Category Archives: Leviticus

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And Now, A Message From Our Sponsors About Mold

When you read through Leviticus, you will have to wade through what seems like an endless list of defiling afflictions that could possibly come upon the Israelites, both bodies and buildings, and regulations the Lord required for ritual purification from these very afflictions. In this case, why would God put a mildew, or as other translations say, a spreading mold in a house? And how should we apply that in our modern era when we have medical remedies and cleaning products for these types of things? In part, the answer is that God sometimes allows, perhaps even causes, difficulties in our lives as a sort of stress test of the strength level of our trust. Difficult conditions quite often reveal if our heart trusts him or not. Why does God allow hardship? Simply because there is nothing more precious to God than a trusting heart—and that is something he can’t create; we have to offer it to him. So at times he will allow that which reveals our trust, or lack thereof, in hopes that we will see it and do something about it.

The Journey // Focus: Leviticus 14:33-34

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When you arrive in Canaan, the land I am giving you as your own possession, I may contaminate some of the houses in your land with mildew.

For several chapters in Leviticus—and now through several devotional blogs from yours truly—we have waded through what seems like an endless list of defiling afflictions that could possibly come upon the Israelites, both bodies and buildings, and regulations the Lord required for ritual purification from these very afflictions. As I have mentioned before, you may have been tempted to skip these readings; I certainly have. And I’ve got to tell you, if you think reading them is difficult, trying writing an uplifting devotional thought about them. Poor me!

Okay, enough of the self-pity. Now, how do we pull anything worth applying out of Leviticus 14? Why is any of this important to us when we live in a time where we have resources—medical preventions and cleaning products—to remediate molds, mildews and their odors? Most of all, why would God put a mildew, or as other translations say, a spreading mold in a house? Yes, that is exactly what the text says in Leviticus 14:34,

I may contaminate some of the houses in your land with mildew…. (New Living Translation)

I put a spreading mold in a house… (New International Version)

I put a case of leprous disease in a house… (English Standard Version)

Certainly this qualifies as one of those head scratchers, of which there are many in the Old Testament, if not outright one of the hard sayings of the Bible. So let me take a shot at what is going on here. Here are three possible explanations for God sending a spreading mold into a home:

One, God is sovereign. Simply put, God can do what he wants, when he wants and with whom he wants. Now a statement about God sending a spreading mold may shake our confidences in a kind, benevolent, caring and loving Deity, but it shouldn’t. God will never violate his own character. So even when there is no humanly satisfying explanation of the what and why that God has done, we can know that there is more to the story, even though only may God know it. By the way, even though God’s sovereignty over sending molds may be a little disconcerting, overall, the sovereignty of God is one of the most comforting and cherished doctrines about our Lord that the Christian has.

Two, sometimes God sent mildew as a form of judgment. In Amos 4:9 God tells the Israelites, “I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees. But still you would not return to me.” We don’t talk about the judgment of God much these days, especially any kind of Divine punishment other than the final judgment, but God does step in from time to time with a variety of discomforts that are pleading reminders for people to repent and return to him. In this light, this doctrine of God is also a comfort to us, for Divine punishment is also a Divine pleading from a merciful God who takes no delight in judging people he loves.

Three, God sometimes allows, even causes, difficult things in our lives as a stress test of our trust. When bad things happen, are we going to trust him? Hardship has a way of revealing what is in our hearts. Arguably, Deuteronomy 8:1-5 is the defining word on this:

Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.  Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

A pure and loyal heart that completely, continually trusts God is the most precious gift that we can give to God. He can create everything else that would bring pleasure to himself, but since he has created you with the freedom to choose whether you will love and trust him or not, the offering of your heart brings him joy like nothing else. And while he can’t make you do that, he can show you whether your heart is right or not. And like a good and wise parent, that is why he brings tests into your life: so that you will know what is in your heart. In that sense, hardship is the paternity test of your trust. And when it is obvious that trust is lacking, you can do something about that.

Which of these three explains Leviticus 14:34? We don’t really know; maybe all three. But for sure, what you and I can grab onto and apply is the last reason: More than anything else, God wants our trust! I love how Brennen Manning put it in his book, Ruthless Trust:

The splendor of a human heart which trusts that it is loved gives God more pleasure than Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, the sight of ten thousand butterflies in flight, or the scent of a million orchids in bloom. Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for love of it. …Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic.

Why does God send spreading molds? I don’t really know. But what I do know is that he longs for your trust!

