We Can Come To Him In Full Acceptance - Leviticus 22-24

Leviticus 22:10-13 (ESV)

“A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, but if a priest buys a slave as his property for money, the slave may eat of it, and anyone born in his house may eat of his food. If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and returns to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; yet no lay person shall eat of it.

Because of God’s holiness, the people of Israel had to follow all the instructions of Leviticus, with fidelity.  They did not and that is why they would eventually go into captivity.   God had a designed way for people to come to Him.  In the above passage we read that since God had designed that only priest from the tribe of Levi could come to Him, no lay person would be allowed to follow.    Perhaps this is what is so amazing in the contrast of the Old and New Testaments.   In the Old Testament everyone had access to God, but in the Old it was the priest from the tribe of Levi that carried their sacrifices.   In the New Testament we see also that anyone can come to HIm, but now directly through the Son.   Note what the book of Hebrews tells us:

Hebrews 10:22 (ESV)

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

In the Old the lay person was unclean.  God had only made the tribe of Levi a clean to come into His presence.  In the New, all those who come to Christ and made clean and can come before God, through His Son.  

 Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We can come in full assurance and in complete confidence, because of Christ’s sacrifice.  No more distinction between the lay person and the professional priest.  

Our Hope Is Tied To Our Service - 1 Thessalonians 1-2

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 (ESV)

For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

What do you hope for?   Hope is a powerful and practical motivational tool.   Those who have no hope look down and are often diminished in spirit.   Those who have hope look up and are dynamic in spirit.  This is what Paul is writing about to the Thesalonian believers.  He is hopeful.  But his hope is not in his own successes, as defined like most men. He is not hopeful because of his wealth, his rank or his power and/or fame.   Paul has great hope for Christ’s return because the fruit of his labor was the faith of the saints; in this case at Thessalonica.   In those days the winners of Olympic Games would receive a crown of some sort.  Each game had a different arrangement of flowers with the award.   The “crown” or “wreath” would eventually die, of course.    But Paul is talking about an imperishable wreath.   He says the crown or wreath for him running the race well and finishing the race well is the believers in this church.   They are the reason for his boasting.  He is not beating his chest here.  He is saying that when Christ comes the evidence of him having run the Christian race well will be that these believers are strong in the faith.  He is honoring their walk in Christ and pointing to their walk as evidence of his own faithfulness in the ministry God gave him to steward.    Let us not forget that God has given us all the ministry to serve each other.  The evidence of our good stewardship of God’s gifts to us will be the fruit of those we serve.   We will certainly be rewarded for our own walk with Christ.  But when we pour our lives into others in Christ, we are equally rewarded for their growth and walk.   Our wreath or crown is not only our walk, but the walk we help improve for others.   That is our hope.  Our hope is tied to our faithful service.  

It Is In Christ’s Death Mankind Sees the Greater Light - Luke 23-24

Luke 23:44-49 (ESV)

The Death of Jesus

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

In Jesus death, men saw greater light.  It was in His death that those who crucified Him could see who He was.   God used His death to open eyes.   Later the same thing will happen to two other disciples:

Luke 24:30-32 (ESV)

When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

He would later use the scars of His death to open the eyes of more disciples:

Luke 24:37-43 (ESV)

But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

Mankind can see the light of Jesus when they consider the cross of Jesus.  

God Determines Access To Him - Ezekiel 37-42

Ezekiel 40:20-23 (ESV)

The North Gate

As for the gate that faced toward the north, belonging to the outer court, he measured its length and its breadth. Its side rooms, three on either side, and its jambs and its vestibule were of the same size as those of the first gate. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. And its windows, its vestibule, and its palm trees were of the same size as those of the gate that faced toward the east. And by seven steps people would go up to it, and find its vestibule before them. And opposite the gate on the north, as on the east, was a gate to the inner court. And he measured from gate to gate, a hundred cubits.

In chapter 40 we have Ezekiels prophecy about a future temple for Israel.  It is prophesied 14 years after Solomon’s Temple was destroyed, as the nation went into captivity under Babylonia rule.   The chapter is full of design, dimensions and word pictures of diagrams.  The above particular section is about the North gate of the Temple.  There are four gates listed.  The East Gate, the Outer Gate, the South Gate and this, the North Gale.  This is an important teaching lesson of this section.  The Temple has entry gates.  No one gets in without going through a gate.  There is no “west” gate because that is where the Temple would be built.   The west side was the most sacred.    The concept of the gates is to teach us that God is only accessible where He wants and how He wants.   God not only designs the place He resides, He designs the avenues to Him.  Note how Jesus framed it to His disciples at the Last Supper:

John 14:6 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This Temple in Ezekiel 40 is to both real and symbolic.   This section is meant to inspire the retuning nation with hope and possibility of their restoration; central worship of Yahweh will be restored.   But it is also to teach us about God and His holiness.  No one comes to a holy God without His designed access, through His Son.   

