Luke 15. The incredible story of the Prodigal Son, as well, as the story of the Elder Brother show us the amazing love of our gracious God and Father. Any time, I think about how much God loves us, the “Father” in the parable of the Prodigal Son comes to mind.

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 303-Luke 9-12 summary!]

Leviticus 5-7 finds us reading through many additional instructions regarding sin offerings, guilt offerings, grain offerings and peace offerings. While some of the rules seem to blend together, the purpose of them all is to assure God’s people receive atonement for their sins by the shedding of blood, and have the opportunity to offer sacrifices to God, because He is worthy of them. Additional instructions involving the priests, and what they may and may not eat of the sacrifices offered by the people make it clear what their role is. They are also instructed regarding the offerings they must make for: Sins that require a sin offering; Guilt offering for sins when a person or the people are unaware  of their sins; Sins requiring a guilt offering; Further instructions for burnt offerings, and a reminder that the fire must never go out in the Tabernacle; further instructions for grain offerings, which must never be eaten with flour; Instructions for the Ordination offering ; further instructions for sin offerings–and who may eat of it, what to do with containers; further instructions for the guilt offering, including that the same rules apply for guilt and sin offering; further rules for the peace offering; forbidding of eating blood and fat; a portion of the offerings reserved for the priests, which included breast and right thigh meat.

As we revisit Mark 12, we’re reminded during Jesus’ last week on earth, He was able to take time to interact with those who would have Him killed–the Jewish religious leaders. He told the Parable of the Tenants, which spoke directly to the intentions of those leaders regarding Jesus. He responded to their tests with amazing wisdom and clarity, whether regarding paying taxes to Caesar, our marital status at the resurrection, which commandment is the greatest, or even how the Messiah could be both David’s son and His Lord.  While each encounter reminds us how much greater Jesus was than His eventual judges, at the close of the chapter, we find Him pausing to affirm the gift of a poor widow. While her offering was small in quantity, it was all she had. Thus, Jesus told us her gift was the greatest of all. What a vital reminder for us to consider the quality of our gifts in Jesus’ name, and not just the quantity.

Day 303-Luke 9-12

Luke 9 is one of the longest chapters in the book. Luke included thirteen different events in the chapter, ranging from Jesus sending out the twelve on their first mission, to the feeding of the five thousand, to Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ, to the Transfiguration, to Jesus being rejected by a Samaritan village. That these events happened is confirmed in the other synoptic gospels, but once again Luke’s order differs. He told us in Luke 1, he had undertaken to write an orderly account that all had happened in Jesus’ life. In Luke 10, Jesus sends out seventy or seventy-two of His followers on a mission. Their return brings rejoicing. The rest of the chapter is devoted to two events found only in Luke: The Parable of the Good Samaritan, and the account of Martha and Mary. Luke 11 also has a number of events squeezed into a chapter, starting with the Lord’s Prayer and some additional teaching on prayer, and concluding with Jesus pronouncing woes against the religious leaders. The overall theme of Luke 12 is readiness, although we find the Parable of the Rich Fool in the chapter. We’re moving to the point in the book, where the focus is going to shift to Jesus setting His face toward Jerusalem, but not before an extended section of teaching in the next six and a half chapters.

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 302-Luke 5-8 summary!]

As we move to the Book of Leviticus, we find a different kind of book from Genesis and Exodus. While Genesis and Exodus contained a great deal of narrative information and focused on individual people and their contributions to the formation of the people of Israel, particularly from Abraham forward, the Book of Leviticus starts right in with commands about how to offer burnt sacrifices. The content of the book will seem strange to most of us, because we don’t come from a background where God is separating a people from the pagan nations around them. Every command, however strange it might seem to us, had as its intent moving the Israelites to glorify God and separate themselves from all other people as His people. God had promised Abraham He would build a nation from his descendants. God called that people to be distinct and separate and to belong to Him alone. The Book of Leviticus shows us many of the distinctives of being God’s people. While much of the book is directed to the priests who would oversee the worship of Israel, the priests were to pass the information on to the people so they could live in obedience to God.

