We don’t earn it but . . .

 

 

READ Leviticus 25-27

Because my father was a good farmer, I understand the Leviticus laws regarding a “Sabbath” for land. Dad knew that continual crops would rob the soil of fertile ingredients. For that reason, he rotated seasons of rest for his fields. We discovered that commercial produce fields must fertilize their soil because if they don’t, the food they sell has less nutritional value because the soil had been depleted. God has reasons for His Laws.

The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. (Leviticus 25:1–5)

The Lord also had a principle for the ‘loss’ of crops in land that was given rest; it produced more during the year before being left fallow, not after as one might expect:

Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives. (Leviticus 25:18–22)

Not all of God’s laws make sense like this one, but it illlustrates to me that God blesses obedience. My dad said he planted the grain and God made it grow and if he took Sunday off during harvest time, he always had six good days to finish his work. His faith was simple: “If I do the right thing, God takes care of the rest.” For that reason, I’m inclined to think that supernatural blessings come from faithful obedience. Yet faithful obedience has no bragging rights; it is a gift from God.

Doing right and being rewarded is not a total guarantee, yet blessings for obedience is not beyond the power of God. He says:

“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit . . . . . And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.” (Leviticus 26:3–7)

“But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.” (Leviticus 26:14–20)

One point in this OT discipline changed with the Gospel. Leviticus 26:23–24 says, “And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.” However, the NT says Jesus took upon Himself our penalty for sin. He took the wrath of God for us. Trials and any disciplines we experience are for our good, to transform us into the image of His Son. (Romans 8:28–29) From grace to chastening plus all God’s high demands for obedience are worth it — when being like Jesus is the result!

 

Getting through the maze . . .

 

 

READ:  Leviticus 21-24

We are sitting in an airport waiting for our flight. A taxi brought us here, wearing masks because of our city’s bylaws. They stay in place until we reach our destination due to airport and flight rules. When we arrived, a self-serve kiosk took our information and printed out luggage tags. The conveyer belt was not working so we had to take our suitcases to the oversize check-in where they were scanned before allowed on the plane. Our Nexus cards got us through the inspection area a bit quicker but because of my pacemaker, I didn’t go through the scanner and had a thorough pat-down before retrieving my belongings from the conveyer belt. We found our gate and now relax until our flight is called.

I read the above chapters earlier and cannot help but compare the rituals of the OT sacrificial system with our morning’s experience. What if I had to go through the same travel routine every time I wanted to go out of my home, even to the grocery store or to visit a neighbor?

For the people of God, these Leviticus laws and regulations applied to all of life and to everyone, priests and lay persons as well, every day and for every part of their lives. Just an example or two:

Say to them (the priests), ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 22:3)

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. And if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add the fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. They shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, and so cause them to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: for I am the Lord who sanctifies them. (Leviticus 22:10–16)

There were various rules for various people. Some were the same; some varied according to that person’s status or position in the community. Some people have their bags searched; others don’t. All are carefully inspected including their identity and fitness to travel.

Adding another stipulation, what was offered as a sacrifice had to be perfect. How tempting to slaughter the worst of the flock or herd, culling them out and keeping the best but God did not ask for that:

And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. (Leviticus 22:21)

I try to imagine life then, with these complex and onerous rules. It must have been much more demanding than getting on an airplane to travel these days, even considering the complications added by Covid.

Of course the freedom we have to go where we want to go has been affected by the pandemic, but no longer do the people of God go through scanners, examinations, questions and searches before travel nor do we need to experience the same spiritual rituals and sacrifices for sin that God’s OT people experienced. Jesus Christ died once for all, setting us free from the laws that no one could keep anyway. Not only did He die in our place, He lived through the same temptations we do. We would like to bail out, escape the rules, just do what we want, but He said, “Not my will but thine be done.”

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:17–18)

Some chaff under the rules and will not wear a mask and express impatience continually. If our lives were about OT rules, we would all die young. But now, because of Jesus who is perfect and without sin,  our lives can be about living in the freedom of forgiveness and never-ending love. Again, I am so thankful!