my burg

Bible reading for April 23.  Leviticus 27. "These are the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai." (27:34)  Congratulations on completing the book of Leviticus !   Redeeming service.  In Israel people might dedicate themselves for a time or give possessions in support of the Lord's service in the temple. See, for example, the story of Hannah, who pledged her son Samuel to assist in the temple ministry (1 Samuel 1:11).  Vows toward God were taken seriously.  If people wanted to rescind their vow, they would need to pay a redemption price as fair exchange for the value of their labor or property. Adjustments were made for gender (sex) and age.  Why was the value of a woman less than a man ?  The valuation here was the relative value of labor within that society . Men and women were both created in the image of God, and capital punishment was the penalty for any person who murdered ...

Bible reading for April 22.  Leviticus 26. "And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people." (26:12)  Once again we are told of God's ultimate purpose for humankind : that we might dwell happily together with God. (Ex 6:7; Ezek 37:23-28.)  Walking together is a sign of friendship.   At the beginning of creation we hear that the first human couple "...heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day..." (Gen 3:8).   What then fell into shame (and hiding) by the sin of Adam is redeemed by Christ, the second Adam, and will be restored in a new creation (2 Cor 5:17; 6:16; Rev 21:3).  We need hide no longer from God . In the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism our ultimate purpose is, "That we might glorify God and enjoy him forever."  This new creation was purchased by Christ, and we are to receive him by faith, and along with him we receive all good things: "He who did not spa...

Bible reading for April 21.  Leviticus 25. "And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan." (Leviticus 25:10) Holiness brings joy to God's community.   Chapter 25 gives instructions regarding the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee .  We see here God's concern for the poor, for the care of the land, for the redemption of slaves, for the release of debts, and for redeeming property.  Within the community, borrowing and lending were to be interest-free, and profit was not to be made at the expense of the poor. We will see a wonderful picture of how this worked when we come to the book of Ruth .    "The land is mine" (25:23). This is a point we often forget. The promised land belonged to the Lord, and he lent it out to the tribes as an inheritance to be enjoyed from...

Bible reading for April 20.  Leviticus 24. "Give me oil for my lamp..." The priests were to make sure that bread was regularly placed upon the table inside the tabernacle and that the lamps were kept burning.  Both of these look forward to our Lord Jesus who is the bread of life and the light of the world .  In Revelation the Lord Jesus himself is called the lamp of the City (Rev 21:23).  Foursquare.  For me, it is interesting to note that both the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and temple (1 Kgs 6:20) and the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:16) are cubical spaces . This would indicate to me a) that the Holy of Holies was intended to foreshadow the coming City of God; and b) that the inhabited City itself is the holy place of God's presence, with no partitions between God and his people. The gates of the city are open all day, and since there is no night, that would mean that the glory of his presence would be seen at all times (Rev 21:22-25). This chapte...

Bible reading for April 18-19.  "And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the LORD who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD." (Leviticus 22:32-33) Leviticus 22. It may seem like the Bible has an obsession for cleanliness, but this is not because of pettiness on the part of God.  Rather, it is because of his revelation (and our realization) that he is infinitely transcendent and holy (22:2).  He is high and lifted up above all creation (Isa 6:1-7).  We are not to treat lightly, misuse, or profane the holy things of God (Ex 20:7). In fact we pray that the Father's name and reputation be honored by all (Matt 6:9). In the early church God chastised the people who profaned the Lord's supper with their sinful divisions (1 Cor 11:17-32). Although we don't follow the regulations of the Aaronic priesthood any longer, the principle remains: we must ever liv...

Bible reading for April 17 -- Leviticus 21; Psalm 26-27.  "...but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them." (Leviticus 21:23) The perfection of the priest.   The Lord sets apart his priests to be holy: "I am the Lord who sanctifies..." (21:8, 15, 23). Both the priest and the sacrifices he offers must be perfect . This points us to Christ who alone is both perfect high priest and unblemished sacrifice (Heb 7:26; 9:14).  We draw near to God by faith in Christ.  We believe ... 1) that his life and death for us is a complete and perfect work that truly and actually removes our guilt and cleanses our conscience before God (Heb 9:14).  2) That Christ's death and resurrection free us to serve the living God (Heb 9:14); that is, we serve God not fearfully or grudgingly, but joyfully as children of grace.  And 3) that Christ ascended ...