One of the greatest problems with the “Levitical Code” as the laws and commands in Leviticus are called, as well as the Mosaic Law, which is the bigger body of rules found throughout Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, is no one could fulfill them. These laws were given to form the people of Israel and to guide them, but as the Apostle Paul will remind us when we get to his letters in the New Testament, no one could fulfill them. That’s why Jesus came. He came to fulfill the Law, which none of us could do. He died on the cross of Calvary, because we should have! As we read through Leviticus, every time we read of a blood sacrifice, we can think forward to a time when the once-and-for-all blood sacrifice–Jesus was given for us.

Leviticus 1 tells us the type of animal sacrifices that were acceptable to God. We could sum it up in one word: perfect. God wanted male sheep or goats with no defects. The males were more valuable to the herd for breeding purposes, and the no defects, was because God wants His people’s best. While we don’t have to observe these rules, because of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, we can learn from the instruction to always offer God the best we have. Leviticus 2 tells us the type of grain offerings that were acceptable to God. Again, it was to be “choice” flour, and the additional command was that none of it be offered with yeast. The key for God’s people was to bring God their first, best and purest, which again reminds us of how important it is to give our first, best and purest to Him!

Leviticus 3 and 4 talk about peace offerings and sin offerings. These were qualitatively different offerings. The peace offering was freely given to God, while the sin offering was given to atone for sin “unintentionally” committed. The animal sacrifices and grain offerings of Leviticus 1 and 2, could have been either type of offering. Once again, the content of this book seems so different to us, because we don’t live in a time when such sacrifices are required. Let’s continue to remember God was establishing His people, as a “holy” people or a people set apart to Him and for His purposes. The carrying out of these sacrifices ensured the people put God first and understood their commitment to living fully for Him.

As we return to Mark 11, we recall Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem once again. In a way, it’s fitting that we open the book of Leviticus today, because Leviticus showed the people of Israel how to atone for their sins, while Jesus is the ultimate atonement for our sins. If you aren’t familiar with the word “atonement,” it can literally be broken down into three parts: “at-one-ment.”  You and I are put at one or at peace with God through Jesus’ sacrifice. In Moses’ day, it was through the sacrifices we read about in Leviticus. For the Israelites the sacrifices repeated over and over again. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem at the start of what we call Holy Week, He was in the final week of His life. On Good Friday, He would become the once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sins. Palm Sunday, as we call the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem was the one moment when Jesus was recognized for who He was: The King of Kings, and the Son of David. As the week progressed, we see the tide turn as Jesus’ interactions with the religious leaders become more and more oppositional.

As Moses instructed the people to offer “perfect” sacrifices for their atonement, God offered the one, perfect lamb, His only Son, Jesus, for ours. May we take the time to recognize the ultimate cost Jesus paid to become our once-and-for-all sacrifice today and always.

Day 302-Luke 5-8

As we return to Luke 5-8, let’s make an overall point about the “synoptic” gospels, that is Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These three are called “synoptic,” which means “seen together,” because they present most of the same material about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The order varies as we see when we read the three, but the content is parallel. It is possible to create a parallel of these three gospels where we can read the same events in Jesus life from each side-by-side. When we do this, we find an amazing consistency among the accounts that are included in all three or in two of the three. The accounts seldom have precisely the same details, but they are quite similar. Some have noted the “stories,” must be just that–stories, because they aren’t exactly the same. Yet, we know from daily life, when two or more people witness the same event, they don’t offer their account of the event with exactly the same words. In fact, when I was growing up, my Mom always knew when Kenn and I had created a story about something wrong we had done, when the words lined up perfectly. (That wasn’t too often, because we were usually too busy trying to convince Mom the other one had done it!) Anyway, as you read Luke 5-8 again, you’ll see many parallels to Matthew and/or Mark.  You might even want to read the accounts side-by-side to see the similarities and differences in them. 

