"I'll set up my residence in your neighborhood." Lev 26:11 MSG. If we surrender, He is our neighbor. Oh!
If we confess our sins...wait, when was the last time I repented of sin? About 15 minutes ago. I went into the living room to my husband to ask his forgiveness for being very rude to him, but you know what happened? I sinned again right there cause I didn't like his response. We have the awesome privilege of going into the Holy of Holies and living no longer curved in. Repentance isn't just asking someone to forgive me but it's turning from it.
66 Love Letters: "Think of holiness as relational energy that is more concerned with another's well-being than our own. Think of unholiness as perverted relational energy that is more concerned with our well-being than another's."
So, as we close the Book of Leviticus, what would holiness look like as we relate to our spouse today? What would it look like as we relate to our children? What does it look like this day as we relate to our world? My prayer for all of us as we end this book is Colossians 1:29: As you face and embrace some really hard things, may you struggle well with "His Energy that so powerfully works in you."
So what does the Book of Leviticus stir in you? "These are the commandments which Yahweh commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai." Lev 27:26.
Given for their joy. Manifested in holy love.
Look at the Sabbath of these people. They treat it as holy, do we? Look at our day, do we profane the moments by not living in them. Being present before a God Who Sees, and before what is really happening while my soul stirs. Humble your soul. Lev 23:27. Offer the first fruits of your life. Turn to God first thing when you have a problem. Come to Him first thing when you awake.
All these sacrifices shadow our privilege of having a relationship with God.
All these laws, these words spoken protect and provide and prepare the family of God.
The Israelites are stuck at the base of Mt. Sinai. What offering do they bring to God? Obedience. Sacrifice. What offering do we bring to God? Our very selves. I struggle through the words of the sin offerings but there is no struggle through the truth—-we need a Savior. We can sin with our Bibles wide open.
Lev 9:36 Offerings are no small things. If we love Him, the offerings of our life will pour out.
Perfect in Beauty is the Godf who pours out of the Israelites when they follow in their wilderness and are not distant from God. Gratitude and offerings to God are not boxes to be checked off. There’s something wrong inside of us if life doesn’t flow out.
This theme of offerings is all about Jesus being the only Way.
The core message of Leviticus is to make us holy to enter His Presence.
May we long for holiness more than longing to improve, change, reverse circumstances. Make us a holy people.
We are no longer under the Law. The Israelites were looking forward. We have equal standing with Peter. 2 Peter 1:3. Given all things that pertain to life and godliness. It is incomprehensible that we can partake of His Divine Nature.
Remembering a quote from John Wesley: “ Insead of giving thanks, one is tempted
Father, it is incomprehensible that we can partake of your Divine Nature. The Israelites looked forward and thought they'd give anything to be at that place. You are Here. Invade my day, this moment, with your Holy Presence.
God spoke to Moses & Aaron. He talked to them!
And He did to me today in the midst.
When you enter the land
I am giving you to possess, put this in your house . . .
Leviticus 14:34
First Thought: get rid of it! God is the one engineering ordaining all things.
"Instead of Giving Thanks, one is tempted toward and nurtured in
accomplishments, achievements, and possessions.
It is a world in which no wonders are enacted, no transformations noticed."
John Wesley
Lev 16:34 and all the preparations were done out of love for God. Am I taking care of my business?
God is the One who makes us holy. Lev 19:1 21:8 When did it become OK to work harder to be holy?
We are not under this law like the Chief Priests in Jesus’ day believed. The ones who crucified him.
And so the book of Leviticus ends. And you have to always ask yourself as you read your Bible: So, what's the point? Here it is: all these kinds of laws were directed toward Israel's society not ours. The laws we just read are culturally specific. Yet, Paul wrote in the NT that "the laws were written for our instruction" and they are "useful. So, as we close this book of laws, we ask: What did I just learn from all of these laws about how God wants me to truly live and about how he wants my society to truly live. And the word I walk away with is "rest." It's real rest that I long for. And Sabbath rest. May I find true rest in Him, not in the tangibles of life.
Someone said Moses wasn't a geographer, he was a prince in a grant. Mustered up hundreds of thousands of Israelites. Marshalled in rank and file, right into squadrons by Divine Appointment. And the followers, all 600,000+ pitched according to the standards. Unbelievable! The Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family." Numbers 2:34 !. So, what's the point here? It's our state in this world---moveable. We pitch our tents and press through no continuing city. May we live as fellow-pilgrims pressing on for the prize of Christ Himself and that future state of ours. Pitch together. Press onward.
PHOTO: Stumbled upon this beautiful place as I walked 10,000 steps today. Turned a corner. There it was. And There. God setting up His residence.
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