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“I will grant you peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid.”  “I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life.” Leviticus 26:6a and 16b (Chapters 24-27)

The Hebrew children have been stationary for some time. God has made His inhabitance among them, set up His tabernacle, instructed correct worship and religious habits, given Laws for practical living and taught them well self preservation as a nation. Soon they will be moving again toward their permanent inheritance. They MUST remain Holy, for without Holiness God’s presence will be lost.

God is not selfish. He gives. There is a simple reward for obedience! Peace and rest. Disobedience leads to suffering and eventual death.  Just as guardians perpetually teach and remind their charges that good perpetuates good and bad breeds sorrow, God will never quit teaching us His ways of abundant life. He does not quit on us in any way, shape or form!

When you mess up, don’t turn your back and give up! God is faithful and just. Mercy and grace are in abundance. God’s every endeavor is to remain constant in your life, all you have to do is obey.

Love,

Gretchen

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:18 (Chapters 19-23)

Chapter 19 echoes the Ten Commandments. Verse 18 is one of the highlights of Mosaic Law, quoted by Jesus Himself. We are to reflect God’s Holiness by how we treat others.  While these laws were superseded by Jesus’ blood, we should still look upon them as a window into God’s character.  He is a concerned and loving Father who calls His children to respect life and reputation.

Holding a grudge voids joy and opens the door to selfish and sinful decisions, while turning devotion away from faithful dependence on God’s wisdom, justice and timing. Let it go! God’s got it!

Many surrounding nations had governance and laws with similarities to Israel’s, but they also centered around sensual and perverted behaviors, things strictly forbidden by God. The phrase, “I am the LORD.” repeated after each proclamation emphasizes that these are the laws of God, designed to set His people apart from all others.

God prioritizes the dignity of all people. This is not the standard of other principalities. God is good and those who believe should radiate His countenance so that the world may know.

Love,

Gretchen

But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. Leviticus 16:10 (Chapters 11-18)

The Orthodox Laws of everyday Jewish life, hygienic and dietary, are somewhat confusing, but from the time man was cast from the perfect presence of God, God gave specific directions for man to remain healthy, both physically and spiritually. The ancient people lived in very primitive circumstances. There was no formal medical protocol or means of food preservation. Food poisoning and parasites were serious risks. Also, the Canaanite culture, soon to be neighbor to this new nation, practiced many abominable behaviors. I do not care to list their perversions but their temple practices involved sensual and sexual rites. This was strictly forbidden in the worship of The One True God. Kashrut, the laws concerning kosher diets, is a weapon against assimilation with idolatrous cultures. God stressed that mingling and sharing life with such people would be Israel’s down fall.

The Day of Atonement was the one day of the year Aaron entered the Holy of Holies. On this day, a scapegoat became the sacrifice for all man’s sin. Sin cuts us off from God’s presence, but forgiveness and atonement restores this relationship. The goat was led away from the people into the wilderness, bearing away the sins of the people. This ceremony is God’s historical picture of the coming Christ.

I often superimpose God onto my attitude toward the children I encounter daily. I wish I could correct their behavior once and be done with it, but the reality is, I must restate reminders everyday of the school year, even after I have said, “I’m NOT telling you this again!” Well, aren’t we fortunate that I’m not God and God never says, “I’m through telling/helping you.”  There is always an atonement opportunity because Jesus was our scapegoat.  He took our sins as His own and we can be forgiven.

Love,

Gretchen

You must distinguish between the Holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean. Leviticus 10:10 (Chapters 8-10)

God has placed Himself at the very center, the heart of the Jewish nation. There is now a place of worship, forgiveness and atonement. Moses has acted as Israel’s priest, the mediator between God and man, but now God ordains a Hereditary order from the tribe of Levi. Priests will begin with Aaron and his sons. They will be supported by tithes and sacrifices.

At the center of life for this migrant nation is an unceasing fire of sacrifice. The perpetual glow is to remind people of their propensity to return to sinfulness but also, God’s gift of opportunity to seek reconciliation with Him. These blood sacrifices point to an age long picture and plan for the final, perfect, first born, The Christ. The New Testament book of Hebrews ties the priesthood and the sacrifice together clearly as, Jesus, Lamb of God.

In Chapter 10 there is an accounting of two of Aaron’s sons who were highhanded with God’s ordinances and decided to do things their way. They were swiftly put to death by the same fire that led the Hebrew children, the fire of God’s presence. God’s holiness demands respect from those who believe. His commands and gospels are meant to be obeyed, not tailored or distorted to fit man’s fancy or convenience. We are called to be uncommon, Holy. It is possible, because what God demands, He provides.

Love,

Gretchen

He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. Leviticus 1:4 (Chapter 1-7)

The opposite of ‘Holy’ is ‘common’.  The characteristics of Holiness are revealed in Leviticus. God promised to dwell in the midst of the Israelites, but there are conditions to existing in close proximity to God. In Exodus, God set boundaries for His ‘set apart people.’ This close relationship means a life of obedience and faith and sin must be dealt with. God gives detailed instructions on these procedures.

The burnt offering symbolized the total dedication of the offerer.  By laying a hand on the sacrifice, the animals blood becomes ‘substitutionary’ for the worshipper. A grain offering is made for renewal and rededication to the Lord. Peace offerings were made when reconciliation occurred with the Lord and communion resumed. In Love, God provided protections from our negligence with sin/purification offerings and finally, the guilt offering allowed compensation for damages to be made between men, neighbor to neighbor. 