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 301-Luke 1-4 summary!]

In Exodus 37-38 we read about the construction of the inside content of the Tabernacle: The Ark of the Covenant, the Table, the Lampstand, the Incense Altar, the Altar of Burnt Offering, the Washbasin, and the Courtyard. In intricate detail, we’re told of the size of each item and the materials with which it was made. Under Bezalel’s leadership, the craftsmen worked diligently. Reading through this text, we can’t help but be amazed by the attention to detail, and the massive undertaking it was. We’re offered an inventory of the materials, and just the precious metals included 2,193 pounds of gold, 7545 pounds of silver and 5,310 pounds of bronze. The silver was raised through a tax on each of the men of fighting age, which numbered 603,550 men! The rest was given through free-will offerings, which shows how fully the people were committed to the project.

Exodus 39, details how the priests’ clothing was made. Once again, Bezalel headed up the project, and once again we find the process described in intricate detail. Just to describe the chest piece that went on the ephod, took fourteen verses. When everything was complete, Moses inspected the work. We read the list of the Tabernacle, its content, and the priests’ clothing all being brought before Moses. When he determined it was all completed just as God had instructed, Moses blessed the workers. Can you imagine how long that inspection took? It shows us how important it is to do God’s work faithfully, and that it’s worth the time to inspect our work, and celebrate work well done.

In Exodus 40 “Moses” sets up the Tabernacle. We’re told when everything had been set up “So at last Moses finished the work.” We often emphasize teamwork, and the importance of every person’s work to the task. That is true. Dozens, if not hundreds, of workers contributed to the construction of the Tabernacle, its contents, and the priests’ garments. Yet, we hear mainly of Bezalel and Oholiab doing the work, and in the end, Moses alone is given recognition for having finished the work. This is not to minimize the other workers’ work. Rather it underscores the responsibility God placed on Moses. At the end of the day, Moses was the one God held responsible for the construction of the Tabernacle. This reminds us how important it is to recognize the leadership roles of those who lead us, whether at work, school, home, or in the church. What amazes me about Moses is we’re told even though he held such great responsibility, and was given such great recognition, he was an extremely humble man. Humility is a great quality to have in a leader whom God uses to accomplish great things. It reminds the leader all he or she did was obey the instructions of God. Thus, God gets all the glory, even as the earthly credit goes to the leader.

When the work had all been completed, God’s glory entered the Tabernacle. What an incredible moment that must have been. We’re told from that point forward, when God’s glory lifted from the Tabernacle, the people would tear it down and follow the glory, which showed itself as a cloud. When the cloud stopped the people would stop and rebuild the Tabernacle. Then they would stay in that place until God “moved” again. How incredible it must have been to have such a visible reminder of God’s presence!

As we return again to Mark 10, we find this to be a chapter filled with important interactions between Jesus and the religious leaders of Israel, small children, a rich young man who sought eternal life, His disciples, and a blind man, named Bartimaeus. We already covered Mark 10 extensively on Day 10, so you can go back there and read through the post for that day, if you would like more detail. I do want to re-emphasize one point from Mark 10 here: Jesus took time to address many hard and unconventional topics. Just in Mark 10 He addressed marriage and divorce; the importance of children in a culture that didn’t see children as important; the vital distinction between being rich in Spirit and rich in material goods; the importance of following God’s purpose in our lives even, as in Jesus’ case, it means following it to our deaths, and the reality that faith can heal physical ailments including blindness. Jesus was not a “nice” man. He stirred up controversy and created enemies as well as friends. We sometimes present Jesus as soft and loving. He was definitely loving, but not soft in the sense of weak. He never shied away from taking a hard stand when it was needed, but the hard stand was always to focus on the goodness of God, and to bring light where there was spiritual or physical darkness. We must remember this aspect of our faith, in a time when so many see Christians either as haters or weak or both. To follow Jesus, will always meaning loving others, and that love will sometimes be tough. Many times it will go against the inclinations of our culture.

