No DMZ

In this world, there is no spiritual dmz (demilitarized zone). Simply put, we live in a world at war and Jesus is the invader. He has come to rescue that which has been bound by satan and sin. In Luke 11, we see the war unfolding. Jesus is driving out a demon and he declares that this is evidence of God’s emerging Kingdom — “if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you,” (v 20). But not only is there a battle going on in the invisible and spiritual realm, there is also much active resistance to Christ’s holy invasion by the people around him.

Jesus says, “He who is not with Me is against Me,” (v. 23). There are several kinds of people who are against him in Luke 11. First we see the spiritually deceived who call evil good and good evil. They attribute the Kingdom works Jesus’ is performing to the work of satan (v. 15). There are always people who lift up and approve of evil and ungodliness and there are also those who see the works of God and are blind to the reality that it is actually the Lord. Second, we see the sentimentalists who want to romanticize the mighty acts of God. A woman says to Jesus, “How wonderful your mother must be to bring forth a son like you!” (v. 27).  Jesus answers that it would be better to belong to him spiritually than biologically. There are always people who want to be moved emotionally but who do not want to keep God’s word. Third, there are the legalists. Jesus is harsh in his appraisal of these types. He is most angry with them because they have taken the joy of living in relationship with God and replaced it with a set of rules to be followed (many of which were of their own creation).  There are always people make a burden out of the gift of God.

But the good news is that God desires to give good gifts to his children. Not just good gifts, but the gift of himself.  Verse 13, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” We need only ask and believe.

Alone, humble, and spotless

Leviticus 16: 29-34 — “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work … ³⁰ because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. ³¹ It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. ³² The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments ³³ and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the people of the community. ³⁴ “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.”

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) was the most holy day of the year for the Jewish people. It was the day on which atonement (reparation for offense) was made through the shedding of blood. Cleansing from sin and reconciliation with God could only occur through the shedding of blood. As a type, the Day of Atonement finds fulfillment in Jesus, the great high priest, who entered into the heavenly tabernacle to present his blood to atone for the sins of the world.

Leviticus 16 describes the Day of Atonement and I want to focus particularly on the person of the high priest as a type for Christ. Like the high priest Jesus was alone, humble and spotless.

Throughout the rest of the year, the other priests offered the daily sacrifices in the tabernacle, but on this day, only the high priest was involved. He burned the incense, sacrificed the animals, and entered the Most Holy Place. The scripture says that each of us is a priest (Revelation 5:10) who offers daily sacrifices of prayer and praise to God. But on Good Friday (the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement) Jesus, as our high priest, worked alone to make atonement for the world’s sins. He was left all alone. He hung solitary for the sins of the world. He entered into heaven alone, the only one holy and righteous enough to approach the throne of God.

Normally, the high priest was a regal figure who wore golden garments, a mitre with a gold crown and bright blue ornamentation, and a breastplate studded with gems. However on the Day of Atonement, he humbled himself. He put aside his dazzling garments and wore linen undergarments which were simple and common.  Likewise Jesus Christ, our High Priest, humbled himself. As Philippians 2 tells us he humbled himself, taking on the nature of a servant, and became obedient to death on a cross.  He laid aside his heavenly glory. He wore no crown of gold, but instead a crown of thorns. He wore no dazzling garments but was stripped bare.

On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest had to be spotless.  He achieved this by making atonement for his own sin, washing himself, and allowing the smoke of the incense to cover his presence before the Ark. As the book of Hebrews tells us, in Jesus, we have a spotless High Priest. He needed no washing or sacrifice for Himself. But he entered into heaven and made atonement for us as a faithful high priest…. Alone, humble and spotless…

 

The law of the leper

Under the law the leper was considered unclean and had to be separated from society. The reason was that leprosy was dangerous and to be feared.  The disease couldn’t (and still can’t be) cured. Today, medical science can halt its progress in a person, but its damaging effects cannot be reversed.

Just as the offerings in Leviticus were types that pointed away from themselves (and to Jesus), so also leprosy was considered a type for sin. How so?

As with leprosy, sin just seems to appear and spread in the biblical record. Romans tells us, “For by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin so that death is passed on to all men for all sinned.”

