Leviticus 21-27: Fear God and Keep His Decrees

‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.-Lev. 26:3-5 NIV

Why is it that God's decrees, which seem so easy and so profitable, are so difficult to follow?  Basically, all of God's commands in the preceding chapters boil down to one thing:  be holy because God is holy.  God gave his creation such a wonderful place to dwell, with everything we need to sustain an abundant life.  But, we choose the mundane, the sensual, the compromising, the dangerous instead.

So much of our lives now are governed by fear.  We fear the weather.  We fear terrorists.  Some of us fear the police.  Others fear any one of a different ethnicity.  We fear for our safety and we fear that we may not have enough.  All of this would be avoided if we feared the one who truly has control of events.  There is a simple formula for living in safety and plenty:  fear God and keep his decrees.

Leviticus 18-20: What is Holy

“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.  - Lev. 19:2 NIV

Be holy because I am holy.  This is the command to the Children of Israel and to us today.  What follows is a list of things we are not to do if we want to be holy.  We could say, 'Oh well, I don't have to worry, because all of my sins are covered by the blood.'  But when we commit these acts forbidden to the Israelites, it puts an unholy taint on our lives.  It may not cause us to 'lose' our salvation, but we certainly lose our holiness.

Most of us would say we are not guilty of the egregious sins, such as sacrificing to idols,, but what about some of those forbidden to the Children of Israel?  Below are just a few of the requirements for holiness found in Leviticus 19:,

3 “‘Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.  
15 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.  
16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people. “‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD.  
17 “‘Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.  
18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
28 “‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.  
31 “‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.  
32 “‘Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD. 
34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native–born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.  

Note that most of these are not what we consider sins today.  They are not the sins I was brought up to avoid like:  smoking, dancing, drinking, or going to movies.  I'm not saying that those sins don't make us unholy, but they are relatively easy sins to avoid.  Avoiding the sins listed in Leviticus is somewhat more difficult.  God sets a pretty high standard for holiness, but then he is a holy God.

Leviticus 11-17: Covered by the Blood

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. - Lev. 17:11 NIV

As the old hymn says 'nothing but the blood.'  There was nothing for the Children of Israel and there is nothing for us now that can cover over all of our transgressions.  Interesting isn't it that only something that costs a life can make us white as snow.  Only a blood sacrifice saves us.  It is only shed blood that keeps us safe from all of the destruction that the enemy would try to foist on us.  Nothing harmful can touch us once we are covered by the blood.  While it may not have looked that way to the Children of Israel as they were hurriedly being pushed out of Egypt, they were saved by the blood.  Nothing can touch those covered by the blood.

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. - Ex. 12:13 NIV

Leviticus 8-10: The Holy and the Common

Then the LORD said to Aaron,  “You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses.” - Lev. 10:8-11 NIV

You would not expect tragedy to fall upon Aaron, the High Priest, chosen and ordained by God.  Only good things should follow him.  But, her was only human after all and so were his sons.  None of them had the close relationship with God that Moses had.  None of them heard the Lord's voice, so it's possible that they didn't truly believe Moses when he told them what the Lord required.

Whether they believed or not, God's commands were true and final.  They were to distinguish between the holy and the profane.  It was a matter of life and death.

How often do we confuse the profane (or common) for something that is holy.  How often do we offer sacrifices that are not what God requires?  Do we wave our unauthorized censers before him and expect results?  If we are wise, unlike Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, we would acknowledge that we are lucky to escape with our lives.  Such is the consequence of not understanding the difference between the holy and the profane.  The common is thought up by man, while the holy is ordained by God.

Leviticus 1-7: The Only Offering

These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering and the fellowship offering, which the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the LORD, in the Desert of Sinai.  - Lev. 7:37-38 NIV

How puny our offerings, our sacrifices are in comparison to those required of the Children of Israel.  We say we bring an offering of praise, but that is usually nothing more than a few praise songs sung halfheartedly:  words we could not even recite unless we saw them up on the overhead, rote songs and rote sacrifice.

I imagine it might have been different for the poor Israelite who brought his precious lamb to the priest knowing that it would become the bloody, burnt sacrifice that The Lord required.  The Israelites were painfully aware that their relationship with God was dependent on their offerings:  the burnt offering, grain offering, sin offering, guilt offering, ordination offering, fellowship offering.  All of these were required to obtain a right standing with God.

Do we really appreciate what God provided to us in his son, Jesus.  In one fell swoop, he gave us entrance into the family of God.  He became the sacrifice, the only offering that was needed.

Exodus 36:40: Being Led

But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. - Ex. 40:37 KJV

It is easy to think of the Children of Israel as being rebellious...they were.  They complained, they were afraid to enter the Promised Land,  They aligned under Korath in rebellion against Moses.  Even Moses's sister, Miriam and Aaron questioned what they were doing.  All of these rebellions brought consequences.  Some of them dire.  And all the time, there was a cloud that gave them instructions.

It's different now.  We don't have the cloud and most of the consequences of our actions are not as dire as those which the Israelites face.  But, we do have our light, the Bible, we have our cloud, the great cloud of witnesses that surround us as we make our journey and we have consequences as a result of our rebellion as well.  Sexual perversion invites all kinds of ruin.  Over-indulgence precedes addiction.  Greed eventually leads to over-extension.  Envy creates unhappiness.

None of this is what God wants for his people.  He wants us to hear his voice and be satisfied with what he has given us and where he will lead us.  We are not to journey to places outside his will or determine our own schedule.  It's hard to do, but the end result is far better than any of our own machinations could ever achieve.

Exodus 32- 35 : Grace in God's Sight

And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.  
And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.  
Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.  
And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.  
And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.  
For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.  
And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. - Exodus 33:11-17 NIV

This passage brings tears to my eyes, because I believe it represents the relationship we should all desire with God the Father.  We all know that God knows us by name, but to experience his presence in such a personal way escapes most of us.  It escaped all of the Children of Israel, with the exception of Joshua.  Even after Moses had left the temple, Joshua would stay behind, basking I believe, in the glory of God that still remained.  Joshua was just a young man at that time.  I doubt that he had designs on the leadership role of Moses.  After all, who would want to be in charge of such a rebellious people.  But Joshua longed for the relationship that Moses had with God and God would one day give him the desires of his heart.  Joshua too, would become a powerful leader of the Israelites.  Just like Moses, he would witness God's awe and might in a powerful way.  He too, would find Grace in God's sight.