Day 301-Luke 1-4

Today marks the beginning of our third time through Luke’s gospel. We won’t offer a great deal of detail here, because you can go back to 147-194, if you want in depth comments on each chapter, but we’ll look at “chunks” of Luke each day, to see how they connect, or to select highlights of the chapters. Luke 1-4 offers us the explanation of how the births of John the Baptist and Jesus were foretold and came about. They also offer us the beginning of John’s ministry and Jesus’ ministry. Luke offers us a brief glimpse of a moment from Jesus’ pre-teen years. He also offers a genealogy of Jesus, which traces all the way back to Adam! Luke 4 offers us the account of Jesus’ 40-day temptation in the wilderness after His baptism.

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 300-Mark 13-16 summary!]

In Exodus 34, God tells Moses to make two new stone tablets to record the Law to replace the ones Moses broke. God appears to Moses and Moses worships Him. Moses tells God unless He goes with the Israelites not to have them go into the Promised Land. God promises to lead and gives many specific instructions about not intermingling with the people they meet there. If they do, the Israelites will turn away from God and follow the pagan gods served by the inhabitants. While this seems hard to believe, given all God has done for them, life experience tells us it’s easier to follow the crowd we can see, even when we know they are doing wrong, than to follow God, unless we make that commitment before engaging with others.  Moses was on the mountain for forty days with God and when he returned his face glowed from being in God’s presence. Imagine the impression that made on the people of Israel!  Yet the Apostle Paul tells us our “glow” from being in God’s presence ought to be even greater, because we are children of the new covenant. Paul wasn’t speaking of a literal glow, but of our positive impact on others as a result of experiencing Jesus’ salvation in our lives.

In Exodus 35-36 Moses warned the people to observe the Sabbath. Then he called for gifts to be given to build the Tabernacle. The people gave so generously Moses had to tell them to stop! Once the materials were collected Bezalel and Oholiab headed up the construction project and the Tabernacle was built. It occurred to me that the people of Israel had the first “portable church.” The Tabernacle would be put up wherever God told the people to stop and then torn down and moved to the next place when they started to travel again. In our day, many churches–including New Life earlier in our life together–meet in temporary locations, which requires setting up and tearing down each time worship is held. While the idea of portable churches is a “modern” one, we see in Exodus that portable church is one of the oldest ideas in our faith history.

As we return to Mark 9 and read once again of the Transfiguration an amazing affirmation that Jesus is God, because Moses and Elijah appeared with Him, we’re reminded that these “mountain top experiences” (literal in this case), are often followed by challenges. When Jesus, Peter, James and John returned to the valley, they found the remaining nine disciples trying without effect to cast a demon out of a boy.  Jesus got frustrated, then healed the boy. Immediately afterward, Jesus told the twelve once again He was going to be executed by the religious leaders and the Romans but would rise from death. Instead of showing concern for Jesus, the disciples debated among themselves about who was the greatest. Jesus reminded the twelve that greatness in God’s Kingdom comes from serving the most. Even 2,000 years later we find this truth hard to accept. The world has always measured greatness by the number of people who serve us, not the number of people we serve. As Jesus’ followers, though, we find Him always turning the world’s views on their head. How many will you serve today? Where will you start?

Day 300-Mark 13-16

As we return to Mark 13-16, we read of the events that led to Jesus’ death, His death, and His resurrection. These are such powerful events for the course of history and eternity! Without Jesus’ perfect life, He could not have died in our place. Without His death in our place, we would still be under the Law of Moses! Because Jesus rose from the dead, we know we have the hope of resurrection as well. Jesus Christ isthe hope of the world, and we have the opportunity to let people in our spheres of influence know it every single day.

