[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 307-John 1-3 summary!]
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 in this chapter is true. 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.
Day 307-John 1-3
As we come again to the Gospel of John, remember John’s gospel is the “different” one. It is not “synoptic.” By the time John wrote his gospel, all three of the other gospels had been written and circulated. John wrote not so much to tell the chronology of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, as to demonstrate Jesus is the Son of God. He tells us as much in John 20. John 1-3 covers the theological expression of Jesus’ equality with God (John 1); Jesus’ first miracle: turning water into wine (John 2); and tell Nicodemus we must be born again (John 3).