Going Deeper: Want to make God’s heart swell with joy? Offer your heart in trust to him right now.

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Reconsidering Pandemic Restrictions As God’s Grace

He's Still The God Who Heals All Our Diseases

Instead of being cruel, Biblical quarantine laws showed God’s care for his people. The laws also demonstrated that his people had to take responsibility for their own health—and the health of their neighbors! How different our current health care crisis would be if we took both greater personal and social responsibility for living the kind of healthy lifestyle God intended us to practice. Furthermore, Biblical quarantine generously included the way for people to reenter the community once the illness was addressed. Thankfully, God still cares about our health. He’s the God who heals all our diseases—sometimes through miraculous intervention, sometimes through the body’s miraculous self-healing systems as we follow the his design for healthy living, and sometimes through the miracle of modern medicine—which we should clearly attribute to not just the medical profession, but to the God-given brilliance those who’ve discovered preventions and cures for disease.

The Journey// Focus: Leviticus 13:45-46

Those who suffer from a serious skin disease must tear their clothing and leave their hair uncombed. They must cover their mouth and call out, “Unclean! Unclean!” As long as the serious disease lasts, they will be ceremonially unclean. They must live in isolation in their place outside the camp.

Years ago I read a bestseller called, The Hot Zone. It is the story of the first known outbreak of the Ebola virus—a deadly and highly infectious disease from the rain forest of central Africa. The virus got transported through its human host via air travel, and it suddenly appeared in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure, most everyone who contracts it dies within hours, and there is a sudden and panicked, spare-no-expense-don’t-worry-too-much-about-civil-rights effort to stop the outbreak of this “hot” virus.

The book is a page-turner and I would recommend that you read it. But I will warn you, it will scare the bejeebers out of you, not only because of the shocking havoc the virus wreaks on the human body, but because of the very real pandemic possibility, given how globalization has brought the whole humanity family into such close proximity.

The infectious diseases and molds described in Leviticus 13, and the spare-no-expense, violate-every-civil-liberty approach to dealing with them may seem so over the top and inhumane to us today, but given the close proximity of two million Israelites encamped in the Sinai wilderness makes these procedures a little more sane, and humane for the whole of the nation. Several thousand years ago, they had no real system of medical care, no hospitals, no sewage system, no sanitation service, no antibiotics, no Purell, or no bleach or no remediation for toxic mold. They were a primitive people, so God simply started with where they were and protected them from themselves through these rules and regulations.

As I did with the previous chapter, allow me again to quote from a source more knowledgeable that I am on this particular subject. I think you will find this entry from the Quest Study Bible insightful:

Poor health does not necessarily mean that a person is being punished for a specific spiritual or moral offense. (See John 9:3 for the reason why one particular man was born blind.) Some diseases have genetic origins; others are caused by bacteria or viruses and are transmitted through coughing and sneezing, improper hygiene or poor food handling. There are times, however, when illnesses result from sinful attitudes and actions that involve various aspects of life, such as sexuality, eating and drinking, money, health practices, etc. Old Testament laws about health and hygiene may seem overly fastidious, and the isolation of the unclean may seem cruel. But those laws actually reflect God’s gracious protection of the Israelite community from the spread of disease. The laws stressed personal responsibility and concern for the welfare of the community as a whole. They also helped members of the community know when and how to resume contact with people who had regained their health, reducing excessive fear of the sick.

I appreciate the fact that instead of being cruel, these laws showed God’s care for his people. Moreover, these regulations also demonstrated that the people had to take responsibility for their own health and the health of their neighbors—something modern Americans ought to reconsider. How different would our health care crisis be if we would take greater personal responsibility for living the kind of healthy lifestyle God intended us to practice. Furthermore, God’s rules for disease and toxic molds also generously included the way for people to reenter the community once they were addressed.

Are you grateful, as I am, that we belong to a God who cares about our health? And not only does he care, he is the God who heals all our disease—sometimes through miraculous intervention, sometimes through the miracle of the self-healing systems of our bodies when we follow the Divine design for healthy living, and sometimes through the miracle of modern medicine—which we should clearly attribute to not just the medical profession, but to the God who provided the people in the profession with the brilliance to discover preventions and cures for these age-old diseases.

Going Deeper: Evaluate your lifestyle, physically speaking. Are you eating, resting, exercising and in general, living in a way that is congruent with the Creator’s design for the human body? If not, today is a good day for a tune up.

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Was God’s Law Unfair To Women?

