Deadly Serious: The Worlds Best Diet

Say to them: ’Whoever of all your descendants throughout your generations, who goes near the holy things which the children of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has uncleanness upon him, that person shall be cut off from My presence: I am the Lord. Whatever man of the descendants of Aaron, who is a leper or has a discharge, shall not eat the holy offerings until he is clean…the person who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat the holy offerings unless he washes his body with water. And when the sun goes down he shall be clean; and afterward he may eat the holy offerings, because it is his food. Leviticus 22:3, 4, 6, 7

This Does Not Apply to Me

That is what I used to think about certain books of the Old Testament—they just are not applicable to the modern-day Christian. I have since been corrected. If we allow Him to, the Lord will reveal significant applications for these passages while still maintaining the legitimacy of His original intent. So while it is true these were ordinances for Aaron the high priest and his descendants, it is wise to bear in mind that while we are not the sons of Aaron, we are the sons of God.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light… 1 Peter 2:9

Cut Off From God

God lets His high priest know of those things which defile a man and leprosy, discharges, and touching the dead top His list. Leprosy we might recall is a picture of sin [in the Bible] and substituting the terms for one another helps define our application: sin separates; i.e. cuts us off from God. But what of these discharges; how can we give spiritual relevance to those? I like to think ofthem as those words and actions of ours that ooze mechanically. You know, those phrases we utter and those gestures that we make when that guy cuts us off suddenly ~and~ before we have occasion to glance down at our WWJD bracelets. What does God say about those again? Oh yeah…

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34b

No Soup For You!

In Levitical times God was saying that the despoiled priest could not eat of the sacrifices which was his custom. It kind of reminds me of mom sending me away from the dinner table to wash my hands before I could eat. But I believe God is pointing out something more significant to us—the reality of sin is that we lose our spiritual appetite and the cutting-off of divine sustenance is not God’s doing, but our own. In our sin we avoid God, we do not eat, and we become spiritually emaciated. Here’s a test: if you were given solid food to eat in proportion to the spiritual food you normally consumed each day, what would you look like in a week, a month, or a year?

But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” John 4:32

Washing and Waiting

God is not One to leave His people starved and provides the solution—washing in water and waiting until sundown. Why sundown? Because in Jewish tradition, it is when the sun rests on the horizon the old day has past away and a new day has begun—we are renewed physically when we sleep and spiritually when we rest in Him. Consider this admired verse…

This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion, ” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:21-26

Of course patient-waiting is pointless if we have not first cleansed ourselves—go to bed filthy and wake up filthy, plus the bed is now soiled too. Our solution is not in merely turning away from sin, but turning towards the Word who is Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul adds that we are cleansed by the water that is God’s Word. The writer of Hebrews concurs.

…Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22

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You Might Be a Pervert if…

None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the Lord…And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. ’Do not defile yourselves with any of these things…’ Leviticus 18:6, 21-24

Sin Precedence

I don’t give precedence to one sin over another. God in His Word teaches that any singular sin a person commits, as it relates to causing separation from Him, is the same. I agree with that. Why am I raising the issue? Because today (in my Bible study) a few particular sins are singled-out and I do not want anyone to suppose I believe they deserve some kind of top-billing as the all-time worse sins a person can commit. They are in fact just sin.

They Are Sin

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

God said so (not me) and because I have some prudence, I agree with what He says—Call me crazy, I happen to agree with what God says in His entire Bible. When an individual refuses to accept the foundational premise that God’s Word is infallible, a door has been opened for that person to substitute that which he or she does not like with that which he or she does. I find it ironic that ninety-nine percent of the time (unsubstantiated embellishment) the parts of the Bible that are most often proxied are those things that define sin. When this occurs, the Bible is no longer God’s sacred Word, but an erroneous and artificial text of fallen man.

You might be a pervert if…

You habitually act in a perverse manner. In like fashion, you are a liar if you consistently lie and a murderer if you murder. The good news is that God loves perverts, liars, and murders; He loves all sinners—and so should we! We can see how a problem develops when the sinner determines his sin is no longer a sin. Once that happens—once we have deemed ourselves squeaky-clean, suddenly there is no need for salvation; we do not see ourselves estranged from God because of sin.

But I Was Born That Way

Have you ever heard someone use this excuse? Let me go on record and say I agree with you; you were born that way. We all were born that way, because we were all born sinners. The thing I will never agree with is that being born defective is an excuse to practice a deviate behavior. The serial rapist likely proclaims that he was born that way as well, but no one in his or her right mind would allow him to exploit that as an excuse, would we?

We Are a Fortunate Lot

Do not marvel that I said to you, ’You must be born again.’ John 3:7

Praise the Lord, we get a do-over. We may have been born one way, but God in His abounding love, mercy, and grace allows us all, by our choice, to be born again. The only thing a sinner need do is acknowledge that the sin they participate in is a sin. Every race has a start-line and for the Christian the event starts with recognizing who they are.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us… Hebrews 12:1

 

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Dead or Alive: Being An Example to Others

An Example to OthersThen Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ’By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’ ” So Aaron held his peace. Leviticus 10:1-3Why?

Why did Nadab and Abihu do this irreverent deed and why did God kill them for doing it? Many suggest that Nadab and Abihu were drunk (and perhaps they were), but the root of their sin was unquestionably pride. Their behavior, fueled by a flawed awareness of their own self-importance, was arrogant. They had lost their perspective of who God is and where they stood in relationship to Him. It is for this reason God said that He must always be regarded as holy and that He alone must be glorified.

I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another… Isaiah 42:8a

God is Serious

God is very serious about holiness and glory, so much so that He devoured Nadab and Abihu by fire as a perpetual example for us. If mere words had been sufficient, Nadab and Abihu would not have died (for these were things that they knew). We might then ask, “Why does God want all the glory for Himself—is God selfish? This is not the case; God is not egocentric.

God Knows That…

When man gets the glory, or a ministry, or a church, those things will eventually come to disappoint and frustrate us. If we suffer discontentment chances are we have become enamored in the temporary splendor of man or ourselves. God knows these things and this is precisely the reason He demands the glory must be His alone. In Him, no one is ever saddened or dissatisfied.

If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy 2:13

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