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 299-Mark 9-12 summary!]

Exodus 31-33 offers us a great deal of action, and much of it shows us the fickle nature of human beings. God had already done such amazing miracles in Israel’s presence, but as we see, the people were quick to transfer their allegiance to other gods. First, in chapter 31 God appointed two men: Bezalel and Oholiab to oversee the construction of the Tabernacle. God gifted them spiritually and physically with the special skills they would need to oversee the project. We’re also told all the craftsmen of Israel were given special skill for completing the project. At the end of chapter 31, God presents additional instructions concerning the Sabbath. They are stringent to say the least. Anyone who was caught breaking the Sabbath was to be executed. Why such harsh punishment? Remember, God was establishing Israel as His holy people. One of the most common distractions from following God is putting our work before Him. The timing of the instruction is interesting: God has just instructed Moses to have the Tabernacle built, a project ordained by God, and then God gives additional instructions concerning the Sabbath. It is possible God realized even when we’re engaged in His work, we can transfer our allegiance from serving Him to serving the work. That’s a subtle distinction, but vital to remember.  We can never let the work of God become more important to us than the God for whom we work!

Exodus 32 offers us the clearest example of the fickleness of God’s people. Moses was gone for 40 days. That is an extended time for a leader to be gone, but Moses had left Aaron and Hur in charge, and the people knew Moses was on the mountain with God. They weren’t in a hurry to get anywhere. Yet, the people cried out to Aaron, because they didn’t think Moses was coming back. They wanted some “gods” to worship. Amazing, isn’t it? The one, true God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. At that very moment, God was giving instructions for the people to Moses. Even so, the people had to have a god to worship. This is so instructive to us. We live in an era when many people deny the existence of God, but always remember: we were created by God to worship Him. If we don’t worship Him, we will worship something or someone. Atheists worship themselves, or science, or hedonism, or some form of order, even if its anarchy. The Israelites abandoned God, and Aaron went along with them, forming a golden calf to worship.

Moses showed his leadership of the people, when God told him to go down the mountain, because the people had rebelled. When God told Moses, He was going to destroy the Israelites and form a new people from Moses’ line, Moses interceded for the people, and God relented.  After Moses entered the camp and called those faithful to God to stop the rebellion, the Levites sided with Moses, and killed 3,000 Israelites. Once again, this might seem extreme to us, but the alternative would have been to let the people worship false gods. Finally, Moses interceded again for God not to destroy the Israelites.

As we move to Exodus 33, we are told of Moses’ practice of going to the tent of meeting, to talk with God. Each time Moses entered the tent, the people of Israel would stand outside of their tents in reverent attention. One of my favorite statements in the history of Israel comes in this chapter. We’re told God spoke “face-to-face” with Moses as a man speaks to a friend. Wow!  Imagine having regular face-to-face meetings with God! The chapter closes with God showing Moses His glory, which is one more affirmation of the closeness of the relationship between God and Moses. Thank God, literally, thank God for Moses’ faithfulness, humility, and leadership over Israel. While Moses had his faults, a lack of loyalty to God and the people was not one of them.

As we return to Mark 8, let’s focus on the healing of the blind man in Bethsaida. (In our first reading of Mark, we focused on Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah. Feel free to review Day 8’s post if you want to return to that reflection.) What has always stood out to me in this moment, is Jesus’ need to touch the blind man twice to heal him completely. Ordinarily, it took one touch or one word for Jesus’ healing power to be effective. Why two touches in this case? We can’t say for sure, but it seems likely to me, Jesus’ second touch was more for our benefit, than it was a lack of power on His part. Many times, we pray for others, or for our own needs, and if the only examples we had from Jesus’ ministry were of immediately answered prayers, we might think our faith is too weak, or we’re being disobedient, or something else was hindering our prayer. A lack of faith and disobedience do hinder our prayers, but sometimes we need to pray through a situation twice, three times, or more. I have had prayers that took many years to answer, and some I am still waiting for God to answer in the way I am praying He will.