Blessings In Disguise

Some Old Testament rules and regulations seem especially unfair to women, although men might push back by bringing up the joys of circumcision. Why did God require what he did? I don’t know; he is God and he had his reasons. But the ceremonial system for purification was actually a revelation of grace: a holy God was making a way for both men AND women to be close to him. Today, the ultimate outcome for what he asks us to do is the same: fellowship with him. God wants us to be with him that much! That’s grace!

The Journey // Focus: Leviticus 12:1-5

The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding.’”

I suppose many women would read today’s passage in Leviticus 12 on ceremonial cleansing and childbirth (among other women’s health issues that are mentioned) with a, “wow, that sure seems unfair to women!” And since we are talking about fairness, to be fair, I would agree that it sure seems women paid a heavier price than men in what God required of them—although men might push back by bringing up the joys of circumcision!

But again—and if you are following this blog through Leviticus, I might sound like at broken record as this point—God was teaching his people, Israel, what it meant to walk in holiness before him. Why? Because he had chosen them, sovereignly, out of all the people on the planet, to be set apart as his very own people. They were to be a nation of priests, representing a holy God to an unholy world. And the Israelites, fresh off 400 years of literal and cultural enslavement in godless Egypt, had to be taught what it meant to be holy.

Now as I pointed out in the reading for Leviticus 11, “while God’s restrictions may seem oppressive to us in our modern, sophisticated world, there is no indication that the Israelites felt cheated out of their freedom. They simply understood that they were God’s holy people, set apart from all others, as belonging to God. And that was a great honor to them.”

I don’t know why God chose certain laws and procedures for his people, and in particular, these rules and regulations for women, but he is God and he has his reasons. That is not a cop-out, it is just true. We can deduce some practical reasons and applications for these ceremonial laws, but at the end of the day, only God knows. Furthermore, these laws for ceremonial cleanliness were for Israel at that time, not for us today. Now before you call me a heretic, I would add that there are spiritual benefits that we must discern from the principles of the law. That requires the hard work of disciplined hermeneutics, but these arcane Old Testmament laws have amazing application for us today, which is the whole effort of this blog.

So let me bring this particular effort to do just that to a point of practical application, and one of the best ways I know to do that is to offer this insight from the Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible,

To us, the instructions seem complex; it almost looks as though God went out of His way to make it difficult for His people to get to Him. But the whole sacrificial system—fulfilled and culminated in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross—actually pictures God’s grace, since through it He provided a way for His people to get to Him. God designed this system to allow sinful men and women to carry on a relationship with their sinless Creator. God, of course, was under no obligation to provide such a system. Yet He had such a strong desire for fellowship that He willingly went to great lengths to make such fellowship possible.

Female or male, God wants you to be in close fellowship. His wants to bless you, use you and pour out his love upon you—both now and for all eternity. In order to have that, God calls you not to blend in with your surrounding godless culture. It may no longer be through a waiting period of thirty-three days or through circumcision, but the call to be holy is still in effect.

God desires you to be distinctly his? I believe that if you will honestly ask him, he will be faithful to show you what being separate and distinct from your culture will look like for you.

Going Deeper: In the light of this reminder that God has given such effort to make it possible for you to be in fellowship with him through the cleansing work of the cross of Christ, offer up a heartfelt prayer of gratitude.

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Why Does God Care So Much About The Menu?

Dietary Laws Were Not A Problem To The Israelites, They Were A Prvilege

Dietary laws! Are you kidding? Interestingly, while God’s restrictions may seem oppressive to us in our modern, sophisticated world, there is no indication that the Israelites felt cheated out of their freedom. They simply understood that they were God’s holy people, set apart from all others, as belonging to God.  And that was a great honor to them. It may not be through Old Testament rules, but do you stand out as holy unto the Lord in a very unholy world?

The Journey// Focus: Leviticus 11:1-2

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat…”

My guess is that you didn’t find your reading of Leviticus 11 all too exhilarating. Maybe you didn’t read it at all. Of if you did, you practiced the art of speed reading. For sure, you are probably scratching your head over why God would care about what was on the menu for the Israelites. Why would he give a fig about their diet? Why is this even in our Bible and what am I to do with ancient restrictions on eating camel, owls, bugs and hyrax—is that singular or plural?—today? What’s the application, or is there any practical value at all?