Beware: What You See May Not Be True - Proverbs 13

Proverbs 13:7 (ESV)

One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;

another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth. 

This is a peculiar proverb in that it seems to have more ambiguity than clarity.  This is an observation that Solomon is making and stating, without giving us any moral right or wrong ... not clearly, at least.   We are not told why the one who is poor is making himself look rich, nor why the one rich is making himself poor.   The words here for "pretend" are the way in which they are pretending, not indicating any particular deception.  The proverb is saying one man makes  himself to look rich and one makes himself to be poor, when the opposite is true.   Assuming evil motives, we would say the world is full of such deception.  People go out on any given night of the week and party as though they are something they are not.   Or, conversely, they look pious and they are not; inwardly they are full of evil.   If we think those spoken of here have pure motives we might think that the poor simply wants to be accepted and considered valued, while the rich doesn't want others to always take advantage of them ... preferring just to be one of the crowd ... pedestrian.   Perhaps, however, what Solomon is warning us about is that we should be careful to make judgments off appearances.  We might observe one who is something else and something else who is one.   The Spirit gives discernment.  The Proverbs are written that we might have wisdom and discernment.   We should not be persuaded by outward status.   God knows the hearts and wisdom will make us wise to what is real and not simply presented. Perhaps Solomon is just warning us that what we see might not be true.  

Life is Short - Psalms 87-89

Psalms 89:46-48 (ESV)

How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?

How long will your wrath burn like fire?

Remember how short my time is!

For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

What man can live and never see death?

Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

The framework for Psalm 89 is dealing with the tension between the faithfulness of God and the certain death facing all mankind.  The psalm starts out this way:

Psalms 89:1 (ESV)

A MASKIL OF ETHAN THE EZRAHITE.

I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;

with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

So the writer exalts the faithfulness and steadfast love of God.   But then also makes it sound like God is his greatest adversary:

Psalms 89:38-40 (ESV)

But now you have cast off and rejected;

you are full of wrath against your anointed.

You have renounced the covenant with your servant;

you have defiled his crown in the dust.

You have breached all his walls;

you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

Then we come to the passage in 46-48.   Here we read that the writer is facing certain death.   He knows the end of his days.  He is not necessarily seeing his finality in hope.  He sees death as a bitter end.  He sees the limits of his life.  He sees the end of the clock.   His is not presumptuous about life.   Note how James frames it:

James 4:13-17 (ESV)

Boasting About Tomorrow

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

It is humbling to know that God cares for you but also allows trouble into our lives in order for us to see the limit of life.    Our lives are short, but He watches.  Our lives are brief, but not always pain free.   Yet, through it all, His faithfulness remains.  

One Step Away From God is One Step Closer to Evil Behavior - 2 Kings 16-20

2 Kings 17:1-5 (ESV)

Hoshea Reigns in Israel

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

The book of 2 Kings is a set of historical accounts of the kings of Israel (the 10 tribes in the north) and the kings of Judah (the 2 tribes in the south).   As you read the book, like the above, you read how evil and bad the kings of Israel were in their leadership.  The kings of Judah are not much better, but every once in a while you do see a king from Judah, doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.   

In the above passage we read about one of the last kings of Israel, Hoshea.   He, as we can read, was very evil. One of his most evil acts was to offer his own son as a sacrifice to the gods of foreign lands.   In those days ungodly leaders, to show their great devotion to their god (idols), would offer their children to invoke favor from those idols for blessing in battle and/or harvest.   Hoshea’s evil heart was fully exposed in this act.  This was not the only king who did this type of evilness, however.  Note God’s condemnation of Israel after it finally fell into the hands of the Assyrians:

2 Kings 17:16-17 (ESV)

And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

The evilness that can control mankind after they’re abandoned from God is horrific.   Note how Jeremiah framed this practice as he told Israel what God had to say about it. 

Jeremiah 19:5 (ESV)

and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind—

When we walk away from God our mind and heart will do corrupt and evil things.   Each step away from God gets you one step closer to these types of choices and behaviors.