As with leprosy, sin has a deadening effect on its victim. Leprosy begins in the extremities and slowly progresses by killing nerve cells.  Gradually it affects more of the body and causes it to lose feeling and become subject to severe injury. So also sin begins by attacking the will so as to weaken our power to resist. Sin is hard the first time and the conscience reacts afterwards. The next time it is a bit easier. Eventually, it becomes normal practice until the conscience is seared beyond feeling. Eventually you have no power to resist even if you want to.

Finally, as with leprosy, sin is incurable. Sin is a deadly disease.

This is what makes Leviticus 14 so amazing. It says in verse 2, “This shall be the law of the leprous person, for the day of his cleansing.” In the law God made provision for His divine intervention. This means that what is incurable or impossible for man can be accomplished by the grace of God.  And isn’t this what the gospel is all about? Through the cross of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit, God can give you power and victory over the grip of sin on your life.

 

The receiver

In the room where you’re sitting right now movies and music are playing all around you. Conversations are occurring. Ball games are commencing. With the right receiver, phone, computer, television, radio, or ipad you can pick them up. With the right receiver you can tune in to the unseen signals that are all around you.

In the spiritual life, faith is the receiver by which we pick up God’s signal. Faith receives what God is doing and saying. As Hebrews 11 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believer that he exists and that he rewards (cares enough to respond) to those who earnestly seek him.” Faith is taking our concrete, tangible, visible lives and adjusting to God’s invisible but very real signal.

In the Luke 7, the centurion shows great faith…. such great faith that it amazes Jesus who says of him, “I have not found such great faith like his even in Israel,” (Luke 7:9). The centurion amazes Jesus because he has perceived rightly who Jesus is and understands that God’s authority to heal is in Him. The centurion realizes that the power of the living God resides in Jesus and therefore is available to be distributed as Jesus wills. The channel for this power — the receiver of the signal– is faith. As such, the centurion serves as a model for all of us.

Guardians of what used to be

There’s a story told about a young pastor at his first church. It was a historic church that had once been filled to the brim but which had dwindled in size over the years.  On his first Sunday, he processed into the church, following the cross and choir and lay ministers.  He was intrigued that as each person in the procession got to the middle of the church everyone dipped and bowed. The acolyte carrying the cross dipped and bowed, the choir dipped and bowed, and finally the lay ministers dipped and bowed each at the exact same spot. The pastor was surprised by their actions, but hid it well, as he walked down the aisle neither dipping nor bowing.  He noticed several frowns and much concerned whispering among the parishioners who were clearly upset by what they obviously deemed inappropriate processing on his part.  He made a mental note to ask someone after the service what all the dipping and bowing was about.

Following the service he walked to his office and was surprised to find three church members awaiting his arrival.  Before he could even shake their hands, two of them began to complain about how bad the service was. The third, obviously the leader, shushed the other two and announced condescendingly: “We know you’re new here so we’ll give you some leeway for now. But you had best straighten out how you handle worship.  You don’t seem as reverent as we had hoped when we called you.  You got the procession all wrong today and that ruined the whole service. It’s important that you do things correctly around here.  Godly. Orderly. The way things have always been done. The right way! Anyway, let’s get it straight for next week okay?  Otherwise, we may need to revisit our offer to you.”

The pastor was speechless as they marched out of his office.  He had no idea what had just happened.  A few minutes later, the janitor came down the hall. He was an ancient and wizened man who had worked at the church for over 60 years. The pastor figured if anyone knew what the odd processional behavior was all about, it would be him.  So he asked, “Can you please tell me about the church service — and particularly the procession?  Why does everyone dip and bow in the middle of the church as they enter and leave?  The janitor responded, “Well, it used to be many years ago that we had a very low hanging chandelier at just that place in the building.  Everyone who came in had to dip and bow in order to avoid banging their heads.  Eventually we got modern lighting and got rid of the chandelier. But everyone was so used to dipping and bowing in that spot, we just kept right on doing it. For most people here, they never experienced the chandelier. For them it’s just the way we’ve always done it.”