Bible reading for April 16 -- Leviticus 20; Psalm 25.  "You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine."  (Leviticus 20:26)  Called to be different. This chapter addresses child sacrifice, sexual perversions, and occultism. Things don't change -- these sins that characterized Canaanite culture are also rampant in our postmodern society.  Preborn babies are routinely killed, and even newborn children are left to die. Every sexual perversion is celebrated. Paganism and occult practices have gained widespread acceptance. The Israelites then, and believers now, are not to turn a blind eye to the destruction of precious human life (20:4), but to work to save unborn and newborn lives.  When nature vomits. "You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out" (20:22; cf 18:25, 28). This graphic picture is o...

Bible reading for April 15 -- Leviticus 19; Psalms 23-24.  "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD."  (Leviticus 19:18)  Set apart for the Lord.   "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" (Lev 19:2). This is a continuing theme, that God's people are to be separate , distinct, and set apart for the Lord and his purposes.  "I am the Lord" is repeated often. That is, the people belong to the Lord and are expected to love and exemplify his character. In the new covenant a desire for holiness begins with God's work in our hearts, to change what we love, and desire, and value. Holiness is not a separate add-on to the Christian life, nor is it something that we in ourselves are expected to achieve.  The work of the Holy Spirit empowers us to bear good fruit (Gal 5; Rom 8). The good works are ready for us to walk in: "For we ...

Bible reading for April 14 -- Leviticus 18; Psalm 22.  "Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants."  (Leviticus 18:24-25)  Sexual morality. This chapter lists a number of violations of sexual purity , including incest, homosexuality, and bestiality. They are called abominations.  These standards of sexual morality should continue today, since they apply as much to the new covenant as to the old (Matt 5:19; Acts 15:20; Rom 13:13; 1 Cor 5:1-11; 6:13-18; Eph 5:3; Rev 9:21). Note: by these standards the act of Laban in giving -- and the patriarch Jacob in receiving -- two sisters in marriage was wrong (Lev 18:18; cf Gen 29). Indeed, much rivalry came of it (Gen 30).  Sexual sins, like other sins, however, do not put people out of the reach of God's grace. Repentance ...

Bible reading for April 13 -- Leviticus 17; Psalms 20-21.  "This is to the end that the people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice in the open field, that they may bring them to the LORD, to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD." (Leviticus 17:5)  Legit worship of the one true God.   Chapter 17 repeats a number of themes echoed throughout Scripture: a) God seriously cares about how he is worshiped, and so, we are to worship only in the manner that he specifies; b) there will be only one place of sacrifice, that is, at the tabernacle, and later at the temple in Jerusalem; and c) the life of a creature is in its blood, and so, God's people are not to consume blood.  We approach God in the way he desires. The temple points ahead to Christ, the only way to come to God. And the only blood whose life will give us life is the blood of Christ sprinkled upon our hearts....

Bible reading for April 11-12 -- Leviticus 15-16; Psalms 18-19.  "For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins."  (Leviticus 16:30)  Good Friday, 2020. How I wish we could be [ actually, rather than virtually ] with family and friends in celebration this weekend of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday (aka Easter).  The current pandemic has forced most of us into quarantine, and even introverts like me get tired of the isolation!  For Christians, this is not merely a social event on our part .  Christians did not invent Easter as a way to have cantatas and chocolate eggs.  The church did not create Good Friday and Easter, but on the contrary, Good Friday and Easter created the church.  What Christ did upon the cross, sealed by his resurrection, birthed a new community called the church .  As imperfect as it is (as we are), yet the family of God is not a natural p...

Bible reading for April 10 -- Leviticus 14; Psalm 17.  "Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field." (Leviticus 14:7)  A curious ceremony. We read about the diagnosis of leprosy in the previous chapter, but here we see how a person is cleansed and rejoined to God's community as the Lord might give healing.  Two birds were involved. One is killed over a clay pot of water.  The other is bound by a scarlet cord to a piece of wood and dipped into the water which contained drops of blood from the first bird. The second bird is then released into the wild.  This water is then sprinkled on the leper.   We cannot possibly miss the illustrations here of death, substitution, cleansing, life, and freedom!   So, some 1500 years before Jesus would shed his blood (scarlet cord) and die upon a cross (of wood), the Israelite priests are ceremonially portraying how the substitutionary death of Christ would clea...