To make any sense or to find any application of most of Leviticus for our lives today, and especially as it relates to these archaic dietary laws, we need to remember the whole point of Leviticus: God was teaching his people about holiness. He was demonstrating to them that he was holy and that they, therefore, since they were his chosen people, must be a holy people. They were to be set apart, distinct from all the other people of the earth. And each of these laws, along with the details of the laws, provided the pathway to holiness, the guardrails to keep them on that, and the onramps to the highway of holiness once they had wandered from it.

As we have seen throughout Leviticus, holiness was a big deal to God—both his and theirs. Now while the Mosaic law is no longer in effect—it was mainly to shape these wandering Hebrews into a nation, a culture, a peaceful, productive society—the spirit or intent of the law is still in effect. God still cares about holiness—his and ours.

God wanted Israel to be holy, his unadulterated people set apart as a kingdom of priests unto the rest of the world, his prized possession. In order to have that, God told them not to blend in with the godless cultures surrounding them, and most definitely they were to avoid at all costs being polluted by their idolatry. Among the may ways God was to distinguish them as such were these dietary laws.

Now some would argue that they restrictions on Israel’s diet had health and hygiene outcomes. Perhaps. Some would say that the animals that were banned from the dinner table were animals that the godless cultures worshipped or sacrificed to their gods. Maybe. But my sense is that God, for reasons that we don’t fully understand, simple said, “here’s how you will set yourself apart for me.” He had the right to do that, you know. And he still does.

Interestingly, while God’s restrictions may seem oppressive to us in our modern, sophisticated world, there is no indication that the Israelites felt cheated out of their freedom. They simply understood that they were God’s holy people, set apart from all others, as belonging to God. And that was a great honor to them. Of course, over time, the honor of being set apart devolved into pride, and that was just as odious to God as eating a skunk. Maybe more so. But the original purpose was powerfully and beautifully important.

So what about today? How has God asked you to be distinctly his? How do you stand out as holy unto the Lord in a very unholy world? What is it that he wants you to do to be in the world yet not of it in a way that is known to one and all?

My fear is that too many of us blend so well into the world that we are seen as distinct. That seems to be the trend among Christians these days—perhaps an overreaction to the recent era of legalistic holiness that our grandparents grew up in.

Can I appeal to us that we rethink how holiness—being separate and distinct from culture, set apart for God’s purpose, a road sign for all to see that we belong to God? I don’t know if restricting your diet will do that for you, or that God is asking that of you. But then again, maybe he is.

Going Deeper: Holiness is a very big deal to God. So what do you need to stop or start to live holiness as a lifestyle.

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When God Make A Point, He Truly Makes A Point!

Unholy Fire

Thankfully, we live in an era where God, in his grace and mercy, has made a way that through Jesus so we can approach his throne with confidence and boldness. Jesus is our High Priest who ever lives to intercede for us. As our priestly representative, he bore in his body the brunt of God’s holy wrath for our sin and our perpetual un-holiness. And by his sacrifice, we can stand before God and not be consumed. By his blood, we are saved. By his stripes, we are healed.

The Journey // Focus: Leviticus 10:1-3

Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown. Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Moses then said to Aaron, ‘This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: “Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.” Aaron remained silent.

I imagine if we had been front row witnesses to this terrifying scene, we would have done as Aaron did: Nothing! He couldn’t speak. All he could do was stand there in stunned silence, trying to comprehend what had just happened to his sons. Imagine in the twinkling of an eye seeing your loved ones incinerated by the holiness of God. Imagine trying to come to terms with a loving God who had just revealed his holiness in the most dreadful way imaginable; who had just demonstrated in reality what he had been warning his people about verbally: not to take his holiness lightly.

As I read this story I realize how much I long to behold the glory of the Lord—but only on my terms. However, this sobering story makes me wonder if could I really ever gaze upon God’s holiness and not experience the Nadab and Abihu effect. I seriously doubt it. This cautionary tale is an unforgettable and sad reminder that God is holy and demands holiness from his people—especially from those who minster before him in particular as representatives of his presence to his people.

Not only is it a sad reminder, it is a unforgettable reminder: We must not take God lightly or treat the holy as common. To anyone who saw what happened to these two priests, this would be an object lesson they would never forget. When God chooses to make a point, he truly makes a point!

Thankfully, we live in an era where God, in his grace and mercy, has made a way that through Jesus we can approach his throne with confidence and boldness. (Hebrews 4:16) Jesus is our High Priest who ever lives to intercede for us. As our priestly representative, he bore in his own body the brunt of God’s holy wrath for our sin and our perpetual un-holiness. And by his sacrifice, we can stand before God and not be consumed. By his blood, we are saved. By his stripes, we are healed.