At the beginning of Luke 6 Jesus had a couple of run-ins with the pharisees. You might think of them as the guardians of what used to be (and in their minds what would and should always be). They were the types who were so concerned about the form of worship and the keeping of rules (“we’ve always done it that way!”) that they missed what God was doing in their midst.  Here was Jesus, showing what the Sabbath-rest of God was all about… A time for communion with God… A time to heal and bring life.  And all they saw was that he was not keeping the regulations in the way they thought he should.  It’s easy to get so focused on what used to be that we miss what God is doing now. Make no mistake: there are absolutes when it comes to God — for instance the trinity, the 10 commandments, the cross, atonement, salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (to name just a few); however, it is crucial that we realize there are also many things that change.  Particularly, we need to be very aware that the eternal God is always changing in terms of his strategy with you and me.

The offerings

I  am indebted to the writing of Dr. Henrietta Mears with regard to this overview of the offerings….

Leviticus describes five offerings. They are: the burnt offering (Lev 1), the grain offering (Lev 2), the fellowship offering (Lev 3), the sin offering (Lev 4- 5:13), and the guilt offering (Lev 5:14-6:7).  Each of them has unique functions and each finds its fulfillment in Christ.

The burnt offering was given daily and was the most common sacrifice in the ancient worship of the tabernacle (and later the temple). It was an offering of dedication and symbolized complete yieldedness to God. No one comes to God without sacrifice. Sacrifice must come first. In Christ, we see this offering’s completion in that he offered himself completely without spot to God in the sinner’s place.  First Christ died. When you think of the burnt offering think of the word: Sacrifice.

The grain offering was a sacrifice of daily devotion to God. This offering will point to the reality that Christ served God and man perfectly through his life.  The fine flour symbolizes Christ’s perfect character – a life of goodness in thought, word and deed. If the burnt offering pictures his death, the grain offering pictures his life. When you  think of the grain offering, think of the word: Service.

The fellowship offering represents fellowship and communion with God. It is an offering of thanksgiving. Christ lived in perfect fellowship with God and gave himself willingly in order to restore peace between God and man. He made peace through his blood shed on the cross (col 1:20).  When you think of this offering think of the world: Serenity.

The sin offering was all about the acknowledgement of sin — it was only brought when the person sinned and it was intended to provide expiation. Pardon for sin comes through the shedding of blood.  The sin offering shows us Jesus on the cross in the place of the sinner. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all unrighteousness because God accepted his offering of himself.  As Dr. Mears wrote, “In non-Christian religions, worshipers bring sacrifices to their god; Christians accept the sacrifice from their God.” When you think of the sin offering, think of the word: Substitute.

The guilt offering was intended to cleanse  the conscience of the sinner. After presenting the offering, the trespasser was sent back to the person they had wronged. They were to restore what they had taken and add 1/5 to it.  This was costly but brought about reparations to the offended. The injurer was forgiven and the injured moved from deprivation to gain. Christ has taken care of our sin against God and against our neighbors and has sprinkled our hearts so that they no longer condemn us. When you think of the guilt offering, think of the word: Satisfaction.

One other offering was mentioned — it was not related to sin.  This was the peace offering and it was all about worship.  It was a freewill offering of thanksgiving to God for his blessings.

Lastly, the worshipper could not bring his own offering to God, but had to bring it first to the priest. The priest (as a go-between) made the sacrifice and presented it to God. In Christ we have a faithful high priest who has gone into heaven itself to present his own blood to God on our behalf.

What Leviticus shows us

Deep down in every heart there is a sense of guilt and an intuitive knowledge that something needs to be done to secure pardon, to avert judgment, and to gain favor of the One who has been wronged. The book of Leviticus, and particularly chapters 1-7, explains how God’s people, in spite of sin and defilement could maintain their relationship with the holy God.  In these chapters, five sacrifices are described.  Through the sacrificial rituals, God wants us to understand clearly the awfulness of sin and its devastating and costly result: death and separation from the presence of the Lord.  However, as a merciful God he desires to forgive sin and restore relationship with his people.  But while sin may be forgiven, it must receive its due penalty. Thus, where ever there is sin, it can only find its forgiveness through substitutionary death.