As we pray, we know God is faithful and powerful. Therefore, we pray with confidence, and if it takes a second “touch” or a third or more, we continue to pray, knowing God always has our best in mind. He desires to give us what we ask as we keep Him first in our lives.

Day 299-Mark 9-12

In Mark 9-12 Jesus’ ministry turns toward Jerusalem. Mark 9 was literally the “high point” of Jesus’ earthly ministry, as He was transfigured on a mountain top with Moses and Elijah. As we continue forward Jesus tells the disciples a second and third time He is going to be betrayed, arrested, condemned, crucified and buried, but He will rise on the third day. Each time the disciples fail to understand and show more concern for their own benefit than what Jesus was telling them. In Mark 11, we read of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, and of the moment when the people recognize Him for who He is. This marks the beginning of “Holy Week,” the last week of Jesus’ life before His death and resurrection. 

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 298-Mark 5-8 summary!]

In Exodus 28-30 we read God’s extensive instructions to Moses regarding clothing for the priests, the dedication and ordination of priests, plans for the incense altar, and wash basin, and instructions for making the anointing oil and incense used by the priests. In addition, God instructs the people on the gifts to bring for the construction of the Tabernacle. If you are a “big picture” person, as I am, the minute details included in these chapters seem a bit excessive, and yet God’s instructions make it clear exactly what is expected in each of these areas. The point that struck home the most with me was the minute detail in the description of the priest’s ephod, and chest piece. Given the purpose of the chest piece, which was to hold the “Urim and Thummim,” the instruments used to receive God’s answers to specific questions, we can see why the minutely detailed instructions were necessary. It also struck me that no one was permitted to make anointing oil or incense with the same formula as that used by the priests. These two materials were to be used for God’s holy purposes only.

While we won’t get to the Apostle Peter’s letters for a long time based on our daily readings, I couldn’t help thinking of his words in 1 Peter 2: 9-10 as we read Exodus 28-30:  ⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV) While only those descended from Levi could be priests in Moses’ time through the time of Jesus, because of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, each of us is now a priest, and all of us together are “a royal priesthood.” We don’t wear the elaborate outfits the priests in Moses’ day wore, but we are certainly able to enter the presence of God, through Jesus’ work on our behalf.

As we read through Mark 7 once again, I’m reminded of how the Pharisees were caught up in the details of external tradition, while Jesus focused on the heart. When the Pharisees complained because the disciples ate with “unwashed hands,” Jesus responded by quoting Isaiah: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” As Jesus continued to instruct us regarding the internal and the external, He made it clear it isn’t what goes into us that defiles, but what comes out.  With those statements He pronounced all foods clean. Let’s look for a moment at Mark 7:20-23 to see Jesus’ point about true cleanness and uncleanness.  ²⁰He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’²¹For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²²greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  ²³All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” Mark 7:20-23 (NIV) As we go about our day, we do well to start by “cleaning” the inside of our lives through prayer, Bible reading and calling on God to fill us with the Holy Spirit to empower us for the day. After all, if the inside is clean, the rest will take care of itself.

 Mark 7 concludes with the faith of a Syrophonecian woman, which I commented on in Day 7’s reading, and the healing of man who was deaf and dumb. While the miracle is amazing, I read a book titled The Heart Reader several years ago, which is based on that passage. It was written anonymously by a Christian author who would have been well-known, if he or she had chosen to tell us who he or she was. The purpose of the book was to remind us Jesus has the power to “open” not only ears and mouths, but hearts to salvation in His name. I commend the book to you. It is a great devotional read and helps to refocus us on the importance of sharing the good news of Jesus with others.