God help us, short of the Nadab and Abihu experience, to never forget the undeserved privilege of knowing Jesus and inexpressible honor of being the receiving end of his sacrifice when he was made our sin offering. God made a point in Jesus’ death, and what an unforgettable point it was!

Now even though through Christ’s substitutionary death we are invited to come boldly into God’s holy presence, let us temper our confidence before God’s throne with humble gratitude that we are standing in a place that in all reality should seal our death sentence to receive grace instead of fire. We don’t deserve to be there; we deserve the punishment of Nadab and Abihu. Yet through Jesus, we are declared holy and thereby approach the throne of a holy God as his holy people.

Truthfully, for reasons polar opposite of Aaron’s, all I can do is stand before God in stunned silence—but not in terror and grief, but in thankfulness and gratitude.

Going Deeper: Holiness is a very big deal to God. Though he may not deal with our un-holiness the same way he did with Nadab and Abihu, thankfully, it is no less important to him that we walk before him as his holy people. Here is a prayer that I am offering today—you may want to join me in it: “Almighty God, you are holy. That’s what the angels around your throne cry day and night; the citizens of heaven who fall before your throne offer up a continual cry of “holy”. The essence of your being is holiness. But I confess, I don’t come close to comprehending your holiness; I take it for granted; I affirm it in the “Christian-ese” that I have learned to speak. But I really don’t get it. Father, help me to develop a greater appreciation for the truth, “Among those who approach me, I will show myself holy.” I am aware that I tolerate some unholy things in my life—and I want to rid myself of those—but I’m also sure that there are some things that I don’t even realize that are unholy. I suspect that Nadab and Abihu didn’t deliberately violate their calling—most likely they were just too casual in approaching you. I don’t want to be too casual, to treat sin lightly, to take my relationship with you and my calling to stand as a priest before you flippantly. Father, teach me to be holy; destroy in me anything that could destroy me. Purify me and make me holy to the highest degree in my daily, hourly, moment-by-moment walk with you.”

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The Glory of the Lord

As New Testament believers, do you realize that we have an even greater, more awe-inspiring revelation of the glory of the Lord than what we ever see in the Old Testament consuming fire of God? How so? In no greater, more dramatic, life-changing, ever-present form, God has revealed his glory in the incarnation—the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. Yes, we have beheld God’s glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Journey// Focus: Leviticus 9:22-24

After presenting the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering, Aaron stepped down from the altar. Then Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle, and when they came back out, they blessed the people again, and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community. Fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When the people saw this, they shouted with joy and fell face down on the ground.

I long for the glory of the Lord to be revealed! The physical manifestation of the sum of all that he is—the beauty of his love, righteousness, kindness, perfection, power, grace, mercy, goodness, and justice. I long for that in my personal times with God, and I long for that every time the spiritual community I lead gathers to worship our great and glorious God. My sense is that you do too!

After the dedication of Aaron as high priest and his sons as priests over Israel, after the sacrifices for the ordination were made, after the newly minted high priest had lifted his hands and blessed the people, the glory of the Lord showed up. And boy, did it show up! Fire blazed from his presence and the sacrificial offerings were vaporized in a dramatic blast of holy fire from the Eternal Presence. And the people did what you and I would have done—what others throughout Scripture did in the manifest presence of God: they fell flat on their faces in awestruck wonder and holy fear of the Lord. There are no words in the library of human language that would adequately describe the human emotions experienced in this moment, except perhaps, WOW!

The glory of God’s presence—that is what I long for.

At various times throughout the Bible, God appeared in similar fashion to his people. He appeared in holy fire to Moses in a burning bush in the desert of Midian. (Exodus 3:1-6) He appeared in a pillar of fire before the Israelites to guide their journey to the Promised Land. (Exodus 40:35-38) He appeared to Moses similarly as he gave the law on Mt. Sinai and when he revealed himself while hiding Moses in the cleft of the rock. (Exodus 24:15-17, 33:18-23) God’s glory also filled the tabernacle when it was dedicated. (Exodus 40:34) And later, the glory of God filled the temple in Jerusalem as King Solomon dedicated it. (1 Kings 8:10-11) The glory also appeared when the prophet Elijah called down fire from heaven on the false prophets. (1Kings 18:38-39)

That’s what I’m talking about—that is the glory I long to see. But wait, there’s more. Did you realize that we have an even greater, more awe-inspiring revelation of the glory of God as New Testament believers? How so? In no greater, more dramatic, life-changing form has God’s glory been revealed than in the incarnation—the birth, life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. The Apostle John tells us,

The Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. (John 1:14)

In Jesus Christ, your personal Lord and Savior, the One who lives in you, is with you always, has inhabited you through the very Spirit of God, is preparing a place for you and will come again to receive you unto himself with great brilliance, power and justice, you have,

The visible image of the invisible God.
who existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
and through whom God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20)

Congratulations! By his grace, you have beheld the glory of God—the sum and substance of all he is: his righteousness, his holiness, truth, his love, his wisdom and his grace!