All the sacrifices serve as types and find their fulfillment in the death of the Son of God on the cross. This was God’s plan from the foundation of the world and so he spent centuries teaching people the reality of what the Messiah would do for them.  Over time, people knew exactly what God meant by sacrifice and they understood the need for atonement, purification and consecration in order to restore communion with God. By the time of Jesus, the rituals, sacrifices and requirements of Leviticus were not peripheral to the communal and personal life of the people of Israel; they were central and primary. Once God sent his Son into the world to be the Lamb of God and by his death to make purification for sins once and for all through the shedding of his precious blood (Hebrews 1), the ancient rites and rituals of Leviticus found their greatest meaning and ultimate goal.

Holiness

So we’ve begun Leviticus. It’s the book most people get stuck in and you may be tempted before we are through reading it to quit UPWORD together.  But don’t do it! It’s worth the read if you can keep in mind the big picture to which all the specific laws and sacrifices point: God’s holiness. I love what Eugene Peterson writes in his introduction to Leviticus in the Message. It’s worth reprinting here. Peterson writes:

“One of the stubbornly enduring habits of the human race is to insist on domesticating God. We are determined to tame him. We figure out ways to harness God to our projects. We try to reduce God to a size that conveniently fits our plans and ambitions and tastes. But our Scriptures are even more stubborn in telling us that we can’t do it. God cannot be fit into our plans, we must fit into his. We can’t use God — God is not a tool or appliance or credit card.

‘Holy’ is the word that sets God apart and above our attempts to enlist him in our wish-fulfillment fantasies or our utopian schemes for making our mark in the world. Holy means that God is alive on God’s terms, alive in a way that exceeds our experience and imagination. Holy refers to life burning with an intense purity that transforms everything it touches into itself.

Because the core of all living is God, and God is a holy God, we require much teaching and long training for living in response to God as he is and not as we want him to be. The book of Leviticus is a narrative pause in the story of our ancestors as they are on their way, saved out of Egypt, to settle in the land of Canaan. It is a kind of extended time-out of instruction, a detailed and meticulous preparation for living “holy” in a culture that doesn’t have the faintest idea what “holy” is. The moment these people enter Canaan they will be picking their way through a lethal minefield of gods and goddesses that are designed to appeal to our god-fantasies: ‘Give us what we want when we want it on our own terms.’ What these god-fantasies in fact do is cripple or kill us. Leviticus is a start at the ‘much teaching and long training’ that continues to be adapted and reworked in every country and culture where God is forming a saved people to live as he created them to live — holy as God is holy.

The first thing that strikes us as we read Leviticus in this light is that this holy God is actually present with us and virtually every detail of our lives is affected by the presence of this holy God; nothing in us, our relationships, or environment is left out. The second thing is that God provides a way (the sacrifices and feasts and Sabbaths) to bring everything in and about us into his holy presence, transformed by the fiery blaze of the holy. It is an awesome thing to come into his presence and we, like ancient Israel, stand in his presence at every moment (Psalm 139). Our Lord is not dwelling in a tent or house in our neighborhood. But he makes his habitation in us and among us as believers and says, ‘I am holy; you be holy’ (1Peter 1:16, citing Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7). Once we realize this, the seemingly endless details and instructions of Leviticus become signposts of good news to us: God cares that much about the details of our lives, willing everything in and about us into transformation.”

A Joyful God

The Roman Catholic theologian and philosopher, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, once said, “Joy is the surest sign of the presence of God.”   Joy is not the same as fun and games or having an extroverted, “life of the party” personality. Unlike happiness, joy does not depend on circumstances. Joy is a state of well being; a blissfulness of the heart whose expression can range from ecstasy to delight to laughter to a quiet thrill of contentment. Joy is announced by the angel in Luke 2, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great JOY that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord!”

Why is joy so important?  Because God is a joyful God! In Isaiah 65:19 we hear of God, “I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people.”  In Psalm 16:11, “In God’s presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.”  Likewise, later in Luke chapter 10 verse 21, we read, “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.'” It is God’s intention that we would experience joy in his presence. Perhaps the key to joy is staying child-like…. Filled with wonder at the reality that the Creator and Sustainer of the universe knows you and loves you and forgives you through the blood of Jesus.