Some things change. The ‘new covenant’ through the blood of Jesus supersedes this Old Testament Law. Yet, God is Holy and requires Holiness from those who follow Him. This is constant throughout time. Jesus quoted from this book, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (19:18) Holiness is found in justice and love. We have all sinned, but God doesn’t leave us there.  He didn’t then, He doesn’t now.

Love,

Gretchen

So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the could by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels. Exodus 40:38 (Chapters 35-40)

A nation has been born. Now it is time to build God’s home in their midst. These final chapters of the Exodus narrative tell the detailed labor of building God’s tabernacle, or God’s dwelling place at the center of everyday life. 

This primitive, yet elaborate, home for Israel’s Lord, had purpose and still has relevant meaning to Christians today. The Tent faced the east. The Holy of Holies was the sacred place of the Ark. The Ark held the Tablets of Testimony, a jar of manna and Aaron’s staff. The Israelites knew this Ark was the place where Law and Mercy came together. The Holy place contained a table of gratitude for God’s provision, a candlestick representing the community, and the Altar of incense signifying perpetual prayer. A veil separated the Holy of Holies, God’s Throne, and the Holy place, man’s waiting room.  At the crucifixion this veil was torn and the door to God’s presence was finally, freely open to man. There was a basin for washing, the foreshadowing of Baptism and an altar for burnt offerings. Man’s access to God is through the shed BLOOD of atonement.

God is not haphazard, wasteful of our time and energy, or trite and small of heart.  He intends for His people to worship Him alone and He will be their government, Provider, Protector, Judge, Justice, source of Hope and eternal existence.

The determination of God to dwell with us is His love manifested in action. We can not ask for more than this.  He is worthy of Praise.

Love,

Gretchen

“If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” The Lord replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”  Exodus 33:13-14 (Chapter 33)

This chapter gets personal. Moses reaches out to God, not just on behalf of the people he leads, but for the wellbeing of his own strength and soul. Exhausted from the drama of discontent, fear and restless sinfulness, Moses wants more than the skills needed to guide these people in covenant keeping. He longs to be a man, in the likeness of God, who can lead a Holy nation. 

There is a profound difference in knowing who God is and acknowledging His mind boggling character, that loves without reservation, defines justice and forgives and forgets because He wants to, and choosing to be molded in His images once again. It was freewill that brought man down, and freewill that brings us back to the creation God made and said was good.

Seek God’s favor and you will find rest.

Love,

Gretchen

And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.  Exodus 32:20 (Chapter 32)

The Hebrew children were very quick to return to the past when they felt they had been abandoned.  It was only six weeks since they made a pledge to be God’s people when they begged to replicate an idol, the bull, a principal god of Egypt. They broke the very first commandment.

Moses, gravely aware of the catastrophe before him, threw down the tablets written by the hand of God. Knowing the end was near if he did not intervene, he stood before God, brave and heroic, and volunteered to give his life if forgiveness wasn’t an option. He is becoming like the God He trusts and worships with His whole being.

There were swift and severe consequences for the sin of these people. Death and eternal separation from God came immediately to those who refused to repent. However, God is long suffering and He never turns down an opportunity to forgive. Some things, such as man’s stiff necked evil, never change. Thank God! He never changes either!

Never Give Up,

Gretchen

They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God. Exodus 29:46 (Chapters 25-31)

The Hebrew children had a grand inheritance. They were God’s chosen people, purposed to bless the entirety of mankind!  Except, they were a pretty ragtag group that left Egypt in the dark of night. Barely even a culture, God began to form a set apart people that would change the face of the earth.

Immediately following emancipation God began Israel’s lessons in faith. He protected and provided, teaching them what absolute trust and obedience looked like and the rewards it would precipitate.  Soon, God defined His Holy standards and set His covenant people on a course to their new cultural identity. Now, it is time to worship the One True God and seal the hope and promise that is in Him alone.

God gives Moses very specific instructions, the blue print of the Tabernacle that would become the center of Jewish national life and was the foreshadowing of the Christian faith. God is to have a home in the center of our lives. He will never leave or forsake those who trust in Him. The materials for this Tabernacle were those things given to Israel, by the Egyptians, on their flight to freedom. A long labor in slavery reaped a great reward.

The character of God is our standard bearer when faith is shaken and our bodies grow weary. In this establishing of worship patterns and habits, all that is required is already there, God doesn’t take, He gives. It is not a process of man cowering before an Almighty Deity, but an inauguration of our daily relationship with the One from Whom all blessings flow. God want’s intimate connections with those He breathed life into and He does most of the work Himself.

Happy Monday,

Gretchen

“If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.”  Exodus 23:4-5 (Chapters 21-24)

As for how we are to treat each others and honor God, ten straightforward foundations were given, but then God continued with judgements, statutes and civil law. These rest on God’s authority, not an earthly king. Human life and dignity is prioritized, because God cares! And He expects us to also!

The division of church and state is a basic principle of life today, but for this covenant nation, God was the Only State and He orchestrated life to balance in harmony regarding all things morally, religiously and legally. One Law, One God, for the protection and provision for everyone. Sadly, this is a distant, fictional utopia, except………………Those who are alive in Christ honor what God honors and love who God loves. Then, peace permeates life.

Love,

Gretchen