Going Deeper: Rejoice this day, for God has revealed his glory to you. How blessed you truly are!

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What Makes You So Special?

Holiness is a very big deal to God! That’s because he is holy, and so that you could be his very own, he has made you holy, too. Think about this: God chose you, called you and consecrated you to a life of holiness, which in turn, makes you a part of a royal priesthood—perhaps not vocationally, but for sure, spiritually. And while the world may have convinced you that this idea of holiness is dull, it’s anything but. It’s what makes you God’s special possession.

The Journey // Focus: Leviticus 8:12

Then Moses poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head, anointing him and making him holy for his work.

The ordination of Aaron as high priest over Israel and his sons as priests was a spectacular moment in the establishment of the worship practices of Israel. Not only was it a holy moment for Aaron and his sons, and not only was it a memorable experience for the nation, which would need holy men to mediate the presence of God on their behalf, but it was a very serious moment for God. So serious was his intentions for the priesthood that he told Aaron,

Do not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for your ordination will last seven days. What has been done today was commanded by the Lord to make atonement for you.  You must stay at the entrance to the tent of meeting day and night for seven days and do what the Lord requires, so you will not die; for that is what I have been commanded.” (Leviticus 8:33-35)

So holy was this moment—and the words of warning that God gave to Aaron—that we are told, “Aaron and his sons did everything the Lord commanded through Moses.” (Leviticus 8:36) Unfortunately, the very day after their seven days of ordination were complete, two of Aaron’s sons “offered unholy fire on the altar” and the holy anger of the Lord struck the offending priest, and they died instantly in the presence of Aaron and Israel.

Sad story, yet what a solemn reminder of not only the holiness of God, but the seriousness with which he treats the priesthood. Now that might sound a bit ominous, but the idea of seriousness is not only a negative, but a positive. God established the priesthood that his people might be brought into and kept in a close, loving and intimate relationship with him. And what has been clearly seen so far in Exodus and Leviticus is that intimacy with God requires the mediation of his holiness: God is holy, his people must understand this, and they must both live in holiness unto the Lord and approach his presence in holiness. It was this very holiness that the priests were to represent and ensure through their lives, their roles and the sacrifices that they ritually performed for themselves and the people.

Now here is the deal: God desires that all of his people—that includes you and me—live in holiness and help others to both understand and approach God in holiness,

Seek to live a clean and holy life, for one who is not holy will not see the Lord. Look after each other so that not one of you will fail to find God’s best blessings…You have not had to stand face to face with terror, flaming fire, gloom, darkness, and a terrible storm as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai when God gave them his laws. …But you have come right up into Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the gathering of countless happy angels; and to the church, composed of all those registered in heaven; and to God who is Judge of all; and to the spirits of the redeemed in heaven, already made perfect; and to Jesus himself, who has brought us his wonderful new agreement; and to the sprinkled blood, which graciously forgives instead of crying out for vengeance. (Hebrews 12:14-15, 18, 22-24

Yes, God established a vocational priesthood in Israel, and yes he has established priestly roles for the new community in the office of bishop and pastor, but would to God that all his people represent his holiness to their fellow believers and to the world. Consider two passages, one from the Old Testament and the other from the New, that give us a glimpse into the heart of God.

Exodus 19:3-6 says that when Moses went up to the heights of Mt. Sinai, God spoke to him these amazing words concerning his purpose in delivering Israel from Egypt: “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter refines the words spoken on Mt. Sinai to Israel and now applies them to God’s new community, the church: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

God chose you to be his. He called you to serve him. He consecrated you in righteousness. He so treasures you that he has placed upon you a calling both to be holy and to declare his holiness to believers and non-believers alike in a way that invites them into a loving and intimate experience of God.

What makes you God’s treasured possession? He chose you, called you and consecrated you. According to Peter, that makes you and me pretty special indeed.

Going Deeper: You are a priest in God’s family. So be holy. And so live that you paint a compelling and winsome witness of the holiness of God.