Day 298-Mark 5-8

Again, I don’t need to offer extensive explanation of Mark 5-8, because we’ve read it six times now. I will add once again, that Mark 5 is one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible, because it shows Jesus’ tremendous compassion and power to heal. Compassion and power aren’t always combined in our world, but when they are the statement it makes is so amazing. Jesus combined the two every day of His ministry, because He was reminding us of what the Kingdom of God is like: love (and compassion) and power! 

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 297-Mark 1-4 summary!]

In Exodus 24-27, we read of God reaffirming His covenant with Moses, and also of Moses receiving the description of how the Tabernacle would be constructed. God started by telling Moses people were to give free will offerings to provide funds for the Tabernacle. I find that refreshing. God’s people were offered the opportunity to give or not to the construction of the Temple. We will read later the people gave so much Moses had to tell them to stop! That has always amazed me. The people of New Life, where I serve as lead pastor are generous people, as generous as any group of Jesus’ followers I have known. Yet, we have never had to tell folks to stop giving, yet. That will be an incredible day.  

God gave Moses specific details about each aspect of the Tabernacle and its content as we read through most of the remainder of Exodus, we will find these details as the main focus. Planning is an important component of every project we undertake as Jesus’ followers. If God needed to do that with Moses, we can be sure our efforts in His name need to include planning as well. While we always want to be led by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of order, unity, and peace. Those realities require planning and prayer to live out in our lives.

As we return to Mark 6, we see again how the people of Jesus’ hometown didn’t receive Him. He pointed out a prophet is without honor among his own people. How true that is. When we have grown up in a particular place, and the people know us well, they know the negative details of our lives. That makes it harder for them to find our transformation in the Lord, and our call from Him credible. That wasn’t the case with Jesus. He started out perfect. He didn’t need to be transformed. Even so, the people didn’t receive Him for who He was, so they missed out on experiencing His amazing power.

As the chapter continues, Jesus sends the twelve out on their first “mission trip.” Note Jesus tells them not to worry about provision, because God will provide for them. This wasn’t always Jesus’ instruction, but in this case, He wanted the twelve to rely totally on God to provide what they needed. Mark includes the account of how John the Baptist died in this chapter, and then moves on to tell us about Jesus feeding the 5,000 (which was more likely the feeding of the 20,000, because the 5,000 only included the men) with extremely limited resources. This is the only miracle of Jesus included in all four gospels. Finally, Mark offers us another “nature” miracle as Jesus walks on water. I have always thought it would have been incredible to be one of Jesus’ disciples. They experienced so many amazing miracles while Jesus was with them. It’s easy to think they ought to have “gotten it,” sooner. But it’s also easy to forget the twelve expected Jesus to be a conquering hero, instead of a suffering servant. More about that as we continue through the year. We live on the resurrection side of Easter, so let’s live into the Holy Spirit’s power as we experience Jesus’ life in our lives today!

Day 297-Mark 1-4

This is our sixth time through Mark’s Gospel, so my hope is you don’t need me to comment on chapters 1-4. You know without looking that Mark 1 tells us of John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, and the start of Jesus’ ministry. Mark 2 tells us of the healing of the paralytic, which leads to Jesus’ first run in with the religious leaders. We also find the call of Levi, and another run in with the Pharisees when Jesus’ disciples pick heads of grain on the Sabbath. Mark 3 offers us more examples of Jesus’ run ins with the religious leaders, and of their decision to get rid of Him. Jesus also calls the twelve disciples to be with Him, and to be equipped to carry His ministry to the nations. Mark 4 offers us the first extended teaching section in Mark’s gospel, and Jesus offers us the Parable of the Sower (or the Parable of the Soils), and other parables of God’s Kingdom. If you have questions about any of these chapters, you can go back through the posts from this year, or by this time you might have notes in your own Bible to which you can refer. (As we read through Mark this time, you might want to read it in a different translation than the one you’ve been using. It’s helpful to see how the English translators translated the Greek into our language. The nuances and differences can sometimes add extra insights to our understanding.)